The Battle Plan
10/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | General
Another Memorable Night on Rocky Top
Alabama fans are the best in the world and they certainly lived up to that billing this past Saturday on Rocky Top! As our buses approached the stadium two hours before kickoff, both sides of the streets were packed with crimson clad fans of all ages. It looked like every square inch of ground space was filled as they shouted words of encouragement to our team and shouts "Roll Tide" filled the air.
I can't tell you how much it means to our team and coaches to have that much support in hostile territory. Coming so far and showing up so early sends a strong message to our team about how much you care, and it is very comforting in what would otherwise be a very intimidating atmosphere. And it obviously worked as our team jumped out to a 27-0 advantage right off the bat.
I'm pretty sure our crowd far exceeded the 9,500 tickets allotted to our University. I'm told our game was the first full sellout in Knoxville in a few years, and it looked to me like there was a body in every seat. It was a beautiful fall night and it continued a great tradition by two great Universities.
Tennessee fought back with 10 points before halftime. They got a stop and made a long drive on their first possession in the third quarter, scoring a touchdown that closed the gap to 27-17. Their crowd was on fire and Tennessee had the momentum.
The ensuing drive by our team was one that had the look of champions. A long drive that consumed several minutes ended with a touchdown, making the score 34-17 and putting the game out of reach. The game ended Bama 34, Tennessee 20. It was a great SEC road win and brought the number of consecutive victories over the Vols to eight. Tennessee is a much-improved team, and they showed heart and effort in coming back and making a game of it after they started off in a deep hole.
The combination of Fall Break for the University and an off week comes at a good time for us. We have some injuries that need time to heal and a few days off this weekend should bring our players back with fresh legs and excited minds focused on LSU and this tough gauntlet of games to wind up the regular reason. It is a treacherous road ahead but Alabama controls its destiny as we will play the top teams in the SEC West, which also happen to be the top teams in the country.
The weeks ahead will be very exciting for all football fans. The playoff atmosphere that we've seen every week will only get more intense as the winners advance and the losers fall back. Keeping a team healthy in this grinding schedule is important to success.
The College Football Playoff Committee released its first rankings and I was impressed with their thinking. There is no reason to get overly excited or overly depressed by anyone in the Top 25 as there is much great football left to play. The top four will likely look a lot different by the end of the season as SEC West teams continue to play each other these next few weeks.
LSU lost a lot of would-be juniors and seniors to the NFL Draft last year, as did Alabama. But their victory over Ole Miss showed they are back to typical LSU football on both sides of the ball. There is an old saying among football coaches: "They remember what you do in November." This November is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in history as we enter the playoff era for the first time. I hope we have a good crowd in Baton Rouge next Saturday night. Your support means a lot and our team will work hard to continue to make you proud.
Leading the SEC in Graduation Success Rate
I was very pleased and proud - but not surprised - to learn earlier this week that Alabama's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) leads the Southeastern Conference and greatly exceeds the acceptable standards for completion of undergraduate studies nationally according to figures released by the NCAA. The GSR spans the period covering student-athletes who attended the University during 2004-07. This is an excellent example of the balance between academic and athletic excellence that we strive for every day.
In addition to leading the SEC with its overall GSR, our teams were either first, or tied for first, in seven different sports. Seven of our programs - men's golf, women's golf, soccer, softball, women's tennis, volleyball, and men's swimming and diving - led the SEC with GSR scores of 100. Just for perspective, the average GSR for all NCAA Division I student-athletes is 82. Thirteen Alabama programs recorded a GSR score of at least 90 and all 16 scored 80 or above. To once again have seven teams earn a perfect score of a 100, and all 16 at 80 and above, says so much about the dedication and drive of everyone in our department when it comes to the ultimate goal of having our student-athletes earn their degree. I'm very proud of our student-athletes, faculty, coaches, staff and everyone who strives to keep us moving forward in this area.
Our football and men's basketball teams both ranked second in the SEC with scores of 80 and 87, respectively, and our men's track and field program was also second in the SEC with a score of 95. Football jumped seven points from a year ago while men's basketball jumped 10 points. Thirteen of our 16 programs ranked in the top five in the SEC.
Baseball in Hoover for 2015
We were finally able to formally announce this week that our baseball team, in a partnership with the city of Hoover, will play the majority of the 2015 home schedule at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium while the redevelopment of Sewell-Thomas Stadium is completed on campus (read about it here). The Crimson Tide will play 30-plus home games in Hoover while the stadium will once again play host to the 2015 SEC Baseball Tournament.
Playing in Hoover will provide our baseball program with an outstanding facility to call home during the season, while giving our fanbase in the Birmingham area a chance to see our team on a regular basis. The people of Hoover have been tremendous to work with. They were very excited to offer us the opportunity. And I know that our players and coaches are excited about the chance to play in that excellent facility throughout the upcoming season.
Mayor Ivey and the City of Hoover are doing much more than simply letting our team use the stadium. They have made several improvements to the stadium with the goal of giving the Hoover Met the true feel of a home stadium for the Crimson Tide. The Hoover Met seats slightly more than 10,500, has 12 private skyboxes, a large banquet room and a picnic area with a pavilion to create a family-friendly environment. Its large parking lot has more than 4,000 spaces and includes an excellent RV park adjacent to the main parking lot.
Various ticket options are available for fans looking to attend games in Hoover. For fans wishing to view all 28 games, season ticket packages are available starting at $60 and ranging up to $125. Those wanting to attend individual contests can purchase general admission tickets at the prices of $5 for children 18 and under, $8 for adult admission and $10 for reserved seating.
Group packages also are available for parties of 15 or more at the Met. Group general admission seating is $3 for children 18 and under and $5 for adults, while group reserved seating is priced at $7. Premium seating also is available at the Tide's 2015 home. Suites and club-level seats are available to fans looking to attend individual games. Suites are $20 per seat for an individual and vary from $240 per game for a 12-seat suite to $360 per game for an 18-seat suite.
Club-level pricing still is to be determined. Season-long seating in the premium sections also is an option. Suite seating for the season is $18 per seat. Fans wishing to look into tickets at the Hoover Met can contact the Alabama ticket office at www.RollTide.com, by calling (205) 348-2262 or in person at the TIDE PRIDE/Ticket Office located inside Coleman Coliseum.
Fall Sports Update
Here are brief updates on our fall sports teams. You can follow the links provided to read more in-depth information about these teams.
- Coach Todd Bramble's SOCCER team split two games last week, defeating No. 22 Georgia, 2-0, on Friday night (recap here ) in the final regular season home game at the Alabama Soccer Complex before losing a tough one at Auburn (recap here) on Sunday afternoon, 1-0. The Crimson Tide is 10-5-3 overall this season with a 5-3-2 SEC record heading into a very important road game at Kentucky this Thursday night in Lexington. After being picked to finish 10th in the SEC in the preseason surveys, our team is in fourth place now and striving for an NCAA Tournament bid.
- Coach Ed Allen's VOLLEYBALL team is 18-5 overall and 6-3 in SEC action. Alabama is tied with Texas A&M for fourth in the SEC after a 3-0 sweep at Auburn (recap here) and knocking off Arkansas (recap here) on Sunday afternoon at Foster Auditorium. Congratulations to sophomore Krystal Rivers, who was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week after a team-leading 34 kills and .431 hitting percentage last week. This is Krystal's third SEC Offensive Player of the Week honor this season and the sixth SEC weekly award of her career, having won Freshman of the Week three times last season. The Tide hosts No. 24 Texas A&M this Friday night before traveling to Florida to meet the Gators on Friday, Nov. 7.
- Our WOMEN'S GOLF team completed its fall season with a strong performance, finishing second at The Landfall Tradition (recap here) by shooting 4-over-par 868 for the weekend at the par-72, 6,159-yard Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina. The final round of even-par 288 was tied for the best team round of the fall. Coach Mic Potter's team showed the improvement he was looking for this fall and has hopes for another successful season this spring. The Tide will start its spring season on Sunday, February 8, at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
- Last week was a memorable one for our ROWING and head coach Larry Davis as the Crimson Tide officially opened its brand-new facilities Thursday afternoon at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Manderson Landing on the banks of the Black Warrior River (see it here). The facilities, designed by Ellis Architects and built by Harrison Construction, include both The Boathouse at Manderson Landing as well as space at the Student Activity Center at the Presidential Village. The boathouse includes a floating dock and storage space for up to 54 shells of varying length. The Student Activity Center includes a 2,200-square-foot ergometer room, a 1,700-square-foot training space, locker rooms, athletic training room, meeting room and coaches' office. We all are very excited for what this means to our rowing program, providing it with the facilities to compete with the best.
Catch Alabama Athletics on The SEC Network
Here's a summary of our athletic events to be televised this weekend on The SEC Network. Our soccer game on Thursday night and our volleyball match on Friday night, along with Coach Saban's press conference on Monday, can be seen via SEC Network +, which is available online via ESPN3 here.
(All Times listed are Central Time)
Thursday, October 30
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 p.m. | Soccer at Kentucky | SEC Network + |
Friday, October 31
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 7 p.m. | Volleyball vs. Texas A&M | SEC Network + |
Monday, November 3
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 12 p.m.. | Football - Nick Saban Press Conference | SEC Network + |
Upcoming Events
It's an important week upcoming for our cross country, soccer and volleyball teams. Soccer closes the regular season on Thursday night with a big match at Kentucky in Lexington. We host events in four sports this weekend on campus: cross country, volleyball, women's tennis and swimming & diving. On Friday morning our cross country teams host the SEC Championships at the Harry Pritchett Running Park in Tuscaloosa, located adjacent to the Veterans Administration Hospital and the UA Arboretum. Our volleyball team hosts nationally-ranked Texas A&M on Friday at 7 p.m. at Foster Auditorium. Our women's tennis team hosts the Roberta Alison Tournament all weekend and our swimming & diving teams take on LSU and Auburn in a triangular meet at the Aquatics Center on Saturday morning. Here's a summary of athletics events over the next several days (times listed are for the location of the event):
Thursday, October 30
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:30 p.m. | Soccer | at Kentucky | Lexington, Ky. |
Friday, October 31
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 a.m. CT | Cross Country | SEC Championships | Tuscaloosa |
| 7 p.m. CT. | Volleyball | Texas A&M | Tuscaloosa |
| All Day | Women's Tennis | Roberta Alison Fall Classic | Tuscaloosa |
Saturday, November 1
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 a.m. CT | Swimming & Diving | LSU & Auburn | Tuscaloosa |
| All Day | Rowing | at Head of the Hooch Regatta | Chattanooga, Tenn. |
| All Day | Women's Tennis | Roberta Alison Fall Classic | Tuscaloosa |
Sunday, November 2
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Day | Rowing | at Head of the Hooch Regatta | Chattanooga, Tenn. |
| All Day | Women's Tennis | Roberta Alison Fall Classic | Tuscaloosa |
Monday, November 3
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Day | Men's Tennis | at USTA10K Futures | Birmingham |
Tuesday, November 4
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Day | Men's Tennis | at USTA10K Futures | Birmingham |
Wednesday, November 5
| Time | Sport | Opponent/Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Day | Men's Tennis | at USTA10K Futures | Birmingham |
Your presence is a major factor for our teams, so your support is not only needed - it's vital. We're in the championship portion of the season for cross country and soccer. A rising tide lifts all boats and it's up to all of us to Keep the Tide Rising!
