TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A season of shaky wins and frustrating road trip-ups has forced Alabama to revise its goals.<br>
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Forget the Southeastern Conference title. A prominent bowl trip seems increasingly unlikely and the Crimson Tide (5-3, 2-3) is receiving one measly vote in the AP Top 25.<br>
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So, what's the motivation? For starters, avoiding the sickening feeling of Saturday's close-but-no celebratory cigar 16-13 loss to No. 8 Tennessee or the competitive road losses to No. 9 Florida and No. 13 Arkansas.<br>
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``If you can't get motivated by that, then there's something wrong with you,'' coach Mike Shula said Tuesday. ``That was a tough loss. Those other two losses were tough losses. Any loss is tough but when you feel like you have a chance to win the football game and you come up on the short end of the stick, it hurts even more.<br>
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``There's a lot of reasons to be motivated, but that's No. 1.''<br>
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Barring a big upset, the Tide should be feeling a lot better two weeks from now. Alabama hosts Florida International (0-7) on Saturday and Mississippi State (2-6) next weekend and will be solid favorites in both games.<br>
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FIU is without 18 players suspended or booted off the team following a brawl with Miami.<br>
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But the Tide players and coaches maintain they're not overlooking the Golden Panthers, and really they haven't done much the easy way this season. The only lopsided win came against Louisiana-Monroe, FIU's next opponent.<br>
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Winless Duke pushed Alabama into the fourth quarter. Mississippi (2-6) took the Tide to overtime.<br>
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If that losing feeling doesn't help get his team worked up, then Shula offers another incentive.<br>
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``Kind of proving to ourselves that we're a better football team than our record,'' he said. ``To me, that's motivating as a coach. And if I were playing, it would be motivating.''<br>
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And frustrating as those near-misses have been, Shula does take some positives from them.<br>
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``We're doing a lot of things to put ourselves in position to win against some real good teams,'' he said. ``You can't lose sight of those facts. You hate to keep bringing it up, but if you lose sight of it I don't think you're being fair to yourself or to your team.''<br>
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Fullback Tim Castille still thinks the Tide has the potential to win out for the regular season, win a bowl game and reach 10 wins for the second straight season.<br>
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That's the optimistic side. The pragmatic side tells Castille it's time to downsize the team's lofty preseason ambitions.<br>
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``To be in close games on the road every week and then come out on the wrong end of it is really frustrating,'' Castille said. ``Coming out of that game, you just have to refocus your goals.<br>
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``That's the main thing: What do we have to look forward to now? We're probably not going to be in the SEC championship hunt. But we can still get out of here our senior year with 10 wins.''<br>
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That sounds a lot better than 10 close calls. Alabama blew a 13-6 lead to the Volunteers in the fourth quarter and failed on two chances for potential game-tying or winning drives.<br>
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It was just another chapter in the Tide's season.<br>
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``You do not have time to feel sorry for yourself,'' defensive coordinator Joe Kines said. ``You've just got to keep on working.''<br>
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TIDE TALK: Backup tailback Jimmy Johns and receiver Keith Brown were still hobbled by ankle injuries in Tuesday's practice. Unlike Johns, Brown was not wearing a yellow jersey reserved for injured players. But he was limping in warmups and walked straight to the exercise bike when practice started. Shula said he wasn't certain of their status. Brown sat out the Tennessee game and Johns saw limited action.
