After a loss to the Texas Longhorns, Alabama is now facing a question that is alien feeling to Crimson Tide fans: Is the Tide even a National Championship-level team? Only once under Nick Saban has Alabama lost early in the season, against Ole Miss in 2015.
And while a lot of fans are drawing parallels to that team (and the subsequent declarations of “The dynasty is dead”), there is a major difference: that loss to Ole Miss was one of the flukiest games ever witnessed, with multiple turnovers on kick returns, a QB with the flu, a barely legal forward pass that got ineligible man downfield rules changed, and a fumble-helmet-bounce-pass-touchdown.