Saban had 18 returning starters 9 on offense and 5 on defense and 4 on special teams. Saban had all 3 qb's and all o-line return plus all American Andre Smith at LT. He also had DJ Hall that broke all Bama receiving records the year before. With all this Saban still lost to UGA, FSU, LSU, MSU, LA Monroe an AUB. he also run off most of this team within two years and the results are what they are. He had a plan to out recruit and out athlete every team in the SEC, that's Kirby's plan and probably the only thing he knows about coaching overall. Saban had a tough time getting his first team to play tough hardnosed physical football, Kirby has that same issue with less talent.