Today’s Nostalgia Friday salutes the 1957 National Championship team. In Shug Jordan’s seventh season, he led Auburn to a perfect 10-0 season. How dominant was this team? They gave up only 28 points all year.
Stop and think about that for a second. It’s simply amazing. In victories over Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and Alabama, the Tigers beat their SEC opponents by a combined score of 66-0.
Auburn quarterback Lloyd Nix threw for 542 yards – all season. Wide receiver Jimmy Phillips accounted for 357 of those yards. Tommy Lorino carried much of the load on the ground running for nearly 500 yards.
As most know, Auburn was on probation in 1957 and ineligible for a bowl game appearance.
This clip looks at Auburn's win over Alabama in the season finale. I'm having YouTube problems today, so I'm including the link instead of posting here...
The guys at Fanblogs.com and Every Day Should Be Saturday.com have come up with a cool idea to help victims of the numerous tragedies around the country – the tornadoes in the Midwest, the storms in the Southeast and the wildfires in Florida and California.
They are holding a contest called The Charity Bowl. Basically, they rank the top 10 schools who give the most money to the American Red Cross. The winning school (announced on Thursday) will be given huge recognition on both web sites – complete with school colors and mascots.
Auburn is currently in third place (tied with Alabama). Rumor has it that Nick Saban is asking this year's recruiting class to give 10% of its signing bonus to the Red Cross.
War Eagle Atlanta gave big this morning and I’m following suit tonight. If you have a little extra and want to help some deserving people out while bringing a little recognition to Auburn, then I encourage you to do so. It always feels good to help others.
Few will argue that Auburn’s athletic program is in solid shape top to bottom. Most of the non-revenue sports are competitive in the SEC. Some are tops in the country – see men’s and women’s swimming.
The same cannot be said for two of the three teams that drive revenues for all the other sports. Taking football out of the equation, Auburn’s two other money sports, men’s basketball and baseball continue to struggle on the field and at the box office.
Following Sunday’s loss at Ole Miss, the baseball team has all but been eliminated from this year’s SEC Tournament. For those keeping score at home, it’s the fifth consecutive year that Auburn has been unable to punch its ticket to Birmingham.
Like basketball coach Jeff Lebo, Auburn's Tom Slater is expected to be given another mulligan at year’s end.
The question is why?
Many will point to Slater’s group and say this team is talented, but very young. Some will say wait until next year. We’ve all heard it before. In fact, we heard it back in February when athletic director Jay Jacobs defended Lebo.
Just wait until next year. We’ll get’em then.
Would Tommy Tuberville be afforded the same courtesy if he were in their shoes? Would the athletic department scream from the roof-top demanding that fans be patient and give him another chance?
Can you picture this:
"I realize that Tommy has struggled, but he’s had some tough luck. I’m completely confident that once everyone is healthy next year we’ll be competitive again. I don’t like missing a bowl game for four consecutive years either. And I certainly don’t enjoy losing four straight to Alabama," said Jay Jacobs after losing again to Alabama on Saturday.
"Fans have to realize that Tommy is building a program from the bottom up. He can’t help that more than half his team quit when he got here and he’s struggled to recruit since. We were two healthy players away from an invitation to the Independence Bowl."
Does anyone think for a minute that Jacobs or the board of trustees would take this approach with Tuberville? The question begs, why do they do it for basketball and baseball?
It’s time the athletic department expect the same excellence from baseball and basketball that it does from football. Auburn has been too bad for too long in both sports. Both are big business now – especially in the SEC. For Auburn to not be competitive every year is unacceptable.
Four years is plenty of time to build a program in any sport. The time for excuses is over. It’s time for Auburn to decide whether they want to be just a football school or play all three big boy sports.
No one will argue that he’s build a solid program. And there’s little argument the program is in better shape than he found it. That all goes without saying. But has he truly built a great program – one of the very best in the country?
Marshall says not yet. But the numbers beg to differ.
Let’s take a closer look at Tuberville’s first nine years on the Plains and compare them to the standard-bearers of Auburn football – Shug Jordan and Pat Dye. Most would agree that both built great programs. After all, they have their names on and in the stadium and both are members of the College Football Hall Of Fame.
In nine years at Auburn, Tuberville has a record of 80-33. During this time he’s made eight bowl appearances, won an SEC Championship, finished in the top 25 five different times and carries a 7-2 record against Alabama.
Most importantly, his 2004 team finished 13-0; the best season in school history. In the 2005 NFL Draft, Tuberville had four players taken in the first round.
During Pat Dye’s first nine years on the Plains he had a record of 81-25-4. He led Auburn to eight bowl games, won four SEC Championships, finished in the top 25 seven times and had a 6-3 record against Alabama. He also produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Bo Jackson.
Like Tuberville, his third-ranked 1983 squad (11-1) was passed over for the national championship despite beating Michigan in the Sugar Bowl on a day when the top two teams lost.
Shug Jordan posted a 63-27-3 record during his first nine years at Auburn. He led Auburn to three bowl games, a national championship, an SEC championship, finished in the top 25 six times and was 5-4 against Alabama. His 1957 national championship team was ineligible for a bowl game due to probation.
When you look at the numbers side-by-side, it’s hard to argue that Tuberville hasn’t built a program that’s every bit as good as Jordan’s and Dye’s. One could argue that Dye was more successful at this point due to his four conference championships.
It’s a point well taken and is probably what caused Marshall to stop short of calling Tuberville’s program great. Some will argue that it’s much more difficult these days to win a conference title than it was during Dye’s tenure because of the SEC Championship Game. I’m not sure you can argue that point with any validity. Name me a year when it has been easy to win the SEC?
While the numbers do compare Tuberville favorably to Jordan and Dye, I can see Marshall’s point. Tuberville has made it to the mountain top only once, although it was Mount Everest. Will one more conference title cement his greatness?
What about Jordan? He only won one conference title, but it was paired with a national title. Should Tuberville be penalized because the voters got it wrong?
You’ll have to decide for yourself. My mind is made up.
Tuberville has reached greatness at Auburn – his program is among the elite in the country. He’s raised Auburn’s profile in the college football world, expanded the recruiting base, consistently wins against top 10 teams, competes for championships and has dominated the state of Alabama in a way that’s unprecedented in the history of the school.
More important than anything else is how he does it – the right way. His players make their grades and graduate, they stay out of trouble (for the most part) and the NCAA has not so much as sniffed Auburn’s way since he arrived on campus. This alone makes Tuberville one of the all-time Auburn greats.
I attended a cool event over the weekend in Columbus, Georgia. Each year the ministries of former Auburn All-American Joe Cribbs, Alabama great Jeremiah Castille and former Georgia All-American David Pollack put on a celebrity golf tournament at the local country club.
It’s an opportunity to raise money for each of the foundations and for fans it’s a chance to meet and talk with some of the greats from the three schools. Those representing Auburn included Cribbs, Aundray Bruce, Trey Gainous, Gerald Robinson, Pat Dye, Brandon Cox, Frank Sanders, Terry Henley, Smokey Hodge, Rob Pate, Stan White and Jeff Burger to name just a few.
The Alabama and Georgia contingent included Roger Shultz (from Biggest Loser fame), Nick Saban, Antonio Langham, Barry Krauss, Kevin Butler, D.J. Shockley and Robert Edwards.
A couple of observations: Bruce looks like he could still line up anywhere in the NFL and play. The guy is huge and built like a truck.
He had the coolest line of the night. We are going through the buffet line and someone asked him what he was doing these days. He answered that he was playing golf and fishing. To which the person said, "You have to do more than that." Bruce responded, "Actually I don’t." Pretty funny stuff. Must be nice.
I had a chance to speak with Shultz and he joked that everywhere he goes people always look at what he’s eating. Let me tell you – television doesn’t do that guy justice. He is flat skinny. You’d never guess he weighed 363 pounds a year ago. To look at him now, it’s hard to believe that he ever played on the offensive line in the SEC.
I also had a nice conversation with Gainous. He looks like a skinny sociology professor - with great hands I might add. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
Attending events like this where you have former players from different schools, you realize how fans take the rivalries much more seriously than the players. These guys genuinely like each other and have a healthy respect for one another.
With that said, I still can't wait to get a piece of Georgia in November. I hate Georgia.
A few weeks back we took a look at the epic 1994 Auburn-Florida game. It’s probably still the biggest win over the Gators in series history – although some of you may argue that point.
Today we look at another great Florida game – the one that occurred a year earlier. Auburn came into the contest on October 16, 2003, as a big underdog at home. The fourth-ranked Gators were expected to trounce over the upstart 19th ranked Tigers.
Few around the country believed that Auburn’s 6-0 record was for real. The victory marked a turning point in the season – others around the country started taking notice of this team and its young coach, Terry Bowden.
Before a capacity crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn would prevail in a back and fourth contest that ended with the Tigers pulling out a 38-35 win on the way to a perfect 11-0 season.
Groves (right) poses with Derrick Harvey in Jacksonville.
By Jay Coulter jccoulter@gmail.com
NFL Draft Day may be the most overblown event in all of professional sports. I’ll admit to working my Saturday schedule around the event. I was anxious to see how quickly Quentin Groves and Pat Lee would be drafted.
They are two of my favorites and it’s always great to see Auburn guys make it big – or at least get a shot at it. I tuned in around 1:30 p.m. CT and then waited... and waited some more. I’m as big a college football fan as they come, but I have to admit that I have never heard of about two thirds of the players selected in the first round. I’m sorry, but I can’t name the starting front five at Ohio State, USC or even Florida.
By 2:30 p.m. I was sleeping comfortably on my couch. A few hours later I woke up in time to see Groves selected with the 52nd pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yawn. A little while later Lee was selected with the 60th pick by Green Bay. Good for them.
As me for it was a wasted Saturday. I should have skipped it and read about in the Sunday paper. I was a sucker for another made for TV event.
The NFL Network ran a show on Friday that showcased the top 10 draft flops of all time. Auburn linebacker Aundray Bruce, the 1988 number one overall pick came in at number six. Ryan Leaf took top honors.
On Friday’s ESPN College Football Live an email from a viewer in Auburn was directed toward analyst Mark May. He asked why the Tigers were not getting a lot of attention from the show. May said it was simple. LSU was the defending national champion and Alabama was getting a lot of attention for its recruiting class.
Here’s where it gets good... He went on to say Auburn would finish behind LSU and Alabama in the SEC West this year. LSU... maybe. Alabama? It looks like some of the stupid has spread from Lou Holtz to young Marcus. My guess is that May gets all his Alabama information from Tide homer Reece Davis. Too funny.
In case you missed the race at Talladega yesterday, Tommy Tuberville drove the pace car for the event. It was his first race at the Alabama speedway. Kyle Busch went on to win in an exciting finish. Dick Trickle was 44th.
Today we look at the career of former Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig. In my lifetime, I’d have to say he’s the best quarterback I’ve ever seen wear the orange and blue.
I was too young to remember Pat Sullivan. And no, I’m not suggesting he comes close to the Heisman winner. But you’d be hard pressed to pick a better one that’s played on the Plains since.
During the 1997 season, he passed for 3,277 yards – still the most in Auburn history (by a mile). He was not only a gifted passer, but one of the best running quarterbacks in the country. Today it’s common place to see a quarterback run – in 1997 it was something new.
Craig was given serious Heisman consideration until a late season loss to Miss State. He came within a point of leading Auburn to an SEC Championship, falling to Peyton Manning and Tennessee 30-29 in the conference championship game.
Auburn receiver Karsten Bailey single handily blew the game for the Tigers by dropping a series of Craig passes that halted Auburn drives deep in Tennessee territory.
Auburn and Craig would finish the season with a win over Clemson in the Peach Bowl. A year later the wheels fell off the Auburn program and Terry Bowden was run out of town.
By late Saturday afternoon, former Auburn defensive star Quentin Groves should be a very wealthy man. The hard work in the weight room and on the practice field is expected to pay off – in the millions.
The all-time Auburn sack leader is projected as a late first round or early-to-middle second round choice in the NFL draft. Where he’s headed is anyone’s guess.
The off-season has been like a freak rollercoaster ride for Groves. After having a somewhat disappointing senior campaign due to injuries, Groves rebounded at the NFL combines in February. His performance in Indianapolis caused his stock to rise faster than gas prices.
Then it all came crashing down – temporarily. While undergoing an NFL physical – which is akin to being treated like Ned Beatty in the North Georgia Mountains, doctors found a minor heart condition that ended up requiring surgery.
It now appears the condition will have little effect on his place in the draft and most importantly should have no effect on his overall health.
Quentin Groves is such a class guy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he will get an early call Saturday and hopefully it will be from Pittsburgh – the team he’s idolized his whole life.
While Groves is grabbing most of the attention, there are several more former Auburn players expecting a phone call over the weekend. Defensive tackle Pat Sims and safety Patrick Lee are projected to go as high as the second round by some draft experts.
Here’s an interesting stat that I read in Thursday’s USA Today. Auburn is ranked third all-time in the number of top picks taken in the NFL draft. Auburn has had four players taken number one overall, trailing only Notre Dame and USC. Not too shabby.
Say it ain’t so Joe
Former Auburn great Joe Cribbs is at it again. You may remember that earlier this year, Cribbs served as president of Team Alabama – a Birmingham semi-pro football club that was made up of mostly washed up Alabama players who were scheduled to compete in something called the All-American Football League. It folded like a house of cards before a ball could be put on the tee.
Yesterday Cribbs was named commissioner of another new league – this one called the United National Football League. It plans to field 22 teams, but currently only has two in place – both in Texas.
Cribbs hopes the organization will serve as sort of a feeder league to the NFL. Where have we heard this before?
"This league is not trying to compete with the NFL. It's trying to complement the NFL," said Cribbs. "This is a true developmental league. It's not a destination or a last-stop league. We want this to be affordable for fans who crave more football."
The 1984 Florida State game in Tallahassee is without question the best game that was never seen by most Auburn fans. It’s my all time favorite. Despite pairing two top twenty teams, no networks picked up the game – what a shame.
No, it didn’t have the importance of an Alabama or Georgia match-up, but for sheer excitement, it’s the best I’ve ever witnessed.
It was a seesaw battle that went back and fourth for four quarters. Auburn came into the game ranked 16th after starting the season number one in both polls. FSU was ranked ninth. The Tigers were a sizable underdog. Brent Fullwood scored the winning touchdown with seconds to go. Enjoy...
What would we do without Alabama? Just when we think the cast of That 70’s Show couldn’t possibly look more stupid, they go and top themselves.
As you may or probably don’t know (or care), Alabama honors its captains each year by putting their names and hand prints in cement at Denny Chimes in Tuscaloosa.
Now I know what you are thinking. Being named captain of a team that lost to Louisiana-Monroe is akin to being asked to be Ron Paul’s running mate – nobody cares and it’s kind of embarrassing.
But it gets better.
Center Antoine Caldwell was elected a 2007 captain and was honored during a ceremony on Wednesday. There was just one problem with the glorious day that Bear created for all – they spelled Antoine’s name wrong. A-T-N-O-I-N-E was how it was written in concrete for all eternity.
The hits just keep on coming for this band of clowns. It reminds me of that old Snickers ad where the guy paints the end-zone in Kansas City with the word "Chefs" instead of "Chiefs."
Sometimes reality is better than television.
I’ve said it here before: Bear Bryant’s run in the 1960’s and 70’s was worth it in every way. Because for the last 25 years, we’ve had the pleasure of watching "his boys" run this program into the ground – over and over again. They continue to invent ways to make the school a laughing stock.
And Auburn fans just keep smiling and laughing.
I was eating at a Shula’s Steak House in Chicago last week and was admiring all the pictures on the wall. There were a few of Mike Shula hanging around the bar area. I just smiled to myself. They brought back such pleasant memories.
I do believe it was the best steak I’ve ever tasted in my life.
Most of us were taken by surprise last week, when it was revealed that former Auburn defensive star Quentin Groves had off-season heart surgery.
The March procedure was done to correct a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In a nutshell, it’s a condition that causes rapid heart rates in people.
Groves’s doctors assure everyone, including the NFL that the condition is manageable and should have no effect on his playing ability.
First off, anytime they touch your ticker it’s serious. I reacted with shock when first hearing about it. I’m sure your reaction was similar.
I pray that Groves is getting the best medical attention available, which I’m quite certain he is. It appears that for now anyway, his stock remains high among NFL teams. There still seems to be plenty interested.
Groves has spent the past month visiting with teams all over the league in hopes of improving his standing. He is still expected to go somewhere in the first round.
He has made it known that he covets an opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Growing up, he says he idolized the Steeler defense.
Groves was making the autograph circuit a few weeks back and my kids visited him at Dick’s Sporting Goods. He’s all they’ve talked about since. My wife said he was the friendliest, most outgoing player she’s ever met.
He spent extra time with all the kids and they now follow his every move in the papers and on the internet. It’s good to hear things like that about Auburn players.
Let’s hope that he remains in good health and can put this scare behind him.
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