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by Mark
9-29-06
That was a really, really, really close game. However, before you say something stupid like “The 2006 Auburn Tiger squad IS NOT the greatest football team in the history of the universe”, you need to take a few deep breaths and think logically.
Yeah, Auburn's
defense played waaaaay too conservative in the 4th quarter as usual. It’s
frustrating, because Auburn has let teams like Alabama, LSU, Virginia Tech
and Tennessee get back into games after being up by two or three touchdowns.
Think about it though – the loose defense in the 4th quarter always
makes the score look worse than it should be, but it has never cost us a game
in the past few years.
Remember, Fresno State - which isn’t actually a state - came within
a touchdown of beating the “unstoppable” west coast USC and they
didn’t drop in the polls any.
ESPN dwelled on the ‘Kenny Irons returns to USC’ story before the game. However, the real story of the day was the matchup between offensive masterminds Steve Spurrier (winner of the 1966 Heisman Trophy) and Al Borges (winner of the 1966 County Fair Pie Eating Contest).
Borges’ victory over Spurrier was much like his pie eating victory. Both tasted very sweet, but when the final whistle blew, Borges probably felt like throwing up.
Auburn had the football the entire third quarter, and yet South Carolina had the ball longer than we did throughout the game. Most every aspect of the game was weird like that.
For example, Kenny Irons was an emotional wreck going into this game. While thrashing for 10 yards per carry in the opening drive, he was crying the entire time. He kept screaming at Spurrier,
“When will you love and accept me, Coach Holtz!?!?”
Spurrier tried
his hardest to get Kenny to understand that he wasn’t Lou Holtz, but
before he could, Al Borges called for that onside kick and Spurrier passed
due to sheer amazement. Courtney Taylor was able to calm Kenny down a bit
and to focus on the game a bit more (before his fourth quarter SLAM DUNK into
the end zone). It really makes me happy to see teammates helping each other
like that. Great work Taylor. However, I was VERY disappointed in what Brandon
Cox did after Spurrier passed out. He grabbed a permanent marker from the
sideline, walked over to an unconscious Spurrier and wrote “I like Cox”
on his forehead while yelling "It's spelt... WITH AN X". That was
a VERY unclassy move Brandon. Tuberville should suspend you for the Arkansas
Tulane game (so not to punish
the entire team).
Unclassy shenanigans aside, Brandon did very well coming up with all the clutch plays.
ESPN showed a
little bias Thursday by repeatedly saying USC came within a play of winning
the game instead of saying they came within a play and an extra point of taking
the game into overtime. I still don’t see how a one loss Notre Dame
can barely beat Michigan State and suddenly be back in the hunt for the National
Championship in the eyes of ESPN – while a poor win against South Carolina
will probably cause us to drop in the polls. The horrible, horrible, horrible
truth is that this kind of commentary is good business for ESPN. They know
that teams like Auburn have solid fan bases and will watch Auburn games on
ESPN no matter what. In fact, their trashing of Auburn actually causes us
to want to watch more, since we want to hear the next unjust thing they have
to say. ESPN feels the need to consistently give praise to other big teams
outside the south in order to keep their fans interested. It’s just
good business practice. Basically, Auburn won’t receive the consideration
and respect they deserve until we fans stop caring.
That was a scary game. Aubie, please calm our nerves with your zany
antics.
E-mail mark at
mark@theauburner.com
