No. 24 Alabama thrashed No. 9 Clemson 34-10 in Atlanta Saturday night.

“Nobody can be satisfied with a one-game performance,” Saban said. “This will be a challenge for our team and it’ll be interesting to see how they respond.”

Still, as the Alabama band broke into Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” at the end, you had to wonder if they were honoring the Crimson Tide’s past, with 12 national titles and years of dominance in the Southeastern Conference under Bear Bryant, or gazing into the near future.

Tide QB John Parker Wilson was outstanding, throwing for 180 yards and two touchdowns on 22 of 30 passing. But Bama won this game by getting up early and completely taking away Clemson’s dynamic rushing attack. C.J. Spiller and James Davis came into the season as one of the best backfield tandems in the nation. But collectively they only rushed for 20 yards on eight carries. Outside of Spiller’s 96-yard kickoff return in the second half, the Tide owned the Tigers in every facet of the game.

Looks like Saban is turning around Alabama’s program in just a few short years while Clemson continues to underachieve under Tommy Bowden. Alabama is a very improved program, but this loss is rather devastating to a Clemson team that was supposed to have an outside shot at a BCS title appearance.