“That was embarrassing for us and for our fans,” senior halfback Kenneth Darby said following Alabama’s 24-16 loss to Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa. “We didn’t play good enough. We didn’t execute. We didn’t finish. There was nothing we did well.
“We should be embarrassed.”
Darby also knows what lies ahead, a road game at LSU and the regular season final game against Auburn in Tuscaloosa.
“No one gives us a chance,” he said. “The odds are against us. Our backs are against the wall.
“But that will just make it more exciting.”
Darby said, “I want to do all I can do and my teammates want to do all they can do to win these last two games. There’s no quit in this team. We feel like to have to go harder. It’s time to come out fighting and scratching.”
Darby was asked if he had any thoughts about a bowl game. Alabama is bowl eligible with six wins, but most would expect the Tide to now finish the season 6-6.
“We’re not thinking about a bowl,” Darby said. “All we’re thinking about are these next two games. That’s especially true for the seniors. We need to be real leaders.”
Darby had 13 carries for 54 yards, but no touchdowns. A hot Alabama post-mortem topic is the Tide’s ineptness in the Red Zone, those final 20 yards to the goalline. Alabama was in the Red Zone four times, a potential 28 points, and got nine points, three Jamie Christensen field goals.
Darby repeated his belief that “I need to score from outside the 20.”
The Tide halfback said that he couldn’t compare the loss to Mississippi State to any other loss. “Every loss feels the same to me,” he said. “But it does make you feel back to lose a game to a team you think you should have beaten.
“It’s frustrating. It makes you mad. We feel like we should be able to score at will the way we move the ball down the field.
“We just didn’t do good today. If we eliminate our mistakes, we would have won.
“But they won. They played better. We got beat. It was a bad day.”