So, during Nick Saban's tenure, Alabama has played the following OOC opponents:
2008: Clemson (neutral)
2009: Virginia Tech (neutral)
2010: Penn State
2011: @ Penn State
2012: Michigan (neutral)
2013: Virginia Tech (neutral)
2014: West Virginia (neutral)
2015: Wisconsin (neutral)
2016: USC (neutral)
2017: Florida State (neutral)
2018: Louisville (neutral)
Several of those, when scheduled, were anticipated as blockbuster games -- like the FSU game in 2017 and the Louisville game in 2018 (before that program suddenly fell apart). But that lineup is pretty darn respectable. Considering they only got one home game out of all of them.
It seems like the evidence doesn't suggest this notion that Alabama schedules a bunch of freebies in the OOC.
Their
complete OOC schedule since 2007 excluding bowl games (Saban’s first year):
2007: Western Carolina (W 52-6), Houston (W 21-14) and Louisiana- Monroe (L 21-14)
2008: Tulane (W 21-6), Western Kentucky (W 41-7), Arkansas State (W 35-0)
2009: Virginia Tech (W 34-24), FIU (W 40-14), North Texas (W 53-7), Tennessee-Chattanooga (W 45-0)
2010: San Jose State (W 48-3), Duke (W 62-13), Georgia State (W 63-7)
2011: Kent State (W 48-7), Penn State (W 27-11), North Texas (W 41-0). Georgia Southern (W 45-21)
2012: Michigan (W 41-14), Western Kentucky (W 35-0), Florida Atlantic (W 40-7), Western Carolina (W 49-0)
2013: Virginia Tech (W 35-10), Colorado State (W 31-6), Georgia State (W45-3), Tennessee-Chattanooga (W 49-0)
2014: West Virginia (W 33-23), Florida Atlantic (W 41-0), Southern Miss (W 52-12), Western Carolina (W 48-14)
2015: Wisconsin (W 35-17), Middle Tennessee St. (W 37-10), Louisiana-Monroe (W 34-0), Charleston Southern (W 56-6)
2016: USC (W 52-6), Western Kentucky (W 38-10),Kent State (W 48-0), Tennessee-Chattanooga (W 31-3)
2017: Florida State (W 24-7), Fresno State (W 41-10), Colorado State (W 41-23), Mercer (W 56-0)
2018: Louisville (W 51-14), Arkansas State (W 57-7), Citadel (W 50-17)
2019: Duke, New Mexico State, Southern Miss, Western Carolina
Out of 49 games, they scheduled P5 teams 10 times, roughly once per season, and almost always at the beginning of the year. One could come up with any number of conspiracy theories out there, but I'd suggest that they purposely schedule their toughest non-con foe early because they can take advantage of the superior athletes they obtain before other teams hit their stride. I also note they schedule thei last (and weakest) non-con opponent the second-to-last weekend of the season to give their kids a de facto bye week, and to garner a win (and virtually eliminate the possibility of a loss; they are 48-1 vs noncon foes since Saban came on board) when the committee is evaluating teams for the playoffs. BTW, Saban is 146-21 at Alabama, but 11-5 in bowl games.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!