NIU

[Bama323]

The loss to NIU was the result of a combination of several things.

#1, that was the first year the scholarship reductions really started to have an effect on our team. Sure, we won 10 games the year before, but we had alot of depth in 2002.

#2, NIU had a good team that year and they were well coached.

#3, Shula did not have them ready to play like they needed to be.

All of those factors contributed to the loss. Shula wasn't the only problem, but he did necessarily help us any either.

 

[tidefan39817]

I just remember Turner running all over us. It seemed like our defense just wore out late in the game. That's the biggest thing that cost us that game was our poor conditioning.

so from season one to season four...Shula never had the players in shape??

 

[theBIGyowski]

The worst loss I actually sat through was the USM game in 2000. We lost 21-0 and until then I never saw an Alabama team as unprepared, disheartened and disoriented. Seems like every time USM was running a play we had some late defensive player run on the field not knowing where he was suppose to be. I don't recall exactly but I don't think we ever got inside their 25 yd line the entire game. But the worst thing was as we were leaving the stadium, the players were walking off the field into the tunnel and fans were lined up cussing them, taunting them and even throwing drinks on them. That was the game when Dubose offered his resignation to Mal Moore and Moore wouldn't accept it. A sad day for Alabama football.

That was the worst loss I have ever attended. It was also the last time I ever sat on the 50 yard line for a Bama game. I was a student in 2000 and somehow got 50 yard line tickets from someone...so we used them since it was in Bham and not at BDS...the student section was just different so we didn't care about not sitting there. Like I said...first and last time I ever sat there. Horrible game. We couldn't do anything right...at all. Shula might have been a little rough...but he was not Dubose.

 

[imauafan]

A co-worker who was at the game said he knew we would lose during warm-ups. He said our players were clowning around, dropping passes, etc. while the NIU players went through their warm-ups very business-like. I have no idea if that is true or not, I wasn't at the game but it seemed to fit with everything else that went one over the past 4 years.

 

[Anchovy]

Nothing was Shula's fault. We just didn't execute

 

[TexasBama]

Yeah, it was 99 and it was pretty bad. Probably worse than the NIU loss since we had so much firepower on that team,. I thought that game was going to be the end of Dubose, right there. I guess that was a wake-up call because the next week, we beat Arkansas and the week after, knocked off the Gators in the Swamp. Went on to win the SEC that year.

The really aggravating part about La Tech was we knocked Rattay out of the game near the end, and the backup QB came in and threw the winning TD.