Alabama has won 985 games since 1892, third most in college football history behind Michigan and Ohio State, and is fifteen wins from becoming the third program to reach 1,000. The Crimson Tide have spent more weeks ranked first in the AP poll than any school ever.
| Record through 2025 | 985, 345, 43 |
| Winning percentage | .733 |
| All time rank by wins | Third, behind Michigan and Ohio State |
| First season | 1892 |
| Weeks ranked No. 1 in AP poll | 141, most of any program |
| National championships | 18 claimed, 16 recognised |
| Conference championships | 34, including 30 in the SEC |
The Race to 1,000
Michigan reached 1,000 wins in 2023. Ohio State at 990 needs ten and Alabama at 985 needs fifteen, so Ohio State should get there during the 2026 season and Alabama is likely to follow a year later, though a deep playoff run could close the gap sooner. Alabama has won twelve or more in a season eleven times, all of them under Nick Saban.
Our winningest programs page has the full top 20.
Two Coaches Built Most of It
| Coach | Seasons | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Bear Bryant | 1958 to 1982 | 232, 46, 9 |
| Nick Saban | 2007 to 2023 | 201, 29 |
| Frank Thomas | 1931 to 1946 | 115, 24, 7 |
| Gene Stallings | 1990 to 1996 | 70, 16, 1 |
| Wallace Wade | 1923 to 1930 | 61, 13, 3 |
Bryant and Saban together account for 438 of the 985 wins across 42 seasons, counting Saban’s five vacated 2007 wins. Saban’s .877 winning percentage is the best in program history, Bryant’s .825 second. Our head coaches page has all 28.
The Saban Standard
From 2008 to 2023, Alabama went 16 consecutive seasons without losing more than two games in the regular season, reached the AP No. 1 ranking in every one of those years, and won six national championships. The program’s 141 weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll, the most in history, came overwhelmingly in that stretch.
The 2024 season under Kalen DeBoer produced a 9 and 4 record and no playoff, the first time since 2007 the Crimson Tide had lost four games. The 2025 team returned to the playoff, beat Oklahoma in the first round and lost to eventual champion Indiana in the quarterfinals.
The Years Between
Alabama’s record hides two long troughs. Between Bryant’s retirement in 1982 and Saban’s arrival in 2007, the program had a national champion in 1992 under Gene Stallings and not much else: NCAA probation twice, a coach fired before his first game, and four losing seasons in the eight years before Saban.
The other trough came in the 1950s. J.B. Whitworth went 4, 24 and 2 across three seasons from 1955 to 1957, the worst stretch in program history, before Bryant was brought home to fix it.
The Vacated Wins
The NCAA vacated 21 Alabama wins from 2005 to 2007 over a textbook scandal, and sources handle that differently. The 985 figure here matches Alabama’s official count and Winsipedia’s team record. Some rankings list Alabama at 988, and the three win gap comes down to which vacated games a given database has excluded. It does not affect Alabama’s position as third all time.
The Bottom Line
Alabama is 985 wins, 345 losses and 43 ties all time, a .733 winning percentage and the third most wins in college football. Bear Bryant and Nick Saban account for 438 of those wins between them. The Crimson Tide need fifteen more to reach 1,000 and have spent more weeks ranked No. 1 than any program in the history of the AP poll.