Week 3 - North Texas

Tide Fans –

Now that is more like it! Saturday’s game was exactly what we needed – an old fashioned butt whipping, while getting our backups plenty of playing time. There was no unnecessary stress on the fans - it was fun, relaxing, and entertaining. I never was nervous, never stared at the field in disbelief, and I am pretty sure not one cuss word came out of my mouth the entire game. The Tide rolls on to an easy victory in preparation for the start of our SEC schedule! Bama came out strong, and played hard until the very end. It was exciting to see many of our talented 2nd and 3rd string play for much of this game. Our depth is looking real good, and now that they have a little game action under their belts it will build confidence if ever called upon. I think Star Jackson did a pretty good job – he needed the live reps, so I was glad to see him play. These are the games you schedule to get your backups some playing time, and we did just that!

We saw more of our awesome quarterback Greg McElroy – this kid is phenomenal! He just seems so cool and confident out there throwing beautiful accurate passes and managing the offense to a tee. I just can’t wait to see more of him – I know I brag about McElroy a lot, but damn he is really good! I have not had confidence in a quarterback like this in a long time. He broke an Alabama record this week for proficiency in his 3rd game how awesome is that? I expect good things out of Mr. McElroy against Arkansas - he should find many open receivers!

Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram continue to blow my mind! These two are just so powerful when they run the ball – it’s like they enjoy running into and over linebackers. I love our rotation of backs to keep the legs fresh – what a luxury to have 4 running backs that are all very good, and all have different styles. Another great performance out of our receivers as well. Maze and McCoy each had good games, as well as a few others. Must give a shout out to Javier – incredible punt returns!

The Defense is just awesome. We didn’t sack the quarterback this week, but I think that was on purpose. I believe we did not blitz much so they can rest up and crush Ryan Mallet, the QB at Arkansas. Mark Barron had an awesome week, and he gets the game ball. He seemed like he was everywhere, and made several big plays. When he hits someone you can hear it up in the stands. We will continue to see more of him, and I think he gets better as the season goes on. Solid play from our secondary all around, which is good because they will be tested big time against Arkansas. I don’t know if any of you watched the Arkansas – Georgia game, but they threw the ball all over the place. They have a big QB (Mallet) and he likes to throw, which makes me a little concerned about Marquis Johnson and Kareem Jackson. Johnson better be ready, because they are going to throw to his side of the field all day! Our safeties are going to need to help out a lot this week. I am not worried about Javier – he will stick to his man like glue!

The Tide is ranked 3rd in the country, but after watching all the top five teams play, I believe we have the best team. Florida looked like crap, and USC is pathetic. I really think if we play our game and our defense continues to be punishing, that we can go all the way this year – possibly meeting up with Texas in the end! We have some huge games to play, but if we don’t beat ourselves I just don’t see any team out there right now that is better than us. I love our offense – so balanced, so awesome! I get a buzz just thinking about the defense!! We have to just take each game one at a time, stay focused, execute, and we will win. It is going to be fun!!

Arkansas comes to town next week, and we better be ready! No more lackluster attendance, no more quiet crowd, it is time to get loud and pumped Bama fans – Bryant-Denny needs to be rocking! I would like to point out that someone who works the stadium sound system must have read my blog last week, because they did play more music during the breaks – it was nice! I still think they could turn the sound up just a tad – I’m sure they will get all the kinks out soon. Arkansas lost to Georgia in a shootout, but they will be good a pissed off this week, so we better be on our toes. I think our defense will be too much for them, and our offense should move the ball because I think the Arkansas secondary is terrible. G-Mac should have some fun this week with Julio back in the mix. It’s SEC time baby – the warm up is over…time to get down and dirty and play some hardnosed football! I am really looking forward to next weekend…I hope you all are too…Roll Tide!

Jason