quietfan 233 Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 http://www.al.com/ncaafootball/lindys/inde....xml&coll=9 Monday, October 16, 2006Ben Cook LindysSports.com Ole Miss and Vanderbilt have won five football games between them this season. Vanderbilt almost beat Arkansas. Ole Miss came close against Georgia. So at times even the worst teams in the Southeastern Conference play good games against good teams. And sometimes, good teams play bad games against bad teams. It is the only explanation that fans will accept when trying to explain Alabama's difficulty in beating Vanderbilt and Ole Miss and virtually everybody else. The Crimson Tide is 5-2, which is a pretty good record. In the SEC only Auburn and Florida have won more games this season than Alabama, and yet Alabama remains in the center of controversy among its own fans. Some Alabama fans refuse to accept narrow victories over bad teams as a victory. They insist that Alabama is not playing Alabama football. What that means is that Alabama is a lousy 1-6 against the spread this year and fans (read: bettors) are in an uproar. On talk radio shows all over the state of Alabama the hottest topic is Mike Shula, the embattled coach of the Crimson Tide. Is he the right man for the job? Why can't he beat bad teams by more than the spread? Why can't he beat Houston Nutt? Or whoever coaches LSU? Or Tommy Tuberville? Over the past two seasons, Alabama is 15-4 which means Shula is 15-4. So why is he so unacceptable to a lot of Alabama fans? He has been criticized for his disciplinary philosophy. He has been criticized for his play-calling. He has been criticized for his hiring of assistants. He has been criticized for not showing more emotion on the sidelines. And when he did show emotion, he was criticized for some of the fiery off-color words that came out of his mouth and were picked up on television. | In short, Shula can't seem to win with fans. He's won on the scoreboard much more often than he's won with the critics. It's going to get worse if he takes his team to Tennessee and gets blown away. If the team that could only manage a overtime win over Ole Miss takes the field in Knoxville, Alabama will get blown away and Shula will be the one to take the blame, over and over again, all across the state of Alabama. The problem is that Alabama has been a championship level team in the past, but it is not now. Now, talk of championships sounds hollow at Alabama, which is at best only fourth best team in the SEC West. You can build all the Walk of Champions with legendary coaches immortalized outside the stadium that you want, but it doesn't guarantee that the same championship feeling will be reflected inside the stadium when the Crimson Tide takes the field. When a three-point overtime win over a bad Ole Miss football team is cause for celebration, then you know mediocre football is now the norm at Alabama. Thanks to a brilliantly constructed schedule that insured Alabama four non-conference, creampuff victories regardless of how good the team would be, then Alabama will wind up in a bowl game regardless. Just by showing up, Alabama has at least one more victory in the bag -- that being Florida International on Oct. 28 -- that will put Alabama in a bowl game. It won't be a big bowl at a lush tropical location, but it will be a bowl and that will give Mike Shula three straight bowl appearances in his first four years as the Alabama coach. The Crimson Tide can improve its bowl location by also beating Mississippi State on Nov. 4, but what we've seen of Alabama to this point, not even that is guaranteed. Of course, there is always the possibility that Alabama could upset Tennessee, LSU or Auburn, but that won't happen unless there is a drastic change in Tuscaloosa or a tremendous letdown by one of those three heavyweights left on the Alabama schedule. At the end of a 7-5 season, which will wind up 7-6 or 8-5 after the bowl game, Alabama fans will have another offseason of debating the merits of the Mike Shula coaching era. Shula supporters will use the tired old argument about how NCAA sanctions have set the program back and Shula is learning on the job and he must be given time. The ones who want to see a coaching change will bring up the past -- a favorite pastime of Alabama fans -- and point out how much things have changed since the Bear Bryant era. They want a proven coach with experience brought on to run the show and at least get Alabama back to where talk of Alabama challenging for an SEC championship isn't accompanied by laughter from the rest of the college football world. But that time is not now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerMom 0 Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 "Shula is learning on the job and he must be given time" YES!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUesquire 1 Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 "Shula is learning on the job and he must be given time" YES!!!!! I feel a contract extension coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saniflush 0 Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 "Shula is learning on the job and he must be given time" YES!!!!! I feel a contract extension coming. and another raise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarTiger 3,917 Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 "Shula is learning on the job and he must be given time" YES!!!!! I feel a contract extension coming. and another raise. and Ice Cream cones all around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.