What game do you think the program really turned the corner under Coach Saban?

[EricBlackerby]

I agree that the Colorado game was the beginning of everything. Saban said so himself that the team had bought in going back to the bowl game (CU). The Clemson game was the jumping off point of a dominating team that no one expected coming into the 08 season. But it has been more of a process than just one game. You can see the difference Saban has made each year in building depth and getting more and more guys to buy in. In 07, we could play with anyone in the first half of games and in the first half of the season. Then we would tire down, fall apart and lose in the second half. In 08, we could dominate anyone in the first half, then hold on and barely win in the second. Then this last year, we dominated entire games. Now this coming up year, we are going to see a team dominate much like Florida has done many times, where we can score 40 and 50 on alot of SEC teams. When you have such a lack of depth as we had in 06, it takes several GREAT recruiting classes and a great coach to turn it into what Bama is now. Auburn is in the same situation right now that we were in 07. They don't have the depth. Many of their starters are quality players, but after that it's a huge dropoff. The fun part is that they think this ONE top 5 class loses the gap. I think they will have a season much like our 07 season. Some promise, but then fall apart

 

[Tripping_Saylor]

Id' say it has to be a combo between the Clemson game and UGA game where the UA boys learned that they can win some games in the SEC. Two really hyped games and Bama showed up swinging for the oppositions jaws from the first snap.A huge moral vicotry for the boys.

As far as when the team really learned what it will take to be a champion, would go to the 2008 post season. After the best game to game run by an Alabama team in over 25 years, they got there butts whipped and got the taste the bitterness of defeat.

 

[AIIIGHTTT]

07 Arkansas when we came back, we didn;t win those games under Shula. I think the game that we rode to a NC is last years SECCG that lit the fuse.
Roll Tide, I'm proud to call Saban our coach.:BigA:

 

[GoBamaJags]

I agree with the 2008 game at Georgia. We went from 'a pretty good, top 25 team' to a team everyone clearly recognized as a force to be reckoned with. I didn't expect us to do anything like what we did to them. I thought we had a chance to win, but that...it was impressive. And since then we haven't looked back. After Clemson people paid attention to us, but after Georgia we had universal national respect once again, and we have stayed up there ever since.

...and I was at the game. That might sway my opinion a little bit too :biggrin2:

There are no "turn the corner" games for Bama or CNS! Bama "turned the corner" about 90 years ago. There is a process that wins national championships!

I like both of these answers, and the Clemson version. But I've got to agree with the loss to UF in the 08 season.

I believe the quotes go something like this...

"Do you want to play well enough to beat the guy in practice, or do you want to play well enough to beat the best."

 

[CE83]

The A-Day game 2007. So many had proclaimed that Alabama football dominance was over and would/could never return. The power of the program was demonstrated that day. Alabama awakened and is great again because of the power of Alabama football.

 

[CapstoneGrad06]

The Independence Bowl against Colorado.

 

[EricBlackerby]

A-Day 07..that's a pretty cool answer. For public perception, that definitely showed that Alabama was still a monster that wasn't going away

 

[rolltideface]

I agree with the handful of people that said the Indy Bowl. I made the mistake of buying tickets online before actually mapquesting it first. My wife and I ended up driving to Shreveport from Pensacola. Made a little vacation of it. Anyway- i think that was the beginning there.....started a 13 game winning streak. :smile:

 

[IH8Orange]

I don't think that any game was the turning point. The turning point was the offseason between the '07 and '08 seasons.

The Clemson game was the public indicator that the turn had occurred. I'm sure that the team and the staff already knew that the change had happened.

 

[JD95]

Georgia 2008

 

[THE BAMA IRISHMAN]

Alabama 2008 vs Auburn 36-0. Coach Saban was telling the world BAMA is BACK. The Barn is still in shock. :BigA:

JMHO the minute Coach Nick Saban said "I Will".

 

[bamanut_aj]

uga 2008 proved that we could be dominant for a half, but I sat the entire 2nd half thinking "we are letting them back in this game...we are letting them back in this game......"

I think the embarassment to utah may have been one. Disagree if you will, but I think even Coach got exposed in that one. We clearly didn't want to be there, and we pouted and boo-hoo'd, and we got whipped. Whatever Coach may have tried to get the boys up didn't work and we had nothing for them on the field for the first quarter. Complete embarassment.

clemson is a great answer, the bowl game against colorado is a great answer. I think we've learned something from a few different games. Against clemson we learned that we can rise above the hype and play shut-down defense..and oh yeah, our offense ain't that shabby. Against uga, we learned that we can bring a fire and intensity to the table that can literally and absolutely shut. you. down....but we have to work on maintaining it. (yes, I realize we played back ups for a good bit of the 2nd half). Against uf in the 1st SECCG, we learned that we can play with the best for about 50 minutes......but we just weren't there yet. Man, Coach's tenure is already filled with some good stuff...can't imagine what the rest of the ride has in store for us all!

 

[Redwood Forrest]

According to the seniors of 2008, it was the preparation for the Ind. Bowl in 2007, where they decided doing it their way did not work and decided to do it His Way.

In my mind, it was the Georgia Blackout Game. I remember Scarbs headline for that game: "Bama Is Back -- And This Time We Mean It." Back indeed, and rolled on to an undefeated SEC regular season, including the Saban Homecoming OT win in Baton Rouge

 

[Bodhisattva]

If you Google up "The Chess Games of Paul Morphy," and then you work through his most outstanding games, you may come upon something similar to what this Threadstarter has asked here.

A poster asks regarding Morphy's demolishing of one of his many European opponents in a particular game during the 1850's, "At what point do you think the opponent lost the match to Morphy?

One poster answers, "When he sat down across the chessboard from Paul Morphy."

Very nice reference, Hal. I did a paper on Morphy in college. He was from New Orleans, but went to school at Spring Hill College in Mobile. He lived for a time across the bay in Fairhope (where I went to high school). Morphy Avenue fronts the hospital in Fairhope.

 

[92tide]

va tech. showed that we will dominate the 4th quarter

 

[Crimson Cat]

I'm going to say there were two games that was part of the turn-around...the Clemson game was a beginning and you could see the team was changing...but the 2008 SEC championship game was another with the loss to UF.
The only reason I don't say the Utah Sugar Bowl loss, is because I think the loss to UF before for the SEC championship really stung and frankly was part of the reason they lost to Utah, imo; It deflated them, and that loss stuck in the craw of the team giving them motivation to improve in the off-season, and eventually go undefeated in 2009 & be Nat'l Champs. They knew they HAD to beat UF to make it to the top. That motivation became most clear when they played a nearly perfect and complete game against UF for the 2009 SEC Champ game and beat them soundly the second time around.
Those are the two games that stand out to me though.

 

[Honden]

At some point there was a critical mass of players that "bought in". From that point forward that group of young men has grown. This probably occurred during the preparation for the 07 Bowl game against Colorado or at some point in the following offseason.

The importance of a "buy in" can best be illustrated by looking at the history of Coach fRan. He HAD the "buy in" in Tuscaloosa ( and some pretty good success ), whereas he NEVER got it in College Station. I suspect that the T A&M players never bought into what he was selling because they KNEW how he left the players in Tuscaloosa.

 

[BamaInMo1]

I'll have to say that for me, the Colorado game started it. When Colorado started coming back Bama found a way to man up and come away with a win. The Clemson game the next season showed that Bama started listening to the coach insted of litening to the hype. Even though it was a loss, I think the Utah game showed them that you can't overlook ANYONE.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I think there were several turning points, and which one you choose depends on your perspective.

From a player's perspective, it was the La Monroe game. Shows what happens when you don't buy in. Kind of harkens back to when UAB (yes, that UAB) beat LSU in Baton Rouge in Saban's first year there.

From an Alabama fan's perspective, we began to see signs (or, at least I did) with the Independence Bowl game against Colorado.

From the perspective of the national media, it started with a second-half beatdown of Clemson in 2008. Lots of folks thought we didn't stand a chance, and thank the stars in heaven, I was there. After Clemson's one flash of glory (the return of the 2nd half KO for 6), we responded with a grinding, dope-slapping, morale draining drive. At the end of that drive, Clemson DL were turning their backs to our OL. They didn't want anything more than to go home to Auburn on the lake.

From an Auburn fan's perspective, the 2008 game was a raw shock back to reality. No longer were they facing boys with men on their side (players and coaching referenced here). They were thoroughly gelded in that game. The most important trophy from it wasn't the end of Auburn's streak. It was their future.

From the perspective of the national media, it started with the Clemson game in 2008, and ended with about fifty exclamation points in the 2009 SEC Championship Game.

As much as they derided us. As much as they hated everything about Alabama. As much as they buried snickers into their elbows. As much as they made fun of 92,000 for a spring game, they couldn't deny anything after that day. Now, front runners that they are, we're the golden boys.

I haven't forgotten comments from Corso, Brando, Le Betard (a fitting name if ever there were one), Phillip Marshall, the Moon prattling pen from Montgomery, and countless others. Even Finebaum loves us now. I haven't forgotten that rat ______ either.

The team determines the real turning point, and from that perspective, I think it's the La Monroe loss. The others were just successive parties being forced to acknowledge what had already happened.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

It might have been pretty soon after leaving the field following the Sugar Bowl loss to Utah. I think the kids were pretty well on board with Coach Saban until the 4th quarter of the SECCG loss to the Gators. I think that loss hurt so much that they backslid a little and the Utes got us. Evidently, that loss drove home the point about finishing that Coach Saban had been preaching to them because they've been relentless ever since. It's pretty apparent that they all worked their butts off in the off season between the Sugar Bowl and the start of the 2009 season.
Judging by the A-Day game, they haven't let up a bit.
:BigA::BigA::BigA:

*****

I agree. I'm not sure that all the players bought into Coach Sabans ideas, his goals, and what it would take to achieve them... The players were not on the same page until after they 'Mailed it in' against Utah.
The Utah game was a dose of Harsh reality for the Alabama players.

IMHO the team finally bought into 'The Process' after that embarrassment. :BigA: