Alabama Moves Indoors for San Jose State Preparation
9/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 1, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama football team moved its preparation for the season opener against San Jose State up a day by practicing in shells for two hours inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility Wednesday afternoon.
In his post-practice press conference, head coach Nick Saban said the change in schedule will help give the Crimson Tide a break from full-contact practices in order to be fully rested on Saturday.
"We want to use the two days in shells to try to get the players sort of recovered a little bit," Saban said. "We had two days off before, after camp, and I thought they responded with pretty good intensity today. I think everybody is looking forward to playing a game and not practicing against one another."
With the switch to shells, instead of the normal full-pad workout, players have the opportunity to utilize the week's remaining practices to focus on mental preparation.
"It's much better to learn your lessons before, relative to mistakes, than it is after," Saban said. "Hopefully our guys are preparing and doing the right things they need to do to play their best football in this particular game. I think the things that are important to that right now are mental practice and going over the things that you're going to do because the physical practice is going to be limited. You can accomplish a significant amount if you do a good job of mental practice."
The Tide will conduct the week's final practice on Thursday and hold a walkthrough on Friday. All practices are closed to the public. Kickoff for Saturday's game against San Jose State at Bryant-Denny Stadium is scheduled for 6:07 p.m.
CTSN Pay-Per-View Information
The University of Alabama and the Crimson Tide Sports Network will televise Alabama's football home opener against San Jose State this Saturday live in high definition via pay-per-view.
Alabama residents will need to order the game individually through their local cable provider, AT&T U-Verse, DirecTV or Dish Network. California residents with satellite will need to order the game individually through either DirecTV or Dish Network. On DirecTV's platform, the game will be available on channel 787 and in high-definition on 787-1. Those who live in any other state can simply order the game as part of the ESPN Game Plan package. (The game will be blacked out on ESPN Game Plan in Alabama and on satellite in the state of California)
The price for the game in Alabama and on satellite in California is $29.95 if purchased in advance or $34.95 if purchased on Saturday, Sept. 4. Those who live outside of Alabama or California will purchase the game as part of the ESPN Game Plan package, check with your television provider for price information.
The game will also be available for free online at ESPN3.com. To check if your internet provider supports ESPN3, click here.
To view the ESPN3.com and ESPN Game Plan blackout map, click here.
