Alabama, Play to Win

Ok, I need to vent some from the game yesterday. Those of you who watched know that Bama got beat by Arkansas in double overtime, 24-23. It was one of those games where we simply whipped the other team but somehow they managed to stay in the game and capitalize on our mistakes...and oh were there mistakes. First, we had 11 penalties (more than the 3 previous games combined). Second, our placekicker decided to miss 3 field goals...and an extra point (2 of the field goals would've won the game). The third mistake is the biggest and I'll discuss it at length.

Mike Shula, et al., are still coaching as if we were in the Bear Bryant era. We continue to make conservative play calls on offense that cause us to lose games. We have a quarterback, JP Wilson, who's a first-year starter who shows more promise than Brodie Croyle. We have two of the best receivers in the country. However, our "sensational running back," Kenneth Darby, has been everything but. And guess who our coaches have consistently gone to in order to make key plays? Yep, Kenneth Darby. He was wonderful for 3 years but now the guy is injured and has lost his technique for whatever reason. The backup running back is playing far better and we don't use him. So what do we do? We go to Darby, because "maybe he'll be better this game." Well, now that we're a quarter of the way through the season we might want to start thinking maybe he won't. We had an opportunity to win the game yesterday in overtime. What did we do? We gave it to Darby 3 plays in a row. No first down. But hey, we can always kick a field goal right? Um, no. By the way, I saw Darby talking smack multiple times to Arkansas yesterday. I'm thinking, dude, you royally suck right now. You're embarrassing yourself so shut your mouth.

Here's the thing. What made Steve Spurrier such a great coach is that when he got inside the opponents' territory, he never thought field goals were an option. He was going into the end zone. Alabama will never compete on the level that, for example, Auburn is right now because they're more afraid to lose than they are committed to winning. So what if Wilson gets intercepted? At least we can say we tried. Running Darby 3 plays in a row (when our quarterback is having a sensational game throwing) isn't trying. It's playing for the field goal. I don't know whether the blame is initially on Dave Rader, the off. coordinator, or Shula but the buck stops with Shula. Many are asking him to step down but that would be one of the worst decisions Bama could make. Shula is a great coach but he has to stop worrying about losing. If Alabama makes some changes concerning play calling on offense, we will compete for the SEC West. Next year, we'll win the conference and possibly compete for the championship...but only if we start playing to win. Bama will beat Florida on Saturday if we make these changes. Mark my words.

Play to win, Coach.