Hotty Toddy gosh almighty…The Tide is undefeated! Yes, my friends it felt so good to come out of Oxford with a convincing victory over the Ole Miss Rebels. This was their self proclaimed super bowl, and they got it handed to them by a powerful crushing Alabama defense!! The score doesn’t do us justice, as The Crimson Tide absolutely man handled the Rebels all four quarters. This was not even close. I was sitting in my seats located in the lovely high school bleacher end zone section of Vaught- Hemingway stadium, just laughing at the fact that Jevan Snead was actually once considered a Heisman Trophy candidate. Seriously?? That is about as big of a joke as the pre-season hype about Ole Miss was. Jevan Snead could be the worst quarterback in the SEC – right behind Jonathan Crompton of Tennessee (who surprisingly had a good game this week). Heisman trophy candidate…please! That makes the Heisman trophy look about as legitimate as the Noble Peace Prize. This was a great win for Alabama on the road, which is always a tough task. This is the game everyone thought we would slip up and lose, but no sir – we came, we saw, and we whipped that ass!
Every time I go to Oxford it is always an interesting experience for me. Since there are about 2 hotels in the Oxford area, my wife and I decided to drive over early the morning of the game. Big shout out to our babysitter Jesika who go to our house at 6:30AM – she is awesome! I have been to Oxford at least 10 times, and about 8 of them it has rained. I don’t know what it is, but it always seems to rain when we play over there. This in turn usually causes a problem with the tailgating experience in Oxford. I’m sure many of you have heard about the Grove, and what a great tailgating experience it is. For those of you who don’t know what “The Grove” is here is a quick description. It is basically like the tree lined section of the quad where people tailgate in Tuscaloosa – a large grassy wooded area. Any way – it is a fun experience…unless it is raining or has rained within a few days of the game. I know there are probably some Ole Miss fans who read this so please don’t take this the wrong way, but could they PLEASE put a few sidewalks in the grove so it does not become what looks like an enormous mud wrestling competition. Walking through the grove to attempt to meet up with friends for tailgating was like walking through a slippery, muddy, disaster area. All which could have been avoided had there been a few sidewalks for people walk on. The mud was so thick in places it literally pulled my shoe off, and mixed with the hay they throw down to cover some of the mud – smells like a barnyard. Again – not making fun of the grove folks – just wondering why they let this happen – it just destroys the ground. I asked a few alum why they don’t put a sidewalk or path in and they say it is to preserve the area as natural…well it’s natural all right – a natural disaster. It really is fun tailgating, but I just can’t get past the mud – it was everywhere!
Finally out of the mud, we headed to the stadium only to be greeted by a friendly police officer who took our shakers from us and cut the plastic sticks in half! I was like..."What the hell are you doing??" He said it could be used as a weapon. Yes officer, I was planning on stabbing many people with the nicely blunt rounded off tip of this plastic shaker. Not only was that the dumbest thing I had ever heard...what once was a dull smooth tip to my shaker handle was now a razor sharp piece of plastic thanks to him cutting it in half. That has got to be the most idiotic safety precaution I have ever seen! Taking my shaker which I quote "may be used as a weapon" and actually turning into something that could have been used as a weapon. I am still irritated about this - it makes absolutely NO sense...neither does not having sidewalks in the grove!
On to the game. Even though Ole Miss had lost to South Carolina a few weeks back – I felt like this would be a very close game, with The Tide overpowering in the second half. This was a big game for Ole Miss – they wanted to beat us bad, and were pretty confident that they could do it. Well, they didn’t, and didn’t even come close, as our defense just toyed with Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster. They had a total of 19 yards and 1 first down in the first half…yes that’s correct, I said 19 yards. Our defense is just ridiculous good! Rolondo McClain gets better every week (if that is possible), and so many of our guys just play lights out each game. The Bama defense continues to amaze me – a defense without Donta Hightower! Our guys have stepped it up and just taken over games.
Offensively not our best game, but we put enough points on the board to take home a convincing win. Yes, we had way too many red zone issues coming away with only 3 points instead of touchdowns, but these are easily fixed. We have the manpower to score in the red zone – I think we were running the wrong attack inside the 20. There were too many passes to Julio in triple coverage down here, when Mark Ingram should have been getting the ball. By the way, can I switch my “Man Crush” to Mark Ingram? The score could have easily been 55 to 3 – and I am not kidding. Don’t let anyone try to say that Ole Miss could have beaten us, because go back and watch the replay – they are lucky we didn’t score 100 points! They never had a chance thanks to our defense.
I love this team, and have a really good feeling about the rest of this season! Yes, we have some tough games ahead, but as I have said before – we have the talent, we have the coaches, and we have the fan support. Our fans are awesome – I love them! Can’t say the same for the group of Ole Miss fans that were sitting next to us. Again – this is not a shot at Ole Miss fans as a whole – just this one group. The girl sitting next to us has to be the worst Ole Miss fan ever. She would watch Bama fans coming up the aisle and make fun of them all game. Comments like “Nice outfit, where did you get that Wal-Mart?” I can take annoying fans to a certain extent – but this girl was ridiculous! Constantly saying stuff about our fans, team, etc…all while her team was getting it handed to them on the field. She would pop off at me if I stood up and cheered when we scored (on numerous occasions). When they were really getting crushed her husband/boyfriend walked over to me on his way out and actually said “Florida is going to kill ya’ll” I was like…nice – that’s all you got? She ended it all by dropping a few choice F bombs on her way out (with 10 minutes still on the clock). I know we can have annoying fans also, but this girl was ridiculous. My wife actually had to switch seats with me so I did not explode. So with that said I would like to post her picture on this blog as “The worst ole Miss fan Ever”
I love going to Oxford...really - especially the drive over! Tip - make sure you have a full tank of gas, and have eaten recently because there is nothing between Birmingham and Oxford. On our way home - I thought I was either dead or in the twilight zone - because you just keep driving and there is nothing...it is kind of freaky! All dark and just nothingness.
Homecoming week in Tuscaloosa! I am pretty sure this is the first time that our Homecoming game will be played at night! How weird is that going to be? Parade in the morning…game 12 hours after. Anyway – this has now turned out to be another big game as well. South Carolina has been looking pretty good, but I still don’t see them hanging with us too long – we are just too powerful. Spurrier will have them ready to play, but a few pass rushes on Garcia, and we get at least one pick 6! Defense will once again get it done, and our offense will return with a nice balanced attack – no more kicking field goals all day!
We have moved up to number 2 in the polls, but we all know who the best team in the country is…The Alabama Crimson Tide! Trust me, I am not the only one who thinks this – Florida has not shown me much this year. We have a great team, and I think we are headed for great things!!
Until next week…Roll Tide!
Jason
