Bama's Greg McElroy Silences Critics

Okay, Greg McElroy admits he overreacted and his feelings were hurt.

It was two Saturdays ago, following Alabama's dramatic victory over LSU, when McElroy vented that people, including teammates, had lost faith in him as the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback. Two days later, McElroy apologized if his postgame comments offended anyone and he further explained that getting mad was not the way to getting better.

McElroy was certainly better in Alabama's 31-3 victory over Mississippi State last Saturday, silencing critics with a solid performance he intends to build on as the undefeated Crimson Tide (10-0, 7-0 SEC) continues its march towards the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.


"I think that our best football -- you know the day you play your best football should be the last game of every year," said McElroy, who completed 13-of-18 passes for 192 yards and two long touchdowns against the Bulldogs.

The Tide, in the mix for a national championship, accumulated 444 yards of total offense and played turnover-free football.

Alabama faces Tennessee-Chattanooga in its final home game and final non-conference game of the season on Saturday. The Crimson Tide ends the regular season at Auburn in The Iron Bowl before it tangles with top-ranked Florida on Dec. 5 in the SEC Championship for the second consecutive year.

"I think we're continually improving," McElroy continued Monday during his weekly news conference with the media.

"I think everybody is trying to improve personally, individually and obviously collectively we're trying to accomplish all of our goals. Our best football is out there. When we come back and look at the film on Mondays there are things that we did wrong.

"That's natural and you're never going play a perfect game, but there are things that we're trying to iron out before the season ends, and things that we need to try to improve on this week."

At least on the surface, McElroy's relaxed and confident tone is proof he's trying to learn how to handle the expectations and heat in his first season as Alabama's starting quarterback.

After playing his best game in a month in the Tide's division-clinching victory over LSU, McElroy, a redshirt junior, bared his bruised soul and said, "I've had to deal with a lot of animosity and a lot of hatred." He later explained that he also felt his teammates had questioned his performances.

McElroy's comments caught his teammates off guard, who quickly rallied behind him and said their confidence in him had never wavered. Head coach Nick Saban said he also talked to McElroy and reminded him to "believe in yourself and ignore the negative."

McElroy is not familiar with failure.

He has not lost a game as a starting quarterback dating back to high school, a span of 26 starts that included leading his team to a Texas state title.

McElroy has also made A's in all but one class in college. He's thoughtful, polite, quick with a smile and always gives a detailed answer.

McElroy now also better understands he must answer with results, not words.

That was accomplished against Mississippi State, where he threw two long touchdown passes to Julio Jones (48 yards) and Darius Hanks (45 yards).

Mix that in with Heisman Trophy front runner Mark Ingram's 149 rushing yards, including a 70-yard touchdown burst and Alabama seems to have found the big plays that it missed earlier this season.

During a four-game stretch against Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, for example, McElroy had just two completions longer than 20 yards and failed to throw a touchdown pass in three consecutive games.

The Tide's longest rush in that four-game span was 54 yards.

"Greg did a nice job in the [Mississippi State] game," Saban said.

"His pass efficiency rating was really high in the game, in terms of his execution. We probably didn't throw the ball quite as much as what we'd planned on going into the game. When we did throw it, we executed and made a couple of explosive plays doing it, three or four times.

"We were very pleased with his performance and the way he managed the game."