Tide Tidbits - December 17, 2008

FOX Sports: Utah-Alabama Preview
Alabama owns the most extensive bowl history in college football. The Crimson Tide will look to add to it when they face Utah, a school making a record-setting appearance in the Bowl Championship Series, in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2. The fourth-ranked Crimson Tide (12-1) were 15 minutes away from a spot in the BCS title game, carrying a 20-17 lead into the fourth quarter of their SEC championship matchup with then-No. 2 Florida. Alabama couldn't close it out, losing 31-20 and settling for its 13th appearance in the Sugar Bowl - its most frequent destination among its NCAA-leading 56 bowl games. "Our players are certainly disappointed," coach Nick Saban said. "But this is an opportunity. If you're going to be a great team, when you lose, you want to come back and play your best the next time you play."

Smith believes he can keep up with Tide's Jones
Who do you get to cover a former big-time recruit who is one of the biggest-impact freshman receivers in the country? The seventh-ranked Utah Utes will turn to one of the largest cornerbacks in the nation, Sean Smith — all 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds of him. One of Smith's primary duties in the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl will be trying to lock down the fourth-ranked University of Alabama's Julio Jones, recently voted freshman of the year in the Southeastern Conference. Smith has studied Jones on film and seen why Jones has garnered rave reviews. 'This guy is amazing,' Smith said. 'Great hands, runs great routes, everything they've hyped him up to be, a very gifted athlete.'

Recruiting: WR Kevin Norwood becomes Crimson Tide commitment No. 20
Receiver prospect Kevin Norwood offered Alabama coach Nick Saban a ray of sunshine on a miserable day. Just ask him. "I talked to Coach Saban at 6 p.m. and told him I was committing to Alabama," Norwood told Rivals.com. "Coach Saban told me that he has been traveling in bad weather all day and had gotten wet, but that this news made his day. He said it made it all worth it." The recruiting board and rankings have been updated CLICK HERE to view them.

American made: Tide places three on AP All-America team
Alabama landed three players Tuesday on The Associated Press' All-America first team, the most of any school in the nation. Senior center Antoine Caldwell, junior noseguard Terrence Cody and junior left tackle Andre Smith became the first Crimson Tide first-team All-Americans since linebacker DeMeco Ryans in 2005. "They didn't win a championship," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said last week, "but they represented themselves as champions."

Bama's unique addition
Opposing teams at Bryant-Denny Stadium will now be housed in "The Fail Room." The University of Alabama honored Mobile native, alumnus and Crimson Tide Foundation contributor James M. Fail on Monday by officially naming the visitors' locker room for him. UA Athletic Director Mal Moore said in a statement. "Mr. Fail has been such a strong supporter of ours and had already made a significant gift to name our media suite in memory of his late father-in-law, former Birmingham Post-Herald sports editor Naylor Stone. But he had always been hesitant to use his unique name for a naming right until the right opportunity came along."

Bama fans go after extra Utah tickets
Zack Lassiter wasn't surprised when Utah's ticket office was deluged with orders for Sugar Bowl tickets from Alabama football fans. He is surprised that the deluge didn't last. Utah still has about 4,300 tickets, priced at $135, available for the Jan. 2, 2009, Sugar Bowl between No. 4 Alabama and No. 7 Utah in the Louisiana Superdome. Lassiter, Utah's assistant athletic director in charge of the ticket office, worked previously at LSU, so he understands Alabama's passion for the bowl game. Utah pre-sold about 10,000 of its allotted 17,500 tickets, and put the rest up for sale to the general public. Alabama's share of tickets is sold out. 'Since then we've sold about 3,000, and I'd say about 80 percent of those were to Alabama fans,' Lassiter said. 'We got that initial rush on Friday, and since then it's died down.

Roll Tide!