Week 13 Review - A LOT of good coaching

WOW. That would be my first response to the last 48 hours of SEC football. I journeyed to Auburn Thanksgiving afternoon, HAD MY GUTS RIPPED OUT FRIDAY AFTERNOON and returned home later that night completely drained. I then crawled from my bed to my favorite chair yesterday and for the most part watched on-and-off 12 hours of SEC rivalry football. I feel like one of the survivors walking out of the rubble in one of those disaster movies.

OK obviously the first place I am going to start is Auburn vs. Bama. If you have read anything on this blog you know I am not one of these emotional super-positive cheerleaders. I leave that to others. I try to make accurate analysis based on the facts. For the most part (as detailed in my last post) the outlook for Auburn has not looked good and I have said so. I have been a consistent doubter of Gene Chizik and just did not buy in into any of this "special team" stuff I have seen written elsewhere. I just don't think a season where you lose to Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Georgia and Bama is special. I still believe that but I will now certainly concede that the coaching and effort displayed by the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl was special and that I was wrong about how the game would go. A loss is a loss and nobody has said that more than me but the effort displayed on Friday was something special.

I honestly did not think we had that game in us. I really did not, not even deep down. I can see getting a 14-0 lead on Georgia but to come out and blitzkrieg the Tide is a special effort indeed. Auburn threw everything at them including reverses, onside kicks and QB-to-QB-down field passes. Everything in the world went right and the mighty Tide was knocked back into the ropes. It finally made them shut up and sweat for a few minutes. It also made all the people wearing those "shutout" stickers at the game look foolish. As any champion would do Bama fought back and tied it. I thought like the Georgia game we had shot our wad and that was it. However Malzahn and Co made that super aggressive defense pay for jumping routes and Auburn made it 21-14.

Then a series of dumb moves by Auburn put the Tide in position to score twice. First after kicking away from him the whole game we for some reason actually punt to Arenas (???) and he has a big return. On the next series Chris Todd then tosses a critical interception. A defense that I thought and predicted would break wide open somehow held the Tide to field goals both times. Incredible effort. Even at this point I did not think we would win. However after we pinned them near the goal line, held them and got the ball back near midfield with about ten minutes left in the fourth quarter I texted my Auburn buddy "WE CAN WIN THIS GAME". It was there for the taking. Oh my gosh it was there for the taking. Even a field goal might have been enough. Unfortunately at that game-winning point we went straight backwards, punted to them and the rest is history. MAKE NO MISTAKE though Auburn, flawed and lesser talented Auburn, could have won this game against one of the better Bama teams fielded post-Bryant.

They did not and this Bama team did show the heart of a champion by first stopping us and then gutting out that final drive. I think Bama fans can stop putting Auburn down for not beating their 2004 team worse. I have heard that for years. The Auburn 2004 team did better than this Bama team. I think the Bama fans that went on about that then and since then look pretty bad now. Bama fans are crowing now but they were sweating it most of this game. Since I had tons of them around me at the game I saw it first hand. The coaching staff also seemed to be feeling it as well. Bama's offensive play calling seemed to tighten up at times. $aban knew he had the better team and was desperately trying to avoid a turnover (which he did) and hoping a conservative play would break big. However the attempted halfback pass and the final touchdown were gutsy calls. Now to the Iron Bowl edition of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"...

THE GOOD
The Auburn defense. A defense with only two linebackers, a true freshman at the other linebacker making his first start (in the Iron Bowl???), another true freshman at safety, a first year JUCO subbing in at the other safety and a defensive line that got pushed all over the field by Georgia. This defense stood strong all day against one of the top teams in the country with the front runner for the Heisman trophy. The Auburn defense completely shutdown Mark Ingram giving him on 30 yards on 16 carries. The Auburn defense stood strong in spite of Bama having great field position most of the day. The Auburn defense held Bama to field goals twice after a big punt return and after a critical interception. The Auburn defense completely stuffed Bama on a late critical fourth and one. The Auburn defense made Bama earn every inch on the final drive faltering one play from giving the offense a chance to win the game with a field goal.

Bama got the score and the win but I can still only say how proud I am of the defensive players and the effort they gave. Outstanding job by Coach Roof and Chizik for a great game plan and on-the-field coaching. I was sure glad to be completely wrong about our defense. They played 60 minutes of great football. They absolutely gave everything they had and played an extremely smart game. It was great to see a warrior like Antonio Coleman go out like that.

Also on the good side I have to again give kudos to the coaches. I did not think they had that in them either. Overall it was obvious Coach Chizik got the team prepared and ready to play. Defensively as documented above Coach Roof did his best job of the year. Coach Malzahn's opening salvos were stuff of legend. Bama was down 14-0 before they knew what hit them. From Terrell Zachary taking it to the house on the first drive to the Burns-to-Todd-to-Adams play it was awesome. The stop-and-go touchdown burning Bama's aggression was also a perfect call at the perfect time. Those offensive moments were some of the best of the season.

THE BAD
Unfortunately the offense and Coach Malzahn finds themselves on this side as well. I just do not understand the stubbornness of spread coaches. Again just like last week we faced a critical 3rd and 1 and we threw a screen pass (???). I saw Tommy Tuberville call the quarterback sneak dozens of times over the last decade on 3rd and 4th and short. I think we converted over 90% of those. I don't care what offense you run, when it comes to those situations you just get the first down and quarterback sneaks or dive plays to your senior tailback with a fullback in front of him are the BEST WAY to get it. That is a fact not an opinion. It has been proven over and over again this season as we continue to line up in the shotgun and FAIL in these situations. Unless you have Tim Tebow it is simply stupid to run out of the shotgun on these downs.

I was wrong about a lot of things on this game (see my last post) and maybe a few over this season but once again I was not wrong about Chris Todd. Thankfully he did not paint his "final masterpiece" as I feared in my previous post and he actually made a few great throws. However he also missed a lot of throws, held the ball too long and made two critical mistakes. Of course one reason he did not make more mistakes is smart game planning and play calling by the coaches. They were dedicated to running the ball and for the most part getting the ball out of Todd's hand quickly. Unfortunately there comes a time when you cannot trick the other guy. You have to drop back, run the route and simply execute. Chris Todd could not do this.

Early in the game Auburn was stuck deep in it's territory and Todd tried to hit an open Tommy Trott over the middle twice and missed him badly. The first one was at least eight feet over Trott's head. A safety back would have had an easy interception and of course that is what happened later on. Todd narrowly escaped at least two more interceptions. On one occasion he tried to force a ball into triple coverage and the Bama defenders basically stopped each other from catching it. He held the ball far too long on obvious blitzes and gave up over 30 yards on sacks and a critical fumble. Auburn wins this game with a little bit better play from the quarterback position. No one will ever be able to convince me one of our other quarterbacks could not have done better with a whole season under their belts.

I am sad to see many of our seniors leaving. Ben Tate has been the one constant on this team through four years of turmoil. The guy came to play and played solid every game. The same can be said of Antonio Coleman and several others. Good job guys and best of luck. I simply cannot say the same thing about Chris Todd. If he was coming back next year I would have to seek psychiatric help. It has been four years of watching a weak armed #12 at quarterback and in those four years we have had constant offensive problems because neither Brandon Cox (post 2005) or Todd could consistently throw the deep ball. I wish we could retire the number because if I see another weak armed #12 I am going to lose it. It is hopefully your time Mr. Rollison and it cannot come soon enough.

THE UGLY
I have simply never and I mean EVER seen a worse special teams unit in my life than the 2009 Auburn special teams. Keep in mind that this unit has one of the best place kickers in the country and it is STILL that bad. I have never seen a team give up more return yards. I have NEVER EVER seen a team give up more FUMBLED PUNTS. I am sorry, these coaches are paid a LOT of money and not being able to find or train SOMEONE to simply be able to CATCH A PUNT WITHOUT FUMBLING IT is pathetic. My gosh what a disaster. It is arguable that we lost this game on special teams.

Let's go to the low lights... We start the game off kicking it out of bounds which is just an inexcusable mental error. After our last touchdown we kick a perfect kickoff making Arenas field it at the goal line corner yet somehow still let him return it almost 50 yards. We spend the whole day punting it out of bounds which was GOOD but then inexplicably kick it to Arenas in the third quarter who then brings it back almost 60 yards setting up one of Bama's scores. Throw in another fumble on a punt return that we somehow got back and that pretty much says it all. The special teams other than Byrum and Washington's kickoff return at Georgia were simply horrible or should I say UGLY the entire year. I certainly hope we make a LOT OF IMPROVEMENT next season.

Elsewhere on rivalry week in the SEC I had my first losing week on the picks. Saturday was certainly a reminder that the SEC has some of the best football coaches. First, as detailed above, Gene Chizik nearly engineered the biggest upset in the country. There was more where that came from. Steve Spurrier and South Carolina routed ACC Atlantic Division champion and 15th ranked Clemson even after Clemson scored on the opening kickoff. South Carolina's awful late season slumps are over. At the same time Coach Dan Mullen and Miss St made a MAJOR statement routing Ole Miss. Dan Mullen has really shown something this year at State. This guy is the real deal. The last time I said that about a coach in the state of Mississippi was when a guy named Tommy Tuberville arrived at Ole Miss.

Sandwiched between the early games above and the nightcap was Florida vs. Florida St. There were no surprises in Gainesville as Tim Tebow put up one more legendary performance in his finale at "The Swamp". Everyone is sick of hearing about the guy but there is no denying he is one of the greatest players in SEC history. The nightcap on Saturday lived up to it's billing with three awesome games, two of them going into overtime. Tennessee, as always, nipped Kentucky in one of the overtime games. LSU did an about face from last week and somehow pulled out a victory against Arkansas in the other overtime game. Unlike last week this was an extremely well-coached game that went back and forth till the end. Bobby Petrino and Ryan Mallett came back strong after a slow start and it appeared they were going to win the game. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks much maligned Les Miles and Jordan Jefferson were able to get LSU in position for the tying field goal to send it in to overtime and then win it. This was another great game in a series that is starting to become full of them.

Finally another much maligned coach and team rose from the ashes to win a big one. Georgia pushed ACC Coastal champ and top ten ranked Georgia Tech all over their own field. Georgia ran for over 300 yards and held on late to get a big big win. If you are keeping count that makes the SEC 3-0 vs. the two best teams in the ACC and Florida St this weekend. The two best teams in the ACC were physically manhandled by the 3rd and 4th place teams in the SEC East. It appears the ACC still has a long long way to go in football.

All in all, like I say in the title there was a LOT of coaching going on in the SEC this past weekend. After the smoke cleared the SEC has 10 teams bowl eligible and if Miss St did not schedule such a tough out-of-conference slate they would certainly be eligible as well. There are SIX 7-5 teams and LSU at 9-3 and Ole Miss at 8-4 and of course the two big dogs. Now all that is left is the most anticipated SEC Championship Game ever and the bowl exhibitions. I will be back later this week with thoughts on the big game.

Week 13 Picks - End of the Road

Well here we are at the end of another regular season. The fastest thirteen weeks of the year have come and gone. As always it ends with the Iron Bowl for Auburn and Bama. The swings in this series the last two years have been astounding. In 2007 Auburn with coordinators Al Borges and Will Muschamp beat Bama for six-in-a-row. Last year the streak was terminated with extreme prejudice by Bama in a 36-0 behind-the-woodshed whipping. Auburn is just now beginning to recover from the disastrous decisions made at the end of the Tuberville era. That lovely night in 2007 is definitely the last good point before the train started to run off the tracks as I documented to open this season.

After averaging over 10 wins a season for most of this decade Auburn dropped to 5-7 last year and currently stand at 7-4 this year. Meanwhile Bama is one game from putting together back-to-back undefeated 12-0 seasons. The player talent swing at both schools of course mirrors the record switch. Bama behind $aban (and who knows what else) have brought in a ton of top talent and currently stand as one of the deepest most talented teams in the country. In the same three years Auburn has gone from regularly producing NFL players to being one of the thinnest teams in the country. Auburn has been able to dodge disaster this year not having any injuries to offensive linemen or their two best linebackers. Auburn has some talented players but the All-SEC talent is few and far in between. The sheer depth problems are going to take years to solve.

Unfortunately that is our intro coming into this game. I could try to break down the game and come up with ways Auburn could somehow win this game but it is not going to happen. As a lifetime Auburn fan I have seen Auburn pull the underdog miracle out many times but it is not going to happen this game. On one hand Auburn simply does not have the football players to get it done and on the other hand I do not think they match up well with Bama at all. Auburn's defense is on track to be one of the worst defenses statistically in Auburn history. They give up numerous big plays every game and Friday should be no exception since Bama has several big time playmakers. Look for Mark Ingram to clinch Bama's first Heisman Trophy and Bama to hit several deep balls like Georgia did.

On offense Auburn has a little more talent to work with (except at quarterback). Auburn has a veteran offensive line, a senior tight end and All-SEC talent in Ben Tate and Darvin Adams. Unfortunately I do not think Auburn's spread offense will dent Bama's big fast defense. Bama has arguably the best defense in the country and Malzahn still makes quite a few lower league calls. For example he will call for a shotgun handoff or sweep on third and inches. None of those type plays will work against Bama. Also all the wide runs and swing passes will not work either. Auburn will need to mirror Utah's game plan last year that included a lot of crossing patterns in spots that blitzing linebackers left open and will have to hit some shots down the field.

However none of this will really matter as Chris Todd will paint his final masterpiece. The horribly slow weak-armed quarterback will be eaten alive in his final game at Auburn. Chris Todd has never led Auburn to a win over a really good team with a good coach (no Ole Miss and a Tennessee team that lost to that Ole Miss team do not count in my opinion). I think he lacks the basic abilities to even give Auburn a puncher's chance in this one. I will actually be surprised if Todd makes it through this game. His indecisiveness against better defenses and slow release spell big hits on Friday. His weak arm will mean Bama will be able to play to even more aggressive. It is not going to pretty.

I really cannot even envision a scenario where Auburn wins this game. If they somehow did I would be about the most shocked person in the world. As I said last week it would make the "Miracle on Ice" look like just another game. There have been worse Auburn teams with less talent that played tough against Bama. I see this game being so hopeless because in my opinion Auburn doesn't match up with Bama at all and our quarterback. I wish I could say something different but that is how I see it. I look for the score to look a lot like last year except hopefully we will score something. It will be close for a little bit but the defense will crack as it has all season and the offense will go in the tank as it has many times this season. For the record, I will be down there in person to support my team and see it all. I believe I will also have to suffer through hearing that @#%@#%#@ obnoxious cheer as it will be...
BAMA OVER AUBURN

I went 3-1 last week in SEC games against BCS competition to put me at 39-10 for the season. Here are the rest of the picks for this week:

CLEMSON OVER SOUTH CAROLINA... Another tough loss and bad ending to a season for South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Clemson is on a high heading to their first ACC championship game.

OLE MISS OVER MISS ST... Dan Mullen has done a great job at State but the mrs has more talent on both sides of the ball and are also in a good place after the big win over LSU.

FLORIDA OVER FLORIDA ST... This one should be closer than expected as Florida's offense has not been dominant and while Florida St has not been good they have consistently battled.

TENNESSEE OVER KENTUCKY... Everyone has been down on Tennessee since the Dexter McCluster debacle but a two game sweep of Vandy and Kentucky has padded many a Tennessee season. Kentucky is a good tough team but I think the Vols come out on top.

ARKANSAS OVER LSU... Les Miles has been roundly criticized and laughed at. The coaching against the mrs was abysmal. It cannot be positive for the team. Meanwhile Arkansas and Ryan Mallett have steadily gained steam. Mallett is now one of the best in the country.

GEORGIA TECH OVER GEORGIA... Look for Georgia to come back and play tough as they did against Auburn. Unfortunately it is not Chan Gailey on that other sideline anymore. It is Paul Johnson and while it should be closer than expected Tech will win.

Week 12 Review - Thanksgiving Early

As an Auburn family heading down to the game we had thanksgiving dinner this weekend with my family. Since Auburn was not playing we could actually enjoy it. Not only that after enjoying turkey and all the fixings we sat down and watched the end of the LSU and Ole Miss game. It was a rare SEC game that I did not really care who won or lost. What an ending! Late touchdowns, recovered onsides kicks and a crazy last few seconds. Nice time management by "The Hat". That win and another one next week against State puts Ole Miss at the top of the non-BCS heap. That should put them in the Capital One Bowl and that is a big deal for the mrs.

Next, hey what a surprise, Kentucky beats Georgia at home. It is the second time this year Kentucky has made Auburn look bad (and me as I picked Georgia). However Ryan Mallett did prove me right as he was the best player in the Arkansas and State game. He threw for another 300 yards and five touchdowns. This guy is the real deal and if Bobby Petrino can just put a few more players around him Arkansas will be a real challenger next year. Elsewhere Tennessee took care of Vandy plus Bama and Florida had light scrimmages.

So with one game to go in the regular season I think we can say as a FACT that the SEC is DOWN. NOBODY outside of Bama and Florida currently has a winning record in conference. The mrs and LSU have a shot at 5-3 but I think only the mrs will get it. I think surging Arkansas and Ryan Mallett will take out LSU next week.

Week 12 Picks

Yep for the first time this season Auburn is off for the weekend as they prepare for the end-of-season battle with Bama. Over at Track'em they are trying to raise hopes for the Bama game. Come on guys, come on. It is not going to happen but hey keep trying. However if Chris Todd were to lead an upset of Bama it would make the "Miracle on Ice" look like just another game. I will wait for the picks next week to elaborate but Auburn obviously does not match up with Bama at all. I have talked to Bama fans that say though that their coverage teams are really bad and Auburn might could get something there. I agreed with that since we will be returning a LOT of kickoffs in the game...

I would like to spend just a minute here getting one thing off my chest. You know it is great that taking a spin around most Auburn blogs is an exercise in never ending optimism. Optimism is good and what fuels fans of any type when their team is down. However when you turn to analysis and can't take off the orange and blue glasses or crimson glasses or whatever then you are not a good analyst. Also if you are prognosticating but your answer is always positive (or negative) then you are not really predicting anything. You are just cheerleading. Unfortunately that is about all I see written about Auburn, cheerleading. Let me be real clear here, if I don't believe Chris Todd is a good quarterback and I do not believe Gene Chizik is a good coach that does not make me one bit a worse fan than a sunshine pumping cheerleader.

I am a bit sick of people insinuating otherwise. I will compare my Auburn credentials with ANYBODY. First I "wear the ring" and my entire family does as well. I went to just about every home game from 1983 through 2001 (and a whole lot of away games). I am an Auburn man and I love Auburn. However that does not stop me from saying that I think Jay Jacobs is the worst athletic director we have ever had. That will not stop from saying that I do not think Gene Chizik is the second coming of Pat Dye or Shug Jordan but much more resembles Doug Barfield in my opinion. I also think Gus Malzahn and the entire staff is overrated at this point. I hope I am wrong but that will not prevent me from saying what I think. I thought that was what blogging was for.

I do not think we will win a championship at any point running this offense (and by the way Malzahn did NOT win an Conference USA championship either having the #1 offense in the country but lost BOTH years in the championship game). Our recent recruiting victories are genuine reasons to be more hopeful however if we do not bring in some serious beef on both lines all the skill players in the world will not matter. Let me say that again, unless we can bring in some big, strong talented offensive linemen and defensive tackles we will not have a chance at winning the West. I see things are looking up a bit on the offensive line recruiting and that is really the first thing in awhile that gets me excited. So there, I ended on a positive note...

To the picks. I went 4-1 last week to go to 36-9 for the season in games against BCS competition. I only missed on Auburn but correctly predicted that Ole Miss would take out Tennessee. Anytime Houston Nutt's back is against the wall and he is a heavy underdog you can almost guarantee he will get a big win. Here is what we have for this week...

OLE MISS OVER LSU... See above comments. LSU is still beat up from the Bama game and Ole Miss is playing much better.

GEORGIA OVER KENTUCKY... Georgia should hang on to take care of Kentucky although it will probably not be pretty to watch.

TENNESSEE OVER VANDY... Tennessee took a big loss last week but Vandy is back to being absolutely awful.

ARKANSAS OVER MISS ST... I look for State to continue to play better than expected but Ryan Mallett is the best player in the game and is at home.

In other action you will have Bama over UT-Chat and Florida over FIU. Auburn and South Carolina are open this week.

Week 11 Review - Down In Flames

"I felt like there was no way we were going to lose this game. I felt bad for coming out. I didn’t play great. I didn’t play good at all, probably the worst game I’ve played all year. And we lose the game and I finish my career 0-4 against Georgia." - Ben Tate

If you are looking for keen analysis or more blanking sunshine pumping then I am sure some of the links I have here will have some of that up shortly. As I have gotten older I have gotten much better at letting most losses just roll off my back. Yeh I will come on here and blow off some steam but I can then just move on. Not so much today. Not so much today. That one hurt. I think the quote above pretty much says it all. AN ENTIRE CLASS AT AUBURN NEVER BEAT GEORGIA. Linger on that for a minute. That is a big deal. When a player like Ben Tate is sitting there after the game with tears streaming down his face you know that this wasn't just another loss.

I read over at WBE and a couple of other places how this season is still such a great one and how positive things are even if we lose these last two games. Uh HOW ABOUT NO. NO! A season where you lose to Georgia and Bama (and Arkansas and Kentucky and LSU) is NOT A GOOD SEASON. I don't care how you spin it or what the expectations were coming in. What a difference between 7-5 and 8-4. What a difference. We beat Georgia this all looks better. It is a big rival win on the road and stops a three game losing streak to our second biggest rival and we finish 8-4 playing on New Year's Day. Now we really don't have a big win this season and Gene Chizik certainly does not have a "signature win". A win at home against the mrs is not it. A win against a Tennessee team that got destroyed by the mrs is not it. Don't even mention West Virginia to me.

I am down, man I am down. I am glad we got another big recruit and all that but you know what I really don't care that much right now. Again we just lost to Georgia for the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW and now we have to wait two weeks to get rolled up again by Bama. Yes I am counting that as a loss. If anybody thinks we can beat Bama with Chris Todd at QB and our defense in it's current state they are CRAZY. Yeh yeh, throw out all the cliches, it ain't happening. Another football season in the dumper. That would be two in a row now. Again, one win last night would have sure made it feel better. It would have broken one of these streaks!!!!!! Look at it now:

GEORGIA - four game winning streak over Auburn

LSU - three game winning streak over Auburn

ARKANSAS - two game winning streak over Auburn

BAMA - will have two game winning streak over Auburn

VANDY/KENTUCKY - combo two game winning streak over Auburn

GRRRRRRRR.... I am too tired to try and assign blame here but the litany of mistakes made the last few years by the administration and the previous coaching staff are too numerous to mention. I hope all these super recruits are going to save us but we better start recruiting more beef and a lot of it to block for these studs AND TO HOLD THE LINE ON DEFENSE. I am so sick and tired of watching our defensive line get pushed all over the field. I mean on seemingly every run our line gets pushed five yards back. I am sick of it! I would rather blitz every down and give up up throws over the top than get pushed all over the stupid field.

Our defensive line is awful and now we are fixing to lose some of the best of them. Who is going to replace these guys? I don't see it on our two deep, not guys that are going to stop some of these blanking streaks. I don't see it yet in our current recruiting class. We need more big strong linemen!!! I don't know how many times it has to be said. You can't win championships without them! I mean it is not a coincidence that the last time we beat Georgia (and Bama in the same year) was Marcus McNeil's last year. Our offensive and defensive lines have slowly eroded since that year (thanks Tuberville) to their current state. If you need more evidence that linemen are the key to championships look across the state. Yes they have several awesome playmakers including the probable Heisman Trophy winner but $aban has recruited more linemen that anything since he has been at Bama, especially in his first two classes. The game is won in the trenches. That has and never will change.

Alright, back to yesterday's debacle...

THE GOOD

Our offensive and defensive blitzkriegs to start the game 14-0 and Demond Washington's kickoff return for a touchdown. Those were awesome to watch.

THE BAD

Pretty much the entire rest of the game other than the two things listed above.

THE UGLY

Once again, an entire class at Auburn did not beat Georgia and they now own a four game winning streak over us.

So here we are with only a whipping by Bama, a scrub bowl, a nerve-wracking recruiting season and wait for it... Auburn basketball to look forward to for the next few months. Wow, looks like it is time to get some work done around my house.

Week 11 Picks

AUBURN AT GEORGIA
Many Auburn fans will say this is the best game of the year and the best rivalry as well. Let me be clear here though, I said "best" not"biggest". Unlike our rivals on the west side of the state we do not try to pretend that the game with them is not the biggest of the year. It is and it will always be FOR BOTH SIDES. They continue to try to downplay the rivalry with Auburn as they believe this in someway makes them feel like they are better than us and that we are not an "equal". It is so played and pathetic that it does not bother me much anymore, it is just annoying. That reason and about a thousand more are why that rivalry is more of a hatefest for most fans and really not a lot of fun. Like Jay Coulter said on Track'em last week: " Watching the Iron Bowl is like passing a kidney stone. It only feels good at the end - and that's assuming you win." That about sums it up.

The flip side is the Auburn vs. Georgia game. Now like I stated in my last post the fan bases have become increasingly antagonistic toward each other. They are threatening to try and ruin a big piece of why this rivalry is so special and make it like any other rivalry but they have not succeeded yet. They have a long way to go. Again both school's greatest coaches have ties to the other school. There are hundreds of other connections. I don't think there are two big time BC schools that share a history like Auburn and Georgia. Both schools have broken the other school's heart repeatedly but the bitterness of the Bama rivalry is just not there. In 2002 I was completely sick that we let that game get away but after it was over I could be a little happy for Georgia that they won their first SEC championship since the early 80s. It is just a special game. Also as I wrote in my last post, not only is it the oldest rivalry in the south it is also the closest rivalry. The series record is nearly even and a few years ago the total points scored in the rivalry was dead even. While everyone in this state blathers on about Bama and Tennessee the stats show that rivalry is not as old or good as Auburn and Georgia.

This year looks to be more of the same. While neither school is competing for a conference championship there is a lot on the line Saturday night in Athens. Both schools are competing for a big time New Year's Day bowl and for an 8-4 season. Auburn is a lot closer to that than the Dawgs but this game is a must for both to attain that goal. Both schools end-of-season rivals are highly rated and look to be big favorites. Both schools need the win NOW. For Georgia, Mark Richt simply needs a big win over one his main rivals. A loss to Auburn and late to Georgia Tech combined with losses to Florida and Tennessee takes Georgia back to the Jim Donnan days. If the season ends that way Richt will be on the hot seat. As I said before, a win over Auburn looks more realistic than a win over Georgia Tech right now. The time is NOW.

The positives for Georgia is that they have some talent and are not as bad as they are being labelled plus the fact that a Mark Richt-coached Georgia team has never played bad against Auburn. Other than 2004 and that great Auburn team every single game has either been a Georgia blowout or gone down to the wire. Other than 2004 Auburn has only beat Richt twice, 24-17 in 2001 and 31-30 in 2005. Georgia grabbed nailbiters against Auburn in 2002 and last year and blew out Auburn in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Those are two big positives. Georgia is going to come out Saturday and play well. History seems to dictate that fact.

For Auburn the stakes maybe higher. An 8-4 season and a New Year's Day bowl would be a monumental achievement for this team and coaching staff considering the mess leftover after last year. A win over Bama will be a much bigger task so Auburn's best chance is against Georgia. It really is that big a difference between 7-5 and 8-4. At 7-5 all Auburn did different than I and most people predicted was beat Ole Miss at home and swapped a Tennessee win for a Kentucky loss. They would still make it to a bowl albeit a lesser one and that would be an improvement but beating Georgia would be a lot better. Going 8-4, stopping a 3 game slide and winning a big rivalry game on the road against Georgia and playing on New Year's Day would be much better.

To the game itself... I see both offenses finding cracks in the other defenses. Auburn's defense has improved with the return of Antoine Carter but a depleted linebacking corps and secondary leaves it vulnerable. Auburn has given up big plays every game and I expect more against Georgia. As has been WELL documented here at STR, the Auburn offense is completely dependent on Chris Todd being able to hit some shots downfield. You would think Auburn would score big against Georgia but both Arkansas and Kentucky had terribly rated defenses and were able to stop Auburn. It is up to Todd to complete those shots downfield. Ben Tate and the whole offense will open up if he does.

I think these teams are extemely close talent-wise. However I think Auburn has the better overall offense especially the running game and I think Auburn has the better defensive line. I think this will be another nailbiter and I have consistently picked against Auburn in all the big SEC games this year but for the first time I will go against the grain and go with...
AUBURN OVER GEORGIA

Last week I will say I went 3-0 with the easy games that were on the schedule against BCS competition to go 32-8 for the season in games between BCS competition. Here is the rest of the SEC picks:

OLE MISS OVER TENNESSEE... everyone is going with Tennessee in this one and that is usually when Houston Nutt comes out of nowhere to get a big win.

KENTUCKY OVER VANDY... Rich Brooks showed he could still coach against Auburn and I think Kentucky has a few more playmakers than Vandy.

FLORIDA OVER SOUTH CAROLINA... Florida will probably be slowed down but I don't think South Carolina has the horses to finish it off.

BAMA OVER MISS ST... Dan Mullen has the Bulldogs showing signs of life but Bama like Florida just has too much talent.

Elsewhere LSU will beat La Tech and Arkansas will beat Troy.

Week 10 Review

The second shot at the 11th, all of the 12th, and the tee shot at the 13th hole at Augusta are nicknamed "Amen Corner."

Yes we are here at that fabled time of year for an Auburn fan, Amen Corner. Of course to be exact when Pat Dye borrowed that term to describe Auburn's late season schedule he was including former regular SEC rival Florida along with Georgia and Bama. Since the SEC went to divisions Auburn's "Amen Corner" has shrunk to just Georgia and Bama. However that is more than enough with a three game losing streak to Georgia and Bama about to bring their second consecutive undefeated regular season record into the game.

However let us take a quick look at this weekend first... the weekend got off to a great start when the nation's #1 running back (according to ESPN), Michael Dyer, committed to Auburn. It has definitely been awhile since Auburn brought in a recruit as highly ranked as Dyer. Of course that commitment is worth as much as my "picks" last week till Signing Day.

To the game... as noted elsewhere it was just a beautiful day on the plains (one of the few this season on gameday). My family and I were settled in for my youngest son and daughter's first Auburn game... and then they both start completely melting down. It was nap time and they were plenty tired from the walk to the stadium and not getting a good nights sleep the day before. So... thank goodness we were playing Furman.

THE GOOD

It was nice to see us completely dominate an outmanned opponent offensively and defensively and get it over with by halftime. As Will notes that did not happen last year and it did not happen several times over the last few years of the Tuberville era. Everyone is raving about our bloated QB stats but again I give just as much credit to the line as both quarterbacks had five minutes to throw each time and there were wide open receivers all over the field. Our offensive line is really playing well and I hope it carries over to this week.

THE BAD

Not much bad about games like this unless you get somebody hurt and we did but only one I know about. Travante Stallworth is probably out for the season with a knee or ankle injury. It should not be a big impact but it is about the worst thing that happened Saturday.

THE UGLY

As I said above there was not much bad or ugly about this game but there is certainly one thing. My gosh WE HAVE THE WORST PUNT RETURN GAME I HAVE SEEN IN AUBURN HISTORY. Mr. Louis giftwrapped Furman's first touchdown by trying to field a punt over his shoulder inside the ten yard line (???!!!???). I mean that is punt return 101! Let it go! No pulled punches here, it is completely ridiculous for our punt return team to be this bad this late in the season. As I have continually said, if we would have stuck with Mario Fannin the entire year I think this would be a strength instead of a glaring weakness. Instead everytime one of these guys makes a mistake we jerk him and go to the next guy. Fannin has a lot more game experience than any of these other guys and is a game changing playmaker. We were dumb not to stick with him.

Now back to Amen Corner. It is Georgia week. Georgia is just a special game. Not only is it the oldest rivalry in the south it is also the closest rivalry. The series record is nearly even and a few years ago the total points scored in the rivalry was dead even. While everyone in this state blathers on about Bama and Tennessee the stats show that rivalry is not as old or good as Auburn and Georgia. Also while the rivalry as turned nastier over the years it is still nowhere near the hate-fest that Bama is. It is a much "friendlier" rivalry and the schools are so connected since two of their greatest coaches were alumni of the opposite school in Vince Dooley and Pat Dye. There have been many other connections beside that as well.

I mentioned that this weekend was my youngest son's first Auburn game. My first Auburn game was the 1978 Auburn vs. Georgia game. It was very memorable as it was one of the last times Auburn came out in the ORANGE jerseys. I remember even as a nine year old kid thinking we looked like Tennessee. So my first game was a Mark Richt-like jersey switch. I think Barfield tried it a couple of times the next year before they retired them for good. The game was also memorable as it ended in a 22-22 tie. My dad always gives me a hard time as I kept bothering him to get me a coke and when we went and got it Joe Cribbs scored a long touchdown.

There have been so many more special Georgia games over the years that it would be hard to list them. Both our Heisman winners clinched the award against Georgia. In most of our biggest seasons the Georgia game was usually a bit bigger or better game than the Bama game. The rest of the time it is usually a great game as well. Everyone continues to pile on last year's Auburn team but they played a great game against Georgia and were very close to winning that game. Unfortunately everyone is piling on this years Georgia team and I think they are better than that. It is looking like it should be another great game in a series full of them.

Ah, it is time for Amen Corner and with apologies to WBE this will not be remembered as a good season without at least one win in these next two games. War Eagle and Burn the Bulldogs.

Week 10 Picks

Er oops... No late posts... No excuses... Just no picks. Late at work on Wednesday, late at our last soccer practice of the fall on Thursday and out of town early on Friday for a trip to the zoo and then over to Auburn for the game yesterday (is this Facebook or a blog???). It just didn't happen this week. Although come on, were any of these games a tough pick? I mean we all knew LSU had a chance at Bama but who was going to pick against Bama at home (with SEC refs)? Nobody. Elsewhere it pretty much went like you would think even South Carolina heading toward their third late season plunge in a row under Steve Spurrier. I think the "fat lady" is starting to warm up in Columbia. Week 10 Review upcoming...

Week 9 Review

Auburn 33 Ole Miss 20
THE GOOD
Wow, that was unexpected. While all the focus was on the quarterback and the defensive coaching everyone kind of forgot about our lines. I think we all assumed they were not capable of a good game especially against a team like Ole Miss who was supposed to at least have a very good defensive line. They certainly proved that not to be true. The Auburn offensive and defensive lines absolutely dominated Ole Miss. Well the offensive line did it till the end of the third quarter however that was enough. Ole Miss routinely sent five to seven players after Todd in the first half and the Auburn offensive line absolutely stonewalled them. This enabled even Chris Todd to complete some long awaited DOWN FIELD passes. This in-turn opened up the running game and the short passing game. It is amazing how that works.

I know a couple of those times we max-protected with the extra players but the bulk of the blocking still falls on the offensive line. I still think the offensive line did a decent job against LSU but as documented Chris Todd needs extra time to make decisions and wind up for any deep passes. Yesterday the offensive line gave him the time he needed and the wide receivers especially Terrell Zachary also helped out and again this all opened up the running game. Ben Tate took it from there putting up another 144 yards and surpassed 1000 yards on the season. I believe this is the first time we have had an 1000 yard rusher since Kenny Irons did it in 2005 (the last time we had a down field passing game).

I think no matter what happens Tate is our offensive MVP for the season and I am extremely happy for him. He has been the one constant on offense over the last four years. He has toiled and struggled and run hard week in and week out with defenses completely stacked against him and no great offensive lines. Along with our QB play falling off it was no surprise that our running game fell off after Marcus McNeil, one of the best ever on the plains, left after the 2005 season. Tate kept running hard through good times and bad and even though he had to always split time till this season. This year they were finally smart enough to make him the horse and he has delivered.

It was all good yesterday too as our defensive line and especially Antonio Coleman came out of NOWHERE and absolutely mauled Ole Miss. Now it wasn't for the whole game or perfect but like the offense it was good enough. I was yelling at them (to put it mildly) early on that first drive when Ole Miss was opening up lines you could drive a truck through. They also gave up the long run to McCluster (right after a kickoff return for a TD) but other than that it was all Auburn. Coleman absolutely abused the Ole Miss left tackle and it is no coincidence that this is all occurring as Antoine Carter is getting healthy and taking some of the attention away from Coleman. This forced quarterback Jevan Snead to make one bad throw after another and have one of his worst days as a college QB.

THE BAD
This would be the Ole Miss game plan and prep. Ah how nice it felt to finally do to Houston Nutt what he has done to Auburn so many times. How many times have we been the big favorite against his team only to be absolutely dominated in the trenches??? This time he was the big favorite and it was Auburn dominating in the trenches on the way to a convincing win. I hope you enjoyed that trip home to Oxford Houston.

THE UGLY
This would be the Zac Etheridge injury. Once I saw the replay I was seriously worried about him. That would be why you don't lead with your helmet into a pile. Etheridge did right into Antonio Coleman and it looked ugly. I was really starting to worry when Etheridge was not initially giving the "thumbs up" signal on his way out. He finally did and I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It definitely puts things into perspective when you see the guy prostrate on the field with both medical crews surrounding him and his teammates kneeling in prayer beside them. I sure hope Etheridge will make a full recovery and I also hope that Chizik will give the Auburn family real information on this injury. This case is not about being in control and not giving out information.

Elsewhere around the SEC...
The Gators returned to form this week mauling Georgia and showing a spark on offense while continuing to make big plays on defense. The countdown marches on toward the clash of the titans in Atlanta between Bama and Florida. Bama rested up for LSU and LSU crushed Tulane 42-0. Tennessee continued to show their resilience as they won big against South Carolina after a tough loss to Bama last week. They did the same thing against Georgia after losing a tough one to Auburn. When you also see Miss St go on the road and get a big win against Kentucky you have to give some accolades to all of the SEC's new coaches. Chizik, Kiffin and Mullen all seem to have their teams still believing and still fighting hard.