Alabama Football Nick Saban Era Part 2 - The 2007 Turnaround
By Ronald Evans
The 2007 season opener was a hot Saturday in Tuscaloosa. Western Carolina, having won just two games the season before, was no match for the Crimson Tide. The play of the Catamounts was as ragged as their aged bus parked next to Bryant-Denny. Alabama won 52-6. Nick Saban was not impressed.
In an early Saban-era coaching clinic, Nick Saban said, "you can never have any team chemistry in your organization if everybody is not committed to the same thing." In the same talk, he perfectly described the 2007 necessity, "Get the right guys on the bus, get them in the right seats, and get the wrong guys off the bus."
In Game Two, Alabama beat Vanderbilt in Nashville, 24-10, in part because Alabama fans traveled to Nashville and out-numbered Vandy fans. The game again failed to satisfy Nick Saban.
In Game Three, it appeared a corner had been turned by the 2007 Crimson Tide. Arkansas came to Tuscaloosa ranked No. 16. The Tide rushed out to a 21-0 lead. Arkansas methodically came back led by its outstanding running back, Darren McFadden. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns gave Arkansas a lead. Alabama marched 73 yards in the final 2:13 for the win. The score came on Matt Caddell's ninth catch of the game, a leaping one on a short throw by John Parker Wilson to the back corner of Bryant-Denny's north endzone.