You know what the best part about this is? Next week is a payback game again. I don't believe ANYBODY in that locker room will be looking past Mississippi State after what's transpired the past two seasons against Croom's Bullies. But...we'll focus on that after the 24-hour rule.
Un-freakin-believable. I mean, really? It's all about changing a mindset, I believe Coach Saban once told Alabama fans. Instead of expecting to lose, I fully expected the Tide to make plays at the end of the game, do what needed to be done, and win the football game. Rashad, Julio, JP...hell, everybody. It was unbelievable.
Now, first things first, I'm pretty pissed about Earl Alexander not just holding onto the football and going down at the one or two yard line, but in fairness, I really think that ball broke the plane before it was knocked out. Next up was Javier's fumble which, honestly, looked like it was recovered out of bounds. JP's interception was just a horrible throw...and he'll have those from time to time.
Leigh Tiffin is not kicking the ball bad. However, his snapper and holder are pathetic. Go back and watch the first one that he pulled, and watch how his timing was affected because the holder screwed up. That's something they need to work on A LOT in practice this week. Fitzgerald has done a miserable job as holder all year.
Dan Wetzel, from Yahoo Sports, talked about how Alabama and Coach Saban just continue to take care of business. That's what good teams do. They persevere through bad games, even in hostile environments.
Pat Forde, at ESPN.com, wrote about how this wasn't just another game, especially for the Sabans. The players felt it too. Read more about Terry Saban's reaction, Coach Saban's arrival and post press conference, and more here.
Ian does a good job with a lot of links and a lot of different items from the game yesterday. Read his blog here.
Stewart Mandell points out something that none of us have really thought about this morning, I'm sure...and that is the fact that when Alabama hired Nick Saban on Jan 3rd, 2007, it was for yesterday's moment when JP got into the endzone in overtime. Read more here.
Chris Low, ESPN.com's SEC blogger, knows what's up. Every championship team runs into a game where it just doesn't have it's best stuff that day. Where the other team smells the upset, where you make uncharacteristic mistakes...where it seems like nothing is going right. And then, like championship teams are supposed to do, they fought their tails off and found a way to win at the end.
I love the fact that all the LSU players feel like they should've won. I hope it burns them into another loss against Ole Miss in two weeks.
I hope Coach Saban uses this as motivation - College Football News moved us down from #2 to #5 behind Florida, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Texas after our win yesterday. Really? Check it out here. Normally I'm not one to be pissed about rankings...but damn, dude. We're undefeated with wins away from home against Clemson, @ Arkansas, @ Georgia, @ Tennessee, and @ LSU. No, it's not great, but what has anybody else done to match it?
