This will be a different Alabama team, players and coaches maintain.

Last year’s Crimson Tide, Nick Saban’s first, disappointed fans with losses in its last four regular season games, which included a deflating setback to Louisiana-Monroe.

That experience has led Saban to spend the offseason talking about finishing – both games and the season.

The lesson has sunk in, if you listen to Saban and the Tide players, but there’s no proof yet. Alabama’s first chance to prove itself is an early and difficult test: a match-up with preseason No. 9 Clemson at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

“We certainly had a good fall camp, a good summer,” Saban said at Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. “We like the attitude of the team we have now.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a good gauge on that playing a good Clemson team.”