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11.11.2007

News of the day, 11/11

Hey everyone. I'm sure you're in a chipper mood today after that fine exhibition from the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. I gotta say it was the most alarming meltdown I've seen. This is only my 10th season covering Auburn, though, so I'm sure Phillip Marshall remembers that 1903 game against the Montgomery YMCA or whatever.

Only kidding. He wasn't even born until 1910.

Not much to say aside from the fact that Auburn played terribly during the final 25 minutes of that game. I don't think anybody quit. I just think Georgia knows exactly how to exploit Will Muschamp's defenses -- he laid an egg while at LSU, too -- and this team is not good when the defense isn't stout. This offense looks nothing like a wishbone but it has the same overall effect: Slow-strike, time-consuming attack. It generally doesn't play well from behind because it's so gradual.

This is what Auburn has. Nothing can change that soon. These wideouts aren't suddenly going to become above-average players. The quarterback won't suddenly gain the ability to throw deep passes after five years of 10-yard slants. It's a piecemeal approach to offense. Even when it's on, it's barely good enough.

Thanks for stopping by to read the obituary, I mean, today's Auburn coverage at the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Tuberville held his weekly press conference at 3 o'clock. He said three things that I would consider "classic" given the team's current situation.

Aside from the Hall-of-Fame comment in 1998 about not leaving Oxford unless it's in a pine box, Tuberville's Sunday assessment that the UGA-Auburn game is "just another ball game" is as wacky as it gets. Absolutely amazing.

a.) STATEMENT: "That was just another ball game yesterday. The one coming up is not just another ball game. This is the one that counts for Auburn, and we know that."
FACT: Georgia is a big game when Auburn wins it, apparently a sideshow when UGA wins.

**BONUS QUOTE**
From his Tuesday press conference (11/6): "I always tell the players that these next two games are ones that they will remember for a long time. I always tell the players that they may not remember that we went 7-3, but they will remember how they played, practiced and all the things that happen leading up to these games for the rest of their lives."

b.) STATEMENT: "We've been adequate on offense."
FACT: Auburn currently is ranked ninth among Southeastern Conference teams in points per game. Auburn is 10th in total yards -- and has a two-yard cushion between it and 11th-place Vanderbilt. This isn't a trend. That was the 11th game of a 12-game season. This is reality.

c.) STATEMENT: "Our players and coaches could care less about what the media thinks about. It's their own agenda. It's not ours."
FACT: I can say, with 100 percent certainty, that nobody in the Auburn media is eager to spend the next three weeks covering a coaching search that may or may not include Tuberville. There is no agenda. Newspapers in Texas report this stuff. We react to that. No agenda. Just ... life.

People who email me today asking about Tuberville's job status are getting the same answer: I'm guessing that he's planning to leave. That opinion is not based on facts yet. That is based on just how weird that press conference was today. Really awkward statements. Again didn't address the A&M situation despite a very blunt and direct question from TV's Mike Raita about the possibility of the A&M talk creating a distraction at Georgia. I remember how the Ole Miss people kept saying Tuberville was acting weird right before he left Oxford in 1998. A lot changes in nine years, no doubt, but things are not normal right now.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"and this team is not good when the defense isn't stout" ... Especially the secondary,IMHO.

Just another game ?!?!?! Not for me, living in Georgia this next year will be worse than the last 365 days have been!

4:16 PM  
Blogger Jay G. Tate said...

I can't believe he said that. He'll be hearing about that one for the rest of his Auburn career ...

4:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This really disturbs me. I don't think that he is going anywhere though.
1)He's too old to make a coaching change 2) He just finished building a very nice house here in Auburn 3) I don't think TAMU is going to give him enough money to get him to move after this game.
I went to the game and I can tell you that I have never seen Auburn implode like that in the 3rd and especially the 4th quarter. For the most part, Auburn stays competitive with high ranked teams. They might let an underdog beat them because they underestimated them(S.Florida, Miss State, Arkansas and Georgia last year), but doesn't get blown out. The coaches did not get the players mentally ready for the game. Period. It looks like Tubs wasn't mentally ready for the press conference either. No one at Auburn would consider Georgia just another game.

6:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Considering the fact that a quarter of our players come from the state of Georgia, I wouldn't consider that "just another game". The players we are recruiting in GA have seen us get blasted by UGA 2 years in a row. Might make their decision a little easier.

8:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tubs ought to be called the " the coach of a thousand excuses". He's got one for everything and some are downright creative. He ought to try this. I failed to have my team ready, or how bout this one." this is my fault. I'm tired of his excuses!!!

8:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, so not defending Tubs here, but the UGA game _was_ just another game in our 2007 non-championship season...

Auburn's not going to the Championship Game this year - we knew that going into the game. We're still second or third in the West (depending on the uat game), and as for bowl games, losing to Georgia doesn't make much difference. We're not going to a BCS bowl, we're not going to Orlando, we've still got the same shot at Dallas that we would have had if we had beat UGA. I, personally, would like to see us in Nashville again anyway, rather than Dallas.
Granted, the Georgia game is big because we want to beat our biggest rivals, (and I live in GA, I had to endure the pain at church on sunday AM) but if we're just looking at the 2007 season it just doesn't make that much difference who won last saturday.

7:22 AM  
Blogger Jay G. Tate said...

I don't think Dallas is happenin'. Teams don't attend the same bowl in consecutive years.

I'd say Auburn is looking at Outback or Peach.

As far as the UGA excuses, I thought that was an epic miscalculation on Tuberville's part. I still can;t believe he said that UGA is just another ball game. Wow.

8:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just another game? When I saw that, my blood pressure jumped by about 20 points. Having lived in Georgia, I hate losing to them as much as I hate losing to Alabama.

That said, Tuberville is paid very well to put a competetive team on the field every single game, not just some games.

1:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm as upset as anyone about Saturday's game, but is anyone that surprised?

For the most part, when Auburn loses games they lose badly. Like last year Ark and UGA, Miss St. this year, Ark in 03,etc.

My biggest problem with Tubbs arent the losses but rather the way in which the losses occur.

2:17 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

It shouldn't surprise anyone when we lose big.

On most teams the defense and offense take turns carrying each other throughout the year.

With Tuberville teams, if the defense has a bad day, its more than likely going to get ugly because his offense can't play from behind and can't score quick.

UGA almost gift-wrapped it for us to get back into that game on Saturday with penalties and the INT. If they hadn't done that it would have (and should have) been a LOT uglier than it was.

2:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doubtful Tubs is going anywhere:

1. Even Texas oilmen will not pay that kind of buyout.

2. Tubby had the best recruiting class in his history last year - he sees his best chance for NT in these guys. Why rebuild when he has already rebuilt and is on the threshold?

3. Big majority of fan base support him. So much that we ousted the president and the long loved and appreciated AD because they wanted him gone against our wishes. You cannot buy that kind of support.

He is not saying "no" publicly, because like any of us, even those of us who love our job, we love to get courted, and it will bring leverage to the bargaining table.

As far as the "this (Georgia) is just another game" comment, please understand something people: THAT is for the players, to let them put the loss behind them and concentrate on Bama. A great coach always uses the media for his own purposes!

4:55 PM  
Blogger AUQno4 said...

Why blame Tubs so much? He doesn't call plays for offense or defense. In most ways he's like Richt now, a figurehead. That being said he definitely got outcoached by Richt. We may have lost several Georgia recruits because of that game. To be honest though Tubs is right. If we're not competing for a championship that is just another game. I hated losing to Georgia but I was sicker after losing to LSU and MSU. Guys which is worse a 25 point loss to Georgia or Alabama? Blame the offense if you want to but they didn't give up 45 points. Where is that Muschamp fire during Georgia games? They've averaged over 40 a game with him as our defensive coordinator. We just looked gased.

1:16 PM  
Blogger Tar Heel Tiger said...

We'll beat uat next week for the umpteenth time in a row and all will be right with the world.

9:34 AM  

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