As posted at Trackem Tigers
Posted by The Heffalump on September 14, 2008
This is me being sympathetic. I don’t hate Auburn. I have friends that are Auburn fans. It’s not like it’s Tennessee. There, i said it. It’s like an olive branch.
I am an Alabama fan…
…for those of you still willing to read, an Alabama fan who started rooting for Auburn around the mid ninties until the last game of the season. The reason being that I thought that destroying a perfect season for you guys would be better than piling on to a losing program. It’s hard to follow a team without coming to admire/like them. I am currently somewhere between “love to hate” and “remind myself not to root for you even though your loss would benefit Alabama,” like tonight. If I may make a few observations from the outside:
1) Auburn always ticks off it’s fan base in the beginning of the season without seriously damaging the seasons prospects, then you start upsetting other fan bases. By the end of the season all children born to Auburn fans between the months of November and December are named Tommy (Tommina?)
2) You are running an offense without the necessary personel. That doesn’t mean it will never work, just that it isn’t currently working. Don’t say “Kodi.” A spread qb needs to be able to pass and throw to keep defenses guessing. Todd can pass (in a floaty let everyone get a good long look at the pretty ball in the air sort of way) and Kodi can run (but why would you run a qb with the best stable of running backs in the nation behind him or to his left or wherever they line up in the spread.) A can’t do B and B can’t do A. The defenses aren’t guessing. I think the spread is a mistake, but hey that’s me. Auburn was ranked in the 90s out of 119 in offense last year with a traditional offense and are making a change to a totally different scheme with guys not suited to its intricacies. Don’t expect much early on. You had a good game against Clemson in last years bowl game. But they had no film to watch, no idea what to expect and you still had to go to overtime. And, speaking of Clemson, we exposed them pretty easily (insert La-Monroe joke here.) So the spread, even though I think it’s a mistake, takes time to learn, and a certain type of player before it can be utilized to optimum effect. Ask Michigan.
3) You beat Mississippi State. We haven’t done that in two years. You didn’t last year. Be happy.
4) The Auburn defense is loaded. You have amazing speed, size, discipline, and quite a number of guys with dreadlocks. If there is one thing I have noticed over the past six Iron Bowls it is that Auburn repeatedly sends speedy big guys to our backfield and when they are on the sidelines being congratulated for ripping the spine out of Brodie or JPW they are sporting dreads.
So while the I saw just the final 20 minutes or so and those twenty minutes include two fumbles and the qb running into the tailback, I wouldn’t be too down. Tubberville has been eulogized as often as Bama has been back. What I would be down about is Saban’s recruiting thus far. Last years class included four dreadlocked heads and this years commitment class counts at least two among them. The dreadlocks are shifting. You’ll hear that in your dreams.
