Write On Sports LLC - "Tide Struggles Past Vanderbilt" by Frank Sita

Tide Struggles Past Vanderbilt

2006-09-10 21:34:15 | By: Frank Sita

Nikita Stover didn't even know he was going to be in the game.

The freshman Alabama receiver hauled in a 36-yard pass from sophomore quarterback John Parker Wilson to set up Leigh Tiffin’s game-winning, 47-yard field goal, leading the Crimson Tide to a 13-10 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Stover’s lone catch helped Alabama, 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference, break a 10-10 tie against the stingy Commodores (0-2 overall and 0-1 in the SEC), who gave the Tide all they wanted. Stover was in the game as a backup to Keith Brown, who was momentarily injured on the play before and was forced to the sideline for medical attention.

“I just hoped he was going to catch the football,” said ‘Bama coach Mike Shula after the game. “Keith (Brown) got dinged up, but we still liked the play with the personnel Vanderbilt had on the field. You never know what play will make the difference in a close game, so you’ve got to be ready.”

While Alabama found a way to win, the Tide coach knows his team needs to get better in a hurry with the meat of the schedule still ahead.

“Hopefully, we’re not that far off,” Shula added. “We’ve got to do a better job of running the football. We’ve got to take care of us to get better. You’re not going to score many points if you keep making mistakes like we’re making. We’re 2-0, but we’ve got to get better.”

Wilson had an efficient game for Alabama, completing 18-of-29 passes for 207 yards with one touchdown pass of 31 yards to D.J. Hall on the first drive of the second half and one interception. Brown added eight grabs for 99 yards, while Hall had four for 56 yards. Senior running back Kenneth Darby helped the Tide run out the clock in the fourth quarter. Darby finished with 65 yards on 21 carries.

“We’re going to run the football,” Darby said. “It’s going to happen. You can’t get frustrated. The defenses aren’t doing anything we haven’t seen. We’re just not executing.”

The running struggles carried over from Alabama’s season-opening win over Hawaii as the Warriors forced the Tide to pass by limiting the running game to 125 yards, while ‘Bama could only muster 134 against the Commodores.

“We haven’t played against what you would call run-friendly defenses,” Wilson said after the game. “But it’s not like we’re running three plays and then punt. We’re moving the football. We’ve just got to cut down the turnovers and put points on the scoreboard.

“We played kind of sloppy. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play, but a win is a win. We’ve just got to score touchdowns when we get to the red zone.”

Alabama native and Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson struggled through his first trip to the Capstone, completing 15-of-23 passes for 140 yards with one touchdown pass of six yards to Earl Bennett that gave Vandy a 10-3 lead right before halftime and ran for another 40 yards.

But the redshirt sophomore tossed three interceptions with Alabama’s Simeon Castille getting two of them, including the clincher to set up Tiffin’s big kick.

The tide defense also held the Commodores to three first downs in the entire second half.

“Turnovers kill drives, kill scoring opportunities,” said Vandy coach Bobby Johnson after the game. “The second one (interception) was huge. We were moving the ball pretty good right there, and that killed us.”

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