Bama's 13th regular season game is over and Bama ended the season with an incredible 10-3 mark with losses to Oklahoma, Georgia, and that other school - Auburn. We had some impressive wins over the season including UT and Arkansas early on. The Tide went undefeated on the road as well. Now, Bama went to Hawaii and showed the nation what great defense can do for your team. In the end, the #3 defense dominated the #3 offense. Here's how it went down - and I'll make this VERY QUICK since I'm dealing with the Coach Fran crap as I write this...

OFFENSE - The offense was merely average at best. We kept running the option and weren't successful for most of the day except on 3rd down. Shaud just proves game in and game out that HE is the man for our offense. He can run, he can catch, he can block - he does it all, and he has got some major speed. Beard just couldn't get it together the entire day. He did WAY too much dancing behind the line and got pretty much nothing. He broke a few plays, but he just has no consistancy, except that he didn't go forward for most of the game. Hopefully he'll improve that next year.

Tyler had an OK game for his last game of his Bama career. It's been a wild and crazy ride for Watts as injuries have plagued most of his Bama days while also having to share time and fight his way through Andrew Zow. Expectations were high and he didn't really perform like he was expected until the 5 game run Bama had in the 2nd half of the season. At times he looked unstoppable - at others (Auburn/Hawaii), he just didn't look comfortable back there. But I'm glad he finished the season at Hawaii, and I couldn't be prouder of a QB. He really IS a gutsy player who has given EVERYTHING he had to the University of Alabama.

Also, the TE/OL played well, allowing the RB's and Tyler to get the needed yards to keep Hawaii offense off the field for most of the game. The WR's played well though they didn't get a lot of catches on the day. With the running game going as well as it did, there wasn't much of a reason to air it out. But they did pretty well. Overall on offense, they played average and also Beard coughed it up once. That sucked. Good thing we got that last TD or the results could have very well been different. In the end, we just couldn't stop those guys. Congratulations offense - you guys finished #1 in total offense in the SEC for the first time in a long time... ROLL TIDE!
GRADE: B-

DEFENSE - The defense played about as good a game as one could ask. They played VERY tough early and held Hawaii to about 100 yards in the 1st half. Remember, this offense averaged over 500 yards per game. They were held under 400 yards. Bama also recorded a record high 5 interceptions on the year, one of which came from Herchel Bolden - so he finished his Bama career with 2 int's. Peprah also got one. But they played their hearts out and pretty much dominated Hawaii even though Hawaii got a ton of yards in the air. But when that's ALL you do is throw the ball, you're going to pile up a ton of yards. They only ran the ball a handful of times, so all their yards come thru the air. But they did great forcing about 5 turnovers and sacking Little Timmy 4 times. INCREDIBLE when you figure that Hawaii has only allowed 8 sacks on the year and we increase that amount by 50%.

So the defense did their job - they held the Warriors to just 16 points, an offense that averaged close to 40 on the season. Turnovers, sacks, good tackling - they did it all and on the most part, played very well. Great job guys. You finished #1 in the SEC in total defense - the first time since 1992 if I'm not mistaken. ROLL TIDE!
GRADE: A

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams, well, that's a different story. Tackling on kickoffs was totally atrocious. 50 yard kickoff return and a 62 kickoff return. How does that crap happen? Can we not cover at all on kickoffs? Then on the pooch kick, they only get to the 37, but then a 15 yard personal foul penalty put them back at mid-field. I'm just glad special teams for this year is over. I'm ready for some much needed improvement here.

Also, FG kicking is probably the worst this year than I've ever seen at Bama. Missing consecutive FG's inside the 40 is just, well, it doesn't need to happen. Kyle will be back next year, but I'm sure it will be much like this year with the team having tryouts to see who can kick the best. Obviously, kickers are VERY important to the team and provide (usually) most of the scoring - isn't it about time we got a GOOD H.S. kicker on our squad?

On punt coverage, we actually played well. Only a couple of times did the Hawaii punt returner get some yardage, and then, he only got under 10 yards or so.

And what can you say about Lane Bearden. He made his final punt of the year, and honestly, he looked great. Does he REALLY need surgery? ha ha He has just played lights out even without considering his torn ACL. He is definitely one of the best leaders on this team, and I'm proud to have seen him play. He has got to be one of THE toughest football players ever to play the game. Period.

But back to the special teams unit as a whole - good points and bad points... with bad overshadowing the good - after all, we lost a possible 6 points that could have been the difference in the game - we have to improve next year guys.
GRADE: C-

OVERALL - Overall, we won the game. The defense played lights out for the most part. The offense sputtered, but put 21 points on the board. They did just enough to win which is what you want to do. It wasn't pretty, but even Gene Stallings would take this ugly win, mainly because we won with defense. Fraud, er, Fran made some good calls (fake FG) and some questionable calls (possibly too much option), but the important thing is that we won and no one on the Bama team got hurt. All I have to say is - take OU off the schedule next year and bring on Texas A&M. I'd like to see the current players respond to how they were treated. :) ROLL TIDE! Great season, Tide! 10-3. I'll take that any year, especially when you consider the circumstances...
GRADE: B

#9 BAMA 7 - AUBURN 17

Ok, this week, I'm running a bit late since I am having to travel a bit and prepare for Thanksgiving. I'm in Memphis now and things are busy so I'm going to make this short - not that it needs to be long. We all saw that Bama didn't show up, so there's not too much more to it....

OFFENSE - The offense was non-existant. When it did show a spark or flare, offensive penalties would stop the drive or make it 3rd and impossible and we could never get into "the zone". We had one drive which came off a defensive turnover and we did get 7 off it, scoring in the redzone for the umpteenth consecutive time. We have been good at that.

But other than that, I can see why the coaches didn't give out an offensive player of the week award - there just weren't any. The #9 team in America played like it was #99 on offense. Definitely not the team we have seen all year, even against UGA and OU, which were 2 losses. We didn't execute, and when we did, we got a penalty. That pretty much sums it up on offense. Crappy day, crappy score. When the other team (at least the opponents Bama plays) only scores 17 points, usually, that's enough for a win. This day, it wasn't - as Bama scored the fewest points all season and the only other game besides Vanderbilt (last season) when we didn't score at least 2 Touchdowns. It was just an embarassing offensive showing. Better improve next week because Hawaii is going to score some points.. this week, the offense just sucked, period.
GRADE: F

DEFENSE - The defense actually played a decent game, but mostly from the 2nd quarter to the end. I mean, yardage-wise, we held Auburn to a season low 298 yards total offense (they average over 400 ypg), and only held them to 17 points. You would THINK that that would be enough for our offense to overcome, but it wasn't. We needed to hold them to less than 7 points obviously.

I'll say this - they buckled down after Auburn got 17 points early on. The defense gave the offense PLENTY of chances to get back in the game, but we just couldn't solve the Auburn defense - or was it just poor execution on offense on our part. Either way, we didn't get it done - but I will give the D credit - they made adjustments and actually played well after Auburn scored their only points of the game. Other than that, it was a less than average showing by the D, but one that shouldn't have gone wasted on the day. Bottom line is that they played well enough that we should have won the game.
GRADE: B+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams did ok and didn't really do anything to cost us the game, or help us win the game. We were VERY fortunate to have the opening kickoff return called back on an Auburn penalty. Otherwise, that could have been another 3 or 7 points added to the final score - who knows? But regardless, they didn't do bad - Lane did great again, and we were a whopping 1 of 1 on extra point tries. woo hoo.
GRADE: A

OVERALL - Overall, most people just say we sucked Saturday. But most of the blame can really go to the offense for not executing the offense we have run all year long and been so successful at. What happened Saturday was just unbelievable. After what we have done to team ON THE ROAD, and then we come to our own home turf and lose the way we did - what do you say to that? Everyone in the country was stunned over this one. Bama had been playing some of the best football in the country. We just don't know what happened. This makes the last 4 Iron Bowls won by the visiting team. Next year, how can you not favor Alabama? The game is already circled on Fran's calendar next year... look for a different result next year. So overall, you average it all together and get... well... it's not the average. We lost. It's the team that lost. Hopefully parts of the team will do better next week... Roll Tide.
GRADE: D+

#10 BAMA 31 - #14 L.S.U. 0

I know - I know... I'm a little late this week getting this done. Get over it. ha ha

Anyway, the battle in the bayou is over and man, oh man, did the Tide roll or what??? Talk about a MAJOR woodshed beating in your own backyard. Dang, man. And against the nation's "#1 defense". I guess they are way overrated, huh? Well, let's take a look at the shellacking that Bama put on LSU and how good we looked doing it... ROLL TIDE!

OFFENSE - The offense did it's job Saturday putting up 31 points, it's average on the year. All that had to happen was for BAma's defense to show up - and that they did. Bama started out slow on offense, as did LSU (well, LSU was actually slow the whole game), but things started happening at the end of the 1st half. Tyler chalked up an interception after 194 straight plays without a turnover - I guess we were due, right? After reviewing the film, if Tyler had just not thrown the ball as far, it would have hit the TE right in the numbers - and the score would be 7-0 at that point. Instead, LSU took over at the 20, then eventually punted - which they did very well Saturday.

But other than that turnover, you couldn't really find a lot wrong with the Tide on offense except a few penalties we STILL must correct. Little did anyone know that Bama would put up 477 yards of offense against a defense that was only allowing under 250 per game. Of course, in the last 5 games, teams have put more and more yards on the Tigers each week, thus killing their #1 defensive status. In those 477 yards, Shaud Williams and Santonio Beard both chalked up more than 100 yards on the ground... then top it off with Sam Collins being the feature WR of the week (Sorry Triandos!), and what do you get - 31-0. Period.

Bama just couldn't be stopped. Stupid draw is what they'll be ready for, so let's not run it until we have to run out the clock - heck - wait a minute - this thing seems to be working. Run it again, and again and again. Whoaaaa Nellieeee - Touchdown Alabama. 14-0 at the half. Talk about your long 96-yd drive that uses all running plays and a couple of passing plays to stop the clock. And check this out - in that whole drive, we had one timeout left - which we never even used. Freaky, huh? All that time, we're keeping that time out for a FG, and we end up not even using it. We cash it in for 6 instead.

Give LSU credit though - they did their best, but when a team keeps a defense on the field for most of the game, don't expect a lot of miracles. Bama just kept pounding and pounding and pounding LSU on the ground... then when they couldn't take it anymore, Bama just aired it out. No matter what LSU came at us with (roles seem to be reversed from last year, huh?), Bama just worked around it.

And also, the big play man - Zach Fletcher - caught another big pass for a TD. He's got a knack of making big plays ... thing is, that's the only types of plays he makes. Forget those short passes - he goes for the gusto as his per catch average is almost 34 yards per catch. He only has 5 catches all year and 2 of those are for touchdowns. Coaches say he has made big plays, but some of his other skills are behind the other players. Well, when this kid gets those other skills in tune with the skills he presently has, people, watch out. He's definitely going to be a huge weapon next year.

I guess that's about it for offense. No major complaints about the offense. We played against the #1 defense in the country and cut through them like jello. Makes you wonder how in the CRAP we lost to OU and UGA. <...shaking head...> Well, Bama finally committed a turnover, but I can't complain about how we came back after the turnover to totally dominate the game. Great job guys. We'll need a couple more performances just like that for Auburn and Hawaii. Roll Tide.
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - Well, as in my prediction, something had to give - and it was NOT the Alabama defense. The Bama defense didn't GIVE up even one point in the game to the LSU tigers. Instead, Bama made a point to LSU that the Tide had the best defense in the country - and that - Bama did. LSU actually had over 200 yards of offense until the last LSU drive when Rick Clausen (yeah, Casey's younger brother) took a couple of sacks late in the 4th quarter. Those sacks actually knocked LSU under 200 yards - 196 to be exact. What do you do when a team pretty much just shuts you down? You can't run - you can't pass. What do you do. Give up? Might as well. Bama gave up a more-than-normal amount of yards on the ground (131), but had one of the, if not THE, best pass defense on the year - a million miles difference from last year's 611 yard pummeling. Only 65 yards were given up thru the air this year on 9 completed passes. All of a sudden, LSU is looking like Vanderbilt, completing a mere 9 passes the entire game. Of course, Bama only completed 11 passes, but the way we were running the ball, we didn't have to throw much.

Anyway, it all started at the beginning of the game when Bama stalled an LSU drive to set up a missed FG try. Later, Bama would recover a couple of fumbles and pretty much shut down every aspect of the LSU offense. LSU's biggest play came off of special teams when LSU ran a fake punt 29 yards up the middle... only to give it up the very next play. So every time LSU got into scoring territory, the Tide defense got the ball back for the Alabama offense. LSU just didn't have a chance as we started up a new streak for wins in Baton Rouge. I can just see it now - LSU hasn't beaten Alabama in Baton Rouge since 2000... this reading on a newspaper in 2030, the same time span Bama kept rolling to end the 20th century. Bama hadn't lost prior to 2000 since 1969. 30 years. And now, people, you have now witnessed the first of the next big streak. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! :)

Check this out as well... the Bama defense forced the Tigers into three consecutive three-and-outs and limited LSU to just 51 yards of offense in the 2nd quarter. The 3rd quarter was no better for LSU, as Alabama limited the Tigers to 50 yards. 50 yards, people! LSU's offense completely unraveled in the 4th quarter, amassing just 16 yards of offense. The Tigers had just 3 possessions in the quarter and went 3-and-out on 2 of them. LSU's other possession resulted in a fumble at the Alabama 30. The Tide's Anthony Bryant covered that fumble. Alabama's defense dominated LSU in every facet of the game, period. LSU was 3-of-13 on third-down conversions for the game. Bama limited LSU quarterbacks to 9-of-23 passing for 65 yards (94 yards below its average). The Tide defense held the conference's 3rd best rushing attack to 131 yards (80 yards below its average). Are you getting all this??? Basically, a 1992 defensive beating. Nothing less. The 1992 defense would definitely be proud of this group, as we all are. When you look at how far we've come since last year, man, oh man. Can you say 'Whoa Nellieeeee'?

Well, you can't really ask for much more than that. You keep the defending SEC Champions of 2001 under 200 yards and shut them out in their own stadium. Defensive show for Bama. One that will be hard to match in the future as this was the most complete defensive game I've ever seen the Tide play. ROLL TIDE.
GRADE: A+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams had some flaws Saturday, but when looking at the overall performance, it's hard to criticize anyone... but let me try, ok? There were some great highlights and some not-so-great highlights on the day. Some good points are the long FG try by Kyle Robinson (46 yards), good punts, good kickoffs, good punt coverage.... and not-so-great were missed PAT by K.R., a busted fake punt by LSU which gained 29 yards and a 1st down. Also, a long return on a kickoff by LSU - lucky for us there was a penalty. Not too much else. A few mental lapses didn't kill us, but they didn't help either. Kyle Robinson just amazes me - he hooks all of his extra points on the night, misses one, but makes a 46 yard field goal. I don't understand - and neither did the ESPN announcers. I guess coach really does have faith in his little kicker. He'll be the starting kicker for the Iron Bowl as well. Other than these points, it was an average day at the office for special teams. We just need to be on our toes a little more. Lane Bearden did another great job punting the ball, as almost every kick, LSU couldn't jack with it. Great job, guys. Clean it up though...
GRADE: B+

OVERALL - Overall, THE best game of the year by far, for the Crimson Tide. A couple of mistakes here and there, but in the end, we scored 31. LSU scored nothing. Now when you think about it - think about this - we scored 31 points. LSU didn't score even one point. 31 ain't too bad - we score that on average... but when the defense gets a shutout at the same time, DO YOU REALIZE THAT WE WON BY MORE THAN 4 FREAKIN' TOUCHDOWNS??? Usually when that happens, you have to score in the 50's because the other team will normally get 14 points or so. But if you had told ANYONE before the game that Bama would win by even 3 TD's, you would have said they were crazy. But over 4 TD's? Talk about total domination. That's just something you don't realize because we're not used to shutting out other teams. It's hard to do in college football, especially against good teams - teams that won the SEC just a year ago. Heck, even North Texas and Vanderbilt scored on us earlier this year. What does that say about LSU??? ha ha ha ha ha ha Excuse me while I laugh a little more... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Now on to some really cool news... Alabama now leads the SEC in both offense and defense. Period. When was the last time Bama led both categories EVER??? I don't have a clue. It's been a while though... Bama also leads the conference in scoring defense, rushing defense and time of possession. The Tide is 2nd in the league in rushing offense, pass defense efficiency, red zone defense and turnover margin. Is the Tide bad at ANYTHING I ask??? Well, Bama DOES rank near the bottom of one category - kickoff return yards allowed. Yeah, that kickoff return for a TD against UT didn't help those stats either. But that's the one phase of the game that we need to work on. Lucky for us, we have done well the last few weeks in this area... that's our main weakness.

Now as for revenge games for last year, Ole Miss, UT, and LSU have now been paid back for last year's crap games. And not even in lucky fashion. The Tide has not even trailed in any of those games and has won by a combined score of 107-21. People - that is just scary. The only other games Bama lost were to UCLA and South Carolina, teams Bama didn't play this year. But don't worry - we'll get South Carolina before too long - about 3 years from now, I believe.

But back to LSU, the coaching staff just seems to amaze everyone week in and week out. Each week, a new game plan is made, and each week, a more convincing win is displayed on the football field. It will be VERY hard to out-do last week's results, but definitely possible as Auburn is hobbling along in the SEC with 3 broken legs and a knub. But overall, THE most convincing win Bama has won against a formidable opponent in a very long time. And with Coach Fran here TO STAY, by the way, we can look forward to more of these types of games in the future. It took a while to get the offense going, but after it went, LSU went away. Enough said. The Tide Rolls again......
OVERALL: A+

#11 BAMA 28 - MISSISSIPPI STATE 14

Bama is now 8-2 on the season. Doesn't get much better than this... unless we'da beaten UGA and/or OU. But regardless, the Tide is rolling and is now 12-2 in our last 14 games. Now comes a huge test this coming weekend with LSU looming... but before I make this week's prediction on the LSU game, let's talk about the MSU game, what went right for us and what didn't.... Also, I was unable to SEE the game, so everything I write today will be based on what I heard via the net (Eli Gold) and read afterwards...so enjoy...

OFFENSE - The offense started out like a well-oiled machine as we scored on the 1st three drives of the day, which produced 3 TD's. Tyler Watts just couldn't be stopped for the most part. When he wasn't running, he was passing completions... when he didn't pass, he running the ball. It was just a pretty good first half of play. 3 drives for touchdowns, a 3-and-out, then a missed FG to end the half. The 2nd half, not much of jack squat. One TD that pretty much put the game away. But thanks to the defense for holding the MSU offense to no points on the 2nd half.

But back to the offense, they played well - Triandos Luke has another huge game for the Tide and may be coming into his own finally. Two 100+ yard games in a row and he seems to be the go-to guy at this point of the season though it seems to be someone new each week. For some reason, Watts likes Luke and Croyle likes Fulgham. They say it's what the defense is giving them, but it IS rather odd how each receiver gets the ball a bit more than others when certain QB's are in the game.

At the RB position, Williams and Beard had decent days as well - nothing spectacular though. Hudson had perhaps the best with a huge grab for a TD. He was also injured in the game and his status is unknown for upcoming games. The OL seemed to do a good job on the day as well from what I could tell. But what more can I say except we had WAAAAAAAAAY too many false start and/or holding penalties - I think something like 6 holding penalties. Bringing back big play after big play is not going to help this team. Let's not revert back to the days of Middle Tennessee State where we tried to break school records for penalty yards. 121 yards of penalties isn't going to win you many games against good teams. Good thing for us MSU wasn't a really good team or we may have gotten out butts whipped at home. Clean up the penalties that cause the game to really get out of rhythm in the 2nd half and this offense might do something....
GRADE: A-

DEFENSE - The defense played a heckuva game, but it was mostly a game of halves... opposite the offense. And when the defense needed to step it up the most, it did as MSU stopped 2 drives in the red zone and held MSU out of the end zone on 2 4th down plays to keep the bulldogs scoreless the 2nd half.

In the first half, they couldn't stop jack squat as each of the 1st 3 drives, MSU scored points. 1 TD w/2-pt conversion and 2 FG's. Of course, it helped that the offense scored on its first 3 possessions as well, but turned in 3 TD's instead of any FG's. Overall a good day, but again on this side of the ball - too many penalties. We have to be careful of this. It cost us 1/2 of a drive that MSU scored on in the 1st half. Clean it up guys, or we're looking at last year's LSU game all over again - well, maybe not THAT bad...
GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams really gives mixed emotions. Everything went well with special teams except 2 botched punts - one that was blocked, and another that forced an incomplete pass by Lane Bearden. Weird how Sherrill said all week how he found a weakness, yet we didn't do anything about it. What's the problem with out coaches there? Did we NOT get the message loud and clear? I know I did. Robinson also missed a long FG to end the 1st half, but that's understandable when you try a 54-yarder. Anyway, we had some good runbacks on returns, but I believe we had (as usual in this game) so costly penalties that cost us some decent runbacks. Clean it up.
GRADE: A-

OVERALL - Can you tell I didn't SEE the game this week. Just not much to talk about other than penalties that need to be CLEANED UP. That's the sign of an undiciplined team - a lot of penalties where the Tide is the 3rd worst penalized team in the conference. Of all coaches, you'd think Fran would be one coach that would keep that stat from getting so bad. Are our players really that "dumb". I mean, offsides, false starts - pre-snap penalties - there is just NO excuse for ANY of those calls in a game. How hard is it to watch the ball or just pay attention in the huddle??? Clean is up guys.... Coach should clean it up too as he also got a penalty though probably not deserved. But it DID happen and we should think about how we act in future games.

Maybe next week, I'll have a better take on the game. It'll be televised, so I'm thinking I will. But it looks like our main problem is the penalty bug and playing consistant offense the entire game. I know you don't score on every drive, but when you practically get shut down for an entire half, you know you're doing something wrong though the score CAN decide on which plays you run. Late in the game and up by 2 TD's, it's definitely understandable if you run running plays to keep the clock moving... but we need to do a better job blocking and picking up those 1st downs so we can maintain possession and continue to score, even late in the game. We did this in the 2nd half of the OU game - so we should definitely be doing it now.

Keep up the good work, but basically, JUST CLEAN IT UP. Period. 8-2 and counting - great job, Tide.
GRADE: A-

#12 BAMA 30 - VANDERBILT 8

Well, we came, we saw, we left. We just plain 'took care of business', as Coach Fran put it. And he's right. That's all we seem to be doing lately is just taking care of our business one game at a time no matter who the opponent. Of course, Vandy is no UT, Georgia, or Florida, but we approached it just the same. Let's reflect back on Saturday and see what happened... besides the fact that it was another beating by the Alabama Crimson Tide.

OFFENSE - The offense played a great game, but DID start out a little flat in the 1st half as we could only punch the ball in the end zone one time. We did manage a couple of FGs to pad the score a little at the break though. But in the 2nd half, Bama regained a little of it's old form scoring 2 more TD's and a FG to put it away. One great thing we did Saturday besides score right at our per game average, was we didn't turn the ball over - not even once. That's the kind of Bama ball I like to play. Don't give them any hope of coming back during the game. If they are gonna get the ball, it's going to be from us punting, which we did 5 times. Watts turned it around this week statwise and completed 15-21 for 176 yards and Brodie chipped in, mostly at the end of the game, for 5-9 for 94 yards including a 41 yard strike to Dre Fulgham for a TD.

Another good sign that the offense was clicking was the time of possession stat. Bama held on to the ball over 36 minutes - that's 13 minutes longer than Vandy. In football time, that's incredible. Bama ranks #1 in the SEC in time of possession and it showed Saturday.

One other VERY wacky stat of importance is the fact that Bama has an offense good enough to be the BEST IN THE SEC!! When I say best, I'm speaking of total offense. We roll up more yards per game than any other team in the conference. Fran has definitely brought 'offense' to the Capstone this year. Maybe it's because a normal high-powered UF offense is sputtering this year - or that UT is also down and out, but regardless, Bama is on top. Most people don't even know that, but when you look at all the games we've played, Bama is averaging over 400 yards per game! I remember the days when we would gain 200 yards, but our defense got us through it. Now we have a great offense AND a great defense. Dang if it weren't for that post-season ban, MAN, we'd be headed for a BCS bowl, at least if we keep our winning ways. At this rate, we'll end up 11-2.

Anyway, I somehow swerved off the road, so let's get back on track. Back on offense, the OL did their job as usual, giving lots of running room for Watts and Williams. For some reason Beard just didn't have his good stuff on Saturday, gaining 7 yards on 8 carries. You could tell he just wasn't hitting the hole like he should. He stutter-stepped way to much and danced behind the line. Just hit the hole and go, buddy. That's how you pick up positive yardage. Check out Shaud Williams on how to hit the hole - he bursts thru there like a dart!

On the WR scene, all the guys did great. Luke, the guy who I have said should be our go-to guy all season, finally got in the action and caught 9 balls for 102 yards. He's the first WR to catch for over 100 yards since Freddie and A.C. did it in '01 in the first game of the season - UCLA. That's just TOOO long to wait for a WR to have good game like that. Who knows if we'll see another 100-yd game from a WR this year though - the way we're spreading the ball around, I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. Seems like a different guy is "the man" each and every week. One week, it's Luke, next week it's Shaud, then the next week it's Tyler, then Beard... you get the idea. A bunch of guys just working as a team.

Last on offense, how about that quick 2-play drive where Croyle and Fulgham stole the show? 2 plays, Croyle to Fulgham, Croyle to Fulgham - BOMM DADDY. Touchdown. Take that Vandy. Just when that gleam grew a little dim, we put it out completely. Fran don't waste time does he? At that point, I was thinking run the ball, run the clock.... Fran's thinking, throw the ball and put it away - just business as usual. Great job Tide. Balanced attack, great ball control, a few sputtered drives, but that happens to everybody. BUT, work on cutting back on penalties. You thought I forgot, huh? Naw. Pay attention and stop holding. That's not helping the cause.
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - The Bama Defense is becoming one of the, if not THE, best defenses in the country. And don't blame the schedule as Bama has played a Top 10 ranked schedule. Bama has just shut down teams and not allowed them back in, well, for the most part. After a stifling defensive outing on Saturday, Bama cut their ypg average down from 260 ypg to 249 ypg, which is good enough for 2nd best defense in the country. Only LSU has a better rating, and that could be in jeopardy this weekend as the Bengals take on the Kentucky wildcats, who are one of the more potent offenses in the conference.... yeah, Bama's #1 in that category.

Anyway, the DL was all over Stricker and he only completed 7 passes the entire game - only one pass was complete the first half. When have we EVER caused such poor statistics?? That is totally awesome. If you told me that Vandy would only catch 7 passes the entire game, I would have told you to stick your head in a horse's butt. That's the lowest total of completed passes since 10/3/98 for Vandy, something I'm sure they want to forget.

Other tidbits of information that you may or may not read about - Vandy had 7 out of 11 drives that went 3 plays (or less) and out. Can you say domination?? Bama only had 2 missed tackles. It appears that the coaching staff is FINALLY getting these guys to tackle. Remember the days when guys were bouncing around in our 2ndary and our guys were slapping them with their arms while the opposition danced to the end zone? See ya! Those days seem to be history as the Tide is getting back to basics and playing solid and very sound football. Also, the defense has only allowed a mere 3 TD passes in the last 6 games. Incredible. I guess our secondary isn't as bad as we thought - it's now a definite strength of the team. One stat that's just too baffling - the Tide has ONLY allowed more than 1 TD in the last 6 games. So basically you score your one touchdown of the game and you're through... that is, unless you want to return a TD on a PR, KO, or turnover. But the D says it right now - you ain't gonna score on us but once or none. Period. The defense speaks for itself. This is the last defense I'd want to play against... turovers, tenatious DL, punishing LBs, secondary that is picking off passes left and right. Don't mess with this group. They are ONE mean SOB.
GRADE: A+ SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams did a good job Saturday... just doing their job. Bearden played in yet another game punting the football for an average of 39 ypp. He also resumed holding duties for Sam Collins. Seems like that could have made the difference in the kicking game Saturday as Kyle Robinson made all of his PAT's and FG's on the day - 36, 22, and 42. Kickoff coverage seems to be 'ok' and punt return coverage is better than ok. Things look well here and we didn't do anything stupid that would give Vandy a chance to get back in the game. Kyle gave us 12 points, something people don't realize. Take that away, and Bama scores 18 points. Yeah, special teams was big. They made the score LOOK correct. Let's not take these guys for granted. It could have been closer. Great job.
GRADE:A OVERALL - On the whole, Bama looked like a team that just couldn't be beaten Saturday, but then again, we have looked like that the last few weeks. In the 50 year schedule that we have plaed Vandy, this was the last year since the SEC will swap out 2 teams every 2 years instead of one. Bama plays UT every year, so Vandy goes bye-bye. But in that 50 year period, the Tide was 44-3-3. Did Vandy REALLY have a chance Saturday? Naw. Bama is just playing football like Bama SHOULD play football

Also, did you know that in our last 3 games, Bama has outscored the opponent 106-29. That's like winning 35-10 in each game! So we're scoring 5 TD's worth of points and the defense is only allowing a TD and a FG. How do you beat a team with stats like that? You catch us on a bad day... but the way Fran is preparing this team, I don't know if we'll have a really bad day anytime soon. I'd just like to congradulate our team and coaches for the great work they have done this year. Only a handful of plays separate us from a 9-0 season and a 7-2 season. Also, looking back into last season, the Tide is now 11-2 in their last 13 games, and have won 4 SEC road games in a row, something the Tide hasn't done since 1999 when the Tide won their last SEC Championship. If this year is any sign of what's ahead for the Tide, the SEC better watch out - we could make a serious run for many more SEC and National Championships. Fran is the man. Period. Great job, Tide.
GRADE: A+

#19 BAMA 34 - #16 TENNESSEE 14

THE STREAK IS OVER! THE STREAK IS OVER! Thank goodness the dadgum streak is over!! We haven't won a game against Tennessee since my last year in college. Maybe I should have stayed there instead of coming to Dallas, TX. We never lost to them while I was in school. Well, now Bama has started a new streak - one game and counting. Isn't that the way it works? It DOES seem like the power shift in the SEC is starting to happen. I feel that Dennis Franchione is slowly getting Bama where we used to be, and now Bama is one of the teams nobody really wants to play. And rightly so - Bama is probably THE best team in the SEC, no disrespect to Georgia. Though in the next 3-4 years, it's going to be rough if we don't recruit THE very best players out there. Not every single recruit ends up being an impact player, so for the recruits we DO get, they all need to be impact players and then we'll be fine. But if not, it's gonna be tough, especially next year as we lose a LOT of seniors, and most importantly, our entire starting defensive line. But that's a story for another day. Let's take a look at the (shall I say it?) woodshed beating Bama shallacked onto the ex-#16 team in the country - UT. Before I begin, I just want to say that IT'S A GOOD THING THAT CASEY CLAUSEN DID GET TO PLAY AGAINST ALABAMA - OR TENNESSEE WOULD HAVE LOST BY MORE THAN 20......

OFFENSE - The offense started out slow. For the 2nd time this season, Bama didn't score on the opening drive. That's ok, because at least we scored first, a touchdown at that. That really set the stage for the rest of the game. Bama would score and never really look back. Tyler Watts got the start after going down in the Ole Miss game. Apparently, his injury is going along well and he's mandatorily sidelined. During the game though, Watts didn't do too much in the air, but he did show his leadership at the end of the game capping off an 8+ minute drive with no pass plays and still scoring on the drive. He also scored on a 1 or 2 yard scamper to end a Croyle drive down to that spot.

It was just a pretty imprssive day for the Tide, but the score could have been much worse. Plenty of penalties killed some of the Tide momentum at times. I will say this - Brodie WAS down and Beard WAS down on 'the play'. You saw it, I saw it, the whole world saw it. Even anyone totally biased for Alabama knows we got away with 2 there. But hey - we only got 3 points out of it, and who's to say the very next play, had Brodie been sacked, that we don't convert the next down and score a TD eventually. It just changes the whole thinking of the game and which plays you run. In any case, the way Bama was playing combined with the way UT was playing suggests that UT would have lost anyway. Bama was just playing too good not to win. So eat your Wheaties and come out to play again next week. We've had our fair share of bad calls in the past too, so I ain't feelin' sorry for NOBODY, thank you.

Next, the RB's did a great job, especially Santonio Beard. Combine him with Shaud Williams and you might have the best duo RB in the SEC. Then add Ray Hudson in the mix, and heck, you have fresh legs the entire game and each one gives you something a little different. And each one played a huge role in getting the Tide up and down the field. It's no wonder teams have so much trouble stopping the Tide. It's like, who's gonna make the next big play - it could be anyone. That takes me to the WR's.

They all did a SUPER job against UT. Numerous times we had 2nd and long and 3rd and long and we just took it to them. One game, it's Dre Fulgham, next game it's Sam Collins, next game it's Zack Fletcher, and one game it was Triandos Luke. You just never know who it's gonna be next and that's why our team is sooo hard to defend. And once you cover those guys, then you get a dose of Shaud, Santonio, or Ray. Next thing you know, you're in the hole 14-0 and wondering what happened to home-field advantage.

Lastly, the offensive line did a great job. Anytime you rush for the yards we did, 172, you know you're doing something right. And THIS time, we didn't sit on the ball in the 4th quarter like we did against Georgia. Instead we did what GREAT football teams do - you play the game down to the last minute. We didn't go pass happy - we just played ball-control offense and ran it down their throats. No lead is safe in this league and not until the last 2:00 of the game did I even feel secure - though our defense gave me a ton of assurance even before that.

What can you say? The offense did a great job and deserve a gold medal for their performance Saturday. It wasn't the best showing ever by a Bama team, but it was PLENTY to beat the UT vols on their own home turf. We did throw an int, which was tipped and we also lost a fumble made by Sam Collins. We just need to hold on to the ball a little better. Getting one more yard after you have already made the first down isn't going to hurt ya much - just go down. You risk less injuries and less turnovers cuz you know those guys are gonna be swiping at the ball every chance they can get.... and that's exactly what happened. So take into account some dead-end drives, and a couple of turnovers and still scoring 34 points (though pretty much 14 of those were from the defense) gets you a good grade for the week. Hey - you helped end the streak - it's about time, Bama!
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - Son, the defense came to play Saturday. It wasn't the most dominating appearance all year, but it was definitely good enough. The Bama D held the UT rushing offense to a mere 59 yards. UT only got 163 yards in the air. That's 220 yards of total offense for the #16 team in America, and long-time rival. Not to mention we got 6 turnovers in the game. The last time that happened was in 1995 I believe, when we played at Georgia and beat them 31-0 in Athens. It's very hard to win when you commit that many turnovers. Gameball goes to the entire 2ndary, each of which contributed in a turnover, and the Defensive line for pressuring Clausen all day long. The Bama D was just relentless for the entire 60 minutes of the game. Dixon picked up a fumble to score the first TD of the game, Bacon later tipped a pass at the line to allow Childress to intercept the pass and return for some decent yardage, Charles Jones picked off a pass in the end zone, and dang if Charlie Peprah didn't get his 2nd interception of the year, and was within a hair of taking it back the distance. Instead, he was down at about the 1-yd line. I thought he was in, but it's ok... just give it to Santonio and he'll punch it in for his 2nd score of the day. It's clear that Bama is finally becoming a team that is learning how to close games a lot better. Look at scores in the games we have won this year, and you'll see that they weren't really even close. The only close game was MTSU, which is really freaky considering they aren't really considered a powerhouse football school. Just look at 'em - 39-34(MTSU), 33-7 (NT), 20-7(USM), 30-12(ARK), 42-7(OM), 34-14(UT). The smallest margin of victory, not counting the first game of the season is 13 points. The average margin of victory for all of our wins is just shy of 20 points per game!! That's about unheard of for most Bama teams as of late. And it could get even better this weekend as the Tide takes on Vandy. Our 2 losses have been against 2 Top 5 teams - OU and UGA, both of which, Bama lead in the 4th quarter and could have won. I can swallow OU beating us, but the UGA game, we just gave it away there at the end with us going 3-and-out on a HUGE drive to just keep the clock running.

So keep the faith Tidefans - this defense is for real. We haven't given up a lot of points, and the DL/LB group is just fierce. The only bad play in the UT game on defense that I can recall was Mckay-Loescher getting juked by the WR end around for the TD. He looked like Sprewell against Magic Johnson on his opening bucket with the Lakers when he came outta retirement - remember that? What can you say - the defense only allowed one touchdown - that's 7 points. You can't ask for a much better job than that - plus we took full advantage of 6 turnovers in the game - should been 7 turnovers if Jarret Johnson had just fallen on the ball. Instead the stupid thing just squirted out of there and UT recovered at the 10 or so. All in all, a great day for the defense and a job VERY well done. Let's hope they keep up the good work the rest of the year.
GRADE: A+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams could have been better, but still played ok. It could have beaten us, but we didn't let that happen as a team. UT ran back a kickoff skykick for a TD just after we went up 14-0, and it came just before halftime - something you don't want to happen especially when playing on their turf and you have the big MO on your side. But it's ok. We won in the end and that's what matters.

Lane Bearden played in another game for the Tide as the punter and he again did well under the pressure. His average wasn't up like it has been, but he still played solid ball and didn't have to make any tackles. He only had to punt 4 times - a praise to Bama's offense. Either we're scoring a lot or turning the ball over. Good for us we were scoring more than turning it over.

On FG's, we finally attempted some. Kyle Robinson got the knod again this week over placekicker and kickoff specialist Ziifle. He missed his first career FG attempt of about 47 yards, but hit his other 2 FG's of 27 and 21 yards. He also hit all of his PAT's though he was lucky on his first try as it sailed right, UT ran into him, and he was given another chance to put it thru the uprights, which he did.

Punt coverage was good, and so was kickoff coverage, except for the one return for a TD. But the TD (especially) and the missed FG still are not good enough to get this group a great grade. Missing a long FG might be a little more understandable, but returning a kickoff for a TD is totally unacceptable. They got 7 and a lot of MO (MO is momentum, by the way) going into halftime. It could have been the difference in the game. Lucky for us, it wasn't. Let's get back to our style of special teams we had against Ole Miss. That's the special teams I want to see.
GRADE: B

OVERALL - Overall, you couldn't have asked for a much better performance. My main concern in this game was the lack of continuity and rhythm. This was due to all of the penalties Bama caused on the day. Whether deserved or not, it just kept the game from moving smoothly and it kept the Tide from some short yardage situations. 11 penalties for 87 yards is TOTALLY unacceptable, even moreso than the kickoff return for TD. The TD was a one-time thing, and it cost us. But penalties cost you for the entire game. It can totally kill a drive and forces the QB into making passes that the defense knows is coming. That's how you keep opposing defenses guessing - keep the yardage short and you never know if it's a pass or a run. If it's 2nd and 15 - take a wild guess at what the play is going to be normally. So penalties are a huge need for improvement for the entire team. On punt returns, isn't this how the old saying goes - "If you can read the name on the back of the opposing player's jersey, don't touch him". What's so hard about that? We have too many illegal blocks in the back and too many stupid mental mistakes. Too many offsides and too many illegal procedures. Let's clear it up, coaches.

Next, the actual coaching of the game was great. We had the right plays called once again, and we picked up a lot of the blitzes UT threw our way. Everytime they would come at us, we'd have an answer. Credit our QB's for getting us in the right play situation.

Overall, our team seems to be playing as one. None of this me, me, me crap you see on other teams. This team wants to win, period. Sure personal stats are a benefit at times (see Beard's 5 TD's against Ole Miss), but in the overall picture, it's whether or not you get the W, right? Look at Brodie and Watts. These two are like brothers. They help and encourage one another and aren't worried about personal numbers on the field. They just want to win, and that's all we want. Like Gene Stallings always used to say (and I've quoted this before), it's better to win ugly than to lose pretty. I couldn't agree more.

Fran has this program turned around and honestly, no other team in the SEC really wants to play Bama. We have so many weapons at our disposal, and you never know who it's gonna be week in and week out. Next week against Vandy, heck, it could honestly be anybody. I haven't analyzed the game yet, but Croyle is due for a big game soon, but look for a big game by our RBs. Also, I'd like to note that after watching Brodie play against Ole Miss and Tennessee, have you guys noticed how we are finally getting catches on the deep ball? I have NEVER in my college career (except for 1994 - Jay Barker's Senior year) seen us throw for so many completed passes more than 30-40 yards a pop as we have this year. When I see Brodie, I see a hint of Wilie Joe out there. I honestly do. Take a look at the Ole Miss game again... also UT. We are heaving the ball deep a lot these days and more times than not, we're finally completing those passes. Some of the longer ones going to Zack Fletcher who the coaches are high on, but still needs some improvement in other parts of his game. Sam Collins is also the recipient of some long bombs and then there is Dre Fulgham. We likely have 3 more years of Brodie. I sincerely hope he does not go early in the NFL, and my gut tells me he won't, not because of a lack of talent, but maybe because of a lack of talent around him that might hinder him just enough to go out early. Scholarship limitations could limit the talent we get at WR, but only time will tell that story. If there's one QB we need during this time, it's Brodie. I look forward to the upcoming years seeing this guy play. So far, he is living up to every piece of billing that was spoken about him. He's composed, has a strong arm, a semi-controlled arm, and knows how to improvise when in trouble. He's like a whiz out there. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and I'm proud to have him play for the best University in America. ROLL TIDE Brodie! I love you, man! Just keep up the good work, and Bama will be back on top in no time... well at least for 2 years, right? :(

Anyway, overall, the team did great - the main thing was to come out of UT with a win and we did just that. 2 turnovers and a slow start won't help the Tide in future games, but in the end, the Bama 'D' stepped up and helped us come off with one of the biggest wins for Bama in some time, and the biggest loss to UT in about 15 years. Keep it up!
GRADE: A-

#24 BAMA 42 - #21 OLE MISS 7

Man, what an incredible week! I left for T-town last Thursday and got back late the following Monday. I didn't get to re-watch the game until Tuesday, so you'll have to excuse my late take on this weeks woodshed beating. It was a great day for college football - a nice 70 degrees in Bryant-Denny Stadium, I played in the pregame alumni band, The Tide Rolled all day, the homecoming festivities,... you name it, and it was good. You could even see the Bear in the sky laughing at Ole Miss. Heck, we were all laughing! Anyway, it was a great game - one of the most complete games of the season, and in it included Lane Bearden with torn ACL and all. Good to see the fans give him a great standing 'O' when he limped out there the first time. Dude has a lot of guts to be out there in his situation. On with the woodshed comments...

OFFENSE - The offense played well for the entire game, obviously by the 42 point mauling of the Rebs. Only once did the offense turn the ball over on a fumble from Croyle to Beard. There were a few punts by Bearden, so the Rebs did stop us a few times, but overall, the Tide offense was unstopable. If it wasn't Tyler running the option to perfection, it was Croyle completing a 51-yard bomb to Fulgham for a touchdown.... or it was Santonio Beard tying Shaun Alexander's record for having 5 rushing TD's in a game. Heck, Shaun's breaking NFL records now - scoring 5 TD's in a half!.

But the offense could do no wrong on Saturday. It was probably the most complete game I've seen Alabama play in some time against a "worthy" opponent. Ole Miss was ranked #21 in the country. Good thing for us Ole Miss had an off day because those are the game you're supposed to win big on --- Homecoming. It's about time we won a homecoming game, huh? We have lost the last 2, so it was time to end that streak.

The RB's did well in this game - Santonio's performance speaks for itself. But even the likes of Shaud Williams and Ray Hudson, they played very well gaining another 39 & 23 yards respectively. Heck, even Greg McLain, the Tide's FB, got some action and had a great run towards the end of the game and ended up with 33 yards on the day. Ole Miss just couldn't tackle and the Tide rolled and rolled and rolled. Down the field, over the goal, Roll Tide Roll is how the chear goes, right? That's exactly what we did.

Other parts of the game - the WR's & TE's - they did a great job as well. Things started out a little slow, but once we opened it up a little, that part of the game blossomed as well. It was good to see we finally got Triandos Luke the ball some more. He has been extinct for most of the year after starting out great. Good to see we're still able to get him the ball because I think he is a huge threat. He's tall and has great hands and good speed. Others who had great games were Sam Collins and Dre Fulgham. They had 87 and 83 yards, compiling most of the passing yards for the day. Fulgham also caught the 51-yard TD strike from Brodie Croyle. What a prety play. Can we do this every week? What a great game. Play calling was excellent, execution was GREAT, and now look at the final score - 42-7, and a total of 456 yards of total offense. Not too shabby against a top 25 opponent. It pays to play mistake-free football, huh? Great game, but a turnover and 4 sacks don't give the Tide an A+. There's always room for improvement, right?
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - The defense played a heckuva game... the best game in some time, though we did give up a big number of yards in the air. In the end, the defense showed that they are a strong part of this team, holding Ole Miss scoreless in 2 drives that had 1st and 10 inside the 10 yard line. Two 4th down conversions was unsuccessful deep in Tide territory, even after a 1st and Goal on the 3 yard line. How great is that? Then the offense goes 98 yards the following drive to score a touchdown. Just when Ole Miss thought they had good field position on us, we ram it down their throat. It was good to see we didn't sit on the football just because we were pinned deep.

Back to the defense... the defensive line was just awesome Saturday. Heck, we only rushed a blitz on about 4-5 plays during the entire game. You'd think we brought the house almost every play because we had so much pressure in the backfield. We also sacked Manning 3 times. He had only been sacked 4 times for all of the previous games this season. So the D-line did their job. Jarret Johnson was all over the place and made a HUGE sack on Manning for minus-19 yards. McKay-Loescher also had one just as impressive at minus-13 yards on the play. They were just relentless.

And when the D-line didnt' get to Manning, Gerald Dixon was busy picking off Manning, and the linebackers were busy stuffing the run... along with the defensive line. Ole Miss gained a net total of a whopping 4 yards on the ground for the day. And the funny thing is, is that that's not even the best rushing defense performance of the year. Remember we held Oklahoma to -23 yards rushing. So this team is really stepping it up on defense. I can't believe we're not ranked higher in the defensive stats in the NCAA. Guess there are still a few more teams that have a great defense too, including LSU who has the #1 defense in the country. They will be tested more later on...

But I don't think you could ask for a better performance from a defense. To stop a major offensive team to just 7 points and to just 223 yards of total offense is saying something. This defense if finally starting to gel, and they are making big plays and playing as a team. Tackling was been great - we only missed one tackle on the day. When was the last time we only missed one tackle? Hats off to the defense. They played their heart out Saturday and deserve a standing 'O' as well. ROLL TIDE!
GRADE: A+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams were only used in punting and kickoff situations. No FG's were attempted or attemped to be blocked. We just decided to score touchdowns instead of FG's, which is a good thing for our team.

And you can't even talk special teams unless you start out with Lane Bearden. What a gutsy player. To play with a torn ACL is just mind-boggling. On the Hey Coach Show Thursday night (which I was a part of - did you guys hear me at the end of the show? heh, heh...), Coach Fran said that Lane Bearden must have punted 100 times during Thursday's practice wearing his brace of course. The special teams coach, I believe it was Mark Tommerdahl, got so tired of hiking the ball, he just said "here" and threw him the ball underhanded close up. That just goes to show you who is made of steel out there. Funny thing that the coach is tired and can't hike the ball, and Bearden is punting 100 times or more with a torn ACL in his knee. Imagine the pain he's going thru. I'm glad the fans gave him a standing 'O' on Saturday - it is well-deserved. He will have surgery at the end of the season to fix his knee.

And since Lane was unable to run and tackle, the rest of the guys had to step it up - and step it up they did, making tackle after tackle and pinning the Rebs deep in their own territory time and time again. Again, I haven't seen our special teams unit play as well as they did Saturday. I think Lane must have gone up to them and said "Look guys, I can't tackle today, so you're going to have to do my job today." Funny stuff, but I'm sure that didn't happen. But the players knew it deep down. Bearden is always the last resort to stopping a punt return for a touchdown. The other guys had to make it happen this time, and they executed perfectly. Of course, a LOT of special teams coaching during the week helped too, obviously. When Coach said they worked on special teams for the whole day, well, he wasn't kidding. It showed on the field Saturday. Anyway, we couldn't have asked for a better performance by the special teams. No missed assignments, no blocked kicks by Ole Miss, great coverage, and Lane Bearden averaged 40 yards per punt. Not bad for a guy with a bum leg. And also, we didn't miss any FG's all day. Maybe that's the key to making a great grade on Special teams - just don't attempt any. Great job guys...
GRADE: A+

OVERALL - This was the most complete game of the season for the Tide, period. Offense was unstoppable, defense stopped, and special teams stopped my heart seeing such great play in every phase of the game. This game was Antonio Beard, Brodie Croyle, Lane Bearden, Dre Fulgham, Shaud Williams, Sam Collins, Jarret Johnson, Nautyn McKay-Loescher, Charles Jones, Gerald Dixon, Wesley Britt, Greg McLain and a ton of others. These were the main guys though, that got the job done for the Tide. As I said before, the only bad play was the fumble by Santonio Beard early in the game. Lucky for him the coaches allowed him to play after the fumble or it would have been no record-setting performance by the Nashville native. No doubt the defense earned the best phase-of-the-game award. Two 4th down conversion failed and they only allowed 7 points on the game. They got to Manning 3 times and held them to 4 yards rushing the entire game. Torbush really kept the Ole Miss offense guessing as we shifted around the entire game. They never knew what was coming at them. And credit Les Koenning, Bama's Offensive Coordinator for calling the right plays at just the right time, and for keeping Brodie ready in case Tyler went down, which he did. I didn't mention Tyler before, but you can tell he was pissed when he went down. He slammed his fist to the ground in disgust as soon as it happened. He knew it was his foot again, and he was just hoping it wouldn't sideline him for the rest of the year. Looks like he'll be back, but who knows when. At this point, I would stick with Brodie unless Tyler is 100%. That's the one position you should be 100% at anyway, especially with the option being a huge threat. One false move, and you're career is done for.

That's about it, guys. I was glad to be a part of this game - it was my 2nd of the year, my other being Oklahoma. I hope to be back for the Auburn game, but we'll see how those cards play out. GREAT GAME, TIDE!! Play that way every week and this team will be unstoppable. One fumble in the overall scheme of things doesn't hurt the Tide - we played to well in other phases of the game and still on offense to bring us down...
GRADE: A+

#22 BAMA 25 - #6 GEORGIA 27

Dang, man! I hate those games... well, I hate those games that we lose so close. So close that we could have won so easily. It was a game of ups and downs, with Bama controlling the game late, only to see it slip away one more time. All this game does is leave people shaking their heads.... take a look....

OFFENSE - The offense started off not continuing a streak we have had all year - scoring on the opening offensive drive. We didn't score -we punted. Ok. I can deal with that - just win the game. Great - I'm already 0 for 2. Anyway, Brodie got the start once again this week, as most people knew would happen, and he played ok. He could have played better, but I hope people now see that the Arkansas game wasn't an EVERY WEEK occurance. Sure QB's will have their good days and their bad days, but Saturday, it was a so-so day - one that wasn't good enough to win. Croyle threw for nearly 200 yards, threw a TD pass, ran for an amazing TD, and threw an interception that sealed the deal for Georgia. It's apparent that he IS the next Alabama QB, but people finally saw some flaws in the young man, not that I want to see them. But it also shows that maybe Watts is still the right guy for the job. Don't forget, it was Watts that led us back from the Oklahoma game in the 2nd half. Yeah, he had the bonehead play that allowed the defense to score, but low and behold if Croyle didn't do the same thing 2 weeks later against Ole Miss. Both have made some bonehead plays, but Watts might still be the better overall player - mainly due to experience. They are 2 different types of QB's so it's hard to compare the two. Both bring something good to the table. All in all, I was right on my prediction notes - Brodie would have an ok game and he would throw a pick or 2. It ended up being one pick, but that's all Georgia would need. It was still a decent outing for the young QB from Rainbow City, AL, but just not enough. Perhaps more emphasis should really be placed on the defense and the special teams... or the coaching. But who knows? I'm just a Bamadog.

Next, the RB's had a "decent" game, but nothing compared to how we should have played based on previous games. We average about 250 ypg, and we barely managed 100. Either Bama's offensive line is that bad or Georgia's DL is that good. People kept saying how Georia's line would be manhandled by Bama. Well, in the beginning when I was watching the starting lineups, Georgia had 4 SENIORS starting on the DL. People, that is some kind of line when you have ALL 4-5 year people. Bama has 3 sophomores. Sure we have been doing great up until now, but maybe that actually had something to do with it. Dye's comments probably pissed off the senior DL and said we won't be pushed around by no sophomores... (yada yada yada). Well, they put up. And Bama's OL couldn't stop them. They were pushed back and around all day long. All I can say is that we need to get better on the OL or our RB's and QB won't have much of a chance in the near future. The SEC Schedule is upon us and they don't play around.

I was also disappointed to see Triandos Luke didn't catch a pass in his 2nd straight game. He seemed to me to be the best receiver of the bunch, but we have had problems getting him the ball. Instead, some other WR's ARE stepping up their play, including Dre Fulgham who had another good game. I guess it's true though - we have a ton of weapons and any given guy can be THE MAN in any given game. I'd still like to see the QB get Luke the ball more. He's a true playmaker if you ask me. He just isn't getting the ball enough.

Last, just the overall play of the offense Saturday was mediocre at best. We struggled most of the day and when we needed it most on the 2nd to last drive of the game, we didn't come thru. All we had to do was get a 1st down (again - does this sound familiar) and we own the game. It's that simple. I don't know if it was bad play calling or poor execution, but we just didn't get it done. We then gave the ball back to Georgia, they kicked a FG, we threw an interception on the last drive, and the rest is history. We have got to dig down deep in those situations and win the battle in the trenches. One or two 1st downs secure the game for Bama. It's that simple. And we couldn't do it. We are WAY under our average rushing totals on the ground and thru the air. Just not a great offensive game for Bama... but we did show some heart coming back in the end....
GRADE: C+

DEFENSE - The defense was almost non-existent until the very end of the game - thanks to Peprah's heroics. Heck, even Herschel Bolden made a great play on a fumble - he scooped it up before it went out of bounds, which it would have. There were a few good plays on defense, but overall, not a good day for the Bama D. We gave up 224 yards in the air and 161 yards on the ground - the 2nd game where a team has rushed at will against us. Arkansas was the other. I'm hoping the DL and OL's aren't getting too cocky since we have pushed around some cupcakes and OU. We need to ask OURSELVES - are we man enough to win in the SEC from here on out? Because we are getting pushed around quite a bit lately. But I would say they did about as good as one could do in most cases. That catch that the UGA WR made on the front corner of the end zone was Jerry Rice-like. No way any receiver gets that ball out of 20 more tries. He just made a great play on the ball. But give it to Georgia - they know how to find the weak link in the defense - if it's not Bolden, then it's Madison. Madison is a freshman that has come on as of late, but he's still no junior or senior. He's still learning the game. Dixon has done pretty well so far on his side of the field. We just need to play a LOT better at the other corner. We're getting burned too many times there.

And the DL just needs to step it up. We are allowing gaping holes to allow the opposing teams huge running lanes. You don't win the game by losing so many battles up front. We did come up with some huge plays on defense, but for the most part, we just didn't get it done with the ground game. And as far as the refs taking the fumble down to the 1 yard line only to be called back by a false start on Georgia, well, what can you do? It was a good call and one that we didn't get the shaft on. I DO wish however that they had blown the whistle a LOT louder to keep our guy from running that distance for nothing. If Georgia had scored on that play it would have come back as well - it was a dead ball foul.

What else.... I guess that's about it for now. Don't worry - I'll get to penalties in the Overall section. But the defense did an OK job, but nothing like how we're supposed to play. Too many (way too many) yards on the ground allowed, and we're still getting burned deep. This is not the play of the Alabama defense I know. We played very average Saturday, but the play of Peprah and Bolden's turnovers help the cause...
GRADE: B-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams screwed Bama Saturday. Missed extra points did it in for the Tide. Bostic missed an XP after TD, and that caused us to go for 2 later in the game (which we also missed). Obviously, if you make the XP on the first TD, you don't go for 2 on the next - just another extra point. Do the math - 2 more points give us at least a tie - and a possibility to end the game tied and head to overtime if UGA doesn't score a TD on their last drive (instead of getting the FG). And yes that could have been possible - play calling would have been different obviously, so anything could have happened.

Anyway, kickoffs were ok. If you can't tackle (which our special teams have a hard time doing at times), then the sky kick is the next best thing. On punts, Ziifle did great. He was about as good as you could have asked for the day. He even made a tackle on a huge runback (imagine the other team running the ball back on us - uh huh... it's like a weekly occurance even from the likes of cupcake high school). So that's basically it - we can't cover kickoffs and punts except for about 60% of the time (not good enough) and we miss PAT's. How do you miss a FREAKIN' PAT????? Is our blocking line that bad or is our kicker that bad? What's the problem?? Can we please get a scholarship kicker soon, people? Blocked FG's and PAT's are screwing us this season. So many times we have to come back or put the game away and all we do is shoot ourselves in the foot (sounds like I'm talking about penalties too, huh?). What's the deal?? Losing the game because you can't kick a PAT is INEXCUSABLE. Period. We shouldn't have to cross our freakin' fingers on PAT's. That's rediculous!! Poor tackling doesn't help. Good punts by Ziifle are the only thing keeping this unit from failing on the day...
GRADE: D-

OVERALL - Crap. This part sux. Do I really need to reem anyone here. We all saw the game. We all saw how we got the turnover from Bolden on defense, then coughed it right back up... we saw how penalties screwed us for the 6th game in a row (called back a TD, called back a good punt return by Williams, caused us to work in terrible field position on drives, etc.), we saw how we couldn't get a first down when we really needed it in the end. Call it coaching, call it play-calling, call it the players. They just weren't on the same page Saturday. Not much seemed to go right for the Tide all day. We rarely had a sustained drive and we only punched it in the end zone on 2 drives. That's just unacceptable, as Coach Fran probably already knows. 12 points by the offense doesn't help us out much. Because then you have to rely on special teams and defense to get the rest of the points and that doesn't happen very often for this team (except the OU game of course). We don't take int's to the house much... and our kicking game is probably the worst in the conference. How do you get points from an irratic special teams. Cross your fingers and pray. We did hit 2 FG's, but against "Top 10" teams, you have to punch it in for 6 and then ALSO hit your PAT. It came back to bite us in the butt. Maybe after all the FG flaws we have seen this year, we'll go back to the recruiting drawing board and see that YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD KICKER! How crucial is the kicker? It gave Georgia the win - that's how crucial it was. And it gave Bama the loss. I just don't understand how almost every single team in America has a decent kicker except us. I see guys from Southwestern State Junior College (ok, I don't really see 'em, but they exist) kicking FG's and PAT's like it's nothing. Instead, we go the other route - anyone who wants to tryout to be our kicker, come on out to tryouts. We might not hit the big-game FG's, but that's ok. We need to focus our attention on other positions - BULL CRAP! FG kicker is one of THE most important positions on the team. Doesn't anyone realize that FG kickers usually lead teams in scoring on Saturday? TD's are spread around to a lot of players, but the FG guy, he gets a piece of the pie each time we score - he kicks PAT's and FG's. So let's get a scholarship FG kicker and put this thing to rest. Man, I love Neil Thomas - can't we get him back for just one more year???

Man, I have totally lost track of this thing... where am I? I'll hop off my soapbox now. I'm just too pissed off to talk about it...

Anyway, that's about it. Poor offense, poor defense, and pathetic special teams doesn't get you a win, especially against top ranked SEC foes. No wonder we lost. They did better than us in almost every aspect of the game. Kudos to Georgia - they did what it took to beat us - run the ball, run the ball, pass the ball, pass the ball, and hit a game-winning FG. That's all it took... As for the Tide, I think it's back to the ole drawing board in the off-week. Can't you guys cut down the penalties? Are our guys THAT stupid??? Please, prove me wrong.
GRADE: C-

BAMA 30 - ARKANSAS 12

Bama/Arkansas is in the books and was it a coming out party for Brodie Croyle or what? He looked almost like a pro out there Saturday, and may have also started somewhat of a QB contraversy once Tyler Watts is 100% healed. It's like both guys give you something different to the table, so which one will give you the best odds of winning? In any case, that's something for Fran to work out, and I'm sure he'll make the best decision for this team. I believe personally, that either of the QB's can bring Bama to a win versus anyone on our schedule... it's just a matter of doing it. Look what Tyler did in the 2nd half of the OU game - look what Brodie did against Arkansas. See my point? Let's take a look at the incredible highlights of this 30-12 win over the Little Piggies of Arkansas...

OFFENSE - The offense started off with a band, or say, a little bit of Shaud Williams. As EVERYONE knows, he started out the game with a simple draw play to counter-act the blitz by the Hogs on the first play and BAM! 80-yd TD run by the little 5'8" speedster from Texas Tech. That's the way you start out a football game. That also marks the 5th straight game this year (all games) in which we have scored on the opening drive of the football game. Incredible for this team to make a statement in each of the 5 games this season.

Next, Beard has a great game, gaining 10 & 15 yards a pop practically, and gaining a total of 134 yards on the day. Shaud would eventually have about 115 or so on the ground. So THAT part of my prediction came true - we had 2 RB's with over 100 yards each. Can't believe I nailed that one... but then again, without Galloway, the majority of the rushes had to come from those two...

And what can you say about the Offensive Line and Brodie Croyle. The OL took control just like in past games and gave Brodie a great comfort zone back in the pocket. When they weren't protecting Brodie, they were making holes as big as a Mack truck for Beard. Nothing much opened up for Shaud the rest of the game until they got that pass play out to him for about 80 yards or so. But back to Brodie. He definitely got the butterflies out in the S. Miss game. 285 yards in the air, 2 TD's and more importantly, no interceptions. I said he would throw 1 or 2 picks, but I am glad I was wrong. That kinda surprised me though since he IS a freshman and Arkansas' Defense (2ndary) is one of the best in the league. Good to see he overcame those odds. And then we saw the 50-yd BOMB to Fletcher, 60-65 yards of the pass was in the air. What an arm, people!! And what a great catch!! That's gotta be the first TD pass from that far away I've seen Bama throw in a LOOOOOONG time that was completed (ie. not overthrown) that distance. I have seen us throw an out-pass or a quick slant that goes all the way to the house, but for the ball to be in the air that far and complete? Looked like the U. of Florida highlight reel or something. I enjoyed it, as did everyone.

Last, the WR's did a good job, as shown by the yards Brodie threw. I don't think there were any dropped passes in the game by the Bama WR's. If so, it may have only been 1 or 2, but I don't remember any off hand. Good to see the TE's were involved as well, especially the first pass Brodie threw up the middle. What a great game. One person that didn't catch a pass was Triandos Luke. He had some ball thrown his way, but he couldn't come down with any. That just goes to show you we have so many weapons on this offense. Seems to be someone new each week. I think Triandos will have a comeback game next week against Georgia. He's just such a good weapon to have on your team.

If the offense can do this each week, Bama will be a force to deal with. We rushed for slightly over 300 yards (minus sacks) and threw for 285. We had over 550 yards of offense. Very rarely do you lose a game like that unless you're Kentucky. This team is actually - GET THIS - ranked #17 in total offense in the country. When was the last time Bama was an OFFENSIVE team??? Last year we had some good games as well, but this year, this well-oiled machine doesn't look to slow down. The running game paired up with the passing game and Fran's attention to detail seems to really be catching on with the team. Who knows how good this team could be if we don't keep getting penalties. You thought I forgot about those, huh? Nope. Penalties are lessening, but need to be even lower. 2 penalties cost Bama another 14 points in the game. 14 points that COULD have been the difference if things start to go Arkansas' way. We have got to keep from having TD's returned back, only to get 3 or no points on the drive. If it weren't for penalties, offense would get a perfect A+. Work on the dicipline and we'll go very far...ROLL TIDE.
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - Defense did a great job against the Hogs. They bent against the run, but didn't break, thank goodness. Jones, Arkansas' QB, scrambled about as good as I've seen a QB scramble - see Seneca Wallace for Iowa State last year in the Independence Bowl. We were probably lucky he didn't get more. But overall, they proved that THEY are the premier defense in the West, if not the SEC. The defensive front is definitely one of the best in the league, if not the nation. They are just reeking havock in the backfield on almost every play. QB's are running for their lives. Now if we could only keep the other team's QB from putting oil slick on their legs. Man, we have the hardest time tackling the QB sometimes you know? But overall, great job. The LB's did their part too and just swarmed the RB's. They still managed about 177 yards on the ground, but it could have been worse. Bama did tackle pretty well for the most part and did their MAIN JOB - don't allow the other team to score. Heck, Arkansas only scored ONE TOUCHDOWN on Bama's D. That's the first legitimate TD against our D in some time now, when not given the other offense as a result of a turnover. I'd say that was pretty good. Every defense is going to give up a big play every now and then... maybe a big run or a big pass. But the telling point is what they do to finish the drive. And more times than not, the Bama D either forced Arkansas to punt, or caused a turnover. That's the bottom line and that's what they did. Boom-daddy.

Torbush seems to have this unit playing like his old North Carolina units. We have gotten in a good rotation on the DL and have gotten in better personnel in the 2ndary. Bolden actually did play about 20-25 snaps on Saturday and did well. Maybe some of the bench time has improved his play. We'll see in the upcoming weeks.

The play of the game, the turning point if you will, was the 60 yard interception by Derrick Pope. Arkansas was about to score (who knows) and Pope jumped out in front of a Jones pass and took it back the other way for 60 yards and a FG to make it 20-10. That was definitely the turning point in the game. Just about any hope the hogs had at that point was gone....

Again, the defense stood strong and held the Hogs' offense to about 150 yards under their average offensive output. Only 299 total yards on the day. Not too shabby. But again, the main point is that they only gave up 10 points. If our offense can't score more than 10, then we don't need to be playing football. So the 'D' did their job, and kept Bama in it... which kept Bama from relying on Brodie to pull some last minute heroics. We'll save that for another day - perhaps as early as Georgia if we slip up. But for this week, Great Job, though we could do better on run defense. Approx 175 yards isn't anything to brag about - and could hurt us in the long run...
GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams gets mixed reactions, as usual. 3 of 4 FG's is ok. Better than 2 of 4 or 1 of 4, right? Bostick tacked on 9 points for the Tide. He missed the longest FG attempt of the night for the Tide at 40 yards. It's apparent, well, maybe not with the cut scholarships we DON'T have to offer anymore, that we need to get a scholarship-type FG kicker next year. We have some guys that kick ok, but I guess I have been spoiled with the likes of Phillip Doyle, Michael Proctor, and Neil Thomas over the years. Heck, we only got Neil Thomas for 2 years. Glad we had him for that long. But our kicking game and punting game wasn't our main problem (until Ziifle punted the ball) - our main problem is that we can't cover and tackle on kickoffs. Fran knows this. The fans know this. The other teams know this. Fran says there WILL be a change and evaluation at this part of the game this week. Let's hope so - we have to face one of the best punt returners in the league this coming weekend against UGA. I'd say it's pretty important.

But other than that, we have done pretty well. Nothing that has cost us the game - but something that DID cost us 2 points since Bearden wasn't in the game. Because Ziifle was in, it was a good call to take the safety. Who would have thought that after we kicked off at the 20, that they'd have it at the 30-35 yard line. Sheesh. We have got to stop these guys from running on us on special teams. We only tackle good on special teams 50% of the time. But it's the 50% of the time they screw up that we all remember the most, right? So let's see a lot more improvement here, Fran. I know you'll make it happen.

The biggest hurt of the night was Bearden going down after a fake punt. No sense in rehashing how it happened, but we need him back ASAP. Something tells me he'll be back. He was walking around on crutches after the game and if it had been career-ending, we would have already known by now. Punting tryouts are going on at Bryant-Denny this week, so odds are that he'll be out this week. He'll have a 3 week rest period to get better. And let's hope he DOES get better. This guy is my MVP for the season so far - though Shaud Williams may replace him next week with another big game. Bearden does it all - he kicks off (and a lot better this year than last), he punts (doing a great job there), he holds for FG's and scores TD's against Oklahoma teams on fakes (heh, heh...), he tackles better than any other person on special teams. Heck, he even sacrificed his body tackling Andre the Giant in the N. Texas game a few weeks back. Remember the tackle on that guy? Lane doesn't care. He just gives it his best. He seems like an Iron man cuz he does so much. Guess that Iron melted a little on Saturday. I guess Iron does bend, huh? But they'll bend him back in shape and we'll be ok, hopefully. We need him back, or we could be in some serious trouble. Ziifle doesn't have the speed of Bearden to tackle kickoff & punt returners after the rest of the team misses the tackle. Please get better.
Anyway, there's not much more we can do... but overall, they did a good job, but still missed a FG that wasn't terribly long. Tackling MUST get better or we're gonna be toast in the upcoming games against UGA and UT.
GRADE: B-

OVERALL - Overall, the coaches put together the best gameplan possible for an up-and-coming future Tide star QB. They put Brodie in the best possible situation so the game wouldn't have to rest on his shoulders. Though that night, it seems as though, he could have handled it. The offense really played well, and the OL did their job giving Brodie enough time to get his passes off. The running game couldn't have been much better, and the defense played well, though giving up more than the usual yards in a game. They still did their bottom-line job and kept Arkansas to 10 points. Again, you can't complain with a mere 10 points against another SEC on the road. No complaints here.

The outcome of the game and the overall attitude of the players just shows what kind of influence Fran has on the program. Watts goes down, Galloway goes down, Bearden goes down for a full half, Ephraim goes down, and Carter hasn't played a down all year - and what does Fran do? He gains 550 yards on Arkansas on the road. Of course, this has a lot to do with the talent we already have, which is some of the best in the conference, especially in the backfield. Tyler and Brodie could start for any college in the SEC... and our RB's, Beard, Williams, and Hudson make an awesome trio without Galloway. J.B. Closner did a great job filling in for Ephraim as well. Lastly, Ziifle didn't get a punt blocked though he did kick them short. We still didn't do anything to cost us the game. Except for the punting game, we either remained at the same level of play, or got better. Credit Coach Fran for keeping this team together, especially in the midst of this 2 year bowl ban. At least we have Hawaii to offer new recruits, right?

Anyway, keep up the good work, and let's pile up a lot of points against Georgia next week. Also, kick/punt returns and penalties still need a lot of work...
GRADE: A-

BAMA 20 - SOUTHERN MISS 7

Total domination. That's another name for the Bama 'D' these days. Don't know what has crawled up these guys' butts these days, but they are now driven with a force to stop the other team like I haven't seen in a long time. Teams are gaining less than 1 yard per carry in the last 3 games. We have a legitimate top 10 defense once again, and we couldn't have peaked at a better time. Let's get on with the show....

OFFENSE - The offense did what it had to do to win. Period. I have been saying since day 1 that Tyler Watts would get hurt and Brodie would come in and play and start the following week. So far, my prediction is coming true. Say all you want - Tyler isn't ready and coach knows it. Brodie will start this weekend... wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the USM game, right?

Anyway, the offense ran and ran and ran and ran all day against a USM team that was supposedly good against the run. Well, sorry to mess up your stats, Southern Miss. For the 3rd straight game, Bama has rushed for more than 300 yards and didn't even need the passing game at all. Brodie Croyle finished the game with a paltry 15 yards, 4 of 15 completions to be exact, with 2 interceptions. Not the kind of day you want to have since more times than not, you end up losing those games. Not the case this time. Bama's running game just devoured USM. The Bama offensive line blocked and blocked and then blocked some more. Some might say it's one of the best OL's in the SEC. That remains to be seen, but so far, they are living up to their billing, minus a ton of penalties early on.

Speaking of low yardage passing games, I think the last time I remember such a game was Jay Barker in the National Championship game against Miami in '92. He was 4 of 12 for 18 yards or some crap like that. He threw for under 20 yards in the game, but we still won in dominating fashion on the ground. What a game. Just goes to show you that if you run the ball successfully and stop the other team from running, you're usually going to come out on top. It's called ball-control offense, and we used it to our advantage Saturday.

WR's didn't see much action since we ran so much.. speaking of running the ball - how about Shaud Williams? That little guy can run like the wind, huh? I saw him at the A-Day game and I knew right then and there that he would be something special this fall, and was I right! He exploded up the middle and before you know it, dude is dancin' in the end zone for 6. And the thing I have noticed the most about this guy is the fact that he is going FULL SPEED when he gets the ball and he runs north/south. None of this "finding the hole" crap. Dude HITS the hole right then and there, and just speeds on down the field in a ball of dust. That's something I haven't seen from a Bama running back EVER. You see it from other teams all the time, but not Bama. I like this kid and I think he'll be our main go-to guy for the remaining part of this season and next season as well. Beard is (from what I read) the more prototype RB, but I tell ya, Williams will make himself known. He's done nothing but improve from week to week. Can't wait to see what he does this weekend. He's like Shaun Alexander in the fact that he could break one loose ANY GIVEN PLAY. He's just that quick - almost like a Barry Sanders, only not quite as fast.

Next, my comments on Brodie. This was a game that he really needed. It's a game we won and a game he could learn from. You can't really ask for more than that. And he didn't get mop-up duty either. Tyler played 7 snaps and Brodie finished the game. He might as well have started the game. This kid hasn't played in 2 years, so I expect plenty (and I do mean plenty) of mistakes. I just hope Tyler can make it back very soon because there is nothing like having experience in the game. Brodie is Bama's future, should he remain healthy, but right now, the experience Watts has is invaluable, as shown by Brodie's performance Saturday. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt when I say that the gameplan is mostly developed around Tyler Watts, so this week, it will be centered more around Brodie and his strengths - which isn't running the option. Anyway, lots of guys got the ball - Galloway, Beard, Williams, Croyle, Hudson - all did well with the running game, and they kept our defense off the field which is very good. Unfortunately, Galloway went down only to find out he's done for the season. Huge loss for the offense, but we still have 3 backs that will pick up the slack. He will surely be missed by all, but now it's time to move on. As for the offense in the game, there's not much that you shouldn't expect given the circumstances. Freshman QB, 2 ints, great running game, and no more huge costly mistakes that cost us the game (minus the fluke int for TD return)... A for effort, but needs to get better if we expect to win games in the near future...
GRADE: A-

DEFENSE - What can you say about this Bama Defense? They are 'probably' by far the best defense in the league right now, even with the problem we have had in the 2ndary. Peprah, my boy from Plano, TX, is really picking up the slack by down-and-out senior Herchel Bolden. This is a sign of good things to come for Bama's 2ndary future. He's still young, but is learning quickly. The DL is just reeking havock on every QB in every game, except MTSU. The Bama D now leads the SEC with 15 sacks and ranks #2 in rushing defense. Arkansas is ranked #1, but those numbers are VERY skewed since they have only played cream-puffs to this point, plus those teams threw the ball a lot more than they ran anyway.

But the 'D' has finally played up to their potential and they still have a lot more to prove. USM is no pushover. They held Nix, the nation's then-2nd-leading rusher to a paltry 57 yards or so. His average in the previous 3 games was around 158 yds/game. Unbelievable. But then again, we seem to shut down Nix every year - even when we did bad. USM might have just been overrated, but normally they are a decent team. Our defense, honestly, is just that good. One main example is what we did against OU a few weeks back. If it weren't for that game, I'd say we haven't proven anything - but we have. Lapses in the 2ndary is the ONLY thing keeping us from being undefeated right now. But with Peprah in the 2ndary, things seem to be looking up nowadays.

The LB's also had a great game. There were huge hits, great stops, QB sacks - they just gave it all. An outing I can truly say was one of the best defensive efforts I've seen in many many years. USM was held to less than 150 yds of total offense (or thereabouts) and we forced 5 turnovers, the most since '96 against Vandy. You're not going to lose many games where you get 5 turnovers. Well done, team. Let's see that same spunk this weekend at Arkansas. We're gonna need it.
GRADE: A+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams didn't lose the game for us - they didn't win it for us... but they did help us out and did their job. 2 FG's by new PK Bostic, helped pad the score a bit after Ziifle missed his one and only FG of the game early. Also, Lane Bearden, who seems to be my MVP for the year so far, just makes big play after big play. This dude is NOT afraid to hit anybody and usually uses his head. He couldn't get the punt off, so what does he do? He takes off like he's got chicken on his back in Ethiopia, and gets 19 yards and a first down for Alabama. Heads up play by the senior punter and kickoff specialist. And then dude is making tackles on runbacks since our guys don't seem to WANT to tackle at times. Lane just sticks his head in there and makes his mark. I'm gonna miss him next year. He's a real tough player. Maybe he should play some linebacker cuz dude LOVES to hit!! Anyway, good job, but missed FG doesn't score you points with me or the coach or the other fans of Bama Nation...
GRADE: A-

OVERALL - Overall, the coaches did what they had to do to win the game. We couldn't pass, so we ran. USM couldn't stop the run, so heck, we ran it some more. More and more and more until we had amassed about 350 yards of offense just on the ground. I mean, USM knows we're gonna run the ball and they still couldn't stop us. That tells you one of 4 things - either (1) our offensive line is THAT GOOD or (2) our RB's are THAT GOOD or (3) both 1 and 2 or (4) USM's defense ain't all that after all. I'll take 3 and 4, Jack. Bama IS that good and USM's defense was THAT bad. Period. It'll be interesting to see how USM does in future games against the run because they took a major beating from the Tide. Fran and the coaches put together a plan that didn't put Brodie in the place where he would have to win the game with his arm. If that had happened, Bama loses. He only completed 4 passes and threw for 1/2 that number to the other team. Not good. But the thing that kept us in the game beside the running game, was the defense. Fran knew USM wouldn't score on our defense... and everytime USM got a big play, there was a penalty on USM. That really helped us out, but hey - we've been guilty before, so I'm gonna feel guilty for 'em. Just gotta play clean football and a lot of those penalties were VERY obvious, even on TV. We called them before the flag even came out.

So there you have it. Dominating defense - probaby the best we've seen in years, and an offense that just ran the ball well and that's all it really had to do. Good game - but it's time Watts got back in the picture. He's the senior leader this team depends on. If he can't go, Brodie definitely needs to be ready which I think he will. Will he still make mistakes - of course. Montana & Marino made mistakes even in the NFL, but he's just got to pick and choose the times that he makes those mistakes. All we have left after Croyle is Pennington. He's no pushover, but he has NO realgame experience and then Brandon Avalos is the true freshman next in line. Let's not go there. Anyway, great win, great preparation. Attach Southern Miss to the Bama Meat Pole... ROLL TIDE!
OVERALL: A-

BAMA 33 - NORTH TEXAS 7

Well, what can you say? Bama just stuck it to a team that was just undermanned this weekend. If the Tide plays better on offense and doens't turn the ball over, then this score would definitely be MUCH worse. Also, my pick of 45-14 was actually pretty close. Stupid turnovers....

Anyway, I don't have much to say about this game mainly because in Dallas, we were only able to get the 2nd half of football. We didn't see a wink of the 1st half due to satellite problems at our game-watching establishment. The test feed on Friday came in great, but then on Saturday... well, you know Murphy's Law, right? Here are some very bried comments since I wasn't able to see much of the game...

OFFENSE - The offense moved the ball well, but turnovers could be more costly in the near future. How many times are we going to "SAY" we need to protect the football more and then not protect the football the following game?? Don't we UNDERSTAND what we're doing wrong? Hang on to the dadgum football, people. We are giving it away WAY too much. That same lame-o stat is what cost us the OU game. We could be 3-0 and looking pretty right now in the AP Top 25, but no. We play like we're an undiciplined high school team. Penalties have GOT to GO!

On the good side, our offense DID have a great day on the ground, and we spread the ball out very well. No back had over 100 yards, but a few backs came close. Passing was also key as we finally got our TE the ball on some good plays. I think starting Clarke was a good move. 3 catches for 80 yards - yeah, I think so. Overall, good day, but turnovers is the name of the game and it's just not going to sit well with Coach or the Fans.... and you definitely don't deserve an 'A' when you turn the ball over as much as we do...
Grade: B+

DEFENSE - Defense played about as good as you could. The only TD was given up after a (guess what?) turnover by Tyler Watts on the 10 yard line. I didn't see it, but I can picture it just fine. Other than that, nothing much on the ground and nothing much in the air... all for about 160 total yards on the day. But give credit where credit is due - Freddie Kitchens, RB coach for UNT, gained more yardage than OU did the previous week. All in all, a good day for the defense which in all honestly, didn't allow a point. I mean, you give the ball to the other team at the 10 and almost assuredly, they will score at least a FG. Great job, 'D'!
GRADE: A

SPECIAL TEAMS - I'm not really sure how they did LIVE, but it appears they didn't get much action. There were NO Bama punts the entire game and the return game for both punt returns and kickoffs didn't received much criticism. All I can say here, is good job and hopefully we won't need you guys to win games for us. Hopefully, the offense will do it for us.
GRADE: A

OVERALL - Overall, a day that the Tide totally dominated, only to shoot itself in the foot a few times with stupid turnovers. A fumble at the 10 and an interception in the end zone is NOT the way you 'dominate' opponents. That should never happen, period. If it does, it should only happen 1 of 100 times. But so far, our odds don't come close. Penalties have to get better. We can't continue to beat ourselves like this. I don't know what else the coaches can do. Situps and pushups are ok, but I have ALWAYS stated that whatever your number is on the back of your jersey (large numbers for OL and DL), that's how many laps you run around the football field the following week. I bet they start using their brains then, huh? Offsides D? I don't think so anymore. False start on the OL? Think again. Those guys would be pros after the 2nd week.

That's about it. Like I said, I didn't see but 1/2 the game and even then it was hard to watch because of all the activity going on at the club. Next week should be another great week for Bama (S. Miss). But even though we didn't get anything back from the NCAA Appeal, Bama WILL be ready and we will have a lot to prove the rest of the year. ROLL TIDE!

OVERALL GRADE: A-

BAMA 27 - OKLAHOMA 37

What a whacked out day for the Crimson Tide. And what a week in which I am SOOO late posting my take on the game, huh?

I'll make it quick this week since I'm still job hunting and have a ton of work to do...

I was at the game Saturday since we only have a 2.5 hour drive from Dallas, and man, that place was crawling with Tidefans. As gametime got closer and closer, I began to think (as with the '93 Sugar Bowl w/Miami) that we had a good chance to win the game. 1st half, man, was I wrong, well, offensively that is. Defensively, we held our own bigtime, except for the long bomb. Then the 2nd half, well, this was a completely different Bama team on the field. This was a Bama team that could win every single game the rest of season if we continue playing like that (minus of course, long bomb plays on defense). Let's start quickly with the offense...

OFFENSE - The offense started quickly with a spark from the kicking game - the onsides kick to open the game. I have always thought that the unsuspected onsides kick was always there if a team wasn't ready (hence the word unsuspected). I noticed a stat while watching NFL on Sunday night - and they said that in the NFL, 75% of unsuspected onsides kicks are recovered by the kicking team. What an awesome stat. But when they know you're going to go for the onsides kick, those percentages drop to less than 10%. What a great call, since it fell in our favor.

Anyway, we got 3 points out of the drive and that's all we would score the 1st half unfortunately, even though we had ample chances to punch it in the endzone. The 2nd half saw a revamped Tide offense with the triple back formation. Everytime we ran a play from that formation, it picked up positive yardage and OU couldn't stop it. And just as Fran was setting us up all day with that play, he pulls out Theo Sanders from the TE spot and low and behold we threw it to him wide open since OU was expecting another run, and Theo dropped the ball. There was nothing between him and the goal line. What a pretty play call. Now we just have to get our TE's to catch the ball more. We had about 4 dropped passes by TE's on Saturday - plays that would turn up HUGE for our offense. We have GOT to do a lot better job at catching the ball at this position. Thus the reason Fran will start Clarke this weekend.

The RB's and WR's did a good job except for "THE FUMBLE" by Santonio Beard. I agree with the benching of Beard for the rest of the game after that fumble. That TOTALLY took the steam out of the Tide for the next play by OU resulted in a TD. What a huge swing of events that just killed the Tide in the closing minutes of the 1st half. Then the same in the 2nd half. It's like OU only need 8 minutes in the game to put us away. They would get 4 TD's in those 8 minutes - 2 to end the 1st half, and 2 to end the 2nd half. The rest of the game, Bama pretty much dominated. What more can I say except that we need to be more careful with the ball. Turnovers KILLED the Tide Saturday. Case in point was Tyler's slip and Beard's fumble. Both turnovers resulted in 14 points for OU. Of course, you can't totally blame Tyler - it was a freak accident. He's never done that before and he had done a great job for us in the 2nd half in bringing the team back. He made some good reads and did his best to put us in a winning position. That last drive, he did just that, and then the OU defense put it away.

Overall, we had too many chances to put the game away, including a voided TD, then a missed FG on the same drive. We went from 7 points to 3 points to NO points in a minute. I'm still trying to figure out how in the world we had a holding call on the 2 yard line with a power running play. I didn't see anything on film, but that call really set us back. It cost us 7 points. Then there were other times where we just stalled on offense and had a chance to put more points on the board. We can't continue to keep making these mistakes. OU was ranked #2, but Alabama was better. We won on the field, but lost on the scoreboard. Good comeback, but too many turnovers and missed opportunities...
GRADE: B-

DEFENSE - Defense was solid the whole game except for defending the long pass. Herchel Bolden is the Tide's latest victim in the 2ndary. This week, it will be Charlie Peprah, my boy from here in Plano, TX. Who knows how he'll do in the future, but it can't be any worse. Bolden alone allowed at least 3 huge plays for scores (or drives for scores). They just kept coming at him and coming at him. Credit the coaching staff at OU to find our weak spot, cuz he was toast most of the day. On the DL and LB area, we did about as good as anyone could ask. Sack after sack after sack - I read 8 sacks in some publications, and 5-6 in others. In any case, the defensive front did a heckuva job. Hyble was running for his life most of the game, but did find the seam in the 2ndary that eventually would toast us.

The status of King looks good right now. He will play Saturday. We don't need to lose him. We need all the help we can get on defense. Other than being burned on the long plays, we did really well. The last drive OU had, it looks like we just ran out of steam and had a MOST difficult time (every time) with the shovel pass. You'd think you'd learn from your mistakes, but I guess not. We totally got burned there 3 times. 3 times in which helped put the Tide away. And when we did play it right, we didn't tackle worth a crap. Every play counts, but if you take away those shovel passes, Bama comes out with a win for sure. Overall, the defense kept us in the game, and they had a solid performance the whole game, but 2ndary breakdowns bring down the score a bit guys...
GRADE: B+

SPECIAL TEAMS (ST) - Special teams was the highlight of the game though there ARE some mixed reactions. Great plays for the ST unit was (1)the onsides kick to start the game (2)another recovery on a high kick kickoff (3) 2 Good FG's (4) GREAT punting by Lane Bearden (5) Fake FG for TD by Lane Bearden (6) 2 blocked punts - one for a TD. Then there are the bad points of special teams... (1) Missed chip-shot FG after voided TD (2) terrible punt/kickoff coverage (3) no catch on punt turned into 2 pts for OU safety (4) bobbled catches by punt returner McBride. All in all, the ST unit did a heckuva lot more to help the team than hurt the team. It was a special teams GAME as I have NEVER seen as many special team plays in this game in my life. It was like every single aspect of the ST game was used. But I have to give it to Fran and the coaching staff for making the onsides kick to start the game. They recognized in game film that OU started going backwards before the ball was kicked. This would give the Tide a great chance for the recovery. Bearden almost didn't kick it hard enough as it barely was able to cross the 45 yard line before he recovered the ball. Then all of a sudden, it was like I was watching Virginia Tech on special teams with 2 blocked punts, one of which we ran in for a TD. It was GREAT to see the guys scoop up the ball instead of fall on it. I mean, that deep in your opponent's territory, you have nothing to lose. Even if the opponent falls on the ball, you get it anyway since it was 4th down, so why not pick it up and run with it? Great play! The big MO was going Bama's way... then the last drive by OU really hurt.

But overall, the ST unit did about as good as you could ask. A couple of missed FG's would have helped, but they helped in other ways by cashing in on 2 TD's and 2 kickoff recoveries. I mixed emotions, but if we play special teams like this every week, we'll be in good shape. Those 2 blocked punts were huge.
GRADE: A-

OVERALL - Overall, this Bama team showed up in Norman wanting a win, not just showing up and having a good game. We expected a win when we left and we came really close in doing so. I credit the coaching staff for doing a good job in getting our team prepared and by using our ST unit to our fullest advantage. And to hold OU to -23 yards on the ground is just unheard of. At one point, before OU's last rushing TD, they were at -31 yards rushing. Of course, that includes sacks, but that's part of the running game. Then when Watts wasn't moving the team, they did not hesitate in putting in Croyle in for a couple of series until Beard fumbled the ball (GRRRRR!!!!). Croyle showed poise in the pocket for his 3 throws and gunned one throw about 100 mph. No joke when they said he had a good arm.

But coach knew this was Tyler's team and gave him the control of QB in the 2nd half, and boy did it pay off. We were a threat everytime we had the ball. They couldn't stop us. We just stopped ourselves. In any case, we're not into moral victories at Alabama, but it DID give us hope for the rest of the season. If we can play OU that great (minus long bombs), we can handle anyone left on our schedule, including Tennessee. It's just a matter of executing. That was our main problem. Executing - PERIOD. We have a great gameplan and it showed that Fran knows what he's doing. Players make plays, and OU just ended up making a couple more big plays that killed Bama's chances of winning the game. So overall, good gameplan, average execution in places, great in others, and a loss that Bama can definitely build on, but one the Tide won't soon forget...
OVERALL GRADE: B