🏈 What game, in your opinion, started our dominance?

[bamaledge]

For me, it was the 2008 Clemson whoopin’!
CNS put a clinic on that game!

 

[Crtuneman]

The Georgia game. Bama was an underdog and not many gave us a chance to win. It was an emphatic statement that this Bama team was different and it put Bama in the national spotlight.

 

[TerryP]

For me, it was the 2008 Clemson whoopin’!
CNS put a clinic on that game!

Thunder and Lightening.
Cullen Harper

Harper is considered one of the best 10 QB's in Clemson history. As a senior in 2008, he led the ACC in passing yards, touchdowns and completion percentage. His QBR in ATL that weekend was below 35.

Their two running backs were considered one of, if not the, best in the nation. Total rushing yards that day in ATL? Zero.

How often has the Clemson offense been held to 188 or fewer yards in a ball game?

In my view, it started that Saturday and put Bama in the spotlight around the nation (hell, they already were with Saban at the helm.)

The Georgia game.

To Bama fans, that reaffirmed what we'd seen that season. For the nation, it was that "big gulp".

Florida, 2009, said, "Dynasty?"

 

[rick4bama]

Florida, 2009, said, "Dynasty?"

When I read the title. That the game I thought of.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Bama was good....thru 08 and 09....
The thought was....Bama is really having great season....a Dynasty....as SI proclaimed...

What they did to Texas...in NC game in 09....screamed something....loudly

Then came....2010..

the 3 losses....USCe..LSU...AU....

Then...the really great...2011...and the beating they put on LSU...for the NC...

and since....

So...i go with the LSU game for the NC....in 2011.....and. the DYNASTY reeally started full blast....fluke loss here and there..but .... that's what it took ( except a couple)

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Bama was good....thru 08 and 09....
The thought was....Bama is really having great season....a Dynasty....as SI proclaimed...

What they did to Texas...in NC game in 09....screamed something....loudly

Then came....2010..

the 3 losses....USCe..LSU...AU....

Then...the really great...2011...and the beating they put on LSU...for the NC...

and since....

So...i go with the LSU game for the NC....in 2011.....and. the DYNASTY reeally started full blast....fluke loss here and there..but .... that's what it took ( except a couple)

I agree with this. Great wins in 2008, capped with a lack of focus to finish. Wife took me to a UGA watch party that year, and the 31-0 halftime made the evening tolerable. 2009, a magical year that had some narrow escapes.

 

[252BAMA]

The dominance began with the Clemson game. I am going to give Bama a pass for the drop off in 2010. The SEC killed that team with the six byes. Bama played the entire final 2 1/2 months uphill on an uneven playing field. Michigan State learned what it was like to face that team on an even playing field.

And I called the shot before the Clemson game. On a trip to Ireland in May of 2008, we toured the Waterford Crystal Factory. Tour ends with a Q/A-Demo session with a Master Engraver. Told the ME that he could go ahead and prepare several of those BCS trophies for Alabama because he would be getting orders very soon.

 

[TerryP]

I am going to give Bama a pass for the drop off in 2010. The SEC killed that team with the six byes.

This will ring true considering the complaints we've read about the Bama defense the last couple of seasons. Remember the complaints about the defensive line?

Let's go back to 2010 and look at the ankle injuries which put A LOT of pressure on a young secondary. Upshaw was banged up all season. Courtney wasn't back with his knee. Dareus, banged up all season.

There's your recipe for a few losses. And that's just on defense.

It took awhile for that offensive line to "gel" that season. Now add to that Ingram was fighting a knee injury all season and Trent was as well.

That's a recipe...

Now add the bye's.

The "Bama Standard" we see mentioned was in its "teenage" years.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

2009 SEC Championship. Florida had been #1 all season except one week. They had Tebow, an OLine that included the Pouncey twins and Marcus Gilbert (30+ years in the NFL combined there), Aaron Hernandez, and a couple of really good receivers. They had 1 TD all game and were held scoreless in the second half.

 

[BAMAneck]

The Clemson game was eye opening for me but I wondered if the game was just Bama looking good and Clemson pulling a Clemsoning moment.

But the Georgia game , at Georgia , at night and a black out game on national TV for the fans to really get riled up and then to perform the way we did . I knew then we were gonna be really good and a threat to win it all .

I was almost giddy to know that all my time waiting on the brass since ‘92 to finally get a coach worth having instead of a “ BAMA man “ just for the sake of him being from there before.

I was ever so close on giving up on them totally. They never attempted going after a winner and seemed more than comfortable printing the got 12 shirts and living off the past for eternity.

 

[PurlJam]

The NC championship Game against Texas....that was the !!!!! IMO.

 

[mando]

Agree with that any one of the three games mentioned here could be the "starting" point but I think you saw glimpses of it as early as Saban's first year in 2007. Recall they started the season with something like 6 wins before imploding. I think they gave a McFadden led Arky team all they could handle which at that point was a much better and more talented team.

For me it probably was the Clemson game but 2007 gave me the belief better days were ahead especially when Saban had more time to recruit.

 

[TerryP]

but I think you saw glimpses of it as early as Saban's first year in 2007.

Tennessee at home. That just might be the answer.

 

[tider79]

To me it was the loss to MSU in 06,,,,,that was the game that was the catalyst for Mal to go after the King!

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[ElephantStomp]

I think it was the loss to ULM. That loss I think made everybody at the school be better

 

[mando]

I think it was the loss to ULM. That loss I think made everybody at the school be better

It certainly pointed out what happens when you do not buy in and have some toxic players. Wake up call for sure. Oh and if I recall that was the year we had zero players drafted?

 

[BamaFan334]

I wasn't a fan at the time, but the win against Clemson was eye opener. I was actually visiting a friend in Athens. Got done with a Georgia game and came back to her place to watch it. She was a Clemson undergrad, but came to Georgia for her Masters. Boy, she was upset and it opened my eyes after all the Clemson hype.

That started it, but I think the Georgia Blackout game changed the national prospective on Saban and Alabama. Georgia's best team and hype in 15 years, and just absolutely dominated by Alabama. Killed thousands of souls that night that are still reeling I kid you not.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

I wasn't a fan at the time, but the win against Clemson was eye opener. I was actually visiting a friend in Athens. Got done with a Georgia game and came back to her place to watch it. She was a Clemson undergrad, but came to Georgia for her Masters. Boy, she was upset and it opened my eyes after all the Clemson hype.

That started it, but I think the Georgia Blackout game changed the national prospective on Saban and Alabama. Georgia's best team and hype in 15 years, and just absolutely dominated by Alabama. Killed thousands of souls that night that are still reeling I kid you not.

JMO but the Clemson game (2008) showed that Nick and staff had taken control of the Bama program and the product on the field clearly that day was impressive. The Blackout kind of confirmed Bama was Back (even though UGA made the game look interesting for the Sunday paper).

 

['65 Cobra]

For me, this game was the moment. At the time, Florida was the dominANT (NOT dominATE) force in all of college football. And we b!tch-slapped them after they stomped us the year before. This was the turning point and we took over as the dominANT (Again, NOT dominATE) force in college football which continues to this day.