Nick Saban losing third game in a month would be true sign of the apocalypse | KEN WILLIS

Hey, it’s not like Nick Saban hasn’t lost two regular-season games recently.

In fact, in the last dozen years, it’s happened . . . let’s see here . . . oh yeah, once.

But three?

Take away his howdy-do season at Alabama in 2007, he’s had just one three-loss regular season, and that one was preceded by a national championship and followed by two more.

Saturday in Oxford, Saban’s Crimson Tide faces a quality Ole Miss team with a quality head coach, and right about now we have to ask: When do opposing teams’ fans quit storming the field after beating ’Bama?

Listen, we all knew things had changed dramatically. Between the transfer portal, the NIL and how those monumental additions would uproot the norms, you didn’t need Kirk Herbstreit to tell you the game will never be the same.

But Nick Saban possibly losing three games in a month?

NASCAR: Joey Logano is champ, Jimmie Johnson is back, Chase Elliott is mum; Phoenix rewind

HEY, WILLIE! TV sports, Ross Chastain, Smokey Yunick and even cornhole is on the table

It seems Saban is as befuddled as the rest of us. He was so unprepared for losing two games in a three-game stretch, he actually resorted to the modern coach’s fallback option in trying to explain it all.

“Look, I can't blame the players," Saban said after the overtime loss to LSU last week. “I'm responsible for all this stuff. So if we didn't do it right, that's on me."

Nobody's buying that, but it's the modern reflex.

Forty years ago, Bear Bryant lost four games in his final season at Alabama, and there’s your overblown comparison. When you think back to the Bear’s final few seasons, you conjure images of an old man trying to hold together his Tuscaloosa dynasty.

But Bear Bryant was actually two years younger than Nick Saban is right now. Bear looked to be an old 69, certainly by today’s standards.

And up until very recently, Saban looked to be a young 71. Last Saturday night, not so much.

Look up and down the rankings, and you’ll see some schools who have adjusted favorably to the new landscape. Schools like TCU, Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina and even Kansas State are looking at nine, 10 or more wins this year.

So is Alabama, it turns out. And after everything we’ve seen of late, it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The Picks: Are Georgia's Dawgs ripe for a takedown vs. Mississippi State?

You can smell it, can’t you? Something is going down Saturday, and I’m not talking No. 4 TCU losing to No. 18 Texas.

Here’s the deal. Even the best of the best, at some point during the season, deliver a clunker. Often they survive it, sometimes they don’t. Six weeks ago, the Dawgs had theirs but lived through it, beating Missouri, 26-22.

Mr. Hunch is threatening to cramp his shoulder blade with such a reach, but he doesn’t necessarily think the Mizzou escape was Georgia’s true 2022 clanker. The big one comes this week — Mississippi State 30, Dawgs 26.

• Elsewhere, Florida by 6 over S. Carolina; FSU by 10 over Syracuse; LSU beats Arkansas; Alabama over Ole Miss; Notre Dame beats Navy; Tennessee big over Missouri; Tulane by 6 over UCF; Georgia Tech by 4 over Miami; TCU beats Texas; Wake over N. Carolina; and in the Secretaries Cup in Kings Point, N.Y., the Mariners of Merchant Marine over the Coast Guard Bears.

BTW: Bears? Yes, Coast Guard Bears — not Cutters, Clippers, Icebreakers, Guardians or even Seamen, something befitting a seafaring group of young men.

Turns out, one of the most famous Coast Guard sailing ships was the USS Bear, which served at both global poles and saw service in every conflict from the Spanish-American War to WWII.

Alas, the U.S. Defense Department sold the Bear (for just $5,000!) to a Canadian dude who couldn’t get it retrofitted for sealing work and therefore sold it to a guy in Philly who planned to turn it into a floating restaurant. "Good Lord, the indignity," you might say, but it gets worse.

In tow to Philly, the Bear’s line broke loose in a storm and she sank. I’d like to think she purposely snapped the line to avoid early-birding tourists and cranky kids.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Alabama losing to Ole Miss would be a sign of end times