Statistics Are For Losers

Alabama's offense had produced a total of only 148 yards as Saturday's game against Florida State in Jacksonville neared the midway point of the fourth quarter. A late flurry by the Tide changed the statistics picture, but not the outcome as FSU took a 21-14 victory.

After a scoreless first half, three of the game's five touchdowns were scored in the final five minutes of the contest.

Alabama finished the game with 19 first downs compared to 15 for Slorida State and the Tide had 80 plays for 329 yards, the Seminoles 65 plays for 348 yards.

Bama quarterback John Parker Wilson had a career-high 28 pass completions on a career-high 53 attempts. His previous high attempts was 45 two weeks against Arkansas.

Wilson was 28 of 53 for 240 yards and two touchdowns and was not intercepted.

But 13 of Wilson's completions were for five yards or fewer. He had 10 completions of 20 or more yards, half of them coming in the final five minutes of the game.

Most of those short completions were implicit in Bama's poor offensive performance. They led to Bama averaging just 4.5 yards per pass attempt and just 8.6 yards per completion. (By comparison, FSU averaged 8.9 yards per attempt and 14 yards per completion on 19 of 30 for 266 yards.)

Alabama was successful on only six of 20 third down situations, but was successful on two of three fourth downs.

Wilson is now 9-9 as Alabama's starting quarterback.

D.J. Hall caught seven passes for 83 yards and one touchdown, extending his school record with 2,338 yards in his Bama career. He has caught at least one pass in 24 consecutive games. In his career he has 150 receptions for 2,338 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Terry Grant moved past Bobby Humphrey (1985) into fifth place on Alabama's list for yards rushing by a freshman. Humphrey had 502 yards. Grant had only 36 yards on only nine carries against FSU and now has 519 yards on the season.

Sophomore punter P.J. Fitzgerald had a rough start as Alabama was working into a stiff breeze and getting nothing done on offense. He finished the game with a single game personal high of 10 punts for 369 yards. He had a long punt of 56 yards and put four punts inside the FSU 20.