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

This analysis was provided by Lee Tracey of Top Sports in Tuscaloosa following the Northern Illinois game ...

Tide Home Games – 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.

They’re special teams were incredible. Their punter hit rocket after rocket. The kicker boots a 51 yarder and hit most of his kickoffs into the end zone. They covered the kicks and punts and had excellent special teams play. Their punter really hurt Alabama’s field position, which was big factor in the game.

That blocked extra point was obviously one of the biggest plays of the game. That really opened the door for Northern Illinois.

It was a kick in the gut. You just got the first score to start the game and you’re thinking, “OK, here we go!” And then you don’t even get a chance to celebrate because that happens. And it’s one thing to get it blocked, but for them to run it all the way back … you think you’re going to have a 7 point lead at that time, but all of a sudden you only have a 4 point lead. That 3 point difference is what wound up being the difference in the game at the end of the night.

Brodie Croyle looked like he had a pretty decent game, but had a few key passes dropped. What did you think about his performance?

At times, I think he was a little bit off. He threw some passes that weren’t right on target. You are right, he did have a couple of balls dropped. There also seemed to be a couple of interference calls that weren’t called that could have made a difference. I think maybe Alabama should have stuck with the run a little bit longer. I think if they had continued to pound it, it might have made a little difference. But the next game I coach will be my first! (laughs). But that’s pretty much what Northern Illinois did. They pounded it in there all night long. This was the first game that Alabama did not win the fourth quarter. NIU really controlled the line of scrimmage too. If you look at it, the defensive line didn’t do as well as it normally does. And the offensive line without Justin Smiley didn’t do as well either. But NIU is going to beat some other teams. They’re a good team.

Not only do I think he’ll be playing in the NFL, but if he gets drafted by the right team, I think he’ll be starting in the NFL next year. I think he’s that good.

I think that it’s good that they’re playing Arkansas in one respect. It’s bad on one hand because Arkansas is very tough.

And they’re probably still mad about the beating they took last year at home.

That’s true! But it’s also good from the standpoint that it’s really hard to take a loss like this. Some of the guys were saying it’s downright embarrassing. At least now, Alabama can immediately turn its focus to a strong SEC opponent. And if there’s one small silver lining to tonight, at least it wasn’t an SEC loss.

LSU is obviously very strong. The Georgia team they beat today is very strong. Tennessee had a little bit of a down year last year, but I think they’re back. I think Arkansas is very strong. It’s starting to look like the SEC West is maybe stronger than the East. It’s too early to say for sure. But as good as LSU looks, as good as Bama can be, as good as Arkansas looks, and Auburn of course … the SEC West might be a real dog fight.

No, except that it’s very frustrating to lose to a team like Northern Illinois. But Bama fans need to understand that the days of schools like that being a guaranteed win are over. Now, it’s a tough win or it’s a loss. And tonight it was a loss unfortunately. NIU did it too Maryland this year, and they did it to Wisconsin last year and they’re going to do it to somebody else in the next week or two.

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

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

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

Michael Turner (#32 Sr. RB, 6-0 228 lbs. North Chicago) and Josh Haldi (#10 Jr. QB, 6-2 202 lbs. Madison, OH)

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