Matt Caddell catches the winning TD pass.
Photo from the Tuscaloosa News
AP Photo
One-man cheering section AL.com
"When my alarm went off at 2:45 a.m. this morning, it did not feel like football time.
Afghanistan is nine and a half hours ahead of Alabama time, making it inconvenient for a Crimson Tide fan to catch his team in the ESPN night game."
An in depth look at Alabama's 41-38 win against Arkansas Tuscaloosa News
"Alabama had played 65 games since the last time it won due to a fourth-quarter touchdown, 14-13 against Iowa State in the 2001 Independence Bowl (Andrew Zow to Terry Jones). It’s believed to be the first in a “home” game since the 1996 Iron Bowl in Birmingham (Freddie Kitchens to Dennis Riddle), in Gene Stallings’ final season."
Tide, Tigers pass in the night Birmingham News, Kevin Scarbinsky
Terry Grant now ranks fifth in the nation in rushing according to ESPNU
Caddell TD caps wild finish as Bama upsets Arkansas ESPNU (video included)
Saban already has Tide on the rise Washington Times
Alabama back in AP poll for first time since 2005 ESPNU
Notre Dame, Auburn, Oklahoma State among teams looking for do-overs ESPNU
"In the five seasons from 2002 to 2006, Alabama trailed in 27 fourth quarters -- and failed to rally for the win in any of them. So what did the Crimson Tide do when faced with their first fourth-quarter deficit of the Nick Saban era? They won, of course (hey, he doesn't get paid the big bucks for nothing). After Darren McFadden and Arkansas scored 28 straight points to take a 38-31 lead in the last stanza, Bama responded with a field goal, then a game-winning touchdown with 8 seconds remaining. It was the program's first fourth-quarter rally since a Dennis Franchione-led Tide team beat Iowa State 14-13 in the 2001 Independence Bowl."
Bama rally resounds across state Tommy Hicks Mobile Press Register
"Today -- right now -- it is the best team in the state and it's not close. And Troy, which played Florida closer than Tennessee and handed Oklahoma State a more impressive spanking than Georgia, is probably No. 2. "
Power already shifting in state Crimson White
SEC Football Players of the Week Announced Grant makes it three in a row...
"SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK TERRY GRANT Running Back ALABAMA 5-10 • 188 Lumberton, Miss. (HS) Grant rushed for 96 yards on 20 carries in Alabama's 41-38 win against Arkansas. Grant had 96 of the Tide's 123 rushing yards against the Razorbacks and had 20 of the team's 34 rushes. His 39 yard run on 3rd-and-1 in the first quarter, helped set up Alabama's second touchdown to put the Tide ahead, 14-0. He is second in the SEC with 134.3 rushing yards per game and five rushing touchdowns."
Hogs Forced To Deal With Alabama Fallout Bamamag.com
Tide earns ranking, also learns Paul Gattis Huntsville Times
Saban: Adversity part of great victories Montgomery Advertiser
Stats
John Parker Wilson ranks 4th in the SEC in Total Offense (666 passing, 14 rushing - 680 total) #57 in the nation
Terry Grant ranks 11th in the SEC in Total Offense (415 rushing, 39 receiving - 403 total) #107 in the nation, ranks 2nd in the SEC in Yards Pergame (134 yards) - #8 in the nation, tied for 3rd in the SEC in scoring with 30 points - #26 in the nation
Musselman kicker Smith boots Central Martinsburg, WV Journal
"BUNKER HILL —The Musselman locker room was rocking to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” after Friday night’s 20-13 win over Central-Woodstock, Va., and it was all Corey Smith’s doing.Smith, the Applemen senior kicker committed to play Alabama next season, booted a 59-yard field goal off a rare free-kick opportunity after drilling a 47-yarder earlier in the game. The 59-yarder, pending certification with the Secondary Schools Athletic Association, shatters the old state mark of 55 yards held by Nitro’s John Hogshead (1977) and Fayetteville’s Craig Williams.“Yeah, it’s kinda cool,” Smith said. “But to get that ‘W’ on the board, that’s the main thing.”"
3 comments:
Three things:
1. Many writers (McCarter chief among them) say the FG at 4:30 was a bad call and only luck made Saban look good. Well, I wanted the FG from the minute the third down play fell short. 4th and 5 was too big a gamble and a TD would only tie it. Bama's defense was worn out and did not have enough gas for overtime. Four minutes, yes. Overtime, no. He trusted the defense (which just had it's longest breather in over an hour) to rise to the occasion and they did. Four minutes was plenty of time.
2. Right now, every team in the West is beatable with the probable exception of LSU. Second place and a significant bowl are totally within reach. We’ve already knocked off the presumptive second place finisher and have head-to-head advantage over them. Auburn is a train wreck but they still have talent and (if they can learn to keep the ball) the Iron Bowl will be a fight. Miss State will be tough but we’ll be out for blood after last year. Ole Miss looks weaker.
As for East opponents, Georgia looks roughly equivalent to Bama right now. Tennessee is the type of game where anything can happen but it’s in Tuscaloosa. Non-conference? FSU’s the only name and they are in freefall. We’ll probably drop one of these if Bama has another schizophrenic game like they did Saturday. Which they probably will. They’re still awful young. I’m so glad S. Carolina and Florida aren’t on the schedule this year!
9-3 and (dare I say?) 10-2 are within reach. I lean toward the 9-3 because eventually they’ll learn some lessons the hard way. But the future is looking great!
3. ROLL TIDE!!!
Great comment Johnny! That should be a post of it's own! I agree with everything you said, especially number three.
Actually, I have a confession to make. I did not agree with the FG at the time. I am so glad that I was wrong! I did not trust our defense's ability to stop McFadden. I did not realize he had been injured.
I was really impressed with the way Wilson and Caddell, et al, handled the two minute offense.
It is a long season and based on what we've seen, 9-3 does not look out of the question. If things take a turn for the worse, it could still be 7-5, but that is looking less and less likely with every passing week. No, 10-2 isn't out of the question.
Only LSU is clearly more talented than the Tide. There are four other games that could go either way. If we win two of those
As I was saying, before I inadvertantly pressed the 'enter" key....
Even if Alabama loses to LSU and wins two of the following (GA, FSU, UT, and AU), along with winning the other games that we should win, then we will go 9-3.
That seems like a reasonable expectation at this point.
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