Week 1 College Football Results 2008

Last weekend marked the beginning of the College Football season. Alabama worked out a high profile game to begin the season. The match-up was to be at a neutral site between two teams in two conferences that do not meet on a regular basis. Thus a game was scheduled at the Georgia Dome between Alabama and Clemson.

Recently the season was expanded from 11 games to 12. However, SEC teams have to play 8 conference games. The conference has 12 teams broken down into 2 divisions, Eastern and Western. Each division has 6 teams. So, each team much play the 5 teams from their division. In Alabama's case it is Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State, and Auburn. Which leaves 3 more SEC games to be filled. One is reserved for a teams 'rival' in the other division, for Alabama this game is Tennessee. The two other games are rotated through the remainder of the Eastern division teams, where they are on the schedule for two seasons where each team will have an away game and a home game against that opponent. This season Alabama plays at Georgia and hosts Kentucky.

So that is the 8 game SEC schedule for Alabama. Now that leaves 4 non-conference games that have to be scheduled. Most teams pick 'cream puffs' as they are called. These are teams that are willing to play a big school at that big school because they stand to get a sizable chunk of change. Each team has them. Alabama plays two Sun Belt Conference teams in Western Kentucky (South Alabama's rival basketball school) and Arkansas State. Tulane was picked up as a third, which is not surprising because Alabama has played them several times in the recent past. Some teams have even played teams from a lower division. Last season Michigan was upset by Appalachian State in Michigan. Appalachian State is from the next lower division, what used to be called Division II ( I think they are now called 'Football Bowl Subdivision' while the old Division I is now known as 'Bowl Championship Series').

Now we come back to the final, or in all actuality the first, non-conference spot. Occasionally you get teams schedule a strong non-conference team to help give them a better strength of schedule ranking. In Alabama's case, or more like in Saban's case, it also serves in another capacity. A key recruiting tool.

While the signing season just ended what seemed like a couple months ago, recruiting is a year-round thing. Coaches want to get the best players for their system at positions that need filling. Thus this game served to showcase Alabama's talent, hard work and their overall program on the national stage. What a huge recruiting tool.

There were a fair share of 'cream puff' games going on this past weekend. Its not unheard of for one of those 'cream puffs' to come back and bit you in the rear. Just ask Michigan last year, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and somewhat Tennessee this week. Sometimes the case may be that you just don't look too good against these 'cream puffs'. Take Georgia for instance. They were ranked #1 coming into the season and have one of the best teams in the nation. However, their performance against Georgia Southern was lack luster thus they fell to #2.

Analysis of the game had Clemson being the top team in the ACC this season coming in to play the 5th or 6th best team in the SEC. Clemson has alot of speed on its side and what are considered the best running back tandem in the NCAA.

I think this quote summed up the game pretty well: "Alabama came ready for a fist fight, Clemson came ready for the High School dance." Which was true. Alabama did a great job containing the Clemson speed except for one play (opening kickoff after halftime ran back for a touchdown). The running back tandem of 'Thunder and Lightning' were held to 0 (zero, nada, nothing) yards rushing.

Alabama won the game 34-10 on the shoulders of some veterans and freshmen alike. Jim McElwain has done a great job simplifying the offense and using the run to open up the passing game. He found a game plan that chewed up time off of the clock and gave everyone lots of confidence. Clemson only held the ball for a little over 18 minutes of the game. Its hard to keep up or come back from a big deficit if you cannot hold onto the ball.

It must be stressed: This is just one game. There are 11 more games to come in the season and each game must be taken serious. One game is not an indication of how good the team is or how good they will be down the stretch. Tough games are yet to come at Georgia, at Tennessee, at LSU and at home against Auburn. But what you can take away from this game is that the team as a whole has improved, have worked hard and want to win. With this young talent, Alabama could be quite formidable in the next couple seasons.

After the win, Alabama moved up in the AP Poll. Previously 24th they are now 13 while Clemson fell from 9th to just outside of the top 25. In the coaches poll Alabama moved up to 17 while Clemson fell to 22.

NCAA Polls

Hurricane Gustav blows on through

Gustav reared its head yesterday here on the gulf coast. Louisiana took the full force of its landing but Alabama was on the far eastern edges. While we didn't get the sustained winds of 100+ MPH, we did get some tropical storm force winds and higher gusts, plenty of rain, and our share of tornado warnings.

At my previous place of residence, whenever it came a normal Mobile rain, it would form a rather large puddle of water in the back yard that I affectionately dubbed "Lake Ponchakacey". So I was eager to see how my new place would fare with a tropical system. My new definition of flooding was a puddle near the back patio that might, just might get both of your shoes wet at the same time. It will not completely cover your shoes but would be enough to seep in and get them nice and wet.

Now I have a few limbs down in the yard, like most everyone else in the area, that I must clean up.

New Orleans fared pretty well this time around. The new levees held strong even though they did have plenty of over-topping at the Industrial Canal as shown on several news reports. But they did not fail and New Orleans has been spared again. But it was clearly shown that the residents of New Orleans took this storm serious and evacuated and that New Orleans is truly screwed if a strong hurricane hits them just right.

Louisiana is starting to access damage and cleaning up. But eyes are again on the tropics with Hanna threatening Florida and the rest of the east coast. Ike is heading towards a date with Cuba and possibly the Gulf of Mexico. Ike really scares me, because kicked helped to kick the nazi's rear end, so I'm sure he's probably pissed at the course America has taken in the last few years. Then behind Ike there is another tropical depression which would be named Josephine if it were to develop further.

Its like a transatlantic storm super highway out there.

John Mark Stallings 1962-2008

For anyone who is acquainted with Alabama football, especially during Gene Stallings time as head coach, they should know the name John Mark Stallings. He is the son of Gene and Ruth Ann Stallings and was one of the most avid fans of Alabama football and his father Gene's coaching.

John Mark was born with Down syndrome and his health has been fragile for years from coping with a congenital heart defect. He has continually been a source of inspiration for his family and Alabama fans. A very good discussion of what it was like to raise a child with Down syndrome was written by Gene Stallings in the book "Another Season: A Coach's Story of Raising an Exceptional Son."

A reporter from the Tuscaloosa News wrote a touching piece about Gene in September of 2006 saying that he may live in Texas, but he has a piece of Alabama with him. In the article they write about his Alabama memorabilia and the words 'Roll Tide' coming from John Mark's bedroom where they could hear the sounds of a recorded game between Alabama and Florida from the 2005 season. John Mark recalls the names of his favorite football players such as Jay Barker, David Palmer, Brodie Croyle and Mike Shula. But he saved his deepest reverence for those he considered the most important members of the team, the trainers.

Back in 2008 Gene talked about how his son changed his perception of football and his approach on the field, "I had a whole lot less tolerance for the gifted and a whole lot more tolerance for the guy that wasn't quite as gifted. With Johnny, I saw him struggle to walk, struggle to kick a ball, struggle to do everything that he did. So, I had a little tolerance for the guys that had to struggle. If you had talent and didn't lay it on the line, I didn't have much tolerance for you."

In December of 2005 the University of Alabama equipment room was formally dedicated the "John Mark Stallings Equipment Room." While some may not think this is much of an honor, it was deeply cherished by John Mark. Its a fitting tribute to an Alabama son who accompanied his father to every practice and game. He was even awarded a National Championship ring. I think Mal Moore could not have been more correct in his statement about John Mark's passing, "For someone who never played or coached a game, I think John Mark may have touched more Alabama fans than any other person ever did. I would like to thank the Stallings family for sharing their love for John Mark with all of us."

After nearly 40 years of coaching, Stallings announced he was retiring in 1997. John Mark's reaction was to burst into tears upon hearing the news.

John Mark was 46 years old and an Alabama fan through and through until his passing. The 'Bama Nation truly lost a friend and brother.

Victor Ellis lost his fight with cancer

Former University of Alabama linebacker, Victor Ellis, succumbed to his fight with cancer last night at the age of 28. Ellis played for Alabama from 98 through 2001 and was named a permanent team captain.

Victor graduated in 2002 and began working for the University until several months ago when he was diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of cancer. Ellis was diagnosed with cancer after developing a persistent cough last summer. Tumors were found in his lung and kidney and cancerous cells in his chest cavity and elsewhere.

Friend and fellow player Ahmaad Galloway led the way with many former Alabama players in raising money for his medical costs.

Rest in peace Victor.

Jones adds more coaches to football staff

Coach Jones has announced the hiring of a couple coaches for the football program at USA. The first announced was former Auburn quarterback and Mobile native Dameyune Craig as running backs coach at USA. He was most recently the quarterbacks coach at Tuskegee.

The second hire was former Texas A&M offensive coordinator Les Koenning, Jr to fill the same duties at USA. He has 27 years of experience with all but one of them at the collegiate level. The last 10 years he has been coordinating offenses and calling plays starting in 1998 at Duke, before going to Houston in 1999, TCU in 2000 and at Alabama from 2001 through 2003 under former Alabama coach Dennis Franchione when he left for Texas A&M with Franchione.

Koenning has coached teams to 9 bowl games including three straight with A&M, and in 2000 TCU participated in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile.

The third hire was former Prattville HS Head Coach Bill Clark as assistant head coach. In addition he will coordinate the defense and coach linebackers. He spent the last nine years with Prattville where he was the two-time Alabama Class 6A defending champions. His last two teams won 30 consecutive games and the 2007 team ranked #2 in the nation according to USA Today's national high school poll. His overall record at Prattville was 107-11 with his last regular season loss dating back to the second week of the season in 2002.

So, Coach Jones has swept onto campus to thunderous applause and he is continuing this momentum with some good hires for South Alabama.

Now if we can only get an overhaul to the USA Sports website I would be much more happy.
usajaguars.com

Sessions at it again?!?

The government should never give immunity to any company on US soil to get them out of being liable for something they may have done that was illegal. Thus I am against the retroactive immunity Bush is trying to get through congress. But ole Jeff Sessions (Senator AL) is trying to do something else now. You might have read my previous post about him, but for those who did not here is what Sessions said back in December.

"The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than protect our nation's security."

Sessions is now trying to give immunity to other corporations from possible penalties from copyright infringement. Follow this link to read the full article. Here is a little excerpt from the article for your convenience.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sponsored an unusual provision at the urging of the nation’s banks granting them immunity against an active patent lawsuit, potentially saving them billions of dollars.

Adopted with little fanfare , the amendment would prevent a small Texas company called DataTreasury from collecting damages from banks for infringing on its patented method for digitally scanning, sending and archiving checks. The patents were upheld last summer by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after they were challenged.

I'm sorry Mr. Sessions but I do believe that you are no longer representing the people from your district but instead siding with certain people within your party.

While I was out

Well, while I was down and out with what appears to have been the flu I didn't get to write about national signing day. This is the day when High School seniors get to sign their national letter of intent for college football. I don't know if this is the same day for other sports, but who cares.

Alabama comes away with the golden crown of the nations best recruiting class. Fans of other schools may dismiss this as just an off season nothing but it has been shown time and time again that it leads to lots of wins. Here are some cold hard facts.

Bama signed 7 of the top 10 players in the state of Alabama, every single one in the top 5. Auburn was shut out of the top 10.

Bama signed 15 players that were offered scholarships to Auburn. Auburn signed not a single player that was offered a scholarship to Bama.

Alabama has broken the LSU/Auburn sweeps of players from the Mobile area in the last few years. They are starting to recruit outside of the southeast (landing recruits from the Michigan and West Virginia areas). But the biggest thing is that Alabama is back to being a big name amongst prospects.

25 years, yet he still looms larger than life...

25 years ago today the legendary coach Paul William 'Bear' Bryant died.

Bryant said one time, "I'd probably croak in a week if I ever quit coaching." He was off by a little bit. Just 37 days after retiring, coach Bryant died of a heart attack at the age of 69.

His funeral was fitting for a President. So many people showed up in downtown Tuscaloosa that they filled three churches. The five-mile procession rolled slowly down tenth street, past the stadium where he coached for 24 years, past Memorial Coliseum where his office was. Then on to I-59, where all traffic stopped to allow its passage. People lined the interstate from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham to pay their final respects. Officials estimated nearly one million people lined the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, just blocks away from Legion Field which was a home away from home for Alabama.

Homemade banners hung from overpasses, construction workers in hard hats held up messages of "Bear, We Love You and We'll Miss You." Dozens of former players along with other famous coaches mourned his death. Eight players from his last team carried the coffin to the grave site.

Bryant grew up poor as the eleventh of twelve children in Arkansas. Years of hard work had made Bryant strong and hard headed. One day, a man in a covered wagon came to Fordyce, Arkansas offering a dollar a minute to anyone who would wrestle a bear. Young Bryant jumped at the chance since it was better than picking cotton all day for 50 cents. He entered the ring and quickly charged the bear and got it into a bear hug. The bear broke free and bit Bryant on the ear. When he saw blood he quickly left the ring and the man skipped town before Bryant could collect his money. But that was when he became known as "Bear" Bryant.

One afternoon while he was in eighth grade he watched a varsity football practice. The coach walked up to him and asked if he knew how to play. Bryant explained that it was his first time seeing the game. Then the coach told him "See that man down there with the ball? You just go down there and try to kill him." Bryant knew how to do that. When the player caught the ball, Bryant ran him down and destroyed the poor safety. The following Friday he was in the starting lineup. Soon he was an all-star on the very talented team and won a state championship in 1930.

Bryant was enamored with the University of Alabama. He had heard about the Crimson Tide and coach Wallace Wade who had taken his men to three Rose Bowls. Bryant was offered a scholarship to Alabama, the only problem was he was one class short from graduating. It didn't matter, he jumped at the chance to play for the Crimson Tide. He moved to campus in 1931 and attended and graduated from Tuscaloosa High while practicing with the team. Then he enrolled soon after.

Bryant was a good football player but was overshadowed by the legendary Don Hutson, his former high school rival. He was known as "the opposite end" but earned a reputation as a tough player. During a game against Tennessee in 1935, Bryant would reaffirm this reputation by playing with a broken leg. He had the game of his career and an Atlanta new paper requested and received an x-ray to prove his leg was broken.

While as a player at Alabama, he did not win a National Championship but in 1933 and 1934 Alabama captured the first two SEC championships.

Head Coach Frank Thomas hired him as an assistant coach when his playing days ended. Bryant was 23 years old. He married his college sweetheart Mary Harmon and they would have two children. After four years as an assistant coach, Bryant took a job at Vanderbilt and earned the reputation as a demanding coach and strict disciplinarian.

After the 1941 season, Bryant was invited to be interviewed for the head coaching job at Arkansas. The job was his at 28 years old. But Bryant was driving home and was proud. But the day was December 7, 1941 and he overheard on the radio that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day he became Leuteniant Commander Bryant in the US Navy.

After four years in the Navy, he came home and eventually became head coach at Maryland. Bryant got into a dispute with the president at Maryland after he fired one of his assistants without telling him and reinstated a player that had been kicked off the team. He quit and took the coaching job at Kentucky.

Quickly Kentucky turned into winners going 7-3 in his first season. He led them to their only SEC title in 1950 with an 11-1 record after an upset over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and snapping their 31 game winning streak. In 8 years at Kentucky he took them to four bowl games. However, Kentucky was a basketball school led by Adolph Rupp and football was rivaling basketball in popularity. Rupp wanted basketball to be number one and Bryant wanted football to be number one. During a Kentucky sports banquet, after both teams won the conference championship, the university presented Rupp with a brand new Cadillac and presented Bryant with a brand new cigarette lighter. He knew it was time to move on.

So, in 1954 he moved west to Texas A&M. He thought he had the formula for success and wanted to test it out at another school. He inherited an aweful program with few good players. Texas A&M was a tough places to lure players to. No girls, no glamor, military uniforms and at first glance it looked like a penitentiary instead of a college campus.

Bryant knew that he had to instill dicipline and toughness in order for them to compete. So one day during summer practice he loaded up the unsuspecting Aggies into two buses and headed to Junction, Texas. This practice is arguably the toughest training camp in football history. He started with 48 players and came back with 29. Gene Stallings, one of the Junction Boys was quoted saying, "We left in two buses and came back in one, and that one was half full." He put them through hell to build character and to make them realize that things were going to be done his way. While that team had heart and determination they finished the season 1-9, Bryant's only losing record as a head coach. The next season Texas A&M won the Southwest Conference Championship.

During this time the once proud Alabama football program had fallen on tough times, winning only 4 games in the previous 3 years. They fired coach Ears Whitworth after losing 40-0 to Auburn. A press conference was held in Houston, Texas and Paul "Bear" Bryant was announced as the new head coach at Alabama. He called a meeting beforehand with his A&M players and said simply "Gentlemen, I've heard Mama calling and now I'm going home." Crimson Tide football was about to enjoy an era that may never be matched again in the history of college football.

Alabama players had heard how tough he was and how things were going to change. It wasn't long before they saw it first hand. Bryant called a meeting for the afternoon and were warned not to be late. One of Alabama's best players showed up late and was locked out. After a few minutes of him pounding on the door, coach Bryant turned to his assistant and said, "Go see who that is. And tell him, whoever it is, that we don't need him." Then he spoke to the players saying this.

"I'm not worried about whether I'm going to win or lose. I know I'm going to win. I know that. And I'm not worried about my assistant coaches. I know they're winners. And I'm not worried about whether Alabama is going to win. I know that. The only thing I don't know is how many of you in this room are winners, and how many of you will be with us."

While recruiting his first class of players he told his freshmen that if they followed his rules and played the way he demanded, they would win the National Championship before they graduated.

He instantly turned the program around with a 5-4-1 season, which was more wins that in the previous 36 games. His second year they went 7-2-2 and earned a trip to the Liberty Bowl. Then in 1961 he went 11-0 and won the National Championship after beating Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. His promise to his freshmen proved accurate. It was Alabama's sixth National Championship and Bryant's first.

Then a young quarterback from Pennsylvania was impressed by Bryant's reputation and decided to sign with the Crimson Tide in 1962. He was Joe Namath. He threw three TD's in his first game beating Georgia 35-0. Alabama won the National Championship in 1964 with Namath and repeated in 1965 with Steve Sloan as quarterback. Kenny Stabler then succeded Sloan in 1966, but the undefeated Crimson Tide lost the National Championship to Notre Dame team with an inferior record. If you want to read about this story, look for the book "The Missing Ring: How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize."

Alabama would field good teams through the 60's going 90-16-4. But a 6-5 season in 1969 was the only disappointment. Alabama was named team of the decade and Bryant coach of the decade.

Another disappointing season in 1970 going 6-5-1 had critics and fans wondering if Bryant's magical touch had aged too much. Bryant himself had wondered if the college game had passed him by. He considered retirement and even offers from the NFL. He knew he had to do something different.

The 1971 season would be a turning point for Alabama. First, Bryant was credited with helping to stimulate the integration of southern college football by recruiting Alabama's first black player. Secondly, Bryant would engineer an offensive change from the pro-attack to the wishbone and setting us the dominance of the 70s.

While the University of Alabama and other southern schools had an integrated student body for years, no SEC school had a black athlete on their team. Bryant was by no means a racist but simply did not pay much attention to the issue of integration, mainly because he continued to win with his formula. His formula needed some adjusting.

Bryant saw good black players moving out of state, then coming back and beating his teams. He knew this was an unfair advantage and the trend had to change. Within a year all of the other SEC schools had black athletes on their roster.

Leading up to the '71 season he secretly worked on the new offense. Even putting up tarps to hide it from the public and the press. When they did invite the press to watch some practice they would show the old pro-attack offense until they left. Alabama surprised the heavily favored USC Trojans and won 17-10.

The wishbone triggered Bryant's dominance of the 70s where he won three more National Championships in 73, 78 and 79 and won 8 SEC championships. Alabama finished the decade with an incredible 103-16-1 record. Considering 1970 was 6-5.

On November 28, 1981 when Alabama rallied with 2 touchdowns in a 28-17 win over Auburn, Bryant surpassed Amos Alonzo Stagg's record of 314 wins.

The Liberty Bowl was a fitting place to end his career. It was his first bowl game as the head coach at Alabama and the last. After a disappointing season in 1982 he announced that he was retiring at seasons end because he wasn't pleased with himself anymore.

"This is my school, my alma mater. I love it and I love my players. But in my opinion they deserved better coaching than they have been getting from me this year."

That last game was a win over Illinois 21-15. A fitting end for the legend. It capped off 323 career wins, at that time the winning coach in college football history.

Paul "Bear" Bryant concluded his Tide career with a 232-46-9 record with an 82.4 winning percentage, six national championships, 25 winning seasons, 24 bowl game selections, national coach of the year 3 times, SEC coach of the year 10 times, and broke Stagg's record of 314 victories. He was inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

Bryant was more than a coach, he was a motivator. He knew people and he knew how to get them to play above their expectations. William Poling said, "Coach Bryant knew more about you than you knew about yourself, he knew when to give you hell, and he knew when to pat you on the back." Florida A&M coach, Jake Gaither said of Coach Bryant, "He can take his'n' and beat you'rn', and he can take you'rn' and beat his'n'." Former Kentucky player, George Blanda often stated, "This must be what God looks like. He'd walk into the room and you wanted to stand up and applaud."

The lives that he touched were probably the most telling witness to his greatness. He understood that there were more to a player than a strong arm or fast legs. Building character was essential to the building of a winning team. His intentions over the years were to help the players to be better persons every day, to help themselves, to teach a lesson on and off the field.

Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. The name es an inspiration in itself, conjuring images of a man in a hounds tooth hat standing by the goal post, coaching his team to yet another victory. Years of experience were etched in his gentle face, but behind the grand fatherly exterior lay what could 'be described as the right stuff, the stuff that created a legend.

They feared him as a coach but were the best of friends after graduating. He knew what his former players were doing and would be the first to call them to congratulate them, or the first to call to console them.Bryant's last game.

The Bear watching his players before a game.


For Jeremy, the 'bama twins.