TUSCALOOSA - The comment came unsolicited, an overwhelming moment of honesty from Alabama running back Tim Castille.

"We're just trying to get bowl eligible right now," Castille said.


Maybe Castille has looked at the five games remaining on Alabama's schedule and done the only logical thing he could do.

Groaned. Or grimaced. Or frowned.

After having not faced a ranked opponent through its first six games, the Crimson Tide - according to the latest Associated Press Top 25 football poll - will play four ranked teams in its final five games.

Alabama, at 4-2, still needs two more wins to reach the minimum of six to qualify for a bowl game.

And this journey must be navigated with starting quarterback Brodie Croyle and starting tailback Ray Hudson out for the season with knee injuries.

So when you ask Castille if his ego had to be forgotten when he was moved to the blue-collar, no-glory position of fullback last season, this is the answer he gave:

"Right now, we're just trying to win games," Castille said. "When you're losing like last year, you can't have an ego."

Just apply that to the Crimson Tide as a whole.

And that journey toward six wins resumes Saturday against No. 24 Southern Mississippi - the first of the four ranked opponents to close the regular season.

A win over the 4-0 Golden Eagles, coupled with an assumed win on Nov. 6 over woeful Mississippi State, would likely earn the Tide a holiday vacation to possible bowl games in Nashville, Shreveport, La., or Houston.

"I don't like to look at it like we've got to have this win to go to a bowl game," junior safety Roman Harper said. "We need to win every game. If anything, we need to win all of our SEC games because those are the ones that really count.

"We need this one just because it's the next one."

And because it's the Tide's second-best chance to win another game.

Next week, Alabama plays at No. 13 Tennessee (4-1). Then on Nov. 20, it's a trip to 20th-ranked LSU (4-2) before the regular season finale at home against fourth-ranked Auburn (6-0).

Consider also that not only has Alabama not played a ranked team this season, it hasn't beaten a team yet with a winning record. The combined record of the four teams Alabama has beaten - including Division I-AA Western Carolina - is 8-15.

But the combined record of the last five teams on the schedule is 19-8 - and five of those losses belong to Mississippi State.

Against that backdrop, unbeaten Southern Miss suddenly looks like a softy.

"It's exciting," said Hudson's replacement, sophomore Kenneth Darby of Huntsville. "I'm not going to deny it. It's going to challenge us and let us know where we stand. You know they're going to come in ready to play.

"All the hype is going to be on them instead of on us. That's what we like, though. We love our backs to be against the wall and we're going to come out fighting."

As for coach Mike Shula, he offered the expected reply that it will take more than a month to play the rest of the schedule. And Southern Miss will be the only ranked opponent to show up Saturday, not all four at once.

"It's the start of the second half," he said. "We talk about the games getting bigger as the season goes on. We've won some games; we've lost some games that have been tough to swallow.

"The only thing we can focus on is this week."