TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama campus reeks of football history, from Bryant Drive and the Bryant Museum to all of the championships, both national and conference, won over the course of more than 100 years of college football.

Yet Saturday, this Alabama football team has a chance to make some history of its own if the 15^th-ranked Crimson Tide (4-0) can beat fifth-ranked Florida (4-0). In five previous tries, no Alabama team has ever beaten a team ranked among the top five in the country in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

But history is not what is really on the mind of the Alabama faithful going into this game, arguably the biggest game the Crimson Tide has been involved in since, well, since beating Florida twice in 1999 on its way to winning its last Southeastern Conference championship.

This is coach Mike Shula’s chance to get what football fans in this state have come to refer to as a “signature” win, a victory over a team that Alabama is not favored to beat. Going into his third season as coach, the former Tide quarterback is 14-15 overall, 7-11 against SEC competition. In the previous two seasons under Shula, Alabama did not beat an SEC team that would finish its season with a winning record (beating Mississippi State twice, Kentucky twice, and Ole Miss), and has only one win over a ranked team (then-24^th ranked Southern Mississippi in 2004).

As former Alabama coach Gene Stallings, who won the school's last national championship in 1992, said prior to this season, “Mike needs to beat somebody that’s beat somebody.’’

Beating Florida is Shula’s best opportunity to silence the critics who said he got the job based more on his last name than his resume, who believe Alabama athletic director Mal Moore panicked in hiring Shula after enduring the embarrassment of the tenures of former coaches Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, and seeing the football program publicly hung out to dry by the NCAA with severe sanctions and probation as the poster child for “rogue boosters gone wild.”

This Alabama team is about as flashy as Shula’s personality, which is as straight and solid as the famous jaw line he inherited from his famous father, Don. It is a team built on great defense, with an offense that is much the same as the straight-forward, run-oriented offense he ran as offensive coordinator for Tony Dungy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-1999, the only coordinator position Shula had in his 14 years as an NFL assistant prior to coming to Alabama.

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But Shula has recruited well, building his offense around a quality players such as quarterback Brodie Croyle, tailback Ken Darby, and Tyrone Prothro, who has lined up at wide receiver, quarterback, and tailback in addition to returning kicks.

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