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Poll shows Bama fans going soft Saturday, August 21, 2004
It has been nearly a week since the Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll was published, indicating that Alabama football coach Mike Shula was the most popular thing to hit our state since sweet tea. However, in looking deeper at the numbers, I found the poll results to be even more astonishing than after the first read.
The results showed that 58 percent of the respondents felt Shula was doing either a good or excellent job, which led me to a rather predictable retort: "Were these people watching the same football games last year that I was?"
When you get deeper in the numbers, and cut out the Auburn fans who were polled in the survey, the results were stunning: A staggering 73 percent of Alabama fans polled are happy with Shula.
It's evident this poll did not include a Birmingham native who now serves President Bush as national security advisor. Condoleezza Rice and James Carville (an LSU man) are featured in this week's Sports Illustrated talking college ball.
In response to a question of which coach is on the hottest seat, Rice said: "I would have to say Mike Shula. The expectations of Alabama are so high and so tough. I lived there and I understand how tough they are."
Putting aside the view from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., there are many conclusions one can draw. I have always felt Alabama fans were some of the most astute observers of football I've ever encountered, in part because they follow it so intensely. However, in Shula's case, in giving him a deserved free pass for what happened last year, is it possible that some of the fans surveyed have completely lost all objectivity and ability to reason?
Over and over, fans have proclaimed the usual litany of excuses about last season, from the coaching turnover to the NCAA scholarship cuts. But now a new one has snuck into the equation.
The cry from many I have spoken with is this: Alabama was in just about every game but one or two. Was that sound we all heard Bear Bryant rolling over in his grave?
There's nothing wrong with giving Shula time to get a handle on this program. However, Alabama fans need to quit sounding like those from Vanderbilt when trying to rationalize the results.
I heard a fan arguing the point the other day that Alabama was even in the Georgia game. After all, he said, the final was 37-23. But what fans conveniently forget is the Tide was disgraced for much of the game, going down 30-3 midway through the second quarter. Had this been pee-wee football, the "mercy rule" would have been instituted and we would have all gotten out of the stadium two hours earlier.
Two weeks later, in Oxford, it really wasn't much better, when Ole Miss jumped on Alabama 38-10. Oh, the Tide sliced the final to 43-28, but the point had been made.
LSU led 27-0 before the dysfunctional Alabama offense could finally eke out a mere field goal in the game's final minutes. Even laughable Hawaii got up 37-21 before Alabama scored a touchdown in game's final seconds, setting up the Tide's most familiar fourth-quarter formation last season -- the onside kick.
Perhaps fans weren't overly concerned about some of these games since they read too much into the Tide's games against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. Against the No. 1 Sooners, Alabama kicked a field goal with 1:32 left to cut a 10-point lead to seven, setting up the trusty onside kick. Alabama had leads against the other two before succumbing in overtime.
In the glory days, Bryant used to encourage his players to raise their fingers in the fourth quarter, because Alabama used to own the final stanza. The Tide did that as well in 2003, going 7-2-4 in the fourth quarter. This does not factor in the two overtimes that Alabama lost.
In all, Alabama was ferocious in the third and fourth quarters, compiling a record of 8-4-1, which is perhaps what many fans remember about the worst Alabama season in memory.
Alabama never quit, you might say. But what happened when the games were still in doubt? Alabama was 5-6-2 in the first half of the 13 games and often had to abandon the game plan the coaching staff worked on all week.
Most believe Alabama will improve on the 4-9 record this season, and that optimism is likely indicated in the recent poll results. If Shula can't live up to those expectations, his poll numbers will probably drop precipitously and so will his chance for survival as head coach.
(Paul Finebaum's column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Mobile Register. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED])
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