VIDEO: Penn St. game day start to finish

In case you didn’t make it to the game, check out this video for the complete game day experience, start to finish, as Alabama sent Penn State home with a 24-3 beating Saturday evening.

Live from Bryant-Denny Stadium …

Gray afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Hello to everyone reading in Michigan.

It’s pouring. Not just raining, but dumping buckets in Bryant-Denny Stadium two hours, 30 minutes before kickoff. There were a few rumbles of thunder, but the students who just entered the stadium are loving it.

It’s a full press box today loaded with Pennsylvania and national media. I just got done shooting the breeze with an old high school buddy from Louisville. His coworkers spend a cool $3,000 a game for tent rental on the quad.

There is a real buzz around Tuscaloosa today. Check back later for more details and a video or two.

Bigger stadium = traffic, parking changes

Finally ready for its debut, the newly expanded Bryant-Denny Stadium will change the game day dynamic in Tuscaloosa.

With nearly 10,000 more fans headed to the campus for the 6 p.m. Saturday season-opener with San Jose State, parking and traffic patterns will differ from years past. See UAGameday.com for all the details, but here are the highlights.

A new 400-spot parking garage located at 23rd Avenue between 6th and 7th streets will be free to the public with busses shuttling fans to the stadium for $1 per adult. Free lots are also located near the farmers’ market as well as on the street. It’s also free to park at the University Mall on McFarland Boulevard, though a round-trip bus ticket costs $10.

A few scrimmage nuggets

Nick Saban just ran through some of the highlights from this afternoon’s closed scrimmage. Here are the highlights:

• Today’s action was much more “game like” as opposed to last Saturday’s that was more “situational.” The first 50 or so plays were just as they would have been in a game.
• On the injury front: Josh Chapman bruised a thigh and Trent Richardson bruised a shoulder. Nether were too serious, Saban said.
• DeQuan Menzie was back out there after getting hurt a week ago. Saban said the JUCO cornerback transfer “held up OK today.”
• DeMarcus Milliner and Blake Sims were both still on the sidelines today. Sims was wearing a walking boot on his right foot (see photo here).
• There was more focus placed on the running game this week as opposed to last when it was an air assault.
• Kicking game was much improved. Cade Foster was 3-for-4 with his only miss being at 52-yarder. Saban said he came back and made one from that distance with room to spare. Jeremy Shelley, the more short-range kicker, went 4-for-4, according to stats kept by UA media relations. More stats to come.
• The team gets two days off before returning to practice Tuesday. Since starting practice Aug. 5, the only off-day came last Sunday. That schedule, Saban said, is all part of the master plan.

More to come. Hang in there.

— Michael Casagrande

Where, oh where is Nick Saban’s statue?

It sure isn’t in Tuscaloosa — at least not on its pedestal. As you can see, everything appears to be in place except for the coach himself.

Here is the marker commemorating the 2009 championship team that will be installed in the “Walk of Champions” near the statue.

A few final photos from Bryant-Denny tour

See the album below for more looks inside and around the expanded south end zone at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Bryant-Denny Stadium south end zone

Bryant-Denny Stadium media tour, Pt. II

The tour continues to the sky boxes on level 6

Bryant-Denny Stadium media tour, Pt. I

Click to enlarge

We just finished the media tour of the south end zone expansion at Bryant-Denny Stadium. From my unbiased perspective, it was impressive.

More details to follow, but enjoy the first batch of video.

A few panoramic looks at Bryant-Denny Stadium

Here are a few panoramic pictures of Bryant-Denny Stadium straight from the trusty iPhone. Click to enlarge all of them. The last few 360 degree panoramics. Just click on each image and scroll to the right to get the full effect.

Finally, here are a few more looks at Fan Day.

Fan Day 2010

Another view of the expanded Bryant-Denny Staduim

Click to enlarge

There are a few thousand fans inside Bryant-Denny Stadium sweating out another “Fan Day.” The team is practicing right now as another gaggle of fans wait outside for the autograph signing.

I heard the person on line arrived here at 6 a.m. I sure hope it was worth the wait. Players and coaches will sign for 45 minutes after practice.

Video to come later. They don’t seem to want to upload right now.

And now, the final photo has been added to the Bryant-Denny Stadium expansion album. Enjoy.

BDS expansion, updated Aug. 8, 2010

An inside look at the new Bryant-Denny south end zone

As seen Sunday morning. Click to enlarge.

Here is the finished product from the inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium. It’s pretty much a mirror image of the other end zone except four rows taller.

I snapped this at the end of “Media Day” festivities when reporters got as much as we could in 15 minutes from players herded into the north end zone. As I joked with a few comrades, it was a lot like “Caddy Day” at Bushwood Country Club.

But it was a good opportunity to talk to some of the players we don’t normally get. Stay tuned for some of the interesting nuggets from Trent Richardson and others.

Bryant-Denny Stadium now fifth biggest

The home of Crimson Tide football is now ranked fifth among college football stadiums according to the new capacity released today by UA.

Bryant-Denny Stadium’s new capacity is officially 101,821 — up from 92,138 before the south end zone got the upper deck and luxury suites.

The complete rankings:

1. Michigan Stadium (Michigan) 109,901
2. Beaver Stadium (Penn State) 107,282
3. Neyland Stadium (Tennessee)102,455
4. Ohio Stadium (Ohio State) 102,329
5. Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama) 101,821
6. Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium (Texas) 100,119
7. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (USC) 93,607
8. Sanford Stadium (Georgia) 92,746
9. Tiger Stadium (LSU) 92,400
10. Rose Bowl (UCLA) 92,340

Here is the latest from outside the south end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium. It looks like this feature is about to die since work is all but done.

BDS expansion, updated Aug. 4 2010

Bryant-Denny Stadium expansion update

Here is the latest from outside the south end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium. It looks like this feature is about to die since work is all but done.

BDS expansion, updated Aug. 4 2010

Saban statue isn’t done

The ever-popular statue of Nick Saban is still in production and nobody is sure when it will arrive outside Bryant-Denny Stadium. At least that’s what UA’s director of athletic facilities said.

“We don’t have any timeline,”  Thad Turnipseed said Monday. “When it’s s right, we’re going to put it up.”

Remember, the orginal goal was to unveil it at A-Day in April. The moving target kept creeping closer to the Sept. 4 season-opener with San Jose State. Now, you’re guess is as good as mine.

Read more Tuesday about this issue and for an update on the south end zone expansion at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

New diagram of Bryant-Denny Stadium

In case you wanted to see a seating chart of the symetrical again Bryant-Denny Stadium, here it is courtesy of Alabama’s media relations department. There are apparently changes to the gate numbers for the upcoming season.