MARK EDWARDS

Tide must learn to win tight games

NASHVILLE — You know Alabama football has dropped another notch when opposing schools' bands feel comfortable taunting the Crimson Tide. As the clock struck zero at the end of Minnesota's 20-16 Music City Bowl win Friday over Alabama, the Golden Gopher band briefly played part of "Rocky Top," the favorite song in the world of the average Tennessee Vol. Then on top of that, Glen Mason accidentally offended the Alabama fans remaining in the stadium during the awards ceremony. After accepting the Music City trophy, he addressed his team's supporters by saying, "You may have been outnumbered, but you weren't outclassed." Clearly, Mason wasn't talking about his school's band. Crimson Tide fans booed him anyway for that one. Mason apologized later when asked about that, saying, "I didn't mean to insinuate that they didn't have class. I've got a big mouth. I've said all week that we have tremendous respect for Alabama. We aspire to be like them. If they took what I said the wrong way, I apologize for that sincerely." But the damage was done, as the Crimson Tide got yet another reminder Friday afternoon that their program's glory days have moved a little further in the past. The most hurtful part of the day for Alabama, however, wasn't the snippet of "Rocky Top" or Mason's choice of words. It was failing to win a game in the fourth quarter when a clear opportunity was there. It's almost as if the Crimson Tide has forgotten how to close out a tight win. Since rallying to beat Iowa State 14-13 in the 2001 Independence Bowl, almost all of Alabama's wins have come when it dominated enough that the game rarely hung on the last offensive or defensive series. Alabama trailed 20-16 when it got the ball at Minnesota's 48 with 3:11 to play but failed to score. How the Crimson Tide didn't manage a touchdown is almost hard to figure. Minnesota has one of the worst pass defenses in the country, and Alabama quarterback Spencer Pennington was having a decent day. Pennington got the Crimson Tide to the Gophers' 19 and had a first down, but four plays netted only 4 yards, and that was it for Alabama. Somewhere in the middle of all those coaching changes, NCAA sanctions and losses, Alabama lost its ability to win games like Friday's. When the Crimson Tide reached the 19-yard line and had first down, it seemed so certain that Alabama would polish off a win. It seemed like the whole stadium had that feeling, too. Maybe I'm wrong, but when looking up into the stands, it appeared Alabama people smiled like they had this one. Meanwhile, Minnesota fans looked like they were going to lose another close game, like they did to Michigan and Iowa. When Pennington's fourth-down pass went incomplete out of bounds, Minnesota's cheerleaders went bonkers like stopping Alabama was the last thing they expected. Sure, it's easy to blame the 10-15 combined record for the last two seasons on the sanctions, gobs of injuries to key players and the inexperience of head coach in Mike Shula. But in games like Friday, when a victory is within a stone's throw, all that stuff doesn't matter that much. Gene Stallings rebuilt Alabama's program temporarily in the 1990s partly because his teams won a large majority of those close games. For Mike Shula, this is another problem he has to fix, because even the best teams have to pull out at least a couple of games like Friday's .