First, I want to give props to all the Auburn bloggers out there, even the ones I do not care for. To blog decent stuff each week and get it out on time is definitely harder than it looks. As always, three young kids and work make it hard for me. Add the holidays and getting sick and it gets even harder. My apologies to the few people who actually read this blog. Another thing that has hurt is the lost of Jerry Hinnen at War Blog Eagle to CBS Sports. I do not agree with Jerry a good deal of the time but I really enjoyed reading his stuff and I know how much he has enjoyed this season and it would have been great to read his thoughts about it. It was definitely a large blow to the Auburn blogging world as nobody right now is quite as good as Jerry. We also lost most of Will Collier behind the pay-per-read wall at Auburnsports.com. Thank goodness we still have Andy Bitter to keep us up-to-date. I am sure someone as good as Andy will not last long as an Auburn beat writer.
OK with that out of the way, back to the matter at hand... Auburn is SEC champions. A lot of people I talk with year in and year out think I am always too hard on Auburn. I always say it is where you are coming from. When I grade Auburn any season I grade them on whether they can first win the SEC West and then whether they can win the whole thing. Winning the SEC West is my goal for any Auburn team any season. If they are not playing that way I am going to say it. Just about any team can get to a bowl game. It is one of the greatest accomplishments in college football to win the Southeastern Conference. This 2010 Auburn team is in that rare group and they did it in style. Like my last post said, I thought this could game could be a trap for Auburn. I am very glad that I was wrong. This Auburn team came out and swept away South Carolina in the biggest rout in SEC championship game history.
I will never forget going crazy with my family when Cam connected with Darvin Adams on the tipped "Hail Mary" pass at the end of the first half. The party was on after that. We broke out the margaritas and Auburn provided plenty more entertainment with the game ending Tasharvan Bell touchdown interception plus Cam and the Auburn offense getting a couple more as well. We then had the scrubs in the game with over FIVE MINUTES LEFT like it was homecoming or something???!!!??? I never saw that coming but was so happy to see it. Even the scrubs put it to South Carolina with Barrett Trotter running and passing and Super Mario Fannin scoring the final touchdown. It was again truly great to be an Auburn Tiger.
It is great to be in the mythical national championship game. If you have to play in the system, as flawed as it is, you might as well play in the best game. However no matter what happens this team is one of the all time greats in Auburn history. The SEC is still bigger to me as it is a legitimate postseason game as opposed to a system where the two teams wait 40 days or more to play a championship game. What if the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburg Steelers waited 40 days after the NFL championship games to play the Super Bowl? What if the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers waited 40 days after the NBA conference final series to play the NBA Finals? What if Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal waited 40 days to play a Grand Slam final after winning the semi-finals? The answer to all those questions is that it would stink and the two teams or players would NOT BE THE SAME as the ones that ended the season.
I know Auburn is the better team but you never know what will happen when a team plays 40 days after its last game. It is certainly much tougher when your team stars and coaches have to go on a two week award tour where everyone tells you how great you are and you are not working. It will be a big challenge for this Auburn football team but these guys have met every challenge so far and I know there is no way that Oregon will present a harder challenge than being down 24-0 to Bama in Tuscaloosa.
To end on a positive note, you have to know that Bama fans still have a sick feeling in their stomachs blowing that lead. All I know is that I sure would if the shoe was on the other foot. I also have to say that Auburn vs. Oregon is just a cool matchup. As I have grown to loathe the bowl system the only thing I can find good about it is that it occasionally gives cool matchups. This is one of them.
Finally, I want to say one more time, the 2010 Auburn football Tigers are the Southeastern Conference football champions. War Eagle.
The team had just won one of the greatest games in SEC history. The team was #2 in the nation and clearly the best team in the SEC. This team only had to win the SEC championship game against a team that had gone 5-3 in conference to go to the mythical national championship game. The championship game was just supposed to be a speed bump on the way. The #2 team had also ALREADY BEAT the 5-3 team during the regular season. It was all going exactly as planned till the 5-3 team upset them in the SEC championship game. The year was 2001, the team on the way to the mythical national championship was Tennessee and the team that upset them in the SEC championship game was LSU.
Clearly the scenario is very similar to the one facing the Auburn Tigers. Beware Auburn, your greatest trap might lay where you least expect it. Like LSU in 2001, South Carolina has a great coach at the helm. No coach has won more SEC championship games (no coach is even close). It would be a huge mistake to underestimate South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Most Auburn fans will say that won't happen to this team, but beware, Tennessee fans were saying the same thing in 2001.
Auburn fans have certainly been on a roller coaster ride since my last post. The Cam Apocalypse started Thursday November 4 and continues to roll on, the team won the SEC West beating Georgia in the home finale and now we are staring straight at one of the biggest Iron Bowl games in the series.
Personally I was delayed by end of season soccer tournaments, Call of Duty: Black Ops, my attendance at the Auburn vs. Georgia game and my complete disgust for the national and regional media for their coverage of the Cam Newton allegations. Sarah Palin has not been attacked in one month as bad as the Newton family (well she might be the only one who has).
I would rather spend my free time playing Black Ops or doing just about anything rather than talking about Cam Newton. However since there hasn’t been a new “story” in the last few days (there is something to be thankful for) maybe I can finally comment without my comment being completely invalid right after posting it because of some new story or allegation.
After sifting through this story for the last 3 weeks here is what I see: Cecil Newton MAYBE tried to solicit money from Mississippi State boosters through this Kenny Rogers guy. That is it. After all the stories and allegations that is about the only thing that might be true at this point. However there is still no credible proof that this occurred. Again, I can believe that it did but I do not believe it went down how these three stooges in Mississippi say it went down. I mean the stories these guys are telling are laughable pathetic attempts to somehow cover themselves and maybe Mississippi State and blame everything on Cecil Newton.
What does all that mean? Right now it means nothing without any proof. That is simply where we are at. I am not saying what did or did not occur. I am simply pointing out the obvious facts of the case. It also appears that a lot of this stuff is being used as a coordinated attack by someone against Auburn. How else can you explain the timing of each new piece of information or allegation?
I do not know what else to say about the whole thing. I do know it has further lowered my regard for the media (I did not think it could get any lower) and shown that there is a national and regional bias against Auburn for whatever reason. It is just incredible the hypocrisy and bias of the national and regional sports media against Auburn when we are good. Cam Newton’s dad MIGHT have tried to solicit money and it is literally the biggest story in sports while when last year’s Heisman Trophy winner takes an illegal benefit from a booster it is swept under the rug faster than you can say “Roll Tide”. Mark Ingram and Julio Jones were given an all expenses paid fishing trip from a Bama booster who later also gave a laptop to Jerrell Harris (which got him suspended for half the season) . These acts are undisputed fact however nothing was hardly ever said about it nationally or even regionally. Why?
Just look at the past. Auburn played the toughest schedule in the nation (fact) in 1983 and maybe one of the toughest schedules ever and was #3 in the nation. The #1 and #2 teams lose (the #2 team was the only one to beat Auburn and was beaten in a bowl by a team Auburn beat) and Auburn wins and they do not even move out of THIRD PLACE in the polls. Then of course the 2004 team is the only undefeated BCS conference team to not get a chance to play for the mythical national championship. It was also arguably the strongest team the SEC fielded this decade if the NFL draft is any indicator.
Since 2006 the SEC has won the mythical national championship ever year with only Bama last year going undefeated. Auburn will most certainly get bumped with a loss to Bama (a top 10 or 11 team in all polls) as the national media’s crusade for poor Boise State has reached its absolute peak. However Florida won both its mythical national championships with one loss and LSU won its title with TWO LOSSES. Throw in the fact that in 2004 if Nick $aban’s LSU Tigers could have stopped a Hail Mary pass at the end of its bowl game, the SEC would have had four 10 win teams for the first time ever and the fact that this year the SEC could have TEN bowl eligible teams and you have to be blind to see the bias against Auburn. Regardless of that the SEC is always considered “down” when Auburn is good when in fact it is not and was much more down in years like say 1992 and 2008. Again, not opinion, fact. Check the records.
The last few years has also shown that the SEC is not a conference of friendly or just fair rivals. It is a conference of schools who will do anything to bring each other down. I will not cheer for another SEC school anytime soon. What has the SEC being strong ever done for Auburn? Nobody came to our defense in 2004 and apparently none of the coaches in the conference are putting us #1 right now. Again, it also appears that these allegations against Cecil Newton are being used as a coordinated attack against us. Who would do that? I will just let that question hang out there.
All of this has certainly taken some of the joy out of this season and playing in the SEC and college football all together. However it was still very sweet to be sitting with my son in Jordan Hare as Auburn broke a four year losing streak to Georgia and won the SEC West. It was awesome being a part of the pregame at the stadium. It was special watching Cam Newton play what will probably be his last game at Jordan Hare Stadium. It was exhilarating watching Auburn roar back from a 21-7 deficit to blow past Georgia. It was incredible to walk around Toomer’s Corner after it was all over.
It is now down to the Iron Bowl, the SEC Championship Game and whatever happens after. It will probably be the three toughest games Auburn plays all season. The Iron Bowl may be the toughest one of them. Bama still has a ton of good football players and they have been playing a little bit below their capabilities in my opinion. $aban is still a great defensive coach and Auburn has not played a defense with as much speed as Bama’s defense. Finally, Auburn and Cam Newton have not played a true road game. Auburn’s only road games have been in Mississippi and Kentucky. Nothing will prepare them for the noise and venom they will face on Friday. I will be even more impressed with this Auburn team if they can go in to that environment against a very good team and bring out a win.
I will still be proud of them either way and will look forward to playing for a championship in the only real postseason game in college football next week as well. War Eagle.
I refused to worry about this game. Yes Houston Nutt has ruined many previous Auburn seasons but he has always come in with a big strong offensive line and some good or great running backs. Not this year. No team that had lost to Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt at home had the heart to take down this Auburn team. Not this year Houston Nutt and Ole Miss, not this year. Auburn succesfully defended their #1 ranking and blew out Ole Miss in Oxford guaranteeing Auburn will come into the Georgia game 10-0 and 6-0 in the SEC. In the wake of my blogging performance last week, let's get right to it...
THE GOOD
Cam Newton, of course. The legend grew with an unbelievable touchdown catch in the end zone. I am starting to think we need to get Cam Newton in on defense (which he actually did as well after an uncharacteristic fumble). He also did a great job throwing the ball. Of course he was standing behind a solid wall with no pressure on him. He is still going to have to speed up his reads against Georgia and Bama. His release is getting better. He showed off a quick release on several of those passes.
Cam Newton has a lot of company this week though. As mentioned, the guys up front got it done again leading another 300 yard rushing effort and the other Auburn running backs stepped up big time. Mike Dyer is finally looking like the running back prospect he was supposed to be. He broke tackles and showed big time acceleration in rushing for 180 yards. Ontario McCalebb showed off his speed and elusiveness for the second straight week going for 100 yards. The man behind it all called a brilliant game as well (except for trying the Neil Caudle trick-pass play, not going to happen in the SEC).
THE BAD
Our defense got it done in spots but is just going to have to play much better to get through our last two games. Yes Georgia had a lot of turnovers against Florida but Florida has been doing that to everyone the whole year. They have a good defense, Auburn does not. We are still asking a lot of our offense to have to score 40+ points every game. With our current defense, Georgia and Bama are going to score A LOT of points. We have a let down or a bad quarter or two on offense, it could spell doom against these two teams. Again I think we have to put more pressure on the quarterback. We cannot let Aaron Murray and Greg McElroy stand back there all day. It does not matter how many men we drop back in coverage.
We also HAVE TO TACKLE BETTER. There were a ton more missed tackles last night. Our guys have got to wrap up and bring the guy down. The offense is working at about maximum capacity, we need to use these next two weeks working on the defense. Our last two games will be the biggest and toughest of the season. If we are going to be a championship team I am convinced we have to play better defense.
THE UGLY
There was really nothing ugly about this game other than Ole Miss' grey uniforms (and I dogged the BCS last week) so I will use this space to point out again how ugly the current television format makes football. The pros have reduced the pain slightly by speeding up the games and getting them to fit in neat three hour time slots. However they did that by reducing the amount of football you get to see. College football has not YET done that but the networks still get in their commercials which make watching a live football game a completely exhausting experience. I do not know how anybody but big time fans of the teams playing could sit down and watch a college football game. It dampens everyone's experience watching games. I know the television people have to pay the bills but when there is more commercial time than the actual product carrying the commercials, something is wrong.
AROUND THE SEC
The SEC East has finally cleared up. Florida took down Georgia and now the Florida vs. South Carolina game in two weeks will decide the SEC East champion. Again, as bad as Florida has been this year I think they will get it done and ruin Spurrier's best chance to win the East at South Carolina.
Meanwhile everyone including me is starting to talk about the Iron Bowl deciding the West. However that is not true yet. Bama has two tough games remaining with LSU and Mississippi State who only have three losses between them. Auburn has to stop Georgia from getting "the thumb" on them as Auburn has not beaten the Dawgs since 2005. Auburn and Bama will have to get past these road blocks before the Iron Bowl.
Last and least, you have the BCS. Ah the BCS, where the #1 team in the SEC can whip another SEC team on the road and drop. I would wager a rather large sum that neither Bama and Florida with the exact same team as Auburn would have dropped after a 30 point beat down of Ole Miss in Oxford. I do not think they would have dropped even if Oregon had beat an undefeated actually legitimate USC team. You also would not have had ESPN's current group of cretins that masquerade as college football analysts dogging Auburn out. I love the schedule questions. Google Oregon's football schedule. Other than Stanford and I guess USC Oregon has played NOBODY. When you are propping up Stanford as your best win, doesn't that really say it all?
Things were tense up in section 101 of Jordan Hare Stadium with the game tied against LSU 17-17. Auburn had dominated the game but the Mad Hatter's luck seemed to be continuing with Auburn's terrible field position throughout the game, a fumble, a missed field goal, etc... A feeling of dread started to settle over me. Were we going to lose a game that we had clearly dominated? Then... Ontario McCalebb broke into the clear and joy fell from the sky. The Mad Hatter's luck had run out, Auburn had beaten LSU. In the aftermath the stats started jumping out. Auburn had just run for over 400 yards against the best defense in SEC. Cam Newton had over 200 of those yards. Auburn was 8-0 and 5-0 in the SEC. I was sick as a dog but happy as can be.
I am mailing this one in late for the record. Auburn is #1 in the BCS (more on that below) and I don't get a blog post up, good grief. It has been some kind of week here for our family with the drive back from Auburn, soccer tournaments, soccer team post season parties, fantasy baseball league post game parties, etc... Well let's get to it so I can head to another soccer game and then get back and settle in for Auburn and the Mrs...
THE GOOD
You can pretty much put the whole team in here with the exception of Mario Fannin and the special teams. Ah Mario Fannin, I have defended him and pushed him for years. However I think he has sealed his fate as a guy that cannot hold on to the ball. We still need him though, we still need him. I was reminding friends that once upon a time that James Bostic (the MVP running back of our 1993 undefeated team) also had fumblitis and was benched for the Georgia game. He responded by putting up 183 yards rushing off the bench with three touchdowns and SEC player of the week honors. He then helped bury Bama the next week with no fumbles if I remember correctly.
The special teams were back to normal this week with horrible punts, worse punt returns and a missed field goal. They terrible short low punt to Peterson could have cost Auburn the game. I just do not know what else to say about the special teams. They are consistently bad and a few good games here and there do not change that. This is the good section though and there was a lot more good than bad this game. Let me start with Nick Fairley. Wow. The guy put up a dominating performance against a team that is probably bigger and stronger than Auburn. By the end of the game there were literally tackling him at the line of scrimmage and he was still getting through.
Rushing for 400 yards though is the most impressive stat for me. I just kept repeating it over and over after the game. When you rush for 400 yards on somebody you take their manhood. Auburn knows. Arkansas did to us and Chizik in 2002. It is still one of my worst Auburn memories. Doing it against a top rated LSU defense is even more impressive. It starts with the offensive line and then goes to Cam Newton as he put himself at the top of the Heisman race and helped lift his team to #1 in the nation. Newton put up another astonishing highlight package. He is truly a sight to behold and I was glad to finally see him live and in person. I will never forget him slicing and dicing through the LSU defense for over 200 yards.
Finally, I also have to give props to the Jordan Hare gameday planners. The whole intro (with the exception of the band video?) was awesome and the new thing where the whole team runs toward the student section with the music going at the end of the third quarter is awesome. It has been awhile since I have seen the students so fired up. You get the students fired up and everyone else will follow.
THE BAD
Everyone likes being #1 however the Bowl Championship Series is still the most ridiculous and stupid method to determine a championship ever invented. It is still a joke and always will be. One night of watching the ESPN talking heads was enough for me. Being #1 is great if for no other reason than to annoy the Bama fans but I for one will not be drawn into this weekly drama. Frankly all involved can take the BCS and... well use your imagination. If you have to play in a bowl you might as well play in the best one but nothing will make the whole system legitimate in my mind.
I cannot want to beat Georgia and Bama any more than I already do. I want to win the SEC West and win an SEC championship. Those things are not subjective and you cannot be cheated out of them. You earn them and you play in the only real postseason game in college football, the conference championship game. It is played a week after the season ends by division winners instead of being played a month after the last game by the winners of a complicated popularity contest.
THE UGLY
Obviously you want to enjoy this season. Auburn as a whole deserves to. However there has been a lot of talk about how Gene Chizik has now completely proved himself. I disagree. He has definitely proved a lot but he still has a long way to go. Terry Bowden also proved himself in this situation but fell apart later. This season will not be the end of Auburn football. However it might be the end of Auburn playing at this level for awhile and Chizik's work is cut out for him.
Take a look at the Auburn depth chart and make some easy deductions and you come to the conclusion that we really better enjoy this year. On offense, Auburn will lose four outstanding offensive linemen, two starting wide receivers and will most likely lose Superman himself. I also stand by my preseason prediction that Gus Malzahn will leave for a head coaching job as well. On defense, we lose two starting linebackers, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles and will almost certainly lose Nick Fairley leaving us with only two true defensive tackles in Carter and Whitaker on the entire roster.
Chizik and Co. got a lot of good talent in the pipeline this year but Tuberville's last two years are still going to take a mighty toll on the program. Especially two years of recruiting no offensive linemen or defensive tackles. It is scary. Gene Chizik will completely prove himself if he can get us out of this ugly situation and win the SEC West a few years from now.
AROUND THE SEC
The SEC East is a complete mess but things will be much more clear after the Georgia vs. Florida game today. People are saying this game is not as big this year. I disagree, I think it is a huge game. Mark Richt has got to beat Florida in this situation. It would be a huge blow to Georgia to lose to Florida this year. Meanwhile Florida could put it self in position to win the East with a victory. After all Florida has been through if they can beat Georgia and South Carolina, they will play for an SEC Championship and in one game anything can happen.
The SEC West race is down to Auburn and Bama with LSU still in the race if they can beat Bama a week from today. Auburn still has a tough game with Georgia. I am very worried about that game but more on that in the weeks to come. I refuse to wring my hands and worry about the Mrs. I maybe crying tomorrow but Auburn should take care of business.
