Officially, Kerry Murphy did not qualify. We're still waiting for word on Michael Ricks, who will become an instant starter and will end up being a star at Alabama, as long as he can stay eligible.
The feel-good-story of the day is about Chris Pugh, the walk-on wide receiver that got to dress for two games last year. Read about his story of turning down other scholarships just so he could go to the University of Alabama.
Burton Scott, a 6' 185 lb athlete from Vigor High School, committed to the Tide yesterday. If you want to see what he'll end up doing at Alabama, please see David Palmer in '92 and '93.
Antoine Caldwell told everyone last week that Coach Saban is the best thing that could have happened to this football team.
A lot of people didn't realize it, but Les 'The Hat' Miles named Matt Flynn the starter while at SEC Media Days. He doesn't normally do that. Also, apparently the Flora-Bama is back in full force this year.
Our favorite "ass hat," Josh Moon, tells us his picks for the upcoming year, including his Stone-Cold Lock-of-the-Year: neither Alabama nor Auburn will win the national championship this year. Of course he makes other picks...like how Alabama will finish 3rd in the West while Auburn will finish 1st, and that Coach Saban will be a jerk to somebody in the media at some point this season.
Cecil lets us know the secret to the early-commitments from prospects. Saban and his staff are at work, my friends.
THE MIKE SHULA ERA
#7: Mississippi State 24 Alabama 16Nov. 4th, 2006 in Tuscaloosa, AL
Ahh yes, we're getting close to the end of the countdown. This game will be known as the one that sealed the deal for Shula's departure from the Capstone.
People were already making fun of him. Tide fans were not happy with his indecisiveness and his inability to lead this team in crunch time. The discipline was ridiculous, the players' attitudes were a joke, and everything came crashing down on this Saturday morning.
The game started at 11:30. Students didn't show up. Season ticket holders didn't show up. The stadium was, for the most part, only about 3/4 of the way filled, which is odd for an SEC showdown that late in the season. We were 6-3 at the time with a chance at something good - win out, go 9-3, go to a good bowl game.
Instead, we had our rear ends handed to us in our own stadium.
Christiansen kicked a field goal to cap off our first drive. Yet another one that got us to the 2 yard line, but we couldn't deliver. We led 3-0, but for only a short time. State threw a 25 yard TD pass less than 3 minutes later to take the lead at 7-3. That's how the first quarter ended.
Then State drove on us again and kicked a field goal less than a minute into the 2nd quarter, making it 10-3. We were held to a 3-and-out, but Jeffrey Dukes picked off a pass and ran it back 24 yards, tying it at 10-10.
Then State drove...again...and scored another touchdown less than 3 minutes later. It honestly looked like we were going to have a ping pong match between these two teams. Their offensive line was killing our 3-3-5 defense, running the ball whenever they wanted, and Henig was picking apart our stupid-ass zone defense. They took the lead at 17-10 and kicked the ball back to us.
After a couple of possession changes, we got the ball back and started down the field. That's when the ballgame ended.
John Parker made an absolutely awful throw into the flats, and it was promptly picked off and returned 51-yards for a touchdown and a 24-10 lead.
Y'know that feeling of hopelessness? We hadn't shown that we could score on this team at all...much less come back from 14 down.
We got the ball back with just over 2 minutes left and managed to drive 75 yards downfield to the 2, thanks to a pass interference call on the Bulldogs. Wilson kept the ball and tried to force his way into the endzone to get another score, but was stopped just short of the goal. The review upheld the call.
In the 2nd half we managed a couple of field goals, making it 24-16 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but we ended up being shutout in the 4th. State ran the football on our defense like we were a high school football team. We couldn't stop a single run. And that ended the game. Talk about disgusting.
¶ 9:13 AM
Comments:
Have you ever felt depressed for no reason when you got out of bed, only to discover that something horrible would happen later that day? That's how my day went during that loss to Mississippi State. # posted by Unknown : 12:43 PM
Haha. That's generally how I feel every day before I go to work.
Yeah, I've had that happen before. Like the loss to La Tech in 99. Granted, I was young back then, but I remember feeling depressed all day leading up to the game. # posted by Memphis Tider : 2:19 PM
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