That was the Saban way. People acted like he killed everybody he coached against, but he had several close calls and near upsets along the way. They always had a turning point in the middle of the season where they got it together and started gaining momentum into the post season.
Wondering how this DeBoer team plays in adversity. They have been in a skid since that near disaster against UGA. Then the Vandy upset exposed them for playing sloppy. Finally you could argue they played worse against SCAR than Vandy because SCAR gave up one too many mistakes. You could argue they have gotten worse, not better like the Saban teams of old.