MUSIC CITY BOWL - BAMA Gets Nailed by Va. Tech 38-7, (7-5),(4-4)

The OFFENSE was pretty much shut down on the ground. They didn't let Shaun get anything all night long. Prolly his worst game of his career. Zow made some really messed up throws for int's and it ended up becoming Auburn's offense for most of the game cuz of that. The offensive line has played all year long... it's time they made some room for Alexander to run. I guess maybe VT's DL was just that good. We'll have to assume so since we couldn't muster up a dadgum thing. What we DID get, in the air, was decent. We had some big plays and some numb-nuts plays. One particular play is Alexander wide open on the side and drops the ball. Good plays would be the WR's most of the game. Those were the only guys that got to really play offense. But I'm not picking on Shaun... after all, he was most of our offense this year. He was the playmaker, and HE'S BACK NEXT YEAR BABY! The bottom line is that we just couldn't move the ball unless it was through the air. We've got to come up with better blocking to get the ball rolling down below.

The Defense played pretty well in the first half... then it looked like fatigue started playing a role in VT's scoring rout. We will have to learn how to tackle like the Bama of olden days... that's just something we have to learn how to do again if we're gonna make it back to the top. That calls for some more good recruits on DL and especially at LB. Some of the redshirt freshmen will have to make some big impacts next year, cuz Carroll won't be here forever... and with him hurt, he's playing like the rest of the guys. Reggie Myles has stepped up his play and will probably be a starting cornerback next year. Maybe some new freshman next year will be able to come in and play immediately. We need LOTS of help on DEFENSE!

Special teams was probably the worst it has been all year. Blocked kicks really got VT pumped up and Bama out of the game. I can't believe we had 2 punts blocked. That was just SO not like our punting team and Daniel Pope. Again, VT stresses special teams and they got the job done. Farewell to Pope... MVP for the last 2 years. We'll miss ya, man! Oh, and of course we need to tackle better on special teams too...

I don't know if coaching was that great. I just know we got shut down. If something didn't work, it was sure hard to make anything work. This was the system where the QB could make a read on the defense and make the correct play. I guess they just put 8 men in the box and said you're gonna throw the ball to beat us... they guessed right. They shut us down and had a gameplan to beat Bama pretty easily. Overall, I think we just got wore out.

PREVIEW for next year will prolly put Bama in the running for the SEC West crown. If we can come up with our defense, it will be feasible. Most of the O next year comes back. We DO have some good guys leaving ... WR's Quincy Jackson, Michael Vaughn, and Calvin Hall. On D, we have leaving CB Fernando Bryant. Off hand, I can't think of anyone else. That will hurt our WR corpe a bit since QJ was one of our go-to guys... but I tell ya, we have a lot of talent at the WR position... Eric Locke and Freddie Milons will be starters for the next 3 years at Bama... some more help here would put Bama's WR's among the top in the SEC. Add in a SR. Shaun Alexander and hopefully a challenging QB spot to be played by Zow or Watts, next year looks bright. Also I think all of our OL will be back. Surely we can get some more running yards next year... Heck, they played almost every snap together this year. All that experience should add up to something... maybe they just need to work our or something, I don't know.

The battle next year, no doubt, leading up to the first game will be who the QB is. Watts, the highly talked about QB, didn't get his chance this year since Zow had already been with the system and actually did a good job with the offense. Look at it this way Tide fans - we had a decent season and we'll have him an extra year. But anyway, it should be quite the battle. Spring practice and the A-Day game should give people a good idea what is in store for later on. Plus, we won't be changing offenses again, so both QB's and the team will already know the system and formations, etc. This is something you HAVE to have in order to compete - a system that is in place. I don't know how many offensive coordinators we've had in the 90's, but it's been too many.

Pope will be gone next year from special teams and Pflugner will be back. Who knows what will happen there. I just hope it gets better next year, especially in the FG game.

I have one more question though. I know it could work, cuz it works at Florida and whiny visor boy. Since DuBose was such a GREAT defensive coordinator in past years, why doesn't he take hold of head coaching responsiblities and also coordinate the defense. Spurrier does it with Florida's offense... he IS the offense. DuBose could be our defense... and I think he'd do a great job at it. Plus save a little $$$ on the extra coach, not that Bama has a problem with $$$ issues. I hear he will work a lot closer with the D next year, but I just know if that will be good enough or will even hold water. I hope it does, but I still like my idea of DuBose just taking control of the reigns of the D and getting this D back on track like the Bama of old. We have got to get better on D or we'll back in the Music City Bowl again next year.

Well Bamafans, it's been real (again) and the season is over. Again, sorry about the lack of coverage in these early months of 1999. I feel a little guilty for not keeping it up-to-date, but I really have other things I must take care of - main reason...I'm building a new house for me and the Bamapup. It should be ready for closing in March sometime. Maybe after basketball season I might jump back into the swing of things, but for now, it's a vacation from the web I really need. I hope everyone understands... and we'll all be back yellin' hard for the Crimson Tide in '99!!! ROOOOOOOOOLL TIDE ROLL!!!!

Your Host...
Da Bamadog

IRON BOWL - BAMA Rolls Over AU 31-17, (7-4), (4-4)

Anyway, I went to the Iron Bowl with the Bamapup (Carol), and I tell ya, when the game started, I was getting pretty upset. I couldn't believe how Awbun just waltzed up and down the field on us like we were a high school team. Then, the real Bama showed up, scoring the last 31 points of the game. The D finally stiffened, and the O got into gear. Here's the breakdown...

The offense started of, well, I think everyone knows. No rhythm at all. Couldn't even buy a first down. Shaun wasn't getting any blocking and Zow couldn't get the ball to the receivers. We even botched 2 plays in the game. Zow goes one way and Alexander goes the other. This is stuff we need to work out by bowl time and next season. I'm sure most of that has to do mainly with the youth of this team. It's not like everyone starts out being a pro at the game, huh? After a few punts, we finally got the ball to our main guy - Shaun Alexander. He is a one-man wrecking crew practically. Without him, this year would sure be tough. He made me question him in the first half of the year, missing easy passes and dropping the ball. But as of late, he has really come thru for us in the passing game as well as the running game. He had the great catch in the LSU game and then the "Devine Catch and Run" in the Iron Bowl for a TD at the end of the 3rd quarter. He did fumble, but that's unlike him, so I won't complain. The wide receivers did well in getting open and the halfback pass was a thing of beauty, mainly cuz Richard got the blocking he needed to get the pass off well, and the fact that Jackson fell into the end zone with the catch. Zow seems to start out slow... then he starts to feel the offense click, and that's when the action happens. One thing will have to improve though... we need to START out strong too. Getting behind early is rough on the team, and lowers team morale. It's a good thing Bama has been in this situation before, cuz it came back strong. Wooo Hooo!

The defense seemed to get on track at the same time as the offense. We didn't score and we couldn't stop them either. Once we did get on track, Awbun didn't score the rest of the way. We also got some great plays out of Kendal Moorehead and Marcus Spencer. What I can't understand is how Spencer allowed Gross to run him down. If he just slows up a little, he's got a blocker right there... and he would be in the end zone. He got caught in the LSU game too by a slower man. Maybe it's just me, but it didn't look like he was running all that hard. Guess he's not as fast as I thought. Merritt also had a decent game. He had an interception and thought about dishing it off just before he was brought down. Good play not to do that. I think more than anything, Moorehead impressed me the most on D. He's got at least 2 more years ahead of him... let's hope he stays for his senior season and doesn't get mixed up with agents... he's gonna be a keeper. Combine him and Kenny Smith, and now-coming-on "big man" (I forgot his name - Jamie?), the future looks bright for this DL. A healthy Carroll next year will help the LB's. In the DB area, Myles had a good game, only he should have intercepted 2 passes - one that went for the long gainer, and the one Fernando tipped, even though it would have come back due to a penalty. Get some glue on them hands, son. :) We tackled ok, but as usual, there's always room for improvement. We have got to figure out a way to stop the run, else Va.Tech is gonna run all over us in the Bowl Game.

Special Teams is another story all together. It's like we have a couple of bad plays, then a good one, then a bad one, then a good one. It's not very consistent. If you want to see consistent awesome special teams, check out K.State. They swarm to the ball. I don't know if it's our atheletes or the coaches, but we have got to get a LOT better in tackling and getting to the ball on punt/kick returns. There's no excuse for letting a team constantly return kicks 30-50 yards on ya. One good thing about special teams is the fact that we have Pope. Thank you, Daniel Pope. You are again this year's MVP, well, you'll have to share it this time with Shaun Alexander. But you is da man! Gonna miss ya when you leave. Pflugner had a decent game as well. FG's still have to get better next year... it'll break us if we're not careful.

One man that has really stood out this year though is Freddie Milons. He has accelled at WR and on special teams. With his speed, he has made some really great plays. Without him, AU gets a TD on the opening kickoff. Without him, we might not get that punt fumble by AU late in the game. He seems to get to the ball, and on offense, he shines with his quick moves and fast legs. Pair him up with Locke in the upcoming years and you'll see nothing but good... can't wait to see what else he has in store for us... He's exciting to watch return kickoffs too. Man, that guy can fly!

Coaching at the Iron Bowl seemed pretty much like how the players played.... started off confused and slow, and gradually figured things out. Great job in figuring out a way to stop Awbun to allow the offense to get back into the game to pull out the win. Halftime adjustments worked, cuz Awbun was shutout in the 2nd half. And a lot of people question the call before halftime (the pass on 3rd down with :12 left). It was the CORRECT call. If we had run the ball and not gotten into the end zone, the clock runs out and we don't get any points. Unfortunately, Zow made the costly error of underthrowing a wide-open Calvin Hall. If anything, throw it away and get the FG. He's still learning, but those are things you have to be able to do win the close games.

What else...???.... Oh yeah, we didn't have to use it too much, but I sure hope we're working on that 2-minute offense (no-huddle) for future needs. Va. Tech might make us use it if we get behind late. We just seem to be sluggish when it comes to the quick offense. I don't even know if we have a no-huddle offense anymore. I don't think I've seen one all year. Last year, Freddie went to the "sugar" offense quite a bit, since we were always behind. We're might need one of those again soon... coaches? We have one of those?

And man, I couldn't believe it when I saw Phillips in the game.... it was good to get him into the game since he obviously won't be playing at any other level, but what was so funny was that he got a delay-of-game call with his only play of the night. It's been real, Phillips, but bu-bye. Wish it coulda worked out for ya, but I guess for the longrun, it was better that Zow got the playing time. We're gonna need that experience next year if Zow/Watts is the head guy. If Zow is this good now, then Watts will be even better if he's playing... should be an interesting saga next year at the QB position.

Well, that's it for this edition of "Bamadog's Take on the Game". Sorry it took so long to get out there, but well, you know how it is.

As for the Bowl game, BEAT THOSE FREAKIN' HOKIES!!! ROLL TIDE!!

Miss St. - MSU Runs All Over Bama 22-16, (6-4), (3-4)

Oh, I didn't mention poor tackling before... we couldn't do that either. I'm just waiting for 2 years from now when things will hopefully be a lot better.

That is all this week. Saturday, it will be put up or shut up. ROLL TIDE.

LSU - Bama Hexes LSU 22-16, (6-3), (3-3)

The on-sides kick that Bama recovered - the first on-sides kick Bama has recovered since 1984 (game we lost against Vandy that year). This play enabled the Tide to go ahead on the final scoring drive to win the game.

Gee. Where do you start for a game like that one? It was the worst and best game I've ever seen all in one, ya know? Most Bamafans prolly just gave up once the score was 16-7 and LSU had 1st and Goal in the 4th quarter. I for one, didn't think it was over. I didn't think it would end like it did, but I sure didn't think it was over. Our goal line defense has been superb this year... this game was no exception. I tell ya, it's like I want to say how bad we played, but then again, we lucked up in the end and pulled it out because the players gave it all they had... so what do you do? :) Well, let's break it down anyway, and I'll try to be positive.

The offense this week was just that, AGAIN... quite offensive to watch until the 1st drive of the 2nd half and the last 3 minutes of the game. The rest of the game seemed pretty dreary. For some strange reason, the HEX held Bama in the game and kept LSU from scoring as much as they should have. The whole offense, to put it very mildly, STUNK the 1st half of play, only coming up with 78 TOTAL yards to LSU's 250 or so. No points, no excitement, no will to win in the first half. Don't know if was more play-calling than the players, but we played worse than Vandy the first half. Then, the 2nd half. We came out strong hitting a long bomb to Quincy Jackson on a tipped pass for a TD & XP. At that point, the score was 7-6, Bama. Tipped Pass for a TD? It was the hex. Later on, Plugner missed a FG that would have really put Bama in a good position to come back --- blocked by LSU. The hex is teasing us now, but it really knows what the outcome will be... then Bama scores from Zow to Alexander. "Brick Hands" Alexander actually caught a long pass in the end zone. Gotta be the hex, man. Then we go for the on-sides kick - giant leap the ball took, and Bama recovered... yeppers, the hex again. Then the play that put Bama in the winners circle, another tipped pass to Jackson for the final score of the game. Hex hex hex. Call it luck, call it skill, call it the hex, but Bama would NOT be denied in Baton Rouge. I would like to think that it was the players, and deep down, I'm sure it is, but isn't it strange though?? All the coincidental mistakes that happened to both teams forced Bama to win. And we got outplayed in almost every facet of the game except the score. Ok, this has been more of a summary, so lemme get back down to the O.

Jackson had a heckuva game, especially coming down with 2 TD passes that were both tipped. Great concentration there. Thanks... Bamafans everywhere are bowing down to you. :) Shaun came up with another great game, but against mostly in the 2nd half. Between him and Jackson, they accounted for most of the offense (of course, Zow is included in the picture). The offensive line did a good job in keeping pressure off of Zow and the blocking was pretty good too. Overall, a good outing, but mostly when it HAD to be done, so I won't complain. But I will say that if the offense plays like this every game (as in the 1st half), don't count on too many come-from-behind victories. It can really wear ya out. We've got to play 60 minutes like we OWN the other team... not like a H.S. team.

The defense is kinda in the same boat. They came up huge on the interception in the end zone which turned the momentum 180 degrees in favor of Bama, then intercepted the pass by Tyler to seal the game in the end. More than anything they played another great game in the red zone. But where Bama still is getting sliced and diced is between the 20's. Faulk gained over 200 yards. Lucky for us, their FG kickers missed a total of 7 points in the 1st half. Else, this one could have been easily handed over to LSU. We are hurting on D right now, especially with the lacking play of injured Travis Carroll and out-for-the-season Kelvin Sigler. The main link that holds this D together is Fernando Bryant, who is in the Top 10 in the Jim Thorpe Award. The D somehow came together and got stops when they needed it most. They don't stop LSU from scoring from 1st and goal, and Bama is toast, no doubt. But give it to the players - they made the plays - or was it the hex again? :) It was something. For whatever it was, I am grateful. I will say that our run defense has GOT to get better before we play Miss St. next weekend. We are gonna feel like chopped liver if we don't. They have one of the best running games in the conference... if we can stop their running game, we've got a chance. But the D, overall in the LSU game was below average, but came up big in the end. Consistency. That is the bottom line. Play erratic and you're gonna have an erratic record. That's something we have got to work on.

Special Teams played HUGE. One of THE best games we've played all year with the exception of the missed FG by Pflugner. Pope punted the ball the best he's done all year, the punt/kick coverage was pretty good, and the on-sides kick by Pope couldn't have been any better. You ask for a big hop and BOOM-DADDY! You've got it baby! He couldn't have kicked it any better. As soon as I saw how high it went and when it got behind the LSU players, I knew we had a good chance at it. And we got it. You can't really ask for much more out of our special teams this week. Just a missed FG... and again, like the D, if consistency doesn't get better in our FG kicking, it could cost us a game down the road. We've got to get the ball up.. just keep practicing, man. You'll get it.

The coaches almost pulled a Bama/Arkansas repeat. You'd think they would learn from their mistakes. They did, but almost before it was too late. I think our main problem is that we run too much on 1st down. We need to pass quite a bit more on 1st to make the defense honest. It's too predictable most of the time what we are gonna do. But credit the coaches for allowing Zow to make the play at the end of the game instead of settling for the possible FG attempt. That was the difference between a team that fights to win, and a team that is just trying not to lose. We played to win that last 3 minutes and it came thru for us. The 1st half and most of the 2nd half, we moved the ball a little, but there was no positive consistency. What did we do? - punt 30 times or something? It wasn't that much, but it sure did seem like Pope was punting every other Bama play, huh? Our D doesn't need all this work the O is giving them. Let's move the ball, coaches. Stick with the gameplan the WHOLE game and don't clam up. It's hurting the team. There's too much talent out there for the run, run, pass, punt offense. One last thing about the coaches - we still need a better system for a 2-minute offense. The team looks like molasses out there. We have a guy running in the play to the huddle and it wastes too much time. If it comes down to 2 minutes left in the game with no timeouts, we can get tons of "out" passes to the sidelines and stop the clock. We huddle every play and we'll have about 4 plays where we have to throw the ball 30+ yards if we're gonna score. When Homer was here, heck, even last year when Freddie was here... we had the "Sugar" offense, where we had no huddle and we moved the ball better than when we huddled. We need that offense back in case of these situations where time if of the essence. If we don't have this type of gameplan, why don't we? Zow has an wristband with the plays... just signal them in, or let the players make the plays. One day we're just gonna run outta time. What can be done here, coaches?

Well, hope I didn't hurt anyone too bad. It was a gruelling game to watch... was pretty embarrassed to even watch the game until the very end. The overall concensus is that this team needs to improve its consistency on both sides of the ball. We haven't hardly stopped the run all year, and the offense sputters way too much due to being too conservative and timid. It's time to play hardnose bang-'em-in-the-mouth football and ram it down their throats. If it's true that we are shortening the gap between us and the elite of the SEC, then we must prove it for 60 minutes every week... then and only then will we rise on top of the SEC once more. I realize this team is young... that's not an excuse for playing poorly, but a reason. Being young does make you do crazy things and not think like upperclassmen... this team will come around. If how we're playing right now is any sign of what's to come in the future, then I'm happy. We've lost to UT/UF/Ark, all of which are in the Top 10 in the country. Once we're on top, we'll be in that position and they'll be looking up to us. Until then, get better, Bama, and hold your heads high. You have a lot to be proud of this year - we're finally going to a bowl game! Oh, and thank you, Mr. Hex. Can you visit Starkville, MS, next weekend too? :) ROLL TIDE!!!

S.MISSISSIPPI - Bama squeaks by USM 30-20, (5-3), (2-3)

I'll start with the DEFENSE which played a pretty decent game overall. I sure do miss Kelvin Sigler these days, but I'll say that the young guys have really stepped it up a little. They still have a lot to learn, but the future looks bright (sooner or later). Travis and the LB's finally stepped up their play as well, and so did the defensive line. Wasn't their best game of the year, but one that stopped a pretty decent USM offense, especially their running game. The main thing that concerns me with the D this year is that we can stop the other team 3 plays in a row, or maybe make some good hits, but in the same drive, we normally give up the big play. ie: we might have the opponent tied back at 3rd & 20, and we'll give up a big pass play. I think there might have been a few like that in the USM game, but the big plays were really given up on special teams (the fakes). But overall, the defense played a pretty solid game and held off USM enough for Bama to win the game. Grade: A (20 points? A+ if scoring defense is better, but still a good job)

The OFFENSE was another story... it was even better - better than a Bama offense I've seen in a while, especially by the passing game. I tell ya, if Zow keeps playing like this, Watts might actually have a rough time next year getting into the starting role. Who knows... could be a 2-QB system next year, we'll see. But back to the offense - it wasn't quite as offensive to watch this week. :) We threw to 7 different guys, and Shaun had another 100+ yard outing. Zow threw for 340 or so yards, 6th best total in Bama history. I still remember '94 myself when Barker outthrew Eric Ziere of Georgia... Barker threw for 395 yards that day. Back to Zow... for a freshman QB, he has really stepped it up. I think most Bamafans are pretty pleased with his play thus far. He HAS made mistakes, but then so do some of the more experienced QB's too. Sometimes he still has trouble throwing the ball away instead of taking a sack or going out of bounds. That's something I'm sure he knows and the coaches have addressed. Look for him to get better in that area. He will. But then you take the play on the 1-yard line where he saw Vaughn not covered in a running set. He hiked the ball and immediately threw the TD pass to the wide-open Vaughn in the slot. So he's made some outstanding plays and some bogus plays. That's fine with me, as long as there's less bogus than good, knowutimean?

The wide receivers had a heckuva game too. Again, the freshmen on this team are really contributing a whole lot, especially Locke and Milons. Redshirt freshman Sam Collins will get his shot next year. And we also have Vaughn back next year. With more experience at QB and only WR's Hall and Jackson leaving next year on offense,... whooooeeeee! Next year is looking pretty good, huh? And the thing is, is that those 2 guys leaving will be replaced by freshmen that are playing like 3rd year guys now. Ready for next year's offense yet???

And Alexander... what a workhorse. He can run with the best of them... and the offensive line gave him some pretty good running lanes too. Great job offense line. Shaun... please come back next year. :) One last thing about Zow - 3 TD's, ~340 yards, and no interceptions. Can't ask for too much more can ya? OFFENSE: A+

Hmmmmmm..... what should I say about Special Teams? Well, I guess I can start by saying, don't ever assume they will kick the ball. Do we all remember Vandy last year... the fake that made Bama the laughing stock of college football last year on special teams? Pulease, man. I'll start with Feagin. He pretty much took the axe on defense, so we put him on special teams as a cover guy on the end or something. He freakin' got burnt there too, and by the pass of a punter. This guy couldn't cover his own head with an umbrella, man. I don't know what he can do that's good, but I'll guarantee you that it's not on defense. This guy needs to hold the clipboard or something. Any suggestions here? I hate to dog the boy, but man, he just continues to make bogus plays on defense. He doesn't use his head... and Bailey seems to want to reach Feagin status as well... he's not there yet, but at times has made me wonder. Reggie Myles is by far our other best cover guy. He gave up the TD to USM, but his other plays definitely makes him #2 to Bryant in my book. He'll be a starter next year for sure if he stays healthy.

Pflugner had another average day. He missed a FG but hit the others. He's the #1 kicker on the team... still just needs to get more positive consistency. We're gonna need him in the next 3 games. He could make us or break us. It's just a real momentum breaker when you drive all the way down the field and can't put the ball into the end zone, and then can't even put the ball thru the uprights. We need those points... hopefully, we'll just get better in this area.

Punt/Kick coverage was good too. No big plays given up here, especially on the punt coverage team. We're actually accelling in this area. Great job here guys! Pope, well, don't have to say much here... GREAT JOB!! GRADE B- (those successful fakes are momentum killers, man!)

The Coaches obviously had this team ready to play. Either that, or USM was a pushover, which I don't think is the case. We stuck with the game plan and really attacked a GREAT USM passing defense. USM ranked #10 in the country in passing efficiency defense, and Bama shreaded them for around 340 yards. I think the players are finally getting confidence back and are now playing up to their potential. The coaches have created a team that has a gameplan... it has done the job. GRADE: A- (coaches need to remind those players that they don't HAVE to kick the ball on 4th down)

OVERALL, the team played a great game. Actually, most may not know this, but Bama this season has only lost to undefeated teams (UT, UF, and Ark). And we thought Arkansas was a fluke game... well, in a way it was, but I tell ya... Arkansas DOES have a good team this year. Back to our game, the offense did well, the defense did well, and the special teams could use some work. Zow impressed all, and the receivers caught the ball. Shaun is still the man too.

Also, for those interested, the SEC West is almost wrapped up. Yes, almost. There is still a .5% chance that Bama could be the SEC West champions. That means that there is a 99.5% chance that we won't though. :) Arkansas has 4 SEC games left. They would have to lose all 4 games, and MSU would have to lose to 1 team + Bama, and Ole Miss has to lose one more game. If Bama wins out, and that stuff happens, then Bama is the SEC West champion. It's a super long shot, but it's there. With Bama finally pulling together and winning games against teams that have a loss, Bama could finish the season at 7-4. LSU is 4-4, but is coming off a loss to Ole Miss... watch out Bama... LSU usually comes back strong after a loss. MSU can't win 3 in a row against Bama... and Auburn - we better not lose that one at home. Bro. Bill vs. DuBose. Should be an interesting finish in the West. For the East, UT should (key word: should) wrap it up undefeated to play Arkansas, who should (given their record and odds) win the West.

In any case, ROLL TIDE BABY!!! Beat LSU!!!!!

TENNESSEE - Tennessee Spanks Bama 35-18, (4-3), (2-3)

First for the officiating. I won't say I've never seen a more poorly ref'd game, but this one sure wasn't too far away from it. There were missed late hits on Zow (about 2-3 that weren't called that I could see). That was my biggest complaint. They could have saved a few drives that Bama had. Instead, NOT. Other aspects were ok... Bama players are acting dumb as Florida Gaytor players on some plays, especially with late hit calls (on the QB and out-of-bounds). Those are just PLAIN STUPID penalties, and all they do is hurt your team. I was proud of the fact, however, that the offsides/false start penalties were practically extinct. I think that was the first game all year where the defense didn't jump offsides. Great Job there...

BUT, the defense just couldn't stop the Vols running attack. Well, they did for most of the game, that is, till about 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter or so. We kept it close up to that point, and then we just got tired. The depth factor really hurt us there... either that or we were just out-manned, which could easily be the case, since UT's OL is pretty solid this year. UT hardly threw the ball all day... we set out to stop UT from running the ball and make them throw. Well, we couldn't stop their practically one-dimentional offense for the most part. We had some big stops in the 1st half, but come 2nd half, it just looked like we were out of gas. The problem? Well, call it what you want, but missed tackles doesn't help. We were just getting knocked off the ball almost every play. And it wasn't just 2 or 3 yard gainers. They were getting 6-7+ yards per carry. As every game we've played, we've got to improve in our tackling.

THE TACKLE OF THE GAME was the last play of the game after Zow was picked off... Alexander just plowed into the guy and knocked him straight down. It was the end of the game, but I'm sure it made Alexander feel good to get a good hit in to release some frustration. Maybe he can play defense too? :)

Special Teams had a wild day to say the least. We botched 3 FG's, allowed a 100-yd kickoff return, had AWESOME punting (great job, '97 MVP Pope!), great punt coverage, and excellent kickoff returns. I guess that kinda puts the special teams somewhere in the middle with so many good and bad plays on the day. To start, Pflugner missed 3 FG's and hit 1 FG. He's got a heck of a leg, but his accuracy better improve for the rest of the year and for next year. We've GOT to get better marks in this department. If you trade-off FG for FG, Bama missed 3 FG's and UT missed 2 FG's. Net: Bama 3 points possible. That would make the game 35-14, hardly anything to write home about, though it woulda made it a lot closer in the earlier parts of the game and going into the 3rd quarter. Advice here... not too hard to figure out - We need those points. That's still 9 more points we coulda used for momentum... morale is a good thing to have during a game when you're playing away from home. But of course, it doesn't matter much when you can't stop a running game even with 8 men in the defensive box. We just can't stop the run like we used to.

As for the 100-yard return for TD, does this ring bells from last year's Kentucky game? Whatever containment we had on the outside, they were out buying a box of M&M's or something. Where was our team? We had just had a magnificant drive to bring the game within 3 points, also on the way to getting a lot of momentum on our side, and them Boom. TD, UT. It's hard to win games when you give up freebies like that.

Punt coverage was the best I've seen in many moons. Pope was on FIRE, booming all of his kicks 45+ yards and high. It gave our special teams time enough to get down the field and make quick tackles. Great job in this aspect of the special teams. I was actually fired up for our punting game and punt coverage. Punt returns were also decent/average. Nothing spectacular, but did had a couple of good returns for excellent field position. But the bottom line is, is that if you don't score, you don't win many games. We have just got to score more points, or the year will get even longer for the Tide.

Arvin Richard had an AWESOME day returning the ball on kickoffs. He nearly broke a couple of them for TD's. I don't know what got into our return team, but keep it up. Richard actually reminds me a lot of Mantoya Madden... a.k.a. the human bowling ball. He's got a lot of speed on him with that low center of gravity. I just ask that if he's goin' down, don't try to get an extra yard or 2... that's when you start fumbling the ball a lot of times. But still, and outstanding day for him overall. A+.

Shaun Alexander had a good day too. It's too bad we can't say that if Alexander rushes for 100+ yards, Bama wins. And like I said earlier, I love that hit to end the game. I was pretty frustrated with our lack of getting into the end zone, and that kinda helped. I think the only thing that REALLY keeps Alexander from being a very deadly back, is the fact that he doesn't have very good pass receiving hands. He's got a lot of power in his legs, and has the speed to outrun almost any DB...but he needs to develop his receiving skills quite a bit more. He blocks well too, unlike what the coaches said about him last year. One question though, why the problems handing the ball off from Zow to Alexander? That's just a drive killer, and it happened a couple of times, I believe. If you can't hand the ball off, then you're gonna have problems... and that's what Bama did. Fumble bad handoffs, then punt.

What else? - - - - Oh, yeah, coaching. Hmmm... I'd have to say that the Bama coaching staff had this team pretty prepared to play. I mean, we had a good gameplan; we knew what we wanted to do (stop UT's running game); and we didn't want to go conservative. We did all that, but the defense just couldn't stop UT from scoring. Tie that in with our own lack of scoring ability, and you have a Bama loss. I DO however see a lot of good things for Bama's future. This freshman class is gonna be a good one. Probably better than the sophomore class too. Key contributors next year will include the "Duece" Eric Locke, Freddie Millons, Shontua Ray (if Shaun leaves, he'll share time with Richard), Kendall Moorehead, and of course, Tyler Watts if he beats our Zow next year. I tell you what though, Zow does make a defense watch more closely that a Watts would, all due to his running ability. But that's next year, and I'll talk about that some other time. One other thing is 2nd half adjustments. All year, we haven't seen any. This game wasn't too different, except for a couple of offensive drives for scores. That's not enough. The defense has to make plays too. Don't know if this is a coaching problem or a player problem though. But as far as making 2nd half adjustments, we shouldn't have had to make too many on D. We had stopped them pretty well up to that point (granted we did give them 14 points)... the D didn't crumble till late in the 3rd quarter. Everyone, players and coaches need to figure out a way for Bama to stop the other team from scoring. Our offense still can't score a lot of points, so if the D doesn't work, Bama's in trouble.

What impressed me still, was the fact that Bama didn't ever give up in the game. One aspect of the game that will really help us is if we have a 2-MINUTE-DRILL. We wasted TOO much time running in plays towards the end of the game. That was about to drive me nuts. That's something I forgot to comment on, in the coaching section of my take earlier. Oh well. I'm saying it now. But yeah, we need a 2-minute offense for such cases as that. I think this might be where Tyler Watts will make his mark against Zow - thinking a little more about the situation and what you're doing. Zow was lucky not to have been picked off earlier in the game - a dead strike to a UT linebacker, Wilson. Lucky for us he has butterfingers/stonehands. Anyway, back to my main point - Get a 2-minute offense for these type of emergency situations.

Another lack in our game is the long ball on offense. It's VERY good that we are finally stretching the field a little more, but we have to complete some of these passes. The closest guy to most of our bombs are the defenders. Maybe that's just inexperience. If he can nail some of these long routes, we could have a pretty good offense... but the way it is now, it's like throw the bomb - we won't even cover the WR cuz it's not gonna be a strike anyway. The QB coach(es) should work with Zow a little more to improve this part of his game. But the mere threat of the bomb does help the offense... let's just complete a couple.

Well, I guess that's pretty much it for this week's "Take on the Game". It was a good game in the 1st half (minus missed FG's), but Bama just couldn't hang tough enough near the end to come back and win. Next year's team would probably win this game, only because we'd have more experience (but then again, so would UT, huh?).

We'll find out next year won't we? Next up is S.Miss in T-town. BEAT THOSE GOLDEN EAGLES!!

By the way, I'm a little frustrated... can ya tell? :)

EAST CAROLINA - Bama gets by ECU... 23-22, (4-2), (2-2)

OLE MISS (HC) - Bama beats Ole Miss in OT... 20-17, (3-2), (2-2)

OFFENSE: The offense this week was much improved when compared to the 2 previous weeks the Tide has had (Ark & UF). Shaun Alexander finally had a coming out party (as I predicted), and Zow seemed pretty decent most of the time, proving why he is still the starter on this Tide offense. If I recall correctly, we scored on long drives... the other drives seemed to be mostly 3 and outs almost. Since I don't have a replay on TV, I'm relying totally on memory at the game. Anyway, we did seem to drive pretty well, and had some good play-calling. To me, it seemed like the play calling got a little better towards the end of the game. Again, I see great things in newcomer, true freshman Eric Locke. So far, he's lived up to his billing. The chant of "Duece" has come back to Bryant-Denny Stadium. He even looks like David Palmer on the field. He's still got more good stuff to give us in the future. Millons is also quick.. he also had a nice run. Our receiving corp is actually one of the best in the SEC. I think even Steve Spurrier would love to have some of our guys for himself. As for Shaun, he had a great game. Would have only been decent, but he played a good part in the passing game this time as well. Normally, he doesn't seem to be that great of a receiver coming out of the backfield (kinda looks like a TE with decent hands for catching the ball), but against Ole Miss, he got the job done. He's still more of an I-Back. Take Faulk (at LSU) for instance. When Faulk comes out of the backfield, he's so quick with his feet and good with his hands, he's a real threat. Shaun takes a little more time, but is probably a little stronger runner. But if he can keep up what he did in this game, he should be alright... and that will also help us win more games this year. Arvin Richard got some snaps too... impressed me. He's a speedy little thing, huh? Definitely a great backup to Shaun. The only problem I see with our offense is no consistency in moving the football. We need to score more points (see Bama's first 2 games). We need to move the ball better, and spread the ball around so the opposing defense won't know where we're goin' with it. Once all that falls into place, Bama's got a shot, even at this stage of the game, to go to the SEC Championship game. It's a longshot, but we CAN do it. One last thing I liked was the throws to Hall (the longball). I've been begging for the longball for some time now and we finally got some. That, more than anything else, will really spread the defense and give even more running room for Shaun Alexander. When you start throwing deep, that puts more pass defenders in the game... and those little guys don't play on the line. It paid off... 125 yards worth of Alexander. One more point - still need to throw more on first down. Somewhat predictable towards the beginning of the game, but opened it up a little more as the game progressed. Grade: B (still need more points and more consistency, but didn't give the game away)

DEFENSE: Hmmm... where do you start? Inside the 20 or between the 20's?? It's like night and day comparing the 2 defenses. We are giving WAY too many yards, but when it comes down to gut-check time inside the 20 yd-line, Bama beefs it up and makes the stops when necessary. The good thing, is that we keep teams from scoring as much... bad thing is that we allow them to get inside the 20 for possible FG's (even game winning FG's). That's the part that could come back and haunt us if we're not careful. We gave up too many big plays and tackled like a junior high school team full of Jerry's Kids. What's wrong with our tackling and pass coverage? THEN, all of a sudden, BOOM. Hey guys, we're inside the 20, so let's start playing REAL BAMA D. Maybe it's because there isn't a big deep threat against the long ball. That's probably it because if you think about it, THAT'S when our CB's get burnt... on long plays normally (see Feagin and Bailey). Once we get into shallow territory, these guys don't have to worry as much about the short pass fake pumps and can play up a little closer. In any case, it's gotta get better. I just hope we show up in UT a couple of weeks from now. Speaking of CB's, Bryant got called for yet another passing interference call. I think he's trying to keep on pace for a season high number of calls. :) Personally, I think a couple of these calls against him have been rather nit-picky. There's gonna be some contact and that should be allowed. But overall, he's been playing pretty well. LB's and DL have played average. What they need work on the most is tackling and penetration on the QB. But again, this seemed to be the case mainly outside the 20. Inside the 20, we played well. I guess those "must" plays, we came up with and that's what really matters. But one day, we're gonna give up a little too much and won't be there for the "must" plays. The other team will be making those plays. The D must improve between the 20's else our offense might not be able to win games for us... because we just can't score a lot of points these days. I have mixed feelings here because of our play when we HAD to make plays. In a winning effort and intercepting an OT pass, I'll be nice - Grade: B+/A- (only due to "must" plays being made)

SPECIAL TEAMS: Did a decent job out there Saturday. But as any football team goes, there's always room for improvement. Pope is still doing well, even though he shanked a couple of kicks... then he comes back and booms a few to "woo" the crowd. Kickoff returns have been immaculate with Arvin Richard getting most of the returns. He has proved to be a dangerous return man for this team. His speedy little legs and quick moves have excelled our special teams in the "better than average" category (KR's that is). Still one thing concerns me with him returning the ball: he does a great job of finding holes at times, but when he's finally caught, he'll dig and claw to get 1-2 more yards. On a kickoff, this can be good or bad. Good, in that if you break loose, you go even farther, possibly a TD... bad, in that he is very fumble-prone when he digs out runs. On a kickoff, 1-2 yards isn't gonna make a big difference... plus when you're going at full speed, arms will be coming in at every direction harder than a normal running play. If he's close to coming down, he needs to just go down due to tons of players trying to strip him of the ball. But that's just my impression of him. Maybe I'm totally wrong here. The kicking game (Pflugner), was the hero, but still should have capitalized in the closing seconds of regulation. I'm just glad the D came up with the big play in OT to allow the Bama offense a chance at the win. Pflugner has been good... still can improve though. More precise on FG's will really make him a star on this team (see Proctor/Doyle/Van Tiffin). Kick/Punt coverage was ok too. Didn't give up major yards, but tackling can get still get better.

COACHING: Coaching was a progression on Saturday. It started out slow.. this might have been due to Zow making his first start... but then as the game went along, it got more of a flow. We still need a little better play calling. It's just tooo predictable most of the time. We're making some checks at the line, but this part of the game would really accel if we had better checkoff plays. I don't know how many times Florida AND Ole Miss used little toss sweeps to get 10+ yards/play. I wonder if it might work for us. Maybe it's blocking, I don't know. In any case, coaching was pretty good. They ran the clock to perfection at the end of the game. Tons of people were saying "stop the clock! stop the clock!!", but it was like...hello, look at the team, they KNOW what they are doing when they're standing RIGHT next to the ref. We didn't want to give Ole Miss ANY time left for a play, and that was smart. Don't know why everyone in the stands kept worrying about that. :) And then the FG on 3rd down - Perfect call. I was calling the play there too. Heck, it was right in the middle of the field, 1 yard behind the extra point line. We miss that one, and we don't deserve to win. It was just a chip shot. But coaching was better than average... Zow scrambling made some great plays though... especially passes to Hall. Looks like the main things the coaching staff needs to pound into these guys is 1) how to tackle correctly 2) how to tackle correctly and 3) how to tackle correctly. We need some big hitters/tacklers. We get that down, along with better pass coverage, and we'll ok. Good preparation in getting Zow ready to play give the coaching grade a boost - Grade: B+/A- (back to fundamentals - learn how to tackle)

OVERALL/SUMMARY: Overall, the team had good heart to come back and win this game when it looked like Ole Miss would walk away with the road win. We stayed with it, and gave it all we had, especially when we HAD to make plays. That was the key part of the game... making THE plays. Also Zow moving the offense and Shaun finally having a breakout game. Also, a win at homecoming makes our mouths no-so-sour this year. As I've said, main points are the yardage we're giving up... that comes with better tackling and better pass coverage. We still could get to the QB a little more too. That wouldn't hurt. But the overall attitude to win this game was awesome. We never gave up, and this will be a major boost to this Bama team. We needed this win VERY badly. It proved to the players AND fans that yes, we CAN stay with the opposition and make plays to win games. I just hope we have a few more of those wins in our bag of tricks this season, cuz we're gonna need 'em a few weeks from now. Overall: A (A determined win... also a win at HC makes EVERYONE happy).

FLORIDA - Florida escapes with a win against Bama... 16-10, (2-2), (1-2)

OFFENSE: Our offense was, to say the least, offensive to watch on every drive that JDPhillips tried to manuever. He ended the day having about 7 sacks because he would not get rid of the ball. That's when Zow came in. We hadn't had any positive things happen up to that point. With Zow in, we drove up the field, and was eventually stopped, but not before Bama put up 3 points on the scoreboard thanks to a line-drive kick by Pflugner. The next time Bama came back on the field, JDP came back as QB getting tons of boo's from the crowd. After all, the crowd is the best coach, right? :) Anyway, nothing changed, and the Tide went 3 and out....boo's continuing. Zow back in - offense is on the move again, but didn't score the rest of the half. 2nd half, Zow starts and doesn't look back. He played a heckuva game considering he is only a redshirt with less experience than JDP. Great Job, Zow! He came in and moved the Tide offense to another score and a TD. He made one fatal mistake though... one that a veteran QB usually wouldn't make. He blew his chance to be the hero of the game by 1) under throwing Calvin Hall on his 2nd to last throw of the game. A good throw gets Hall in the end zone. 2) by not grounding the ball on the play following. I have read that there was some confusion about him hearing 2 different plays... unfortunately, he chose the wrong one. This should be a valuable learning experience for the future. It's ok to waste a down to make sure you get the play you want that late in the game. It cost us... as he ended up throwing the game-ending interception. All this is avoided if he makes the "better" throw to Hall on the play before. BUT, that's not the way it happened and I give him credit for what he DID do at the game. He came in and got the job 99% done. Not bad for a first time... especially in a game of this magnitude. Hats off Zow.. good job, but we expect that TD next time, buddy! :) As for our running game, Alexander didn't get anything while Phillips was in the game. We have got to start making the defense spread the field, and that's exactly what we did when Zow came in. We started completing passes, and it opened up some lanes. He ended the day <100yds, but most was due to Florida's defense. They are still one of the best in the country. WR's did great. My standout guy was the "New Duece", Eric Locke. With Vaughn and Buchanon still out, him, Millons and McAddeley got a little more playing time. Locke has already started impressing me AND other fans. The chant "Duece" is back. I look forward to seeing more great things with this excellent WR. Millons/McAddeley will also be good... all the freshman just need some time. One thing I did notice on Bowens great catch and run... as soon as he was about to go into the end zone, I called the Florida guy stripping him of the ball. Boom. It happened. Guys, hang on to the ball! That was our only TD drive of the day, and it coulda cost us bigtime if we loose it that time. Grade w/JDP: F --- Grade w/Zow: B (A good pass to Hall at the end gets you an 'A')

DEFENSE: Great game guys. This bunch gave up tons of yardage, but man, when it had to come thru for us, THEY DID. Bryant with the int to save a TD drive; fumble recovery late in the game in the end zone; another one earlier in the game for a touchback; a 4th and less-than-a-yard stop with less than a minute to go; and 3 times, the D held Florida to 3 FG's instead of getting touchdowns. One problem. We still only scored 10 points by the offense. It's a shame to see such a great defensive performance in getting the job done when we had to, to go down the toilet cuz we can't score. Bryant had a decent game, but got called for more passing interference calls. Maybe it was only 1 or 2, I can't remember. I will say that the refs might not have cost us the game, but they sure didn't help matters at all. But Bama did do a lot better with staying on our side of the line till the ball was snapped this week. That was a positive note. Anyway, Carroll and Sigler had great games again. Carroll had a team high 14 tackles, I believe. The whole D played good, except for giving Florida that touchdown (if I say it once, I've said it a billion times... with Feagin in the game as a CB, we are toast because he can't cover squat). I hate to say that about our players, but ever since day one, Feagin has always gotten burnt, and every time it has cost us. If he ever gets in a one-on-one situation, well, let's just say if the other team doesn't throw it his way, they're insane. But I think the only reason he was in the game at the time was cuz Bryant was injured or something. In any case, he needs to move over to SS or something...even clipboard holder on the sidelines. He has just not impressed me since he's been at the Capstone. DL had a great day. Moorehead got a lot of playing time and has solidified himself as a big-time player on this team. Him and Kenny Smith both. Can you imagine in about 2 more years. We've also got another recruit coming in that's supposed to be just like these 2 guys. We're talking a duo about as potent or better than the Copeland/Curry years. Looks like a promising future on the DL if these guys stay healthy and don't go to the NFL. Overall defensive effort was great, and they never gave up. Way to go guys... Grade: A- (One less TD given up by Feagin gets an A+)

SPECIAL TEAMS: Can you say 90 mph fastball? That's about what Pflugner's first FG attempt looked like. It was a straight shot that looked like a UFO hovering above the ground all the way thru the uprights. Then, he missed one later.. missed just right of the post, dang it. Pope finally, after 2 years of great work, had somewhat of an off day. He had some boomers though, but shanked a couple. He's still our most consistent player though. Kickoff return and Punt returns were good too. Arvin Richard really did a great job returning the ball. He breaks a few more tackles and he's off to the races. Tackling, of course, can always get better and should get better. At least we're not playing like last year's special teams. What an embarrasment, huh? Anywho, great game, guys... keep it up, and just keep getting better! Grade: A- (Hit that other FG and you get an A+)

COACHING: Coaching... hmmm... looks like the coaches got the players ready to play this year, but my biggest question was the offensive play calling. Don't know if it was too blatently obvious to everyone else, but did anyone else see that we RAN the ball on practically EVERY first down we had in the game. I think only 1 or 2 times did Bama throw the ball on first down. I would have to think that Spurrier picked up on that too. Thus the reason they kept stopping us every 1st down we had. THROW THE BALL, COACHES!! We need to have some variation in our offensive schemes. It was so easy to see what we were gonna do. If McClintock was in motion, you were guaranteed that Shaun would get the ball and run to the side mcClintock was on. We need new plays in this department. At least make the defense wonder what we might do... put McClintock in the I-formation and pick a side to run to. Plays with the FB in motion don't help Alexander's chances for getting many yards. Just a hint. I will credit the coaches for sticking with the passing game... though, they were kinda forced to, since we had practically no running game on the day. Credit the coaches for sticking with what the coaches in the stands were saying too. "Leave Zow in" is all you heard.... if the "boo's" didn't give it away. It was a good move keeping Zow in the game starting the 2nd half. I just couldn't understand why they put JDP back in the game for that one series. Maybe a warning I guess. But I say you go with what's working for you. Oh well... maybe we learned the hard way, huh? Hopefully, we'll learn from our mistakes this year (so far), and win the rest of our games... and yes, that includes Tennessee. This coaching staff has what it takes, it's just still in the gelling process. Let's gel quickly, now, guys. :) Grade: C (too predictable)

OVERALL/SUMMARY:Overall, a great performance by the Bama D, and the offense was pretty good (considering the experience factor by a freshman) too. Special teams was averagely solid with punting/kicking not costing us the game. At this point in the year, I'm about 75% confident in our FG kicking team. It's still rather irratic at times, but it's still not near what last year was. We held the Gaytors to their lowest point total in 7 years (or something like that)... that's definitely something to build on. We played the #8 team in the country and had a good chance to win. I feel good about the rest of the season, but even more, I feel better about the FUTURE of Bama football. Before the year began, I still didn't think we were where we needed to be, and I still believe we're 2-3 years away from National Championship contention. We're better than last year... we've just got to go prove it now. Next opponent is Ole Miss, and Bama should still have their hands full. Ole Miss is 4-1 will an impressive win against Kentucky, and their QB, Miller is coming along. Should be an interesting game. ECU is the week after, then the big game against UT. We win the next 2 games, and the Bama/UT game could really be big. I'm tired of typing now, so this will have to do. I'll be at the game next weekend... and will march in the Alumni Band with the Bama hardhat. Come by and say Hello and we'll win the game. :) Promises, promises, huh? ha ha ROLL TIDE!!

ARKANSAS - Bama gets Shallacked ...42-6, (2-1), (1-1)

DEFENSE: The defense started out the game ok, but gave up the TD to blown coverage. This can't happen. If we're gonna blitz, let's blitz ONE of the corners instead of both - this way, we still have someone back to cover a WR with. Smart, huh? Sigler prolly played one of the best games of his life again. Twice in first half, he himself stopped the Hogs from putting another 7 on the board, and they had to settle for a FG. What happened to the rest of the D? There wasn't any penetration on their OL and their running backs had massive gainers most of the day. I think they averaged 6-7 yds/rush or something like that. We gave up freakin' 450+ yards on the day...way too many for any team to give up and still win the game. And 42 points... granted, those points did come after a quick interception and fumble near the goal. I just don't know what to think. Looks like a gut-check to me... do we want another losing season, or do we want to go to a bowl this year? D - Step it up, BABY! Grade: D (woulda been worse if not for decent play in the 1st half).

OFFENSE: 6 points. It's almost as though I shouldn't have to say anything else, but why not? 6 points. That's VERY few points for a football game...but for Bama in its "new and improved 'Air Bama' offense"??? Are you kiddin' me? Either the Hogs are really good, or Bama is really that bad. I guess we'll know come season's end (or maybe even by the end of the Ole Miss game, since we're expect to get creamed by Florida). From what I saw, the main problem was our offensive line. How many sacks can ya give up? How many holes can you NOT create for one of the best running backs in the country? We had nowhere to go, and it all boils down to the OL, unfortunately. Sorry guys, but as soon as Alexander was handed the ball, the DL/LB's from Arkansas were almost already in the backfield. You can't do anything when the QB can't even step back for a 3 step dropback and pass. And the thing that REALLY, REALLY confused me was the fact that we didn't have hardly ANY, I mean, ANY movement on our offensive plays. The first 2 weeks, we would always be in motion to confuse the defense and make them second-guess what they were gonna do (defensive assignments). We lined up in a formation and pretty much stayed where we were. Arkansas wasn't fooled at all. They set out to stop Alexander,and since the QB-WR connection wasn't there (combined with tons of penalties), 6 points is pretty easy to explain. Shape up, offense, or Watts might be seeing some action soon (of course, the OL still has to block like it should...else it won't matter WHO they put at QB). Grade: F (F- if it had been a shutout).

SPECIAL TEAMS: For once, the Bama special teams didn't cost us the game. Instead, it was the only thing that kept us in the game (if you want to call 6 points "in the game"). There wasn't too much more the ST's could do. Pope had a great game punting the ball... great job, '97 MVP. Pflugner had a great game hitting 2 FG's, one of which was a 55 yarder. Sometimes you just get all of the ball, huh? Woulda gone for 65 yards probably. Anyway, he did good, and coverage on kicks were pretty good, but still could been better on tackling. If the special teams play like this the rest of the season, they might have a chance to win a couple of games for us. Keep it up. Only bad thing was we needed a little better tackling in the return punt/kickoff department. Grade: A-

COACHING: What coaching? That is also on the minds these days of Bamafans. We didn't do anything at halftime to correct what we did wrong in the first half. We actually showed up in the 2nd half to play worse than before. Coaching MUST get better... plays need to be the ones that gain yardage instead of losing yardage. Again, I ask, what happened to the offense that was in motion the first 2 weeks to help confuse the defense? Just didn't have enough of that. They have REALLY got to get our guys ready to play this week against Florida else 42-6 will end up looking good for a loss. C'mon guys... let's gel and get this team together and WIN! Grade: D-

OVERALL:PENALTIES. Can you spell d-i-s-c-i-p-l-i-n-e? Our coaches need to go over the fact that you don't jump over the line on defense until the BALL is snapped. On offense, illegal motion is lame along with false start. This team needs discipline and they need drills to help them in the game. Maybe they already have drills. If so, it didn't show on Saturday. For Pete's sake, cut back on the penalty yards. It really doesn't help either when you get negative yardage on plays on top of that. What did we have? - 9 3-and-out drives? I can't remember, but I don't think any Bamafan could have been proud of how we played. We didn't want to win and it showed. Tackling on defense looked like the squad of last year. How many holes can the Hogs open up anyway? Again, the question - are we that bad, or is Arkansas that good? Maybe it's both. I don't know. But I DO know that we played a terrible game... if this keeps up, DuBose might not have too much more time to get things right. I know it's early, but if Bama ends up with a losing season again this year, DuBose just might be on the hot seat enough that he might have to look for another job. I know a lot of people are already after him, even after it was almost unanimous that he take over after Stallings. Word has it (from my inside sources) that Tyler Watts could very well start/play by mid-season. If Bama keeps on down the low road in the SEC, look for Watts to come out and get some experience. Bama cannot wait 5 more years to get back into the Championship hunt. The time is now... and it's time to make it happen. Let's go Tide! BEAT THOSE GAYTORS!!!! Grade Overall: D just cuz we scored points on special teams.

VANDY - Bama Shallacks Vandy ...32-7, (2-0), (1-0)

OFFENSE: The offense actually sputtered a little bit to start the game. We didn't even score till after Vandy snuck 7 on us on a 50-yd strike up the middle (miss tackle by Faust). But that would be all the 'Dores would get. The Bama D would take over the rest of the game pretty much. As far as O, we moved the ball well. JDP did well in the pocket and distributed the ball to many receivers, but this week, more to Michael Vaughn than Quincy Jackson. I tell ya, that Vaughn has got some speed on him. If he gets in the open field, watch out. Of course we all remember the 96-yd bomb in the SEC Championship a couple of years ago against Florida. We still need to get him the ball more because he is one of our main playmakers at WR. Jackson still impressed me with his soft hands and nice moves against the Vandy D. One problem I see right now is that we're getting just a little predictable on our short passing game. We have the D off guard on whether we might run or pass, but I can't recall a time where we actually threw the ball deep. When you put deep balls in the passing game, THEN you start to really open up the D a little more. There were times when we had 2nd down and 1. Some of those times are the best times to put it up because you know on 3rd and 1, Alexander will prolly get you that yard you need for the 1st (for the most part). Anyway, I think it would really benefit us for future games by going deep a little more. But to be honest, you don't see all those long bombs from Bama teams lately, huh? Usually if Bama goes deep, it's overthrown or caught out-of-bounds, or if we do catch it, it's at the spot of the catch (catch and fall down). We don't get many of those long Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee bombs where the WR catches and runs for a TD. Anyway, just some of my insight. The O did look good though, but against Vandy, we still shoulda scored a little more. The pass from JDP to Jackson should have been thrown better. Jackson was wide open but JDP just couldn't get the ball to him (he threw the ball out of bounds). Alexander... what can you say about this present/future star? 20 rushes for 200+ yards. That's pretty awesome. Oh, and 3 touchdowns to bring his total to 8 TD's on the year. He is 2nd in the NCAA in scoring so far this year. Only Ricky Williams from Texas has more points (54 pts from 9 TDs). The next guy in line only has 24 points off of 3 TDs. So Alexander has shown why he will be in Heisman contention if not this year, next year. He's a hoss and everyone knows it. Everytime he touches the ball, people watch, thinking that this will be the play he scores ANOTHER touchdown. Offensive line did a great job too. And JDP is still doing well getting the ball to the receivers. He made a few throwing mistakes, but he'll get those with time. Overall offensive job for the day - A-. Gotta get even better with our passing game and tipped passes at the line.

DEFENSE: The D played the best game I've seen since about '92 or so. Of course, this was a Vandy team with practically no leadership, and practically no experience. They had freshmen QB and RB with most of the D graduating. With Duncan leaving, that left their D with practically nothing. However, Vandy did hold us tight in the first half till the Alexander show in the 2nd. The Bama D held Vandy to -33 yards rushing, and an impressive 140 or so yards overall. If we can keep that up every game, you'll see Bama in the Fiesta Bowl. Wouldn't that be cool? And the safeties!! How about 2 safeties in one game. Don't see that too often, and the Bama D came up with 2 of 'em. Also on the day came 9 sacks. You just can't ask for too much more except a shutout which we almost got. Too bad we missed a tackle there. But overall, the best defensive performance I've seen in quite a while by the Bama D. We did get lucky a few times on D... times where a Florida-type team woulda burned us. Only Vandy helped us out by dropping passes and stuff. The D can still improve in the secondary. Unfortunately, we are thin in the secondary, so guys like Bryant and Sigler need to stay fresh or we'll be hurtin'... GREAT JOB D!! A+

SPECIAL TEAMS: Good job by new kickoff man Wisneuski(sp?). He and Diaz did about the same, only Diaz didn't have as much control from what I understand. Plugner did ok, but missed 2 FG's of 52 and ~42 or so yards. He had plenty of leg on both attemps but came up wide left. We need to improve here on accuracy. He's getting the ball up.. now it's time to get that ball thru the uprights. Also, the XP attempts seemed a little shakey...too much hook in the kick. This needs work definitely. We're gonna need those points in the upcoming games. Pope, what can you say? MVP again? He's just doing everything right. For those short kicks, he kicked it out of bounds around the 10 yard line every time. The one he kicked into the end zone, well, it hit around the 15 yard line or so, and tip-toed all the way down the sideline into the endzone. I couldn't believe that thing didn't go out of bounds. But overall, Pope put the ball where it was supposed to be. Punt/Kick coverage got a little better, but this is the one point that needs the most help of all facets of Bama's game. I guess you could say special teams in general, but our coverage is getting better, but there is just too much room here for improvement. Had some good hits, but too much yardage given up before these hits. Let's go Bama! Grade: B-.

COACHING: Another week, another win, that works for me. As coach Stallings said, I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. Well, they've got this team on track to start finally winning games pretty. Our ground game looks very good with Alexander as the commander-in-chief. A little better on the passing game and some tighter D will put Bama even higher into the Top 25. Games like that will end up helping you beat Florida-like teams. It's really a shame. Used to, it was "be as good as Bama"... now it's be as good as "Florida". How times have changed... In any case, I think this coaching staff is on the right track in getting this team back to it's championship days of glory. Let's just hope it happens sooner than later. Greade A.

OVERALL: Overall, another decent performance, but moreso by the Bama Defense. What a game. Granted, Vandy played some really young guys, but our D really needed it, especially after the shlacking of yards given up last week from BYU. Major confidence builder. Now we just need to relax and enjoy the week off and come back ready to beat the Hogs of Arkansas... and right around the corner, Florida will be calling. It's time NOW to get this team up to a competing level. Florida is no Vandy, and Arkansas won't play us lightly... they never do. The time is now. Show your stuff, BAMA!! ROLL TIDE!

BYU - Bama Hangs Tough and Wins ...38-31, (1-0), (0-0)

OFFENSE: The offense started out like a team possessed... does the Bama/AU game ring any bells here? It was somewhat similar, only Bama was a little more impressive this go-around. in '96, we played AU and we scored on our first 3 possessions, then the winning drive at the end of the 4th quarter to win. The BYU game was similar, only we scored more, and played well (better than 1 quarter this time). The game started out showing Bama as a team offensively possessed. It was like we couldn't do anything wrong. We drove, we scored, we drove, we scored, we drove, we scored. Of course, in the middle of all that, we had a fumble that was returned by BYU for a TD, but you get the idea. It was a Bama offense that "clicked" and was fun to watch (for once). Everytime Alexander touched the ball, it was just "hold your breath and see how many yards he was gonna pick up" time. Everytime he touches the ball, people think he's gonna break one for a TD. A couple of shoestring tackles really kept him out of the end zone more than what he got. It was good to see him break another Bama record in his first start (which happened to be his own record of 4 TD's in a game - LSU '96). He ended up with 5 TD's on the day. John David Phillips (who I will refer to as JDP from here on out) did a great job till he started getting cramps. Main problem here, is that he had to take himself out of the game to get the cramps out.... in comes Zow. Not much happened there, except one of the more exciting plays of the game that could have really hurt us, but didn't. A pass to Quincy Jackson that was lofted high in the air for a completion. Lucky for Bama it didn't go the other way for 6. But he did a decent job in backup duty. He didn't turn the ball over... The only thing the coaching staff wishes they had done now, was play him a little more in the passing game when he was in the game. We just couldn't move the ball when he was in at QB. We had a 1-dimentional game at that point.

As for the receivers, Jackson stepped it up with 11 catches for 100+ yds on the day. It was enough to lead all SEC receivers (catches) for week 1. When was the last time a Bama receiver led the SEC ANY WEEK in catches. Cool, huh? Great job, Quincy. I tell you one thing - from what I saw, Quincy has some GREAT hands this year. He caught the ball softly and added more moves in his running. I was most impressed with his first outing. Let's hope we see more of that in the upcoming games. Offensive line did pretty well. Thanks to JDP for having running ability. This has been something we have lacked in the past couple of years. JDP should prove to be a winner this year...a leader of the Bama offense, along with Shaun Alexander. Overall, this bunch delivered today, and also scored when it had to... but turnovers kept BYU in the game. A-.

DEFENSE: The defense was so-so. It seemed a little down from where we were when we played in Auburn last year. There were some bright spots though. We got some picks and Kelvin Sigler actually has stepped up his play. I was most impressed by his tackling and his overall play in the defensive secondary. Carroll came in the game in the 2nd half and IMMEDIATELY made an impact. It's like the D plays at another level when he's in the game. Trevis/Tito Smith also had good games... the one problem we had was yds/points given up. Seemed like we tackled ok when we got to the ball, but there were too many times when we just weren't where we shoulda been. Passing coverage has got to improve. Run D was ok, but still has room for improvemtn. We just gave up too many yards and too many points. Of course, 7 points came from BYU's D from our fumble. So their offense came up with 24 points. That needs to improve. Denfensive line did pretty well at times, but still need fresh legs in the game so we can get more sacks and pressure on the QB. Overall, I give the D on first game gitters and some inexperience... C+. Time will make this bunch better as we go along...

SPECIAL TEAMS: Good kickoffs, GREAT punts by Pope (my MVP for last year), and perfect on FG attempts. Only problem I see here is lack of experience on kick/punt COVERAGE. Too many yards were given up on special teams. Getting 30+ yards on kickoffs is a no-no. We DID stop them a couple of times, I believe, but it still needs to get more consistently better. Other than that, things looked good. Glad to have Plugner back in the kicking duties. A-.

COACHING: The coaching staff seems to have gelled pretty well up to this point. They had the team ready to play and had a great gameplan - WIN. :) The new "revamped" offense worked almost to perfection, and the D held BYU's points under ours. I guess that's the main goal at the end of the game, huh? Hats off to our coaching staff for our 1st win in Bryant-Denny Stadium on the year (and DuBose's first home win in his HC career). Now let's just see if we can get Special Teams and the D to step it up for next week... We sure needed this win. Another win next week could allow Bama to crack back into the Top 25. We'll see what happens... Coaching: A

OVERALL: Overall, the game was a fun one to watch. Glad the game was on ESPN or you might not be reading this. My cruise ship didn't have satellite TV, so I had to catch the game at home when I got back from the 'ol honeymoon. Lucky me, huh? Anyway, offense seemed exciting to watch most of the time, the D had it's high/low points in the game, and the kicking game went well. For the first game, taking youth into consideration, Bama gets an A- for the first game. Still room for improvement though, but nice to start the year out right. ROLL TIDE!