On Tap for the Tigers:
November 3, 2001
2:30p.m (CDT)
Bryant-Denny Stadium ? Tuscaloosa, Ala.
CBS
ALABAMA Crimson Tide
Head Coach: Dennis Franchione (Pittsburgh State, ?73)
Record at UA: 1st year
2001 Record: 3-4
SEC Record: 2-3
Home Stadium: Bryant-Denny Stadium (83,091)
Starters Returning: 16
(7 ffense, 6 Defense, 3 Specialists)
Starters Lost: 12
(4 Offense, 5 Defense, 1 Specialists)
|
Returning Offensive Starters: |
|
|
Freddie Milons |
(WR, 5-11, 191, Sr.) |
|
Dante Ellington |
(OT, 6-6, 345, Jr.) |
|
Dennis Alexander |
(OG, 6-6, 339, So.) |
|
Terry Jones |
(TE, 6-4, 265, Sr.) |
|
Andrew Zow |
(QB, 6-2, 217, Sr.) |
|
Ahmaad Galloway |
(TB, 6-1, 228, Jr.) |
|
Antonio Carter |
(WR, 5-9, 195, Jr.) |
|
Neal Thomas |
(PK, 5-11, 183, Sr.) |
|
Returning Defensive Starters: |
|
|
Darius Gilbert |
(LB, 6-3, 253, Sr.) |
|
Kindal Moorehead |
(DE, 6-3, 293, Jr.) |
|
Jarrett Johnson |
(DT, 6-4, 281, Jr.) |
|
Kenny King |
(DE, 6-5, 277, Jr.) |
|
Victor Ellis |
(LB, 6-2, 232, Sr.) |
|
Saleem Rasheed |
(LB, 6-3, 227, Jr) |
|
Lane Bearden |
(P, 6-2, 198, Jr.) |
2001 NFL Draft:
|
Name |
Position |
Team |
|
Tony Dixon |
DB |
Dallas Cowboys |
|
Kenny Smith |
DT |
New Orleans Saints |
|
Shawn Draper |
TE |
Miami Dolphins |
2000 Record: 3-8
2000 SEC Record: 3-5 (T-5th West)
2000 Final Ranking: Not Ranked
2000 Bowl Appearance: None
The Series
Overall: Alabama leads 42-17-5
In Birmingham: UA Leads 8-5-1
In Tuscaloosa: UA leads 9-4
At LSU: UA leads 22-6-2
Last Game: LSU 30, Bama 28 at LSU, Nov. 4, 2000
About the Game:
Dennis Franchione:
“They?ve got a good offensive ballclub, I think. Solid offensive line. Good tailbacks. Kind of interesting to see who will emerge out of their week healthy. Good receivers in (Michael) Clayton and (Josh) Reed. Very good. Amazing catch that Clayton made in the endzone Saturday night. I don?t know if you guys got to see it. I would have bet he didn?t catch that ball until I saw the replay. A great play, and he makes a big play every game for them in some way, shape or form. He had a couple the other night. Reed is the guy that gets most of the catches. The key to the whole thing is the quarterback. Rohan (Davey) does a great job. I just hope if we hit him we can get him on the ground. He is a big, strong, physical quarterback. He makes some pretty good throws with a guy hanging on him trying to pull him down. He?s the guy that I think we have to do a job on somehow to slow him down. They?re scoring points and they?re getting yards and they?re throwing for about 300 a game on everybody. So certainly it?s not going to be an easy task.”
“Defense has given up some passing yards but a lot of those have come in a couple of games where they?ve had big leads?Utah State and Tulane. Florida got some passing yards. So you kind of have to relate that to the situation in whom they played. They?ve got a good physical front. They?ve been fairly tough against the run. They play well in the kicking game. It seems like this has been a series that the visiting team has had success in for some reason. So I hope that doesn?t mean anything this week.”
Nick Saban:
“Alabama is an excellent football team. It is an opportunity for us to win a third football game on the road, which one of our goals was to have a winning season on the road. They have excellent football players. Their record does not indicate the quality of team they have. They have lost very, very close games. They have had some teams come back on them in some close games. But they some very talented players on the defensive side of the ball and on the offensive side of the ball. Their ability to run the football has been a real key for them. It is certainly that Tyler Watts has done very well for them. Their offense has been productive in terms of their point production all year long. This is a very good team that we are playing, so we have a tremendous challenge in front of us and hopefully our players will respond to it in the positive proper way and look at it as a challenge.
Players to watch:
*stats from last game vs. Tennessee
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Rushing |
||||||||
|
No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Attempts |
Yards |
|
|
34 |
Santonio Beard |
TB |
6-1 |
207 |
So. |
10 |
141 |
|
|
Passing |
||||||||
|
No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Comp-Att-Int |
Yards |
|
|
14 |
Tyler Watts |
QB |
6-3 |
217 |
Jr. |
10-23-0 |
165 |
|
|
Receiving |
||||||||
|
No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Catches |
Yards |
|
|
15 |
Freddie Milons |
WR |
5-11 |
191 |
Sr. |
2 |
46 |
|
At a Glance:
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama recently was named one of America?s top 100 values in public higher education in a study by a national magazine. Kiplinger?s Personal Finance Magazine ranked UA 68th for overall cost and value among 588 public four-year universities evaluated. UA has been listed in numerous national publications citing its quality and value, including the Princeton Review?s “Student Advantage Guide to the best 331 Colleges”.
The University of Alabama School of Law was ranked 46th in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report, spring, 2001, making the list of top 50 law schools for the third consecutive year.
Why ‘Crimson Tide’?
In early newspaper accounts of Alabama football, the team was simply listed as the “varsity” or the “Crimson White” after the school colors.
The first nickname to become popular and used by headline writers was the “Thin Red Line.” The nickname was used until 1906.
The name “Crimson Tide” is supposed to have first been used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. He used “Crimson Tide” in describing an Alabama-Auburn game played in Birmingham in 1907, the last football contest between the two schools until 1948 when the series was resumed. The game was played in a sea of mud and Auburn was a heavy favorite to win.
But, evidently, the “Thin Red Line” played a great game in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6-6 tie, thus gaining the name “Crimson Tide.” Zipp Newman, former sports editor of the Birmingham News, probably popularized the name more than any other writer.
The Elephant
The story of how Alabama became associated with the “elephant” goes back to the 1930 season when Coach Wallace Wade had assembled a great football team.
On October 8, 1930, sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the Alabama-Mississippi game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier. Strupper wrote, “That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical Wade machine, powerful, big, tough, fast, aggressive, well-schooled in fundamentals, and the best blocking team for this early in the season that I have ever seen. When those big brutes hit you I mean you go down and stay down, often for an additional two minutes.
“Coach Wade started his second team that was plenty big and they went right to their knitting scoring a touchdown in the first quarter against one of the best fighting small lines that I have seen. For Ole Miss was truly battling the big boys for every inch of ground.
“At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ‘Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,’ and out stamped this Alabama varsity.
“It was the first time that I had seen it and the size of the entire eleven nearly knocked me cold, men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size.”
Strupper and other writers continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as “Red Elephants,” the color referring to the crimson jerseys.
The 1930 team posted an overall 10-0 record. It shut out eight opponents and allowed only 13 points all season while scoring 217. The “Red Elephants” rolled over Washington State 24-0 in the Rose Bowl and were declared National Champions.
Information courtesy of : rolltide.com, 2001 Alabama Football media Guide, 2001 LSU media guide, lsusports.net, nicksaban.net