2024 GAME 11 REVIEW: Just Auburn Being Auburn

I predicted twice this season that Auburn would lose this game on the way to one of the more disappointing seasons in Auburn history.  I am sure glad I was wrong. I believe that prediction contained emotion but it did also contain logic.  Auburn, as in the losses this season, tried really hard to lose this game and the refs certainly helped out in overtime.  As I was texted last night, nobody has ever seen a team that finds more ways to lose than this one.  It is mind blowing some of the dumb things this team does with victory literally in its grasp...  Last night they had the ball first and goal on the seven yard line with less than a minute left needing a touchdown to win... and then they get TWO procedure penalties and barely get the field goal to send it to overtime.  I do not think any of us felt confident going into overtime.  However I could still barely hear that little voice I heard after the Kentucky game and last week that even though I do not like this coach, this team was just due to have something good happen to them.

Regardless of the coaching, the officiating, the quarterback, etc...  regardless of all that, this team and this fan base was due to have something good happen to them.  I think the last truly good night at Jordan Hare was a long two years ago against Texas A&M with Cadillac Williams leading Auburn to the win.  There is just something special in the air at Jordan Hare Stadium in late October and November.  Some seasons the team is too bad for it to help and sometimes it does not pan out like the Iron Bowl last season but eventually something special happens on that hallowed ground when it gets to be real football weather.  Nick $aban said the place was "haunted" and while I am not sure I would put it that way, there is something special there.  I was lucky enough to be there for a bunch of those special moments and I am sure happy for everyone there last night who took one more chance on this team.

It is a cliché and one head coach Hugh Freeze has way overused but this team and this coaching staff have not quit in the face of overwhelming disappointment and I have to give them a lot of credit for that.  It is hard to keep getting back up and give great effort after watching your season go down in flames.  Head coach Pat Dye called it "wrestling with them angels" and every team goes through it.  There is always a reward for that kind of determination but it is special when that reward takes the form of a monumental win.  That is what happened on Pat Dye field at Jordan Hare Stadium last night.  After COVID, two years of disaster under Bryan Harsin, and almost two complete seasons of disappointment under Hugh Freeze the Auburn football Tigers won their biggest game of this decade.  The collective response was immediate with the students rushing the field and the rest of the stadium letting it all out while watching them.  

In this post I have been obviously concentrating on the context of this win and not analyzing the game itself.  I think that is what interests me the most thinking about this game but I do have to pause and look at a couple of things that happened last night.  Again I have obviously just lost it with Hugh Freeze over what I consider some ridiculously bad coaching this season and this game does not make up for all of that however some credit has to be given.  I have pointed out that a lot of Auburn's offensive stats that the coaching staff keeps crowing about were compiled in Auburn's three nothing games this season.  This was not the case last night.  Texas A&M came into the game tied for first in the SEC.  They are a very good team.  Quarterback Payton Thorne had 300 yards passing against them and for the second week in a row Auburn had two wide receivers over 100 yards.  I do not think that has ever happened in Auburn history, seriously.  Also the scrappy Auburn defense under coordinator D.J. Durkin continues to amaze.  There was plenty of mistakes made but Auburn went toe-to-toe with a good team and won.

You could almost hear everyone outside Auburn wondering why make such a big fuss over just beating a good Texas A&M team?  I understand why the question is being asked but again after everything this team and this fan base has gone through the last five years it was warranted and it was sorely needed.  We get so caught up in comparing teams and counting championships and such.  Auburn does not have double figure national titles but it has been and still is one of the top college football programs in this country (check the records) and it is a very special place.  There have been so many memorable wins throughout the years and a new one just got added to the list.  It could be just the only big win in a disappointing season and end up not meaning that much or...  it could mean a WHOLE LOT more.  It could help a struggling coach find his way and help a program keep a team and a recruiting class together...  It could mean maybe turning the head of more special recruits or transfers...  

It could maybe just maybe crack the door on having a chance at an even more improbable win next week?  No no no I won't go there, I still think it is a bridge too far but after an equally surprising game in Oklahoma last night I still hear that little voice...