Tide Tidbits - September 21, 2008

Tide 'D' takes a stand
It's an almost forgotten series of plays in a 49-14 rout, but to Alabama players, particularly on defense, it ushers in a new era of Crimson Tide football. Arkansas had a first-and-goal situation at the Alabama 1-yard line late in the first half. Four plays later, an impressive goal line stand gave the Crimson Tide the ball at the Razorback 2.

Tide high on the Hog
The once-feared stadium was never really full. Fans began the evacuation by halftime, and for those who stayed, refreshed grumbles didn't drown out delight from a small clusters of visitors whose version of "Rammer Jammer" played to an all but empty house. Stunned wasn't the correct word at Arkansas. Whipped was more like it.

Alabama coach Nick Saban finds room for improvement even in Crimson Tide's one-sided win over Arkansas
Perhaps it speaks to improvement in Alabama's program that Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban gave more criticism for Saturday's 49-14 victory over Arkansas than after many victories. "We thought we made more mental errors in this game than what we made all year," Saban said, adding later, "We made a lot of mistakes today. They did some things that were a little bit different that we hadn't practiced a lot against and our players got a little bit confused in the game and that affected some of the things that we had practiced."

'Wow' is about all you can say
Looks like ESPN's College GameDay is heading to Athens next week for Alabama-Georgia. Kirk Herbstreit, one of the hosts of GameDay, said at the end of Georgia's 27-10 win over Arizona State that he would be in Athens next Saturday.

Complete domination in Arkansas ...
Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said earlier this of his team's first SEC game, "I think we'll find out about ourselves." Indeed. Here's a safe conclusion after little more than one half of action in Fayetteville: The Razorbacks are not a very good football team.

Saban speaks at halftime... and another score!
First of all, Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke at halftime, and as you can imagine, he was pretty grounded. He harped on the missed tackle, the mistakes, and oh by the way, his team is up 35-7. "We did not play well on defense," Saban said. "We made a lot of mistakes. We gave up some big plays and lost our poise. We did have a couple of big-play interceptions that we returned for touchdowns. We did a good job running the ball offensively. We need to keep the football because we are tired on defense."

Tide romps Arkansas, 49-14
Wow, what a game. Several Alabama players had career days in Fayetteville, and the Tide rolled over Arkansas 49-14. Glen Coffee racked up 162 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries, and Roy Upchurch also put up impressive numbers. Javier Arenas and Justin Woodall had long interception returns for touchdowns.

Roll Tide!