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

Alabama Runs To A 17-3
Homecoming Win Over Southern Miss

Alabama didn't need any help as it ran to a much needed victory over Southern Mississippi

Our members can read full interview transcripts from Coach Mike Shula, Coach Joe Kines, Coach Dave Ungerer, Shaud Williams, Justin Smiley, DeMeco Ryans, Freddie Roach and Brandon Avalos. For the complete interviews, JOIN THE HOME GAMES 2003 SEASON

These are a few of the post game comments we gathered following the Southern Mississippi game ... ENJOY !

Mike Shula (Alabama Head Coach '03)

We went into this game a with the mindset, and we told the offensive line this, that this might be a 60 minute “middle drill”. An inside run drill is what we call it, where we might not throw the ball at all. Their eyes got real big when they heard that because they like to run the ball. They take a lot of pride in doing that. We realize that is one of our strengths, but we also realize that it’s tough to do when all of a sudden they put a couple of extra guys up there (on defense) that can’t block. So we tried to put our backs and our offense in the best position to execute. But our offensive line responds to challenges. We haven’t executed as well the last three weeks as consistently as we would like. But we did that enough today and we got stronger as the game went on.

Dave Ungerer (Special Teams/ Tight Ends)

Press Pool - How did that punt block come about?

That was a great communication by our players. A lot of times what happens in the kicking game is you counter a counter. Last week against Georgia we had a block and then when the guy fumbled we had someone in there clean and would have blocked that one anyway. (This week) they were countering that look. So the players communicated to me, “Hey coach, they’re blocking me this way.” Then I countered with another block and that allowed us to get Chris (James) free. So a lot of that goes to the kids understanding what we’re trying to get done and communicating properly so we can make a counter call to what they’re doing to us.

Brandon Avalos (#7 Fr. QB, 6-0 188 lbs. Tuscaloosa, AL - Hillcrest High)

Can you talk about some of the emotion you went through this week?

I really didn’t go through too much emotion. When I went in against Georgia last week, I started preparing then to come into this game because I knew Brodie and Spencer weren’t going to be ready. I was really more focused on learning the game plan and studying Southern Miss’ defenses. My emotion didn’t really kick in at all. I wasn’t nervous or anxious. I was really relaxed. I had a good night sleep last night. You know, it’s kind of hard to sleep the night before a game if you’re real nervous. But I wasn’t really nervous. I got a good night’s sleep and that’s just part of it.

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

Press Pool - When you do that, who’s more happy about the game plan, you or the offensive line?

Probably the offensive line. And of course when you’re doing you’re interviews, they’re like, “Hey, don’t forget to mention us!” (laughs) But those guys really deserve a lot of credit. They don’t get a lot of recognition for the job they do, but we know everything starts up front with those guys.

DeMeco Ryans (#35 So. SLB, 6-2 225 lbs. Bessemer - Jess Lanier)

Press Pool - Defensively, what did you guys do to shut them down?

We studied real hard this week so we would know them well, front and back and all the way through. We made some good calls with certain personnel groupings and we executed. I think that’s what we did so well that we haven’t been doing in recent weeks. We got off the field on third down and made them punt the ball. We helped ourselves.

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

Can you talk about Ole Miss. You go to their stadium to play next week. What’s is going to take to win on the road.

I’m excited. They’ve got a good quarterback, good skill position and a great line. I’ve got a couple of buddies on that team so I’m excited to play Ole Miss and get this thing going.

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