Tide takes advantage of weekend off

November 02, 2009

By Ken Rogers

Greg McElroy went home and watched the Cowboys play.

Mark Ingram went home and “just chilled” with his family.

No matter how they spent last weekend, Alabama players were grateful for a respite from the intensity of a football game.

“I can’t say enough about those days off. They do wonders in the middle of a season,” left guard Mike Johnson said.

“I think we were more tired mentally than physically. ... We’ve done a good job these first few weeks and those three days off are going to help a lot for this last stretch of the season.”

Ingram went home to Flint, Mich. “Kind of cleared my head and got re-focused a little bit. Just chilled like that,” said Monday before the Tide returned to practice after a three-day weekend.

“I feel good,” Ingram said. “I think the bye week did a lot of us a lot of good just getting our bodies back healthy. Getting a little rest and getting a chance just to clear our heads a little, get away from everything, get refocused and make a strong push this second half of the year.”

Even laser-focused head coach Nick Saban said he got out of town — but managed to stay connected.

“Well, I got away, but I also took my computer and had lots of tape to watch,” Saban said. That’s what I did for most of the time.  It rained for two days, so it was a good time.”

Saban said he actually did his share of channel-surfing, flipping between college games and the World Series on Saturday.

“(I) really sort of enjoyed seeing what everybody in the world goes through on Saturday, rather than what I go through,” the coach said. “My wife’s yelling at me the whole time because we’re not watching what she wants to watch.  So, I understand. That’s the first time that’s happened all year or for many years, that I can remember.”