SEC Championship: Auburn 26, Alabama 14 — the first SEC title game Alabama lost under Saban. The committee took the Tide fourth anyway; the precedent of a non-conference-champion CFP seed was set.
2017 — Overtime in Atlanta
Alabama got into the CFP as the fourth seed, lost the SEC title game, then beat Georgia in overtime for title #5 on a second-and-26 Tua Tagovailoa pass to DeVonta Smith.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- Jalen HurtsQB2,081 passing yards
- Tua TagovailoaQB636 passing yards
- Damien HarrisRB1,000 rushing yards
- Bo ScarbroughRB596 rushing yards
- Najee HarrisRB370 rushing yards
- Calvin RidleyWR967 receiving yards
- Jerry JeudyWR264 receiving yards
- Henry Ruggs IIIWR229 receiving yards
- Ronnie HarrisonDB74 tackles
- Rashaan EvansLB74 tackles
- Raekwon DavisDL69 tackles
- Da'Shawn HandDL3 sacks
- Shaun Dion HamiltonLB2.5 sacks
- Quinnen WilliamsDL2 sacks
Season leaders, 2017.
Halftime, national championship game, Alabama trailing 13-0. Saban benched Jalen Hurts for freshman Tua Tagovailoa. The decision is one of the Process's few public mid-game roster swings at the highest stakes.
Second-and-26, overtime. Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith for the winning touchdown. Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT). Title #5 of the Saban era.
"Second and twenty-six."
2017 is the chapter where the Process survived by adjusting. A season that ended with the SEC title-game loss and the halftime QB swap and the overtime touchdown pass is a season that produced a title nobody expected four months earlier. The title's legacy inside Alabama: the Saban Process can win the sport's final Monday from any seed, with any QB, against any opponent. The title's legacy outside: the CFP committee's non-conference-champion precedent was set by this team.