[Tuck4Bama]

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - If the mob scene upon his arrival at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport on Jan. 3 didn't clue him in, the 92, 000 fans at Alabama's spring football scrimmage drove home the point to Nick Saban: The Crimson Tide masses are ready to win again - now.

To them, Nick Saban arrived as the deliverer. He is to resurrect the championship mentality at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He is to rule Alabama football firmly, out of the reach of the fractious personalities that have racked the program with dysfunction for most of the past 25 years.

He is to deliver championships to the titlestarved Crimson Tide. If he is unable to do that, just like his four predecessors - with the exception of the 1999 SEC championship by Mike DuBose, who was fired the following season - he can scram.

When your employer skews the college football pay scale to lure you away from wealthy Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga, the demands are expected to be delivered in proportion to the dollars.

Saban knows exactly why he was pursued by desperate Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore, who signed him to a guaranteed $ 32 million over eight years after four nerveracking weeks of waiting for the Dolphins' season to end last winter.


"I understand the expectations, but I also understand what it takes to accomplish those things," Saban said during spring practice. "The process and procedure of what you have to do to get where you want to go. It just doesn't happen by waving a wand."

WholeHogSports.com - NO. 16 ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA : Extreme expectations

[Stoney]

ALABAMA 41 Arkansas 38 nuff said.