Expanded Alabama thoughts ...

I got in just a bit too much of a hurry when writing today’s column and didn’t realize until later I had left a lot of what I wanted to say on the table.

One of the things I really wanted to go into was why it’s different this time when people - myself included - are saying that Bama is back ... again.

That narrative has come along three previous times, and, strangely, in three-year cycles.

In 1999, in the third year of the Mike DuBose era, the Tide won the SEC and went 10-3, then started the next year ranked No. 3 in the nation.

We all know what happened next, but what a lot of people don’t know is exactly why.

The coaching staff under DuBose was absolutely disintegrating from about May of 1999 up to the point they were all fired in November 2000. There was in-fighting, no leadership and a pretty bad lack of planning.

What they had in 1999, however, was leadership. But from the players.

Guys like Shaun Alexander, Chris Samuels, Miguel Merritt and Cornelius Griffin, among others, kept together the team and made sure a lot of talented youngsters played to their potential.

Those four I mentioned were also all seniors, and when they left that year so did any semblance of stability. The disjointed mess you saw in 2000 was a direct result of all that.

So then DuBose was gone, and in came Dennis Franchione.

Franchione probably would’ve succeeded there (although its hard to say that after the Disaster in College Station (it deserves caps), but his 10-3 record in 2002 was helped a bit by not playing Florida, catching Arkansas when they were struggling early and facing Tennessee and LSU teams on the road that underachieved pretty badly that season. Plus they had absolutely horrible Vanderbilt and Mississippi State teams on the schedule.

And then Franchione bolted, and on came the fallout from the NCAA sanctions.

Enter Mike Shula (by way of Mike Price), who is about as bad an offensive coach as has ever laid trod an NFL sideline, becoming a head coach for the first time at any level at a premiere college with a rabid fanbase with high expectations.

Needless to say, things didn’t go well most of the time.

But for one magical year in 2005, things clicked.

Brodie Croyle was finally healthy and living to his potential, Ken Darby was running all over the place and Tyrone Prothro was making the impossible look routine.

And then Shula did something stupid (big surprise, I know).

Leading Florida, 31-3, and facing fourth down in Gator territory in the fourth quarter, rather than, you know, punt, Shula elected for a deep pass to Prothro and when his leg snapped so did Bama’s chances.

Sure, they won four more regular season games after that and got to No. 3 in the polls, but it was largely on the wings of a strong defense.

And then LSU and Auburn exposed the Tide for what they were and that was that.

And that brings us to now.

For the first time since Gene Stallings was forced out of town, the Tide has both a good coach and a strong coach. There are some differences.

Franchione was a good coach, but he wasn’t strong enough to deal with the internal pressures (there are many) or the external pressures from the fanbase.

DuBose and Shula were both ill-equipped in both areas.

Nick Saban is a good coach (it’s been proven before he got here, and he may be proving it even more right now) and a strong coach. Strong because A) he welcomes the kind of expectations Alabama fans have and B) he’s already been given total control of the football program and really doesn’t care enough to bother himself with the athletic department politics.

As we’re seeing right now, he has a team that’s really not close to being the total package playing the best football in the country right now, and has an inside track to a 10-0 start heading to LSU.

Pitfalls exist, like the home dates with Ole Miss and Mississippi State and the trip to Tennessee, but Bama should be able to get through those.

And if they can go to Baton Rouge and win, as crazy as it is to say, there may not be any stopping this team.

And I really can’t believe I’m typing this right now.

Belated ‘If I Had A Vote’ Week 6

I’ve been a little short on time and I still am so no explanations this week. I know you’re crushed.

Here’s last week’s poll.

1. (Tie) Oklahoma and USC
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. LSU
6. Missouri
7. Alabama
8. South Florida
9. Texas
10. Ohio State
11. Wisconsin
12. Texas Tech
13. Penn State
14. BYU
15. Wake Forest
16. Utah
17. Auburn
18. Kansas
19. Illinois
20. Boise State
21. Virginia Tech
22. TCU
23. Vanderbilt
24. Fresno State
25. Oklahoma State

Now for this week.

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. LSU
4. Missouri
5. Penn State
6. Texas
7. South Florida
8. Texas Tech
9. BYU
10. USC
11. Ohio State
12. Georgia
13. Florida
14. Utah
15. Auburn
16. Kansas
17. Boise State
18. Virginia Tech
19. Wisconsin
20. Vanderbilt
21. Oklahoma State
22. Fresno State
23. Illinois
24. North Carolina
25. Wake Forest

I’ll try to slip in some thoughts tomorrow.

Tony Franklin speaks ... and speaks ...

I’ve never been around a coach—on any level—who’s as honest and forthcoming as Tony Franklin. You ask him a question, he’ll answer it.
Period.

The media sat down with Franklin, as we do every Sunday, and peppered him with question after question about his offense and why it’s so bad and all that jazz. He took every question and answered it.

Here are some highlights:

TONY FRANKLIN:
DAY-AFTER THOUGHTS?:
We got to get better. That’s pretty obvious. It’s confusing to say the least. We come out and we play pretty good early. We have a good opening drive, we have a penalty. Then we come back the next drive and drive it down, overcome, I think two penalties that drive, and still take it in, score a touchdown.
Then Kodi comes in, makes a couple plays. We get it down again and don’t score. Then after that, we just laid an egg. It’s bewildering to say the least. But we, just like I’ve said time and time again, words are cheap. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to find the answers. We’ll keep looking for them. I hope to go out and show the answers on Saturday.

ANYTHING YOU CAN PUT FINGER ON?
No. I got no clue. And we’re searching, trying to find out why.
I felt comfortable in the opening drives. Felt like we had a good rhythm – had a good click going.  And just lost our rhythm and never got it back.

IS THIS STILL THE ‘TONY FRANKLIN’ OFFENSE YOU’RE RUNNING?
Well, I mean, there’s the quote “Tony Franklin Offense” that I’ve run most of my adult life, since the Kentucky days of being able to go and freely do whatever. And then work with different high schools throughout the country and do all that stuff, but this is definitely not that.
We’re having to try to adjust. We’re trying to adjust what these guys can do. So that’s a never-ending challenge, trying to figure it out. And just when you think you might have your finger on it, there’s another adjustment to be made.
So we’re still searching, trying to figure it out. Trying to figure out what works best for Auburn.
It’s not the Tony Franklin Offense, it’s the Auburn Offense. It’s Auburn’s offense. It’s these players’ offense. And it’s my job to find out what they can do.
I think anybody who knows, and who’s watched most of the stuff I’ve done throughout my life, there’s a lot of adjustments that have been made since I’ve been here. So, it’s just a part of coaching, you try to adjust to your talent each place you go.

PLAYING AT THE TEMPO YOU WANT?
No. We’ve never played at the tempo. We don’t understand tempo, yet. We think we do, but we don’t have a clue. We’re not playing as fast. We don’t understand what it means to play fast. We think we do, but we don’t.
We still struggle with the snap count. So, it’s challenging to play at the tempo when you struggle with the snap count. We only have one, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to learn. But we struggle with it for some reason.
We’re not anywhere near the tempo that we need to be. We’re not playing as fast as we need to play. But we’re going to continue probably to slow down to try and get where we can do what these guys can do, rather than what people have been able to do in the past. I’ve got to do what these guys are capable of doing.

TEMPO COMPARED TO NOW AS TO THE BOWL GAME:
Again, I guess I coached them down since the bowl game, because they certainly haven’t gotten any better. That’s for certain.
Like I said, it’s a mystery. It’s a mystery right now.

IS THE PROBLEM NOT HAVING THE RIGHT ATHELTES FOR THIS OFFENSE?
No. I think, honestly, I just don’t think I’ve done a very good job of coaching it. I mean, hell, it’s pretty obvious that these guys don’t look well coached. And that’s me. I have not done a good job of coaching. The finger’s pointing at me and it deserves to be. I’ve done a crappy job coaching football.

HOW DO YOU CHANGE THAT?
Keep working hard. It’s all I know to do. It’s all I’ve ever done in my life. You look in the mirror and you know what the answer is. It’s always you. You’re always the problem. So you look in the mirror and you go back to work. You work harder, you keep looking for answers, you ask for help, you listen to people, see what they say, and try to fix what’s broken. That’s all I know to do.

ON THE CROWD BOOING:
Well, they should. Hell, if I was them, I’d boo. I’d boo me. I’d be angry. Everybody’s expectations were high. My expectations were high. Hell, if I was a paying fan I’d be (ticked). This product has not been good, and it was my product. I don’t blame them for being upset. I don’t take it personal. When they said how wonderful you were, I didn’t take that personal because I knew it wasn’t true. I said all along that I wasn’t very smart and y’all thought I was joking. Now you know. It’s pretty true.

Todd will remain starting QB

Fresh out of our Sunday sitdown with Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville, and we’ve got news on the starting quarterback situation.

Chris Todd will remain the starter, Tuberville said. But, Kodi Burns will play. For real this time. Tuberville said the Tigers are going to use the Todd/Burns rotation like they did this past Saturday. But, better. I think.

Anyway, Todd will stay the starter and Burns will play.

Saturday, Burns took 25 snaps. Not bad for sitting out for two consecutive games.

GameDay to be at Vanderbilt

Early reports out of Bristol, Conn., ESPN College GameDay will be in Nashville for the Auburn vs. Vanderbilt game Saturday.

That’s right. Vandy. I know, I know.

Hey, it’s the only “good” game of the week. But if you’ve seen Auburn’s offense play, you know that’s hard to beleive. But, still, Vandy’s ranked for the first time in 24 years. The Commodores are 19th. Auburn is 13 (AP) and 14 (Coaches).

This promises to be ... interesting.