The last I checked, gas, like a new college graduate, is cheap. Cecil and Alabama are hurting. Gators are moving on.
A. Leon Polhill FlaNative1845 330 NW 45th Street Gainesville, FL 32607 (352) 367-4642 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Oliver Barry Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2008 11:58 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [gatornews] Tide perspective CECIL HURT: This one's going to sting for some time Published: Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 12:43 a.m. ATLANTA| Related Links: * Tide lets <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060261> game slip away to Gators * Jones, <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060257> other freshmen, come up big in the clutch * Kicking <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060255> themselves * Tide <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060253> likely New Orleans bound for Sugar Bowl * Zoned out <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060219> * Tide <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060217> grabs momentum, but can't hold on * Loss <http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081206/NEWS/812060215> tough on Tide players For 51 quarters, the University of Alabama football team was able to nurture a dream. But the clock needed to strike a full 13 games for the Crimson Tide's Cinderella season. Instead, the most important quarter of Alabama's season belonged to someone else. Nothing is more painful, in football or in life. It's one thing not to have any chance at something magical. It hurts much more when the chance is there, and it doesn't quite work out. For a team with a one-word motto - "Finish" - it was a bitter finish indeed. There will be disappointment in Alabama today, and there should be. Opportunities to play for the national championship are rare. They won't come along every year, no matter how potent the UA program becomes under Nick Saban. Florida will now have that chance for the second time in three years - and deservedly so. The Gators did finish. They won the game in just the fashion Alabama would have wanted to win it, by asserting their will in the final 15 minutes. The Gators had some good fortune along the way. Who knows what would have happened if Dont'a Hightower's fingertips had not made contact with Jeff Demps' facemask when Alabama appeared to have stopped the Gators with a bit more than 10 minutes left? But Florida took advantage of that 16-yard penalty. The Gators finished off the drive with a touchdown to take the lead. Then they put the Southeastern Conference championship and a trip to the BCS title game on ice by marching for another fourth-quarter touchdown. Alabama, meanwhile, looked out of sorts offensively. The Crimson Tide ran just six plays in the entire fourth quarter and never threatened the kind of comeback that could have made this game a classic for Alabama fans. Alabama needed to play mistake-free football to beat Florida - and it made mistakes. It had some misfortune that wasn't its fault, but created problems for itself as well. It also wasn't as adroit as Florida in extricating itself from bad situations. Was it a tough break for Alabama that kicker Leigh Tiffin was hurt in the second quarter, possibly taking a field goal off the boards when Alabama ran a fake that, according to Saban, should have been called off? It certainly was. But it was also a tough break for Florida that Percy Harvin and three other starters couldn't play in the game. Great teams overcome adversity. The Crimson Tide did overcome some ill fortune which it created for itself in the second quarter with two special teams miscues - the misguided fake and a bad Javier Arenas decision to field a kickoff on the sideline, resulting in a 36-yard loss of field position. Alabama regrouped and dominated the third quarter. It took a lead - but needed more. So the Crimson Tide's return to Atlanta - ahead of schedule, in Saban's second year - will have to serve as a lesson, not a celebration. "I feel responsible for everything that went wrong," Saban said afterward. The buck stops with the head coach. Saban is correct about that. But rest assured, when he sits at a podium and takes that responsibility, his mind is already on a remedy. That remedy will be more relentless recruiting, more diligent preparation, more of the same formula that has won 12 games this year. That will start as soon as Alabama begins its preparations for what will almost certainly be a trip to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, a consolation prize for a team and a fan base that, at least right now, probably cannot be consoled. Alabama came close. But Saban said it best - the Crimson Tide "ran out of gas." Once the taste for a championship has been developed, though, it is hard to quench. Almost immediately, attention will turn to next season. In some ways, the bowl preparation will be a part of that process. Certainly, the month of practice for last year's Independence Bowl carried over into 2008 and had ramifications that went far beyond a win over Colorado. Alabama won't have to replace a large number of players, but the ones who are leaving - John Parker Wilson, Rashad Johnson, Antoine Caldwell, (probably) Andre Smith and the others - have a tremendous amount of heart. The first task for Alabama is to make sure that the identity that was forged over 51 quarters of football remains intact. If it does, then 52 quarters - unlikely as it is - will not be impossible. Cecil Hurt is sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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