Alabama / Northern Illinios postgame comments ... druidcityonline.com your guide to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the Deep South
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posted 9/15/03

What Happened? Northern Illinois Stuns Alabama 19-16.
Read these post game comments from Mike Shula, Shaud Williams, Antwan Odom, Wesley Britt,
Freddie Roach, NIU RB Michael Turner and guest analyst Lee Tracey

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Mike Shula (Alabama Head Coach '03)

We’ve got to put this one behind us, which will be tough to do, and get focused on next week. Because there will be a lot of talk about why we lost. But it’s done now and there’s nothing we can do about it other than learn, get the corrections made and move forward. And that’s what this team has been about is moving forward. And that’s what we will continue to be about.

Shaud Williams (#21 Sr. TB, 5-8 191 lbs. Andrews, TX - Texas Tech transfer)

I’m taking it pretty hard right now. That’s just the kind of competitor that I am. I’m disappointed in myself and anytime a competitor loses like this he’s always going to point the finger at himself first, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to start by looking at myself in the mirror and ask myself if I did everything I could to help this team win tonight.

All those Heisman dot.com polls this week … did that pump you up or was it a bit of a distraction?

No, I don’t really pay any attention to all that stuff. You guys are the ones that keep bringing it up. I don’t pay attention to that stuff. I just want to find ways to help our football team win. I don’t want anything like that to be a distraction because we’ve been through too much.

Freddie Roach (#8 So. MLB, 6-2 245 lbs. Killen, AL - Brooks High)

Any loss is hard. You just have to show what kind of man you are and what kind of team you are when you bounce back from a loss. Next week will say a lot about us by how we respond.

Wesley Britt (#70 Jr. LT, 6-8 313 lbs. Cullman, AL - Cullman High)

What do you expect from an Arkansas team that you went up there and physically whipped last year?

Oh, they’re going to be gunning at us. They’ve got something to prove to us since we did win the game last year in their stadium. They’re going to come to Tuscaloosa ready to play football. And we’ll be ready too, you can guarantee that. We’ll be ready to fight for four quarters, for 60 minutes of football next weekend.

Antwan Odom (#98 Jr. RDE, 6-5 277 lbs. Bayou La Batre, AL - Alma Bryant High)

Can you talk about (NIU running back Michael) Turner a little bit?

Turner, he was a hard nosed back. He kept his pads low and kept those feet moving. He was a strong and slippery guy.

From Northern Illinois ... Michael Turner (#32 Sr. RB, 6-0 228 lbs. North Chicago)

I knew it would be a test for me to see where I was at and see how good our team really was. I know Alabama has a great defense and they didn’t let nobody run the ball on them. So we just tried to come in here and do our thing and we just gave it our all.

Guest analyst ... Lee Tracey (Top Sports, Tuscaloosa)

The Tide did not look good tonight. What do you think happened?

They didn’t play their best, but they played a good team. For some reason, I think people refuse to give so-called “directional schools” respect … no matter how many times they win. Northern Illinois has won something like 10 of their last 12 games. At what point do you finally say, “Hey, maybe it’s not a fluke.” They’re a good team, and I think Bama just could not find a way to click tonight. Northern Illinois had something to do with that. I also think it’s human nature to try not to take a team like that for granted. You try not to look ahead to Arkansas and you tell yourself you’re not going to do that, but subconsciously sometimes you do anyway. I think that’s part of what happened tonight.

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