September 12, 2004
Shula Shows Class
Texas Tech's valiant, but failed, attempt to run up the score last week against SMU drew the ire of Kevin Donahue who wrote about it at length here on Fanblogs. Tonight, in a conference match-up, Coach Mike Shula and the Crimson Tide gave a lesson in class which more schools should take note of.
Alabama got the ball with nearly nine minutes remaining and only a yard deep inside their own territory. During the drive Alabama threw no passes and stayed between the tackles. QB Brodie Croyle let the clock run down to less than 5 seconds on every play. Ten plays and more than 7 minutes later, Alabama faced their third third-down of the series and converted the 3rd and 4 to give them a first and goal on the three. There was a minute remaining when the play clock started. Despite boos from the home crowd, the Tide lined up in the victory formation twice to take a knee and killed the clock to close out the 28-7 win over conference opponent Ole Miss.
For nine minutes, no sweeps or screens, no time-outs, kept it between the tackles, and turned down a chance for an easy seven points and a more impressive looking win. Why?
Because Coach Mike Shula and the Crimson Tide have something apparently lacking in Texas Tech and Coach Leach. That something is class. Leach went to the other extreme last week, but that brand of football is nothing new. It's disappointing, but that's the way things are.
Despite the disappointment of the fans in Bryant-Denny stadium who, I think, would boo a two-year old child if he kept the Tide from getting into the end-zone, I didn't hear a single fan in the stands, walking out of the gates, or on the way back to my car -- not a single one -- who complained about the kneeling at the end of the game or suggested that we should've just punched it in. Amazingly, most of those people were college students -- and, generally speaking, if you can find a larger group that appreciates class less than the average college student, I'd be surprised. Everyone knew it was the right call.
To quote Paul "Bear" Bryant (the best college football coach ever, even if no longer the winninginest): "Act like you've been there before."
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Comments & Trackbacks
Pete Holiday says:
posted on September 12, 2004 11:50 AM — linkSure, Mike... made up for an invented controversy which offended a Mississippi State coach by... going easy on Ole Miss? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Besides, as I've said before, I don't think there was anything wrong with renaming the award -- if Croom hadn't been a media darling since the moment his name came up for the Alabama job, this thing would've been a huge non-issue.
Robert Knodell says:
posted on September 12, 2004 06:41 PM — linkAlabama has had enough bad press over the past few years that it didn't need any more for piling on. Say what you want about his head coaching ability (and the jury is most certainly still out), but Shula is a clearly a class act. His only mistake in the Croom award affair was perhaps not being sensitive to the way the media would react. I could see both sides of that deal and there is plenty of room for reasonable men to disagree.
Of course, when you're talking about piling on points at the end of a game, there is another perspective to look at. A former Division II coach I know once posed the rhetorical question, "why hasten the demise of a coach you know you can beat by running up the score on him?"
Michael Hickerson says:
posted on September 13, 2004 11:08 AM — linkAs a Vols fan I hate to give Bama credit for anything, but I will agree. I hate to see coaches run up the score--even Tennessee. For Shula to win a game but not kick an opponent when down is a great thing. Too bad other schools won't follow his good sportmanship example.
