Week 3

Tide Fans -

Now that is more like it - Roll Tide! Granted it was against Western Kentucky, it was a much needed display of offense. This is no excuse for last week, but it does look like Tulane may be a better team than expected taking East Carolina to the wire. This was a very entertaining game, one that was fun to watch and enjoy with other Tide faithful. Unfortunately I was unable to see the first half thanks to Charter Communications. I normally always go to the games, but this weekend I was unable to attend, so I ordered pay for view. After inviting several people over to watch the game we all got settled in to watch and were presented with a blank screen. No Tide, no sound....nothing! To say that I was irritated is an understatement. Scrambling for the only radio I could find in the house - my extremely small emergency weather radio, I was forced to listen to Eli. Of course the batteries were dead, so I had to use the emergency crank to charge up the radio. Many of you may have seen these types of radios - they have a handle on the side you can crank if there is no power, and it charges and internal battery for a few minutes. Needless to say it was entertaining to watch me dial the cable company, crank a radio, and try to listen all at the same time. Much to the surprise of my wife and myself, I actually remained somewhat calm. Normally faced with this situation I would have exploded, and more than likely dropped a few choice words.

After being on hold for well over 25 minutes, and technical representative came on the line. Long story short, they could not fix the problem and I was left with - "sorry, there is nothing we can do!" This entire process literally took the entire first half. Thankfully The Tide was playing well, and I was not stressed about the outcome - although I was PO'd about missing everything. So, if you have Charter Communications (and for those of us in Birmingham that is who you are stuck with if you have cable) - do not order pay for view, because it will not work!

On to the game! I finally got to see the second half by running down to the local watering hole where they had it on about 60 TV's! Our running backs looked AWESOME - just like they did against Clemson! I love when we can just pound the ball up the middle, gaining big yards. Mark Ingram and Glenn Coffee are unstoppable once they get in a grove. Both just power runners. The offensive production was just incredible, and the amount of players we used was unbelievable! At one point I thought the were just going to let Mt. Cody play running back. This is exactly the kind of game we needed to get ready for the SEC schedule. This allowed us to give our backups some much needed playing time in the event we ever had to use them. I must say, I feel really comfortable about McElroy should he ever have to go in for JP. I said 2 years ago in my analysis that this kid would be good, and I think you saw just a little on Saturday. His passes are dead on accurate, and he has a very good ability to control the flow of the game. I wish we would have left him in more. I truly think he will be running the team next year!

A great game to build up some confidence and go on the road for our SEC opener against Arkansas. I hate this game...every year it makes my stomach churn no matter what the records are. This will not be easy for us - but I believe if we stick to our game plan and execute well, we will come away with the W. If we can run the ball early, than this game will be over! Pound that ball all day as far as I am concerned!! The only way I see us losing this game is if we make stupid mistakes and beat ourselves. If we can pressure their QB, I believe we can capitalize on some turnovers. Come on Defense!

Players I love from this week:

- Glenn Coffee (powerful)
- Mark Ingram (even more powerful - still have Man Crush)
- Courtney Upshaw (very surprising effort - great game, and some big hits!)
- Entire Offensive line (great job this week!)
- Marquis Maze (can you say hands???)

Things we need to change so I will sleep better:

- I really have nothing here to complain about

Tip of the Week:

- Go to the game...don't rely on pay for view!

Big game this week Tide fans!!! We can get things really rolling into Athens with a big win in Fayetteville. We must play focused in this game - do not look ahead - one opponent at a time! I am fired up and it is only Monday!!! Come on Saturday - hurry up.

Until next week - Roll Tide!

Jason