page_title: Nick Saban
section_title: 2010 season
hierarchical_section_title: Nick Saban / Coaching career / Alabama / 2010 season
caption_attribution_description: HC Nick Saban leads the "Walk of Champions" prior to the 2010 Iron Bowl
context_page_description: Nicholas Saban Jr. is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and at three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. Saban is considered by many to be the greatest coach in college football history. Saban's career record as a college head coach is 243–65–1.
  Saban led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003 and the Alabama Crimson Tide to BCS and AP national championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and College Football Playoff championships in 2015 and 2017. He became the first coach in college football history to win a national championship with two different Football Bowl Subdivision schools since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936. Saban and Bear Bryant are the only coaches to win an SEC championship at two different schools.
  In 2013, Saban was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He is tied with Bryant for most major college football national championships for a coach in the modern era.
context_section_description: At the start of his fourth season, Alabama was overwhelmingly chosen as the preseason No. 1 team in both the AP and Coaches Poll. It was the first time since 1978 that the Crimson Tide started the season ranked N. 1. In the season opener in front a record crowd of 101,821, Alabama defeated San Jose State, 48–3. The following week, the Tide defeated Joe Paterno and the #23 Penn State 24–3 in their first meeting since 1990. The next week against Duke, Mark Ingram made his first start of the 2010 season leading Alabama to a 62–13 victory. The next week Alabama overcame a 20–7 deficit to win its conference opener against #10 Arkansas, 24–20. On October 2, Alabama defeated #7 Florida 31–6. The following week Alabama lost to #19 South Carolina 35–21, snapping a 19-game win streak (29 in regular season). 
  Alabama bounced back with a 23–10 win over Ole Miss, and followed that up with a 41–10 victory over Tennessee. After a bye week, Alabama suffered its second loss of the season, losing to #10 LSU, 24–21. The following week, Alabama bounced back at home defeating #17 Mississippi State, 30–10. The game marked the 800th victory for the University of Alabama's football program. The following week Alabama defeated Georgia State 63–7, the most points for Alabama since 1979. In the Iron Bowl, Alabama lost to in-state rival (and eventual BCS champions) #2 Auburn 28–27, snapping a 20-game home winning streak. In winning the game, Auburn overcame a 24–0 second quarter Alabama lead, thus marking the largest deficit any team had overcome to defeat the Crimson Tide in its football program's history. Alabama was selected to play in the 2011 Capital One Bowl and in their first-ever meeting, Alabama defeated #7 Michigan State 49–7 in the largest margin of victory in that bowl game's history. The bowl victory brought Alabama to 10–3 on the season and secured Alabama's third consecutive 10-win season.
caption: Saban leads the "Walk of Champions" prior to the Iron Bowl
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