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Even I was confused by that video, and I made it. They can’t all be winners.
But then I had
an epiphany:
What did Saturday’s game against Arkansas remind you of? What other
times were we completely out of synch for an entire game, yet the game never
felt out of reach until the last few minutes? Does Georgia Tech or Wisconsin
ring a bell? Two years ago, we were much better about taking everyone seriously,
giving a non-prejudice approach to destroying whomever we played. This year
was the first year where the entire campus had a general consensus that we
were just going to roll over Arkansas, when otherwise we would wisely acknowledge
that Arkansas is a team that, despite their usual low ranking, is dangerous
if we don’t take them seriously. I confess, I had the same attitude
after we slipped against South Carolina, all my attention went to Florida:
“Dude, how are we going to deal with Florida?!? They are like South
Carolina on crack!” But back to my epiphany: the Auburn that showed
up Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, and Arkansas is a completely different team than
the one’s that showed up to Georgia (2005), Alabama (2005) and LSU (2005
and 2006, I count 2005 as an awesome game for Auburn, save the special teams).
It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. I forgot which alter-ego is the nice one
(I don’t read… I’m an engineer), but let’s just say
we aren’t going to see the nice Auburn on Saturday against Florida,
and I take comfort in the fact that now that we have snapped out of our zombie-esque
state we might get arrested for reptilian cruelty.
Seriously, I
have never seen a better setup for a game in my life. Every advantage that
could possibly be taken is in our favor:
1) Auburn is coming off an embarrassing loss and is eager to regain respect.
2) Florida is coming off a smug win against a very good LSU team, but Florida
might give themselves too much credit for an LSU team the turned the ball
over 5 times. I believe that made LSU the 54th consecutive team with 5 turnovers
in a game to lose.
3) Very few will pick Auburn to win, which ultimately leads to the untimely
death of the hopes and dreams of our opponents.
4) Florida turns the ball over practically a guaranteed 2 times a game.
5) Florida leads the nation in penalties
6) The game is at Auburn, and you know what Tigers do to prehistoric reptilian
evolutionary failures when they leave the swamp:
When the commentator mentions “Stealing the Tiger’s kill,”
I believe he was metaphorically speaking about the #2 spot in the polls. In
fact, I believe there will be an equal amount of ownage even if it takes place
IN THE SWAMP:
It’s time to get excited people. This is going to be a memorable pounding of the Gators, and everyone will be confused out of their mind when it does happen. I’m going to leave you with an email I received from Chad Smith (a guy who goes to the ACSC with me). He’s a bright kid, you should listen to him:
“Let me
tell you something. You hold your head HIGH. You're an AUBURN
TIGER, and it's great whether we win or lose. Don't walk away
trash-talking and upset, ESPECIALLY at our players, because they went
out there with the same heart that you went to watch them with. Everyone
wanted a national championship so we could prove what we're made of. Let
me suggest this to you: what we were made of has nothing to do with the
amount of victories and losses we have. We're made of a spirit of pride
in a common name, the AUBURN TIGERS. That pride and that glory exists in
wins and losses; we just don't show it when we lose. Hold your heads
high because we lost this game together, but we're still champions
because of our hearts. Florida is coming to town in a week, and they'll
be looking down on us. You be an Auburn Tiger, and you hold your head
high TODAY. Let's show the nation they can't touch us--we can lose, but
we can't be defeated--let's walk into that game next week as our own
Tigers do: one SPIRIT, one HEART. Be proud, you're an Auburn Tiger.”
WAR EAGLE!
E-mail ryan at
ryan@theauburner.com
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