Go to Home Games 2004 front page

read interviews with Coach Mike Shula, Roman Harper, Brodie Croyle and Todd Bates (posted 9/12/04)
see pictures from Alabama/Ole Miss GameDay in Tuscaloosa

Payback! Rebels Routed 28-7
Brodie Croyle (#12 QB, Jr. 6-3 205 lbs. 2VL Rainbow City, Westbrook Christian High School)

Brodie Croyle had another solid game ... 14/22 for 169 yds - 2 TD

These comments came following the 2004 Ole Miss game as Brodie Croyle answered questions from the press pool ...
*some questions were inaudible and have been edited

Press Pool ... Can you talk about what this win means ... it puts you at 2-0 and gives you your first win in the SEC? Does this give the team some momentum?

Brodie Croyle ... It gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of our season because that was a very good Ole Miss defense we just played. We were able to hit some big plays on them and have some long drives. But don't take anything away from them. They're an extremely good defense. It gives our offense a lot of confidence, and seeing our defense play the way it did gives us even more confidence.

Can you talk about how the three running backs are doing?

They're doing awesome! You can see what all of them can do. You saw Ray ... (when he juked an Ole Miss defender on his touchdown run) that was one of the better moves I've seen since I started playing in college. Then he has the speed to take it the distance. All of them bring something a little different, and they realize that they all have a role. There's no "me-me" with any of them. They're all fresh and whoever is hot ... give them the ball.

The offense had some problems early, and then you got pinned back there on your two yard line.

It seemed like the whole first half we started out inside the 10. That was a big drive for us to go 98-yards like that. Turnovers ... that's just part of football and you have to overcome it. Luckily, tonight we did. So we're just going to watch film and see what good things we did, and what we did bad and correct it and be a better team next week.

Talk about the catch Tyrone (Prothro) made in the endzone.

Oh man, that was a super catch. We had been running a post route the last couple of weeks, and we ran it a couple of times last week. But he really sold it, and then went back out and made an excellent catch.

Did you feel pretty protected tonight by your offensive line?

Oh yeah. The only time I got hit was by guys that we couldn't pick up. We got rid of the ball most of those times. We got hit late a couple of times. That's part of football. You're going to take a couple of (late) hits, but if they're going to do that, they're going to pay for it. We got a couple of big plays from it.

Can you talk about how the feeling was different when you came off the field this time?

That (last year vs. Ole Miss) was the most embarrassing loss I've ever been a part of ... high school, junior high, college ... that was probably the lowest point of my football career. And to come back and have a good performance against them as a team really made it worthwhile.

You had a couple of near hits with the receivers ... (rest of question inaudible)

You know he actually had him beat, but I didn't make a good throw. I threw it too far inside. We might have been able to put them away a little earlier. But that's something I'll have to fix, and we'll do it.

Talk about all the young wide receivers that have been playing.

They did great. They saw the hot reads for the most part. They really got pressed tonight for the first time against SEC cornerbacks and they did a great job. That's just part of the hard work they did all summer that is really starting to pay off now.

Does it take a lot of pressure off your offense to have three running backs like you have?

Anytime you can run the ball the way we have it's going to open up the passing game for you. Anytime you can get one-on-one coverage with the caliber receivers that we have, it's usually going to turn out for the best.