TUSCALOOSA -- Absolutely no one in attendance should have been surprised by the 32 combined passes, the 95 combined passing yards and the 88 combined rushing attempts in Alabama's 27-3 win over Southern Miss on Saturday.

If it weren't for a flurry of penalty flags and a long halftime, the game might have been through in 2 hours.


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The Golden Eagles had to start reserve quarterback Damion Carter in place of the ailing Dustin Almond, and Alabama starter Spencer Pennington was a third-team quarterback when the season opened.

But where Alabama was able to manufacture a potent ground attack behind its veteran offensive line, the Golden Eagles were not as fortunate in that department.

In fact, putting points on the board has been a hassle for Southern Miss in the recent history of the series.

Alabama's defense has not allowed a Southern Miss touchdown in the past 13 quarters in the series dating back to a Jeff Kelly scoring pass to Leroy Handy in the third quarter of Alabama's 28-15 win in 2001.

-- INJURY REPORT: Alabama cornerback Anthony Madison played with a soft cast on his left wrist, a byproduct of the broken wrist he suffered at Kentucky last weekend.

"I was keeping it low key," Madison said of keeping the wrist injury under wraps.

Safety Roman Harper took a blow to the head during Charlie Peprah's interception return in the fourth quarter, and Peprah had his helmet knocked off on the same play. Both are expected to be available for today's practice.

On the not-dressed list for Alabama were linebacker Juwan Garth (shoulder), defensive tackle Justin Britt (ankle) and offen sive lineman B.J. Stabler (hand).

-- TV TALK: Alabama's road game at Tennessee on Saturday has been picked up by CBS for a 2:30 p.m. broadcast.

It will mark the Tide's second appearance on CBS this season, following its 27-10 loss at Arkansas.

-- ROSTER NOTES: Senior Anthony Bryant made his first start of the year at defensive tackle, in place of Rudy Griffin.

Junior Freddie Roach made his first start of the season, taking on the new role of weak-side linebacker in Garth's absence.

Tim Castille and Aaron Johns split 18 carries, with Castille rushing 12 times for 47 yards and the true freshman Johns going for 21 yards on six tries.

With Justin Britt unable to dress, Alabama's rotation at defensive tackle included Curtis Dawson, who had not played since the blowout win over Western Carolina.

-- MARSHAL GOTTFRIED: Crimson Tide basketball coach Mark Gottfried put in a power-packed morning.

The seventh-year coach put his club through a nearly three-hour opening practice at Coleman Coliseum, then had a police escort to downtown Tuscaloosa, where he jumped on a float with his family and served as grand marshal of the homecoming parade.

"It's been a full day," Gottfried told reporters before kickoff. "I'm ready to sit down. We get a win here at 2:30 and it'll be a pretty good day all around."

Gottried said swingman Kennedy Winston from Blount High School worked through the entire practice, putting in a good test on his left knee, on which he had arthroscopic surgery in June.

"I'll be curious (today) and Monday to see how he's doing," Gottfried said. "We have to be real wise with him."

Gottfried had praise for freshman point guard Ron Steele.

"He verbally took charge a couple of times, which was good to see for a young guy," he said.

-- STREAKING: Tyrone Prothro kept his streak of consecutive games with a reception alive at 13 by grabbing a 35-yard jump-ball pass from Spencer Pennington in the third quarter. The grab led to Pennington's 12-yard shovel pass touchdown to Ken Darby on the first play of the fourth quarter.

-- SERIES NOTES: Alabama beat Southern Miss for the fourth consecutive time and for the 12th time in the past 13 meetings on the field. The Crimson Tide forfeited its 40-0 win in 1993. Alabama's all-time record against USM is 33-6-2 (.829), with all the games being played in Alabama. ... USM coach Jeff Bower is now 2-12, including the '93 forfeit, in games against Alabama, while Mike Shula is 2-0 against the Golden Eagles as a coach.

-- HOMECOMING NOTES: The Crimson Tide now has a 70-13-1 record (.839) in homecoming games. Lacey Valeska of Dothan was selected homecoming queen and Mike Kuffner of Huntsville was chosen as Capstone Gentleman in elections held Tuesday.

Former kicker Michael Proctor, the second-leading scorer in school history with 326 points, ran out with the game ball.

-- CAPTAINS: Alabama's captains were senior Carlos Andrews and sophomores Tim Castille and Ramzee Robinson.

Southern Miss was represented by linebacker Michael Boley, receiver DaRon Law rence and linebacker Naton Stewart.