After this win, Saban is golden

TUSCALOOSA

Nick Saban wouldn't admit it publicly, so he let his feet do the talking - in private, of course.

He insisted the way that Alabama broke its six-season stumble in the Iron Bowl with a 36-0 pummeling of Auburn - the most lopsided loss for either school in the series since 1962 - meant nothing.

Then, Saban provided some true insight.

"I was happy and dancing in the locker room," Saban revealed at his post-game news conference. "There's a time and a place for everything. Mrs. Terry gave me a great big kiss coming up here. I was really happy about that."

It's OK. Let it out, Nick. What's not to be happy about with one of the greatest one-season turnarounds in modern football history?

Excuse the hyperbole, but that's what it is. It doesn't matter how many one-score losses the Crimson Tide had last year. This Alabama team is about as different as it gets from last season's group.

Saban has taken a group of quitters and molded them into a 12-0 team that tied the 1992 national championship team with most wins in a regular season with a beat-down of Auburn.

Honestly, is there any way Alabama even goes for a fourth-and-1 at the Auburn 41 last year, let alone convert it?

"Last year when we played this game, we were out of sorts. Emotionally, they were out of sorts," Saban said. "Our team was not that way (Saturday). They channeled their energy and their emotion into the right things, so they could play good football."

A prime example of that phenomenon: Alabama had one penalty for 4 yards against Auburn, and there's not another team around more prone to invoke unmitigated rage in Crimson Tide players. But the goal was the reward.

"To beat them the way we did is just special," QB John Parker Wilson said.

Of course, Saban never said so. He said he was proud, but also that his team "didn't play a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. We've got a lot to improve on."

C'mon coach. Put on your dancing shoes. You're golden.

Now, for those who care, I like my crow with a bottle of Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet barbecue sauce. After last season's Iron Bowl, this space questioned the $4 million a year investment in Saban. Turns out, I was as economically shortsighted as Alan Greenspan.

How differently things look a year later.

Right now, is there an Auburn fan out there who doesn't want Tommy Tuberville to go the way of Sylvester Croom?

Now, Tuberville seems like the one who will have to show some fancy footwork and slick talk.

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@timesdaily.com.