Lets Get em!

Inside Slant

Last year, Alabama was 3-0 heading into the Georgia game. This year, the Tide is 4-0 getting ready to play Georgia.

The difference? Last year, Tide coach Nick Saban was warning everyone the bubble was going to burst. This year, Saban seems a little happier with the caliber of his team week to week.

No. 8 Alabama (4-0, 1-0) takes on No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0) Saturday in Athens, Ga.

Saban is not proclaiming that the Alabama program has “arrived,” but he does seem as though he likes the team’s chances, due to the influx of an outstanding recruiting class that is contributing as well as veteran players who seem to have bought into what Saban and his staff expect from week to week.

Alabama’s first 11 on both sides of the ball can compete with anybody on the Tide’s schedule. However, we’ve already seen that it only takes one or two injuries—as when linemen Andre Smith and Marlon Davis were out—to expose the Tide’s issue with a lack of depth.

The Tide’s offensive and defensive lines are clearly the strength of this team. The emergence of 365-pound Terrence Cody at nose tackle has overshadowed the play of his backup, Josh Chapman, and defensive ends Bobby Greenwood and Brandon Deadrick.

They’ve been able to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks without having to do much blitzing, which has left maximum coverage in the secondary. Whether the Tide can continue to do that this week against a Georgia squad that will be the best team the Tide has faced is another question.

Alabama can’t afford any injuries along the front line. If the Tide can stay with its normal playing rotation, they should have a chance against Georgia.

Notes, Quotes

• The fifth game of the season will bring the second top-10 opponent against Alabama (Clemson being the other), and the return of ESPN’s College GameDay to an Alabama game.

“What’s the dude’s name, the old dude?” junior cornerback Javier Arenas said when asked about ESPN.

Lee Corso?

“Yeah, I love that dude,” Arenas said. “He’s great at what he does. He’s been doing it for a while and knows the sport. He’s exciting. He gets the crowd going. I love him to death. I love all those guys.”

Scouting The Offense: Alabama is the second-highest scoring offense in the SEC, averaging 36 points per game, and leads the SEC in rushing yards per game (236.8). Despite the quick scores against Arkansas, Alabama is converting better than 50 percent of its third-down attempts and ranks third in the conference in time of possession. Because Alabama has not trailed in four games, QB John Parker Wilson has not been put in a position where he has to win a game. That could change this weekend.

Scouting The Defense: The Tide is allowing only 9.3 points per game and has not given up a rushing touchdown in 20 consecutive quarters (going back to the bowl game last year). If there is a question mark, it might be the pass defense, where the Tide has given up yards, even if those yards have not resulted in points. Georgia is one of the best passing teams in the conference.

Quote To Note: “What about it? Have you seen some of my highlights?”—Alabama cornerback/kick returner Javier Arenas, when asked if he’d seen any of Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno’s highlights this year.

Strategy And Personnel

THIS WEEK’S GAME: Alabama at Georgia, Sept. 27—The first time Alabama and Georgia have met as undefeated teams (other than a season opener) since 1941 and the first time Alabama and Georgia have met when both are top-10 teams since 1976. Georgia has better depth and better skill players, but Alabama may have the better offensive and defensive lines and nothing to lose. Georgia is right where most people expected them to be, Alabama is ahead of schedule. Give the Bulldogs the edge, but don’t count the Tide out.

Players To Watch:

• QB John Parker Wilson owns virtually every important passing record in school history. What he doesn’t have is a championship ring. He and Georgia QB Matt Stafford are the two winningest active quarterbacks in the conference.

• LB Rolando McClain is picking up where he left off after an outstanding freshman season. He leads the team in tackles with 29 and handles calls and adjustments.

• WR Julio Jones leads the Tide in receiving yards with 132. But it’s another freshman who also wears No. 8, Georgia’s A.J. Green, who leads the SEC in receiving yards with 300. Jones gets closer and closer to living up to the hype every week.

Roster Report:

• Tide coach Nick Saban said there were no injuries to report, and that everyone would be ready to play Saturday against Georgia.

• Saban did announce the return of running back Demetrius Goode to tailback from defensive back. Goode signed as a tailback, injured a knee, and after surgery was moved to defensive back as a way to rehab the injury. Saban said he’s found that running backs who have trouble coming back from knee surgery are often afraid of taking a hit, and that playing defensive back—where they are forced to back-peddle, cut, and initiate a hit—often restores that confidence. It must have worked for Goode, who Saban says came to him two weeks ago asking to return to tailback. This week in practice, he’s been charged with impersonating Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno.

4-0, Ranked 8th in the AP, Next up GEORGIA!

Tide dominates on offense and defense in wild win
By Cecil Hurt, SportsEditor
Published: Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 3:52 p.m.


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. | The fog burned off early at Razorback Stadium on Saturday.

That left thunder and lightning.

The thunder was provided by the University of Alabama offensive and defensive lines, who dominated the Razorbacks all day long. The lightning came from a steady supplement of long touchdowns — six covering 25 yards or more and three of those going for more than 60 yards — as Alabama buried Arkansas 49-14 in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

It was No. 9 Alabama’s most one-sided SEC road win since a 62-27 beatdown of Ole Miss in Jackson, Miss., in 1989. The 49 points were the most Alabama has scored in any SEC game, home or away, since it put 59 points up against Vanderbilt in 1990. It was the first time since 1993 that Alabama has scored 40 or more points in back-to-back games.

Alabama did it despite some occasional lapses, especially on defense.

“We probably made more mental mistakes in this game than we have all year,” said Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban. “But we did a great job at the line of scrimmage. That’s how we were able to overcome.”

“That’s a tough game for us,” said Arkansas’ first-year coach Bobby Petrino. “We’ve got to get to the point where we don’t beat ourselves and we’ve got a long way to go.”

It only required one early Arkansas mistake, a penalty for running into the kicker, to open the floodgates although the deluge was likely to come sooner or later. That penalty did prolong Alabama’s first drive, which culminated in a one-yard touchdown run by Mark Ingram.

The Tide’s next possession was more electric, if far shorter. Glen Coffee took a handoff and went untouched for an 87-yard touchdown, the longest scoring run from scrimmage for UA since 1990.

Alabama added three more touchdowns in the half, two on long interception returns of ill-advised Casey Dick throws.

Javier Arenas had a 63-yard interception return with 53 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Justin Woodall eclipsed that in the second quarter, picking off a Dick pass and going 74 yards for the score. That was Alabama’s longest touchdown interception return since Reggie Myles returned one for a 91-yard score against UCLA in 2000.

The two defensive scores sandwiched a pass from Wilson to Julio Jones for a 25-yard score.

Arkansas did manage to convert one fourth down for a 12-yard touchdown pass from Dick to Andrew Davis in the second quarter. On its other foray deep into Crimson Tide territory, the Razorbacks were stuffed on four downs from the Crimson Tide 2 as the first half ticked away. That stand supplied the punctuation mark for the Hogs’ misery.

“We were reeling a little on defense at that point,” Saban said. “We had made a lot of mental errors on that drive. Our players were tired. The defense played a lot of plays in the first half. So for (Arkansas) to get the ball to the 1-yard line and for us to stop them, that said a lot. It was all things we practice every day, we just had to go and execute them, but it said a lot about the competitive character of our team.”

The second half was more or less an exercise in mutual clock-killing, although Alabama did add two more explosive touchdowns on a 31-yard run by Coffee and a 62-yarder by Roy Upchurch. Arkansas added one consolation touchdown directed by backup quarterback Tyler Wilson.

“I was very pleased and proud with the way we played,” Saban said. “I don’t want people to think otherwise. But we still have some things we can improve on.”

Coffee paced the offense, rushing for 162 yards on 10 carries. That set a new school record for yards per attempt with a minimum of 10 carries. Coffee’s 16.2 yards per carry eclipsed the old mark (14.6 yards per carry) set by Shaun Alexander against LSU in 1996. As a team, Alabama averaged 9.4 yards per rush.

Wilson eclipsed the Tide’s career touchdown passing record with his throw to Jones, the 42nd touchdown pass of his career. He threw just 14 times, completing six for 74 yards, but noted that Alabama’s big early lead made passing superfluous.

“When we’re up like that, we are not going to throw every down,” he said. “With the way we were running and the way our defense was playing, we weren’t about to mess anything up. We were just going to pound the ball.”

Alabama, off to its first 4-0 start since 2005, will travel to Georgia next Saturday for a 6:45 p.m. game.


Thanks to Tuscaloosanews.com for this article!