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S U N D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 29 , 2013
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NO-HUDDLE, NO PROBLEM No. 1 Alabama shuts down Rebels’ hurry-up, no-huddle offense By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
With all the hand-wringing about the University of Alabama’s football team this season, the Crimson Tide reduced the game back to basics against No. 21 Ole Miss on Saturday, probably the most basic concept of them all. If they don’t score, they can’t win. Alabama stied the Rebels 25-0, forcing turnovers and a safety, hemming in Ole Miss for much of the night and busting the Rebels on those occasion when they got close enough for coach Hugh Freeze to gamble. Alabama (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) stopped three Ole Miss (3-1, 1-1) attempts on fourth down when Freeze — saying he thought he “needed to be aggressive to winâ€? — passed on ďŹ eld goal possibilities to try for touchdowns. Those tries ultimately seem to embolden the Alabama defense, and a particularly loud crowd, more than anything else. “All in all, I was really pleased,â€? Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “Ole Miss is a really good offensive team, and for us to shut that down, that was a good job by our team. “We played a lot of split safeties, and we were still able to stop the run, which is a credit to how the front line on defense did tonight.â€? “Hats off to Alabama, they totally took it to us,â€? Freeze said. “We had a hard time adjusting to what they were doing defensively. We just didn’t run the ball.â€? Alabama limited the Rebels to 205 total yards, including just 46 yards on the ground. The Crimson Tide coach also credited the UA crowd of 101,821 with an assist. SEE A LABAMA | 3C
Alabama has to keep this intensity level up
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or most of a curious month, the Alabama football team seemed to be lacking something that would light it on ďŹ re. Clearly Texas A&M, which won in Tuscaloosa a year ago and possessed the high-proďŹ le Johnny Manziel, managed to ignite the Crimson Tide. But in its other games — solid, respectable wins against Virginia Tech and Colorado State — Alabama looked workmanlike at best and, occasionally, bored at worst. Alabama was winning — but it wasn’t burning. Something this week managed to light a spark. If Alabama wasn’t a Towering Inferno, at least it was glowing in CECIL the dark. Perhaps it was the exhortaHURT tions of head coach Nick Saban that did it. Maybe it was a soul-searching team meeting. More than a few Alabama players, especially on defense, said it was perceived disrespect in comments coming out of the Ole Miss camp this week. Frankly, the rhetoric from Bo Wallace and a couple of others was fairly tame — it certainly did not rise to NBA-quality trash talking — but what matters isn’t what was said so much as what the Alabama playSTAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON ers though they heard. Alabama’s C.J. Mosley (32), Jarrick Williams (20), Jeoffrey Pagan (bottom) and Denzel Devall (behind) team for for a safety The effort on defense was the best this season (and on Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. No. 1 Alabama shut SEE HURT | 5C out No. 21 Ole Miss, 25-0.
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GETTING HIS KICKS:
RUNNING WILD:
ANALYSIS:
NOTEBOOK:
BREAKDOWN:
FOUR DOWNS:
STUMPED:
DOMINATING D:
Foster delivers for Crimson Tide with three field goals
Yeldon’s big TD run sparks the run game
Alabama passes test of Rebels’ zone read option
McCarron honors high school student who died Saturday
How UA running backs fared in their first four starts
Questions about the Tide’s performance answered
Ole Miss coach left searching for answers after loss
Alabama defense controls tempo against Rebels
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray celebrates after the Bulldogs beat LSU 44-41 win on Saturday in Athens, Ga. Murray passed for 298 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:47 left in the game.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ONLINE For video and a photo gallery of the game, go to www.tidesports.com
Georgia survives slugfest with LSU By Paul Newberry The Associated Press
INSIDE SEC FOOTBALL:
ATHENS, GA . | Aaron Murray threw four touchdown passes, including a 25 -yarder to Justin Scott-Wesley with 1:47 remaining, and No. 9 Georgia rallied to beat No. 6 LSU 44-41 in a thrilling game between Southeastern Conference powerhouses Saturday. The Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0 SEC) completed their opening-month run through a gauntlet of top 10 teams
Roundup of SEC games | 6C
with a victory that propelled them back into the thick of the national championship race. LSU (4-1, 1-1) got a career-best 372 yards passing from former Georgia quarterback Zach Mettenberger in his return to Athens, and the Tigers went ahead 41-37 on Jeremy Hill’s 8-yard
touchdown run with 4:14 to go. But that was plenty of time for Murray and the high-powered Bulldogs on a day when neither defense had much success. He completed three straight passes to quickly move the Bulldogs into LSU territory, and freshman J.J. Green broke off an 18-yard run to the Tigers 25. Then it was Scott-Wesley, breaking wide open behind the secondary to haul in a pass and tiptoe just inside the pylon for the winning score. SEE GEORGIA | 6C