Thoughts from the Chick

That’s short for - Thank God It’s the Bye Week.

Alabama needs it. 

And I do too. 

After a whirlwind trip over to T-town this weekend for a game that wreaked havoc on my every last nerve, I am very glad to say that it’s the bye week. 

So, here are my thoughts and some questions after the game against Tennessee - so please let me know if you have any insight on some of these, ok???

First off - before I say anything else - Thank you Terrence Cody.  My goodness - the big man deserves a lot of love for those 2 blocked kicks - especially the game-ender.  So, thank you again, Terrence Cody - get ready for your Daniel Moore print, sir, because you earned it this weekend. 

Second - thank you Rolondo McClain for remembering to down the ball after the blocked field goal that saved the game.

Third - thank you Leigh Tiffin for scoring all of our points in the game - especially those 2 long ones that barely made it. 

Now, on to the things that pissed me off this weekend…

Why in the world did we run 2 pass plays when we were inside the 20 and had 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1?  We have one of the best running backs in the nation.  Why in the hell would we run 2 pass plays in a row, when we just needed 1 yard?  Now, I have never proclaimed to know more about football than any coach out there, but that just makes no sense to me. 

If it were up to me, and we were on 3rd and short in any game for the rest of the damn season, I would run one of these 2 plays - pistol formation with handoff to Ingram OR wildcat formation with Ingram taking the direct snap.  All we needed was 1 yard.  1 YARD!!!  And we would have had 3 more tries for the endzone. 

SEC Referees - I really don’t know what to say here. 

Holding calls - missed.  And I’m not talking about little holds - I’m talking holding by the back of the jersey in open space where it’s easy to see.  And they’ve happened the past 2 games in BIG plays that kept drives alive.

Pass interference calls - missed. 

More pass interference calls - missed. 

Getting in the f’ing way of the running back like a damn idiot - well, they got that one right. 

And these are only the problems I saw in our game!  I had hope after the long segment that Paul Finebaum devoted to officiating that things would be better, but damn.  They have seriously got to do something about all of that. 

Now, one last thing, and this has to do with our fans.  Tide fans - who I love so dearly.  All you wonderful Tide fans that sit in the expensive seats on the home side, I’m talkin’ to you now, ok? 

STAND UP AND CHEER!!!!!!!   It’s a football game, for God’s sake, not a golf tournament. 

I was appalled to look over and see a few shakers going over there when we were defending on 3rd down.  Now, I know some of you are older and have had your seats for the past century.  I respect you and want you to come to games as long as you can make it - because I plan on being there when I’m 80 years old too, God willing. 

So, you may not be able to stand up and jump around and act crazy, but you can at least bring in a shaker and SHAKE IT!!!! 

So, come on people!!!  We’ve got a DAMN GOOD football team - make some noise for them, PLEASE.  I can’t do it all by myself (try as I might and to the great dismay to those sitting directly beside and in front of me).  You guys pay enough to sit in those scholarship seats - so, why not act like you actually enjoy it!

I guess that’s enough bitchin’ for now…

So, TGIBW.  I hope that all the players, coaches and the many other overly-invested fans like myself get some much needed rest this week. 

Because LSU’s comin’ in 2 weeks….

But if you want to relive that last play and hear just how loud it was in the stadium afterward - this is a great video of the blocked field goal and the pandamonium that ensued.  Roll Tide.

Check out the new section on TheFootballChick.com -

For Chick’s Only!

I think you’ll find some interesting stuff there.  And some opportunities for you to get involved with the site… 

Thoughts, please???

I really miss the old Steve Spurrier.  I wrote about it back in August before the season even started - he’s just lost his umph. 

We’ve seen glimpses of him occasionally - my favorite still being that he continued yelling at Lane Kiffin as he got onto the elevator at the SEC Coaches Meeting. 

But the old Steve Spurrier wouldn’t have changed his vote in Tebow-gate.  And I don’t think that the old Steve Spurrier would have been such a cry baby to accuse another team of using a piece of tape to mark a kick - maybe at least not until he made sure his own team wasn’t doing the same thing.

I’d rather have the old, snarky, smart-ass Steve Spurrier any day than the cry baby that’s come out this week in the media.  I’d take that Steve Spurrier any day. 

Problem is that he used to be able to walk the walk to back up his talk.  Now his talk just sounds like sour grapes.

Take a look at Coach Saban’s response about 6 minutes in to his most recent press conference -

Click here to link to a pretty funny article from the Gainesville Sun’s Gatorsports.com. 

The basic gist is that the Gator Nation is doing the same thing that I’ve heard so many of the Bama Nation do this week on talk radio - get ahead of themselves.

If our beloved Coach Saban has our players focused on “One Game at a Time, Sweet Jesus” - then why can’t we fans do the same thing? 

Well, at least we know we’re not the only ones with this problem.  It seems that symptoms are spreading all over the SEC - especially in Florida.

On a rainy morning and in tons of traffic, I had plenty of time to listen to sports talk radio and the guys in Atlanta were talking about Bama.  Shocking, I know! 

Now let me be clear - it came in the context of a conversation about the current problems at the University of Georgia.  But in the commentary, one of the hosts said that in his opinion, and I’m paraphrasing here – “Forget Urban Meyer, what scares me is what Nick Saban is doing at Alabama.”  

So, Alabama now is making headlines outside of the State of Alabama - and not just in the national sports media - but in markets whose fan-bases aren’t Alabama and typically don’t spend a lot of time discussing other schools unless the home-team is playing them.   

The good news is that I have something more interesting to listen to on my drive.  The bad news, is that Coach Saban is going to have to work extra hard to keep his players focused on each and every game.   

Alabama knows it has a bulls-eye on its back.  You hear the coaches and players talk about it in their Q&A’s with the press each week.  But will the players be able to go out and play every game like they have something to prove for the next half of the season?  

With Steve Spurrier already talking about Saturday’s matchup, “We’ll see if we can do some upsetting next week,”  and with some renewed confidence from a Tennessee team that just beat the crap out of Georgia, we better get ready to bring it the next 2 weeks.

  Bama jumps Texas in the AP Top 25 to move to the #2 spot in the polls.

Roll Tide Roll!

And if you know DeadSpin, you know that’s probably not a good thing. 

The first appearance was because of the “Roll Tide” that Kendall Gryzb’s father shouted when coming out of the courthouse this week after hearing that charges were being dropped against his daughter, and more importantly, Courtney Upshaw. 

The 2nd appearance, and in my opinion, the much more entertaining one - is that apparrently Taylor Fortenberry posts weekly trash talk videos before all the Bama games.  And apparrently, the Ole Miss fans were not amused with his video post this week.  One going so far to say that he would like to “jab a knife down [Fortenberry’s] nostril.” 

LOL!  I don’t know why, but that is just really funny to me.  “Jab a knife down his nostril.”  Ha!

Anyway, I guess the threats were significant enough to make Fortenberry stay at home this weekend -

Take a look at his video, and let me know if you think it was inciteful enough to be “knife in nostril”-worthy.

I have to say -

We looked good today.  We looked really good. 

Now, I know we had a lot of red zone opportunities that we didn’t convert to 7, but against a good SEC defense, in a hostile situation - in a situation where most people thought the game would run right down to the wire - we looked good.

And our defense looked damn good.   Yes, sirree. 

You can see all the stats - 19 yards and only one first down for Ole Miss in the 1st half.  Even Coach Saban had high praise for his defense and their first half play, “That’s about as fine a defensive performance in the first half as I’ve been around in a while.”

How ’bout Cory Reamer?  He must have got a fire lit under his ass, because what a game he had today.

And McClain?  Goodness. 

Lorenzo Washington, Terence Cody, Kareem Jackson…the list goes on and on, and I know I’m missin’ people.

And on offense, we did a good job of taking care of the ball and making smart decisions.   What can you say about Mark Ingram?  He just does not quit - he’s a bowling ball.  Basically, he is the definition of a baller.

We finished the game well.  We showed a lot of guts in the way that we played.  Take a look at Saban’s post-game interview below -

And What about this FL/LSU Game????? 

Ok - so that was a pretty corny title -

But, I’ve said before that if my Sister-Chick was calm and confident, and I was anxious, then all was right in the world.  I talked to her on Tuesday and she is calm and confident, simply stating, “I think we’ll be alright.”

I, on the other hand, am anxious about the game. 

Houston Nutt worries me.  He gets that wild look in his eye, and it’s a little scary.  He’s closed practice this week.  He’s asking the fans for a “blue-out.”  What is he doing over there?

Or is he just trying to make us wonder what he’s doing over there?

Probably a little of both. 

I’m sure that he’ll have some tricks up his sleeve – he wouldn’t be Houston Nutt without a few tricks.  But I also think that our coaching staff and players have to expect some trickery.

Here are my 3 cents – We gotta pressure Snead like we did Mallett – get him off balance early and force some mistakes.  We gotta stop the run a heck of a lot better than we did with

I just hope our team is ready to hit some Rebs, because that’s what we’re going to have to do this weekend to win. 

As the title implies, here are my random thoughts from the weekend.  Maybe you noticed other note-worthy, random events over the weekend - if so, let me know about them!

ESPNU - love your recaps of the game, but “Game Ball” from the Chick for the Alabama vs Kentucky game would go to Rolondo McClain.  Interceptions, forced fumbles….what else do you need to give a player some love? 

Good job Michigan State!!!

Tennessee, does it scare you to have Auburn do the tiger walk into Neyland?  Doesn’t look like it did ya any good to cancel it. 

But Auburn, I have to ask - Why are you doing a tiger walk with band, cheerleaders, and the whole 9 yards at someone else’s stadium anyway?

Excuse me, Mr. LSU player (I think it was Brandon Lafell?), if you have to write “Play Maker” on your eyeblack, then maybe you should just make more plays so that people know it without you telling them. 

And why are the SEC officials suddently turning into celebration police???  C’mon - that celebration from Georgia’s AJ Green was excessive?  Because he pointed to the crowd???  Please.  And then you turn around and give LSU an excessive celebration penalty as well, just to make it even?  Let the guys play, please.  Let them play.  Mr. Ref - I think you’d want to celebrate too if you just made a catch like AJ Green made.  So, Mr. Ref who made that call, you can suck it. 

And as the photo above shows, even Nick Saban doesn’t like the Refs!

And last but not least - apparrently Miami’s Jacory Harris is a fan of Spongebob: “‘Listen, the only thing we’re going to watch on TV from now on is SpongeBob. We ain’t watching ESPN, CBS or ABC. If SpongeBob is talking about us, then we deserve it.”   Well said, Jacory, well said!