Auburn's players sound confident they can beat LSU.  Their head coach is optimistic. At the risk of sounding indelicate please mark this down. LSU is going to beat Auburn like a stray yard dog. Auburn has about the same chance of beating LSU as Billy Gillespie landing new a coaching job this weekend. A couple of nights ago I finally hit the play button on the TIVO  and watched the AU and Louisana-Monroe game. Are you kidding me? A lucky Hail Mary pass and a trick play was needed to beat the Warhawks. Auburn's status as a serious contender in the SEC was exposed by that trick play. SEC teams, real SEC teams, don't have to use trick plays to beat a  SunBelt team. Runnig a trick play against the Warhawks is like forcing a blind man to find the pea in the Carny shell game. That play didn't show creativity to showed absolute fear that gimmicks were needed to win. I believe that this weekend Auburn is going to find out just how bad their program really has become. The orange and blue are going to look in the proverbial mirror and discover the problem is looking back at them.

Excuses, excuses, and then some...


    Yeah, I know. The Tigers are young again. They were young last year, and they'll be young again next year. Auburn is like the aging Hollywood starlet that just quits counting birthdays. There are a bevy of four and five star recruits on the field for Auburn right now. They are not young. They have a lot of juniors and seniors. For whatever reason they have just not been competitive. I'm not the best judge of football talent but when you see those splendid young players running around without direction, the finger can be pointed in only one direction. Pat Dye can say that Gene Chizik is a fine man. I don't doubt that. Dye can saying he'd rather have Chizik than Saban is simply laughable. Look, St. Peter could come down from heaven on high and Alabama fans would still want Saban to coach the Tide. Throw out one season when Auburn played one of the greatest quarterbacks in NCAA history and what's left? Dismal and growing mediocrity is the answer. If Mars Blackmon asked you whether it was the player or the coach I doubt anyone would say it was the coach. I'm not talking about Newton's eligibility. Even Auburn said that there was cheating involved. The NCAA made a landmark decision that will haunt college football forever by allowing Newton to continue to play. I'm not even saying that Newton knew his father was running a modern day slave market. The point is this - if all a player has to do is deny knowledge of the facts and he walks ... well, you can fill in the rest.

 The Difference that separates Alabama and Auburn... 

     Let me tell you the difference between Alabama and Auburn. Alabama was beaten by their arch rival . It hurt. It was a home loss. Most teams would have folded in the bowl game. Not the Crimson Tide. They got off the canvas and went out and demolished a highly ranked Michigan State team 49-7 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. Auburn loses a key player and the Abuie world falls apart. They stumbled last season and perhaps that becomes an absolute free fall this season. That is what Auburn fans fear. Alabama goes on to win another national championship. Auburn has to attend group therapy. One program reloads and moves forward. The other program goes back into the pit. Look, I don't know if Alabama is as good as proclaimed. I think that is more likely than Auburn winnng eight or nine games. Based on the Tiger's performance thus far winning four games might be a stretch. I bet Auburn opponents know that the Tigers are like soft serve ice cream - it is cold as ice but so easy to serve up. In all honesty the Plainsman look pretty plain at this point. That's not to say that the Lee County school won't rise up and beat Ole Miss or Arkansas.  Don't count on it, however.

     You have to understand that the fear of Auburn fans, loyal to the core, is not that Alabama will dominate them, but rather that the Tigers will slip into obsurity again. When you've been to the mountain the trip down isn't exactly fun. The problem for the Tigers is the trip down has turned into an over the cliff experience. The team has been through a lot. They lost their offensive and defensive coordinators. They sadly lost friends in a senseless act of violence. Every Alabama fan poured out their support to that situation, just as the Tigers drove up from the Plains and helped tornado victims. That was a classy thing to do for both schools to do, and shows the underlying respect that the players have for one another. Perhaps it is a lesson we all should learn. So things have been tough. Still, talent should cover lot of ground in Jordon-Hare. So far, it hasn't happened.

 A Tale of two seasons...   

      When Auburn beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa the Tide rebounded with the most impressive win in the bowl season and showed Tide fans and the nation that the Crimson would be back. The came back and won the national championship. The Tigers  couldn't cash in on their success. Despite getting a group of great recruits to carry on the winning they fell off the bar stool. The measure of greatness is determined by one game or one season. No, greatness is different from being great for a season. If Alabama is the king of college football, then Auburn is fast on their way to becoming a court jester.  Historically, Auburn is better than that. That is the real worry for Au fans. They fear they may not go back to being a top twenty program again. It is a valid fear. Now with rumors of a couple of five star recruits reconsidering their commitments the fears will grow even more. Is the possible that Foster might think his situation over once again. I don't know. Word on the dirt road down in Auburn is that he might.

    Auburn doesn't like losing. Alabama refuses to consider losing as an option. Even in the Shula and Dubose years the Tide enjoyed several seasons of greatness.If fact, every coach, but coach Whitworth, has helped elevate the Tide program and sustain the schools standing in national eyes. Not even Notre Dame can say that. Auburn continues to find a niche in the college football world. That niche won't be dominating the Tide, and I doubt that it will be winnng the SEC West again. Texas A&M is poised to pass the Tigers in the fertile recruting fields known as Texas.  The sad truth for both Alabama and Auburn fans is that Aubie needs to be in the East. Missouri is a natural fit for the West. That's true if you believe that geography means anything.

  The sky is falling...  

     When Auburn won the national championship the cloud of cheating hovered over the trophy. When Alabama won its last national championship it changed college football history. The NCAA and the media declared that never again would a one loss SEC team would play for that championship. You never heard anyone say that despite the controvesy, that the Tide wasn' the best team in the nation. If you need a second opinion ask Les Miles. Auburn fans fear they are standing on a trap door and the floor will fall away at any instance. I think LSU is four touchdowns better than Auburn. I think Auburn will play hard. it remains to be seen if they can play well. I like LSU 24-6.

 

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