TAMPA, Fla. – Alabama still has four national championships under football coach Nick Saban as a result of Monday night’s 35-31 loss to Clemson.
What Alabama also has under Saban are four heartbreaking defeats as the nation’s top-ranked team that derailed the Crimson Tide’s title aspirations – the 2008 Southeastern Conference championship game against Florida, the 2013 Auburn showdown that ended with the “Kick Six,” the 2014 national semifinal against Ohio State and Monday night’s thriller inside Raymond James Stadium.
Saban does not rank them in any particular order of pain.
“I think every loss is very painful,” Saban said early Tuesday morning in a news conference as Clemson players still were celebrating on the field. “My loss is really for the bad feeling that I have for the players who have worked so hard to create this opportunity for themselves. Not to be able to finish it is very disappointing for me.
“I would have loved to have seen this team accomplish and achieve a goal that they had worked very hard for, and that’s the part that makes it difficult, but every loss, if you’re a competitor, is never good.”