Sunday, November 18,
2007 
Alabama loss was inspiring
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Alabama loss was inspiring
Sunday, November 18,
2007
Alabama loss was inspiring
Nick Saban made it clear to anyone and everyone following
the gut-wrenching loss to ULM that there is no such thing as
a moral victory.
Well, he's wrong.
Under normal circumstances, schools like Alabama don't
feel good about themselves unless they're winning
national championships and stomping opponents into
submission. However, times change and this is one of those
times -- particularly, when you consider where
Alabama's football fortunes were exactly one year ago
today.
There is a cliché that goes something like, "a win is a
win." Coaches employ it when their teams don't
play well or when they catch a lucky break. And while the
antithesis might often be true about a loss, I still
maintain that the 21-14 defeat to ULM was something special.
Simply to witness how far this program has come under Saban
is mind-boggling. To watch Alabama go toe to toe, punch for
punch with possibly the fourth most talented college football team
in the Sun Belt was breathtaking.
In the parlance of boxing, the Tide may have suffered a late
15th round knockout, but until that final punch was
delivered, it was as a sight to behold. Had Saban been the
coach on the ULM sideline, instead of that guy whose name I don't know, the Warhawks would have won by three touchdowns,
perhaps more. The game would have been over by halftime.
This game should have been over by intermission.
So what happened?
ULM, with its Sun Belt class talent, is one of most poorly
coached, undisciplined, unfocused and out of control
football teams I've ever seen. They win in spite of
their head football coach and the reason is simple: Vastly
superior team.
What inspired many Saturday night was the thought of seeing
Alabama in a couple of years, stocked with players like those guys who play for ULM whose names I don't know, playing for one of the best
college head coaches in America. It looks like the
dagger-through-the-heart type losses like we've seen
this year against FSU and ULM will soon be a thing of
the past.
One might ask why someone who has watched Alabama for as
many years as I have would ever be impressed with a moral
victory.
Alabama loss was inspiring
This year, to steal a phrase from Saban, everything is
simply part of the process. And the process is recruiting
and building from the ground up.
Immediately after Saban met the media Saturday night
following the crushing loss to his former team, he
didn't go into a padded room and beat the walls and
play the "woe is me" game.
Instead, he was smiling and hugging prospective recruits and
their families in a meeting room three doors down. And it
seems to be working well, based on the recruiting pollsters
who currently have Alabama ranked No. 3 nationally
(according to Rivals.com).
Do you think Saban wanted this particular game more than any
other one? Of course.
But Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium, which on the
particular night put fabled ULM field in Monroe to
shame in terms of atmosphere, excitement and buzz, was
simply another small step back on the road to a national
championship.
Regardless of how this season ends, the magic Saturday night
(have you ever heard a louder stadium in your life than when
D.J. Hall returned from suspension?) will be
replicated many mores times.
Should Alabama celebrate moral victories?
Absolutely not.
However, when you consider where this program was a year ago
today, at least savor the moment and accept the reality. As
Bob Dylan once sang, "the times, they are
a-changin'."
Contact Paul Finebaum at:
finebaumnet@yahoo.com
His "column" appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the
Press-Register.
