Winning culture returns in T-Town
Column by Josh Moon • November 8, 2009
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-->TUSCALOOSA -- Remember when Alabama couldn't win games in the fourth quarter?
<script src="http://gannett.gcion.com/addyn/3.0/5111.1/133600/0/0//ADTECH;alias=al-montgomery.montgomeryadvertiser.com/sports/collegesports/article.htm_ArticleFlex_1;cookie=info;loc=100;target=_blank;grp=6603;misc=1257719520864;noperf=1" id="__gelement_68"></script> Oh, there were some epic collapses in recent years. That Tennessee game with the fourth-and-19 play in overtime. The Arkansas game with the overtime interception and celebration penalty. The painful fumbles. The crazy missed tackles. The weird coaching decisions.
For poor ol' Mike Shula's entire four-year tenure, the Crimson Tide was the worst late-game team in the nation. The poor schlub was 0-for-19 in games in which Alabama trailed in the final quarter. O'fer, baby.
It was always something -- a defensive mistake, a bad penalty, a poor play call -- that always led to everything falling apart at the worst possible moment. And it always happened. Shula was more likely to come off inspiring in a news conference than he was to pick up a fourth-quarter comeback.
Remember the frustration? Remember the pain? Remember the embarrassment of listening to Shula attempt to explain how they had screwed it up this time?
All of that seems like another lifetime now, doesn't it? The memories are almost in black and white.
Here's the weird thing: It was only a little more than three years ago.
Maybe I wasn't the only one who had that thought Saturday evening as I watched Alabama polish off LSU, 24-15, and wrap up its second consecutive SEC West Division title.
Just over two years ago, I was standing in roughly the same spot along the sideline at Bryant-Denny Stadium when John Parker Wilson threw a game-winning TD pass to beat Arkansas to give Alabama its first late-game win in four-plus years.
That was probably the first time I thought that things were about to change around this football program. Because those were essentially the same players that had been stumbling all over themselves the previous few seasons, unable to close out games or withstand pressure. And in less than a year, Nick Saban had changed that mindset.
Now, just two years after that, he's done the same for the entire program.
It's pretty amazing, really.
This place was a mess back then. There was no confidence. No one person was really in charge. There was no real direction.
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It was just a mess.
I remember writing back then that if Saban could solve all of the problems -- if he could stop the petty bickering, if he could stamp out the backstabbing, if he could put an end to all the behind-the-scenes morons trying to buy a say-so in the program -- that the man wasn't only worth $4 million, he would be worth his weight in gold. And I'm talking market gold prices, not that Cash for Gold bargaining stuff.
And, well, pay the man.
Under Saban, the Tide will be making its second consecutive trip to Atlanta to play for an SEC title. It's ranked third in the BCS and will very likely arrive at the Georgia Dome in a few weeks to play an undefeated Florida team again for a shot at the national title game.
But put all that aside. Because what's really important here is something much more basic, something much meaningful to Alabama fans.
This team wins in the fourth quarter. And wins it big.
Against LSU, one of the most talented and deepest teams in the country, Alabama gave up nine yards in the fourth quarter. Nine. One less than 10.
And on the other side of the ball, the Tide scored 14 points and gained 106 yards. That's what people expect around here. They don't need flashy offenses or gimmick plays. They don't need individual award winners or blowouts.
Give them fourth-quarter domination and a defense that makes New Mexico women's soccer player Elizabeth Lambert, who was suspended Friday for her physical play against BYU, look tame, and this is a happy bunch.
They're rather ecstatic these days.
