Here's another report on Shula's record - note the offensive production this past year:
Although few expected Alabama to win 10 games and the Cotton Bowl again in 2006, expectations generally still called for a solid eight or nine win season. The Tide jumped out of the gate playing well, moving to 3-0 on the heels of clutch kicking and the solid quarterback play of John Parker Wilson. Against the Arkansas Razorbacks, however, the Tide imploded in a kicking nightmare, and lost again the following week to eventual the eventual national champion Florida Gators. The Tide struggled the rest of the year, as the offense could not move the ball once inside the red zone, the running game struggled to find any success, and the defense played sloppy and was often out of position.
Alabama needed overtime to beat a 4-8 Ole Miss team, and looked very poor against 0-12 Duke University and Florida International, which only dressed roughly 50 players due to suspensions from the Miami brawl. Also, the Tide lost a heartbreaker to the Tennessee Volunteers after leading for over fifty minutes. Finally, Alabama was dominated by Mississippi State in Bryant-Denny Stadium, a team that it had taken three games earlier in the year to even score, and then lost to LSU and to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, despite out-playing the Tigers.
The 2006 team had many problems, the first of which was regarded as a lack of team discipline. Moreover, Shula did not support the strength and conditioning coach Rocky Colburn in his efforts, and many players slacked off on workouts, those leaving the Tide in poor physical shape. The Tide also struggled from a variety of other problems, such as poor coaching by the assistants, and in particular offensive line coach Bob Connelly. Beyond that, the Shula-ran offense was not particularly creative or efficient, and down the stretch the Alabama offense struggled to move the ball, particularly in the red zone.
