One year after losing to Utah in the Sugar Bowl, Nick Saban won his first national championship as Alabama’s football coach. The school built a statue of him, positioned at the entrance to the Crimson Tide’s stadium.
Everything that Saban and the Tide have gone on to do, including Monday’s appearance in their sixth national title game in nine seasons, continues to enhance what Utah achieved in the January 2009 Sugar Bowl. The Utes have displayed a banner outside Rice-Eccles Stadium, but the school needs something bigger and bolder to illustrate its role in the start of Alabama’s dynasty.