- This is just not a very good Auburn team as evidenced by their statistical positions on offense and defense. Auburn came into the Samford game ranked 86th in the country in total defense and an even worse 97th in total offense. Once again Jay Tate summed it up on his post right before the game...
- That is the number one point I have been trying to make all season and even before. The most depressing fact he points out is "there's no quick fix". Auburn has not and is not concentrating enough of its recruiting on these positions. I am sorry there is a big difference between a 5-star micro track star and a 5-star hulking tackle or linebacker. TACKLES AND LINEBACKERS. That will be the manta here at STR. That is what Auburn needs to do, get good tackles on both sides of the ball and some good linebackers. That has to be the number one priority.
- After the Georgia beatdown even some of the most positive Auburn people are starting to see the light...
Pate on the defense... "Every game we play against a legitimate offense turns into no contest. I could live with a deficiency here or there. I can't live with complete annihilation both on the ground and through the air. And compound that with poor fundamentals? It's time for a change (and I don't make that statement lightly..."
Acid Reign at Track'em Tigers... "We're really hurting at linebacker, and I'm not sure that we even have any long-term answers here" and "where we are going to come up with a pair of starting (offensive) tackles, I have no clue. Mosley and Greene both graduate after this season."
Jay Coulter at Track'em Tigers... "More troubling than Georgia's 12-of-15 conversion rate on third downs, was the play of Auburn's defensive line in the second half. With Richt mercifully running the ball off-tackle and substituting liberally during the final two quarters, Auburn put nine in the box and still couldn't handle Georgia's offensive line and Isaiah Crowell."
- Auburn fans at the game enjoyed a brief respite from all this as Auburn honored 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan. People like my parents who saw Sullivan play will tell you what a special player he was. He is not only a great football player but a truly great person as well. Sullivan came to Auburn during one of those down periods where things had been down for awhile and Bama had been dominating the state. Sullivan and Beasley came in and Auburn only lost 5 regular season games in three years and also applied the only whipping to Bama in the last 50 years. Auburn has not beaten Bama by more than 10 points since Sullivan and company beat them 49-26 in 1969. Sullivan also brought an exciting passing offense to Auburn that had not been seen before or really much since. Auburn scored over 30 points in 22 games with Sullivan and several of those games were over 40 and 50 points plus a couple of 60 point games as well. It was a very special time at Auburn culminating with Sullivan winning the Heisman Trophy.
- I will again point to the inspiration for the name of this blog. David Housel does a great job detailing Sullivan's greatest games and the seasons as well in his 1973 classic "Saturdays to Remember". I again implore anyone who reads this to find a copy of this book and read these chapters. I cannot tell you how much you will enjoy it. Housel starts out with Sullivan and Beasley on the freshman team (freshmen could not play on the varsity team back then). The Auburn freshman team was down to Bama 27-0 and being laughed at. Sullivan and Beasley brought them back and won 36-27. Housel then takes the reader through that glorious 49-26 game and the comeback from down 17-0 to win 33-28 against Bama in 1970. Finally, Housel describes the 1971 game against Georgia where both teams came in undefeated and Sullivan played his finest game to clinch the Heisman Trophy.
- Ah, I get chill bumps just thinking about those games above but back to the present where nothing is left but a brutal execution in the Iron Bowl next weekend. While I do not think this Bama team is quite the "immortals" many of their fans think they are I do not think Auburn has any chance of pulling an upset out in this game. Yes I remember 2009 but while Auburn was handicapped with Chris Todd it had the same lines that helped win the national championship last year. It has nothing close this year. I will be surprised if we are even able to score next week with this awful offense. Sooner or later our defense will then give out if and it will get ugly. This is just one of those times we have to just get through it, wear our Auburn shirts and hope we then go and recruit some TACKLES AND LINEBACKERS.
- Finally, it was sickening to watch the waves part for Bama last night as every stinking team in their way lost last night. I have never seen anything like it this late in the season. Four out of the top seven teams losing??? Way to go Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Clemson. However this once again shows what a complete fraud the college football postgame system is. It is obviously a fraud when Bama is better off concerning the national championship not winning their conference. I guess there is still a chance Bama gets to Atlanta with Arkansas coming on strong but I think LSU will get it done at home. Regardless, it is simply ludicrous there is not a rule that you have to win your conference to be eligible for the national championship game. I said it almost 10 years ago when Nebraska did it and again when Oklahoma did it and I will say it again now. What if LSU wins next week but loses to Georgia in Atlanta? Does Bama as the true third place team in the conference go and those two do not? WHAT A JOKE.
- And by the way I said the same thing this January in my post on Auburn's win in the national championship game... "However last night proved to me again that this system AS A WAY OF CROWNING A CHAMPION in maybe the largest sports entity outside the NFL is a complete and utter joke." I am proven right again this year. I also said several times that the SEC Championship game is more important as it is a legitimate post season game as opposed to the ridiculous BCS including after Auburn won in Atlanta last year. We will see what happens over the next few weeks and how it all falls out. Unfortnately I think the last good part of Auburn's season ended when the team walked off the field yesterday.
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