Alabama’s 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt Saturday in Nashville was a big deal.

Shocking? Absolute.

Embarrassing? Maybe.

Unparalleled? Maybe.

The latter is what we want to explore in this space.

This is the case because it is number 1 on the list:

• Alabama hadn’t lost to Vanderbilt since 1984. Bill Curry never lost to the Commodores, and neither did Mike DuBose or Mike Shula. The Ray Perkins-led Crimson Tide team that fell to Vandy 40 years ago ultimately finished 5-6 and had already lost twice that year. This Alabama team was ranked #1 in the country and had just defeated Georgia.

•Vanderbilt was 0-60 against the top 5 teams in its history. The Commodores had pulled off a number of near-miracles against top-ranked teams in the past, but had failed to finish them off. Until now.

• And perhaps most importantly, it’s Alabama – perhaps the most storied college football program in college football history (and certainly the most dominant of the past decade) – and it’s Vanderbilt – a punchline to SEC football’s greatest part of the years. last century. Talk about a David (or maybe Diego?) versus Goliath story.

Still, your mileage on this particular loss may vary. Maybe you have another one that was even worse.

If this was NOT the worst/embarrassing/most shocking loss in Alabama history, here are eight other contenders (in chronological order):

1. Auburn 14, Alabama 13 (December 3, 1949)

This happened so long ago that few who saw it are still alive to remember it, but it was an absolute blast at the time. The Crimson Tide had defeated the Tigers 55-0 in the previous season’s Iron Bowl revival, coming into the 1949 game with a record of 6-2-1 to 1-4-3 for Auburn. Johnny Wallis and George Davis scored touchdowns for Auburn and Alabama’s Ed Salem missed an extra point with 1:13 remaining. A rivalry arose.

2. Auburn 17, Alabama 16 (December 2, 1972)

Almost anyone with any practical knowledge of the Iron Bowl knows the broad strokes of it. Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Crimson Tide was 10-0 and ranked second nationally and had already captured the SEC championship for the second year in a row. Shug Jordan’s Tigers were a good team at 9-1, but Alabama led 16-3 with less than six minutes left and had thoroughly dominated the game statistically. In the blink of an eye (make those two eyes), Auburn’s Bill Newton blocked two punts and David Langner returned both for touchdowns in a 17-16 Tigers win, immortalized as “Punt Bama Punt.”

3. Mississippi State 6, Alabama 3 (November 1, 1980)

The Crimson Tide won eight of the nine SEC championships from 1971-79, and won national championships in 1973, 1978 and 1979. Bryant’s team posted a 7-0 record, a No. 1 national ranking and a school-record 28-game winning streak winning streak into a date in Jackson with the Bulldogs, who had not beaten Alabama since 1958 (Bryant’s first year at Alabama). Redshirt freshman quarterback John Bond did just enough to keep Alabama’s defense off balance, running Emory Ballard’s wishbone offense, and Dana Moore kicked a pair of field goals. Alabama drove to the Mississippi State 4-yard line in the final seconds, but Tyrone Keys released the ball from Billy Jackson and the Bulldogs recovered to secure what is still widely considered the most memorable victory in MSU program history set.

4. Georgia Tech 24, Alabama 21 (September 12, 1981)

Bryant’s program started to falter a bit in the early 1980s, but this was still staggering based on the opponent. The Yellow Jackets went 1-9-1 in 1980 under first-year coach Bill Curry (yes) and were 24-point underdogs when they visited Legion Field to open the 1981 season. Second-place Alabama had already played a game and put LSU ahead 24-7 in Baton Rouge. Tech outscored Alabama 10-0 in the fourth quarter and took the lead for good on Robert Lavette’s second touchdown run of the game. Alabama turned the ball over four times but still had a chance to tie the game on the final play. However, Peter Kim’s 50-yard field goal was far too short. In an interesting postscript, Alabama won the SEC Championship that season – Bryant’s 13th and last with the Crimson Tide. The win over Alabama ended up being Georgia Tech’s only win in a 1-10 season.

5. Memphis State 13, Alabama 10 (October 10, 1987)

Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt wasn’t the first for a first-year Alabama coach on the road against a lightly rated opponent from Tennessee State. Bill Curry’s team was 4-1 and ranked 15th nationally when the host Tigers – who had gone 1-10 the year before – pulled off the upset in the Liberty Bowl. The Crimson Tide ran for 208 yards, but passed for only 66 yards and threw three interceptions. In the end, it was an Alabama native – Johnny Butler of Phoenix City – who was the hero for Memphis State, kicking a 47-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter. Alabama rebounded to beat Tennessee the following week and handed eventual SEC champion LSU its only loss of the season in early November, but dropped its final final games to finish 7–5. Memphis finished 5-5-1, losing to Southern Miss and Louisiana later that season.

6. LSU 17, Alabama 13 (November 6, 1993)

This may seem like an odd choice given the stature of the two programs over the past two decades, but LSU was a legitimately bad team for most of the 1990s before Nick Saban set the Tigers on their current trajectory. Alabama was the defending national champion and was on a 31-game undefeated streak — Gene Stallings’ Crimson Tide had seen its 28-game winning streak snapped after holding Tennessee to a 17-17 tie earlier that season — when it welcomed 3-5 LSU against Bryant-Denny Stadium. With starting quarterback Jay Barker injured, the Crimson Tide ended up playing Brian Burgdorf, Freddie Kitchens and even David Palmer under center, and the three combined for four interceptions. LSU scored two touchdowns in the third quarter, which was enough to earn the shocking victory. Alabama finished 9-3-1 and defeated North Carolina in the Gator Bowl.

7. Mississippi State 17, Alabama 16 (November 16, 1996)

The Crimson Tide played some nail-biters against inferior teams during the Stallings years, but almost always pulled out the win. That wasn’t the case on a wild night in Starkville, when Mississippi State defeated Alabama for the first time in 16 years and only the second time in 38 years. Alabama was 8-1 and ranked No. 8 nationally, while Jackie Sherrill’s Bulldogs were. 3-5. Mississippi State led 14-13 at halftime (after Alabama missed an extra point), then neither team scored in the third quarter. The Crimson Tide took a 16-14 lead on Jon Brock’s 42-yard field goal with 11:22 left, and Mississippi State’s Brian Hazelwood answered with a 39-yarder with 8:49 to play to put the Bulldogs ahead by one give. Izell McGill had two interceptions for MSU, including one in the fourth quarter to ice it. As Vanderbilt fans did Saturday night, the Bulldogs faithful took down both goalposts at Scott Field. Alabama rallied the following week to defeat Auburn 24–23 to capture the SEC West title, then lost to Florida in the SEC championship game before defeating Michigan in the Outback Bowl and leaving the retiring Stallings as the winner the bus sent.

8. Louisiana-Monroe 21, Alabama 14 (November 17, 2007)

The Crimson Tide obviously weren’t a great team in Saban’s first year, but a home loss to a no-name program like ULM was still a blowout – and still is seventeen years later. As is usually the case with these games, turnover was costly. Alabama had four, including a killer Jimmy Johns fumble in the red zone in the final minutes. In fact, the Crimson Tide made three trips inside the ULM 20 and didn’t score. Much was made at the time of the fact that Saban was the highest paid coach in college football, while the Warhawks’ Charlie Weatherbie was the lowest paid in FBS. It was the third of four straight losses to end the regular season for Alabama, which rebounded to beat Colorado in the Independence Bowl to finish 7-6. The Crimson Tide never had another season like this — or another loss, for that matter — for the rest of Saban’s incredible tenure.

So that’s our list. Have we forgotten one? Email your suggestions to the address below. Creg Stephenson has covered college football AL.com and other publications since 1994. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter/X on @CregStephenson.