These are reflective times in the Alabama football orbit. A day short of Nick Saban’s one-year retirement anniversary, the heavy wake left by that departure is setting in.
Not a sudden light-bulb moment but one with an ever-increasing dimmer. No longer is the health of the dynasty a conversation.
Now, it’s more of a retrospective.
There’s room for appreciation for what that Saban era was, while recognizing the absurdity of the success makes that backside of it harder to digest.
Tonight, two teams from far outside of the Alabama ecosystem will face off in the Orange Bowl semifinal. Notre Dame and Penn State will meet for a spot in the first CFP national title game of the 12-team era, and that got me thinking.
What exactly was the peak of the Nick Saban empire?
Listeners of The Rewatchables podcast from The Ringer know this as the apex mountain debate.
No doubt, there’s room for debate.
But here’s mine.
It was Dec. 29, 2018 in Miami Gardens. Alabama had just undressed Oklahoma in the same (but different) Orange Bowl semifinal -- a 45-34 final score that wasn’t as close as the scoreboard would tell you.
