How dark are the clouds at uat?

[bigsixfive 327]

uat is 5-10 in Southeastern Conference road games in Mike Shula's four seasons. More important, to the redneck fans' dismay and to the future of Shula at his alma mater, he is 0-7 at Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU and Auburn. Against the latter three, uat's biggest SEC rivals, Shula is 1-9 at any venue and will be an underdog to both LSU and Auburn in November.

This uat team is young (??) and, in a season in which four of the Turd's eight games have been decided by three or fewer points, learning some hard lessons. The Pink Turd coughed up late-game leads at Arkansas and Tennessee and are 5-3 overall, 2-3 in the SEC.

This is also a team with only eight senior starters (again, ??), as the bruise left by the NCAA penalties administered four years ago fades. That means Alabama should be very good next year.

"We need to win a game like this," uat athletic director Mal Moore said before the game Saturday. The way the Pink Turd lost explains what he meant. The team is close to getting over the hump but a long way from where toothless fans -- with long memories but little education -- believe the team should be.

The Pink Turd faithful are unhappy with Shula's anemic offense, which has scored only 11 touchdowns in 22 trips to the red zone. Twice Saturday at Tennessee, uat had first-and-goal and came away with field goals, including a fourth down from the 1 on which -- ouch -- Shula sent out field goal kicker Jamie Christensen.

Here's the deal, though. No coach at a major traditional power has had to climb farther uphill than Shula has. He took over a demoralized team in May 2003 that wouldn't get better soon because of NCAA penalties. uat fans don't want to hear about the handicaps under which their former coaches placed Shula, but they will bring it up when given any grief about their team. They don't want to hear that, based on talent, last year's Alabama team had no business finishing 10-2.

The future looks promising. Sophomore quarterback I Have Eleven Names John Parker Wilson has proved himself a tough kid who knows how to make a play. Talented wide receivers Keith Brown and D.J. Hall are only juniors.

Next year will be a critical year for Shula. He will have a veteran team that will play the majority of its toughest games (Georgia, Tennessee, LSU) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Shula has plenty of legitimate reasons uat has not moved back to the top of the SEC. His problem is that his fans are tired of hearing them.

Link - but watch out for OSU, ND, or USC content

[DKW 86 7,426]

He is right. Next year the UAT faithful will be crowing MNC from Jan 9th onward.

[Tiger1992 999]

They can crow all they want from January 9, 2007 - November 23, 2007. Beginning the evening of November 24, 2007, I imagine all that crowing will stop when CTT is walking around JHS with 6 fingers held high.

[AFTiger 282]

This is also a team with only eight senior starters , as the bruise left by the NCAA penalties administered four years ago fades. That means Alabama should be very good next year.

I just checked our depth chart. We have 11 starting seniors.

[AU alum 2]

Look, they fed us all that same crap this year. Maybe on paper they will be good, but when it comes to actually having to play a game? I'll believe it when I see it. Maybe.