There have been a lot of memorable teams during Nick Saban’s run of glory at Alabama. This is the one that people will always love no matter what happens next.

They were vulnerable. They were mortal. They were miraculous. They still crushed the dreams of undefeated Georgia all the same in an SEC title game for the ages.

The Imperfects did it again. This Alabama team of destiny cannot be denied.

“A lot of people doubted this team. I didn’t give up on this team,” said Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, the MVP of the game. “Our biggest thing was, ‘Let our naysayers know.’”

There were so many doubters, me included. That’s the funny thing about sports, though. All those flaws and questions make me adore this team even more.

No matter what happens next, this group of Alabama believers will always be remembered as champions.

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Oh, and the team that ended Georgia’s SEC-record winning streak of 29 victories in a row.

They won two straight national championships, but Georgia is still 0-4 all-time against Alabama in games that determine the champion of the hardest-hitting conference in college football.

This latest SEC heavyweight fight felt like an old-school brawl, too.

Will Alabama’s 27-24 victory against Georgia be enough to put the Crimson Tide into the College Football Playoff? I don’t have that answer, but I do know that this team just accomplished something that hadn’t been done in two years. If the point of the exercise is to pick the four best teams in the country, then I could make a case that Alabama should now be No.1.

Georgia hadn’t lost a single game since the 2021 SEC title bout against Alabama. It was a good run. It was the golden era of Georgia football. Georgia was the top team in the country coming into this one. UGA was muzzled by some tougher dogs who reminded everyone in the country of an important truth.

Alabama still runs the SEC.

Does the SEC still run college football, though? Put it this way. It would be unprecedented for the College Football Playoff committee to leave the SEC out of its four-team playoff. Still, there’s a chance that happens after Alabama was ranked No.8 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

Maybe Alabama wasn’t one of the four best teams in the country last week, but they sure looked the part on Saturday in the backyard of the Bulldogs, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia might have been 45-1 over its last 46 games, but Saban’s Alabama teams are now 18-1 in games played in this city.

“This is a great team because they play together as a team,” Saban said. “I’ve never been as proud of a group of guys. They’ve shown they can play and win against anybody.”

Saban has now coached 11 SEC championship teams, including two at LSU. The case for his team of 2023 Alabama Imperfects is this. They might have started this crazy season off with one of the worst home losses of Saban’s mighty reign, but Alabama closed down the SEC with the best victory of any team in the country.

Texas shocked Alabama 34-24 back on Sept. 9. After everything we’ve seen, the Longhorns’ victory against Alabama now stands as the second-best of any team in the country. They’re both conference champions, and they should both be in the College Football Playoff. A Texas-Alabama rematch in the College Football Playoff makes perfect sense to me.

It’s understandable that the committee was unsure of Alabama before the victory against Georgia. The Crimson Tide can no longer be ignored or denied. Saban has put together his finest season as a coach and a lot of that has to do with quarterback Jalen Milroe now looking like the best player in the country.

Or is it receiver Isaiah Bond?

At this point, after the last two games, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bond ended up on a few Heisman ballots.

First there was the unthinkable play on fourth and 31 to sink Auburn. As an encore, Bond was everywhere against Georgia’s defense. His diving catch on fourth and four in Alabama’s final possession of the first half changed the entire dynamic of the game. Bond’s clutch receptions on the game-clinching drive then broke Georgia’s back in the fourth quarter.

In the end, it was Georgia coach Kirby Smart who found himself behind a post-game microphone trying to make a case for his team to be in the playoff.

“I think it’s the eye test,” Smart said. “When you talk about the four best teams, watch the game. Go ask NFL talent evaluators. Ask NFL scouts. It’s about the best teams. I have no question that it’s not one of the best four teams, 100 percent.”

Maybe so, but Georgia is no longer the best team in the SEC. Alabama is back, and what we once thought was the end of a dynasty now feels like a college football fantasy. No matter what anyone thinks or says, Saban’s favorite team proved itself where it matters most, on the field against the team the College Football Playoff selection committee considered the best in the country.

Just because we’ve never seen an Alabama contender quite like this, that doesn’t make this team any less deserving of greatness.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, wild times and rum.