Here’s ESPN highlight package from Alabama’s 49-0 win over Western Carolina on Saturday. All I can think is how excited the Western Carolina players must be to make the ESPN highlights.
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A couple of Saturday night upsets have pushed Alabama back on the main stage of the national championship race. Baylor beat Kansas State 52-24 and Stanford defeated Oregon 17-14 in overtime.
ESPN projects Notre Dame will be first when the BCS standings are released Sunday night, followed by Alabama at No. 2, Georgia at No. 3 and Florida at No. 4.
So … do you think any of the Alabama players watched the games? Here’s what some of them posted on Twitter after Stanford’s winning field goal went through the uprights:
Wow!!! Unreal.. Lets take care of business!! #bamanation
— AJ McCarron (@10AJMcCarron) November 18, 2012
Absolute mayhem in the streets of Tuscaloosa!!!! No better feeling than to control your own destiny. This is what makes cfb great!
— Barrett Jones (@BarrettAJones) November 18, 2012
Bryant hall going crazy right now.!!!
— Amari (@amari_coop2) November 18, 2012
THE ROOF THE ROOF THE ROOF IS ON FIRE
— Carson Tinker (@carsontink) November 18, 2012
Wow #collegefootball
— Jeoffrey Pagan (@J_Pagan8) November 18, 2012
Some other posts of interest:
And yes, Go Irish and Roll Tide! Its a great day for college football!
— Condoleezza Rice (@CondoleezzaRice) November 18, 2012
I. Just. Peed.
— Emily Pitek (@emilypitek) November 18, 2012
Even Harvey Updyke is hugging trees
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) November 18, 2012
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AJ McCarron tossed the record-breaking touchdown pass in the first half. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
Greg McElroy held the old record with 20 in 2010.
“It means a lot with all the tradition and all the great quarterbacks that have played here,” McCarron said. “Like I said, and like I will always say, none of that would be possible without my great offensive line and my great wide receivers that I have out there making plays for me.”
McCarron also had a 24-yard run, which was his career high. As he got past the line, he followed guard Anthony Steen. But as he tried to find more room, he couldn’t get past his teammate.
“I thought I was going to score. I had one guy to beat, and he was kind of in my way,” McCarron said, smiling. “I told him next time try to run and try to take somebody else and not just fall.”
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Western Carolina quarterback Troy Mitchell (10) tries to break away from the tackle of Alabama defensive lineman Jesse Williams (54) and linebacker C.J. Mosley (32). (AP photo by Dave Martin)
–Opening comment: “Well, congratulations to Alabama and coach Saban and his staff. Obviously, a great program and a great coaching staff, a bunch of great players and fans. They’re an excellent football team that we could not stop. We can take some positives away…We’re just proud of our players in the second half. When you’re getting into an ugly ball game like that, our players didn’t quit playing, they kept fighting. At halftime we were going to play for 30 more minutes and see where our program is at, in an infant stage where we are trying to build our program. Our players played hard and kept fighting. I’m just proud of them now that our season is done. We will get on to the 2013 schedule on Monday, but just congratulations to Alabama.”
–On the speed of Alabama: “They are impressively strong. You watch film, and both of their lines, seeing them up front and live in person, I can say they are for real. We can use these three hours that we just spent down here. We could just go through it and see the concrete walls and the fans, and look at the big jumbotron. Or you can see what a championship team is really about, what they do here at Alabama with their weight room, and how their coaching staff crosses their T’s and dots their I’s. We can learn a lot here being a first-year program. If you want to be the best you have to play them, and see them live and in color.”
–On their short kickoff to open the game: “We tried a little trick play hoping we could catch Alabama off guard, and get 10-12 yards to get a decent position to make a field goal. It didn’t work, and to Alabama’s credit they played sound discipline defense and created a big play.”
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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Redshirt freshman Brent Calloway turned in his biggest game of the year with 52 rushing yards. He also had three tackles as part of Alabama’s kick coverage teams.
It marked his first extended action at running back. He switched to the position from H-back at midseason when backup Dee Hart injured his knee.
“There are some things that Brent does well as a running back,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He has worked hard. He is a really good special teams guy for us — when he makes good decisions. I call it executive function do you make good choices and decisions about what you do – like penalties and stuff like that. I think he has gotten better at that and actually made some good plays today on special teams.”
But Saban still thinks Calloway would be better at his original position.
“We wanted to play Brent at H-back, which we thought he was really good at, which is kind of where (former Tide star) Brad Smelley played,” he said. “I think the experience at running back is probably beneficial to his future, but we will see where that takes us when we get some other running backs in here. If he can compete in that position, we are happy with him to do it. I really feel that with his size and skill set, he has really good hands and good speed that he could be a good H-back for us.”
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Ben Howell ran for 9 yards on five carries. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
“I was pleased with the way our guys competed in the game today. I think we went out there and tried to play to a standard and executed fairly well. There are always things that you can clean up, no question. The Western Carolina guys played hard. They were a little bit outmanned. Our guys played the way we wanted to play. We improved as a team and had a good week of practice. Everything is ahead of us as a team.
“We have to look forward to what we have to do to try to improve. Obviously we are going to have a difficult game next week. You throw everything out the window in terms of records when you play rivalry games. It’s going to be important that we have a good week this week.
“We are fortunate today that we didn’t get anybody injured. T.J. Yeldon sprained his foot a little bit and could have gone back in the game but we didn’t put him back in. Kevin Norwood could have played today, but we just decided not to play him because he didn’t practice all that much this week. Hopefully, we can get a little healed up here, get a little healthy.
“Some of the guys that play a lot of snaps didn’t have to play a lot of snaps today, which is probably a good thing. We just need to focus on what we need to do to improve and become a better team in the future.”
Later, Saban said he wanted to add this to his opening statement:
“I think one of the good things about today is, probably should have mentioned it in the beginning, was the opportunity to play a lot of players. I’m sure there were a few other guys that we could have got in the game that we probably should have got in the game, but we were trying to get as many guys in the game as we possibly could. I think for some guys all their hard work that they do is certainly appreciated and we were happy to play as many players as we did.
“It’s hard for me to say, I thought the second defense guys played a little better today. There have been times where we put those guys in there and they just make mental error after mental error. We almost went three deep on defense and those third guys made quite a few mental errors in that one drive, but I thought there was some maturity out of some of the backup players. They played with a lot of poise, which is something we haven’t been able to get out of them. Hopefully, their confidence and maturity is going to help the depth of our team.
“Second offensive line did a pretty decent job when they were in there, I think they made a good bit of improvement throughout the season and did a good job today.”
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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Saturday looked like a day when Alabama freshman Kenyan Drake would get plenty of playing time.
Plenty of other third-team players got on the field during the Crimson Tide’s 49-0 home win over Western Carolina, but Alabama coach Nick Saban said Drake didn’t get to play because of a suspension. Drake wasn’t allowed to dress out in his uniform.
“Kenyan Drake was suspended today for a violation of team rules,” Saban said. “It wasn’t anything that was really significant or bad, but it happened once before, he was told if he did it again that he wouldn’t dress for the game. It is what it is.
“It would have been great to have him out there today — he would have gotten a lot of playing time. We think he is a good person and are certainly excited about his future, but he also has to learn that if you don’t do the right thing, there are consequences for it.”
With Drake out, fourth-team running back Brent Calloway benefitted, getting seven carries for 52 yards. Also, senior walk-on Ben Howell got five carries for 9 yards. Howell is a fan favorite from nearby Gordo, and he’s popular with his teammates, too, because of his friendly personality and work ethic.
“It’s great to see him play,” Tide safety Vinnie Sunseri said. “He’s one of my favorite people in the whole world.”
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Does Alabama’s basketball team have anyone who can get up as high as Nick Saban did Saturday? (AP photo by Dave Martin)
Note: The MVP poll is updated on the right side of the page and is ready for you to cast a vote from this game.
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Alabama pounded Western Carolina 49-0 at home Saturday as Eddie Lacy rushed for three touchdowns.
T.J. Yeldon and Blake Sims each rushed for one touchdown for the Crimson Tide, which led 42-0 at halftime.
AJ McCarron tossed a touchdown apss to Christion Jones, and Deion Belue picked up a fumble and ran 57 yards for a touchdown.
McCarron completed 6 of 6 passes for 133 yards, while Lacy rushed 10 times for 99 yards. Sims had 70 yards on eight carries and completed 2 of 6 passes for 27 yards.
C.J. Mosley led the defense with six tackles, while Nick Perry had five. Nico Johnson and Brandon Ivory had four each.
Alabama (10-1) is in double figures for wins for the fifth straight season, which marks the first time the Tide has done that since 1971-75.
Saturday’s paid attendance was 101,126, which is 695 short of a sellout. That’s the first home game in the Nick Saban era which didn’t sell out.
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The student section a few minutes before kickoff.
–Freshman Geno Smith started at defensive back as Alabama began the game with six in the secondary.
–T.J. Yeldon scored a first-half touchdown, giving him 10 for the year. Mark Ingram‘s 12 in 2008 is the school record for a true freshman.
–Eddie Lacy had three touchdowns, which gives him a team-high 13 for the year.
–AJ McCarron‘s touchdown pass to Christion Jones in the first half gave McCarron 21 for the season. That breaks a tie for the school record with Greg McElroy, who had 20 in 2010.
–Defensive back Deion Belue returned a fumble 57 yards for a touchdown. Belue was quite the running back at Deshler High, so he’s not unfamiliar with carrying the ball.
–Alabama has outgained Western Carolina 338-40 in yards.
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Alabama commitment Derrick Henry broke the career high school rushing record, and if you’re a regular reader of The Daily Bama Blog, you’ve followed along with his progress this fall.
Here’s the story from last night’s game by his hometown paper, The Florida Times-Union: click here.
A quote from the story from former record holder Ken Hall:
“I’m glad for him,” said Hall, 76, from his Fredericksburg, Texas home shortly after being told Henry had broken his record.
“I’ve always said, when it’s broken, I hope they will honor it, be humble about it and realize that they alone didn’t do it. I don’t know [Henry] that well, but from what he said on the phone, he seems like a nice young man. You don’t have a choice in that matter [of who breaks the record], you sure hope he’s made of the right material, and I think that he is.”
Also, click here for the Times-Union’s photo gallery from the game.
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Barrett Jones won the Outland Trophy last season. (AP photo by David Quinn)
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Crimson Tide center Barrett Jones is one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award, which goes to the top lineman or linebacker in the country.
South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones and Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o also made the list.
Boston College’s Luke Kuechly won the award last season.
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About 45 minutes before the team arrives, Alabama fans already are gathered for the Walk of Champions.
I’m here at Bryant-Denny Stadium. A few others are here, too, for today’s game, which will kick off at 11:21 a.m. Central.
It’s early — the first kickoff this year for Alabama before noon. Considering Alabama is coming off a big stretch of games, the early kickoff, the lack of a quality opponent (Western Carolina) and with Auburn visiting next week, folks might not come out to this one. Of course, the students wouldn’t fill their section if Alabama was playing the national title game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
But what about the rest of the stadium? How many empty seats will we see?
It’s about 50 degrees and sunny at the stadium as I write this, although it’s supposed to be 55 by kickoff. Weather.com says it should be 65 by the end of the game.
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Nick Saban began his run at Alabama with a 52-6 win over today’s opponent, Western Carolina. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
This is my story for today’s print editions:
—
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Alabama’s game today has the feel of a spring scrimmage, and that’s not necessarily a shot at the quality of the opponent, Western Carolina.
Most all of Alabama’s work will be on Alabama, just as it is during the spring. And Western Carolina (1-9) provides a safe opponent for the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide (9-1), which is looking to refocus on what remains of the season after last week’s stunning loss to Texas A&M.
“We are looking forward,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “The only thing that we can gain from the past is lessons learned, for all of us, in terms of what we can do better, what we need to do better and what everybody has to make a commitment to … and accomplish something significant with what is left of this season.”
When Alabama played undermanned non-conference foe earlier this year in Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic, Saban stuck up for his opponent with plenty of passion. This week, even Saban is struggling for much to say about Western Carolina, as he examines his own team as closely as he has all year.
The Catamounts play in the Football Championship Subdivision. They’re 1-9 and have lost 25 of their last 27 games. The two wins in that stretch came over Mars Hill, which is a Division II school.
“We have a lot of respect for every team we play and certainly Western Carolina has done a lot of good things this season,” he said. “They’ve scored a lot of points.”
But even as Saban said that, he immediately drifted toward his priority this week: “I think the focus for us needs to be on what we are doing and how we are playing. That’s the approach I’d like to take with our coaches, our players and everybody in the organization.”
The biggest issue Saban wants corrected is the defensive problems with tackling and third-down play. LSU converted 10 third downs against Alabama two weeks ago. Last week, Texas A&M did it 11 times.
Senior linebacker Nico Johnson said he and his teammates feel an urgency to correct the problem.
“We’ve got to stop the run and we’ve got to tackle better,” he said. “It’s simple. We’ve got to tackle better. We have to start during the week. We have to practice it. If we don’t practice well, it will carry over to the game.”
What’s unusual about this particular game is that Western Carolina is looking at it the same way as Alabama. For the Catamounts, today is kind of like a spring scrimmage, too.
First-year coach Mark Speir took over for Dennis Wagner, who went 8-36 in four years. After beginning the season with a win over Mars Hill, the Catamounts have lost nine straight. After having last Saturday off, they’ll wrap up their year today.
So, Speir approached the past two weeks as preparation for next season.
“We put the pads back on, treated it like spring practice,” Speir said. “Lots of fundamentals, kind of like Football 101.”
Speir said it’s not like he’s ignoring today’s game.
Obviously, we want to play well,” he said. “We want to go down and play well.”
But …
“We’re working on getting better, scrimmaging young players and working on improving,” he said.
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AJ McCarron has 20 touchdown passes this season. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
Western Carolina (1-9) at No. 5 Alabama (9-1)
When: 11:21 a.m., today
Where: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Line: None
TV: SEC Network
Four-down territory
1. A bad, small team: If you’re going to schedule a small team, make sure you schedule one that has no hope of beating you. That’s what Alabama has done. Western Carolina of the Football Championship Subdivision has won only twice in its last 27 games, and both of those came over Mars Hill — not the high school in Killen, but the Division II university in North Carolina.
2. Cooper’s big year: Just a freshman, Amari Cooper already has 38 catches for 608 yards. Only six other freshmen nationally have gained more receiving yards than him. He has compiled these numbers despite getting off to a slow start with five catches in the first three games. Julio Jones holds the school freshman records with 58 catches for 924 yards.
3. Scoreboard watching: Alabama ranks fourth in the BCS standings, trailing No. 1 Kansas State (10-0), No. 2 Oregon (10-0) and No. 3 Notre Dame (10-0). If you’re interested in keeping up with how they’re doing today, Kansas State visits Baylor (4-5) at 7 p.m. on ESPN, while Oregon hosts Stanford (8-2) at 7 p.m. on ABC, and Notre Dame hosts Wake Forest (5-5) at 2:30 p.m. on NBC.
4. The Ben Howell watch: If the game gets especially out of hand, Tide fans will get to see popular Tide walk-on running back Ben Howell carry the ball. You know it’s a blowout when you see No. 34 in the backfield. A senior from Gordo, Howell rushed six times for 18 yards against Arkansas and four times for 20 yards against Florida Atlantic.
Key matchup
Alabama running backs vs. Western Carolina linebacker Rock Williams: The Catamounts rank 119th out of 121 FCS teams in total defense, but Williams is the one shining light in all that yardage allowed. He ranks second in FCS with 13.1 tackles a game. He had 24 against the Citadel and 23 against Appalachian State. At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, he seems a good match for Alabama running back Eddie Lacy, who is a couple of inches shorter and the same weight.
Player of the week
Eddie Lacy, RB, Jr., 6-0, 220: Lacy keeps running harder and harder each week. He gained 92 yards on 16 carries against Texas A&M and caught four passes for 35 yards. He seemed dominating whenever he touched the ball. Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a bad idea to give him the ball more.
By the numbers
20: Touchdown passes by AJ McCarron, which is tied with Greg McElroy‘s 2010 total for the most in a single season in school history.
34: The gap between Alabama’s leading tackler, C.J. Mosley with 83 stops, and the second-leading tackler, Trey DePriest with 49.
56: Successful kicks in 56 attempts by Jeremy Shelley, who is perfect on 46 extra points and 10 field goals.
137: The number of yards T.J. Yeldon needs to tie Terry Grant‘s 2007 school freshman rushing yards set in 2007. Grant had 891, and Yeldon has 772.
Prediction
Western Carolina has struggled to stop most opponents from scoring this year, allowing 40 points a game. In fact, that creates a bit of a problem for Alabama today. If the Crimson Tide hangs 80 on them today, it will make it that much harder for Alabama to find small schools who are willing to come to Bryant-Denny Stadium, even for a big fat check. These teams understand they’ll lose, but they’re counting on not getting humiliated in the process. After all, money from Georgia, Florida State or Auburn can pay the bills just as well. Alabama 45, Western Carolina 6
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