Man, work sucks. I had to stay until 6:30 last night, and then started getting phone calls at 7 this morning telling me the server still wasn't working. Argh.
So, of course, I have a headache from hell this morning...but at least...
Days 'til Season Kickoff: 4
That's right. We're only 4 days away. And only 2 from the LSU vs MSU kickoff. I dig it.
As if you didn't know it would happen, Simeon Castille pleaded not guilty in court yesterday. Or, at least his attorney did. Sim wasn't there.
Coach Saban's press conference yesterday was fairly normal. Read the transcript here. He said what he was going to say, and told the media that was it. He wouldn't say anymore. That included discussions about the depth chart and about the suspensions for Keith Brown and Prince Hall. Not sure what they did, but I'm sure it was pretty bad.
Ray Melick's article about Saban and "the intangibles" is actually a pretty good read. Check it out here.
Mark McCarter reminds us that Western Carolina is only a speed bump, even if Simeon Castille says they're "not in a position to overlook anyone."
How they turned Prince Hall and Keith Brown's suspensions into an entire article, I'll never know. Coach didn't say anything other than they violated team rules and it's a one-game suspension. See? That didn't take an entire article. If you wanna read the filler stuff, check it out here, here, and here.
Well, it turns out that Rolando McClain will be THE signal caller on Saturday (haha, lil bit-of-an inside joke there). Check out more about it here.
The offense is ready to roll. Read up on what Cecil has to say about it here.
Y'know, our offensive line was God-awful last year, but it still wasn't as bad as Auburn's (haha). Either way, the same guys are back, but they're looking to really step it up this year, and they're starting with the first game.
The Press Register goes in-depth about just how good the coaching is in the Southeastern Conference. Sounds good to me. Now we've got one of the better ones.
Coach Saban released a depth chart to the media yesterday, but I'm not sure how much I trust it. Cecil Hurt goes into detail about it, but you'll find more information from our boys over at RollBamaRoll.com. They attack and try to answer all of the questions you might have from it.
Also, Travis Henry has 9 freakin' kids from 9 different mothers. Good ol' Rocky Top, ehh? RollBamaRoll has that one covered.
The basketball schedule was released yesterday, and it includes a road game at Texas A&M, and home games against George Washington and Clemson, along with a "neutral site game" against Georgetown in Birmingham (not very neutral, in my opinion). Either way, it's a pretty decent schedule. We open with Troy, so even though we won't play them in football, we're giving them a little piece of the action on the hardwood.
THE MIKE SHULA ERA
#4: LSU 16 Alabama 13 OTNovember 12th, 2005 in Tuscaloosa, AL
Alabama was ranked #3 in the country, and LSU was ranked #5 after an earlier loss to Tennessee (the infamous time-out call made by Les Miles - yeah, everyone remembers). Gameday was there (and we always lose when Gameday comes to town), and it was a festive environment. We had just lost JB Closner, our starting center, in the game prior to this against Mississippi State, but we were still ranked #3 in the country. We hadn't scored an offensive touchdown in SEC play since the Ole Miss game back in October, so we were due. We were underdogs, but the spirits were up. We honestly thought we had a chance.
The first quarter was a chess match, but we pulled ahead 3-0 on a 28 yard field goal by Jamie Christiansen. LSU was held scoreless. Their defense was one of the top units in the country, but we were having some success moving the football.
Our defense continued to hold through the 2nd quarter, and our offense finally broke the endzone with an 8-yard pass from Brodie to DJ Hall, making it 10-0. We went to the half like that. We had EVERYTHING going in our favor.
3rd quarter was a different story. Their defense was a machine. I don't know that we had ANY yards in that quarter. They were able to score an early touchdown, and then kick a field goal with 5 minutes left in the quarter to tie the game. Momentum was definitely back on the Tigers side.
Then, our defense took over. The game stayed at 10-10 for the rest of the game. Their kicker missed a long field goal at the end of the game that would have won it, but we ended up in overtime.
Their defense was ferocious in the overtime. We went 3-and-out and had to settle for a 35 yard field goal from Jamie Christiansen. We were up 13-10.
Then, LSU got the football. They steadily moved it, but were stuck with a 3rd-and-6 from the 11 yard line. They sent 3 wideouts, and JaMarcus Russell evaded a couple of tackles to threw an ad-lib 11 yard strike to Dwayne Bowe in the endzone.
I actually was sick to my stomach after that game. Talk about depressing. I thought I might have hurled. Oh well...as Mike always said "it's a tough one to swallow."
#5 Alabama 52 Western Carolina 0Sept. 18, 2004 in Tuscaloosa, AL
There's not much more to say about this game other than "crap." We had a 31-0 lead.
It's fairly normal to have your starters play the 1st series of the 2nd half, no matter what the score is. They do it in the NFL, which is where Mikey cut his chops, and since the offense hadn't looked very good in the first half, they wanted to try and get a head start on the next week's practice for Arkansas.
But, of course, everyone remembers it. Brodie rolled out to the right looking for a receiver, planted wrong, tore his ACL, and was lost for the season. In one play our entire season was pretty much lost.
We went on to score a few more touchdowns, but it was all for naught. Everyone in the stadium knew what was up.
Of course, Brodie going down showed how ill-prepared the two backups were, which is a sign of how ill-prepared the coaching staff was. We somehow managed 3 more wins and go a bowl bid to the Music City Bowl, where we were promptly run over by Minnesota's incredible running game.
