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read interviews with Coach Mike Shula and Kenneth Darby (posted 9/17/04)
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Southern Miss Stomped 27-3 ... Darby Runs Wild
Mike Shula (head coach)

The win over #24 Southern Miss was Alabama's first
victory over a ranked opponent in almost two years.

These comments came following the 2004 Southern Miss game as Coach Shula answered questions from the press pool ...

Coach Mike Shula … It's a good win. It especially feels good when it's at home and during Homecoming. Our crowd was into it. We had a nice night last night at the pep rally for our seniors ... their last Homecoming. I thought our team came out and played physical football, starting with our defense. They did a nice job all day running to the football. We got the big turnover early that gave us the ball inside their 10 and we took advantage of that to get it to a two score game. Offensively, I thought we were moving the ball pretty well on the ground. Obviously, we would have like to get touchdowns instead of field goals. We went in at halftime, I think it was 13-3, up two scores. It was good for us, we wanted to be there. But I felt like we were beating ourselves too with a lot of penalties. But we addressed it at halftime. We'll have to address it again tomorrow. We're having too many costly penalties if it continues. So obviously, we'll have to do a better job there with our players and coaches. But we came out in the second half and stayed after them. We hit the pass down the middle with a great effort by Tyrone Prothro. It really got us down inside their territory again to pick up another score. Then we hit the shovel pass to Darby. That was a big play there. Then the defense comes up with another turnover. It's good to win when you play good defense and run the football. We had one turnover, but other than that and the penalties, there's a lot of good things that we'll see. We'll have to grade it, get better because of it and get ourselves ready for Tennessee.

You mentioned the physicality of the offensive line ... (rest of question inaudible)

Our offensive line has done a nice job with the things we're doing in the running game and making adjustments. It's better than at anytime last year. We've got a few more things in the running game than we had last year. Obviously, we're executing pretty well. Our backs ... you can't say enough about Ken Darby ... 29 carries, 197 yards ... it was his opportunity. I said about Ken the same thing I said about Ray Hudson going into the season. They just need an opportunity. He's one of our hardest practice players, and that's not taking anything away from anybody else because we've got a lot of good ones out there. It's for day one of training camp. He did a nice job of protecting the football. They were trying to strip it, as a lot of you could see I'm sure. One guy was hitting him and the other was trying to strip it. Be he just kept running tough and protecting the football, so we're happy for him.

Do you think your defense controlled the tempo of the game?

Yeah, the first drive they were moving the ball on us and kept us off balance. They made some plays and we were just a little bit off. But other than that, you had a good feeling when our defense was lining up. The cornerbacks played well and did a nice job covering. We got some pressure and did a nice job against their option because they came out and hit a couple of them early. I thought Coach Kines and the defensive staff made some adjustments that worked well later on in the second quarter and the second half of the game.

Did Roman Harper get a concussion?

I'm not sure, I don't have all the injury reports so I hate to ... I'll know more on that tomorrow. I think he's OK.

Can you talk about the first turnover. Freddie Roach made the play. Do you feel more comfortable with him?

Yeah, three weeks in a row he's been playing well. He's hitting people and playing aggressive. We've got some depth at that position and guys are stepping up and making plays. It's good to see him play well, but it's our front four that are enabling those linebackers to get off blockers and step up and make plays.

Can you talk about the mental growth this team has gone through from two weeks ago?

Every season has its ups and downs. You talk to your players about staying at an even keel while you have the ups and downs. They've had good focus. Last week before the Kentucky game we had two tough weeks and they were really focused. You could feel the sense of urgency in practice this week. A little more confidence after a win, but I thought we had a real good week of practices. They made it pay off today.

(question inaudible) How do you prepare for next week against Tennessee?

Well, each week is different for sure, but I know one thing. It's an old cliche but you win with good defense and a good running game. You win by not beating yourself. Obviously, you have to throw it to have balance. Playing Tennessee on the road ... there's going to be crowd noise. You've got to be able to handle all those things. We need work in the passing game. We've got to get better. We had some opportunities today that could have given us some big plays, and we just missed them.

Talk about Ramzee Robinson and his performance.

He continues to play solid football. He's probably in the best shape of anyone on our football team because he worked the hardest in the off-season ... all the way through. He earned a starting spot in the Spring. Remember halfway through Spring, we moved Pep (Charlie Peprah) to safety. That combination has really worked well for us. He's playing aggressive football and he's got real good quickness. (laughs) Those guys on the corners, they get challenged every week with the receivers that we play, week in and week out. Especially, back in the SEC this week. We'll have to step up again this week. But it's good to see him play aggressive and play with a lot of confidence both he and Anthony (Madison).

The offense seems to respond to Spencer (Pennington) and have confidence in him. Did you sense that?

I think so, I think our whole team does. They've got some confidence in him and in themselves that we're going to find a way to win games, like we did the past couple of weeks. We're going to have to have that same feeling this week and go prove to ourselves that we can come our and play our best football.

Now y'all have 5 wins ... get another and you'll be bowl eligible. Do you start thinking about that?

(shakes head "No") We think about this week ... Tennessee.

What does it say to you as a coach when you've got a player like Ken Darby who has 197 yards ... and when they tell him he has 197 yards, he says "That's fine, I don't need any more". What does that say to you?

I would expect that from him considering the kind of kid he is. He's unselfish. He just wants to do whatever he can to help this team to win. He came off on one of his touchdowns and said "Great call on the shovel pass". I said that was Coach Rader's call. But that's the kind of kid he is. All those guys sitting right over there (motions to players waiting to be interviewed) ... a lot of them are like him. You win with good people. I learned that when I first got here. We're happy to be surrounded by a bunch of them right now.