I would’ve never noticed that the last name "Burns" could be used for headline puns.

I'll have no part in such petty observations.

Due to my biases, I've been skeptical over Tuberville's decision to fire Al Borges and hire Randy Quaid as offensive coordinator. I still think it was the wrong move, but at the same time, I admit it. The Tony Franklin System™ offense was awesome. Despite the wider formations, Auburn stuck with what Auburn did best – plenty of running and screen passes – but Franklin’s trick plays* were a great addition. Franklin calling for Brandon to run on a third and long play was offensive and comedic genius. Is the key to a great offense really as simple as implementing the spread? It’s weird to get excited about an offense we’re stealing from Troy and various high schools, but it makes sense when you think about it. Top teams don’t have the luxury of experimenting new plays and formations in games – smaller teams do.

When it comes to skill, the NFL is better than college and college is better than high school. Naturally, it would seem innovation would originate from the NFL and eventually trickle down to the high school level. This is not true, because NFL coaches, while much smarter than the majority of high school coaches, do not have the luxury of experimentation and the ability to take risks.

The high school coach can afford to invent a new offense and see what happens; the NFL coach does not have that luxury.

Many large corporations eventually fail because they’ve grown so large that it becomes too risky to implement change. Even when an obvious innovation is presented to them, they’re often too afraid to end an existing source of revenue for something unproven.

It is impossible for Tommy Tuberville or any of his assistant coaches to invent a new, better, offensive scheme. Bill Gates first became successful by programming his own operating system, but once he and Microsoft became very large, to stay on top, it became in his best interest to delegate amongst thousands of employees and to ensure the best programmers are hired.

It’s no longer Tuberville’s job to invent, but to manage. He’s taken a huge risk in hiring Tony Franklin, but the choice of hiring someone with experience in high school and the Sun Belt is a far better idea than hiring a wide receiver coach from the NFL.

Why are Japaneese cars better than American cars these days? American car company executives have too much input into how they’re made. They focus too much on market research and past trends (tradition) when developing cars. The Japanese car companies allow the engineers to develop the cars based on what makes for a better car.

Ford would be wise to pay Tuberville as a consultant and NOT as an actor since Tuberville seems to grasp this concept (and he’s a really, really, really bad actor).

And while I still disagree with Borges’ dismissal, I’m very excited about the offense next season under Tony Franklin.

Despite the changes, some things remained the same. Brandon Cox remained the quarterback who was incompetent in most aspects except for his incredible clutchness and complete lack of emotion.

The game announcers went all out with the “Brandon-Cox-isn’t-the-most-athletic-guy-on-the-field-but-he-makes-up-for-it-with-his-heart” talking point. At one point it was announced that “he has a great sense or humor”, as if he was a fat girl they were trying to set up on a date. Poor guy. Despite putting up great numbers in the bowl game, he was upstaged by the new guy who had one completion. But, I don’t think we need to feel too bad for the guy.

Brandon Cox:
Dominate against top ten teams.
Capable of taking hits no human should be able to survive.
6-0 against Bama, 3-0 as a starter.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto.

Welp. It’s been a fun season. In a few days it’ll all be over as we’ll know the “national champion”. It’ll either be the two loss LSU, the one loss Ohio State, or maybe even the two loss USC via the AP Poll. Dang. Why didn’t we get the championship in 2004? Oh right. The Citadel. We beat the Citadel. We played a part of America’s military and won. Right.

*The forward pass.

War Eagle!

E-mail Mark at mark@theauburner.com

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