Alabama fans do not claim they have won every college football championship, just most of them, and they boast 16 legitimate ones.
The Crimson Tide have one of the most storied programs in the country -- and what other program has been coached by a "Red," "Ears" and "Bear," who had a quarterback called "Snake?"
From the start of football at Alabama to today, the Crimson Tide have won 72 percent of all their games, which is amazing when you consider that between the time Paul "Bear" Bryant retired and Nick Saban was hired -- with the exception of Gene Stallings -- the Tide were mostly rolled out.
Ray Perkins, Bill Curry (who many still blame for most of Alabama's woes until Saban was hired), Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price and Mike Shula were unable to compete on the SEC stage, let alone on a national one.
Stallings went 62-25 and won a national championship, only to retire soon after, saying the expectations were unbelievable in Alabama.
Franchione was the biggest shock to the Tide Nation when he left them to coach Texas A&M (see what Stallings said) until Price was hired and fired before he ever coached a game, but a stripper had a nice, big breakfast on the Tide tab.
Saban, though, has exceeded the wildest of expectations, and that's why he and the Crimson Tide will roll into Fayetteville on Saturday as the No. 1 team in the nation and a 14-point favorite.
Saban is not pitching a perfect game against the Razorbacks, although he is 12-2. Both losses came when he was at LSU.
With five games under his belt in his 10th season, Saban is 105-18 at Alabama and has won four national titles and pretty much turned the SEC into Alabama and all the rest.
But in a way, Arkansas owes Saban.
When Bret Bielema came to Arkansas, he was asked why he would leave Wisconsin for the Razorbacks, and he calmly said he wanted to beat Alabama. It was a compliment to the Crimson Tide, but some of their fan base -- especially those who respect the Football Thesaurus and Deke Houlgate national championships -- took offense.
Bielema's attitude has not wavered at Arkansas: You have to beat the best to be the best, and that's the foundation he's trying to build. Granted, not as fast as he and some fans would like, but no one has ever accused the state of Arkansas of having an abundance of high-level recruits.
When Bielema came to Arkansas, the Tide were pretty much crushing and cruising through football seasons, and he took over a program that was lacking in discipline, dedication and determination. There was also a critical lack of depth in the talent pool.
Bielema's first game was an encore of the previous season under John L. Smith, a 52-0 spanking on the way to a 3-8 season. His second game was a 14-13 loss, and last season he fell to 0-3 against Alabama when the Tide took advantage of everything it could in the second half and won 27-14.
After that, the Hogs pulled off four consecutive victories, two of them in overtime. In that Alabama loss that was closer than the final score, the Razorbacks apparently learned they were ready to find ways to win games.
Since that loss, the Razorbacks are 10-2 and have been ranked in the top 25 for the past three weeks, their longest stretch since 2011.
The excitement of playing against the best team in the country is growing by the day, and that's a healthy thing for a program that almost was sunken after Bobby Petrino left.
ESPN and GameDay may have made a mistake in not being in Fayetteville on Saturday.
Sports on 10/05/2016