What A Way To Start The New Year!
by Jay Coulter on Jan 4, 2010 1:00 AM CST
in Football
16 comments
Good Monday morning to you. For most, today marks the real start of the new year with everyone returning to work. Let's hope the first work day of the year is less stressful than New Year's Day.
After the win over Northwestern on Friday, I said it was the best football game I'd ever seen. That was inaccurate. The play on the field was far from great. At times, it was downright terrible. Was it the most exciting game Auburn's ever played? Perhaps.
I still go back to the 1984 Auburn-Florida State game in Tallahassee. By the time Brent Fullwood scored late in the fourth quarter to give Auburn the 42-41 win, I fully expected to drop dead walking out of Doak-Campbell Stadium.
Friday's Outback Bowl win grabs the title of weirdest game in Auburn history. I don't believe there's another word more fitting than just plain weird. You name it and that game had it.
Statistically it was the worst defensive performance in school history. Yet, it was the defense that stood strong at the end of the day after being on the field for 115 plays - almost twice as many as a typical game. The normally reserve Ben Tate came within an eyelash of becoming Auburn's version of Bill Buckner after getting a celebration penalty on a touchdown run followed by a fumble on the next series that set Northwestern up for the win.
Defensive back Walter McFadden played until he literally couldn't walk off the field. Gene Chizik showed more emotion in the last five minutes of the game than we've seen all year. We could go on and on.
Most self proclaimed experts will tell you that bowl wins mean nothing in regards to how a team performs the following season. This game may be the exception. The momentum that Auburn has gained in the last week, both on and off the field, is unprecedented in school history.
The signing of former Florida quarterback Cameron Newton along with top high school running back Michael Dyer has the potential to be a game changer not seen on the Plains since Bo Jackson signed in early 1982. Rivals now ranks Auburn's recruiting class third nationally behind Texas and Alabama.
While our neighbors to the North prepare to play for a championship Thursday, it would be wise for them to keep one eye on East Alabama. They may find that winning national titles are easier than winning state championships.
I don't believe it's an understatement to say that spring practice will be the most anticipated in school history. I know, I said that last year. I'm just saying. As Todd92 said on Saturday, the quarterback race will be "must see" for Tiger fans.
With the signing of Newton, most fans believe he'll be the starter come September. If anyone suggested last January that Todd would be the man this year, we would have banned them from the site. It would be foolish to count anyone out. You can make a solid argument for any of the candidates. My guess is, it will come down to Newton, Neil Caudle and Barrett Trotter with Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley getting a look later down the road.
It should make the off-season fun to watch
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Signing day...
And spring practice can’t get here fast enough.
WAR EAGLE!
"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject"-Thomas Jefferson
The1984 AU vs FSU ...
….has always been my favorite game after the historic ‘89 Iron Bowl on the Plains. I was in Tampa and I don’t remember the refs throwing flags in one direction in Tallahassee, so that added to the excitement for me in ’84. The outback was fun and definitely left me excited about 2010. How many days to kickoff ?
aubtigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
ditto that ... (my favorite high-scoring-shoot-out anyway)
… and i was there … brent fullwood R-U-L-E-S!
more drama, more excitement than the recent Outback .. but, in Tallahassee both teams played well. not a bunch of penalties & turn-overs & bone head plays like Jan1st. Arrrgh!
… and this one had lead changes.
42-41 if i remember correctly. best high-scoring-shoot-out that Auburn has been involved in. Period.
Period is right...
… I don’t remember anything like the ’84 FSU game since my first game in ’58 ( AU vs Ga. in Columbus). And ’84 was one of the best games called by the great Jim Fife.
aubtigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
Looks as if we're about the same vintage ...
… my first was the Tigers Vs. the Vols in B’ham 1958.
Auburn got sweet-pay-back for its humiliation 2 years earlier by holding Tenn to no first downs and minus 30 yards total offense. I repeat: NO-FIRST-DOWNS! The bleeping Tennessee Volunteers! As they used to say in those TV commercials, “This was not your grandson’s Auburn defense!”
API = 13
UT = zip, zero, nada
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/sep/27/vols-1958-season-saw-extreme-lows/
I suspected as much...
…(“same vintage”) from reading your comments and post. Thanks for the link to the Vol article lamenting their ’58 loss to Auburn, good reading.
The ’58 team led the the nation in defense and the SEC in total offense. Seems like we pitched 4-5 shutouts in addition to the 13-0 Tenn. win. I read somewhere that Shug thought that team was better than his ’57 National Championship team.
You ought to do a fanpost on your experience at your first AU game, Zeke Smith, and the great ’58 squad.
aubtigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
Newton is probably gonna be the biggest name in your recruiting class
with Dyer not far behind. The talent level on offense will certainly increase. The concern I would have would still be defensive depth, especially at linebacker and defensive back. How is that looking for next year?
by HarveyBirdmanAAL on Jan 4, 2010 11:07 AM CST reply actions
definitely better...
the good thing is, we return all of our linebackers, on top of adding 2 under-armour all american linebackers as reserves. and except for walt mcfadden, our entire secondary comes back as well. hopefully both of our real safeties who were supposed to play this year will be back, but who knows about zac etheridge. mike mcneill will have a breakout year after sitting out with his broken leg this year.
Jay – i fully expect Newton to start, no question. in my opinion, there’s no way Chizik & Malzahn could have talked this kid into coming to Auburn with 2 years left to play if he would have to compete and maybe not even win the starting job. if Newton thought he couldn’t start at Auburn, i think he would have gone to Miss. State. and on top of all that, we have to realize he would be starting at Florida next year. WDE!
We're not sweating it
Chizik and Co. have a terrific class of LBs coming in—Holland is going to be ready to play from Day 1, and possibly Owens, too—and between those guys, Evans as a sophomore, a healthy Herring, and possibly even a return from Spencer Pybus, we’ll be OK there. DB is trickier, but assuming Mike McNeil makes a full recovery we’ll be OK there, too—McNail/Bates/Thorpe/Washington is a fine starting four, T’Sharvan Bell looks like he’s ready to start seeing real PT, D’Antoine Hood should prove useful if he doesn’t spend half the year hurt, and all that’s before we start wondering if Zac Etheridge can come back or what the freshmen can provide.
The real question for the D is the line—Fairley should be able to replace Ricks just fine, but Carter’s going to have to make a big leap to replace Coleman’s production and neither Mike Blanc and Mike Goggans—the projected other starters at DT and DE—have proven themselves to be impact players.
Thanks for the info Jerry
Not to turn this into a Q and A, but with all of the talk about the offensive skill positions, how do you think the o-line will fair next year?
by HarveyBirdmanAAL on Jan 4, 2010 11:50 AM CST up reply actions
On paper, it'll be phenomenal
A pair of four-year starters in Ziemba and Pugh and two more three-year starters in Berry and Isom … I’ll be surprised if there’s a more experienced line (in terms of career starts) in the country. And between Bart Eddins (a senior) and the two JUCO signees, whoever wins the battle to replace McCain at RT (who won the job this year pretty much by default) is probably going to be an improvement. Especially given that it’ll be the second year with Malzahn’s schemes and Grimes’s techniques—and another year removed from Franklin’s disastrous weight-loss plan—it should be the best line Auburn’s had since 2005 at least.
But Auburn’s offensive lines have long had a nasty knack for underachieving when they’re expected to be a strength (2003, 2008) and overachieving when they’re expected to be a weakness (2004, 2007), so we’ll see. The most experienced lines in the country this year (Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia) didn’t wind up doing much to help their teams.
(This also assumes that Ziemba is staying. There’s been some talk he could declare, but I really don’t see the point in leaving as a third-round junior when as a left tackle he could easily hop up to 1st round with a big senior year.)
Thanks for the info Jerry
I have a feeling next year could be shaping up to be a huge battle (again) in the Iron Bowl. McCaleb / Dyer could be next year’s Ingram / Richardson. It’ll be interesting to watch for sure.
by HarveyBirdmanAAL on Jan 4, 2010 1:43 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah, right now Ziemba's a late 2nd rounder at best.....
and could fall as far as the fourth round depending on who else bolts early. He would do well to stay for his senior season and assure his spot in the second round or better.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
That's the thing
As a gigantic, experienced left tackle, there’s no way he goes later than 2nd round if he waits a year (and stays healthy). The NFL has gotten so fast and so brutal I don’t think it even makes financial sense to get started early—if you’re never guaranteed a second contract, it’s good business to make sure your first one is the best it can be and that you’re as physically ready as possible before making the leap.
what an out and back...
excited about newton for sure. hoping for a good offseason team QB compete.
the game:for me, there was a ‘passing’ of the torch when the run of Tate was passed on for the pass to Adams late in the game… did the offensive play calling change a bit from 1st to 2nd half to anyone?
the run by Zachary was HUGE, but over and over again in the second half, it was Todd, to Adams. Tate finished the big drive off, but the description of AU setting the pass up with the run really didn’t apply to their overall scheme, this game.
i’m not sure if i am the only AU fan out there going through the pains…growing w/ this offense… but this pace and the new ability to come back is really exciting and also really new… it is still weird for me too.
the absence, and ability to abandon the run (even if just for a spit) the way we did… seemed so strange. Darvin Adams was running around catching the ball in traffic all over the damn place. forget my previous suggestions for him to put on 10-15 lbs this off season…let that guy run all day in 2010.
wanted to also give some props to D. Bates for his physical play in the Outback…. I thought that he had a pretty nice game, and hope we can find some additional physical defensive players that can really add to this team that might be able to gear up and build a personality for themselves next season. i think the AU offense has already made HUGE moves this year and with recruiting to build on what has been developed with Malzahn…. i expect an even more dynamic spread for defenses to try to stop next year.
wappa
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