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+---- Thread: *The Downfall of a Dynasty-Part One (/showthread.php?tid=24044)
*The Downfall of a Dynasty-Part One - ztarwarz - 07-22-2020
Since the dawn of professional football leagues, American Division One colleges have generally produced the best players. Sometimes players can come from other leagues, or other sports, or are just trying out a sport for the first time and turn out to be a natural, but most of the time, if you ask a player, they will have an Alma Mater.
However, one of the greatest football colleges ever has not won a title in 20 years, and has only produced 2 players, according to the ISFL Wiki Database of Players, who have even declared for the draft, much less done well enough to put Alabama on the map.
What happened? How did a dynasty that had senior classes who only lost a couple games throughout their entire time at college...suddenly turn into a wasteland of talent? Well, there are three major reasons why.
It starts with Nick Saban, who retired from coaching Football officially in 2030, but had long since lost his luster. 2019 is generally considered the first year that cracks started to appear in the Dynasty, as after his quarterback got injured, Alabama missed the BCS playoffs for the first time since their foundation. They were able to rebound in 2020 and get back to the playoffs, destroying everyone in their path on a revenge campaign, behind a revamped defensive line. Then they faced Utah in the Semifinals, and were smashed 45-17. Saban was furious and reportedly vowed that Alabama would be ranked 1 in the nation and prove to everyone their true strength. Unfortunately, this is where the troubles for Alabama truly began.
The 2021 Freshmen Class for Alabama was considered one of the greatest in history before they ever took the field. As such, Alabama regained a preseason rank of 1, which they lost after the 2019 season. Things seemed to go well. Alabama had a few close calls against LSU and Georgia, but they held on to wins, and to their #1 overall ranking. The troubles started the week before the Iron Bowl 2021. As per usual, the opponent was a relatively easy SEC opponent in order to get the stars rested for the powerhouse Auburn. Specifically, Tennessee. Tennessee seemed outmatched against the first team, but when the second team players started coming in, Tennessee returned to form and had one of the more improbable series of plays. If you could point to a single corner that spelled the end of the dynasty, the 3rd quarter, where Tennessee outscored Alabama 21-0 with 176 yards of offense and Alabama had less than 10 yards. Alabama lost, 35-24. They then lost to Auburn, 20-14, and went from 1 in the nation to out of the top 10 and out of the playoff hunt in 2 weeks.
Saban would resign from his job after the 2022 season, after a season with losses to LSU, Auburn, Georgia, and Texas A&M, with most of the 5 star now Sophomores turning out to be duds, and having fallen out of the top 25 rankings for the first time in years.
The rest of Saban's career would be spent trying to make it in the Pros again, this time in the ISFL. He joined the San Jose Sabercats, who had only made the playoffs once in the history of the league, and led them to 3 wins over 2 years before being fired. Without the massive scouting and talent advantage that Alabama had over the rest of the competition, Saban looked lost. After a couple years taking a break, Saban returned to coach the Arizona Outlaws to 5-9 and 2-12 records, before being run out of town and retiring in disgrace from professional football.
(613 words)
Also, Post Script: This idea came about due to me wanting to write a timeline where Alabama became a laughingstock and noticing that there were only 2 players on the wiki who were in the Alabama Alumni section. I hope you enjoyed.
*The Downfall of a Dynasty-Part One - KoltClassic - 07-22-2020
Seeing media history with worldbuilding like this is an awesome part of the league, great work.
*The Downfall of a Dynasty-Part One - retrospace111 - 07-23-2020
outlaws suck
