Alabama / Arkansas postgame interviews with Mike Shula, Antwan Odom, Freddie Roach, Shaud Williams, Wesley Britt, Brodie Croyle

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

These comments came following the Arkansas game as Shaud Williams answered questions from the press pool ...

Shaud Williams – about mistakes made throughout the game ... To have your chances and just let them slip away. It’s not the best feeling in the world. But there’s no doubt we’re going to learn from them, we’re going to stay together and we’re going to keep moving forward. Like I say, a good football team will learn from a game like this and that’s what we’re going to do.

Press Pool – After getting the 31-10 lead, it seemed like ya’ll struggled offensively. Did they do anything different or did you guys lose concentration? What happened?

Naw, we just couldn’t get anything going. When you play the game of football, sometimes you’re going to struggle and everything is not going to go your way. It was just one of those times where we got up and just struggled. I don’t think it was anything really that they did or anything they threw at us that we couldn’t handle. We just didn’t move the ball.

Was it a situation where you had all the momentum and then saw it go back the other way, like it did a couple of weeks ago with Oklahoma? Was it tough to bounce back from that?

(listen to a soundbite) Yeah, it was. We had all the momentum on our side. But they’re a good football team. You’ve got to give them credit. Good football teams can go on the road and when things aren’t going they’re way, they make plays and get momentum back on their side. That’s what they did, and you have to give them credit.

Is there anything you have to do mentally to put this behind you after obviously what is one of the tougher defeats a college player can go through?

(listen to a soundbite) No … the sun is still going to come up tomorrow. It’s not the end of the world. Eventually the hurt is going to go away, and pain of losing a game like this is going to go away. It’s over and we can’t let it keep us from doing what we want to do. There’s a lot of football left and we don’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. I mean heck, we have to go to Georgia next week and we all know what kind of team they are. So we don’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.

Probably more hurt. We had a great week of practice and we really felt good about our chances coming into the game. It’s really just a whole lot of hurt. We had a great week of practice and we really put a lot into this game and guys gave a great amount of effort.

The unsportsmanlike conduct call … I know you weren’t on the field, but what are your thoughts on that.

I still felt like we had the chance to win the game even with that call. You know, whether they meant to do it … I don’t think so. But it’s the referee’s call and you can’t question that. If the referee felt like it was unsportsmanlike conduct then that’s it. Even after that, we had our chances to win the game and didn’t do it. So I don’t think you can put it on that one call.

I mean, it was deflating, but any missed field goal is deflating. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the first quarter or the second overtime. It’s deflating, you know. Brian Bostick is a good kicker, and if we had it to go all over again I wouldn’t want anyone else going in there. I imagine no one feels worse right now than Brian Bostick. I hate that for him because he’s a great guy and he’s done such a great job kicking for us this year. You just really hate that for a person who’s done such a great job. It’s just one of those times when it just doesn’t go your way.

CBS kept showing your folks. How special was it for them to drive 15 hours to watch you play.

It’s pretty special. My parents mean a whole lot to me. They don’t get to make it to a whole lot of games being so far away. They’re missing work to come down here and watch me play. They mean a lot to me. I tell them I love them everyday, and I talk to them 2 or 3 times a day. They’re my heart and soul, and they’re the reason that I’m here. Those two people are my motivation. Every time I step on the football field I think about my Mom and Dad.

Not to put any blame on anyone here, but was there a sense of disbelief after that interception in overtime.

No. Brodie threw where he thought Triandos (Luke) would be and the guy intercepted it. So it’s not anything where you can point the finger at Brodie or even Triandos because there was an interception. It’s part of football, and things like that are going to happen.

Me and Brodie just had a little bit of a mix-up. That’s all it was. It shouldn’t have happened. Brodie and I take handoffs from each other every day, and it’s just one of things that are part of football. It was a bad exchange and I’ll take the blame for it.

Click on the name for parts of their post-game interviews ..
Coach Mike Shula (Alabama Crimson Tide Head Coach)

Anthony Madison (#9 Jr. RCB, 5-9 180 lbs. Thomasville, AL - Thomasville High)

Brodie Croyle (#12 So. QB, 6-3 200 lbs. Rainbow City, AL - Westbrook Christian High)

Postgame Analysis from Jim Dunaway - NBC 13 Birmingham, host of Mike Shula Show

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