TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -A national title was on the line the last time Florida International coach Mario Cristobal faced No. 4 Alabama.
That was in the 1993 Sugar Bowl when Cristobal was an offensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes.
Alabama beat Miami 34-13 to win another national championship. When Cristobal’s Panthers roll into Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday night for their season opener he would like to avoid more bad memories of the Crimson Tide.
“It was a rough game,” he said. “We had a chance to win two national titles in a row, and it didn’t work out. They showed up strong on defense like they had all year long and they made it real tough on our offense. Offensively, they were able to run the ball very, very effectively against our defense.
“It was one day you truly don’t want to remember.”
nd powerful running game – sounds awfully similar to this year’s Alabama team.
The Tide enters the game as 33-point favorites over their Sun Belt Conference opponent, but coach Nick Saban seethes at even the mention of a potential letdown in the wake of an impressive win over Virginia Tech. Really good teams and players, he says, play with consistency instead of rising and falling based on the competition.
So Tide players will be playing to avoid the upset, and upsetting their coach.
Saban, who received a three-year contract extension Wednesday, points to FIU’s progress. The Panthers have shown signs of being a team on the rise going from 1-11 to 5-7 over the past two seasons under the 38-year-old Cristobal, the third-youngest head coach in Football Bowl Subdivision.
“They have made significant progress from Year 1 to Year 2 and they’re going to have a better team this year, in my opinion,” Saban said.
He points to their players, too. Like quarterback Paul McCall and especially 1,000-yard receiver and dangerous return man T.Y. Hilton, last year’s Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year after ranking third nationally in all-purpose yardage.
“They’re a wide-open, throw-the-ball vertical passing game,” Saban said. “Their quarterback’s back and he had a good year last year. Hilton is probably as good a player as anybody in the country.
l over the field. Wide-open, spreadout, all over the place. Getting guys the ball where they can run with it in space.”
Doing that against a big, fast SEC defense that limited Virginia Tech to 155 total yards and sacked athletic quarterback Tyrod Taylor five times won’t be easy, though.
Saban was optimistic in mid-week that tailback Mark Ingram and backup quarterback Star Jackson would be recovered from bouts with the flu in time for the game. Defensive end Brandon Deaderick played last weekend five days getting shot in a robbery attempt, but missed practices again after his grandmother’s death.
This kind of public talk might get Saban’s blood boiling but the game could present the first chance to get some youngsters playing time. None of quarterback Greg McElroy’s backups, including Jackson, have played in a college game. Only two freshmen from the nation’s top-rated recruiting class saw action in the opener, and neither tailback Trent Richardson nor safety Rod Woodson spent much time on the field.
Alabama and FIU have only met once, a 38-3 Alabama win in 2006 after FIU scored first. Of course, that was a different ‘Bama team in coach Mike Shula’s final season, and it was the Tide’s only win in its last five games.
FIU has several players still around from that team, including McCall. Cristobal took steps during the week to try to prepare the others for 92,138-seat Bryant-Denny.
ets everyone really fired up,” he said. “These guys are amped up and they’re not sleeping much for a good reason. Hopefully, our neighbors here in Dade County will forgive us for cranking up the music in the stadium to prepare for that.
“You do not ignore it, but you don’t make it the centerpiece in your preparation.”
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