Tide Tidbits - October 20, 2008

Phillip Fulmer: "We need to play our best to have a chance to win"
Having beaten Alabama on the field 10 of 15 times as Tennessee's head coach, Phillip Fulmer isn't used to bringing the underdog into this storied series. There's no question he will this time. Fulmer is catching quite a bit of heat for Tennessee's disappointing performance this season, especially coming off a shaky 2007 season, when he recovered nicely from blowout losses to Cal, Florida and Alabama to reach the SEC championship game.

Tide searches for second-half formula
Alabama appears to be losing ground in the court of public opinion after edging unheralded Ole Miss 24-20 on Saturday afternoon, but it's a mixed blessing for head coach Nick Saban. "I think our players play hard and I think they play with great intensity and I have a tre­mendous amount of respect for what our players have put into this season," Saban said. "May­be that's why they play so well in the first half because of all that they do but we have to find a way to strike with more con­sistency for 60 minutes in the game and that's going to be criti­cal to us in the future."

CRIMSON TIDE FIRST AND 10
University of Alabama coach Nick Saban warned people all last week that Ole Miss was a good football team, but not even he could have foreseen the affect losing junior defensive tackle Terrence Cody to a knee injury Saturday would have on the No. 2 Crimson Tide (7-0). Not only was Bryant-Denny Stadium mostly lifeless during the second half of the 24-20 victory, but the team nearly squandered a 21-point lead. That much was obvious, but here are 10 things you may not have noticed:

Iraqi interpreter calls Tuscaloosa home
In his native Iraq, Omar “Cliff” al-Captain worked side by side with U.S. troops for much of the last five years as an interpreter, dodging bombs and bullets while explaining to his often confounded American friends the origins of the animus between Shiites and Sunnis. But in the first few weeks since he moved from the front lines to this Southern college town, Captain is trying to get his arms around the closest thing Alabama has to sectarian conflict — the rivalry between the University of Alabama and Auburn University — and the perplexing rules of American football. “Everybody here is crazy about Alabama football,” said Captain, who resettled in Tuscaloosa last month under a Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis who have assisted the U.S. in Iraq. “I don’t understand all the rules yet but, I’ve decided to become a Crimson Tide fan.”

Roll Tide!