First post of the day, 10/7
Hey everyone. It's another Tuesday, which means you'll be getting more frequent updates today. Basic schedule: Players available at 10ish, The Head Coach available at 1 p.m. I'll summarize afterward. Sunday was probably the high-water mark in terms of interesting quotes.Tommy Tuberville will have to answer questions about Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino today.
He won't answer anything today as well as Pat Dye, who came straight while talking with the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday.
"We are in a mess,” the former Auburn coach told reporters yesterday. “We’re fixing to pay 700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street. We don’t know who to vote for president. Auburn and Arkansas — ain’t either one of them worth a damn. Y’all have had floods all down here, in Louisiana and Texas, and hurricanes, and floods up there in the midwest. We’re in the middle of a three-year drought where I live. And it’s still great to be an American.”
He also said of Georgia: ``They can score more points by accident that we can score on purpose."
I doubt he'll find any argument here.
Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
7:06 AM
25 Comments:
I really wish Dye would stop doing the Craneworks spots on Finebaum...its really getting downright disrespectful
I gotta agree. I dont hear them that often but the couple of times I have I ended up changing the channel. As far as his comment go, reading just what Jay posted, that's hillarious. Just telling it like it is! Anyway he is jsut a old country boy. By the way if we fire Franklin I think it's a mistake. Give it time, it may or may not work but GIVE IT TIME!
Dye had a hand in getting CTF over here. I've always wondered just how successful Dye wanted Auburn to be without him. But Auburn will never win SEC titles in a decade like it did in the '80s under Dye. Dye believed in having a little offense and airing it out from time to time.
Dye's segment on Finebaum yesterday was good.
What happened, Mark? I can't stomach that program but would enjoy some bits and pieces of the Pat Dye segment. Just the stuff prior to the Craneworks garbage though.
He basically said Auburn was a mess; that we had lost confidence. He said he had been there and that the worst part is you lose confidence in yourself as a coach.
He told the story of when Auburn started off number one and then had losses in the first two games to Miami and Texas.
One of the players came to him, almost in tears and asked him what we were going to do.
He said the only thing to do, is to fight through it. To come up swinging from the ground.
He was not derogatory to the current staff at all; but, matter of fact in his assessment.
As Paul said, he knows Pat well enough that when he wants to talk, Paul just lets him and yesterday was one of those days. You can listen to just that segment from his web-site.
Here is the link to the Dye part of Finebaum's Show.
DYE on FINEBAUM
AUBURN VS. VANDERBILT
I wanted to comment on the game between Auburn and Vanderbilt. In review, I said last week that watching the Mississippi State game might have given you stomach ulcers and that watching the Tennessee game was like passing a kidney stone. Well watching the Vanderbilt game was pretty much automatic onset diarrhea, mixed with a little Ebola virus, symptoms included bleeding from the eyes. Here are a few points from the game.
1. Tony Franklin – I figured why waste time lets get right to the source. Many of us scowl when we here this name or the name of his beloved spread offense, which is down right “offensive”, in the disgusting definition. After some thought I have now come to realize when I have kids I don’t want to sway them towards being a doctor or a lawyer. Nope, instead I plan on sending them where the big money is at; Dysfunctional college football coordinators. Think about it, you show just enough flash at a lower level position then get promoted to making $300,000.00 a year for a job that you don’t have to be that good at. Now even if Franklin gets fired he is still guaranteed all of his money. How sweet is that deal. That is the way to go. At this point even Al Borges is still getting paid his full salary. He’s just sitting around in Auburn at a local Chinese Buffet counting his money. Pretty soon in the game day program you will see an advertisement for a retirement home for Auburn Coordinators. It will be called the West Coast Spread Village. Its slogan will be “Where you can retire and still cash your check after we fired you”.
I hate to say it but I don’t think Franklin will be let go until the end of the season. Tubbs is no Donald Trump. He is almost too loyal to a fault. I thought it was comical that Tubbs did not let Franklin speak this week to the media. I don’t think Tubbs knew what he was getting when he hired such an outspoken coordinator who constantly falls own his own sword each week in his press conference. Its like buying that Parrot from the local pet store that you take home and realize some one has taught it multiple cuss words over the years. Who knows but we all know that after the 1st quarter Auburn went back to the spread, I think Helen Keller saw the result of the move. The fans know it, the players know it, the announcers know it, hell, and the other team even knows it. I don’t know the answer at this point. I think we are all shocked. Maybe we should let Pat Dye take Coach Franklin Bird Hunting on his ranch with Dick Cheney. Just kidding, we all feel the pain. The spread is a mirage at this point. To me as an Auburn fan, the spread may work, but just not here, not now, maybe not ever. Many of the programs that adopted the spread did so out of desperation. I don’t think Auburn was desperate. We needed a change I just don’t think this was the change was for Auburn. People always say in the south we don’t like change. I think in football that definitely holds true.
2. Wes Byrum – Yes, yes, we all know that if Wes hadn’t missed that extra point we would have been tied. But seriously in the end the way we were playing a tie would not have lasted long. It would have only prolonged the pain. At this point we have to face it. Wes is it; we don’t have anyone else better. If we did Tubbs would have used him. Maybe we should take a page out of an old Disney movie and find a donkey named Gus that can kick field goals and extra points. I don’t have answer. I have heard kickers are very fragile mentally. Maybe a call to Dr. Phil would help. I can see it now, Dr. Phil would say, Wes you “You need to listen to your body because your body is listening to you” or “You missed that extra point against Vanderbilt, How’s that working out for you?”. So I have no answers here. Just pray the kid snaps out of it.
3. Vanderbilt – Again I have heard some Auburn apologists say well that was a good Vanderbilt team. Please don’t insult our intelligence. No we are a bad Auburn team plain and simple. There is a reason they are a school for academics and not football. Did you see their game day atmosphere on television? They had a very small crowd, I suppose the library was still open or maybe there was a Star Trek convention near by. The posters they were holding were not very creative. I think many of their posters were biodegradable and they had math and chemistry formulas written on them. That same team we beat 35-7 last year. So there are no excuses. It is still Vanderbilt plain and simple.
4. Tubberville – Well many fans have been calling for Tubbs is departure. Yes as the CEO of the team he makes all of the decisions. So he should be accountable for the hiring of Tony Franklin and going to the spread. But I don’t think he should be fired. C’mon people that would not help at all. Many people have speculated that Tubbs is meddling and not letting Tony Franklin do his thing. I think we will never know till Franklin leaves and writes his tell all book, just as he did at Kentucky. I do think Tubbs is affected by it all. His look on Saturday night said it all. However, the one ray of hope on Saturday night was when he said sternly there will be major changes tomorrow. Then what happens, he opens his Sunday 3 o clock press conferences by saying there will be no changes. I was totally let down and so were the fans. It was like telling the Romans there will be no killings today at the coliseum. It was a bad move on his part. I can only hope things went on behind closed doors. It didn’t help Tubbs persona that he didn’t take this loss to heart. But I understand he has to protect his player’s soft egos. Tubbs has been known to do just enough to save his job. Think about it if you made almost 3 million a year you would do it too. If Tubbs has to dress in a cow outfit on Wire road and hold a sign that says eat more chicken and I’m sorry for hiring Franklin it might help. I believe he will pull another ace out of the hole. But we as Auburn fans can only stand losing the games we aren’t supposed to for so long. They call him “Big game Tommy” well he is also “Overlooked little game Tommy”.
5. Ben Tate – Well for the first quarter we saw what we had been looking for. Ben
Tate was running wild for first down after first down. Vanderbilt had no answer for what we were doing. He had 90% of his yards in the first quarter. Then to his dismay and the fans we never saw him again. It was like an episode of unsolved mysteries. He was gone used sparingly as a blocking back. Yes, that’s what we want our all-SEC running back to do, block and sit on the sideline. If you have seen Ben Tates interview you can’t tell me he is frustrated. He looks more out of place then a gay guy at a Hank Williams, Jr. concert. We should put out a bulletin to the coaches, Ben Tate is a junior, he wont be around much longer, please use him. I want to see all Ben Tate all the time. Ben Tate serving hot dogs, driving the bus, news, just give me more Ben Tate. Instead of more cowbell, we need more Ben Tate. Tubbs if you or Franklin say one more time “Well yea I wish would have gone to Ben more” I will scream.
6. Analysts – Watching the game we had to deal with terrible analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger. Kirk, lets be honest, he is not a big fan of the SEC. He either spends more time talking about other teams or games or he is too busy combing his hair and looking in the mirror calling himself beautiful. Poor Brent Musburger, not only does his name sound like a bad burger in a seedy diner but he rambles on and on about nothing. He will stop in the middle of a drive and tell us how the third string wide receiver had to overcome a fear of clowns to make it in football. We don’t care, just call the game.
7. Bama co-worker kit - I am sure many of you had to creep in the back door Monday to avoid your bama co-workers who were chomping at the bit. I have ways to deal with that. Don’t try to debate a bama fan as its as useless as pepper spray on a wild dog, it only infuriates them. Ultimately their only comeback will be something about 12 mythical national championships, which is what happens when you corner a bama fan. Ask them if Les Miles won with Saban’s recruits then who’s recruits is Saban winning with? Or you can ask them is Mike Dubose still teaching tee ball in Brundidge, Alabama or is Mike Price still looking for his free t-shirt with the10 table dances he bought. Ask them is Mike Shula the head maitre d at Shulas steakhouse. If all else fails ask them do they really think hounds tooth goes well with john deere green. If nothing else just state that until late November we still have bragging rights.
8. Defense – Because we had terrible analysts I didn’t know till late in the game that many of our defensive starters were injured or sick on the sidelines. No that wasn’t a mirage Saturday night that was almost half of our 2nd team defense was on the field. They played admirably but in the end there is a reason they are 2nd string, plus I saw a few freshman make freshman mistakes. For the 2nd straight week the 2nd string quarterback beat us. From now one we need scouting reports on every team’s backup quarterback. If LSU’s Hatch and Vanderbilt’s Nickson don’t go out with injuries I think we may have seen different outcomes. In the second half our defense backs played too soft on the pass and gave their receivers way too much of a cushion. You cant do that next week against a passing team like Arkansas. We need pressure on the QB, which we didn’t have enough of last week. It always helps when you have All-American Sen’ Derrick Marks on the field, which hopefully he will be able to play this week. By the way all Auburn parents should add an apostrophe in their kids name; it adds character and will confuse the hell out of their grade school teachers.
Look Ahead: This week is Arkansas. It’s on not on TV, thank god. If it was it should have a warning like on that show when animals attack. Arkansas has one of the leagues leading offenses, not in scoring but in yards and stats. Auburn has one of the leading defenses, when healthy. So I think it will be ugly. Maybe we can boo Petrino all the way back to pigville. Auburn needs this game. The team needs some confidence, especially the offense. The season gets a lot harder after this game. I hope we don’t overlook the hogs. Just for good luck I will eat a pork sandwich before the game.
Prediction: Auburn 17 Arkansas 10
Wait a second. There was a sign at Gameday that said, "Vandy Eats Hair 3.14159".
That's pretty damn creative, there.
Jay
Have you perused this post about TFs offense? Interesting. Thoughts?
http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/
...I'm still wondering the mystery of the found pants.
My problem with the article...
They keep comparing Franklin to Mumme and Leach, but when tuberville hired franklin he made sure that he was still going to run the ball and not run one of those "airraid" clown offenses. And the whole "he wasn't allowed to bring in his assistant coaches" thing, tony franklin knew that coming in. And wasn't it his "business" to teach coaches how to run the spread... he made a living off of that, he should be able to teach nall, gran and co. the same.
Jay, what happened to Colin Mickle from the O-A News? I saw their story on the new writer, but no mention of Colin. Apologies if I spelled his name incorrectly but I enjoyed his work.
Vandy was an average team at best.
I found the comments about Stoops at Florida having problems with Kentucky really intriguing. Troy certainly seemed to present the same problems against UGA, FL, ARK, etc. I wonder where we be if CTT had let Franklin bring his coaches and have total control.
a.) Collin left a few weeks ago to work in Mississippi. The HABOTN misses him. He was quite a Rock Band drummer.
b.) Taylor, yes we read that and yes we liked it.
c.) Another homer from PDWT. Best line: "(Tate) ooks more out of place then a gay guy at a Hank Williams, Jr. concert.:
That's pretty out of place.
Franklin can run this system. Point blank. Let him do it or let him go. That's all that really needs to be said.
The reason Swinton and PPL were a part of the offense in Fall Camp was due to the fact that we ran CTF's offense in Fall Camp. We ran it in the spring and Kodi was clearly good at it...better than Todd. Todd's arm boggled me then. In the spring game it was catch snap/pass, just like that. It worked.
preach it Crud! but i doubt that happens. this hybrid deal is going to be bad...very bad.
jay g, i saw 'Rock Band' and 'Guitar Hero' tees at Target on my lunch break. thought of you....aaawwwwwwwwww.
PDWT, i was actually listening to some Hank Jr. driving back from Target. much agreed on your assessment.
I don't like the meddling either, but let's be honest our three best skill players are our running backs (tate lester and fannin). Our offensive line is way better at run blocking out of a three point stance. And we don't have one receiver that's a good spread receiver (running the slip screens and making a play in space). You can make an arguement for fannin being a spread guy, but i don't see the infatuation with him. Add all that up and multiply it by noodle arm and the spread just isn't going to work this year. So for the sake of this season either franklin learns how to run his system out of power formations or the more meddling the better.
one more thing the lead blocker in the offset I last game was Tristan Davis... what's the point?
Tristan Davis is jut a hood ornament. So is Swinton. So is Slaughter even though he can't run a route of block a 5'9" DB. These guys are hood ornaments under Tubs/Nall/Gran reign.
Does anyone know why Finebaum has such utter and seemingly personal contempt for CTT? This not a whine or a flame. It's a real question.
Finebaum is a gimmick. He does whatever he can to get callers calling in upset, so he can outwit them.
When Auburn is down, he jumps on Auburn and the same when it's Alabama.
He plays on the emotions of people less intelligent than him, and gets them fired up so they will call in all emotional and he can rip them apart.
It's entertainment, not journalism. If you take it for what it really is, it can be a funny show.
Usually his writing is pretty on the level, but his show is for entertainment purposes only.
I don't think he dislikes the guy but Finebaum occasionally acknowledges that he plays to an overwhelming Bama audience.
Finebaum is a writer not an architect...when he builds something up it's only in anticipation of the fall. He's good at what he does disingenuous or not.
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