Turning of the Tide: How beating Clemson, Georgia launched Alabama’s dynasty - AL.com

10 years ago, Alabama entered the 2008 football season as a plucky underdog, a dark horse that some believed could provide a challenge to preseason top 10 opponents Clemson and Georgia. By mid-October of 2008, Alabama had shocked the college football world with a pair of stunning upsets. It was the last time Alabama football would take anybody by surprise in the Nick Saban Era.

Welcome to another edition of Turning of the Tide, in which AL.com’s Sports Video team brings you an in-depth look at Alabama’s 2008 football season and how it set the stage for the decade to come in college football. This documentary, which has been years in the making, features interviews with players, coaches and other key figures who witnessed the transformation of the Tide first hand.

In Part 1 of the series, we looked back at the arrival of Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa and how the coach’s first full recruiting class in February of 2008 transformed the program almost overnight. In Part 2, we take a look at the moment when the rest of America learned just how much Alabama football had changed since Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa as a pair of early games against top 10 opponents took Alabama from being a college football dark horse to a full-blown contender for the national championship.

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