Joe's Rambles

The Arkansas Razorbacks came to town yesterday and played on hell of a game against the Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium. What a crazy game! We jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead in the first quarter and looked to be well on our way to leading 28-0. But, penalties and a good stand by Arkansas' defense killed that drive. The stadium's atmosphere was electric. Man, what a great feeling. We were all excited and thought we were about to blow the (then) number 16 team in the country.

Then "it" happened.

By "it" I mean Arkansas' offense came to life. They scored on a quick TD pass to make the score 21-7. Still, no reason to fear. They couldn't stop our offense. Then something funny happened. They stopped our offense. Arkansas got the ball back and scored a field goal to make the half-time score 21-10.

It was a great first half for us. We looked good and our defense had done a good job stopping Arkansas great running back, Darren McFadden (who will probably win the Heisman this year). There was still another half of football left to be played. But, we were all confident that we had this one in the bag. Turns out, our bag had a big ole hole in it. And it was a hole that McFadden ran through again and again...and again.

Arkansas started the second half down 21-10. And they fought back hard. McFadden just ran all over the place. He finished the night with 199 yards. Incredible. However, Bama seemed to have things well in hand. We soon pushed the score to 31-10. But, Bama turned the ball over on a fumble and then an interception. Arkansas scored on both. In very quick fashion the score was 31-17 and then 31-24. Uh oh. Not good.

From there Arkansas just took over. Their running backs (McFadden and Felix Jones) just stole the show. Arkansas scored again to make it 31-31. And, then just to piss us all off, they scored again to take the lead 38-31.

The 4th quarter only had about 4 minutes left in it when Bama faced 4 down and 5 yards to go well inside Arkansas territory. A touchdown would tie the game. But, would the coach go for it on 4th down? Or kick a field goal and hope to get the ball back? Saban didn't hesitate. He kicked a field goal. I didn't understand the call. I did not think we would get the ball back at all. We just couldn't stop Arkansas' running game. But, Saban showed why he is making $4 million a year and I have to buy a ticket to the games. Our defense did hold and we got the ball back with a little over two minutes left to play.

Our QB (John Parker Wilson) struggled in the second half. And now he was being asked to lead us to a game winning touchdown. And boy did he deliver! To make a long story short, Bama drove the ball down Arkansas' throat and we scored the winning touchdown with only 8 seconds left. Arkansas had 8 seconds to make something happen. But the night belonged to Bama. We completed a great comeback to win the game 41-38. Great game! Great win!

Hats off to Arkansas. The were down by 21 points twice in the game. They did not quit. They fought back and almost won the game. Their running back (McFadden) is a beast. He will have a great career in the NFL. But man o man am I glad Bama won that game! We are now 3-0 (2-0 in SEC) and are ranked number 16 in the AP Poll and number 20 in the Coaches' Poll. Up next for us, the Bulldogs of Georgia. Another tough game! Hopefully we can take the win then too. Roll Tide!

In other news, Auburn lost to Mississippi State University last night at Jordan-Hare Stadium. I remember Auburn fans laughed at us last year when we lost to MSU. So...how does it feel now? Yeah...not too goo huh?

I took some pictures of the game...they are below. Hope you enjoy!