ATLANTA — Eight years ago, Alabama Coach Nick Saban had a football program to resurrect. So when he was approached about kicking off the 2008 season, his second at Alabama, with an August game against Clemson in the Georgia Dome, Saban agreed almost immediately.
Saban’s first Alabama team had just finished a 7-6 campaign, and he acknowledged that the program was risking a flop by agreeing to play a top-10 opponent on a national stage. But to Saban, the rewards of the game trumped the risk.
Saban coveted both the momentum that could come from a season-opening win on national television as well as the recruiting visibility of playing in a major metropolitan area a few hours’ drive from Alabama’s campus in Tuscaloosa.