1993 Alabama vs. Ole Miss recap...

Alabama vs. Ole Miss
October 23, 1993

Live from: Oxford, Mississippi

Your hosts: Keith Jackson and Bob Griese and Lynn Swann on the sidelines.

1st Quarter: This is the first game in this series to be played in Oxford. Ole Miss kicks off to start the game and David Palmer loses it in the sun which forces to Kevin Lee to pick it up at this own 3 and he gets leveled for it. Well, that’s a good start. Now for starting lineups…

Alabama Offense
QB Jay Barker
TB Sherman Williams
FB Taurus Turner (Tarrant Lynch was injured and didn’t even make the trip)
SE Kevin Lee
FL David Palmer
TE Tony Johnson
LT Matt Hammond
LG John Clay
C Tobie Sheils
RG Dennis Deason (Jon Stevenson was injured as well)
RT Roosevelt Patterson


Ole Miss Defense
DL Dewayne Dotson
DL Tim Bowens
DL Norman Hand
DL Cassius Ware
LB Gary Abide
LB Abdul Jackson
DB Alundis Brice
DB Johnny Dixon
DB Michael Lowery
DB Derek Jones
DB Tony Collier

On and 1st and 10 from his own 3, Barker drops back and passes from his own endzone complete to Palmer out to the 23. Well, that’s one way to get out of that hole. On 1st down from the 22, a pitch to Williams goes nowhere and Ole Miss thinks they’ve recovered a fumble, but the refs rule he was down. Replay shows Ole Miss was right. Oh, well. Play action pass on 2nd down and Barker finds Palmer again for 9 more yards to the Ole Miss 32. On 3rd and 1, Williams takes an inside handoff and gains about 4 for the 1st down. On 3rd and 6, Ole Miss blitzes and almost takes Barker’s head off and forces an incomplete pass. Bama punts and Ole Miss takes over at their own 22, but a block in the back is called so they will begin play at their own 10 with 11:52 remaining in the quarter. On 1st and 10, Mark Smith takes the handoff and gets decked by Dameian Jeffries who came through virtually untouched for a loss of 3. More starting lineups…

Ole Miss Offense
QB Lawrence Adams
TB Mark Smith
FB Jeremy Veasley
SE Eddie Small
FL Roell Preston
TE Chris Turner
LT Jeff Miller
LG Chris May
C Darrell Moncus
RG Wesley Melton
RT Clint Conlee

Alabama Defense
DL Dameian Jeffries
DL James Gregory
DL Shannon Brown
LB Lemanski Hall
LB Michael Rogers
LB John Walters
LB Will Brown
CB Antonio Langham
SS Sam Shade
FS Willie Gaston
CB Tommy Johnson

2nd and 13 now as Smith takes another handoff and gets hit in the backfield, but is able to gain about 6 on the play. Nice, tough run. Ole Miss loses two on 3rd down and has to punt. Palmer receives the punt and goes down at the Ole Miss 43. Palmer is under center on and 2nd and 10 gets dropped for a loss of 3 on the draw play. Incomplete pass on 3rd down and it’s time to punt. Ole Miss takes over at the 20 after the touchback. On 1st and 10, Adams gets flushed out of the pocket and gains 8. After gaining a 1st down, Adams passes complete to Small for 15 yards to 45. On 2n and 8, Adams completes another pass to Turner to the Alabama 41. Rogers got burned on the coverage. Adams completes his 3rd consecutive pass for a 9 yard gain to Small and the Rebels have got themselves a drive going. On 2nd and 1 Adams makes the late pitch to Smith on the option and he gains 13 down to the Alabama 19. On 3rd and 12 from the 21, Adams takes the snap from some weird-looking shotgun formation and passes complete to Small for the Ole Miss touchdown. Crap. Adams made an excellent throw and made sure Small was the only one that had a chance at catching it. The extra point is good and Ole Miss leads 7-0 with 4:38 remaining in the quarter. Another poor kickoff return and Alabama has to start from its own 18. Alabama goes 3 and out and has to punt for the third time. Norman Hand is just wreaking havoc up front and causing all kinds of problems. 1st and 10 from their own 33, and Ole Miss attempts a halfback pass which gets bottled up by Andre Royal for a loss of 7. Ole Miss is unable to make a 1st down of their own and is forced to punt. Alabama is unable to make a 1st down and has to punt after another three and out. After a 15 yard return, Ole Miss will take over at the 33 as the 1st quarter ends.

2nd Quarter: On 2nd and 11, Kelvin Moore blasts through the line on an attempted fake reverse and takes Adams down for a loss of 10 back to the Ole Miss 23. Unable to make a 1st down, Ole Miss has to punt. A booming kick sends Palmer back to his 22. He backtracks to set up his blockers, finds a crease and winds his way through the Ole Miss coverage team and gets the ball all they way up to the Alabama 49 after running into his own blocker. That thing looked like it was going nowhere. Just an amazing return. On 1st down, Barker goes play action and completes to Lee to the Ole Miss 38 and as he was being forced out of bounds near the sideline, Alundis Brice doesn’t let go and slings Lee head first into one of the box fans near the bench. Ouch! Of course a flag is thrown and 15 more yards gets added onto the catch and Stallings is pissed. After the penalty, Barker gets sacked back to the 30 on 3rd down and Michael Proctor comes on kick a 47 yard field goal. The kick is good and the score is now 7-3 Ole Miss with 10:43 remaining in the half. After taking over at the 21 on kickoff, Ole Miss is flagged for illegal motion and gets backed up the 16. Stat of the game so far…Rushing yards: Alabama 10 Ole Miss 3. On 3rd and 11, Adams goes deep to Small and is intercepted by Willie Gaston! Gaston returns it up to the Alabama 46. 3rd and 10 now, as Barker fires down the middle of the field to Palmer and it’s complete to the Ole Miss 30 for a gain 24! Maybe this will the get the offense going. 1st and 10, Barker drop back and here comes the Ole Miss defense on a hard blitz and they sack Barker back at the 41…and he’s hurt. I mean, they took him down HARD. Here comes Brian Burgdorf. Ugh. And as soon as I type that he makes me eat my words a little as he completes a pass to Chad Key down to the 21 yard line. Nice. On 3rd and 1, Sherman Williams goes off right tackle to gain 2 yards and the 1st down. Barker looks to be in some serious pain on the sideline. Bama works their way to a 1st and Goal at the 9 on a pass to Palmer and two runs by Williams. Bama is only able to get down to the 5 after 3 plays, so Proctor comes on and makes a 22 yard field to bring the score to 7-6 Ole Miss with 3:42 remaining in the half. Coming back from commercial, they give an update on Barker’s condition and Griese says that Burgdorf’s back-up now is true freshman Freddie Kitchens. Jackson remarks, “He’s gonna be a good one.” Moving right along… A block in the back on the kickoff moves Ole Miss back to their own 8 yard line. After a sack by Will Brown and Lemanski Hall on 1st down, Renard Brown gains 11 yards to the 17 on 2nd and 12 on a nice run. Ole Miss is able to work the ball just across midfield before time expires in the 1st half. At halftime, Ole Miss 7 Alabama 6.

3rd Quarter: Halftime stats show Alabama with 2 yards rushing. Yikes. Ole Miss takes the 2nd half kickoff and returns it to the 24 yard line. Mark Smith takes the handoff on 2nd and 10 and goes up the middle for 14 yards at the 38 yard line. Ole Miss proceeds to lose 8 yards over the next 3 plays and is forced to punt. After a poor Ole Miss punt, Palmer takes a fair catch at his 45. So, Bama squanders the good field position and has to punt after 3 downs and then blows the chance to pin Ole Miss deep and crappy punt gives Ole Miss the ball at their 28 yard line. The offense is absolutely stinking up the joint today, especially with Barker out. Bama is trying to get something going in the running game, but Norman Hand is just causing all kinds of trouble in the middle. After gaining 5 yards over the next 3 plays, Ole Miss has to punt yet again, which was highlighted by a shoestring tackle by Mario Morris on 3rd down on a play that only gained 5, but could’ve gone for much more? Alabama once again gets great field position after the punt and takes over at the Ole Miss 49. On 2nd and 9, Burgdorf keeps on an option play and just flat out drops the ball with no one around him. Luckily, he was able to recover. Burgdorf on 3rd and 6 from the 45, fires down the middle to Palmer who catches the pass and goes down at the 34 for a 1st down. A false start on 1st down backs Bama up to the 39. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. Burgdorf rolls out on 3rd and 9 coming out of a timeout and gets sacked and fumbles, which is recovered by Taurus Turner at the 35. Geez. This is pretty hard to watch even already knowing the outcome. Proctor is out on 4th down to attempt the man-sized 54 yard field goal….and it’s good!!! Wow!!! He absolutely knocked the crap out of that one. Alabama takes the lead 9-7 with 5:37 remaining in the quarter. Whew. Ole Miss takes over at their 30 after the kickoff. On 3rd and 3 from the 37, Adams completes to Joe Woods for 7 yards to the 44 and a 1st down. After a procedure penalty on 1st down, Ole Miss comes up about 6 yards short and has to punt. Palmer calls for the fair catch at the 23. Now it gets interesting as David Palmer goes under center on 2nd and 11, but a delay of game is called and it negates the surprise factor. But, wait, Palmer stays in at quarterback! On 2nd and 16 from the 18, Palmer manages to avoid almost the entire Ole Miss defense on a QB keeper and gains 15 on the play to the 33. What a run! An unsportsmanlike penalty on Ole Miss gives Alabama 15 more yards up to the 48. 1st and 10 now, as Palmer comes around right end and breaks free! He runs all the way down to the Ole Miss 14 before he’s brought down. Burgdorf comes back in at QB to give Palmer a breather and pitches to Brian Steger for no gain. That play ends the 3rd quarter as Alabama leads 9-7. What was going to be an overall dull 3rd quarter, David Palmer came in and kicked up the excitement level a couple of notches.

4th Quarter: A graphic shows that Palmer has 172 all purpose yards so far. Something tells me he’s not quite done. Alabama seems to have some momentum on offense now, so let’s see if we can’t punch this in for 6. Burgdorf under center now and throws over the middle to Palmer and….it’s intercepted in the endzone by Alundis Brice. Well, so much for that. On 3rd and 10, Alabama tries to hold Ole Miss to three and out, but Adams connects with Small for 17 yards and a 1st down to the Ole Miss 37. Fortunately, no further damage is done and Ole Miss punts after coming up short on the next 3 plays. Palmer fair catches at the 21 and they’ll take over there. Palmer back under center on 1st down and John Clay moves early and draws the false start penalty. Burgdorf back now at QB, and Roosevelt Patterson now moves early, but luckily a timeout was granted before the penalty. Replay shows Patterson moved before the timeout was called, so we catch a break there. More musical QBs as Palmer goes under center and runs around right end and hands the ball to Kevin Lee on a reverse! Lee takes it and is finally brought down at the 38 for a gain of 22! More confusion as Palmer has to burn Alabama’s final time out. Palmer still in at QB looks as if he goes going to around right end, but heaves it downfield and it’s caught by Kevin Lee at the Ole Miss 9! Palmer just rared back and launched it as far as he could and Lee went over an Ole Miss defender to make the spectacular catch! Wow! 1st and goal Burgdorf tosses back to Williams, who spins his through the Ole Miss defense and goes in for the touchdown! Extra point is good and Alabma leads now 16-7 with 12:07 remaining in the game. Kickoff is returned up to the Ole Miss 24. The defense stands tall as Lemanski Hall and Will Brown combine for sacks on 2nd and 3rd down which forces Ole Miss to punt. Adams didn’t have a chance on 3rd down. Brown came in untouched. Alabama is going to have excellent field position as the punt is downed at the Ole Miss 41. On 1st down Burdorf pitches the ball back to Palmer on a reverse, who then hands it Kevin Lee and he’s off! He’s goes 41 yards on the double reverse for a touchdown! And Lee just misses getting nailed by someone’s drink as ice goes all over the place. Lee is unaware and takes his helmet off in the endzone. Seeing that the Ole Miss fans are chunking stuff from the stands, Tony Johnson immediately comes in and puts Lee’s helmet back on. As for the play, he juked Cassius Ware out of his shoes on the corner and he was gone from there. But, wait….there’s a flag and Alabama is called for clipping. Good Lord. Burgdorf throws into double coverage again on 2nd and 5 and manages not to get intercepted. This guy is horrible. Burgdorf passes incomplete again and Alabama has to punt. Bryne Diehl kicks it high and gets it to stick at the 1 yard line. Nice punt. Adams drops back to pass in his own endzone and it’s intercepted by Antonio Langham! Langham returns it to the Ole Miss 19. Williams gets the handoff on the next two plays and work it down to the 4 yard line. Weird situation on the next play as Ole Miss is called for a facemask which is half the distance, but Alabama is called for a personal foul which backs the ball out to the 17. I guess offsetting penalties had not come into effect yet. That effectively kills the drive as the offense gets backed up more on the next couple of play and Alabama has to settle for a field goal. Proctor boots the 49 yarder through and Alabama leads 19-7 with 4:26 remaining in the game. Kickoff is returned to the 28. Adams passes to Renard Brown for a gain of 12 on 1st down to the 40. After a run and a catch by Mark Smith, Ole Miss now finds themselves on the Alabama 14. On 2nd and 1, Adams rolls out to his right and finds Ta’Boris Fisher for the Ole Miss touchdown. Crap. Extra point is good and the score is now 19-14 Alabama with 3:28 remaining. Ole Miss elects to kick it deep and Palmer returns it all the way up to the Alabama 33 yard line. Alabama gains about 15 on a busted reverse, but it’s called back on a procedure penalty. Williams carries on 3rd and 14 from the 29 and gets it out to the 40 and there’s a facemask penalty on Ole Miss and that’ll just about do it. Alabama runs out the clock, but not before an Ole Miss defender gets a cheap shot in on Tobie Sheils before the snap and Tobie is PISSED. A personal foul is called and the thug gets ejected. Palmer runs out the clock and that’s the end of the game. Alabama wins! Final score: Alabama 19 Ole Miss 14


Offensive Player of the Game: David Palmer(216 all purpose yards)

Defensive Player of the Game: Lemanski Hall

Bye weeks and bad weather.

Well, this week marks an off week for Alabama Football and I have to say it gives me an empty feeling inside since there is nothing to look forward to this weekend. About 10(!) years or so ago I would probably have said the complete opposite. As a member of the Million Dollar Band we were required to be at every home game, but sometimes you really didn't get the chance to take in the gameday experience partly because we were part of the gameday experience. So, when a bye week would come around we took it as a blessing. It felt good not to be tied down to a strict schedule for a change and to be free and clear to do whatever we wanted on our weekend off. Some of us would hang around Tuscaloosa and just chill while others took the opportunity to go home and visit family. If had my say, I would've spent the entire week in bed, but I knew if didn't get home on an off week, my mother would wring my neck.


We've seen some very dry conditions here in the Birmingham are lately as we haven't had any significant rain in about a month or so. When it did rain it was from the leftovers of whatever hurricane that Drudge dubbed as their latest "hellstorm." Apparently, there's a system coming in later tonight that supposed to bring some good rain, but I have a bad feeling about what it might be bringing with it. The area is due severe weather and I that's what I'm thinking this system is bringing. Whatever it is, all I know is that I'll be at home in bed with the ringer on the phone turned off, because there is no way I'm in coming in to work the storm coverage. I guess Spann will have to do without me just this once.

Mannywood and Bama is 6-0

It's been 3 months since I've posted a new entry and a LOT has happened. The Dodgers traded for Manny Ramirez, and it helped spark the team on to winning the NL Western Division. That momentum in turn helped the team sweep the Chicago Cubs in the National League Divisional Series and a berth in the NLCS since 1988. Manny had two homeruns in the 3 games and James Loney had as many RBIs as Cubs had runs scored(6). The pitching was lights out as all three starters lasted 6 innings or more. They play the Phillies in Game 1 on Thursday.

Wow. That's the only word I can find to describe the Alabama Football season so far. I mean we knew Saban was good, but this is better than anyone expected. 6-0 and a #2 national ranking? If this is a dream don't wake me, becasue this is too good to be true. The Clemson game planted the seeds for what we're seeing now, but with all of the disappointment we had in the past none of the Alabama faithful wanted to get their hopes up. Sure, we were happy, but we were just two years removed from Mike Shula's last year as head coach. After two victories vs. Tulane and Western Kentucky, an absolute beating of Arkansas came the shock heard 'round the world. Nobody pictured Alabama going into Athens and absolutely dominating the preseason #1 Georgia Bulldogs under "Blackout" conditions. Something tells me it'll be a while before they dust off the balck jerseys again. How those freshmen, huh? Several have made an impact, like Dont'a Hightower and of course everyone's favorite Julio Jones. The one that's made the most impact is my boy, Mark Ingram. He owned it in the Clemson game and hasn't let up since. Here's hoping he doesn't. Keep trucking, young man....keep trucking.

More Dodger injuries and other thoughts.

A friend of mine that I used to work with at Discovery(and a fellow UA grad)is currently in line to get a job with CNN/Turner in Atlanta. He now works for ABC in NYC doing the same thing I do here in Birmingham. When he told me about the Atlanta opportunity it got me to thinking if I should try to get back to working with a national TV outlet. I mean, I like Birmingham and all but this is pretty much as good as gets in this state. There aren't any cable or broadcast networks based out of here and going back to the national scene would obviously require me to move...again. Ugh. Turner has always been a goal of mine, but so has 33/40 and it's only 3 hrs. from home which is nice. The upside of Atlanta is that it's in the south and it's still a manageable drive to south Alabama. The downside is that I don't want to come off as one of those nomad broadcaster types that gets tired of something after a while and moves on. That looks bad to prospective employers, in my opinion. At any rate, it's always some thing good to think about and discuss.

I swear, the Dodgers could make an All-Star with all of the injuries they've had this year and last night it got worse. Not only have they lost 3 games in a row to the friggin' Marlins, but closer Takashi Saito left the game with right elbow discomfort. If there was a place that didn't need an injury it's the bullpen. They've been sketchy at best and have given up a number of runs and blowing leads for the starters. Word is that this is going accelerate the return of Clayton Kershaw from Double A who I hope has improved since his last stint in the big leagues.

4 in a row.

After taking 3 of 4 from Houston on the road and another great game by Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers returned to the west coast to take the series opener against the Giants in San Francisco. Andre Ethier has been the man lately by homering in three consecutive games including an absolutely mammoth shot against the Astros on Wednesday that ended up in the right field upper deck. Overall, the bats have come alive this week and have scored 5 runs or more in three of the last four wins. This article was posted yesterday on dodgers.com and it didn't make me feel real excited about future possibilities. Why go back on a philosophy that seems to be coming together for the sake of one position player? Sure, we could use the help at shortstop, but why sacrifice the future of the team? If they end up going through with a trade it's almost certainty that Furcal won't be re-signed for next year. This looks to be another in a long line of disappointing trades the Dodgers have made in the last few years going back to the ridiculously retarded Paul LoDuca trade in 2004. Let's hope Nomar can make this a non-issue and stays healthy and plays well enough that a trade won't be necessary. And speaking of stupid trades, that deal with Tampa a couple of years ago looks better everyday. We sure could use Edwin Jackson in the rotation right about now.

Well, you certainly don't see this everyday.

Actually, the last time it happened was 16 years ago. The Dodgers won tonight 1-0 without scoring a single hit. That's almost unheard of. The funny part is that Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo, who pitched for the Angels, won't get credit for the no hitter because MLB rules state an official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings. In a no-hit game, a batter may reach base via a walk, an error, a hit by pitch, a passed ball or wild pitch on strike three, or catcher's interference. So, there you have it. You won't find me shedding a tear that's for sure. As for the good guys, Chad Billingsley continues to churn out excellent starts and lead this depleted starting rotation. He's easily starting to become my favorite pitcher and turning out to be a real leader on this team. If any team is looking to trade for him they better be prepared to give up a lot in exchange. I'm looking forward to him pitching in a Dodger uniform for many years to come and hopefully some championships to go with it.

Add another banner to the Garden rafters.

After a less than spectacular start to the playoffs the Celtics got it together in the Eastern Conference Finals and was able to pretty much dominate the Lakers in the NBA Finals and win their 17th NBA Championship. It was a full team effort as everyone who dressed contributed in some way to win the title. I don't think I've ever seen defense played as well I saw it played by a team in the NBA. The Celtics absolutely suffocated their opponents and was able to throw two of the best players in the game off of their. One of those being the best player in the world and NBA MVP Kobe Bryant. I will say though that if Ray Allen had not been able to find his shot and catch fire like he did then the playoff might have had a different outcome. He played so well that he would've been NBA Finals MVP if not for the play of Paul Pierce.



And what about Paul Pierce? During the Finals he was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Him coming back from his knee injury in Game 1 invoked images of Larry Bird getting hurt and coming back in the 1991 Playoffs vs. Indiana. Bird went on take over that game and win. Pierce did the same for this Celtics team hitting two huge threes and scoring 20 points for the game. Some questioned the legitimacy of the injury. Well, you can question that all you want, but you can't question the effect him coming back had on the team. It energized them and pretty much gave them a boost through the rest of the Finals. The only blemish for the Finals for Pierce was his performance in Game 3. If him and KG score for their average in that game then that series ends up in a sweep. I will admit I turned off Game 4 at halftime. I was disgusted by the lack of effort and intensity. Luckily for me, I turned back over to the game about halfway through the 3rd quarter and witnessed of one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Needless to say, I will never give up on this Celtics team again.

Quiet Saturday morning...

I can't believe I haven't updated this thing since November. Anyway, I'll try to update it on a more frequent basis. So, I get up this morning to read that my Dodgers shutout those nasty Anaheim Angels 6-0 with a gem pitched by friggin' Chan Ho Park. Are you serious? This guy hasn't pitched that well in 7 years. Hopefully, he can keep it up as the starting rotation is woefully depleted. When Penny comes and Kuroda come back off the DL I say send Kershaw back down to the minors, because he needs work and is obviously not ready and give his spot to Eric Stults, who has pitched lights out in his two starts.

I was having some 24 withdrawals a couple of weeks ago since there hasn't been a new episode in over year and decided to give season 5 another look. As I watched I had forgotten how great that season really was. I would start watching episodes and I didn't want to stop because I wanted to see what would happen next. Watching season 5 also reminded me how awful season 6 was. I hope they can come back in January after the writer's strike wiped out last season and make the show as great as it can be.

I was just reading the last post I made in November and I'm thinking about bring those Bama football recaps back. As time consuming as they can be to do since the games run about 3 hours or more. I had a good time watching those old games and doing the running recap on it. It's just a matter of which games I decide to do and it'll also help pass the time during these slow summer months leading up to the new season.

That's all for now. I'll be back later with some thoughts on the Celts winning the NBA title and some other random topics.