Tommy Tuberville

I thought the guys played some really good football today. Especially considering the type of ball they’ve played up until tonight. Looking back at the body of work this season, Since Kodi took over, we have gotten a lil better in aspects of the game each game. Fixing Kodi’s mechnics, and instealing some disipline on our offensive line and in the wide receivers could pay off next year. Finding a coordinator that is good at this could do alot of things for us next year.

War Eagle guys. That a way to showup to the game.

Now as my colleague just put it, Lets “Go Get Bama!”

it is true. BUT how many awesome things did we see today as well. The fact that the D kept us in the game, despite UGA good field position. Kodi Burns is just really exciting and the potential there is fantastic. If Tubbs leaves, it will be the doing of the boneheaded BOT. Then who do we get? No one of the same caliber. We keep Tubbs, and we up the chance to get a really talented OC. After that, the sky’s the limit! War Eagle. Bring on the rammer jammers!

Not that that’s what I’d answer, but I think it’s odd that all the answers are either he will turn it around next year or he won’t be here next year.

Tuberville will be back, I am quite sure of it…..6 million reasons sure. And nobody is going to entice him to leave and pay that buy out either. As I stated in an earlier blog, our schedule next year really precludes from us from righting the ship to most peoples satisfaction, especially when you factor in new OC and hopefully a bunch of new offensive assistants. Unless we make some tremendous strides and Kodi turns into Tebow and Tate and Fannin become the next Brown and Williams, we realistically are looking at a 7-5 season. Is that enough? If we play like we did Saturday (save not using Fannin on the last drive), its enough for me. Alot of people on this blog like to call me “negative to the nth degree” and a “head hunter”, but I am an alumnus and have been watching Auburn play since I was 3 (I’m 41 now) when my dad was enrolled there. I have played football for fantastic coaches and been a part of championship teams. I have played for horrible coaches and been on abysmal teams. I know the difference between mailing it in and doing what it takes to win. Above all I am a realist and I am hyper critical of poor preparation and mental mistakes because more often times than not, that is what casuses you to lose. If that makes me negative so be it, settling for less is accepting failure. I respect where Tommy has taken us in the 10 years he has been here but we have been sliding for the last couple of years and not because we don’t have the talent. I am seeing a distressing lack of attention to a winning game plan with the assets at his disposal. I worry about what that says about Tubs and our staff.

Alot of people on this blog call Tuberville a “Great” coach. Stats against Top 10 teams aside I can only say he is a good coach. For every win against a top 10 team, there is a loss to Miss. St., Ole Miss, Ga Tech, or a down UGA or down Arkansas along the way that should never have happened but did because of poor preparation. Sure there are upsets but Tuberville has suffered a host of humiliating defeats to average teams….mostly at home. Losses that kept us from a chance to play for the SEC title. Great coaches don’t allow that to happen. A great coach wins the games he’s supposed to and finds a way to win a lot of the ones he’s not supposed to. A great coach, a Bowden, a Paterno, a Spurrier, a Carrol would never accept losing to an average or less than average team over a commitment to a new offensive style like we have this year. If we beat Vandy, Ole Miss and Arkansas, yesterdays game meant that a win sends us to Tuscaloosa for a chance to go to Atlanta. A great coach takes the weapons at his disposal and uses them to win, they don’t leave them on the sideline.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind having a good coach….great is better, but those aren’t in abundant supply…I just think people are deluding themselves when they say Tubs is a great coach. He is a leader of men and has shown himself to have exceptional character and values over the last few years. I am proud to have him represent the university, but what we need to ask ourselves is are we satisfied with what we’re getting out of Tubs or are we just afraid to make a change because we don’t know what’s behind door #2? Sooner or later thats what it’s going to come down to because LSU, Alabama, Georgia and Florida aren’t going anywhere. Those are the guys that are the elite of the SEC, and those are the guys we have to beat if we are going to be an elite program….and is Tommy and his coaching style going to be able to overcome the disadvantage we have in recruiting against those guys? Obviously the foray into the spread was an attempt to do just that, but is that really the way we want to go—-with a conservative minded guy like Tommy at the helm? That would be like asking Urban Meyer to run the wishbone. It smells a little of desperation, like Tommy knows he’s back in the pack and doesn’t see a way to compete the way he knows how. I applaud him for being willing to change but obviously he wasn’t that willing….and here we are. Its going to be an interesting year next year and, god I hope that Tommy gets his batteries recharged and is ready to fight because he really is going to need a steely spine for what is coming down the pike but if he plays it smart and really gets prepared for each game he’ll be alright. Auburn folks can get a little testy over losing but we’re fair I think in the end.

Yes Auburn was very close to winning the Arkansas and UGA games, but they were equally close to losing the Tennessee and Miss St games. One play away from beating Arkansas, one recovered fumble in the end zone saving the UT game. Auburn has really been living life on the edge for several years now, and this year more of the breaks went against them than for them.

I really think this was Auburn’s year to cement themselves in the top 3 teams of the West. As it happened, LSU and Auburn couldn’t put it together this year, serving as the perfect storm for Alabama to become relevant again, much like LSU’s 2001 season. Bama is here to stay, and LSU and Auburn fans have nobody to blame but their own teams.

I’ve got a question for you guys. I know Tony Franklin isn’t winning any popularity contests this year in Auburn, and I also know that LSU’s defense is absolutely atrocious, but given what Troy did to LSU this past Saturday, are you guys at all wishing that Franklin would have been given one more year? I’m not going to quote the stats, you guys can look them up, but basically they dominated the passing game, and I don’t believe they attempted even a single pass over 20 yds (within Chris Todd’s noodle arm range). If they would have had a quality RB, they could have hung 50 on us. All I know is when the game was over, the first thing everyone I knew said was, “Thank God Tony Franklin was fired at Auburn”. Just wanted yall’s thoughts.

his system is not why I am glad he was fired…..it was his inability to implement the system and not just due to the obvious clash from the position coaches. The statement that came out of practice before anything was even apparently wrong was that " if the players didnt get a play down within a couple of efforts Franklin would call for the next play to be run" …..what? That is not your typical learning environment. The other thing that I think the AU nation has figured out is his inability or lack of interest in coaching raw talent……that talent being Kodi Burns. I mean, one kid knows the system but is lame…one kid is a hell of an athelete capable of becoming a force but doesn’t know the system. Franklin took the easier way out with the lame QB that couldn’t use his athletecism to make plays…….we were all lead to believe that Kodi couldn’t do it….now that he has started 3 games and improved emmensely we all see that was not the case…..Franklin for whatever reason tried to dish any chance of Kodi playing in favor of a lame Chris Todd. Don’t get me wrong if Todd were healthy he might be the guy, but he wasnt and he’s not. Last, Tony Franklin didn’t create the spread and he’s not the only one that has had success with it….Tuberville will make the right hire this time.