Alabama ready for slugfest
Tide knows Southern Miss gets up for this game
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
By THOMAS MURPHY
Sports Reporter
One year removed from one of the most buttoned-down offensive game plans in modern college football history, how does Alabama stack up heading into what promises to be yet another blue-collar, smash-mouth meeting against Southern Miss?

Based on the Crimson Tide's 304 yards of Ground Shula and a run-stopping, turnover-creating defensive effort in a 45-17 bludgeoning of Kentucky, pretty well.


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The oddsmakers have installed Alabama as a 7-point favorite for Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game despite the fact that Southern Miss is unbeaten and has a freshly minted No. 24 spot in The Associated Press poll this week.

"Ever since I've been here and found out about Southern Miss, you know you've got to be ready to play," said Alabama coach Mike Shula, who was 3-0 against the Golden Eagles as a player and 1-0 as a coach. "They always play great here. They're going to have a lot of incentive. They're in the top 25 and deservedly so.

"They beat Nebraska at Nebraska and they found a way to win last week in overtime."

Just as in last year's 17-3 win over Southern Miss -- in which first-time starting quarterback Brandon Avalos hit just 3 of 7 passes for 12 yards -- Alabama is hurting at quarterback.

Brodie Croyle is out for the year. Marc Guillon's lower back problems make the sophomore's status uncertain. Third-stringer Spencer Pennington rebounded from a horrid relief outing against South Carolina to complete 7 of 11 passes for 83 yards and jack up his efficiency rating from minus-20 to 64.78.

But that was against Kentucky.

Pennington, already tentatively named the starter for Southern Miss, didn't let the nature of Alabama's opponent dampen his enthusiasm over the win.

"That was the best feeling I've ever had," said Pennington, who is now 1-1 as a starter. "You think about that growing up as a kid, to go on the road, starting your first game of the year and an SEC game and winning. That's huge for me.

"I was very excited, not only for me, but for the offense in general. We needed a win."

While most analysts projected an Alabama win over Kentucky, they didn't necessarily envision a scoring outburst that included a special-teams touchdown on Tyrone Prothro's 100-yard kickoff return and two other scores set up handily by takeaways.

The Crimson Tide had scored just a combined 13 points in consecutive losses to Arkansas and South Carolina without Croyle.

Though Alabama's offensive blueprint against the Golden Eagles this time around might not be as ground-based as last year's, that is still the Tide's preferred mode of movement, even with tailback Ray Hudson lost with a knee injury.

"We've got to stop the run," USM coach Jeff Bower said at his Monday press conference. "At the same time, I don't know what quarterback we'll see. They've got some ability to throw the football."

The Golden Eagles allow 170 rushing yards per game, a figure that ranks 76th among the 118 Division I-A schools.

On the other side of the ball, USM will start quarterback Damion Carter, who, ironically, also started against the Crimson Tide last season. This time, however, Dustin Almond will not be available to back him up.

USM's Bower is wary of Alabama's No. 4-rated defense, which has been stingy against the pass and solid versus the run.

"They're tough to move the ball on and everyone's had that problem against them," he said. "The biggest difference with them this year is last year they gave up a lot of plays in the passing game. They're really playing well in the secondary this year."


Alabama has won 11 of the last 12 against Southern Miss, all during the tenure of Bower, whose 14-year reign is the seventh-longest among active Division I-A coaches. USM's lone win was a 21-0 thumping during Alabama's epic 2000 meltdown.

Of course, all the games in the series -- ruled by a 32-6-2 margin by the Tide -- have been played in the state of Alabama.