DEFENSE: The defense played about as well as we could have asked them. If we could just sustain a couple of drives on offense here and there, maybe our defense wouldn't have been so freakin' tired. They did their job. My biggest problem is ****grunt**** Kecalf Bailey. Everytime he is playing, we're getting burned. And ole Milo got burnt like toast out there. I don't know what he was covering all night. He just seemed to be out in left field for some reason. Credit the Michigan coaching staff for going to what they had to, to win. They had to air it out. The "A-Train" never really left the station. What was it - something like 37 yards for the whole game? They knew that if they were to win the game, they would have to air it out. And air it out they did - 369 yards worth. The most on a Bama team all year I believe. And for some crazy reason, even throwing the ball as much as they did, they held the ball about 4 minutes longer than we did. We just couldn't stop the pass. The front 4 and the LB's did their job. Our 2ndary just got burnt bigtime. Too many times, we just give up the long ball and don't get our hands up. Other times, we're just out there picking our noses. Hopefully, we'll get some help next year in this area. Charlie Harbison better get his act together too, and come up with something that works. Anyway, there were some good points, but most were against the running game. Plenty of room for improvement going into next year. Let's hope it happens. We ended the season as the #1 or #2 ranked defense against the run. Now if we can only get the Passing D on track - can you say National Championship?

SPECIAL TEAMS: The beast is back. It's hard to grade this set of players, because Milons is on this team. :) Milons is just without a doubt the best player on the team. He can do it all - and he does. He's kickoff return man, punt return man, #1 WR, heck, almost our #1 QB, and he's a threat to score (like Alexander) on any given play. He returned his 2nd career TD on an punt return in the Orange Bowl. He just knows the game - and plays like he's got a brain as well. He's smart, he makes good decisions, and man, I just hope he'll return for his senior year. Other notes are the missed kick by Pflugner and the FG block by Phillip Weeks. The missed kick, well, you had to know that it would happen sooner or later. I don't know what it is about our FG kickers since Proctor left, but we need a solid one NOW. I know everyone makes mistakes, but man, a missed PAT is very hard to swallow, especially after we get the hard part (the TD). It's a shame that it had to happen, but you know, as I was watching the game, I was thinking back to the Florida/Bama game in the Swamp. You know Florida fans (and other SEC people) were rooting Bama on... which they should since you really want your conference to win (more $$$$ and bragging rights against the Big10, Big12, etc.). But you have to know that the Florida fans watching that game were thinking ... "I was cheering you guys on, but I've got to tell ya - now ya know how it feels, huh?" Yeah, that missed kick hurt us. We won with one, and now we've lost with one. Only this time, we didn't get a 2nd chance. Hopefully we'll have a kicker next year who is more dependable. We've been throwing the dice all year, and it finally bit us in the butt. Pflug is gone now... will it be Kemp, or will it be Redshirt Freshman Danny Haynes? Or some other lucky winner? We'll see. I heard Haynes left the team, but I don't know if that's true or not. If so, we could be in trouble. As for the other (besides Milons fantastic return for TD) great play of the game on special teams, how about Phillip Weeks getting up on that block? And you know, as I watched the tape, I noticed something - Weeks was the ONLY guy who jumped up to try to block the kick. It was like everyone else didn't try at all. I'm just grateful that he was in the right place at the right time. He's the one that put us in the position to win the game by sending it into OT. We just came up inches short... or should I say wide right? :) Punting - we have a new one next year who will become the next Daniel Pope for the next 4 years. Nuff said.

COACHING: The coaches probably did as good a job as they could have in this game. They did what they had to do to score 28 normal gametime points, but for some reason couldn't stop Michigan. I guess that goes with any game though. You have your good runs and you have your bad runs. I mean, if all you had was good runs, you'd never even have to punt the ball, huh? But what really hurts is the fact that we were 14 points on top of Michigan twice, and we let them come back both times to tie us. The biggest thing that hurt us in this game is the promise that the coaches made, but didn't keep... at least they made this quote at the end of the Florida game (SECC)... that they had planned on rotating the QB's, and if one of them got hot and the other one didn't, they would stick with the man with the hot hand. Unfortunatly, everytime Zow was in the game, everyone in the bar were we watched the game here in Dallas said "What are you doing???!!! Put Watts in the game - he's our guy right now! He's the one who is being effective and moving us up and down the field!" Well, I have to agree with them. It was like we'd only see Watts in the game every 4th series... Watts, Michigan, Zow, Michigan, than finally back to Watts. And the way Zow was playing, I was 99% certain Watts would carry the load at the end of the game since Zow was off target for most of the game while Watts was running for good yardage, getting 1st downs, and hitting all of his passes. That was my biggest question. Watts should have played the whole 2nd half. When Zow is in there, there's no threat to run or pass, so all they do is stick 9 men in the box to stop the run. Not much you can do about that when your QB is way off like he was. Granted, Zow threw the TD in OT, but Watts could have done the same... heck, A.C. was as open as my arms when I see the Bamapup after a long business trip, knowutimean? They have got to make a decision. Rotation time is over. It's time for one man to be THE MAN. It'll happen next year. We're tired of seeing inconsistency back there. As for the other parts of the game, the coaches did about as good as could be asked. They stopped the run and we knew all we had to do at that point was stop the pass. Our D just got tired. Nothing the coaches can do about that. And you can't blame the coaches for the missed FG at the end. It was just a bad kick. Biggest thing is the offense. It came along just nicely after the La Tech game. Look for even better things to come next year. We've learned a lot this year... Stubbs will have a nice plan for next year's team. Look for more of what we saw against Florida. And as for the latest news, I believe all the coaches will be back next year... something we really need - cohesion in the coaching staff. It worked this year, huh? One more year should make it even better. As for Stubbs being "promoted" to Offensive coordinator, I don't even know if he cares about that. He's doing what he was hired to do, and personally, what he is called is irrelevant. His name is already mentioned 100 times more than Calloway (the official offensive coordinator) on TV. People know who Stubbs is. And Stubbs knows that HE himself, is the man behind the potent Bama offense.

2000 OUTLOOK FOR BAMA: Man, where do you start? I mean, it's too early to make any real calls, but here's an early take on Y2K BAMA. We are stocked up with some horses. That's the bottom line. We probably have one of the best last 2 recruiting classes in the country, and we're getting ready for another great class. As for next year, leaving are Plugner, Alexander, Samuels, Buchanon, and Bowen on offense. On the Big D, Merrit, Griffen, and Grimes are gone. These are some pretty big shoes to fill, but like I just said, we have the recruits to fill these holes. The D 2ndary will all be back (yes, including Bailey), the LB's will be headed up again by awesome soon-to-be sophomore sensation Saleem Rahsheed. Is he something or what? And we'll also have Marvin Constant back from rehab by the fall. Up front, we'll still have Kenny Smith by the fall, Kendall Moorehead, and superstar Kenny King. If we get another "Kenny King" on that line next year, we'll be reeking havock all over the place. On offense, 4 starters from the OL will be back... we'll be minus Samuels. We saw a semi-preview of things to come. Obviously, we'll be better once someone establishes themselves as the man come fall... Ellington will probably take over Left Tackle and Right tackle will be up for grabs. Three Seniors will anchor the middle of the line in Redmill, Hogan, and Cuthbert. As usual, the battle at QB will be Zow and Watts, though I honestly believe it won't be much of a battle when Watts takes the reigns and doesn't look back come spring/summertime. I just want the best man for the job, honestly - and that man right now is Tyler Watts. He's not perfect, but he's the best we have. Lastly, is the RB job. Everyone just assumes that Shaun Bohanon will be the starter next year. Well, maybe so in the beginning of the season. But watch out, there is a new star on the horizon... and even Shaun Alexander says his own records will be broken by this kid - watch out for Brandon Miree. That's a name you will hear a lot of in the next 3-4 years. This past season, from what I've read, the defense has had enough of tackling him at practice. If you think Shaun was good, Miree will open your eyes to even better things - probably not at first, I mean, he WILL be a redshirt freshman... but give him some time if he needs it. He will be the next great Bama running back. Look for him in the A-Day game this year which will be on APRIL 15 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

I think that's about it for this season. Again, my apologies for such a LATE take on the game for this BCS Orange Bowl. Dadgum computer. :) It's been a great season. After losing to La Tech and being 2-1 on the season, AND dropping out of the Top 25, who'da thunk we would have beaten 6 ranked teams in playing the toughest schedule in the country, beating Florida IN THE SWAMP and in the SECC Game, and finishing at the #4 spot in the final BCS Poll after finishing 10-2 on the regular season. Quite the season to remember, especially after all that DuBose crap to start the season. Lastly, this Bama team finished strong, even with the loss to Michigan. Bama should be an easy Top 10 pick going into next season. That would be the first Top 10 start in, well, I don't know the last time we STARTED in the Top 10. Might have been in '93, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this team has what it takes to win the National Championship next year. We've got all the coaches, the players... now it's just time to put it all together in one season and do it. We lose Florida and La Tech, but pick up S. Carolina and UCLA. Schedule strength shouldn't be as hard this go-around. UT will be our biggest game of the year. Look again for Bama to be in the SEC Championship game to play either Florida or UT. UT/Florida game will be played in Knoxville this year. But for some reason, Florida just seems to own UT (like UT owns Bama right now... but this year, it will change). Look for Bama to be in the Orange Bowl if we can get it done. Nebraska and FSU still look like NC contenders. Should be an exciting year next year. Oh, and a Newsflash CBS, ESPN, ABC, etc.... THE SEX SCANDAL IS OVER - NOW LET'S MOVE ON!

It's been great being your host throughout the football season. Now it's on to basketball, gymnastics and BASEBALL season (no wabbit season, no, duck season, wabbit season, duck season, wabbit season....) Basketball is looking gloomy right now with the absence of Hayes (should get a medical redshirt this year). But baseball is right around the corner, and hopefully BAMADOG.COM will be there for you the whole way. Come back again soon... and ROLL TIDE!!! It's been great!!

Your gracious Host
The Bamadog

Well, 1999 came to a close just before a ton of bowl games, and it looks like Bama will start 2000 the way it should - DOMINATING. Florida obviously got the Y2K bug early. They had no solution on how to stop the offensive and defensive attack of the Alabama Crimson Tide. I was able to fly down to the game from business in Rhode Island, and got tickets in the Florida section. Needless to say, I moved to the Tide's side of the field in the end zone (where Plug kicked his first FG wide left). And yes, I heard AFTER the game that I really was on TV. Yep, that was me there in the first quarter with that Bama hardhat. Cameraman Joe was right in my face, but I had idea that it was "live". But anyway, what a game! The only 2 things Bama didn't do well on was Special Teams and penalty yards. Other than that, it was about the most dominating performance by a Bama team ON A HIGHLY RANKED OPPONENT that I've seen in many, many years. The last time might have been in '89 when we gave an onslaught to Tennessee - 45 to 30 or something like that. We've beaten teams worse than that sense then, but they were cupcake teams (remember 62-0 thrashing of Temple in the early 90's?). Florida was not only a top 5 team, but we beat them twice in one season - a feat that no other team has done to Florida in the Spurrier years...

OFFENSE Florida scores on it's first drive - 55 yards for the TD. Bama goes 3 plays and out. At that point, Florida would not score again, and Bama wouldn't have anymore 3 plays and out. You couldn't have asked for a much better performance by the offense. We basically said - "What did we do that helped us win the first game?" Easy, just don't let Florida's offense have the ball. Cool. Let's do it then. Well, we did - 40:11 worth of clock was eaten up by the Bama offense. That was just the best defense we had all night because it kept Florida's tired and bewildered defense on the field all night long. This performance by the Crimson Tide actually split up the Florida team right down the middle - defense saying the offense needs to give the defense a break. True, but you don't just say that to the press my friend. It's obvious. In any case, the torch has practically been passed on from Alexander to Freddie Milons, and rightfully so. Freddie has become the all-around threat to score on any given play - the term used for Alexander through most of his career at Bama when he touches the ball. Milons has proven that he is a team guy and whatever the team needs, he does to help. I mean, everybody saw the 77 yd scamper for a TD... he just pretty much left everybody in the dust. Those quick little legs and Deuce-like moves (heck, he's better than Deuce even) have put him on the map for good. Don't be surprised if you see him getting a couple of awards next year (SEC player of the *blank*, offensive player of the *blank*, Heisman consideration... just fill in the blanks with week or year). He is truly a great athlete. And to think he was almost headed to Florida. Whew on that one, man! As if Florida doesn't have enough weapons. As for the QB play, it was a good scheme that DuBose and the staff put together. Neither QB showed they were "the man"... instead, they showed that they were "the MEN" (they worked well together)... and that Freddie is even MORE the man. heh, heh... DuBose was right - maybe Freddie should start at QB. But anyway, the QB's did a great job. Freddie did drop a couple of easy passes - one was tipped off Freddie for Watt's only interception. But both QB's did look good and it should only get better in the future. It's good to have 2 QB's with such great talent, even though I still truly believe that Watts is still Bama's future behind center. I know he's only a freshman, but he wasn't one of THE highest rated QB's to come out of high school for nothing. He'll still get much better... so Zow better watch out. Tyler knows he can get it - it's just a matter of time. But for the game, the rotation wasn't a bad idea. Both QB's did well in the game, and both helped each other out when they swapped out. Looked like a pretty good system we had. We have just got to do a better job at getting the dadgum plays into the huddle. Too many times we wait till 10 seconds left on the clock to get the play in. That's the coaches' fault though. And let's see... what else? Oh, and you can't forget the GREAT, yes, GREAT offensive line that Bama has had all year long. Saturday night was no different. They just totally neutralized Florida's defense all night. Alex Brown, Florida's supposedly "great" pass rusher, was held to yet another sackless night against the Tide. I guess when you play a good offensive line, you're not gonna get many pressures huh? At least that should let him know what he might face one day in the NFL. If he can't get by future rookie NFLer Samuels, then how do you think he'll do against even better linemen? Pulease, man. Kenny King is a better DL than Brown, and he's straight outta high school. But back to the offense... the OL played just an outstanding game. They started where they left off against Auburn. They created big holes for a total of 300 yards of rushing offense and gave time for Zow and Watts to get another 182 yards thru the air. Just a complete game overall by the offense. 3rd down after 3rd down - just watching Spurrier get all pissed off was priceless. They just couldn't stop us. I could really get used to this. And then the awesome play of Deuce II, Antonio Carter (A.C.). He had another breakout game. His previous great game - yep, you guessed it - in the Swamp earlier this year. It's like, let's play Florida so A.C. can get a bunch of yards. Great job guys. And last, but surely not least, the play of the man about to leave - Shaun Alexander. What a great year. He's almost broken every Bama record in sight and he'll still got one more game to go to finalize his career numbers at Bama. McClintock did a great job blocking for him, and heck, he almost scored up the middle. He'll be NFL bound eventually too. Well, I just can't say enough for this offense. I mean, you saw the game, so you know words can't even describe how we all feel about this great game Bama played... and getting Bama back where it used to be - Back on top. ROLL TIDE

DEFENSE Can you spell dominate? D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E. Good. That's what the defense did to Florida for 58 minutes and 30 seconds in the '99 SEC Championship game. Florida would score one time and that was all. They didn't really threaten at all the rest of the night. Instead, Bama took control and DIDN'T ALLOW EVEN ONE 3RD DOWN CONVERSION ON THE NIGHT. Has that EVER happened to a Steve Spurrier team before? Don't think so. Bama just whipped Florida in every aspect of the game, but on defense, we just shut them down completely. 3 and out, 3 and out, 3 and out... The Bama 'D' stayed fresh (due to the offense being effective) and it showed. We didn't get to the QB except for one time I believe, but the play of the DL and LB's kept the QB's throwing early and often. The running game didn't materialize into anything as Bama tackled left and tackled right. We finally learned how to tackle over the last couple of weeks. Only 31 yards given up on the ground to Florida. Now, try to fathom this - 31 yards rushing defense, and we gave up 55 yards in the first 1.5 minutes of the game. After that, Florida got ONLY 28 measly yards in 58.5 minutes of play thru the air!! The play of the defense in the SECC Game was even better than the play of the '92 Bama defense - the defense that all Bama D's are judge by nowadays. Granted, the athletes on UF's team aren't as good as they have been in the past, but it was still a major onslaught. It's not just a win against Florida, but against a Steve Spurrier coached game IN A REMATCH. I think the whole world is still in shock. :) It wasn't just a beating... but a BEATING. And because the DL and LB's were playing so well up front, the 2ndary had it's best game of the year as well. They came up with 3 interceptions and didn't allow any really big plays. Reggie Grimes got the other interception to give the Tide 4 total on the night. Speaking of Reggie Grimes - HOW ABOUT THAT LAMBOUGH LEAP!!!! Didn't quite make it there, big guy. Reggie's a senior and at that point, the stake was already in the heart of the gators. Excessive celebration penalty - I can handle that at that point. Bama deserved it, and that was so classic to see a DL celebrate with the fans after definitely putting the game away. Heck, the grab Reggie made on the ball was awesome - a one hander and just haul it in, and run like a fullback into the end zone. I didn't know the "mammal", as ESPN called him, could run so fast. It was a present Reggie was due for since he got bumped out of the starting lineup earlier in the year. Heck, he even made ESPN's Plays of the Week Sunday night on Sportscenter. Great job, man. You deserved it. And as for the rest of the guys, Saleem, Milo, King, Griffin, Moorehead... I mean, really - one of the best defensive performances by a Bama defense in a long, long time. Again, can you spell dominate? D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E. GOOD JOB!

SPECIAL TEAMS If there's one weak link in this team, it's special teams. (What's new here?) :) It's just amazing to me how the Pflug-meister can kick a 49-yard FG to set an SECC Game record and then miss two others and a PAT. Granted, the PAT was a long one. Pflug will be gone after this year, and Redshirt-Freshman-to-be Danny Haynes will probably be the kicker next year. The beating should have been worse if we hit those extra kicks. It would be 41-7 or something. We also didn't make a couple of 2-pt conversions.... 34-7 doesn't even show how bad it could have been. But back to special teams - the punter, Morgan, only had to punt 3 times in the game. Another result in Bama domination. He punted well... extremely well on one that went out at the 2 yard line. And then we made the adjustments at halftime to do pooch-kicks on the kickoffs so Bo Carroll and company wouldn't return one on us for a TD. Heck, I think a couple of times, we pooched it at the 34 yard line and that's where they started. Why not just kick it out of bounds! ha ha Because of what Carroll did one time - he almost made a costly mistake letting the kickoff bounce on the turf. He was lucky to recover the kick cuz Bama was right there. Good adjustment at halftime though on that part. We couldn't seem to tackle well on special teams with the deep kick. Carroll was just too fast for us... and our arms didn't seem to work. Wasn't much to return on punts and kickoffs. A few fair catches and a couple of short returns. Nothing to write home about, but more than anything, we didn't turn the ball over on special teams. Good job guys - now we just have to figure out a way to get the ball thru the uprights come Orange Bowl time. How about it Pflug?

COACHING Hey I know - let's spell dominate again - D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E. This is fun. Yes, Bama coaching even dominated Florida's coaching. Of course, there wasn't really too much Spurrier could do. He only had the ball less than 20 minutes the whole game. Only this time, he couldn't score 39 points. Too much Bama D and not enough Palmer to WR's completions. Graham didn't have anything on the ground either. Spurrier just didn't know what to do. He couldn't get anything going after that first drive. I mean, when was the last time Spurrier's team ONLY completed 8 passes in a game? Answer: NEVER. And like I said before, he only mustered up 28 yards after that first drive thru the air. John Hoke's defense (Florida's Defensive Coordinator) was tired and just could not stop the Bama offense from driving up and down the field. They had no solution. They even brought more people in for the blitz this time, but we hung tough and gave them nothing. This has got to be the best offensive line in America, seriously. I don't know of too many teams who have the option of smoking a cigar for 5 minutes before they decide to throw the ball downfield. It's just incredible to watch the OL block. One major thing cropped up that we haven't seen in a while - PENALTIES. We just had too many this time. We've actually been ok the last few games, but 12 for 99 yards is unacceptable. Excessive celebration on Reggie Grimes' part is ok... we had the game won at that point for sure. We still need to be a little more discipline in the other areas. But anyway, Stubbs was again the man of the hour on the Bama coaching staff. And because of this tremendous high the Tide has reached, look for every single coach to be back next year. If they aren't, then something is terribly wrong with this picture. The coaches (and players) have all had a great attitude and has overcome so much this year and have truly put together one of the best seasons in memory, despite playing the most difficult schedule in the land. This season just might land us another Top 5 recruiting class this spring. If it does, look for Bama to starting getting more national championships starting next year. We haven't had a coaching staff this unified since the Bear days. Everybody's on the same page and we finally have the athletes to get the job done. Ain't it great to have all our scholarships back? ROLL TIDE

FINAL THOUGHT (no, I'm not Jerry Springer) One last time - D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E. Don't get to spell it out very much when you play Florida. No one except for Nebraska has been able to say it in the 90's. Even FSU barely escapes the clinching jaws of the gators most of the time. But really, what can you say about this season. Bama has pulled off the unthinkable. It all started after the La Tech game. Honestly, if we had beaten La Tech, I don't think the team would be were we are today. I think that game was a major kick in the butt that said, get in gear or else (not just to the players, but the coaches). Everyone knows it. Bockwrath got the ax after that game, and DuBose might have been right behind him if he hadn't beaten Arkansas. It's hard to say what exactly would have happened because only people in the athletic department know. Rumors about DuBose being fired if he had lost were just that - rumors. But he and the team DID overcome the bad times... and rebounded like a madman. We did lose to UT, due to Zow getting injured. If we keep a healthy Zow for the whole UT game, we might pull it out because it was closer than 21-7 most of the way. Don't worry Bamafans, we get UT in Knoxville next year and we'll embarrass them at home next time. We should be even stronger next year - so if you think this year is good... wait till next year. We only have 10 scholarship seniors on the team this year and only a handful of them start. Major players we lose are Alexander, Samuels and Buchanon on offense. We lose Grimes, Merritt, and Griffin on the line. We lose Plugner on FG duty (but have a qualified kicker in Haynes in the shadows). This team will be back stronger than ever next year, Bamafans. Do y'all realize how stocked up we are in recruiting?? We probably have some of the best athletes in the country just waiting to play - and some already are. Like Shaun Alexander said, Bama is done rebuilding - we're just in "reload mode" now. We now have more talent than any other team in the SEC. Heck, we might even have more talent than FSU these days. Our team has now become THE team to beat in the SEC. One last thing to Alexander and Samuels - Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming back and doing what you said you had to do - PUTTING BAMA BACK ON THE MAP. You have done that, and all us Bamafans can't express our thanks enough. Thanks guys for giving us one of the most memoriable seasons ever. From a time when we really though Bama football was over (post La Tech TD), we have really turned it around and now, yes, it's 100% fact - BAMA IS BACK! And there's not a team in this country that wants to play Bama right now - a sign of good things to come, especially R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

ORANGE BOWL PREVIEW - #4 BAMA vs #8 Michigan: This game should (as in '96) prove to be the best bowl game on TV on New Year's Day. It will surely have the best talent on the field of anywhere else in the country... yes even UT/Neb. Last time we squared off with Michigan, was Gene Stallings' last game. Shaun Alexander was a Freshman then and came in the game to break it wide open to give Bama the win late in the game. Now, 3 years later, he gets to play against the team he already beat his freshman year, and the team he almost decided to go to when he came out of high school in Florence, KY. Thank goodness he saw the light, knowutimean? Kinda ironic, huh? Don't think that Alexander and the team are going to take this game lightly and just sluff it off. They remember what happened last year against Va Tech and I don't think they will let it happen again. Remember Gene Stalings first bowl game - a shallacking 35-7 by Louisville. Well, DuBose has had his shallacking in last year's bowl game, and now the team is more focused and more together, and the coaches have better players... You name it - last year's team was in NO comparison to this year's team. The biggest reason for that have been the play of Alexander, Zow, Watts, Milons, and even more, by the TRUE FRESHMEN. We have guys who were playing high school ball last year and now have become real forces to deal with, especially the likes of Saleem Rasheed. Heck, he might only be here 1-2 more years if he keeps up what he's doing now. He'll be up for the Butkus award for sure. But anyway, this game will be just another measuring stick on this year's team. We've accomplished everything we wanted except for the UT game loss. We won the SEC, now we want to finish it out with a major bowl win and a final 11-2 record and a top 5 finish. What a way to end a season after being beat by La Tech and even falling out of the Top 25 four weeks into the season. And La Tech, as it turned out didn't turn out to be so shabby as people thought. They happen to be a ranked team now. Doesn't make us look so bad now, does it? But as for Michigan, they have lost 2 games and have won 9. They have done something right... BUT one thing remains - they haven't played an SEC team this year. This should be another loss for the Wolverines ("should" being the key word) on paper. Bama has enough talent and maturity to win the game. They have played the nation's toughest schedule and won 10 games. BUT what people might not realize is that Michigan has played the #2 schedule in the country and won 9 of 11. So now it doesn't look so easy. They will gear up and send the A-Train, Anthony Thomas, down the gut against Bama's rushing Defense. Plus, Michigan has one of the best QB's we'll have faced all year - similar to Tim Rattay (I'll try to refrain from saying his name again). He's got a good arm and can distribute the ball around to many a good WR on their team. If we can just put together the EXACT same gameplan against Michigan that we put on Florida, we should come out a winner. The offense has just got to control the ball and not give Michigan a chance to put it in the end zone. We've also got to be solid on special teams this go-around. Pflug has GOT to be on. If there's a game when we really need him (besides the LSU game), it's this one. No more missed chip-shots. It's time to be a senior and be a leader. It's time to do the only thing you are asked to do as a kicker - make a few FG's and PAT's. The defense should be ok. We are #2 in the nation at stopping the run and we'll need it against Michigan. Michigan's defense is also one of the nation's best. But more than anything, Bama has got to run the ball successfully. Look for Milons to get a few snaps at QB too. And if things go like they did the week of the SECC Game, the QB's might swap out every series again. Unless someone starts slacking up, look for the same rotation in the bowl game. And on the defense, the D has finally arrived at Bama this year. It came late, but now have 14 interceptions in the last 6 games. Don't know where we were at the beginning of the season with those 2 lone int's. But now we've come around and our defense will be ready. Rasheed will be ready to pound the A-train into the turf. The DL will get after the QB, and our OL will do what they've been doing all year - making holes in the D for Shaun, and giving enough time for our QB to throw the ball at will. Everything plays in Bama's favor... and the game's in the South, so Bama should pack the house full of crimson and white. The month layoff is the same for both teams, so there's no advantage/disadvantage there. Both teams should start out a little rusty, but then Bama eats the clock and pounds it down the field, keeping the Michigan O off the field and tiring down the defense. Should be closer than BAMA/UF II since Michigan is really a better football team. Look for a close one, but Bama holds off Michigan late in the game: (Line: Bama by 2) BAMA 38 Michigan 24

BAMA Bites the Tigers - SEC West Champions, 28-17 (9-2), (7-1)

THE COUNTDOWN - SHAUN BEATS THE RECORD!! #1 RUSHER IN BAMA HISTORY PASSES BOBBY HUMPHREY WITH 3468 YARDS IN HIS CAREER (AND COUNTING...). HE ALSO BROKE THE SEC SINGLE SEASON TD RECORD SET BY UGA'S HEARST - ALEXANDER HAS SCORED 23 TD'S THIS YEAR. ROLL TIDE!!

Finally! The last Iron Bowl before Y2K has finally come to an end and Bama put an end to a 4 time jinx at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It had to be a jinx since we really won one of those (yes AU fans - Curtis Brown WAS in the end zone when he caught that pass - duh!). Anyway, the game is over and whoda thunk that after La Tech, Bama would end up 9-2 and undefeated in division play. The mere loss came at the hands of UT, so now Bama is Atlanta-bound to play the SEC East Champion - the Florida Gators. It should prove to be an excellent rematch, one that Bama probably doesn't mind playing since Florida has been struggling as of late, plus it could be the only way to catapult up in the BCS rankings. Bama somehow fell to #9 in the ESPN Poll which caused us to drop .5 points in the BCS - thus making us #8 in the BCS below Kansas State and Wisconsin. A victory over Florida "should" pull us back above those 2 teams in the ESPN poll - the BCS should take care of itself. Now on to this very exciting Iron Bowl Take on the Game...

OFFENSE: What a difference a half makes, huh? 1st half - NOTHING. 2nd half - EVERYTHING. Zow started where he left off at the Miss St game and the defense couldn't find a way to stop Ben Leard (QB) or Heath Evans (RB). Then 1/2time hit and Big Sam and Alexander gave the team a dose of "openin' a can of whoop-ass". Cuz the 2nd half, Bama couldn't be stopped... well, except for 4 straight tries at the goal line... man, how embarrassing. But we got them back on the very next play. Anyway, the offense played so sporatically in the first half. Zow couldn't hardly hit the big side of a barn overthrowing player after player or throwing behind them or in front of them. You name it - it wasn't there. Alexander couldn't muster up anything cuz the passing game wasn't there. Something had to give, but it didn't. The coaches stuck with Zow till the interception. I just couldn't believe we just came away with a couple of FG's the first half when AU basically tried to give us the game on a silver platter. Anyway, nothing much happened the 1st half, so let's move on to the 2nd half. In come Tyler Watts. His big break. Big time game with big time implications. This is the Iron Bowl and the coaches made it known at halftime that he would be starting the 2nd half. He said there was excitement and fear all in the same moment. But you never could have been able to tell at the game. He threw for a cool 5 of 6 completions for 57 yards. It wasn't much, but he got the job done. His only incomplete pass was a throw-away, which was a great play. He was able to convert on the 3rd down the next play. Zow had a lame 12 for 20 and 67 yards in the 1st half with an interception that was throw into yet another double coverage area and was also a high throw. Back to Watts... the other pass play was covered, so he ran for it and got out of the pocket to avoid the sack - he picked up 5 yards or so. But the man of the hour definitely was Shaun Alexander, who showed that regardless of his injury and his dropoff in the Heisman polls, he is still the best running back in all of college football this year. He definitely showed that he is the best running back in Alabama football history, and possibly SEC history. He's breaking records all over the place - yards, TD's, carries, you name it. And Freddie Milons. Man, this guy is THE man. He's so poised at WR... and now at QB, and then on the sidelines when ESPN had the closeup of him. He just seems like a humble kid who really knows what he's doing out there. Milons will be the reason that Bama comes very close if not winning another national championship in the next couple of years. He is just unbelieveable. Punt returns, kickoff returns, WR, QB (and don't forget he's already thrown a TD pass to McAddley earlier this year at the Arkansas game) and who knows what else he might do... maybe DB?? He only caught 54 yards worth, but tallied over 100 yards in all-purpose yardage on the day. What a trio to have. Too bad we can't have Shaun just one more year. :) Yeah, I'm greedy, huh? And lastly, the Offensive Line. They have done an outstanding job all year long, but especially starting with the Arkansas game, then Florida. They have stepped it up all year and given Zow and Alexander the blocking they need to be successful. Big Sam is the man and he'll be an easy #1 draft pick for some lucky NFL team. Shaun should also come out in the 1st round. Good to have these guys around this year instead of leaving early. Also, the other guys up front on the OL have done a great job and all will be returning next season. 3 will be seniors. And at TE, Terry Jones Jr coming off the injury makes an AWESOME grab from Zow, then drops a simple one... though it was hard to tell on TV whether or not the pass was good or not. Looked a little low from Zow - another reason why Watts needed to be in the game. Zow was just "very off". That's pretty much it. Once Watts came in the game everything worked like a charm. It wasn't all Watts - mostly Alexander, but it made a difference as he completed three 3rd down passes in his first drive. He's showing why he should be the starter and why we recruited him a couple of years ago. He wants to play and he hasn't shown why he shouldn't yet. He didn't come to Bama to stay behind Zow for 3 years, only to play his senior season. He's making his statement these days on the playing field... I say give him the nod. More on that later... Now on to the Big D.

DEFENSE: The D played about like the offense Saturday. Bad 1st half and great 2nd half. The Tide improved to 10 interceptions in the last 4 games and now 12 on the year. They also got a fumble recovery by dumbo AU WR who didn't know that backward lateral passes dropped are called FUMBLES. duh. Anyway, they did pretty well, but again, it was mostly which half you were talking about. In the 1st half, we couldn't defend the pass to save our lives, but we did keep Daniels to only 78 yards on the day and no TD's. We still got sliced and diced for 226 yards, nothing to be too proud about since Florida is right on the horizon. But overall, not a terrible day. We only allowed 17 points, which is under our season average of 20 or so. The DB's still have got to play better. They played decent, but too many times teams get the big play because of busted coverage. We have got to stop doing that. We also need to tackle better as a whole defense. The whole defense didn't tackle well at all for the most part (until late in the 2nd half). We allowed Evans to just bowl all over us in the 1st half getting 5 or 6 yards everytime he touched the ball. And if I've said it once, I've said it a million times - when are we going to start defending the running back coming out of the backfield to catch those lame 'ol flare-out passes that gain 10+ yards every time. A LB has got to step it up and guard these guys because they are killing us. Everytime it's 3rd and long, they get a swing pass out to the RB in the flats and he picks up mega-yardage. We've got to defend this better. And like I said tackling needs to improve. Other than that, things look ok... well, and the big pass plays of course. The DL proved to be HUGE on Saturday. Kendal Moorehead got the play of the day that started it all... the safety on Ben Leard. Bama had just been stopped at the goal line and missed getting 7 points. Then the D came up to force AU's defense on the field again. Bama would score in it's next 3 possessions. Great, ain't it? Score was 14-8 at that point and even though we were still losing, we didn't look back. We knew we could win - it was just a matter of executing the offense. And that's what happened not only on O, but D. The D shut down AU's offense just like that. They just weren't there at all. Our offense got back the time of possession stat and did to AU what we did to Florida - we played defense by keeping our offense on the field for most of the 2nd half. We still need to get to the QB more - we only got 2 sacks on the day, but both were huge. One by Moorehead and the other by a safety blitz (Reggie Myles) which was a hit and a half. Oh, and did anyone else see Marcus Spencer throw the boy to the ground on the little out pass? Whoooooaaaa-Nellieeeeee!!!! WWF on the football field. What a play! Well, I guess I've talked enough about the D. Great game in the 2nd half, but we're gonna need a heckuva lot more than even that come SEC Championship time.

SPECIAL TEAMS: What? Special teams didn't kill us this time. whoooooeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy!!!! Great. Pflug was on, punting was on, returns were on, and... oh yeah. We DID miss that LOOOOOONG extra point attempt. Well, thanks to excessive celebration, we had to back it up a bit. Let's not do that in the SEC Championship game, ok, people? You see how much one point can make a difference in the last Bama/UF matchup, huh? But anyway, they played a decent game overall. I'm just glad our coaches didn't make a lame-duck call by calling a fake punt on our own side of the field. Tubberville is a freakin' retard - even AU fans are saying that. It's too early for calling fakes and especially in the Iron Bowl. Anyway, that was their problem. But we should still be ready to defend the fake in future games. I don't know how many times we've gotten burned at times. We really got lucky that time cuz that guy was wide open. Remember Ole Miss this year and the on-sides kick? Vandy from a few years ago with the run up the middle for a TD? We need to be ready for Florida's special teams - though their coach is a bit smarter than Tubby-boy.

COACHING: The coaching staff had the team ready once again, but didn't really look like they knew what they were doing in the 1st half. We couldn't get anything going. Then adjustments came and well, don't really think it was the coaches as much as it was Samuels and Alexander, but we started moving the ball in the 2nd half. We didn't do anything stupid and put the game in Alexander's hands. My main problem with the play calling was the 4 Alexander running plays on the goal line. Sure a lot of times Alexander gets in the end zone, but why in the crap can you not fake the run up the middle to Shaun (since the D is obviously focusing on Shaun), and rollout Watts in a bootleg to score on the other side. I don't know how many times Tee Martin and Peyton Manning have done that to us. We focus in on the RB and before you know it, you look the other way and the QB is standing in the end zone with a smirk on his face. Deception can prove to be priceless - remember the Buchanon catch in the Miss St game? Well, let's get a little more of this in our play-calling. Watts is capable of making plays. Let's use them. But lastly, I have to give the coaching staff credit for a great season. They really turned it up after the La Tech game and only lost 1 game since then - UT. Revenge will be ours next year in that one. But really, everything this team and coaching staff has been thru - here's 3 thumbs up. Wonderful job with this young team. But now we have 2 more games in which they can look even better. Imagine being 2-1 at one point losing to La Tech and finishing the season at 11-2. That would be cool... and it can happen. Just take care of business and Bama will be back where we used to be. Should be an interesting finish...especially with Mal Moore now becoming AD of Bama athletics. DuBose and the coaching staff should be told something at least by the end of the SEC Championship game. They deserve at least that. Anyway, let's put together another great game plan for UF... it's gonna be another nail-biter I'm sure...

BAMA/GATOR II PREVIEW: Hmmmm... I wonder how in the world Bama/UF II could be better than Bama/UF I? I mean, beating UF in the swamp is one of the biggest accomplishments in college football this year by any team. I think the only way it could be better is if we, well, just win again - cuz this time, it's for the SEC championship and a BCS Bowl berth. And it would establish Bama as THE SEC power once again - dethroning Florida twice in one season and having a ton of recruits ready to keep it going in the next few years. Beating them by double digits would really be cool, but not even FSU could do that - so I'll just take a win. Just for a note, if we DO beat UF by double digits, look for a big jump in the polls by Bama. We need a HUGE win if we expect to jump to #2 (and Va Tech/Neb lose a game) in the BCS. With a huge win, we'll easily jump past KSU, Wisconsin, Va Tech and even UT. At least that's my viewpoint. As for the Bama/UF matchup, it shouldn't be much different than the last Bama/UF game, only this time, Florida is coming off a loss instead of coming off their most complete game of the season - and they also don't look as good in general as they were at the beginning of the season. It should be another game in which Bama tries to play it's best D by keeping UF's offense off the field. UF's offense wasn't on the field that much the last time, and they still scored 39 points. If they get more time, we could be in trouble, especially if our DB's play like they did against Auburn. But it really comes down to the DL on defense. If the DL is playing well and getting to the QB, the play from the 2ndary should get better as well. Probably the biggest question at this point is the QB situation. And that is something that DuBose has said he wouldn't clear up until before gametime (on who the starter is). Right now, Zow still looks to be hurt from his ankle injury. He can't plant his back foot very well and also his throws have been way off for the most part. He's not hitting WR's in stride and frankly, just looks out of sync. Watts on the other hand, looks poised in the pocket and won't hesitate to run the ball if the pocket closes on him. He is also making good decisions and passes and seems to be the guy with the hot hand. And really people, this guy IS Bama's future. It's at this point where Watts is finally going to pass Zow in the QB spot. He'll prove himself next week at practice and hopefully will start. Zow has a win against Florida, but this ain't the old Zow. This Zow is WAY off and seems to be totally out of rythym for some reason. And he throws with his forearm. That could be why a lot of his throws are uncontrollable. The WR's should be ok and so should Shaun Alexander. The OL and the running game should play another big toll on the UF defense if we can maintain good ball control. That will be the gameplan once again. It should be a fight to the finish with a couple of big plays being the difference in the game. At this point, it's too close to call. I'd call another tie if I could, but it doesn't pan out that way anymore. We're not in Kansas, er, the Swamp anymore either Toto... so Bama, still with more talent, and on a roll, and playing a bit more consistently, should win by more than one point this time. Spurrier gave it all he had against FSU, so we know he wasn't holding anything back (like those rumors were true about him not showing all his offense in the previous 2 games - yeah right). He'll put together maybe a slightly better gameplan to stop the Tide, but I think Bama is back - Back in the national spotlight. Bama should prove it once again in a nail-biter. Again, it's never a blowout, now is it? (Line: Florida by 7) Let's revisit 1992 shall we... BAMA 28 GATORS 21

Bama D Pounds Miss St, 19-7 (8-2), (6-1)

THE COUNTDOWN - 134 yards till Alexander breaks Humphrey's rushing record

First of all, I'd like to say ROLL TIDE ROLL!! Second, I'd like to thank all you happy people for being patient with some of these "takes on the game". Again, I was in California for most of this week and was unable to get this thing written, but here it is finally... again. I was able to attend this game in person. It was the 4th game I've been to this year. I tell ya, this one was the sweetest home game I attended. The D played like they were possessed, and the Sr's came back out of the locker room for a curtain call after the game. Rammer Jammer was pumpin' and the fans were all into beatin' those Dawgs. That's all sweet and all, but still one more game remains to claim the SEC West Champsionship. Oh, I did go to the game, but I watched it on TV when I got back... man, Zow was worse than I thought... and the refs were TERRIBLE!!!!!! How do you miss so many calls? AC's 2-pt conversion was good, Ellis DID intercept that pass, there was no facemask penalty on our defense, and a few others. Aree the same refs that reffed the Bama/Hogs game 2 yeary ago??? Anyway, let's see how this one panned out...

OFFENSE: The offense was veryporatic to say the least. This was probably Zow's worst game of the year, yet there was still enough balance, that we kept the Bulldogs a little off-balance. MSU rrwas allowing only 197 yards per game in total defense and Bama piled up 315. Not too shabby. The bad thing is that we got those yards NOT in a row. We'd get 20 or 30 here or there, but couldn't string much together. Thank goodness for Stubbs and Swinney, who found a way to get a WR open for the "stake in the heart" score. Alexander had a mediocre day, mainly due to not only his injury, but the MSU rush defense. YES, I do believe their defense IS that good, but their offense is really what hurt them. Shaun was limited to just over 50 yards rushing... hopefully, he can more than double that effort which will catapult him past Bobby Humphery and the Bama Rushing title. The WR's played very well, but we've got to do a lot better job getting the WR's in the open field. We did a few times, but that 3-stacked line with the screen to Milons is getting old - granted, that was the play - the fake to Milons - that won us the game. Everyone practically knows that it's gonna be a screen or an Alexander run. For the first time this season, we actually did neither. We found Shamari on the sideline for the easy score. Great for Buchanon though - that was his first TD EVER as a Tide player. Funny how it would be the clinching TD in the last home game of his Sr season. Kinda cool. Of course this offense sputtered much of the day due to Terry Jones Jr getting a stinger on Friday (at least, that's when the coaches found out about it). It probably hurt the running game of Bama more than anything. We haven't really been throwing to him much lately. We need a TE set (and a 2 TE set) to effectively run our offense at times. That's when it's BAMA smash-mouth football. Because Jones was out, our WR's had to step it up, but moreso did Zow... only Zow didn't. Personally, I was getting very "pi-oed" with his play. I just knew that Watts was going to come off the sideline and hopefully give a spark to the offense. He's already proven that he can do it... it's like the coaches didn't have any confidence in him anymore... before Zow got hurt. I've said this before, but if Zow takes 4 quarters to finally get "hot", he doesn't need to be playing the first 3 (or at all). He's starting to overthrow many receivers, throw behind them, and just make TERRIBLE reads. I couldn't believe some of the throws he was making out there. Twice, he tried to thread a needle just to try to get Milons the football and it nearly backfired throwing into double/triple coverage when another man is WIDE FREAKIN' OPEN just 5 yards in front of Milons. For some reason, Zow isn't seeing the whole field and he doesn't want to run the ball if the pocket closes on him. I really think that Zow is that far from seeing his playing time dwindle little by little. Zow has won some big games for us (mainly UF this year), but if he doesn't continue to play like that, he needs to ride the pine. I think it just comes down to fundamentals... something Watts has much more of - now if he can only get more of the reps in practice, I think he'd be unstoppable. Think about this - if Spurrier had Watts, Watts would surely be a Heisman trophy candidate - that's how much I think of his potential. Forget arm strength - he's got it. And he can lead this Bama team. We'll just have to see what pans out...

DEFENSE: Man, what can you say about the D Saturday? It was MSU's defense that was supposed to shine, but the Bama D showed why we are on a roll to go to a great bowl game and a good finish this '99 season. Of course, MSU's offense is nothing to write home about, but they really did put together a good game plan, especially with 4 guys out and a few others hurt and banged up. The secondary is finally coming together as a unit for the first time in a long time. The true test comes again next week and the SECC game, assuming Bama beats AU. The DL is playing better than ever, getting past the OL and causing many hurried passes or getting sacks. The guy that probably had the best game on defense was Reggie Grimes. All year, he has been in the shadows of the starters and when he comes in, he always makes at least one good play. Well, against MSU, he was a reign of terror. He will be missed next year. And then Saleem. What more can you say. Ok, so he did miss a couple of tackles, but he WILL get better. He is just all over the place.. and also blocking punts. The sky isn't the limit here... make it the moon. This guy is that good, and could very well be the best linebacker to ever come out of the University of Alabama - yes even better than Bennett, Rudd, and Staten. Only time will tell that story. If he bulks up a bit more, look out for this bone-crusher. Overall, a great outing for this bunch. We gave up the usual big pass play, but no more. MSU didn't get past our 45 yard line except two times - their only scoring drive, and the turnover - in which we intercepted their next play in the end zone. Keep getting better, Defense. We're gonna need ya in the next few weeks!

SPECIAL TEAMS: Whew! Special teams didn't kill us this week. But Pflugner really knows how to make it come down to the last minute, missing another FG which could have put the Tide up by 9 points. He went 2 for 3 on the day. I kept thinking "This is how MSU has made a living the last few weeks and we're just letting them hang around to do it again". Well, thank goodness their offense wasn't clicking. If it had, Bama would have been lunchmeat. We actually got a punt block (and also got one of our punts blocked) by Rasheed which really turned the momentum instantly as Gilbert picked off the block. Too bad he couldn't run it back all the way, huh? Anyway, kickoff and punt return defense was good except for that one punt return that was called back. Thank goodness for no discipline on the MSU team who still leads the SEC in penalties. The one thing that mighta got us was the missed FG. He made 2 however, but man... 6 points. Ya just gotta get more than 1 score away from these teams. Bearden did a good job on kickoffs, but still needs to put more balls in the end zone. We hardly ever get a return by Milons cuz every team we play puts the ball deep in the end zone. We sure could use a weapon like that. And then our punter - Patrick Morgan. He finally had another good day. Man, can you believe that punt that rolled and rolled and rolled? And then that punt my MSU's kicker. No need to talk about that - everyone saw it launched to the moon. Decent game, guys. Still need improvement on the tackling of special teams though... and more FG success.

COACHING: They did their job this week. Heck, they've practically done their job all season. And due to the #6 BCS ranking and this Tide team playing better than ever (almost), this coaching staff SHOULD stay intact next season. Something needs to be said now. Recruiting is going to suffer if we don't. They have had to deal with so much, and also the injuries to 4-5 defensive guys, and Zow and Alexander. We keep on winning. Granted, this coaching staff and the team didn't really come together until after that crushing blow by La Tech. But they are getting it done. Bama is truly back in the list of elite teams in the SEC. A win on Saturday against Auburn would surely put an exclamation point on that statement. Then it would be time to play the Gators again. Gees - could you imagine winning against the Gators twice in one season?? Kinda gets ya goin' don't it? Anyway, they have stuck together and worked together to keep this team winning. DuBose has made it thru all of the criticizm (deserved to a point though), and seems to have turned things around. I look for him to be back next year along with this coaching staff. If they do, watch out for Bama and the national championship next year. It should be an interesting ride.

IRON BOWL PREVIEW: I tell you what - I just love what Auburn did to Georgia the other night. It was like a present on a silver platter. It really woke up this team to see that they will be no pushover. If it's a close one against UGA, Bama probably goes into the game with a slightly different mindset. Granted, this IS the IRON BOWL, but it still would have been different. From "we're gonna beat these losers" to "gee, we really better get our act together for this weekend or we could get beat". I'm glad AU won - I think it really opened the eyes of everyone on the team (and the fans). It will be a usual tough game. And Bama is till winless in Jordan-Hare stadium. Bama holds a 0-4 record in Auburn. If any year, Bama should break that streak, it's this year. But don't forget 1989 when Bama was #2 in the country and AU pulled out the upset... oh, but I forgot - that AU team was better than this year's team. Nevertheless, it will be WAR. Alexander and Zow should be up to full-speed hopefully, and if Zow faulters, Watts needs to be ready. The OL is in great shape (and is probably the most consistent group this year) and should provide enough blocking to allow Bama's offense to click. The WR's need to run good routes and don't give up tipped passes. AU's secondary is one of the best in the country. Before you know it, they've picked off a pass and have run it back for 6. We can't be lazy. It's time to get after 'em. Defense knows that AU will HAVE to pass the ball to win the game. AU ranks dead last in the NCAA in rushing offense - something like 87 yards per game or something like that. Maybe even less. But Ben Leard has stepped up to the mic and taken control of AU's offense. When he has started and finished games this year, AU is undefeated and winning pretty convincingly. If our DL can somehow get past the OL of Auburn, Bama's got a great chance to really score big on AU. If our secondary gets caught sleeping, it could very well be an AU upset of the #8 team in the country. Alexander needs to be well and Zow needs to be "on". If they are, then look out Tigers. Also, one VERY KEY ingredient in our offense is the TE position. Jones is still questionable and Draper is hurt a little too. We need those guys to be healthy bigtime. We just need our offense to score and score and score some more. I really think the D will step it up. AU might even end up with negative yards rushing on the day. Go D. Go O. Go BAMA!!! ROLL TIDE in Jordan-Hare!!!! Beat those Tiger-WarEagle-Plainsmen morons!!!! (Line: Bama by 3) Of course it'll be close - when is it not?? BAMA 31 Cow Patties 24

BAMA Squeaks By...Again, 23-17 (7-2), (5-1)

THE COUNTDOWN - 188 yards till Alexander breaks Humphrey's rushing record

This game was a game of highs a lows. A game in which we saw our defense double our interception total for the 2nd straight game. A game in which we showed we could still make a goal line stance. A game in which we showed we could sit on a lead once more. A game that knocked out 3 of our players for the rest of the year. A game in which made Tyler Watts 2-0 as a starter. A game that beat all odds against the Bama/LSU "home field disadvantage" hex. A game that made us one step closer to winning the SEC West title. Now for the details...

OFFENSE: The offense was the norm for Bama as of late. Do well, then do poorly. Do well, then do poorly. I don't really know what to think anymore. Our point total was down another week (UT was previous downer week for the offense). Tyler Watts got the start once more for the injured Zow and he seemed to have a good, well, a decent grasp of the offense. I tell ya, he was making some pretty good passes in the first half and then we revert back to the first couple of games of the season when we couldn't hang on to the ball. Even star WR Freddie Milons had forgotten to put on his super stick'em glue before the game. He missed a few himself. Carter had a decent game... first one since Florida, even though his yards weren't anything to write home about. Alexander said he was 100% until his ankle got rolled on by a defender on a tackle. Bohanon did decent work at backup, but definitely could tell he wasn't the Heisman caliber player Alexander is (when healthy). The offense started out the game great, especially making another loooooong drive that ate up about 10 minutes of time and then put it in for the score. We also converted on the defense's interceptions a couple of times. We built up the lead to 23-7... then we sat and watched the rest of the way. Why? I don't know. At that point, the coaches decided to put Zow in the game. To keep him warm I guess... whatever the reason, I didn't quite agree with the call. Watts was in a groove and everything seemed to be in "decent" sync. Then the int for TD. 23-14. It's a game again. Watts back in. At that point, Watts couldn't do anything either. The running game seemed to get stuffed too. But then LSU came back and our offense put together another drive to make a chip-shot FG to put the game away for the most part (a FG puts us up by 9 -- 2 scores). Only the FG was bad. Average (at best) day for the offense - but we did score enough to win, thank goodnesss. In comes the D...

DEFENSE: Yes, a big day for the defense, yet a costly one. As everyone probably already knows, 3 of our guys were knocked out of the rest of the season. And they are big losses - (1)Marvin Constant LB (2)Kenny Smith (3)Canary Knight. These are 3 guys that we could ill-afford to miss. So now it's time for other guys to step it up and make plays in their absence the rest of the way. We're gonna need it. The D is finally gelling a little better, even though the secondary is still quite vulnerable. The D picked of 4 Booty passes (the SEC's interception leader I might add) to set up the Tide offense. We previously had 4 int's on the season - so we doubled our int # to 8. Let's see - if we get 8 int's in the MSU game.... Anyway, they pretty much stuffed LSU all day on the run. They rushed for a measly 32 yards total. We were only fortunate enough to get one official sack, but there were numerous times when we tackled Mealey behind the line. Their only option was to air it out - and air it out they did. 176 yards worth. Not bad, but the most damage seemed to be done on their first scoring drive and the final drive of the day. But the D came up big and made the huge stop at the goal line and then watched the clock dwindle down to 00:00. Only most thought that there should have been :02 seconds left on the clock due to the injury to Constant. Well, I don't know what happened there, so I won't comment. LSU might have a valid arguement, but the final score is still 23-17. Since the clock starts as soon as the ref removes his foot from the football, who knows if there had been a final snap that LSU gets it off in time. ?????'s will also surround the last play of this game. I'm just glad Booty didn't score and Bama won the game. Kudos for a great hit by Myles and Griffin and Marvin Constant. Too bad for Constant though as he injured his knee on that last play. Hats off to the defense Saturday. On a day when we really needed them, they gave us just enough to keep us in contention for the SEC West Championship - that "enough" was about 2 feet. Hope the 2ndary still gets better and that someone picks up our LB and DL injuries. We're gonna need it next week.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Probably the worst day of the year for special teams. (1)Missed PAT (2)Missed chip-shot FG (3)No tackling skills on kickoff returns (4)and punting. Is there even anything else that they could have messed up? Plugner definitely had a terrible day. On a day when he could easily be the hero, he almost became minced meat. Lucky for him we won. I just have one question - since all the FG kicker does is KICK, then he should be good at that one thing. No way should he really ever miss a short FG that could put the game away. That missed PAT didn't help us either. If Booty get's that TD, Bama pretty much loses. That's 4 points that we could have DEARLY used. It might have also helped in keeping our guys from getting hurt in the last drive. The only reason they were there was because the game was on the line when it didn't have to be. It should have been out of reach. And LSU got tons of return yardage (per return). What was up with that? Usually my man Shantua Ray is there to make the sure tackle, but since he wasn't there, everyone else showed why he was the man on special teams - cuz no one else was. It was pitiful to say the least. And for the 2nd straight game or 3rd - who knows - Morgan had another less-than-average day punting the ball. Guys, special teams just about killed this victory. You're expected not to lose games. You did enough to lose the game. We just got lucky... lucky our defense had some sort of game to stop LSU eventually.

COACHING: Don't know what these guys are doing. For the coaches to call such great games against Florida and Ole Miss (1st half) and stuff just doesn't make sense now all of a sudden now. What happened to all that great play-calling? We had the great drive in the first half, then had the drive to put the game out of reach in the end, but missed with a FG wide. Everything else in between was just a blur. Of course, WR's dropping the ball didn't help... and neither did Watts telegraphing his passes. These things have got to get worked out in practice this week or MSU is gonna eat us up. One main question that everyone is asking me is why Zow came into the game when everything seemed to be going pretty good. I think I might have to agree. I didn't see Watts come in the game when Zow was on a roll at Ole Miss or some of the other games. That gave up 7 points (Zow's int/return for TD). No reason for that to happen. Watts should have just played the whole game - forget Zow playing that one drive. He's got enough experience that he doesn't need one drive to keep him warm or anything. We also might want to consider getting Gallaway the ball some more. From what I've seen (though I'm no coach at practice), he's got good speed and a little better quickness on his feet than Bo. I don't know - but that's just me. As for the defense, keep those guys from going off-sides you morons!! This is getting ridiculous. Teach these guys that you can't rush the passer until the BALL IS SNAPPED!! Ok, now that I have that off my chest... Last thing, get this offense and defense ready for MSU. They're all banged up, but I know we can do it... speaking of MSU, here's the preview...

BAMA/Miss St PREVIEW: Well, it all comes down to ONE GAME pretty much. If Bama wins this game, we still have to beat Auburn in Auburn to claim the West championship. If MSU wins, then all they need is another MSU win or an Ole Miss loss. Bama would be out regardless if MSU wins this game, so THIS IS A MUST WIN. Bama finally gets MSU back in T-town for the last of a 4-game homestand. It will be big.... the biggest Bama/MSU game in quite some time. MSU is #8 in the country and Bama is #11. If Bama wins, we move back into the top 10 and keep our BCS bowl hopes alive. With all the injuries to the Tide, it's very hard to say who will win this one. It really all comes down to the status of Alexander and how well the backups play on defense. It doesn't matter who is at QB - but Watts seems to be the guy right now since he's gotten a decent grasp on the offense AND IS HEALTHY. That's probably the biggest thing. We don't need an injured Zow in the lineup. That will only hurt our chances of winning. We need A VERY HEALTHY Alexander back in the lineup to go against one of the nation's best defenses. Granted, MSU hasn't played a high caliber team until this coming weekend (they have not played any team in the top 30 this year), but their defense is still outstanding. Like the Bama team of '92, they have a point to prove... the point that they belong in the SEC Championship Game and then a possible shot at the national championship. They will play hard and they will get after us on special teams. Just ask the other teams they have played. If we can play consistent Bama football and have some long sustained drives and don't sit on a lead if we happen to get one, we will win. If we hang around like every other team MSU has played, they will bite back - and it won't just be a flesh wound in the end... it could be a big "L" for Bama, which would keep us from going to the SEC Championship. Prediction - I'm not really sure. Too many things to factor in - MSU's QB injury situation, Alexander's injury, Zow's injury, backup players on Bama's defense, our secondary possibly minus Tony Dixon... all these things could change come gametime. As of Tuesday, here's my guess if we played tomorrow. We've just got too many injuries right now... But here's to hoping I'm wrong once again and to a healthy Crimson Tide by Saturday... ROLL TIDE. (Line: No line at 11/09) - BAMA 20 MSU 27

BAMA PUTS A WHOOPIN' ON S. MISS, 35-14 (6-2), (4-1)

THE COUNTDOWN - Alexander did not play against S. Miss due to injury... Still has 206 yards till he breaks Bama's all-time rushing record by Bobby Humphrey

For probably the first time all season, the Crimson Tide played just about as complete game as possible. The defense was stifling (1st string), the offense clicked, special teams produced a TD, and the defense produced a TD - all with starters Andrew Zow, Shaun Alexander, and Kecalf Bailey sidelined with injuries. It made for a great homecoming for all of the alumni of course... and keeps Bama alive in the Top 25. So out of 5 ranked opponents in-a-row, Bama wins 4 with 2 of the wins coming on the road, most notably the Bama/UF game in the swamp where Bama ended the Gators 30-game home winning streak. Now comes LSU to T-town where the home team seems to lose more than the visitors... but before that, let's talk about the great game that Bama played this past weekend....

OFFENSE: The offense was led Saturday by Redshirt Freshman Tyler Watts and RB Shaun BOHANON. Yes, another Shaun got in the mix this past weekend. Zow and Alexander had bad ankles this week due to the UT game, so 2nd-teamers got a chance to show their stuff. In my opinion, they didn't do too badly. It was probably the most convincing win of the season to be quite honest. All week, Watts got most of the snaps and looked very good in practice... and that good practice evidently carried over to Saturday with the dismantling of the #20 Golden Eagles (5-3). Shauhn Bohanon basically did what Jamal Lewis did to us last week - making many a 4-6 yard runs here and there and keeping the chains moving. Of course, having the big lead in the 2nd half, we mainly just wanted to run the ball and keep the clock moving. We didn't play it conservatively the whole half though. Watts hit Buchanon with a perfect strike, but he couldn't hang on to the ball (which seems to be a common happening by Shamari). We also went for it on 4th and 2, but came up short with an incomplete pass to Dustin McClintock. I don't know if it's just me, but on 4th down, I don't think you pass the ball to a guy that's TIGHTLY covered BEHIND THE LINE of scrimmage. The QB needs to run the ball at that point. But it's ok - he's still a young QB. Milons had a decent game, but he wasn't really needed too much - just as the other receivers. We ran the ball, made good plays on defense... didn't really need too much of a passing game Saturday. It was good for Watts to be in the position he was in - in a position where HE didn't have to win the game. Good start/finish by Watts who now has a (1-0) record as a starter. Oh, and what about that run he made!? It was 3rd and long on the 15 and no one was open, so he made a run for it... low and behold, he ran it to the 1 foot line where Bama went for it on 4th and got the TD. Let's see - what else?... Terry Jones Jr. Man, how many times is he gonna drop those easy passes and catch the hard ones??? ha ha Man, catch those easy passes, bud! You're too good to drop the gimmies. And lastly, the offensive line. Do I REALLY need to say anything about our OL? As Tyler put it... "they opened up the red sea" for Bohanon almost all day long. If our offense keeps on clicking for the last 3 games of the regular season, you'll see the rematch of Bama/UF in the SEC Championship game. Good thing about this game is that we kinda caught a glimpse of "post-Shaun Alexander" Bama football for next year (whether Zow is hurt or not). Our present backups could probably start anywhere in the country and we're lucky to have them all. Keep up the good work offense! We're gonna need ya again against LSU. The SEC West is still not decided and we've got to win 'em all to have a chance.

DEFENSE: The defense had it's best game of the year by far. They held S. Miss to -13 yards rushing for the game. Nix, their leading rusher only had 28 yards on 14 carries. Our run defense finally looked like the Bama of old. We still got burnt a few times by the long pass, but not nearly as much as in the past. It was a great overall defensive performance, especially by the defensive line. 8 sacks on the day. And because the DL was doing so good, it made the DB's look a little better this week (thus the 2 int's by Reggie Myles). And how about those 2 int's by Reggie? It's about time we had one. We've had a long drought. And I understand Myles saying he was gonna get a 15 yd penalty when he signed, but if Plug misses that PAT and we lose by one, don't expect Myles to play anymore this year. That could have proven VERY costly, but lucky for us, it didn't. The LB's also had a good game. Heck, who didn't? Anyway, great job getting to the ball and great tackling. I don't think I've seen our D get to the ball so quick this year as they did against S. Miss. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Special teams had an awesome day. Freddie Milons returned a punt for 65 yards for a TD after spinning 360's on a couple of guys, Plug hit both FG's and hit all PAT's, some kickoffs actually went into the end zone, and return yards were pretty good. Overall, a more than positive day for the Crimson Tide. Oh, and we also got the ball after a botched punt snap. We shoulda blocked another one, but didn't. Special teams actually played a part in winning for once - something we're not used to as of late. Usually we just play not to lose on special teams. Maybe we're coming around... we'll see. We still have 3 more quality opponents left to prove what we are made of.

COACHING: It was clear that the coaches had this team prepared again. Most notable were Watts and Bohanon. But even so, it's still players making plays. All the coaches can do is get them ready. Watts has matured nicely even as a freshman, and Bohanon has just sat in the shadows of Curtis Alexander, Dennis Riddle, and Shaun Alexander. He finally got his shot. The coaches simplified the offense for the 2 new guys and it reaped major benefits for the Tide. We scored on our first drive of the game and didn't really look back. Tyler looked pretty polished on his passes as well. Only thing he coulda done was avoid the sack on the 15 when we were at the 5 - but low and behold he makes a GREAT run to the 1 yd line and then we punch it in on 4th down for the TD. The coaches should be glad we have the talent that we have at the QB position. It was a treat for everyone to see Watts... now at least we know he can do it. It's just up to the coaches to see about getting Watts more playing time. Could be a real battle next Spring. Whatever the coaches did last week, they need to do it again this week. The team played great.... and get on Terry Jones Jr. He keeps on dropping the easy balls and catching the hard ones!! :)

BAMA/LSU PREVIEW: Bama/LSU has really favored the visiting team in the last couple of decades. I'm sure almost everyone knows that. That's why LSU has nothing to lose come 11/6 when they visit Bryant-Denny Stadium. Bama has everything to lose and it's up to the players, coaches, and fans to make sure Bama comes out with a win on Saturday. If Bama loses, MSU has a good chance to win the SEC West. If Bama wins, it comes down to Bama/MSU the next weekend to potentially determine who will win the SEC West. LSU is tough, even though their record does not indicate it. They have come up just short a few times, even to Georgia, so the tigers are for real. They would like nothing more than to spoil our chances to win the West. Zow and Alexander "should" be well enough to play - Alexander more-so than Zow. If Zow happens to not be ready, Watts will get the nod, but all fingers are pointing to Zow right now. Alexander will need another big game against the Bayou Bengals to keep his place in the Heisman race. After losing 2 games in the regular season, and not playing against S. Miss, his chances of actually winning the Heisman are dwindling. 3 more big games and a possible good game in the SEC Championship might move him as the frontrunner. But it all starts up front with the "Big Uglies". Big Sam and Co. will have to make some holes for a Mack truck to drive thru. If they can do that, then Bama comes up a big winner with a few 2nd and 3rd teamers getting playing time. I think Bama jumps on them quickly, but only if Zow is well. If he struggles early and can't find "the zone", look for Tyler to make a possible entrance to help out. Alexander will get another 100+ yd game. LSU's defense hasn't been anything to write home about either. Look for a good win and a 7-2 Tide after Saturday. Get ready MSU - Bama rolls and you are in her sights... (No Line yet). FYI, Bama has a Sagarin Ranking of #9 in the country. BAMA 31 LSU 14

BAMA Slips and Losses to UT, 7-21 (5-2), (4-1)

THE COUNTDOWN - 206 yards till Alexander breaks Humphrey's rushing record

The game is over and The Tide is now ranked #14 in the country. Not too bad of a drop since we lost to the #5 team in the country. After the game, I was worn out... and I'm still feeling it. So this week, it will be short.

OFFENSE: The offense was less than spectacular this week. Whether it was just Zow that was off (mainly in the 2nd half) or Watts not being able to move the offense or Stubbs' play-calling. I don't know. Zow said he was fine, but those passes he threw were nowhere close. UT defensive line dominated the Bama OL even though we were only sacked once. Alexander was getting hit in the backfield way too much and Zow didn't have much time to throw the ball in my opinion. The WR's were getting open for the most part - Zow just didn't hit them. And I think it's time for Terry Jones to trade in for a new pair of hands. Ever since his big game he hasn't been the same except on the shovel passes. Shaun had a good day by most justtandards - heck, even by his. He still had 150 yds of total offense and scored a TD. But then he dropped a pass by Zow that would have definitely given the Tide hope since he probably would have scored again there. But he didn't. And the Tide just seemed to lolly-gag around and wasn't the same in the 2nd half. Not as much intensity, and then also Zow, Alexander, and Carter got hurt. Not the way you want to end the game - with 3 main guys getting hurt. Let's just hope they are better for the S. Miss game. Back to the drawing board for the offense. Let's get it working again, guys.

DEFENSE: The Defense played I guess about as good as you could against UT. They gave up the big pass play for the TD (Freshman G. Dixon) and didn't contain the QB on the TD's runs by Tee. Other than that, we actually did pretty well. By no means did we play to Bama's defensive standards, but we did hold them under our defensive scoring total of 24 points. The offense just didn't make plays (we averaged 33 pts/game coming into this contest). 7 points. Well, anyway, we played ok, but with the defense out there a lot of the game (since we couldn't control the ball on offense), they just got worn out. And again, we have got to cause some turnovers. We got one late in the game, but it was a little too late at that point.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Special teams had a regular-off day. We punted (a lot - 9 for 36 yd/avg). He has got to punt the ball better than that. He should punt at least over 40 yds for an average. Can I kick, Coach? And the kickoff team has got to tackle a little better. Of course, lately, we haven't been doing to bad, but UT's kick return team is pretty good. No FG's this game - we never got close enough, which is pretty sad. Not much else to say except we need to put the ball in the end zone on a lot more kickoffs. THAT's how you defend the kickoff return - ask Freddie Milons... he hasn't gotten a chance to return many kicks this year cuz of that. Why is is that every other team in the country can kick the ball in the end zone consistently? Bearden did kick 4 of 5 in the end zone for La. Tech, but maybe only a couple since then.

COACHING: Well, I don't know if it was really the players or the coaches for losing the game. Guess it had to have been a little of both, but more from the players. Zow being hurt didn't help us, but he's still gotta make those throws. They seemed to have the team pretty prepared, but UT was just the dominant team Saturday. Their coaches made good play calls and just kept pounding it down our throat. We almost looked defenseless. The coaches know that this one hurt, but our chances are still very much alive to win the SEC West. Our destiny still lies in our own hands. The coaches know this and will make sure the players are aware of this. We are still #14 in the land with an excellent chance to finish in the top 10 if we play well. Remember, we still have ranked S. Miss this week... and #8 Miss. St. a couple of weeks later. Then if we win the Iron Bowl and SEC Championship, heck, there might even be a BCS bid in there somewhere with some help. So this season is far from over. Hopefully, the coaches will work with Watts more this week and make sure he's prepared for S. Miss provided Zow can't go. Bama can still get to a good bowl (whether BCS or not)... we just have to play our brand of football... and just win. Roll Tide

BAMA/SOUTHERN MISS PREVIEW: This should prove to be a great matchup between top 25 teams. It will probably be a hard win if we do win. Zow/Alexander are doubtful at this time along with Kecalf Bailey who suffered a foot injury on practice this week. Our team is hurting... but if Alexander or Zow is ready to go, then we might have life. But don't count out Bohanon at RB. He's still a force to deal with. He's a good RB and has as good an average per run than Alexander. Our main concern will proabably be the QB situation. Zow has been the leader all season. You lose your head guy and things can go wrong. If Zow can't go, Watts will finally get the game he wanted. He would be able to play the whole game, barring no injuries. And if he gets hurt, we have Luke Tucker in the midst, something we probably don't want to revert to since he has little practice reps and absolutely no game experience. It's obvious that Zow's experience from last year has really helped him this year. Anyway, we have a legitimate shot at beating S. Miss. I checked the odds-makers and it doesn't appear that there's a line right now. With a hurt offense, it will be a hard game - a game that S. Miss could very well win if we don't come prepared and play hard. Look for Bama to rebound off the UT loss and come out with a narrow win over the golden eagles. Should be another nail-biter. BAMA 20 S.Miss 17

#11 BAMA WINS 3-IN-A-ROW FINALLY, BEATS OLE MISS 30-24 (5-1), (4-0)

THE COUNTDOWN - 304 yards till Alexander breaks Humphrey's rushing record

Well, the Tide finally won 3-in-a-row in the DuBose tenure. Who'da thunk it would happen this year against 3 ranked opponents? Well, it did, and the Tide will enjoy this win for just a day or so - then it's focus on one of the biggest game of the year - UT vs Bama in T-town. Here's how I break down the Ole Miss/Bama game...

OFFENSE: The offense came out at the beginning of the game VERY strong and very aggressive. Alexander couldn't be stopped and Zow was making play after play. We put a quick 10 points on the board to hush the crowd early. We kept on keepin' on - until the 2nd half when we got a little lax. Of course, Stubbs has said that he got a little conservative since we had the big lead. I don't blame him for a little conservativeness, but when the big dogs get close, it's time to pull away. If it weren't for that oides kick, we probably wouldn't have had anything to worry about. But that wasn't the case, and we gave up 2 drives back-to-back with Ole Miss points. I remember that one particular drive where we ran Shaun 3 times in a row and didn't get the 1st down. We punted and ve Ole Miss another chance to get back into the game. Don't expect Stubbs to do that again. Anyway, the offense did play well and Shaun was more than his usual spectacular self piling up 214 rushing yards and 6 passing yards for a combined 220 yards on the day. That total put him #1 in the country in all-purpose yards, and #3 in the country in rushing yards (156 ypg). He also squeaked up the ladder and is now #1 TD scoring at the University of Alabama with 43 TD's. He only needs 10 more TD's to tie LSU's Kevin Faulk record TD # of 53 TD's. More stats and stuff can be found on the news articles I lay out over the week. Anyway, there were 2 really good plays that stood out in my mind - (1) the shovel pass to Terry Jones Jr. It worked against Florida a little better, but was called back in that game. Great play call... and (2) the QB Draw/Sneak. It was a play of beauty. Zow looks like he needs to be a little tougher when he runs though, but he did well. Just tuck that ball away a little better. I don't like it swinging way out from your body. Great play call from Stubbs. And I tell ya, if we need one yard, just give the ball to Shaun and let him run behind "Big Sam". Even when Ole Miss knew where we were going, we still put it in there. We might try the other side against UT this week. And who could forget the play of the OL again? The only reason Zow even gets sacked is because he stays back in the pocket TOO long or scrambles without throwing the ball away. That's Zow's fault and even he knows it. We keep this up and Zow will pick apart any team we play. And lastly, how about our WR's, especially Freddie Milons. He is now the 1st Bama receiver to catch over 100 yards in 3 straight games. And the way things are going, he should have many more to come. If the ball is in the area, he's coming down with it. What great hands he and A.C. (Antonio Carter) have. Carter caught 2 balls this week, down from the Florida game, but look for him to come up big against the Vols. We're gonna need everybody come Saturday. Guess that's it for now. Other than the predictability factor (Stubbs), the offense worked to a tee. And when we HAD to get more points in the end, we at least drove down the field to get another FG to force Ole Miss to get a TD. Great Job Offense!

DEFENSE: The Bama D played better even though they still gave up tons of yardage - which ranks them dead last in the SEC in Total Defense. We are also giving up around 24 points per game. Lucky for us, our offense is chalking up 33 points per game. The 2ndary was still rather shaky giving that white WR dude 100+ yards from simple out passes/screens. When are we gonna learn to defend that play. I've been saying this from day one. They can always bring the FB/RB out of the backfield or just have a WR stay out in the Flat and boom - they get 20 yards. Somebody's gotta stay at home. That and the long bomb are where we play our worst. For some reason, even when Bama puts 2-3 guys on a WR, they still catch the ball. I'm having a hard time with this, but hopefully it will get better. It has to - UT ain't gonna play around with us. The DL and LB's have gotten a little better, but that still comes around to better play calling. We brought a few more blitzes this week and were able to get to the QB a little more which helped out the DB's. We just get better here and the D gets better. More than anything, we need to contain the QB - these mobile QB's are a pain in the butt. Anyway, when the D really needed to step it up (last Ole Miss drive), they did. They got the sack and then Griffin chased Miller down to give the Tide offense the ball. One more thing - tackling can always improve. Let's hope that with one week of the "new" defense in place, we can execute it even better come Bama/UT.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Hmmmm.... it was good in parts and bad in parts. The good is that Pflugner was back and kicking very well. He went 3 for 3 in FG's kicking his first kick 45 yards or so for the 3 points. Good to see him getting better. We will probably need him in the next game. Other good stuff was the tackling on punt returns. Shautua Ray is always involved here. Kickoff coverage could be a little better though. We are starting to slip up a bit in this area. Punter Patrick Morgan is still doing a good job and Lane Bearden is retaining kickoff duties. He's not putting as many in the back of the end zone which he needs to do (like he did against La Tech). Not much else to say here except just keep getting better and don't let anyone run one back for a TD this coming week.

COACHING: The coaching staff had this team ready to play for the most part. We came out early and jumped on Ole Miss quick. We kept on attacking and gained a 27-7 lead... and then we sat back to see if we could possibly let them come back. OK, wasn't really that mentality, but was pretty close. Stubbs has already admitted to being a little lax in the play calling department. He mainly didn't want to give the ball up on dumb plays. Heck, it seemed like a good idea to keep giving Alexander the ball... but only if he could get you the 1st down. He came up short a couple of times and it cost us the ball. We sure don't wanna re-live the bogus call we used against AU in the Iron Bowl a couple of years ago (pass on 3rd down when we could just run the ball and punt with less than 1 minute remaining), but at that point in the game, we still needed to attack - and we didn't. Don't look for Stubbs to quite as generous in the upcoming games. The D that was installed for the Ole Miss game was a little different. Spencer was taken out (offically) of the starting lineup, but still got some snaps. Myles started in Dixon's old position and Bailey/Bolden duo were at CB opposite of Lewis. Looked like it worked a little, but the outcome was still the same - big plays given up, no interceptions, and lots of yards. However, they did look a little more aggressive. But hopefully, this lack of play comes with learning the position of safety (Myles). 2ndary seems to be the weak link in the D this year though no one will say it on TV. If we can get some cohesion in our 2ndary, the D could look like the days of old from the early 90's (but not '92 yet). And the coaches have said to "Watch the ball off the foot" on kickoffs. Looks like some of our guys took it for granted that they would kick it deep every time. We pulled the same stunt a couple of years ago when Vandy had that fake punt for a TD when the kicker ran straight up the field untouched. Yes I think we all remember that one. Don't assume anything in football. YOU MAKE SURE OF THAT BALL BEING KICKED OFF. It may not happen one more time all year... but still. It could happen next year, knowutimean. It's called experience. And hopefully the guys learned something Saturday. One last point - the offense had NO penalties against them. We had 5 total penalties and all were on defense. Let's just get rid of those still lame "personal fouls". Those are costly and can really change the momentum of the game. Late hits out of bounds are unacceptable.

BAMA/TENNESSEE PREVIEW: Well, this is what the season has come down to on the 4th Saturday in October. Bama and UT. One of the biggest of college rivalries will now be set in Bryant-Denny Stadium for the first time since 1930 (as if you haven't already heard that). We've faced 3 ranked opponents, and now #5 UT comes calling. It should be a tough game with UT being reigning National Champions from 1998. But the Vols seem to have slipped a bit this year. Jamal Lewis doesn't seem to have his A-game abillities this year and the WR's have been anything but very spectacular. The loss of Peerless Price and Al Wilson have created some holes that have been hard to fill. UT has struggled a bit during the season, but had it's best game of the season last week against Georgia. They played a practically flawless game. BUT, the Vols don't have #37 on their team, and also don't have #5 (Zow) or #15 (Milons). At the beginning of the season, the Vols didn't even think twice about Bama, especially after we lost to La-freakin'-Tech. Then, all of a sudden, the Tide is a force to deal with - AND IN OUR OWN BACK YARD. This game now looks to be the game that will either make or break one of the 2 teams' season. Look for Stubbs and the Bama offense to open it up big on UT and put a good number of points on the board. Remember, Bama is averaging 33 ppg, the highest that I can remember the Tide averaging in a season. But the Vols defense is their strong point. They will come against the Bama O hard, but the OL of Bama has been tested before and dominated (Florida). Zow and Milons should have a great day - and look for Duece and McAddley to also have big catches in this game. And that will open up, yes, the ground game yet again for the Heisman hopeful Shaun Alexander. Look for Shaun again to be Mr. Playmaker and help the Tide roll to victory on Saturday. An interesting stat - UT's Leonard Scott is ranked #5 in the country in kickoff returns with 33 yards per return and 1 TD. If our kick coverage isn't up to par, Scott might pull another Peerless Price on us (don't forget what happened last year in Knoxville). We've got to be on our toes on Special teams. Also, note that going into this week's game Zow is #22 in the country in pass efficiency with a 135.8 rating.... just one ahead of #23, yep - Tim Rattay. Also, something "must give" again this week (as in Ole Miss). UT is 2nd in the league in rushing defense with only 69 yards per game. Will Shaun show 'em how it's done like he did against Ole Miss. One can only think so... but we'll see. And Tennessee hasn't given up a rushing TD this season......Again, something must give. In conclusion, even though Bama has jumped in the ranks, some still seem a little "iffy" about the Tide. A win against UT will shut those people up and really put Bama in the national spotlight and the possibility to get into a BCS Bowl. And regardless if Bama losses or wins the game, they will still be in the hunt for the SEC West crown. A loss to UT doesn't mean we are out. A win over Miss St. still would put us on top, as long as we win the rest of our games. But let's not think about that - cuz the Tide IS Rolling, and Tide WILL win, and the Tide WILL prove it on the field this weekend. Look for the Tide to come out strong and the D to play, well, like our D - average. Should be a tight one, but then again, when do we really blow out anyone? Bama's Offense shines in the mild upset win... (Line: UT by 3) BAMA 34 Tennessee 27

#22 BAMA WINS IN THE SWAMP! 40-39 OT (4-1), (3-0)

THE COUNTDOWN - 518 yards till Alexander breaks Humphrey's rushing record

Man, oh man!!!!! What an incredible football game!! Who woulda thought Bama would pull off the unthinkable? Not many, I'm sure... but they did. Bama put together the best possible game plan to dismantle the gators and executed it almost to perfection. It almost self-destructed on us, but we pulled it out in the end. Let's talk about this game that will be forever embedded in every Bamafan's mind everywhere...

OFFENSE: The offense couldn't have been any better except for the lame interception that Zow threw to give Florida the lead (defensive TD). I listened to his postgame comments and he said the ball had slipped. Well, Zow, you're lucky in the end it didn't cost us... and you thought you felt bad against La. Tech, huh? Fortunately for Zow and the Tide, we DID win the game thanks to Alexander, Zow, and the whole WR unit who musta had stick-um glue on their hands. And I'll get into this later, but Stubbs is a genius... more on that later. But as for Alexander, he is just the playmaker even when he's having a so-so game. Just when you think you've got him shut out of the game, here he comes again with another big run and/or TD. Florida had pretty much shut down Alexander most of the game, but then came OT and Alexander showed why he IS the country's BEST running back. Alexander had 106 yards on the ground, 94 thru the air, and scored 4 TD's. Though the career of the "Great Dayne" is really great, he's still not a betannnnnnrunning back than Shaun. Shaun is the complete package... and now he has pretty much secured himself in the top 3 of the Heisman race, though Ba goals are still to wn the SEC and possibly the national championship (and yes, it's still possible). Great game Shaun!! You are the man!! And Zow, what a great game... minus the int. I just had one other complaint - don't pass the ball with your left hand wildly into a pack of defenders, ok? :) A turnover at that point of the game would have surely buried the Tide for good. We won this game because we capitalized on turnovers and didn't give up the ball but once (even though that was huge at the time). And the GAME BALL goes to the Bama Offensive Line. They just totally man-handled the gator defensive line. They made the gators look like a bunch of high schoolers which was pretty cool. Samuels and Ellington made minced meat of #13. One sack was allowed, and even that sack was a 5 second in the pocket coverage sack. Great game OL!! And saving the best for last this time - the WR's were practically perfect! The playmakers have spoken - they would be Milons, Carter (A.C., aka the Duece), and McAddley. These guys have really stepped up their play in the last 2 games. And Carter just had a coming out party. Look for more great things from The Duece in the near future. That 9-minute drive to end the 1st half was just a work of genius. We shoulda gotten 7, but settled for 3... but more importantly, we kept Florida's offense off the field. And THAT was the key. Spurrier had the guns to score, but was unable to pull the trigger as much as he had liked. Kudos to the Bama offense for awesome ball-control football... and also for putting up 40 points against the Gators. Heck, this marks possibly one of the lone times that Bama has given up 35 points or more and still won the game. What more can you say about this offense? We know what we can do now. So let's get ready for what looks to be an exciting finish of Bama Football '99.

DEFENSE: These guys really gave it all they had. They knew what they would be facing in Florida's offense, but like I mentioned before, our best defense wasn't our defensive team - it was our offense - keeping UF's offense off the field. When the D did play, they gave up some plays, but made a few plays when they had to, especially the last one of regulation (the sack on Johnson). As usual, the defensive secondary had a, how should I put it, - normal Bama 2ndary game. We gave up play after play after play, and also the usual big play (busted coverage). BUT, we did make just enough plays to keep them from scoring 41. Tackling was a bit shotty at times against the run - but we got into such a groove into defending the pass, we started to get in trouble. We were very lucky to have won this game. Our DL played tough all day, but was unable to get a sack till the last play of regulation. We did seem to pressure Johnson at times and thus a couple of bad throws. Linebackers, well, they played a good game too. Nothing too spectacular because everything was usually in front of them or behind them. But they made some good plays, more notably the fumble caused by Saleem Rasheed in the 1st half. What a huge turnover for the Tide. And that's just what we needed - 3 turnovers. We converted these turnovers into 17 points... and we needed every single point for the win. One other point - good idea for the Jugs machine during the week for the DB's catching practice .... but we should have returned a couple of passed back for TD's. We should still work on that some more. We need to make these plays - you saw how it helped Florida when Zow threw his int, huh? Let's get to work DB's. We have to make these plays. Anyway, great job on just playing good enough to win the game. Take a week off and come back against Ole Miss with some fire in your eyes. We need ya, 2ndary!!

SPECIAL TEAMS: Special Teams proved to be HUGE. Bama has continued tackling like the great Bama teams of old. We gave up an average runback or 2 on kickoffs, but Bearden didn't do as good a job as he should have in getting the kicks in the end zone. Considering - we did good on punts and kickoff coverage. And way to keep your eyes open for that last fumble that put Bama in the position to tie/win the game. Without that turnover, Bama might not have survived. But we did get the fumble and we'll gladly take the win - because turnovers seem to be a part of the game... it sure was a part of the game when Zow threw his, huh? Another huge special teams error was the bad punt snap. From what I understand, the clock was running down and the snapper was on the sideline and was late getting out there (Ledbetter)... it was rushed and the back was in the way of the path of the ball. I don't think it would really much of a turnover, but more of getting bad field position. In any case, it shouldn't have happened, and I don't think it will happen any more this year. When things like this happen, people are just a bit more concious of it not happening again. And then - "The Kick III". The kick that would put Bama on top to win the game. Chris Kemp, a bit too relaxed, shanked the kick and really gave the Florida team and fans a HUGE Teaser... Bear steps in and gooses lineman Alexander on the Florida side in the toosh and tells the ref "Hey, that guy jumped offsides... we get another chance, bud". FLAG! Aww shucks. Darn the luck. Thanks Bear! Ok, PAT, take 2 - whew - just a little relaxed again and almost shanking the next kick the other way... but he snuck it in there - BAMA WINS! Chris Kemp is probably the happiest guy in the world right now. He made the kick on a 2nd chance that put the Florida Gators away in the swamp, ending their 30-game home winning streak. Ironic, huh? Since Florida seemed to end Bama's 31-game home winning streak back in the 20's. Justice has been served, my friend. And you know UT is pretty happy now... they can hope for one more miracle (and hope they can pull out a win against the Tide too).

COACHING: Coaching was SUPERB! At least it was on offense for sure. Charlie Stubbs has now proven why he was hired and why HE needs to be calling the plays in this offense. The week before the Arkansas game DuBose told Stubbs to "let loose the offense & do what you do best". Well, Stubbs has done so 2 weeks in a row and against ranked teams, one of which was obviously Florida in the Swamp. He called plays that utilyzed the right players at the right time of the game. Examples were option plays to get first downs and the excellent call for the shovel pass to Terry Jones Jr. (which unfortunately was called back due to a penalty). And for some reason, that play where Alexander goes out of the backfield and down the left sideline to catch a TD pass seems to work one time every game. It's like that's the money play - and it started when he caught that pass against LSU last year. Same route, same result - TD. Once he catches the ball that deep on ya, you're not gonna catch him. Again, play-calling was great and I can't emphasize enough the awesomeness of that 9-minute drive to end the 1st half. It was just an act of genius. Sure we had to complete many a 3rd down, but they were all 3rd and short yardage. And THAT's the position you want to be in against Florida. I mainly have 2 questions though on the play calling - (1) Why in the crap did we hand off to Dustin McClintock TWO times on the goal line. Florida can stack up the line and Dustin AIN'T going thru the line, and he sure didn't jump over. After the first failure, you go Alexander OVER THE TOP. It's as simple as that - or can Alexander do everything except get air under his feet? That's just a big question I had. We went for it on 4th, however, and Shaun got the ball and scored the TD - but on 4th down, man, that's just too close for me, man. Alexander needs to get the ball on 3rd and go over the top. Or heck, put Milons at QB and have him and Alexander run the option. Don't know if that's feasible, but with McClintock faking up the middle and Milons and Shaun goin right, I find that hard to stop, especially on 3rd. In any case, we got the points and everyone was happy as they were growing more gray hair... and (2) I disagree with the call to kick the extra point at the end of the game. Yes, it definitely put us in a position to win the game (POSSIBLY in OT), but Florida still had 1:30 left to get the kickoff into FG territory, which they had until we got the great sack by Horne. The clock runs out and OT starts. As it turns out, it might have been for the better - it sure couldn't have been worse than how it ended. But under normal circumstances, I see Florida beating us no matter how many OT's there are. That was UF's first missed FG of the year I believe and they sure can put it in the end zone on our DB's. I say go for the win and make them score one more time. I just saw us being in better position to win the game that way... but who knows what woulda happened. Maybe we miss the 2 point conversion and lose the game - maybe we get the 2-pt conversion and win the game without going into OT. In any case, the Lord was looking out for Bama that day and we DID win in OT. Thanks Bear, for helping out too. :) As for the other coaches, everything else looked ok except for the dreaded 2ndary play. Kenny Smith guaranteed a win - lucky for us it didn't backfire. That's just the ammonition they can use against us. Next time, Kenny, don't say anything! heh, heh But back to my other point, the D has to get better. The offense has proven that they can score. Now let's not turn into Kentucky and make every game a shootout because we play no defense. Our DB's are our main/only weak link. DL is looking very good and the LB's are playing well and tackling like they should for the most part. We need more "togetherness" or something back there. Anyone know a good recipe to getting these guys playing better? In any case, good enough to beat Florida. Y'all celebrate... then get ready for Ole Miss. And thank you guys for cutting back on the penalties! We still had 6, but it's quite a change from 10 penalties (most being before the snap on defense). Our biggest penalty came on Terry Jones shovel pass from Zow. What a play call... then some guy was caught holding/blocking in the back or something. That was a killer. Only lucky for us, we still maintained a killer attitude on O. Better, but let's cut the penalties to near ZERO in a couple of weeks at Ole Miss, ok, buddies? Oh, and as for DuBose, I think he'll be around for a while, don't ya think? The team seems to be together as a whole and I don't think anyone wants anymore disruptions to happen while we are actually on a roll. I know it's only 2 games, but they were against ranked opponents... and ranked Ole Miss lurks in the future. DuBose, thank you for letting Charlie Stubbs run his offense. Him calling all the plays is the best thing that coulda happened to your future. :) AND LASTLY (and I'll get off my soapbox), the call to NOT play Tyler Watts was a good one. Of course, we didn't have too many drives in the 1st half due to the 9-minute march, but Zow was in rythym, and the offense in general was in rythym. Zow threw the int, but kept his composure and led us to another score. I do think we'll see Watts in the Ole Miss game - but for now, like what most people think, this really is Zow's team right now... even if he does make some bonehead/ill-advised passes that are just lame. TIME OF POSSESSION: BAMA 42.5 minutes out of 60. That's how we beat Florida. Great job to the coaches for having this team overall, ready to play! ROLL TIDE!!