If folks really track the progress at Bama since CNS's arrival, I think they'd be stunned. He got here with barely enough time to land some recruits and, as expected, had a pretty so-so first season. When our team hit the field against Clemson in '08, we weren't even ranked. I remember Herbstreit shrugging the "Idunno shrug" at halftime of that game and saying "WOW! We all were thinking maybe Saban's 3rd or 4th season we'd see some possibility of being a contender, but they may already be there in year 2. I remember having the biggest grin on my face and it didn't leave until the following January. We came roaring onto the football landscape and had an undefeated regular season. Folks from other conferences, especially out west, still give us crap about losing to Utah in the Sugar Bowl, but the fact that we were even in the Sugar Bowl that year was an outright miracle, considering what our program had suffered through prior to Coach Saban's intervention. '09 stands by itself and needs no explanation really. We took care of business every game and ended our Championship run with a big exclamation point by dominating Texas. '10 was a rebuilding year for us but we still did better than most teams out there who have to rebuild after losing so many seniors and talented juniors. Our losses in '10 were hiccups that we might have expected were we not all such avid homers for our team. This past season began and ended with about as much drama as one could expect. New QB, lot of top players gone, yet we won it all. I don't think we really had a close game other than the LSU loss. There was no squeaking by Tennessee by 2 points, or winning at Auburn in the last minute. IMO we made up for that loss by taking it to LSU in the NC game. I have a feeling LSU will be in the doldrums with their program after getting embarrassed like that, in much the same way Bowden/Clemson, Richt/UGA and Meyer/Florida was after dramatic beat downs by us.
All that being said, I think this train in locked onto the track and everyone else is gonna be eating our dust for as long as Coach Saban decides to be here. And I think we'll be viewing the rest of the college football landscape from those "New Heights" mentioned in this thread title. RTR and good night fokes.....