OUCH! This one hurt. Another "close, but so far away" game in which the Tide had in its grasp, but let go at the very end. The Tide started strong, but then reality set it and for the Nth time this year, Bama failed to score in the 2nd half. Yeah, I'm not counting a given-up safety in the 4th quarter. Man, it stung. 6-6 instead of 7-5. The same situation occured 3 years ago in the Independence Bowl when we played Iowa State. We were 6-5 going into the bowl season and on a 3-game winning streak after starting 3-5. We finished 7-5 and really set the tone for the following 10-3 season. But back to this game.... let's take a look at what was so familiar to Tide fans this season..... CLOSE.

OFFENSE - Lucky for Bama that our defense is one of the best in the country, else we wouldnt' have even had a shot to win the game. With the absence of Ken Darby (yeah, he played, but he really wasn't there having a cracked pelvis and all), the Tide would have to lean on the wavering arm of Spencer Pennington. Aaron Johns would get the start at tailback, but he was nowhere ready to play in this type of game as the featured starter. He needed help, not to mention an OL that could block in this game. Minnesota really hammered our offensive line the entire game and we couldn't get anything going offensively. Everything was on Spencer and he almost pulled it out at the end set up by some good special teams work and defense.

But the most costly mistake of the game was the fumble for TD at the goal line when Spence didn't see the DL behind him... they stripped the ball and fell on it right across the line in the end zone. Just like that, tie game. When we make mistakes, we really make mistakes. But on a whole, taking into consideration the fact that our entire backfield was gone and Spencer still didn't grasp the concept of being a big-time QB, we did OK. We were given the chance to win and we just didn't do it. And for the last play of the game on offense by Bama, we throw the ball short AND out of bounds on 4th down...... WHY????? That had to be the stupidest throw of the game. With everything on the line, you have to at least give our guys a chance to make a play. He might as well have just spiked the ball into the turf to give the ball up. That's how much of a chance we had at converting that 4th down by throwing the ball out of bounds. Sheesh.... some guys just have NATURAL QB INSTINCTS, but Pennington just doesn't. I'm not knocking him - we needed him the entire year especially after Guillon sucked Crawfish heads early and often. Without Pennington, Bama isn't even 6-5 on the year. So he did ok considering, but it's evident that we need some RAW talent at QB here at the University of Alabama - not just a transfer that couldn't make it elsewhere... RAW TALENT. PERIOD.

At WR, we were getting open, so those guys did their job. The close fumble by Prothro was the only hiccup there. But both Brown and Prothro got open in the 4th quarter to put the game away and we just couldn't connect. At least we have some good days ahead of us looking into the recruiting season. I can't wait for spring ball...
OFFENSE: C

DEFENSE - The Bama defense definitely had to get on track in the 1st half. Big and Bigger (Gophers RBs) were just running all over us like there was no tomorrow. We hadn't allowed a single 100-yd rusher on the season, and in one game, we allowed two. Fortunately, we only allowed 2 touchdowns and a couple of FG's. The Bama D really stiffened in the red zone. But for some reason, the Gophers decided to throw the ball deep in Bama territory. After running the ball so well between the 20's, Minnesota decided to try and throw the ball. Why, I don't know.

But Roach was all over the place, and Gilberry played lights out. The 2ndary had some picks which really kept Bama in the game... then later on, Minnesota fumbled the ball and it wasn't called..... and that drive led to 7 points - 7 points that could have given Bama the win. Yeah we needed instand replay in this game. Pee-wee football officials would have seen this fumble - it was that obvious. Huge miss by the officials.

But in the 2nd half, Bama turned it on. Minnesota wouldn't get more than a FG for the last 2 quarters. All Bama had to do is get a TD and it would have been check and mate.17-14 going into the half.... then they outscore us 3-2 in the 2nd half. Sheesh - what is this? Baseball or something??? Points, people - points. Why can't we score points in the 2nd half against quality competition? We scored a last minute TD against Auburn and that's about it all season in the 2nd half against decent opponents. We get 2 points given to us here. Keep in mind our offense was young and injured. Still doesn't help much does it? So good job Defense. We gave up a TON of yards, especially on the ground, but in the end, we forced turnovers and didn't give them many points and actually gave US a chance to win the game at the end of the 4th quarter. When we needed a 3-and-out, we got it. That's all we can ask. Good job guys...
GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams did well in this game. Good punting considering Freelend was injured and Shatz hadn't kicked all year... Bostick was perfect, kickoffs were in the end zone, and at the end of the game, Prothro created some sparks to get the offense going after the safety kick. We didn't lose the game on special teams, but we did put up 8 points here. Good job... but too bad for Ragland who tore his ACL on the first play of the game. He was awarded a scholarship at the beginning of this season, his last, and all he wanted to do was play for Alabama. He did so as a walk-on and then in the bowl game, he just didn't get to finish like he would have liked. He's a guy we can all be proud of... to come from nowhere and end up somewhere.... man, that's cool. Good job special teams...
GRADE: A-

OVERALL - Overall, even though we lost the game, we still played well enough to win. We made some mistakes, but made up for them in creating turnovers. Defense gave up a lot of yards, but didn't allow them to put the game away early. Bama was always in it and never gave up. You have to give it to this Bama team for the heart they showed all year. It doesn't show up in the record books and it doesn't improve a 6-6 record, but we'll always remember this season as the "what if" season. Too many 'what ifs' to name, but the biggest 'what if' is Brodie Croyle. What if Brodie Croyle could actually finish a football season healthy just like he started??? Next season, hopefully he'll accomplish that feat. Brodie's not perfect, and he'll throw interceptions and make mistakes... but dang, he won't be so bad that our offense is totally anemic. Imagine what it would be like if we had the running game we had, having teams KNOW we were only going to run, and also had a passing attack that averaged over 200 ypg. It's mind-boggling. Talk about an incredible match-up in the Iron Bowl with an undefeated Alabama vs undefeated Auburn. #3 vs #4 (#1/#2 would still be USC/OU). And the winner would almost certainly still be #3. So at least it happened to Auburn, right? I still would have liked to be in their position rather than ours... next year, so they say.... next year.

It's been a real pleasure giving my take all year... stay tuned though. I'll have my early spring comments after recruiting day at the beginning of February. So far, Bama's recruiting class is looking like a top 15 class, and we're not done. Fall 2005 is looking very promising with the return of 9 on defense and 8 on offense. It's clear the biggest replacements will be on the OL, place kicker, punter, and RB. Other than that, Bama's looking VERY good early on. No wonder we're looking at so many RB's in the recruting season. We went down to #4 by the bowl game. Ouch!
GRADE: B

So stay tuned for more updates on BAMADOG.COM. Hoops season is here and Bama's rolling at 13-3 now. The ladies aren't doing too badly either. Then keep in touch with baseball as the team looks to rebound from the worst season under the Jim Wells era at Alabama. And last, but not least, mark on your calendar the A-Day game which will be played on March 19. Then the season opener is against Middle Tennessee State on Sept 3 in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Keep it real, Bamafans, and keep the Tide Rolling......

Your host,
The Bamadog

BAMA 13 - #2 AUBURN 21

Man, I hate writing this stuff after a Bama loss. BUT, since I have procrastinated for 2 weeks, I guess I'll throw down my .02 from what I remember. All I know, is that with a healthy Croyle along with a healthy backfield, there's NO doubt in my mind that Bama would have been undefeated going into the Iron Bowl, and Bama might have also come out with a win too. Talk about a SERIOUS Iron Bowl - I can't think of an Iron Bowl in recent memory that had undefeated teams involved. Anyway...

OFFENSE - Bama's offense actually did ok for most of the first half, but couldn't muster up much until the final drive of the game when Auburn was in prevent defense. Penning looked his best, but still, his best wasn't quite enough. It's another one of those "close" games where we just don't finish. Darby was the main offense we had, and Auburn decided that they were going to make Pennington win the game for the Tide. Good strategy. Bama's rushing game didn't do much as the passing game actually outgained the rushing game. We were finally forced to pass the ball, and that's what we did. We just didn't make plays when we really needed them. Average day, but definitely not good enough to win this day...
GRADE: C

DEFENSE - Bama's D played lights out when you consider what we were up against - one of the best offenses in the country. They couldn't get much going... and then our offense started going 3-and-out, which caused Bama's D to tire out in the 2nd half. In the first half, Bama's D was un-freakin-believable. Auburn didn't score a point up till halftime. If only our offense could have put up some TD's instead of FG's in that half - it would have been a completely different game, and a possible Bama win. But overall, they played great. We just didn't have enough on the offensive side of the ball.
GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams did very well. Good kickoff returns by Prothro, Bostick was awesome to finish out the season with only a couple of misses. He should be one of the finalists for the "best kicker" award. We'll see. We didn't get any punt blocks, but we didn't get our blocked either... but AU DID miss a FG as the first half ended, so that's good. Also, it's good that we have Jamie Christensen for 3 more years - dude has an awesome leg. Great job, guys.
GRADE: B+

OVERALL - Overall, a galliant effort, but we just came up a bit short. When you have to rely on an on-sides kick to possibly win the game, then you know you didn't do all you could do in regulation prior to that. Auburn got the on-sides kick and barely ran out the clock to end the game. What killed us was the one timeout we used earlier in the game, so we only had 2 to burn on that possession - else we would have gotten the ball back. Timeouts are valueable, and we used up one that might have cost us the game. It definitely cost us the chance to get the ball back, and that's more of a chance than what we got.

The coaches did a good job though we came up short. For what we had to work with for most of the season, it's amazing that we still were 6-5. Still could have (should have) been better, but QB really plagued the Tide. But in this game, they did all we could do except score 22 points. Next year, things WILL be different - PERIOD.
GRADE: B+

BAMA 10 - #17 L.S.U. 26

Man, I'm so pissed off right now, it's not even funny. Crap.

It's like, how do you comment on a game that's not an accurate score of what really happened, thanks to the officials. So that a non-call passing interference call and about 3 facemask penalties in last week's game against State that have not been called. What's going on here? These officials are missing blatent penalties that could definitely affect the outcome of these games. Instead of the score being 17-6, it flip-flopped and ended up 13-10 LSU. Momentum changed, the crowd got back into it... EVERYTHING changed at that point. I believe that Bama only had 1 yard in the 4th quarter. I don't know what THAT'S all about, but you can't win when you don't finish games strong. Getting one single yard in the last quarter isn't how you finish games. But I definitely believe it would have been a lot closer had LSU been penalized in the end zone after the passing interference call. Sheesh... I'm still chapped over that crap. And I honestly believe that if we had a roster of ALL healthy players (Croyle, Hudson, and Castille, not to mention Cavan), we would more than likely be undefeated going into the Auburn game. The ONLY game we might have been beaten is LSU and that would be slim. Can you imagine? #2/#3 Auburn vs #2/#3 Alabama to decide the SEC West champion and national title hopes on the line??? How huge is that?? To my knowledge, there has NEVER been an Iron Bowl with both teams undefeated. But that's just another 'what if', huh? Sucks, don't it?

OFFENSE - The offense actually started out the game playing well. For the 2nd straight game, Pennington connected on the deep ball to Caddell. This one travelled about 55 yards in the air - he put everything he had into it. Darby finished off the drive with a TD... and he's a smart player too. he didn't cross the goal line initially, but he stretched out his arms with the ball to cross it at the last second to get the call. Nice. Else Bama might have settled for a FG.

With Cavan out, and Johnston coming back from injury, we didn't do much with the TE. That was a disappointment. So the night pretty much depended on Darby. And once the LSU defense started putting 9 men in the box and blitzing, there was nothing more we could do. Pennington got hurt - Darby was tired (as shown by his lack of speed on a pass reception in the 4th quarter), and the staff didn't feel comfortable putting Johns in the game after he went down earlier in the game and fumbled (but wasn't ruled a fumble) by way of the ground. Darby can't do it all. But even with everything he was up against, he still managed more than 100 yards on the day. The problem is that we didn't do much in the air if you take away the one bomb Pennington threw. We still need more. Oh, and the TD we could have gotten in the 2nd quarter where Darby jumped (illegal procedure) - that was just stupid. Darby knows better, and he knows it cost us 4 more points on the scoreboard. Excellent play call though. The coaches were ready, but I still think we should have been a little more imaginitive in the 4th quarter. Run, run, run, punt is not the way to go sometimes. We just need something else to happen.

Last, even though Bama's offense was on the field longer than LSU, our defense was still on the field too long - most of that being in the 2nd half of the game, and it showed. Two long runs for TD's (one was a reception) showed that we were just tired and couldn't hang. Madison squared up, but failed to use the sideline as a defender and the guy shot right past him. The offense needed to be on the field longer, and they just weren't. Getting shutout in the 2nd half just won't do. I know we had the bad call, but we still didn't score after that. Something needs to give, and at this point, I don't know if it can. We just don't have anymore players to help make it happen.
GRADE: C

DEFENSE - The defense just seemed to give out at the end of the game. They were totally dominant in the 1st half. LSU mustered up only 2 FG's by halftime. But poor field position in the 2nd half really cost the Tide. Bama's defense couldn't get off the field at times and finally LSU burned us twice to put the game away. Overall, the Defense played well. Though they had a lot of rushing yards, a lot of that was on the 47-yd rushing TD in the 2nd half. One just slipped through the cracks, like MSU last weekend. With this performance, the Tide is now the #2 defense in the country, right behind North Carolina State - but only by less than a yard per game. We had a lot of good plays and we stuffed them at just the right time..... but we still gave up 26 points - something our offense couldn't overcome.
GRADE: B-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Brandon Brooks can ride the pine these last 2 games (AU and Bowl). He now thinks it's ok to fumble kickoffs in addition to his punts. After 2 lame fumbles on kickoffs OUT OF BOUNDS, consider him gone for the season. Crap - how do you TWICE let the ball fumble off of yourself out of bounds behind the 10 freakin' yard line????????????????? Then seldom-used Caddell comes in to replace him and fumbles too, but not out of bounds. Is it possible for Prothro to just play in the middle and return everything??? He seems to be the only reliable returner back there. I mean really - what the crap, people??

Then on the punt game, Bo Freelend did ok - not his best, but he did well. And Bostick had another solid game nailing his one FG and PAT. He did his part. It's just a shame that we can't seem to get anymore blocked punts this year. Last year we found ways to get to punters and block kicks - this year, we just aren't doing that - it's something that can change the outcome of a game in our favor, but it just hasn't happened. But the kickoff return team really disappointed me bigtime - and they bring down the grade this week. We had good coverage on our kickoffs...
GRADE: B-

OVERALL - Overall, Bama played good in the 1st half and was practically non-existent after the non-call in the 3rd quarter. The coaches probably over-ran Darby in this game as his fatigue was definitely showing in the 4th quarter in my opinion. Maybe Pennington was too hurt to throw after he got crushed by 2 defensive linemen from LSU... in any case, we couldn't do squat and LSU made us pay. Injuries just continue to mount. Now, McClain may be out for the Iron Bowl, and Pennington likely won't be at 100%. What else do we have to work with? Guillon? Thrash? Dang - we scraping the bottom of the barrell folks. We desperately need next season to be upon us as we'll have some healthy bodies and we can show teams what we can really do when our entire team isn't on the injured reserve. Crap. Have I said that yet? Crap (again). It just blows..... Bama deserves better, especially after everything they have gone though - at least we made a bowl this year, something remarkable when you consider the injuries we have had to take on this year, not to mention the scholarship losses and true freshmen playing this year. What can we say - we lost, but things will get better - we just need some healthy bodies.
GRADE: C+

BAMA 30 - MISSISSIPPI STATE 14

Easy win? I don't think so. MSU came to play on Saturday and it showed on the first drive of the game. MSU took it to the Tide in 4 plays to go up 7-0. Wow. We were pretty much stunned. Then reality set in. Bama scored, Bama scored, and Bama scored some more and put away the Dogs 30-14 in front of a loud sellout crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium. I'll take a quick look at the game now.....

OFFENSE - According to the coaching staff, this was Pennington's best game of the year despite his 2 interceptions (that were like punts - but why punt when you can score??). He finally completed a long pass to Brown, and rifled in a shot to Hall to keep a drive alive late in the game. I thought for sure it was intercepted until Hall came up with the ball. Then he made the good fake near the goal line and then lofted the ball to McClain for the TD. That would be Pennington's first TD of the year. And now we're 3-3 post-Brodie.

The rest of the backfield was pretty much Darby, Darby, Darby. 200 yards on 36 carries. Wow - what a workhorse. Not since Shaud Williams in last year's 5-OT loss did Bama carry the ball so much. Williams had carried 40 times in that game. He's the real deal, and this year, he's not fumbling the ball like in the past. He's really stepped up his game - now if only he can get his interviewing skills up to par. LOL

Also, we saw a first - Prothro lined up at QB and scored a TD on the play. It was just a QB sweep to the right side, and everyone blocked perfectly to score 6 for the Tide. McClain absolutely leveled that LB - see that? Apparently, the Tide have been working on that play for a few weeks now, and finally put it in. Maybe we'll see a bit more of this type of thing in the next 2 games. We'll sure need it. Prothro is just a playmaker. He can do it all, so why not QB. Wouldn't it be so freakin' cool to see Prothro actually line up at QB the entire Iron Bowl and nail Auburn with the option the entire game? Talk about a secret.... each week, they could be prepping for that game little by little, perfecting the option game... and boom, out of nowhere, Bama is an option team for the Iron Bowl. Ok, I think I'm getting ahead of myself and it probably wouldn't happen, but it's good to dream a little....

Anyway, good game by the offense, especially KD and the offensive line. Putting up these kind of numbers in the next 2 weeks will be tough to do, so let's enjoy this one while we can. Roll Tide!
GRADE: B

DEFENSE - The Bama defense gave up a quick TD to start the game, then settled down the rest of the way. Maybe it was the off-week. We tend to do that though. We get a feel for the offense, then shut them down the rest of the way. I'll say though, that Wallace Gilberry is a Freak, man. Dude is all over the place and totally took over the last drive for MSU. He ended up with 3 sacks and a fumble recovery. You can't ask for much more than that from a DL. And the guy is only a redshirt freshman. Let's hope he's got a good head on his shoulders and stays at Bama another 3 FULL years. He's a keeper, that's for sure.

Also, it was good to see Simeon Castille a bit more on Saturday. He was getting a lot of time at corner too since Robinson was a little banged up. He held his own and made a good play, knocking down one pass that would have kept an MSU drive alive. The rest of the defense is doing well too... and Freddie Roach is just the man. His motor is always running - must be using Super Unleaded cuz the dude can play. After this game, the Tide retained its #1 Defense ranking in the country even though it gave up slightly more than its average. Keep it up D. We need you now more than ever....
GRADE: B+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Brian Bostick is the man this year. Period. Bo Freelend has successfully replaced the awesome Lane Bearden. And now it appears that Prothro may have replaced Brandon Brooks at the punt returner position. Brooks fumbled yet another punt in the MSU game and was replaced by Prothro immediately. I honestly don't look for Brooks to return many more punts this year unless Prothro is just too tired to handle it. Plus, Prothro is just more of a playmaker. We had good returns on kickoffs as well, so good job there. And because of his consistent play this year Bostick is now a semi-finalist for the Groza award. And Freelend is a semi-finalist for the Ray Guy award. I wish these guys the best. Bostick might have a chance to win the award if he can make just a few more big kicks in our next 2 games. He has drastically improved over last year.
GRADE: A

OVERALL - Overall, the Tide had a good gameplan on both sides of the ball. Pennington finally completed some bigtime passes though throwing 2 int's, Darby had a career day running for the 12th best yardage amount in Tide History, Bostick was on, Freelend was on - the coaches went outside the box and put Prothro at QB for a play and it paid off for 6 points, the defense got a key turnover to seal the game, and the crowd was loud. The defense played mediocre compared to it's high standards, but they did enough to win the game. It was solid. We need even more now from the Tide to win the last 2 over #17 LSU and #3 Auburn. It's a tough road, but if we can pull out 1 or 2 more wins, the Tide can come see me here in Dallas in the Cotton Bowl - so let's make it happen, Tide. :)
GRADE: B+

BAMA 13 - #11 TENNESSEE 17

Man, this was just one of 'those' games. Dang, I HATE ORANGE! UT SUCKS. Ok, I'm done venting for now. Bama went up to Knoxville this past weekend and played the UT Vols in a great football game, though the outcome could have easily been reversed. That smug look on Fulmer's face, I just wanna smack it off of there.... oh yeah, back to the game....

So anyway, Bama played their butts off and did about as good as you would hope for, but 2 costly mistakes probably cost the Tide the game. Bama would dominate almost every stat in the game except the score, where it matters.... let's take a quick look as I don't want to dwell on this crap too long. I get mad just thinking about it...

OFFENSE - The offense had a good gameplan, but executed everything except a normal handoff (UT gets a fumble recovery for a TD) and a late interception. Oh, and quite a few overthrown passes and passes out of bounds. If we want to overthrow balls to WR's and throw the ball out of bounds, let's just bring back Zow. We stress ending 'being close', but we don't seem to be improving a lot on that. We can't seem to complete the long ball and it's hurting us. The one ball Pennington DID get to Prothro, wow - it just hung up there for what seemed an eternity. I'm just glad it got shot down before the DB could get to it.

In the backfield Darby stepped up his game. He again got 99 yards for the 2nd game this year. Not bad considering what he was up against. UT was clogging up the middle of the field the entire game. And did you see the yards after first contact??? Wow! Darby (as I already knew) is the real deal. I'm glad we have him. Let's just keep this guy un-injured, ok? Johns is a very capable RB, but there's still a big experience gap between the two guys. Castille is now gone for the season, not that you didn't already know that. He's probably going to be back for Fall ball. I doubt he'd be back in full force for the A-Day game, and even if he is, I would count on him doing a lot. We'll see Brodie in the spring though. He'll have the yellow jersey as usual - we just have to hope he doesn't screw up his ankles since both his knees are both re-done.

But anyway, back to UT.... the WR's did a good job at getting open (quite a few times), but Pennington just couldn't connect. And the one pass that he really needed to complete was the one to Prothro in the last drive of the game on 4th down. And EVEN with the FREEBIE that UT gave us - "Here you go. You couldn't get a TD with the 4 downs you originally got? Here's 4 more downs. BAM! Roughing the passer. 4 more tries..." Only we would only get 2 tries as Penning threw the interception to ice the game for UT.

THEN, you get to thinking - ok, with 40+ seconds, we have 2 timeouts. With that, UT downed the ball twice and if we hadn't have had a stupid pre-snap penalty on 3rd down, we could have made UT punt the ball. It wasn't much hope, but it was more hope than getting none. It's all about execution and we just didn't execute at the level we needed to to win the game. We executed enough to win the statbook, but that's not what matters. A few brainfarts and mistakes cost Bama the game - a game we could have EASILY won in Knoxville... and earned a bowl bid and a win going into the off-week.
GRADE: C+

DEFENSE - The defense showed that they are the REAL DEAL, baby. All the hype? Oh yeah, they are for real. The Bama D held UT under 200 total yards, and with that low output, Bama has now become the top-rated defense in the country. We'll keep that rating for at least 2 weeks since we have the off week now... but the defense was stifling. UT couldn't run the ball... they could barely pass the ball. We got 2 huge interceptions - one that reminded me of Nebraska a few years ago when they won the national title (Ryans catch), and then just a heads-up play by Wortham to knock the ball up on the goal line and catch it. That kept the game a one-score game and it gave Bama hope. Bama would make a surge at that point, but would end up having to punt yet again. So Bama just plugged and plugged away. They only gave up a FG and then a TD where UT's starting field position was on our side of the 50... about the 20 I believe, thanks to a UT punt return. That one play cost us bigtime as we had them in 3rd down, and we brought the house, and Ainge burned us. We couldn't have asked for a much better showing from our defense. Period. Good job guys...
GRADE: A

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams played great with the exception of the one special teams play that put the Vols on top for good... the huge punt return. It changed the face of the game. Bostick was on. Freelend was on. Christensen was on. Even Brooks was on for punt returns and kickoffs. But that one coverage on Freelend's punt was huge - and it helped cost us the game. You just can't give the other team the ball on the front porch like that. You can only do so much and that was the ONE time they stuck it in the end zone - on a special teams breakdown.
GRADE: B-

OVERALL - Overall, the team played well enough to totally dominate the game yet lose the game. Only a handful of plays determine the outcome of the football game and for the Tide, both plays went the way of the Vols unfortunately. It's time to stop talking about being 'close' and get the job done. Pennington is a Junior. Ainge is a true freshman, yet Ainge got it done when it mattered (pass on 3rd down after punt return). Pennington got close, but no cigar, and in this game, the cigar is what matters - you want to light that sucker at the end of the game - and we came up short one more time. Crap. What a sour taste in my mouth. Good thing, is that Florida lost to MSU. Bad thing, is that MSU might be on the swing side up and Spurrier might head back to UF. EEK! Well, it's still Mississippi State, and UF doesn't have Bama's defense... Still looking for win #6, people... shoulda been UT, and it shoulda been a top 25 ranking this week.... stupid mistakes - they'll kill you every time. Saturday was no exception.
GRADE: B

BAMA 27 - #24 SOUTHERN MISS 3

Ok, homecoming is done and over and theoretically, Bama should be (grunt) 7-0 and in the top 10 heading into Knoxville. But that's not the case this year. Instead, we lost our top 2 players and are still sitting pretty at 5-2 on the season. And this 5th win was a good one. It was total domination by a 'ranked' USM team, the first time such an occurance has ever happened in the series. Unranked Bama has never faced off against ranked USM before. Defense was the name of the game, along with a new starter at TB - Ken Darby, or as the players call him... just "K.D.". Let's take a quick look at the 2004 homecoming game against the Golden Eagles....

OFFENSE - The offense pretty much resembled that of last week's game against Kentucky. No passing, all running, all defense, and all special teams. Oh, and throw in some penalties on Alabama just to piss us off. LOL But the offense was so dominating on the ground that Shula pretty much just decided to run the clock out starting at the end of the 3rd quarter. Honestly, it might have been good to see what we could have done in the air - you know - just to prepare for the rest of the schedule (ie. UT next week). But one point that was brought up was the fact that After Pennington, we don't have anyone to pass the ball with Guillon still hurt. Even if Pennington got hurt, Guillon would just hand the ball off.... so all in all, it's a good, sound decision. The longer Pennington is in the backfield holding the ball, the more of a chance that a DL will get to him and finish him off (for the season, I might add). At this point, we don't need anymore injuries.... but I WAS puzzled as to why KD was in the game as long as he was, even after the game was won. He stopped at 197 yards and then came out. At least he didn't risk it by going back out to get those 3 final yards. You just never know, right?

So the offense ran and ran and ran. We threw 4 completions on the day, 1 of those a mere shovel 'pass' to KD for a TD. Another to Prothro who made an amazing grab on his way down from his jump, and Cadell with one. Darby would get one other short-yardage pass. No TE catches. No Keith Brown, though we tried. No DJ Hall. Man, either we are struggling bigtime to pass the ball, or Shula is just confident enough or dead-set on running the ball because WE CAN. We're in the top 10 in the country in rushing the football, but #115 in passing the ball. And the only reason we're not dead last is because Brodie played the first 2 1/2 games of the season to pad our passing yardage stats. Brodie had more yards in 2 games than our other 2 QBs have in 4 games combined. Sad, huh? But hey, we all see what happens when we pass the ball - the other team catches it. So it's not a bad gameplan if it's working.... which IT IS, thank goodness.

So basically, all we did was hand off to Darby left, hand off to Darby right, and hand off to Darby up the middle... then toss it to him, then shovel pass it to him. Can we possibly rely on the RB anymore??? This was an easy win on paper, and it ended up an easy win on the field combined with our defense, but don't think that it will be this easy in the upcoming SEC games (except MSU). But for this game, we did well. I like the points, but we still need to improve on lessening our penalties. That's the one thing that's going to kill us if we keep holding on the OL. Though Pennington did go deep and get intercepted inside the 5 (who was he throwing to???), it was like a punt, but you don't want to throw a pick that deep when it's not 3rd down. We had plenty of time to make things happen as we had great field position at that point. We need to take advantage of that and not give it back to the other team right after the defense takes a seat on the sidelines...
GRADE: B

DEFENSE - This defense is for real. But the real test will be the next 4 weeks. But for this game, we dominated though USM did gain the most rushing yards they have ever gained against Bama. On the flip side, we held USM to the fewest passing yards they have had since the 1950's - a mere 23 yards for the entire game. We completed 4 passes - they completed 6. Not really what you would see from a 'ranked' top 25 team, huh? That's why they are where they are now - unranked and barely getting votes. But anyway, you know the D is getting the job done when the other team punts 8 times and turns it over once. Something has to be working. The difference between this year and last - experience and they players know the system under Kines. People can yell at Kines all they want - the guy knows what he's doing. NO defense is invinceable. Every defense will give up yards and points - you just have to not allow them more than your offense on that day. All we had to do was score a TD and that was ballgame.

But position-wise, the DL was in the backfield all day, especially Bates who had 8 tackles. Freddie Roach had the hit of the day jarring loose the ball from the USM RB so Mark Anderson could recover inside the 10 yard line. That proved to be huge in getting up 2 scores. Later, Peprah would get his first int of the season and return it for good yardage. The play almost cost the Tide 2 players though, as Peprah was slung down like a teatherball, and Roman Harper got his bell rung as well trying to block downfield. Lucky for them, they should be ok for UT... and no broken bones that we know of. :) So keep up the good job. Almost got the shutout, but still kept USM out of the end zone. That's what we need each and every week...
GRADE: A

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special Teams is still rolling in most phases and even got a boost with a good return by Brooks this week. That was the first good return he has had all year, thanks to some not-so-great hangtime, and good blocking downfield. Hey, and no flag on the play! Roll Tide! Jamie Christensen kicked 4 balls into the endzone, something we haven't seen as much of as of late - maybe he's getting mad. lol so good job there. No better way to keep a long return than a team not to return it at all, right? Brooks had one return on the day and he took it 30 yards, his yearly average. Bostick continued his pretty solid play by hitting 2 of 3 FGs. His one miss came from 46 yards and it was slightly wide right. He was good from 45 and 37. Bo Freelend did a good job punting as usual for a 49.3 average, and Jeremy Schatz got in the game to kick a 40-yarder which was downed inside the 10. That's about it other than the Brooks' fumble (again). Can we fix that problem? He's going to kill us in Knoxville if he fumbles against a real team... sheesh. But overall, decent play from special teams. Wait - Penalties... blocks in the back, holding... yada yada yada. Do I need to say anything else about it???
GRADE: B

OVERALL - Overall, a good gameplan against the Golden Eagles. Defense and running the ball were the name of the game and we did it well. Our defense if finally getting some rest after getting man-handled against Arkansas and South Carolina. They play better when rested, that's for sure. As for people wanting more out of the passing game, it's a catch-22. Pass and then USM possibly comes back... don't pass and you don't see what your players can do in a game, plus it offers more chances for injury for your main/only leftover QB. We definitely don't need Pennington to get hurt. Sure Guillon can hand the ball off, but lately, I have grown on Pennington a bit more than Guillon mainly because he's an Alabama boy. He KNOWS how great it is to be the QB at the University of Alabama. Guillon just transferred and hasn't really impressed much either. Next week though, will be the true test. Now if we can run the ball successfully on UT, heck, we might not see Pennington pass the ball there much either.

But against USM, we got just enough done in the passing game to be dangerous (to whom, I don't know). We didn't eclipse the 100-yd passing mark for the 4th straight game (all without Brodie), but with the powerful running game we DO have, maybe we can pull out a few more in similar fashion. Good game... we got a win at homecoming which was important (do we really want a Central Florida or La. Tech scenario, people??), and our team is gaining confidence each and every week... we have 2 wins in a row... Shula got his first win against a top 25 opponent, and the defense is playing at a championship level as they are currently ranked #3 in the country with the top pass defense in the land. Bama is on the upswing right now - we're on our way back; we're just having to do it slowly due to some serious injuries... but we're Bama and we'll be back on top sooner than later. ROLL TIDE!
GRADE: A-

BAMA 45 - KENTUCKY 17

Bama's 6th week of football is over and we seem to have gotten back on track though it was against a much lesser opponent. But in these days, it really doesn't matter, as long we we can come out with a win - an SEC win at that. The ONLY other team that doesn't worry me that much is Mississippi State, so no weekend is a guarantee right now, even Kentucky. It was still a tight game at the half... it wasn't until the 3rd quarter that Bama let the dogs out on UK, then the game was history. Let's take a look...

OFFENSE - I said Bama would run for 300-350 yards in my gameday prediction... whew - thank goodness for that run by Freelend, right? I believe we had around 305 yards on the day. In the air, we didn't need to throw it much - just enough to have fun with it. Pennington would start the game and did a good job throughout. His job was not to win the game, but to lot lose the game like we did last week. He didn't throw any TD passes, but better than that, he didn't throw any interceptions, and that was huge. We saw what turnovers did against us against USC the previous week... and we saw what 3 turnovers did to Kentucky. It totally changed the face of the game, and that's why the game ended up in a blowout by Bama.... 3 turnovers by UK. Add in a blocked punt (just like a turnover) and a redo on 4th down that resulted in it being a first down Bama instead of an already Kentucky ball since they accepted the penalty.. then throw in the 101 yard kickoff return by Prothro... Wow. How can you overcome all of that? You can't. Period. Thus the huge output of points on Saturday.

Though Bama won on the day, it was still another huge loss to the team as Hudson went down and appears to be out for the year. Hudson was the SEC's leading rusher gaining well more than 100 yards per game. He would end this game with 99 on the ground. Hudson's TD was unbelievable... he almost went down, kept his composure, and zipped past the defense for the score. Now the Tide will turn to Darby who also had 99 yards on the ground Saturday. He doesn't have as much power as Hudson but is very shifty when he runs. He about broke the other guy's ankle on his run into the endzone on Saturday. Tim Castille will also look to get more carries, as will Aaron Johns. Good thing for us we have a lot of talent at the RB spot.

At WR, we didn't have a lot of things happen. Just a few catches here and there, but we did have some big 3rd down conversions thru the air. Caddell caught a big pass and so did D.J. Hall. We just didn't force anything and that's good.. mostly just some out-passes and easy catches...

The OL did another great job keeping Pennington safe in the pocket and keeping the ground game going at 100%. I don't believe Pennington got sacked on the day. Great job there. As long as Bama kept running the ball, we had a chance. Mistake-free football is the bottom line. No sacks, no turnovers, and no/low penalties. The Tide would lessen their penalties to just 5 in this game. That's an improvement over the last few weeks, and they weren't in very serious times of the game. So overall, they did what they set out to do, and they didn't cough the ball up at all. It was a good day overall for the Tide's offense, but not every defense will be that of Kentucky's in the upcoming weeks. Sooner or later we'll definitely be forced to throw the ball a lot more... but until then, good job in this game.
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - The defense played a great game, only allowing 17 points to UK. We started to bend a bit in the 1st half, but at halftime, we made some adjustments and came out strong in the 2nd half. 5 fumbles and we recovered 3 of them. That was huge in allowing Bama to pretty much run away with the game. Another game with less than 200 yards allowed was huge, and it's just something else to build on for upcoming games. BUT, it was UK, so we shouldn't get too caught up in everything, but the fact that we took care of business instead of letting them hang around says something about the defense. Great job there, and good job on the DL where we kept UK QB's running all day. Then when we finally flushed the QB out of the pocket, Roach/Wortham were there to take care of the mess. Tackling was very solid, some of the best I've seen this year. But once we got to stopping that option, UK had nowhere else to go. Good job, D, but we still gave up 17 points. Seeing how our offense isn't great at putting up points on its own, 17 could beat us (ie. see Arkansas and S.Carolina). But still a great job.
GRADE: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams played the best on the day, bar none. A 100-yard kickoff by Prothro was a shear thing of beauty. The blocked punt by Anthony Madison to give us great field position and later score... then Freelend's not-so-fake punt and run for a 1st down. Just a heads-up play there. We didn't have any real bone-headed plays this week... instead, we played good, sound football. UK had one good kickoff return, but I guess you're bound to get one, as many times as we had to kickoff, right? Christenson kicked off deep and didn't kick any out of bounds which was good. Brandon Brooks had some good solid blocks to guide Prothro down the sideline for his score - it was just a good overall day for the Tide special teams. On the run by Freelend, I just knew he's pull the ball back out and punt the ball after the 2 UK guys went past him, but he had the presence of mind to just go and get the LOOOONG first down. It was like 3rd and 18 or something, and we still got it. The only problem here, is that we actually let the guy get through the line and get to Freelend. We're just lucky he flew right past him to allow the big play. Hopefully, the coaches will correct that problem in practice this week. It could have been a huge momentum swing for UK - instead, we just extended the drive a few more plays before we gave the ball back to the Cats. This is the type of play we're going to need in the future to help us win some games. The offense can't do it all - they'll need some help, and that's what special teams did for the Tide Saturday.
GRADE: A+

OVERALL - Overall, the Tide dominated an inferior opponent. We were favored to win by 5 and we ended up winning by a landslide, thanks to key turnovers from the defense and awesome plays by special teams. It was a complete game by all phases of the team Saturday, and that resulted in a huge win - a much-needed win - by the Tide. Getting 2 more wins looks doable if we can beat Southern Miss next weekend, but beating UK was mandatory, else we would be forced to win games against UT, LSU, or Auburn, which will be tough this year with our injury situation.

But the coaches were ready, Pennington was ready, the defense was ready, and special teams played lights-out. Let's enjoy this one as the meat of the schedule slowly creeps upon us..... good win for the Tide!
GRADE: A

BAMA 3 - SOUTH CAROLINA 20

Let's go ahead and get this over-with. Bama, as much as I ABSOLUTELY HATE TO SAY THIS, -- sux right now. I keep the faith and NEVER leave before the game is done when it's up to me, and from what I can tell, Bama will be lucky - and I mean SERIOUSLY LUCKY even to beat Mississippi State this year. Yes, the University of Maine, who beat MSU would give us a run and possibly beat us. Sad how far we have digressed just from losing THE MAN of the team, Brodie Croyle. It's obvious, and not just to me, that we have no quarterback on this team except for Brodie. We'd be more productive (seriously) if Brodie was on the field in a wheel chair. I can see going to Pennington because Guillong didn't do anything, but Pennington is SOOOO not ready to be in a game, period. Shula should have gone back to Guillon after he had some time on the sidelines to think about it...I'm talking of Guillon. Guillon could then get back on the field and feel that he couldn't do worse than Pennington who had a whole 6 yards of passing offense... pretty sad when his number of interceptions NEARLY matched that of the yards he threw. 6 yards and 2 interceptions... and they weren't even close - they were right to the other team, point blank. What was he doing on the last one? - not that it mattered, as USC would cough it up twice inside the 15 yard line.

The score should have been much worse... 2 fumbles near the endzone and then the final drive, they kneeled on the ball. Heck, that would have been 21 more points, driving the total up to 41-3. OUCH. And I don't even blame the defense because they were on the field (what seems like) the entire game. They ran the ball almost 30 straight times in the 4th quarter till they downed the last 2 snaps. Of course, at that point, USC had the game won and Holtz wasn't going to run up the score. Classy move at least.

Anyway, Both Hudson and Darby couldn't really get anything going. Tim had some nice runs, but bottom line is, if you can't pass the ball or run the option, you are just minced meat for the other team - and that's what Bama has become, only we smell more like bologna. Nasty.

The offensive line did what they could, so I don't have huge complaints there, though a holding call against Tatum (again) didn't help our cause in the 1st half. Basically, our team goes along with the QB play. If we can't pass the ball, then every single phase of the game (except special teams) gets affected. We throw 4 interceptions, and the D gets no rest - great. Turnovers are soooo huge, and that's why we lost, though we DID get a few turnovers ourselves - but at that point, a little too late. Take away those lame interceptions, Bama is in the game till the end, but unfortunately, TO's count huh? Sheesh, Vanderbilt would beat us right now if they played us. Thank goodness we don't play Vandy this year, or it would be history in the making, not that tonight wasn't. Dang, USC had never won in T-town before... chalk up their first win in Tuscaloosa. So will everyone else who visits the confines of Bryant-Denny Stadium this year. Again, I ask - Can Brodie just play in a wheelchair the rest of the way??? Our odds are still better given that he can't run.

Special teams did ok, but Bostick missed his first FG of the season. You have to know he'll miss eventually, but in this game, it didn't really matter since Bama wouldn't be able to do anything for nearly the entire game. Shula has a real problem. He has a team with a QB. No, seriously. We have "QBs", but we don't have a REAL QB and a leader at that. Some guys just "have it", and if anybody starting with 3rd stringer Adam Thrash or below can get this team moving, it's time to make it happen. Forget redshirts - forget all that crap - we CAN'T get worse off than we are now, so let's see if someone down low has some RAW natural talent on that sideline because we are in SERIOUS need for it right now. Again, Mississippi State will likely beat us this year unless some sort of miracle happens...

We averaged 43 points per game with Croyle at the healm... now, we average 6.5 - NOT EVEN 1 SINGLE TD for an average score. Something HAS to change - I don't know what it is, but something has to change. PERIOD. Since we can't pass, it's time to change the offense - go to the option. If Shula can't coach the option, then we need an interim coach who can help us out. We won't many more games with the current offense and Brodie not being the QB, plain and simple. Our WRs are the real deal, but without a guy who can get them the ball, we're in trouble.

Speaking of WRs, I wish Keith Brown the best of luck with his injury. Initial reports state the x-rays came back negative, so things look positive so far for Keith Brown. Let's all hope he has a quick and speedy recovery and be very thankful he doesn't appear to be paralyzed. Say a prayer for him and his family...

The last thing - penalties - Bama was flagged 7 times for 74 yards... Gamecocks, no flags whatsoever. Wow. That pretty much speaks for itself. Also, Bama's 2 longest pass plays were 13 & 12 yards. That 25 of the whole 67 we got for the entire game. Lame. It's no wonder we lost. We kept throwing it to the other team. Hudson was the only bright spot, and even his numbers didn't shine as USC set out to stop him, and pretty much did as he only got 74 yards on the day. He was also the leading receiver for the Tide as he hauled in 3 passes for a whopping 15 yards. Crap - that sux like a ho. And if that doesn't suck, remember the stat on Pennington, 6 yards and 2 interceptions? Well, that was one pass completed to Bama, and 2 passes completed to USC. He's clearly not ready and no matter how bad Guillon is, Pennington is still worse, so how about giving another QB some reps behind Guillon? Too many negatives to name, so I'll stop there.... my fingers are worn out typing this bologna....

That's all this week... no sense in grading the team. You saw the game, and honestly, if we had QB play, that would effect every single position. The defense played poorly because they had to suck wind all night.... they were tired because they were constantly on the field.... that's no fault of their own. Basically the offense gets an F, and everything else was average because the offense sucked so bad. It's time to go back to the drawing board and get this offense "revamped" or something. What we are running right now WILL NOT WORK. Hudson/Darby combo is our ONLY threat, and they are easy to stop when you have no other options.... I just sit here shaking my head.

We're in trouble, Bama Nation.

BAMA 10 - ARKANSAS 27

Dang it. So close, yet how in the crap did we lose?????? Bama should not have lost that game, period - but we did. Practically all the stats showed us winning, but Arkansas put together plays CONSECUTIVELY that allowed them to come out as the winner of this college football game. Let's take a look at how we screwed up... and what we can do next time to come out on top...

OFFENSE - The offense, as Shula put it, was NOT going to be one-dimensional. Fine. Whatever. That really doesn't phase me. We can be one-dimensional as long as that dimension works, right? Right. And the running game was really clicking bigtime on Saturday, so why abandon it? We don't have to pass the ball JUST to say we passed the ball to get the ratio of run/pass closer to 50%. No. It doesn't work that way. BUT, in future game against some of the better teams in the conference, we WILL have to pass in order to be successful. So running the ball Saturday was cool. By the way, I was there, and that jumbotron is unbelievable. Very cool. The biggest & baddest in the country for sure. it's like 3 times as big (long) as ours or anyone else's for that matter. But they also lack a full end-zone of seats. So whatever.

Basically, the offense ran and ran and ran. We rarely completed a pass though we did try a few. Guillon wasn't as spectacular as I thought he'd be.... but he is learning. This was his first start, ON THE ROAD IN THE SEC. Talk about pressure. He's the man now. No more, Brodie this or that... or if Brodie was there... blah blah blah. I catch myself saying that too many times, and I guess we just need to move on. Marc is our man and we have to live with it and hope he gets better. He did 'ok', but his timing was a bit off, and his long passes weren't very accurate. Let's hope he corrects those problems this week before USC gets to T-town.

The RBs, especially Hudson had a heckuva day running 20 times for 170 yards with a huge 63 yard run in the 2nd quarter. Incredible run as he just hid behind 2 OL till he got to the sideline, then he turned on the jets and the rest is history. You ain't catching this guy, that's for sure. He's one of the, if not THE, fastest guy on the team. Darby also had a good game except for his one fumble, which came at a HUGE & COSTLY time. Talk about huge momentum swing. Ouch! We were on the Hogs' 23 when it happened, so we practically lost either 3 or 7 points there and continuous momentum.

The WRs were there, but didn't do much but block. A lot of throws were behind the WR or just off left or right or in the dirt. There was no continuity between Guillon and the WRs. But the catches that WERE made, they were great. Hudson made one incredible one and so did Prothro. We need to work on the passing game this week, that's for sure.

The OL did well as the rushing stats speak for themselves... also the sack total on Guillon - ZERO. Guillon did get clocked once though; I'm just glad he got up from the hit - it wasn't pretty if you're a Bamafan.

Anyway, we continued to pound and pound away, but could never put enough yards together at one time to put it in the end zone. A CRUCIAL holding call against Tatum really hurt the Tide in the 4th quarter. That would have put us in good position to score a FG or another TD... but we'll never know. We would end up punting the ball yet again. On the day, we did ok - just not enough to win. The passing game needs to improve quite a bit so we don't have to run the ball on 3rd and 8. There has to be the threat of a pass else these other teams are going to put more guys in the box and bring their safeties up to stop the run, which is what Arkansas did in the 2nd half. They shut us out in the 2nd half - that doesn't bode well with me or anyone else. Having Brodie would have made a difference - after all, we were averaging 43 points per game. We scored 10. Something's gotta give. I'd rather have fewer yards and more points - because POINTS is what matters and we just didn't get it done. 10 points won't win you many ballgames in the SEC. Put more points on the board next week - that's the offense's main objective - PERIOD. You don't win with ANY other numbers.
GRADE: C

DEFENSE - The defense actually played about as well as one could hope for. They gave up a legitimate 20 points, which is still more than what I would want... then they put the ball in the end zone once more when it was already over and we almost didn't care at that point. Stupid pass interference call. Pulease... anyway. That's the breaks huh?

But Bama held on and held on until the one play Matt Jones ran for 50 yards to ice the game. That was the back-breaker. And that was the ONE thing I was MOST afraid of the entire game - Jones getting outside and running the ball. He's like a gazelle. He runs faster than you think - before you know it, he's gone. Ask Roman Harper who was chasing him on Jones' first TD run... he had him, then he got away. But they actually got to Jones 4 times in the backfield to give the Hogs their first 4 sacks of the year. The guys definitely seemed fresh most of the night, though they did have their hands on their hips quite a bit in the 2nd half. They pressured Jones the entire game and held the hogs' running game to almost nothing until Jones got in the open field. Harper couldn't come up with the first int (what a fluke play, huh?), but he did come down with a huge and convincing int the 2nd time. He just snatched it right out of the air. Needless to say, Guillon would throw an int the very next play. Sheesh. This is how you repay the defense?? Ouch. So even though they gave up (officially) 27 points, they didn't play a bad game. I just wish that the 2 DBs covering the WR on the play just before halftime when Arkansas scored - I wish they had just lifted up their hands instead of just LETTING the WR catch the ball. I have seen that too much from Tide cornerbacks in the past. Let's correct this in future games. You don't even have to turn around. If you see the WR going for the ball, DO SOMETHING - heck, even passing interference is better than them scoring, which you should use as a last resort.

So basically Arkansas scored the opening drive of the game, the last drive of the 1st half, and 2 quick TD's at the end. That's it. Everything else in the middle was just jibberish... time when the defense really shut them down. Too bad for us that those parts of the game exist huh? We just have to put the hammer down next time and not go into "prevent" mode. Stay aggressive and don't back down. That's what kept them from scoring for most of the game...
GRADE: B+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams was again another mixed bag of chips. But obviously, the bad usually stand out over the good. First, the good...

Bostick is ON this year. He is now 4 for 4 in FG's and 18 of 18 on PAT's. You just can't get better than 100%, and he has been reliable and dependable all year. He'll miss eventually, but so far, he's good to go. Great job. Bo Freelend is ON this year too. He is booming some serious punts with length and hangtime - enough hangtime so the 'gunners' can get down to the 5 yard line and down the ball before it goes into the end zone. That's another story. Also, kickoff coverage was good and punt coverage on actual returns was good. Our focus this week in practice should be how to down a ball between the goal line and the 10 yard line. If the ball bounces crazily (and it will) inside the 10, get the stupid thing. If it's merely ROLLING towards the goal line, let it roll till it gets to the 1 since it's EASILY stoppable. It's not like I have to say much because we ALL know what should have been done. They DID make one good stop around the 5, but the one that we really needed was not executed properly. Those guys will learn. They are true freshmen. What can you say - live and learn?

The last thing I have noticed is that Christiansen is not kicking the ball out of the endzone anymore. I don't know if this is by design by the coaches - if so, WHY??? - if not, then maybe he's just tired from kicking off so much. I wish he's rare back and kick the crap out of it some more. I like seeing NO RETURN on kickoffs - that guarantees us that they'll start no further upfield than the 20. Jamie - what's the deal? I wanna know.... but good job othe than the punt coverage team downing punts..... Ouch (again).
GRADE: C

OVERALL - Overall, it was an average performance by the Tide, except for Ray Hudson. I still can't fathom us putting up 300 yards of rushing offense and only coming up with 10 points in the entire game... and being shut out in the 2nd half completely. How?? Turnovers and Penalties. There wasn't many, but they happened at the absolute most crucial times. That's what killed us. The last thing, and the one thing I kept telling my friend George on the way back to Dallas is, it all kept coming back to that dang 4th-and-1 play. EVERYONE in the stadium KNEW Bama would go for it. Arkansas was even shaking in their shoes. Nutt knew we'd go for it. I KNEW we'd go for it. The players wanted to go for it...and the Hogs knew we'd get it if we tried. Period. What is that jumbo package for anyway? Le'Ron McClain and Tim Castille can get a mere 3 feet - I'd put money on it, ESPECIALLY the way we had been running on them all day long. Over 5 or 6 yards per carry, not even counting the long Hudson run. They couldn't stop the running game, at least one yard, they couldn't - and with the jumbo goal line package. But dang if Shula punted. Yeah, field position. Whatever. Even with a good punt downed inside the 5 yard line wouldn't have soothed my head. We had momentum and a lot of it there on the 39 yard line. With our defense on the field, WE have NO control of scoring and controlling the clock. At that point, it's up to Arkansas to mess up. We should have gone for it on 4th down and the drive WOULD HAVE CONTINUED - PERIOD. He showed faith in our tired defense who had shut down Arkansas most of the game, but the offense really needed a charge. He needed to have confidence in his running game which had dominated the entire game. After that, the wind just went completely out of the offense's sails. We wouldn't muster up much of anything the rest of the way mainly due to a holding call on the next drive by Tatum. Crap.

Later on, Nutt would have a 4th and 1 as well, and he went for it because he didn't want to go up by a mere touchdown; he wanted to put the game away by going up by 2 scores. He did it... and the plan worked. It would have worked for the Tide as well, and his play calling would have changed had we scored then kicked off... etc. In my honest opinion, Shula is still living in the NFL. I honestly don't think he realizes that getting a 4th-and-1 run in THOSE circumstances was possible. In the NFL, it's almost a given that you punt - but heck, even in the NFL, any coach would go for it in that situation. Period. The point of going for it is to keep the drive alive - something we couldn't do for almost the entire game. The offense needed that... and he shot them down. If the defense was that good, then they would have held on the 39 as well... but odds are, we get that yard and who knows what else after that. Dang I was pissed off after we punted... and Nutt and rest of Razorback stadium was soooooooooo freakin' relieved and yet surprised by the move. What a stunner of a play. It's like he just gave up and said, we couldn't get a 1st down, so we don't have a choice. Bull. Hopefully he will learn from this experience and NEXT time this happens, and GIVEN the circumstances of the game, I hope he makes a better decision in the future. The players definitely deserve better from the coaches on that type of play call. Shula backs up his decision, but why back up something that didn't work. Even at the time, the decision sucked. Regardless of the outcome of the punt. We NEEDED to keep that drive alive. Period. I wish I knew what might have been. It sux taking a route that ONLY HE wanted to do... oh, and Coach Rader. Whatever, man. It was a bad call, whether we make the 1st down or not. It's time to step up to the plate and learn the college game as coaches. Show some confidence in your players, man. Do you know how pumped up the team would be had we made a 1st down there??? We don't make it & the players still respect the decision because THEY wanted to and knew they could too.... crap. I hate talking about it - it just pisses me off. Sorry for bashing the decision, Shula, but that was definitely a horrible call. You show more confidence in both sides of the ball if you go for it..... Can we show some balls when the game is on the line next time???
GRADE: C

BAMA 52 - WESTERN CAROLINA 0

This game was nothing more than a win on the schedule - it was just a matter of how much we would win by... Nobody knew exactly how costly the game would be though as Brodie Croyle went down early in the 3rd quarter with a torn ACL. He has been declared 'out' for the season and will hopefully be ready come next spring. The next question is whether or not he can or will be granted a medical redshirt season. I don't know the rules, but even if it's possible, it won't be determined until the end of the season by the NCAA. It's their decision if it's even possible. As for the game itself, there were a lot of positives and a few negatives. Let me run through them real quick for ya.......

OFFENSE - The offense actually started out with a TD-scoring first drive set up by a huge runback by Brandon Brooks on special teams. Clint Johnston would get his 2nd TD of the year in the back of the end zone. Other players also stepped it up in the absence of Keith Brown who actually had a brused leg/knee that wasn't disclosed prior to kickoff. I was wondering why we didn't see him in action Saturday though he was dressed out.

Matt Caddell had a good game and scored his first TD of the season, and McKnight got a touch or two as well. DJ Hall had a great catch, and Prothro was his great little normal self. In all, 11 guys caught a pass in Saturday's game. Of course, it helps when you put in a lot of reserves in the 2nd half to make that happen. Le'Ron McClain even touched the ball twice, and both times resulted in TDs - one rushing (like a Bulldozer I might add) and the other via pass. Marcel Stamps, one of the Tide's new WRs hasn't really seen much action as a WR, but he did score on special teams with a blocked punt for TD.

In the backfield, we all know what happened to Brodie... then Marc Guillon came in the game and put up some decent numbers though we were really trying to run out the clock for most of the 2nd half. Darby and Hudson would both have good games with Darby making some really good runs... Hudson showed his speed on a couple of runs where he just burst through the hole like a laser. Then Aaron Johns ended up getting some mop-up duty in the 4th quarter, then reeled off a huge run at the end of the 4th quarter to give him the rushing title on the game. He looked good, but still looked a little iffy in some spots, but he'll get better with time. For now Darby and Hudson are definitely our hosses in the backfield along with Tim Castille, who just keeps on playing like an All-Star.

Overall, the offense looked good, but we did turn the ball over once. We need to protect the football better. One turnover in the game COULD be the difference between a win and a loss in future games. But with these points we put up, Bama is now the #9 scoring offense in the country (weird, huh?). We're #21 in Total offense at 443 ypg and before he got hurt, Croyle was ranked #11 in the country in QB Effiency. I guess Guillon will have some big shoes to fill. I believe he'll be ok.
GRADE: A

DEFENSE - Shutout. One word gives the Tide defense an A+ for the day. The BOTTOM LINE job of the defense is to keep the other team from scoring, and we did just that. We could have made one single field goal and won the game. That's what we're looking for. And when the tough got going, Bama caused a turnover at the goal line and got the ball back on the 1, just before WCU punched it in the endzone. That would be as close as the Catamounts would get to scoring all day. Coming into the game, WCU was +8 in turnover ratio, which led the nation in I-A and I-AA ball. They ended the day at +3, giving it up 5 times. Bama is now at +7 and should be near the top of the list in the statbook.

I have to say that you can tell when a player is a PLAYER - and Simeon Castille is a dang player. He has now picked off 2 passes in 3 games, and took 1 back for a TD. He could have taken this one back to the house too, but it looked like he was just securing the ball first (which is most important). In any case, it's a great start for his career; if he keeps it up, he'll break Langham's interception record at the Capstone. The rest of the defense played a great game as well. Wallace Gilberry had another good game and got a big sack on the QB right up the gut. I'm glad that we'll have him 3 more years - he looks to get better and better and will see more playing time this year. But most of the game, the DL was putting pressure on the QB, and very rarely did anything positive happen with WCU's offense except for the one drive where they made it to the 1.... But keep in mind that this was still a I-AA team and was completely overmatched. Real competition in the form of Arkansas, UT, LSU, and Auburn still await. We still have a tough season ahead of us.

But with these 3 great games, the Bama Defense has risen in the statbook rankings as well... Bama is #5 in Total Defense (216 ypg), and #7 in scoring Defense (8 ppg). Simeon Castille ranks #9 in the country with 2 interceptions (though there is a lot of players with 2). We're looking decent here as long as we keep injuries to NONE. We can't even afford a few injuries... we need everyone healthy, and our defense should be ok the rest of the season.
GRADE: A+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams were huge Saturday. Jamie Christiansen didn't boom any kicks out the back of the end zone (maybe his leg is getting tired from all the kickoffs this year), but he didn't kick one out of bounds this game. Good improvement there. But our kickoff coverage could be much better. But the one time they did get a huge return, we were able to get a turnover; the offense would then score after that turnover. Bo Freelend had another good day averaging over 40 yards per punt. And Bostick might actually get some national recognition if he keeps up his good work this year. He hasn't attempted but 3 FGs on the year, but he has hit all of them, and also has not missed any of the 17 PAT's attempted. Yes, that's right - 17 TD's in 3 games. So he's perfect on the year and points-wise, he ranks #12 in the country among kickers. I can't complain...... yet. :)

But the game started off with a huge return by Brandon Brooks to about the 15 yard line of the Cats. Of course, it was a good run-back, but I can't help but critique the run... towards the end of the run, if Brandon just slows down enough for the blockers to stay in front of him instead of passing them up, he probably would have taken it to the house. It was a great runback, but he should use his head and get as much as possible by utilyzing his blockers which he didn't do. He just ran right into the last man that could tackle him. But nonetheless, a great runback and a good setup for our offense to score first in the game.

Later, in the first drive by WCU, Marcel Stamps would creep through practically unblocked on a their first punt, to block it and have the presence of mind to scoop it up and take it to the end zone. It was a great play made by another one of our true freshmen. Our main improvement on special teams though, needs to be on kickoff return tackling. We have lacked in that area in each of the kickoffs this year that was returned. Punt returns have actually been great... that would be us covering punts - Marcel Stamps (again) is usually the first guy down there making things happen. We have also cut out a good number of the special teams penalties which is good. Overall, a good game, no huge mistakes, a blocked punt for TD, a great runback to start the game, Bostick was perfect, and a forced fumble on a big return by WCU. Lots of action here and it all favored the Tide.
GRADE: A+

OVERALL - Overall, the game was played well for the most part, and a lot of reserves got in the game late to get some playing time. Penalties were a concern as the Tide committed 9 penalties in the game, so far a season-high. I believe some/most of those came with the reserves, but that's how they learn. On offense, Darby and Hudson, who suffered a couple of woozy hits, really look good. Castille shows his power and actually Le'Ron McClain showed even more power with his run up the middle for a TD. No one could tackle the guy. A lot of WRs got some action and Johnston emerged as the #1 TE by his great plays. Trent Davidson actually got into the game late and missed a pass thrown to him perfectly. He'll catch on, literally, eventually. It's those freshman growing pains, though some guys (ie. Castille) just make plays like their upperclassmen. I was totally impressed with Simeon so far.

As for the debate on Brodie being in the game or not, it's an injury - one that happened on a simple play while Brodie was running towards the sideline. He wasn't hit - he just went down - which really tells me that it would have happened sooner or later anyway. That ligament must not have been that sturdy to begin with, and even so, it's still good for this offense to get more reps in game-type situations. Every play, Brodie and the offense see something new to learn from, so I'm not going to fault Shula. It was the last drive of the game for Brodie, he just got injured. It could have happened when we were up 14-0 too... as it turns out, that's all we would need to win the game, but he was still playing then..... but no one complained because he wasn't hurt. If he had scored that last drive to put the Tide up 38-0, no one would have thought twice when he came out or whatever - but hindsight is always 20/20, right? Duh. So in comes Marc Guillon, who basically took over all of spring practice and the A-Day game itself. He got ALL the reps basically. He knows the offense, he's tall, he's got a good arm, he makes good decisions - and he looked good on Saturday with the time he did have. He went 5-7 for 80+ yards I believe. He'll get all the reps this week and do his best against the Hogs on Saturday. He should have a decent game... but as far as the outcome goes, that's anyone's guess. But we'll be ok. It's if Guillon gets hurt, that's my biggest concern, because we're only left with Pennington at that point, and that honestly does worry me a little. We have no one as HIS backup.

Last thing, look for the coaches to try and help cut back the penalties. We had 9 though I believe most of them came in the 2nd half with reserves in the game. We can always improve there. So we scored a lot and didn't get scored upon. It really can't get any better except if Brodie doesn't go down... but other than that, it was almost complete domination by the Crimson Tide.
GRADE: A

BAMA 28 - OLE MISS 7

It's Sunday morning, and I'm currently on a plane headed out to Baltimore, MD, on business and I haven't had a chance to look at the complete stat line, so hopefully I have my crap straight as I type this... :)

Game 1 of the SEC is now complete and Alabama is 1-0 in SEC play. Not only that, but Shula has now won 2 games in a row. It's so sad that in a year's time, we have JUST NOW won 2 straight. That's just messed up when you think about it. Heck, it should be a rarity if we LOSE 2 games in a row at Alabama... let's hope Shula is turning this boat around - so far this season, he has. He has given us 2 wins to start out the season, something we haven't done since the last 90's.... dang that's sad too. My, how times have changed. At least we were on the long end of the stick Saturday against Ole Miss. We started out playing like a high school team, then decided to show up offensively in the 2nd half. The defense played a whale of a game, especially in the beginning, which kept morale high on the offense. Let's take a quick look at Shula's first SEC win of the year.

OFFENSE - The offense came out basically as 2 different teams... one in the first quarter and the other in the rest of the game. In the first quarter, Bama played pretty sloppy and didn't muster up much of anything. Brodie DID however, play a good game and didn't throw an interception for the 2nd time in his career; his first non-int-throwing game was last week against Utah St. Let's hope this is a sign of good things to come for the Tide. He would throw for 2 TDs on the day - one a swing pass to Hudson, and the other a beautiful throw and catch to Prothro in the 2nd quarter. Hudson had a field day on the ground, but mainly because he had a huge 46-yd scamper for a TD. Other than that he was average and also fumbled the ball early on the first Bama drive of the game. Not good. Not good. Keith Brown got a few more touches thus solidifying him as one of THE go-to WRs on this team. D.J. Hall hasn't seen the ball much lately, but maybe he's just about to come out of his shell. A few other guys also caught passes and Brodie ended up having an average day, but only because the running game was practically unstoppable, especially in the 2nd half with Darby and Castille getting some very good and hard-earned yards. Castille is just a horse - I love that guy. And Darby is really showing why he could be the Tide's #1 starter as well, as he had some very impressive runs and juked left and right making guys miss... and he held on to the football which was huge. Turnovers kill, and we were lucky they didn't bite us in the butt.

The OL is getting better, but still isn't where they need to be. I know it; you know it; they know it; Shula knows it - we have quite a few good plays, but we definitely have a lot of plays where there is just a huge breakdown at the line and our RBs are getting hit quickly in the backfield. Brodie DID have a good amount of time to throw the ball, so pass blocking seems to have been improved from week 1 to week, but still needs work.

At TE, Clint Johnston made a catch or two on the day.. man, I really like him too. He's got great hands and is a serious threat coming off the line as a pass receiver. Throw him in the mix with Castille and Le'Ron McClain and we have some serious threats to catch the ball coming out of the backfield. Also, Le'Ron caught his first pass of the season - a few mere yards, but nonetheless, he was involved. His main contribution is blocking in the "jumbo package" which he has done very well blocking for Castille who seems to be lining up at RB quite a bit when we need those short hard-earned yards. I like what we're doing in the 3rd and short game - we just stick it to 'em.

There's not much to say other than we need to protect the football and get started a lot quicker coming out of the gates. Even though we were up 14-0 going into halftime, the offense still seemed anemic. Play-fakes were good and Hudson went for over 100 yards for the 2nd week in a row. Given a couple more minutes, Darby would have had over 100 as well, plus another TD to add to his season totals... but a kneel-down in the last minute of the game would give us 7-less points, but insure that Ole Miss wouldn't get the ball back to try to put up another 7 on the Bama D. Good job, Offense... I can't wait until everything starts clicking on all cylinders. The turnover, slow start, and handful of busted plays blemish the A this week.
GRADE: B

DEFENSE - The Bama D did about as good as one could expect against Ole Miss. They totally shut down the Ole Miss offense in the 1st half, limiting the starting Ole Miss QB to about 54 yards of passing offense. Later, Flatt would come in to get things going and he did just that - he managed a drive for Ole Miss's only 7 points of the game.

But the Bama defense was tested early and often as the offense and special teams sputtered in the opening quarter. One turnover by Hudson, and the other by Brandon Brooks caused Bama to get horrible field position from the get-go until we would later score. Ole Miss DID have a chance off one of those TO's to get a FG, but their All-American kicker kicked it wide right (sound familiar, FSU fans?) to keep the goose egg alive on the Ole Miss side of the scoreboard. The other times, Ole Miss would have to punt, and punt they did well, pinning Bama inside the 5 yard line. Ouch. But Bama came up big, even after shutting them down and forcing a punt, Ole Miss would get the ball right back after Brooks' miscue and we'd shut them down again. Wow!

I'll say that the DL must have eaten their Wheaties that morning because they were disrupting the Ole Miss QB's all day - and they also forced a fumble inside the 10 which would then turn into 7 points for Alabama. That was a HUGE momentum swing and also what probably broke Ole Miss's back. Roman Harper had a heckuva game... so did Simeon Castille and Charlie Peprah. The 2ndary was just outstanding though they did give up some passing yards in the 2nd half. Look at it this way - they only gave up a total of 7 points over the course of the entire game, and that includes giving Ole Miss great field position 2-3 times in the 1st half alone... then shutting them down in the process. We could haven't asked our defense to do more. As long as we keep these guys healthy, we're looking pretty good... but obviously, we're going to start getting tired when the really tough games come up so we need some of the 2nd-teams to really step it up and help make a difference when they hit the field. Overall though, I was very pleased with Bama's defense Saturday. They caused a turnover which really shifted the big 'Mo and they only allowed 7 points to a team that wallopped us last year in Oxford. Good job guys....
GRADE: A

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams is a mixed bag this week. Bostic continues his hot streak by connecting on all 4 of his PAT attempts. He did not attempt a FG on the day. Bo Freelend kicked the crap out of the ball - great job there.... and Christianson did a repeat of last week, kicking his first 2 balls through the endzone, then kicking his 3rd ball out-of-bounds. Yo! Keep 'em ALL in play, hoss. Anyway, Ole Miss would get to return one kickoff, and now we all see why kicking out of the endzone is so huge. Ole Miss would return the kickoff near midfield, only to be pushed out by Christianson. Whew - close one. Poor tackling and coverage on special teams. Lucky for us, it didn't affect the outcome of the game.

The only other blemish was a huge one - the fumble by Brandon Brooks. From what the reply showed, the football actually hit the front of his helmet and bounced forward and was recovered by the Rebels. If he's just been average-sized, this might not have happened. LOL But I will say that this was a HUGE bone-headed play especially since he didn't have to catch the ball coming from 150-feet in the air... instead it took a little 'candy-hop' bounce (very easy to field) and he tried to run with it before he actually caught/secured it. It cost us the ball, and lucky for Bama, it didn't cost us the game. On a kick like that where you do get the bounce, those are the best ones to get because they're so easy to field... not much height judgement, but on that day, it just didn't seem to work for Brooks. Coaches must have had a lot of faith in him though, because he would be the punt returner for the remainder of the game. Hopefully, it was just a fluke that he'll learn from... turnover, kick out-of-bounds, poor kick coverage on the one return that DID happen doesn't make to be a huge day for special teams, but there were enough good points to average it out...
GRADE: C

OVERALL - Bama came out and didn't exactly play a pansy of a team. They are still SEC competition though they lost quite a few guys from last year's team. Bama had home-field advantage... and when you're talking Ole Miss visiting T-town, you might as well chalk up a win for the Tide, not that the Tide didn't fight and scratch for everything they got. But it still could have been worse for Ole Miss. With time running out, Shula sat on the ball instead of making it 35-7. No sense in doing something stupid or getting an injury, but it WOULD have felt good to get 35 though. Shula and company did the same thing as last week and rallied the troops at halftime and established a more dominant running game in the 2nd half. Mixed in with a few passes here and there, it was all we needed to roll past the Rebels.

Brodie would have under 200 yards passing, but the ground game would take care of the rest. This definitely wasn't the Ole Miss team of last year with or without Manning. They lost a lot of guys - but I'm still surprised they didn't score more than 7. Maybe the Memphis game wasn't that much of a surprise as Ole Miss might be lucky to win 4-5 games this year. They were really that bad... and thus, the jury is STILL out on how good Bama really is. But so far, I like what I see. Stay safe, guys.... ROLL TIDE!
GRADE: B

BAMA 48 - UTAH STATE 17

Ok, it's FREAKIN' THURSDAY and I apologize for writing up my take on the game so late in the week. I'm such a slacker!! Between vacation and my work schedule changing to days, I've been a little out of whack this last week. I left Pensacola Beach, FL, less than 24 hours before Hurricane Frances hit the panhandle. It's been busy ever since. I head out to Baltimore this Sun-Tues, so I should be writing my take on the game while I'm on the plane this coming weekend, aight??? Ok, now that that's all cleared up, let's move on to what you really wanted to read about - The Bamadog's take on the season opener for the University of Alabama......... BAMA vs. Utah St.

First of all, what a pounding! Ok, maybe not so much in the 1st half, but yes, in the 2nd half, it was a pretty good beating by the Crimson Tide. Bama finally broke its streak of 5 games with opponents playing the Tide in Bryant-Denny for the first time and winning. I'm glad to see that streak come to an end. Also, it got a lot of the new players some game experience, especially at WR. We came out of the game virtually injury-free which is a huge plus for this team. Shula had a good game plan, executed well, made halftime adjustments (which we all saw), and ended up dominating the game in every stat. BUT, Utah St. is NOT an SEC team nor a team that should've put up a huge fight. They were just clearly overmatched. Let's take a quick look at the positives and negatives...

OFFENSE - The offense played a pretty good game, but mostly came alive in the 2nd half when we blew it wide open. Brodie Croyle finally started a game for the University of Alabama and didn't throw an interception. It's practically a perfect game for him (or anyone for that matter). The biggest story/hit of the day came from freshman WR Keith Brown. He caught a huge 57-yd TD pass which Brodie Croyle actually threw about 60 yards in the air. What a cannon. It was a perfect pass and hit Brown right in stride for 6. He also connected with Clint Johnston for the first TD of the game. At that point, Bama knew they could win - it was just a matter of executing.

Another great point about the offense was the running game. Bama didn't focus a whole lot on the running game in the spring/fall practice... the coaches already knew what we could do there, so most of their time was spent on the passing game. Darby and Hudson both ran for over 100 yds and a TD each. Castille threw in nearly 50 more yards on the ground and also put it in the end zone.

The only other phase was the OL which has been totally revamped & twisted around. They did a decent job, but Brodie still got hit a few times - something we can ill-afford. They played pretty sound ball and didn't commit a penalty in the 1st half. I believe most of the penalties were on the defense.

So overall, the offense did what they had to do. And we didn't dilly-dally around in the 4th quarter. We ran the ball strong and ran out most of the clock and our players seemed to be pretty fresh, even in the 4th quarter. Strength and conditioning seem to be paying off right now, but we'll see what happens when stiffer competition come to town. WRs looked good though there were some wrong routes and dropped passes, but for true freshmen, they did about as good as one could hope, not to mention the back-breaker catch by Brown in the 3rd quarter when Bama really pulled away. Good work, but still improvement will need to be done.
GRADE: A-

DEFENSE - The defense was sort of on a roller coaster ride Saturday. We'd make a few good plays, then give up a TD/points. Overall, they played a good game with Simeon Castille and Wallace Gilberry getting a lot of the headlines so far. Castille, playing in his first game as a true freshman, hauled in a tipped pass to the USU TE, and took it 31 yards for the TD and a solid lead for the Crimson Tide. It was a little luck for it to land just right, but when you have the opportunity to make something happen, you have to jump on it, and Castille did just that.

The other bright spot was Gilberry, one of Alabama's redshirt freshmen. He was redshirted last year and this year has gained about 20 lbs and ended up being a force on the inside during Saturday's game. He has some very good quickness and speed to be a really good pass rusher and he showed his stuff as he tallied up his first sack in the Crimson uniform. Look for more good things from Gilberry.

On the whole, the defense really didn't get after the USU QB until the 3rd quarter. We rarely got into the backfield and USU kept picking us apart and getting down the field. We finally put an end to all that in the 2nd half after a good halftime adjustment was made by the Tide coaching staff. Roach and company did a good job against the run, and the 2ndary did look good at times and then not so good at others. We got one more pick by Roman Harper and he set up a score for the offense in the 1st half.

The hit of the day came from Simeon Castille on a USU WR when an 'out' pass was made. Simeon came up on him and up-ended him in a fierce way, lemme tell ya. It was brutal to watch. But I think he's thoroughly enjoying himself in Bryant-Denny these days - look for more great plays from the Castille brothers as the year rolls along.

So let's get a bit better on pass defense and disrupt the QB a bit more. He's getting too much time in the pocket and making things happen. We don't have a lot of depth on the DL, but we need to do something or we're going to get picked on in the 2ndary all year.
GRADE: B+

SPECIAL TEAMS - Special teams couldn't have played a much better game. For the first time, we have a guy that can put the ball OUT of the end zone. 5 of the 9 kickoffs by redshirt freshman Jamie Christensen were touchbacks. His only errant kick was his 3rd one which went out of bounds to give USU the ball at the 35. But not a bad night at all for the freshman, who didn't even kick that hard in practice. He definitely wow'd the crowd as we haven't had someone kick it out of the end zone since 'Wild Thing' William Watts.

Bo Freelend had a good game punting though he did shank a couple of punts off the side of his foot... he still had a 40-yd average. And Bostick chipped in on a perfect game, the first in some time. He hit all of his PAT's (only one was iffy going thru the uprights), and he both of his medium-range FGs. Kickoff coverage was good when Jamie wasn't kicking it thru the end zone... and punt coverage was awesome. Marcel Stamps made some very good plays/tackles on special teams to help keep USU as deep as possible in their own territory. I was expremely pleased with this phase of the game... keep it up, guys!
GRADE: A

OVERALL - Overall, Bama had a good game plan. We came out with good balance and got some short passes off to DJ Hall to start off.. then got the running game going. A few dropped passes will have to be expected with this group, but hey, you can't really complain - they did great considering they were playing high school ball last year. Now the game is faster and the talent level has been raised tremendously, and they played a good game and gained a game of experience that will prove to be invaluable next week against Ole Miss.

The biggest positive about this game is we came out with no injuries. With the lack of depth on this team, that's the one thing that could be the back-breaker for the Tide - if we get into some serious depth problems, especially at QB or on the DL. These guys really need to be careful each and every time they take the field.

I'd like to credit the coaching staff for making the necessary adjustments at halftime. Bringing in Gilberry really helped out the DL in the 2nd half, and the way he played, he might be starting sooner than later. This could be a good team by the end of the season... but until we play someone formidable in the SEC (say our next game), we'll see if we're really this good.. or if USU was really that bad. Maybe it's a little of both, but we shall see.
GRADE: A-