Hogs Look on as Their Team is Turned to Pulled Pork

By: Joe Tucker (CrimsNkentucky) RollCrimsonTide.com

Alabama opened up conference play against the Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday in grand fashion dismantling the hogs 49-14. New head coach, Bobby Petrino, is trying to get his team to understand the fundamentals of his pass happy system and Saturday was the first big test for the hogs. They failed.

The Crimson Tide did everything necessary to assure they move up in the polls Saturday, while Arkansas learned more about itself and what they need to work on.

Alabama moved up to #8 in the Associated Press Poll. It was Alabama’s most one-sided SEC road win since 1989 when they beat Ole Miss 62-27. The 49 points were the most Alabama has scored in any SEC game since 1990 when it scored 59 against Vanderbilt. It was a dominating performance both offensively and defensively. It was enough for Alabama to move up to #8 in the USA today poll and #10 in the Coaches Poll.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson stood at the podium for several minutes after the game for the press conference — cameras, microphones and tape recorders pointed at his face — and tried to explain why the hogs struggled against Alabama on Saturday afternoon in their own stadium.

Robinson paused. Then he used an analogy that sounded as if he had dialed up former Bama defensive coordinator Coach Joe Kines.

“We weren’t the hammer,” Robinson said of Arkansas’ defense. “We were the nail today.”

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HOGS UP NEXT!

By: Joe Tucker (CrimsNkentucky) RollCrimsonTide.com

With eight seconds left in the game, Matt Caddell shielded the Arkansas defender from the ball and caught the winning touchdown pass from John Parker Wilson. Alabama had out played the Razorbacks and their nationally touted running duo of Darren McFaden and Felix Jones. The final score Bama 41, Hogs 38; it was a shot heard throughout the football world. There was a new sherriff in town, his name was Coach Saban. That was last year. This year the Nutt is gone from Arkansas, Houston Nutt that is, and has been replaced by Bobby Petrino. Although Houston Nutt was a very good game day coach, scandal hung over his head like a tumultous black cloud waiting for the lightning to strike down and burn both him and the university. He had hired a new offensive coordinator, Guz Malzahn, from the high school ranks. Many questioned the hire and wondered if it was a move made solely to land the highly touted quarterback Malzahn coached, Mitch Mustain. Mustain was the Parade magazine prep player of the year in 2005. Mustain eventually did sign with Arkansas, but both he and Malzahn left the team last year with a bad taste in their mouths. Then the scandal hit over the affair Coach Nutt was having with a newspaper reporter. The storm was growing as were the calls for the Hogs leader’s head. Nutt escaped. He stepped down as head coach and signed a deal with Ole Miss to become their latest attempt at legitamizing the program.  Register now (It’s free) for access to the rest of this article Click here to continue on with the article.

DOMEination

From RollCrimsonTide.com

For much of the week Clemson coaches made bad jokes about Alabama and appeared to be taking the game less than seriously. The national media gave Alabama little to no chance against the number 9 Clemson Tigers. Alabama and Coach Nick Saban came into the Georgia Dome Saturday with one thing in mind, total DOMEination.

The Crimson Tide heard Clemson’s defensive coordinator insinuate that Alabama cheated to land the number one recruiting class this year, then later recanted stating he was only joking. They heard the Clemson players and coaches alike talk as if they had won the game before it had ever been played. They heard the national media telling them they weren’t ready to take on a team of Clemson’s caliber.

They didn’t listen , but instead they decided they would prove the world wrong by dominating Clemson every step of the game, or should I say DOMEinate? Yes, they DOMEinated the Tigers on the fertile neutral ground of the Georgia Dome. You see, there is a reason the game was played in Atlanta. Atlanta is a hot spot for recruiting and the game gave Alabama a chance to showoff its stuff, and showoff they did.  READ MORE at RollCrimsonTide.com

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