Nick Saban felt it was a good time to bring up his most disappointing loss in his career during Saturday’s edition of “College GameDay” in Eugene, Oregon, and his sentiment was an obvious one.
Losing to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 21-14 on a Thursday night in Tuscaloosa back in 2007 remains the most embarrassing loss of his coaching career with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“First year at Alabama, we lost to ULM. Remember that? Remember that was a Thursday. Alabama beat them 73-0 this year. We lost to them on a Thursday, the most humiliating game loss of my whole career,” Saban said Saturday.
Losing to the Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, LSU Tigers, Utah Utes, South Carolina Gamecocks, Texas A&M Aggies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Ole Miss Rebels, Clemson Tigers, Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, Tennessee Volunteers, Michigan Wolverines, Georgia Bulldogs, and Mississippi State Bulldogs is rarely embarrassing. Sure, some years those teams may have a down season, but these are highly-funded Power 4 programs that aren’t paying each other to play.
Losing to ULM in almost any season is embarrassing. Especially back in 2007 with Charlie Weatherbie in charge. Weatherbie never had a winning season with the Warhawks and only had three winning seasons total, two with the Navy Midshipmen and one with the Utah State Aggies, during a 17-year career that he had a 76-115 record in.
Of course, it all worked out. Saban was one of the few coaches in the history of the sport to fully go out on his own terms. And that he only had 29 losses after the ULM debacle shows that even that game helped pave greatness.
But hearing Saban still talk about it to this day is the ultimate victory for Warhawk fans.
And the ultimate ammunition for Alabama’s online opposition.