BamaOnLine.com - Notebook: Saban Bowl III not receiving the same hype

November 2, 2009

Christopher Walsh
BamaOnLine.com Senior Writer

TUSCALOOSA _ When the beat writers covering the University of Alabama football team found out that senior cornerback Javier Arenas once took a sports writing class, they asked what headline he would write regarding Saturday' game against No. 9 LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Saban Bowl III?

"Nah," said Arenas, and the reporters apparently felt the same way because neither head coach was asked Monday about Nick Saban facing his former team again.

"Les Miles has done a fantastic job in the five years he has been as LSU," Saban said during his press conference. "They always play with toughness. They play with great effort. They are well-coached on both sides of the ball as well as special teams."
Miles had a similar response during his weekly luncheon.

"Alabama is a very good football team," he said. "Coach Saban has done a very good job there. They've gotten better every time we've seen them on film."

LSU won the first Saban Bowl here at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2007, 41-34, when the Crimson Tide was without five players who had been suspended due to the textbook scandal. Last year the Tide won at LSU in overtime, 27-21. Overall, UA leads the series 44-23-5, but hasn't won in Tuscaloosa since 1999.

A major reason why the coaching rivalry isn't drawing much attention is that LSU only has one scholarship player coached by Saban remaining, senior defensive tackle Charles Alexander. Senior linebacker Harry Coleman signed under Saban but didn't join the team until after he left, and many in the Class of 2005 were recruited by Saban and signed by Miles.

Although last year's game was greatly hyped because it was Saban's first return to Baton Rouge after leaving to take over the 2005 Miami Dolphins, this year's game will otherwise be played in similar circumstances in terms of what's at stake. With a victory, No. 3 Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) will clinch a spot in the SEC Championship Game against No. 1 Florida.

That's more a concern in terms of potential distractions.

"I'm not going to insult anybody here, in terms of talking about this game, but like every other game that we play this year, this is the most important game we've played all year long, because it is the game that we play this week," Saban said. "It's our goal to put our team in a good position to be able to play the best football that they can play. I think it's important that you focus on playing good ball.

"(New York Yankees manager) Joe Girardi said 'To close out the series, I want to play good baseball.' What gives you the best chance to close out the series? Play the best baseball you can play and keep playing the best you can play. Put your players in position to do it, be aggressive, be positive, play with good effort and toughness and do a great job of executing. That's got to be the focus of what we need to do, not focus on the result, but focus on the process of things that you need to do to play the best football you can, individually and collectively, and that's what we all need to do."

Injury/practice report
Senior tight end Colin Peek wore a protective brace on his injured knee during Monday's practice. Junior Terry Grant wore a black jersey signaling no contract, but did work out with the running backs, while freshman cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick rode an exercise bike.

"Colin ran in the pool yesterday and he is going to run today, so it will be day-to-day to see how he can do," Saban said earlier Monday. "Hopefully, he will be able to so some functional things on Tuesday and if everything goes well, we're hopeful he will be able to play in the game and contribute in the game. There are two other guys that have been bothered for quite some time with muscle pulls, Terry Grant and Dre Kirkpatrick, and they are kind of day-to-day as well. We tried to rest them some last week, this has been an ongoing thing with both guys and we are going to try to continue to see how they respond with the pulls that they have."

Also of note, senior linebacker Cory Reamer was again going through individual drills with the interior linebackers. He's been sliding over into Dont'a Hightower's weakside spot in obvious passing situations.

Mississippi State kickoff set
Next week's game against Mississippi State will start at 6 p.m. and will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2. The other game to be shown in that time slot is Auburn vs. Georgia.

Other SEC games to be televised on Nov. 14, include Tennessee at Ole Miss (11 a.m., CBS), Kentucky at Vanderbilt (11:21 a.m., SEC Network), Florida at South Carolina (2:30 p.m., CBS), Louisiana Tech at LSU (6 p.m., ESPNU), and Troy at Arkansas (6:30 p.m., CSS).

Tide-bits
Saban on still trying to fill Hightower's pass-rushing spot in dime packages: "We continue to work guys in different positions. I think we got to work with a lot of the young players a little more than we normally do in the bye week. Courtney (Upshaw) is doing a better job. Chavis (Williams) did a good job when he was in there. Jerrell Harris, it was a good week for him just to go back and work on fundamentals and assignments and things that can help him improve as a player with all the time that he missed. I think all those players are better for it. I don't think we're ready to announce any changes in any of those things, but I think all those players will have a chance to make a contribution in some way."

The players didn't seem too concerned that the Tide dropped to No. 3 in the latest Bowl Championship series standings. "It's not like it's the final round," senior guard Mike Johnson said. "We have a lot more games ahead of us."

Arenas watched the Florida-Georgia game while enjoying the weekend in Tampa, Fla., and saw the Brandon Spikes eye-gouging incident as it occurred. "When the game was going on, I thought I was the only one who saw it," Arenas said. Spikes was suspended for a half-game Monday, with the SEC releasing the following statement: "The Southeastern Conference has reviewed and accepted the disciplinary actions taken by the University of Florida regarding football student-athlete Brandon Spikes. The university suspended Spikes for the first half of its next game (vs. Vanderbilt, Nov. 7) for an unsportsmanlike act during the Gators' last game (vs. Georgia, Oct. 31)." As for what's the worst thing anyone's done to Arenas, he said, "Twist my ankle when I'm at the bottom of the pile. I have a technique, though, I roll with it."

Arenas on if his return for a touchdown against LSU two years ago was the loudest he's ever heard Bryant-Denny Stadium: "Not after that field block last week. That was the loudest I've heard it."

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