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Bama Squeaks by the 'Dores 13-10
Mike Shula (Head Coach)

These post game comments came as Mike Shula answ ered post game questions from the press pool ...

Coach Mike Shula ... Well we got another win and we're 2-0. That's the best news. You look at the positives of it ... in the second half we were down 10-3. We talked to our team at halftime, and we we going to find out about our football team, our young football team. They responded right away. John Parker Wilson did great job in that first drive in the third quarter. Then we get the turnover and have a chance to really go up again and get some momentum but we fumble the ball giving a great effort ... Jimmy Johns fumbled it. Now we're back in the thick of it and going back and forth. We played the field position game a little bit, but then in the fourth quarter we made the big play ... John Parker Wilson to Nikita Stover on the third & long.. Got us down into field goal range and we couldn't get in there. We have to work on that as we know. But what a great kick by Leigh Tiffin, especially after a sack. We were trying not to lost yardage there and then we did lose yardage but he keeps his poise and kicks it through there for the game winning kick. I thought our defense played well for the most part, except for that one drive right before the half. Holding them to the two scores was big and then playing well at the end of the game ... that's what you've got to do in a game like that is find a way to win and we did.

Press Pool ... On the play where Tim (Castille) fumbled in the red zone and you later went with Jimmy Johns ... Was that a sign that you're still experimenting to find things that work for you in short-yardage situations?

Shula ... No Jimmy's done well ... we're going to play those two and hopefully a few more all the way through. If your running game is going well and both guys are playing then its' a little easier to make decisions like that. But you saw when he fumbled the ball and we put him right back in the next series. So those are the things you like to see from your players after negative plays, for them to come back. We know we have work to do in the running game. But hopefully when we watch the tape we'll be able to see the corrections and make them this week. We talked to the team after the game and said "We've got to practice better, focus in better and not just the guys playing but everybody. Everyone is going to contribute, whether your playing or a back-up or on the scout team or your a coach, including myself. We've all got to do a better job.

On the drive for the game winning field goal, there were different guys on the field. How important is that to have other players for teams to focus on. (other than Keith Brown)?

Well, he was out that drive do it is important. We're still finding out about these guys. You try to find out about them in training camp, you try to find out about them in practice and scrimmages. It was neat to see Nikita (Stover) come in off the bench and make a play when his number was called. Those are the things you talk to your players about. You never know which play is going to make a difference or who its going to be. That's a perfect exampe of a guy taking advantage of an opportunity and doing his job.

Was that Nikita's first play?

You guys probably know better than me. If it wasn't it was only his second or third. His uniform didn't look too dirty when he went in! (laughs)

How big was it to get DJ Hall back? Brown looks like he's emerging as a go-to guy.

Those guys are mature now. It's good to get DJ back since he missed our last two games. And it really give the quarterback confidence. I think John Parker Wilson is playing pretty good. He had the one interception. He just has to throw it up a little higher or throw it away. But other than that, he's making pretty good decisions and moving around. He's got real good mobility and he made some tough plays for us.

Are you a little surprise the offense is doing as well as you thought it would?

Probably the best way to answer that is we've just got to find a way to score more touchdowns. And I'll say it again this week ... we're not just all of a sudden going to put an emphasis on being in "plus territory". We're just going to keep correcting the things we need to correct. We practice a lot down there (in the red zone). Sometimes defenses change and there's not as much room to throw the football. It's harder to run because the safeties don't play back and play run support. We've got to find a way to get in there.

Did anything about Vanderbilt's play surprise you?

No, we thought defensively they were good ... kind of "bend but don't break" so to speak. They don't make very many mistakes. They wait for you to make mistakes and they were there to capitalize on it. Offensively, we hadn't seen there quarterback in person, but he moves around and can throw it. They're going to be good. They're 0-2 now, but I think they're going to move the ball and play good defense. I know one thing, they're not going to beat themselves. They don't give up big plays on defense, but they did have two turnovers right?

Was (Simeon) Castille's interception a bad throw or just a good play?

Probably a little bit of both. Maybe a forced throw and a good interception.

The coach never wants to turn a game over to the kickers ... is it hard to do that and have confidence in the kickers?

No, I love to show confidence in our kickers! We want to score touchdowns though. What you don't want to happen right before the kicker goes in is if its third down on the 18, then don't make it 4th down on the 28 or whatever it was.

You said you didn't know about (Kenneth) Darby ... do you feel like he was close to 100 percent?

Umm ... he looked like he was. Only KD knows, but I know he was better than Sunday's practice and Tuesday's practice.

What did Vandy do on their touchdown drive in the first half?

Well, they beat us on a couple of short passes and their receivers made some extra yards. The touchdown pass was a good read against our Cover-2 defense where their guy slipped in and found a hole between our linebackers. The quarterback moved around and let them get closer to the endzone and the play opened up for them.

Darby didn't have 100 yards this game either. Is there anything you can say about that?

Well, we're not running the ball real well and we'll have to keep working on that. We're just going to keep coming to practice and meeting and finding out how we can get better.

Coach, can you talk about the decision to go for the fake field goal early on?

Yeah, well ... what did you think of it? Huh?

(press room laughs)

What did you think of the decision?

Reporter ... The decision?

Yeah.

silence ... then the press pool laughs again.

What did you think?!

I thought it was great ..a great decision.

Oh, I thought it was a terrible decision! It was a look that we practiced ... see it's kind of tough answering those questions (Shula is smiling)! We practiced the look, we saw the look and just didn't execute as well as we wanted and it ended up being a bad decision. That's the chance you take when you fake a field goal. If you don't get it, you lose momentum and lose points and have to regroup. But our defense came in and stopped them and then we went down the field and kicked another field goal. You'd like to have touchdowns in both areas, but you have two drives and only 3 points. That's why games happen like that.

Can you talk about Rashad Johnson coming in and causing that fumble?

Yeah, he's flying to the ball. On special teams and on defense ... on special teams we know he's pretty good to say the least. On defense, he's really starting to catch on. This time last year, he was playing running back. We moved him right before the bowl game, and now we kind of think of him as a starter. Him and Marcus Carter are splitting time. Two years ago, he wasn't even on scholarship, so it's exciting. I'm happy for him.

Can you talk about Andre Smith ... I know on that wide receiver screen in the third quarter, he kicked out and blocked that corner pretty good.

He's really big as you know, but he plays quicker than a lot of guys his size. He's a very good athlete. He can change directions and bend ... he's not stiff for a big guy. He just going to get better and better. He's a good pass protector. He's got the size and got the reach. He's got a lot of things going for him physically, and he's working as hard as he can to get the most out of his abilities.

On Jamie Christensen, will it be a tough call when he gets better on whether to put him in instead of Tiffin?

Will it be as tough as whether to decide whether to go for another fake field goal? ((laughs) Jamie is our starter, but we want competition. That's not to say the competition is not closer now than it was, but when he comes back he'll be our starter. But he'll also know that it will be healthy competition and it's good for us to know we have two guys.

How close is he?

Well, this week, he practiced a lot more on his own. He didn't get into the 11 on 11. But to come back, he's going to have to be absolutely 100-percent. With that injury, you don't want him hurt all year if he comes back too early.

Can you talk about Juwan Simpson and the level he's playing at?

He's had two good games. He's moving around. You can see the experience. He's really been a leader for us during the game and we're going to need that leadership for the rest of the year. You know he lost his buddies from last year ... Demeco Ryans is gone, Freddie Roach is gone. So he's got a new bunch that he's helping lead.

Do you think he's on the level to win post-season awards?

I think so, but I'm a little biased.

The first drive in the second half, is there anything you can think of that made that drive special?

Well yeah, #14. He was hot, making the right reads and getting the ball in there. Was he 5-5? Yeah? It's good to see a young quarterback step up and make throws and go to the right guys. The touchdown pass ... they don't play a lot of Cover-2, especially against that formation. Then all of a sudden they play that 2-Deep Zone and he hit DJ. The safety didn't get over the top and he saw it. Those are thing you don't talk about as much because you don't want your quarterback looking for those things when there are things underneath that are a little more high percentage. But you still want him to be alert in case it happens. He did it and that's good.

Keith Brown has had three really good games in a row now. Does it make your offense more dangerous to have a "go-to" guy?

Well yeah, it helps if you have a couple of "go-to" guys. I think we have that ability and hopefully we'll see that with Keith and DJ . If you have just one guy, then you have to do a lot of work to find ways to get him the ball.

also read post game interviews from ...

John Parker Wilson (#14 QB So. 6'-2" 209 lbs SQ ... Hoover High School, Hoover AL)

Jimmy Johns (#10 RB So. 6'-2" 227 lbs. 1VL ... Brookhaven High School, Brookhaven MS)

Joe Kines (Defensive Coordinator)

Mike Shula (Head Coach)