9-0 Roll Tide, Up Next LS WHO?

Ingram, No. 2 Bama roll over Arkansas State, 35-0

By JOHN ZENOR, AP Sports Writer

No. 2 Alabama produced a shutout, a 100-yard rusher and a defensive touchdown in a game that would have been easy to overlook.

What the Crimson Tide didn’t have: a letdown.

Mark Ingram ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries and Rashad Johnson scored on a 32-yard interception return in the Tide’s 35-0 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday.

Alabama (9-0) turned in a dominant all-around performance to set the stage for next week’s showdown at No. 15 LSU in the type of game that had been a stumbling block for recent Tide teams.

Think Louisiana-Monroe, another Sun Belt Conference team that upset ‘Bama last season.

“We’re starting to develop that attitude of be as good as you can be, don’t play to your opponent, all those kind of things,” said Tide coach Nick Saban, who is set to face his former team at LSU.


Did somebody say LSU? The team Saban once led to a national championship?

“I haven’t really thought about it yet,” he said of his return to Baton Rouge, “but it ain’t going to be about me.”

Well, not just about him.

Alabama, which can clinch the Southeastern Conference Western Division title with a win over LSU, managed its first shutout since a 17-0 victory over Mississippi State on Nov. 5, 2005. The Tide allowed only 158 yards on 54 plays against Arkansas State (4-4), which had scored 83 points against Texas Southern and upset Texas A&M earlier this season.

The Tide took its opening drive 89 yards on 16 plays for a touchdown to put aside any fears of a letdown like the one against Louisiana-Monroe. That game might have made it easier to focus in on this one.

“It’s pretty easy, especially compared to last year when we lost games that we should have won,” said tailback Glen Coffee, who scored on a 9-yard run.

Ingram scored on runs of 5 and 17 yards in the second half for the freshman’s first 100-yard game after managing just 1 yard on four carries against Tennessee last week.

“Mark Ingram, who has struggled a little bit the last couple of weeks, sure did look good today,” Saban said.

Coffee rushed for 56 yards and scored to cap that opening drive before sitting out the second half. Saban said he sustained a biceps bruise but didn’t expect him to miss practice time.

John Parker Wilson completed 15 of 28 passes for 158 yards and was intercepted once.

Wilson’s 12 consecutive completions dating back to last week’s game at Tennessee tied Andrew Zow’s school record set in 2000. The streak ended when Julio Jones couldn’t hold onto his second pass attempt.

The final score could have been even more lopsided, but the Tide was turned back four times on trips into Arkansas State territory, including an interception on the goal line and a missed field goal.

Arkansas State crossed midfield twice in the fourth quarter but the drives ended with a failed fourth-down play and a sack on third down.

“We did some good things, we just didn’t do enough of them, and they showed why they are the No. 2 team in the country,” Red Wolves coach Steve Roberts said. “They are a very, very powerful and very physical football team.”

Quarterback Corey Leonard passed for just 67 yards and was intercepted once and sacked four times, seldom getting time to find open receivers. Reggie Arnold gained 72 yards on 15 carries for the Red Wolves.

They converted just two of 12 third-down plays.

“When we would put one or two plays together, when it came to a big first down or something like that, they really would come after us and overpower us a lot of the times,” Leonard said.

The Tide led only 14-0 at halftime but breezed down the field to open the third quarter. Upchurch’s 22-yard run capped a four-play, 70-yard drive after Ingram tallied 43 yards on two runs.

Johnson, meanwhile, spearheaded the dominant defensive performance. He had 13 tackles and 2.5 stops for losses besides the interception return that made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter. It was the Tide’s fourth defensive touchdown of the season.

“It felt great,” Johnson said. “I’ve never scored before. It was a big play. We needed some momentum, and it boosted the offense, too. I looked up, saw it, reeled it in and then all I saw was the sideline.”

And now it’s on to LSU. It’s OK, Alabama. You can mention those three letters.

“We hadn’t looked or talked about LSU at all,” Wilson said. “Now we can.”

RAMMER JAMMER INDEED!

Almost empty TN stadium being rocked by tens of thousands of bama fans who traveled to see the tide play screaming Rammer Jammer!

HEY VOLS!

RAMMER JAMMER!!!!!!!

No. 2 Alabama cruises to 29-9 win over Tennessee

By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer Oct 26, 12:25 am EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Nick Saban has turned the “Third Saturday in October” rivalry back to Alabama’s favor, and left Phillip Fulmer with yet another ugly loss to explain to Tennessee’s many disgruntled fans.
The second-ranked Crimson Tide cruised to a 29-9 win over the Volunteers on Saturday night for its first back-to-back victories since 1991-92.
“This is a great rivalry with great tradition with two outstanding universities, and I’m really proud of the way our players played,” Saban said.
While Alabama (8-0, 5-0, Southeastern Conference) remained in the heart of the national championship race, Tennessee’s season grew sorrier. A lopsided loss to a bitter rival will only increase the pressure on Fulmer, who’s been a prime target for critics and disgruntled Vols fans this season.
This was a rivalry he dominated early in his career, winning seven straight 1995-2001. Alabama has won three out of the last four contests, and Saban owns a 4-1 record against the Vols (3-5, 1-4).
“It’s just a special rivalry and a special game to all of us involved in it in different ways. I’ll be back up tomorrow. I’m not down. I just got a lot on my mind right now,” Fulmer said.
Alabama, the SEC’s best rushing team, went to the air in the first half, gaining 117 yards compared to 32 on the ground.
Alabama started its final first-half drive on the Tennessee 34 after Daniel Lincoln missed a 51-yard field goal attempt. John Parker Wilson didn’t miss on the drive, completing passes of 19 and 35 yards to Julio Jones and a 4-yarder to Glen Coffee.
On fourth-and-1 at the 3, Coffee punched the ball into the end zone to give the Crimson Tide a 13-3 lead with 2:41 before halftime. Alabama is 5-for-5 on fourth down attempts this season.
Tennessee drove to the Alabama 14, but back-to-back penalties for illegal formation and pass interference pushed the Vols back 20 yards, and Lincoln missed a 43-yard field goal attempt to close the half.
“Them missing a field goal before the half was a real momentum thing,” Saban said.
After that, it was all Alabama for two quarters as the trademark Tide rushing game returned.
Roy Upchurch ran 35 yards of a 79-yard drive before Wilson drove the ball 1-yard for a touchdown to put Alabama up 22-3 with 6:25 in the third quarter. Wilson missed a 2-point conversion pass to Nick Walker.
Upchurch ran for much of the subsequent Crimson Tide drive and scored on a 4-yard run to make it a 29-3 game with 9:43 left. He finished with 86 yards rushing.
Alabama outgained Tennessee 366-173, and finished with 178 yards rushing. Jones caught six passes for a career-high 103 yards, and Wilson finished 17-for-24 for 188 yards.
The Vols’ defense gave Tennessee plenty of chances to stay in the game, limiting Alabama to its lowest first-quarter score of the season with six points. The Crimson Tide has outscored opponents 101-6 in the first 15 minutes.
Tennessee stopped Alabama twice just outside the red zone and once inside. Leigh Tiffin kicked field goals of 39, 43 and 30 yards.
“We didn’t start off the way we’ve been starting off,” Wilson said. “We kind of got behind and had to come back and score in the second half, and I think we did a really good job.”
But the Vols struggled to put together drives, reverting back to the inept offense which has plagued them much of the season. Tennessee went three-and-out seven times in 11 drives and missed two field goal tries.
The closest Tennessee got to the end zone in the first half was when Dennis Rogan recovered Javier Arenas’ fumbled punt return at the Alabama 5, but the Vols went backward 9 yards on the drive. Daniel Lincoln kicked a 31-yard field goal to tied the game at 3 with 6:28 in the first quarter.
Two Alabama pass interference penalties kept a Tennessee drive alive in the fourth quarter, and Nick Stephens found Josh Briscoe on a 10-yard pass to make it 29-9 with 7:26 left, well after the game was already out of reach.
Stephens finished 16-for-28 for 137 yards.
“I felt like we had every chance in the world coming into the second half the way our defense was playing. We stopped ourselves like we have in past weeks,” Stephens said.