When South Carolina named Steve Spurrier its head coach over the 2004-05
offseason, the announcement drew varying degrees of surprise and
bemusement from the Alabama fan base.
One of the other
emotions that surfaced was relief, as South Carolina goes off the
Alabama schedule after this year. The next time Alabama plays South
Carolina, it may very well be in the Georgia Dome for all the SEC
marbles.
Last week's record: 6-1 (85.7%)
Season record: 16-2 (88.9%)
Two big games are on the slate for this week, as Alabama takes on South
Carolina and Tennessee heads down to The Swamp for what the Volunteers
hope will be a little Urban Destruction. Last week's games went pretty
much as planned, except for Vanderbilt going into Fayetteville,
outscoring Arkansas 15-0 in the fourth quarter and heading back to
Nashville undefeated. The Commodores have a chance at 3-0 this week,
while the other big sub-story will be how Mississippi State handles
Tulane in the Green Wave's first game since Hurricane Katrina.
Week 3 brings us a brand
spanking new format that I think you'll all love. The rules are
still the same, but you'll like the formatting of the page and the
available reports much better!
The buzzword around college football this week has been resiliency.
With the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles displaced due to the havoc
reeked by Katrina on the Gulf Coast we found two different trains of
thought this past week. One was being away from home, practicing in a
new environment while being overwhelmed by worries about family and
friends, here's a team that'll have difficulty focusing on their task at
hand.
The Auburn Tigers
registered their first shutout since 2000, when they defeated
Alabama 9-0, by shutting out the Bulldog offense in route to a 28-0
victory. The Tigers, coming off a season opening loss to Georgia
Tech, returned to football of ole' with a stingy defense and using
the run to set up the pass unlike they did last weekend.
The 2005
Alabama-Southern Miss game figures to close the book on this
long-standing series. With home game gate receipts now a precious
commodity and the Golden Eagles getting stronger as a program,
Alabama will have to look elsewhere for a team that will agree to
come to Bryant-Denny Stadium for every contest.
Last week's
record: 10-1 (90.9%)
Season record: 10-1 (90.9%)
It was almost a
perfect first week for the Predictions Dept., as only an upset of
Auburn by Georgia Tech spoiled our record. But then again, when
Auburn loses, how many Alabama fans are really that upset? This
week's slate of games is much smaller than last week's, but the
drama gets turned up a bit, as Auburn tries to turn things around
against Mississippi State and Steve Spurrier gets his first shot at
Georgia since coming back to the SEC.
Of all the
openers played by Alabama . . . this was one of them.
That's about all
you can say about a game that found Alabama only up two points at
the half over a team that would win three games maximum in the SEC.
But at the same time, you have to note that Alabama is undefeated
after week one, something two of the other Division I-A schools in
the state can't say.
Coming off a very successful
preseason, Shaud enters his second season with the Buffalo Bills.
With camp a thing of the past and the season opener against Houston
looming on Sunday, Shaud and I sat down to reflect on training camp
and look ahead to the upcoming season.
Monday August
8, 2005
by Jess Nicholas
Editor in Chief
In a strange twist, Alabama is one of the SEC's most veteran teams,
despite the ravages of NCAA probation. The Crimson Tide returns 16
starters, including nine from a defense that ranked second nationally in
total defense and led NCAA Division-IA in pass defense. But at the same
time, Alabama is once again little more than a one-deep team at many
positions, and for the second time in three years, will be replacing
both the starting kicker and the starting punter. READ MORE
HERE
Wed.
Aug
24, 2005
by Jess Nicholas
Editor in Chief
This may be it for head coach Bobby Johnson. He begins his fourth
season at Vanderbilt and will coach a team made up largely of
players he recruited himself. While Vanderbilt fans probably aren't
expecting a bowl game, they are expecting improvement, and an end to
close, disappointing losses to teams the Commodores should have
beaten. In 2004, Vanderbilt squandered chances to beat Kentucky,
Rutgers, Navy and Ole Miss -- all winnable games, and if the
Commodores had beaten all four teams, they would have been bowling
in Shreveport in December. And that doesn't include the near-miracle
the Commodores nearly pulled against rival Tennessee, finally
falling 38-33.
July
& August 2005
by
CrimsonSurfer & runtheoption22
TideFans.com Moderators
A little more all-in-one, in-depth look, as of
Aug. 1.
Quarterback:
Tim Tebow- We've heard all the rumors. "Bama vs. UF, they don't
like Meyer, Bama vs. Mich., Florida leads, Bama leads, USC, Mich,
and UF are his top 3." It goes on and on. What's the truth? We
are in his top 6 or 7, thus far. He has a strong relationship
with CMS. But, the main thing for him will probably be how we do
this season. If we show some potency, I think we'll be in it
until the end. Still, UF's ties, distance, etc. may be too much.
Staying optimistic.
To provide BamaNation citizens (all
TideFans worldwide) the best, most accurate, most current, most fun,
and fan- friendliest content of any Alabama website.
(c) 1999-2005 BamaNation Partners, LLC. All
rights reserved.
TideFans.com is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with
The University of Alabama or the Alabama Alumni Association.
Save
This Page
Aim This Page
Discuss
Thur
Sep. 15, 2005
