Alabama. . .

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If you look closely, you can see the high watermark where the Saban era peaked a few years ago

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As for this part, I don't even think that's debatable. Kirby leaving was the first huge piece that started his empire crumbling whether they want to admit it or not. Although logic and common sense would tell you that a major, massive part of bama's dynasty leaving, and going to another SEC team and majorly, massively improving them, would lead to a bit of scale balancing. Another thing that surprised me big time is the transfer portal. I ASSUMED that they woudl only further increase their lead on almost everyoen else because guys they missed in recruiting, or unheralded recruits that balled out somewhere else, would then just go to bama. And early on we did see that with jameson williams and then gibbs. But now that things have sort of leveled off a bit we're not seeing that "everyone transfer to bama" thing that I thought it'd be. Some of the high profile transfers they have gotten like the WR from louisville and Burton haven't panned out. Others (like drake maye) have simply had no interest.

All of that, plus saban simply getting friggin old, adds up to their better days being behind them. Since saban started there in 07, they have yet to go more than 2 consecutive seasons without a natty which is astoudning. TYhey're currently at 2 seaosns now and somethign tells me they aren't winning it all this coming season.

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I'll stop taking Saban seriously when he is no longer the HC in Tuscaloosa. Count the man out at your own peril.

That said, I'm not nearly as trepidatious about the prospect of facing the Tide in MBS on the first Saturday in December like I once was.

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of course. He's still the best cfb coach that's ever lived and still has more talent on his roster yearly than 99% of other teams. Nobody is saying they suck now or they're going to be like miss. state. But they aren't the juggernautic dojminant force they were from around 09-16ish where you pretty much knew they were going to win it all even before the season started. They have looked extremely human lately.

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They have looked extremely human lately.

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If it bleeds, you can kill it.

Bamarep summed it up best, last season. While Tide faithful say they were only 2 plays away from being 12-0, they were also only 3 plays away from being 7-5 in 2022.

The longer the timeline extends, the more obvious it is that Kirby was a key ingredient to Bama's secret sauce from 2008-2017. (I know that he left after the 2015 season, but it's reasonable to expect there were lasting lessons learned by kids he coached there that they retained after his departure). This is another reason I'm not worried about the Dawg offense taking a step back after Monken left.

It might be after next season, or it may be ten years from now, but nothing lasts forever and Saban will one day be gone from Alabama.

So, how do you people see the final chapters of this historic run ending?

I feel like, whether it’s this year or two or three years from now, Saban would retire the next day after winning another national championship. I think he sees the writing on the wall. But what happens if he doesn’t win another national championship? Will part of the spoiled and fragile Alabama fanbase eventually turn on him and call for the program to move on?

And when has a historic coach ever gone out on top? Seems like they always overstay their welcome and end their career on a flat cringy note.

Saban is the goat when the players rely on his coaching and success to make money in the future. With the NIL they don’t beee him perse.

This means the work ethic and respect to stay in line doesn’t exist like it did.

This is why Saban thrived pre-NIL and sucked in the NFL.

If he doesn’t win the Natty this year, his reign is 100% done