As if you needed another laugh...

[GalensGhost 0]

Earlier in the season, THE University of Louisiana at Monroe lost to Texas A&M 54-14.

[runswithscissors 33]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

[GalensGhost 0]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

This isn't a flame or a slam, but I just can't figure out how this team beat Tennessee.

[runswithscissors 33]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

This isn't a flame or a slam, but I just can't figure out how this team beat Tennessee.

at this point, i can't figure out how this team beat Western Carolina, GG. i really can't. you can't understand how bad it sucks to be a Bama fan right now. but i will still wear my crimson tomorrow, i promise you that.

[jumbo 0]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

This isn't a flame or a slam, but I just can't figure out how this team beat Tennessee.

I was thinking the same thing! Tennessee will probally win the East and then get destroyed by Lsu in the SECCG.

[AUMom 1]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

This isn't a flame or a slam, but I just can't figure out how this team beat Tennessee.

at this point, i can't figure out how this team beat Western Carolina, GG. i really can't. you can't understand how bad it sucks to be a Bama fan right now. but i will still wear my crimson tomorrow, i promise you that.

Honey, come over to the light, you don't have to go thru life cheering for a team, or school that

makes it that hard to defend, we take all transfers who want to be with us.

[quietfan 233]

It doesn't stop with aTm:

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/ks....xml&coll=2

Its name is the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

There's no other way to say it and no use trying to sugar-coat it. The first loss in the history of Alabama football to a team from the Sun Belt Conference was not supposed to be part of the process.

It doesn't matter who recruited the players, who fathered and mothered them, who did or didn't coach them last year or last week.

There is no excuse for ULM 21, Alabama 14.

Clemson - and former Alabama assistant Tommy Bowden - beat this team 49-26 this season. Texas A&M - and former Alabama head coach Dennis Franchione - beat this team 54-14 this year.

Troy - and former Auburn assistant Larry Blakeney - beat this team 24-7 seven weeks ago.

So, to summarize:

Bama < aTm

Bama < Clemson

Bama < Troy

[GalensGhost 0]

i think all of UL-Monroe's losses have been stompings. like i said in another thread, there's no spinning losing to ULM. i'll take my medicine with no sugar.

This isn't a flame or a slam, but I just can't figure out how this team beat Tennessee.

at this point, i can't figure out how this team beat Western Carolina, GG. i really can't. you can't understand how bad it sucks to be a Bama fan right now. but i will still wear my crimson tomorrow, i promise you that.

Actually I can understand. I remember Doug Barfield.

[AuburnChopper1 0]

Galen, you know BG, have you heard from him? Is he okay? Anyone else seen him? Victim of spontaneous combustion?

I figured he would have already been in here with the first "why this loss was good for bama" post....

[WinCrimson 61]

'Bama has talent, right?

Thank God we can finally put that bull**** to rest.

[WarTim 3,457]

Don't tell bg that uat doesn't have talent. That would result in a five to six page "post".

[GalensGhost 0]

'Bama has talent, right?

Thank God we can finally put that bull**** to rest.

I think it's ridiculous to come here now and say you don't have talent when all we heard for years was how well Shula was recruiting. Now all of a sudden he couldn't recruit? And when Fran was here you guys trumpeted his recruiting brilliance. Then he left and he was the worst recruiter ever. And now you're saying the only good players Bama had were the ones Fran recruited? And I've heard probation bubbling back up again today. But haven't we been told on four, maybe five occasions that probation was finally over? What's the expiration date on that, really?

Alabama has plenty of talent. Or so we were told after the whipping this team laid on Tennessee.

Honestly? It's definitely got enough talent to knock Auburn off. You won't find me feeling brash or cocky after Saturday's game at all. Just like the Tennessee win has turned out to be an anomaly (just as the Florida win was in 2005), so too is the loss to ULM.

[WinCrimson 61]

'Bama has talent, right?

Thank God we can finally put that bull**** to rest.

I think it's ridiculous to come here now and say you don't have talent when all we heard for years was how well Shula was recruiting. Now all of a sudden he couldn't recruit? And when Fran was here you guys trumpeted his recruiting brilliance. Then he left and he was the worst recruiter ever. And now you're saying the only good players Bama had were the ones Fran recruited? And I've heard probation bubbling back up again today. But haven't we been told on four, maybe five occasions that probation was finally over? What's the expiration date on that, really?

Alabama has plenty of talent. Or so we were told after the whipping this team laid on Tennessee.

Honestly? It's definitely got enough talent to knock Auburn off. You won't find me feeling brash or cocky after Saturday's game at all. Just like the Tennessee win has turned out to be an anomaly (just as the Florida win was in 2005), so too is the loss to ULM.

When did I ever say Shula was a good recruiter?

I'm not being hostile with you, but I can't stand when someone tries to lump me in with your typical Alabama fan when I dislike them as much as you do.

Probation was only a valid excuse in 2003 and 2004, and even then, we should have been winning more games. Talent evaluation was and is our problem. If a recruiting site says you're a 4 star or you played in the Birmingham suburbs, you had a jersey waiting on you in Tuscaloosa.

Let's face it, every other staff went out, evaluated talent and did a solid job of it. Ours screwed the pooch and is the reason we're playing converts all over the field. We suck, and it's high time the world accepted that.

[TitanTiger 20,509]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

[WinCrimson 61]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

[weagle251 1]

I looked back over Rivals' rankings over the past 6 years a while back, and Bama had unranked recruiting classes in the seasons ending in 2/2002 and 2/2003 (Fran leaving/Price coming on board). Since then, Rivals has had Bama ranked in the top 20. In the Jetgate year, their class outranked Auburn's. It's not like the well is dry over there. I think there may be some truth to the internet rumors that some of the kids have quit.

[WinCrimson 61]

I looked back over Rivals' rankings over the past 6 years a while back, and Bama had unranked recruiting classes in the seasons ending in 2/2002 and 2/2003 (Fran leaving/Price coming on board). Since then, Rivals has had Bama ranked in the top 20. In the Jetgate year, their class outranked Auburn's. It's not like the well is dry over there. I think there may be some truth to the internet rumors that some of the kids have quit.

Those rankings are not indicative of talent. Surely that's obvious by now.

'Bama has a player here and there, but has no more talent than a Northwestern, Ole Miss, or Oregon State across the board. They may not have a DJ Hall, but I can guaran-damn-tee they don't have a Chris Capps. It all evens out.

[TecmoBoJackson 65]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

[otterinbham 0]

I looked back over Rivals' rankings over the past 6 years a while back, and Bama had unranked recruiting classes in the seasons ending in 2/2002 and 2/2003 (Fran leaving/Price coming on board). Since then, Rivals has had Bama ranked in the top 20. In the Jetgate year, their class outranked Auburn's. It's not like the well is dry over there. I think there may be some truth to the internet rumors that some of the kids have quit.

Those rankings are not indicative of talent. Surely that's obvious by now.

'Bama has a player here and there, but has no more talent than a Northwestern, Ole Miss, or Oregon State across the board. They may not have a DJ Hall, but I can guaran-damn-tee they don't have a Chris Capps. It all evens out.

Maybe. Maybe not. But all those teams you named could have put away ULM by halftime. What you have is a way overrated coach who bamboozled everybody, but can't even motivate his team to beat a directional school from Louisiana.

[WinCrimson 61]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

Having sub-par players isn't a legit excuse. How foolish of me.

Their hair style. That's it!

[townhallsavoy 2]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

Having sub-par players isn't a legit excuse. How foolish of me.

Their hair style. That's it!

I'm going to ask for your honesty on this. Were you one of the many Alabama fans who claimed that this football team would have a lot of offensive power but a weak defense? Because I'm fairly certain that the offense absolutely sucked against ULM. Was it sub-par players? Talent not good enough?

[TecmoBoJackson 65]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

Having sub-par players isn't a legit excuse. How foolish of me.

Their hair style. That's it!

I am sorry but I just cannot agree with you on this one. I do believe that heart is a necessity to win games but it takes more than that. It takes a talented team to beat Tennessee and to go down to the wire with LSU, UGA, and FSU. Granted heart is a componet of these same cases but blaming some losses because of "sub-par" talent when you obviously had enough to hang with three teams and beat UT. Wouldn't you say???

[AUChizad 0]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

Having sub-par players isn't a legit excuse. How foolish of me.

Their hair style. That's it!

Seriously. No flames.

Do you REALLY believe that the talent at ULM > the talent at uat?

Really?

The sunbelt whipping boy.

You demolished them last year 41-7 with essentially the same team minus one extra year of experience. We're not talking Mississippi State (whom you also have a more talented team than). We're not even talking Louisiana Tech. We're talking Louisiana Monroe.

Troy beat them 24-7 this year. Has Troy been that far ahead of you on the recruiting trail the last four years?

Tulsa too? Middle Tennessee State? North Texas?

[runswithscissors 33]

Bama has talent. Not national title talent, but they do have talent. What they lack is heart.

Not that I'm chalking up next week as a "W." Anyone can pull it together or utterly stink it up for one game.

Who, Titan?

DJ Hall is still a solid player. Same goes for the now injured Arenas. Castille and Smith used to be good. Caldwell still is. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain have bright futures.

Who else?

The wins over Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the close loss to LSU, we're because of heart. Talent had little to do that. When we play without heart, however, is when our true colors show.

We haven't fielded a talented team, on both sides of the ball, since 2002. And it's nobody's fault but ours.

Who else do you want to name??? I mean are you wanting to be able to call all 11 on each side of the ball exceptional athletes, wouldn't that give you national title talent??? Whether you believe it or not you do have talent on offense and defense. That is not a legit excuse in my book.

Having sub-par players isn't a legit excuse. How foolish of me.

Their hair style. That's it!

Seriously. No flames.

Do you REALLY believe you the talent at ULM > the talent at uat?

Really?

The sunbelt whipping boy.

You demolished them last year 41-7 with essentially the same team minus one extra year of experience. We're not talking Mississippi State (whom you also have a more talented team than). We're not even talking Louisiana Tech. We're talking Louisiana Monroe.

Troy beat them 24-7 this year. Has Troy been that far ahead of you on the recruiting trail the last four years?

Tulsa too? Middle Tennessee State? North Texas?

i think when he says sub-par talent, he is talking about SEC standards. but even a sub-standard SEC team should not lose to ULfreakingM. how we thumped TN is beyond me. how we thumped WESTERN CAROLINA is beyond me at this point. it just seems like there is a lack of talent, and a lack of effort by the team. something has quickly spiraled downhill since the TN game. whether it is guys on the team turning against each other, cliques, they don't like CNS, i don't know. i honestly didn't expect CMS' players to just LOVE CNS. i know i read stories from plenty of recruits and commits about how they were impressed at how the players all bought into CNS' way of doing things. i don't think any of us are privy to what is ACTUALLY going on. maybe all we can do is speculate. do we have great talent? not even close. do we have enough talent to beat ULM? YES. did we care to beat them? apparently not. i'm a talented firefighter, but if i go to a call and sit in the truck and do nothing, then let the rest of my firefighters do the same, then we're not going to accomplish any of our incident goals.

to answer another post, i was one of the people who thought the defense would be weak and the offense would keep us in games. point taken. given how complex the new defense is and the depth issues, i thought the defense would be alot worse off. i don't even know how to begin to explain losing to ULM. that is a scenario you never think you will encounter. i don't think there is any explaining it.

[WinCrimson 61]

In answering your questions...

townhallsavoy:

I'm going to ask for your honesty on this. Were you one of the many Alabama fans who claimed that this football team would have a lot of offensive power but a weak defense? Because I'm fairly certain that the offense absolutely sucked against ULM. Was it sub-par players? Talent not good enough?

Yes, I was. I think that was a reasonable claim to make, considering what we had returning on offense and what we lost off an already semi-porous defense. As far as our struggles against ULM, most of it was heart. I'm not denying that. However, many teams don't show up to play against Sun Belt squads, but can win those games based on talent (see: Auburn v. Buffalo 2006). Sub-par players allowed it to be close, but the will to win lost it for us. The exact opposite of that can be applied to the Tennessee and LSU games.

I expected Wilson to improve on his record-breaking 2006 season, and the offensive line to be better. Neither one of those things has happened. It will be a big lift to get Antione Caldwell back, though. We've really missed him.

TecmoBoJackson:

I am sorry but I just cannot agree with you on this one. I do believe that heart is a necessity to win games but it takes more than that. It takes a talented team to beat Tennessee and to go down to the wire with LSU, UGA, and FSU. Granted heart is a componet of these same cases but blaming some losses because of "sub-par" talent when you obviously had enough to hang with three teams and beat UT. Wouldn't you say???

Like I told 'savoy, our performances against UT and LSU were because we went balls to the wall for four quarters and left nothing on the field. As an example of little athleticism and talent, we have 2 guys on our entire roster that bench 400 or more pounds. For us to be leading a team that has 34 guys that can bench that amount, is a remarkable feat. I was extremely proud of our effort in both games. Without 100% effort, Alabama's a very weak team.

Obviously, both of us have been "consistently inconsistent" this season. I expect Alabama to come out Saturday with blood in one and piss in the other. Will that translate into a win? Only time will tell. But I could almost guarantee that our guys will be turn the "us against the world" mentality into a positive. Call me crazy, but I think Saturday's steady chorus of boos will help us out.

Seriously. No flames.

Do you REALLY believe that the talent at ULM > the talent at uat?

Really?

The sunbelt whipping boy.

You demolished them last year 41-7 with essentially the same team minus one extra year of experience. We're not talking Mississippi State (whom you also have a more talented team than). We're not even talking Louisiana Tech. We're talking Louisiana Monroe.

Troy beat them 24-7 this year. Has Troy been that far ahead of you on the recruiting trail the last four years?

Tulsa too? Middle Tennessee State? North Texas?

No. We've got more talent than ULM, but the gap between the two schools isn't what most would like to believe. If Alabama doesn't bring their best effort to the field, they can lose to just about anybody. This is a 180 from LSU's situation. Remember them losing to Tulane at the half before steamrolling them 34-9? That alone shows how far behind the SEC's elite we actually are.

With that said, they do have us beat at several positions. Their QB is very solid, their RB is SEC-caliber, and their LB corps makes ours look like Central High School's. Across the board, Alabama's better, but it's not the total domination most would expect in a SEC v. Sun Belt match-up.

We're just not that good. Our potential #1 recruiting class won't pay immediate dividends, either, meaning that if you want to see a talented Tide team, don't watch us again in 2009.

2008's road trips to Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU, and Georgia won't be pretty with the current Wilson or a true freshman. The bottom line is that things won't be getting better soon.