Excuses (Scott)

If there is one thing I hate most in sports, it is excuses. (Actually I hate flopping to draw offensive fouls in basketball more, but for emphasis I will exaggerate [lie], and elevate excuses to number one.) Winning is expected – regardless. Losing is offensive – regardless. College football coaches are notorious for the amount of excuses they offer every year. Each football season I have to listen to coaches talk about their lack of experience, loss of seniors, tough schedule, difficulty in finding quality opponents, rule changes, …. The list goes on forever. Tommy Tuberville is no exception. Last year the Tigers finished 11-2, which is a good record; however, it was not good enough to take the Tigers to Atlanta, in my opinion a disappointment. The team played well pretty often, and I am proud of a lot of the games they played. Never-the-less, they loss two games they could have won. The team could have gone undefeated, no excuses.

First I need to address Auburn’s non-conference schedule. I have discussed this at lengths before, and I will continue to do so. It is embarrassing. Washington State is an average team. It has never been more than an average team. They are a team that finishes with a decent record, but is rarely a threat to win the PAC-10. The other teams were: Buffalo, Tulane, and Arkansas St. All pathetic. Whenever talking about Auburn scheduling I hear an unbelievable preponderance of excuses. There is a great variety but they break down into two categories. The first attempt to excuse our non-conference schedules is to deny the problem. People brought up Washington State as if that silenced the issue. There is some saying about one rotten apple not affecting all the other apples. I ignore clichés so I can not recall it to memory, but the inverse of the proverb is equally true, one decent apple does not exculpate all the rotten ones. For this years upcoming season I already hear fans speaking in a manner that I assume only intends to deceive themselves – fans talking as if Kansas State or New Mexico State might give Auburn trouble. That is ridiculous. Auburn might play down to one of those teams, and keep it close for a little while, but neither team has any shot to win. If you honestly believe that either team has a decent chance to win next year, then as a fan you should get your sack clothe and ash ready, because you believe Auburn will be terrible. Some say the non-conference is not an issue because Auburn plays such difficult conference games. Yes there are difficult conference games every year, but let us not be so snobbish as to believe that every SEC team is a great team. This year Auburn will play Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss. More often than not, Arkansas is mediocre, and Houston Nutt will find a way to completely destroy every bit of success they enjoyed last year. Sure, there are tough conference games, but scheduling a quality opponent, will not create a schedule so difficult that the entire season is hopeless. In fact, losing a non-conference game is far more forgivable than losing to an SEC opponent. The sooner Auburn teams and fans stop worrying about the elusive “national championship” and start winning attainable SEC championships, the more respect Auburn will have around the country. Attempting to preserve the undefeated season is not worth boring the fans with games against Southwestern North Dakota State Community College.

The second excuse, one that Athletic Directors love to deliver, is that they tried, but no team wanted to play. As if every team in the nation is deadly afraid of Auburn. The last few teams Auburn scheduled home and home games with fared pretty well (Georgia Tech, USC, Syracuse). If teams like Texas and Ohio State can play each other, then Auburn can find championship contenders to play. The truth is that the Athletic Dept. is either to lazy to do the legwork to find quality opponents, or unwilling to make the necessary away game – both unacceptable. I have heard the argument that fans (especially ones donating large sums of money) would rather have more home games. This is not logical. No sane person would rather get up to watch Auburn play Tennessee Tech in person than watch Auburn play Oklahoma on television. If that person is a rich contributor, all-the-better, they can afford to travel to the game. Play a home-and-home series with a championship contender, and play no Division I-AA teams, no excuses.

At the end of last season, Auburn won a News Year Day Bowl, went 11-2, and had beaten the “national champion.” Yet listening to Tuberville, one would have been amazed we scraped together a win against Tulane. Unless you believe the LSU and Florida games were enormous flukes, then Auburn was at least capable of beating any team. Yet Tuberville would have us understand that we should be incredibly thankful that the team did not play embarrassingly worse. There was a time when coaches gave players credit for winning and took blame for losing (see most articles quoting Bear Bryant after win or loss); those days are over, and coaches are now too media savvy, too self-promoting, and too easily fired. They are able to, enjoy doing, and need to take credit. It is difficult to justify a several million dollar yearly salary. What I could only wish hearing last year was, “Good season, but could have been better. It will be next year.” Do not justify losing or patronize fans, no excuses.

This year I am already trying to acclimate and desensitize myself to the inevitably upcoming excuses. ESPN has recently rated Auburn’s schedule as the fifth toughest, and expect Hugh Nall to say at least 37,905 times that the line is inexperienced (which is true). Yes we lost a lot of linemen last year, and a lot of other players, but so did every other team in the nation. That is the nature of college football. Every player leaves in a few years. Despite this great teams are expected to be good every year, not once in every four years. If this seems impossible to you as a coach, then you should let it be known that you have no intention of being a great team. It should be no surprise that great teams are great because they constantly bring in great recruits. There have been plenty of teams with rosters of underclassmen to play great. Losing experienced players is unavoidable. Attract great recruits, no excuses.

As to this year’s aforementioned difficult schedule, get over it. Auburn has won in Georgia, LSU, and Florida before. Auburn has lost in Auburn before. Home field is valued at only a few points by the guys in Vegas who get paid to know more about football than you and I. Unfortunately, the schedule will cause many people to doubt Auburn’s chances this year, and some coaches will inevitably bring it up to justify a record, if it disappoints. For fans like me who vomit up the excuses that coaches feed us each year, Will Muschamp is a coach after our own hearts. “I don’t care where you play, it’s tough,” he recently said when asked about this year’s schedule. “The schedule is an excuse. I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it.” Just win, no excuses.

Whats the Difference between Auburn and Alabama?

Auburn agrees to pay 92.5 million for a new basketball arena, Bama agrees to pay 92.5 million for a liar.

Im excited about the new arena. It is scheduled to hold 9600 fans and was modeled after Duke's facility. It looks awesome, and the eye sore that is Beard Eaves Memorial Coliseum will be demolished eventually. The new arena follows campus aesthetics and wont look like a typical cylindrical basketball facility.War Eagle

Wow

My Hidden Affair (Scott)

I know this will come as a shock considering I have lived in the state of Alabama my entire life, but I watch the NFL. (I also watch the NBA religiously, but don’t let that get out – they lynch people around here for that.) My favorite team has always been the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like Auburn, Pittsburgh is traditionally a defensive minded team, with a run first offense, but to someone like me the two teams are nothing alike.

First I need to say that I hate offense. For the most part I can be counted on to hate everything exciting, entertaining, or generally attractive in football. I hate long passes; I hate trick plays; I even hate shotgun formations. Defense is the name of the game. I’m the kind of guy who gets my linebacker to win the Heisman in college football video games. Despite a similar team personality, defensively speaking Auburn and Pittsburgh have been night and day, giving me a peculiar split-personality. For the most part I can always count on Auburn playing hard nosed 4-3 man-to-man defense. Sure the occasional cover 2 or cover 1 from the safeties is to be expected but nothing too out of the ordinary. Who needs fancy tricks when superior athleticism and execution do the trick?

For a guy like me, Pittsburgh’s defense is like a guilty pleasure. In the 80s 3-4 defense was all the rage (NFL coach’s for the most part all do the same thing, they’ve practically all been running the same offense since Bill Walsh, and the whole league gets caught up in the same fads and trends); eventually most of the teams went back to the tried and true 4 defensive linemen, 3 linebackers, 4 defensive backs. Pittsburgh however, didn’t, and consistently had one of the best defenses in run stopping and pass rushing all throughout the nineties. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau made the “zone blitz” famous. So on Saturday conservative old Scott proudly watched his beloved Tigers stifling teams with 4-3 man, while a day later (on the Sabbath no less) I would secretly revel in the exciting 3-4 zone defense of Steel Town.

Perhaps the most important feature of the 3-4 is that on standard defensive plays you want to rush 4 men; ordinarily these would be the 4 defensive linemen, however with only 3 down linemen, the extra rusher comes from any one of the 4 linebackers or in rare occasions one of the defensive backs. The effect is that the quarterback does not know where all the rushers are coming from. Usually the defense plays in a zone relying on a quick and unpredictable pass rush to prevent the quarterback from exploiting holes in the zone (in the scheme speed and strength in the front 7 can make up for lack of speed in the secondary). See how the Steelers frustrated Peyton Manning in the 2006 NFL play-offs. Manning who has a made a career out of being able to read defenses and react, could not tell what the Steelers were doing.

Ok, Scott, you’re oddly obsessed with defenses, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that when Will Muschamp came to Auburn, it was hinted that he would bring a few 3-4 packages. My Auburn Tigers? 3-4? I didn’t really take it too seriously. When David Gibbs was at auburn he tried to use a system that would occasionally switch a linemen to a linebacker similar to what Bama did under Joe Kines’ defense. I think the system was a little too confusing, and we did not really employ it that much. Then Gibbs was gone a year later. Muschamp comes in and word on the proverbial street is to watch out for Quentin Groves to play linebacker in some 3-4 sets. Again, it was rare to see it in any important game situation.

However, now with a year under his belt I’m told to watch out for the Muschamp’s 3-4 again and I am getting scared. The 3-4 is the flashy woman I sleep with when I am away on business, but despite my unfaithfulness, I always love and come back to the 4-3. I know I can count on her. Of course my infidelity could remain a secret for only so long, and the football gods may be punishing me for the rest of my life. I’ve had to suffer through Tuberville running fake punts and attempting fourth down conversions, and whatever other football debaucheries he conjures up, but now the sanctity of the defense I have counted on for so long may be violated. A second middle linebacker will be running through the holy of holies.

I honestly do not expect to see the Tigers spend too much time in the 3-4, but Scott Looney favorite Sen’Derrick Marks has been moved to defensive end. In the 3-4 defensive ends are generally built more like defensive tackles as only 3 linemen are expected to engage 5 offensive linemen, so his presence at the end would be extremely valuable. Also we possess linebackers capable of playing zone coverage or rushing through offensive lines (Tray Blackmon can run through any offensive line and most brick walls), and the aggressive pass rushing will take some heat off our suspect secondary. My only fear is the ability to maintain the interior run defense, which is the obvious potential weakness when you take away one of the defensive tackles.

In conclusion, getting the best 11 players on the field regardless of position and not letting dogmatic conventions get in the way of in game adjustments is the best defensive philosophy. I expect to see Auburn stay, for the most part, showing the same defense it always has, but I’m coming to terms that I will see some zone, and I may even see an extra linebacker. Part of me will be abhorred, but deep in my football id I will be aroused, and I may even come to terms with my repressed desires. Just don’t expect me to like fake punts.

Random Thoughts

Sorry for the lack of posting. No excuses, I couldn't find time to post.

Spring Semester recap:

Auburn Basketball had a pretty good season, got jipped by the NIT (Bama lost in the 1st round).

New basketball arena scheduled to be built.

AU Football landed a top 10 recruiting class signing 30 recruits. Big names such as Kodi Burns, Lee Ziemba, Enrique Davis, Eltoro Freeman, Michael McNeil, Chris Slaughter, etc.

The football team had a good, albeit injury filled spring.

A new HD scoreboard was bought for Jordan Hare (its about time).

Auburn baseball starts off nice only to proceed to lose every SEC game thus far...great.

Surprise...not. AU men and women's swimming and diving win yet another National Championship.

My thoughts on spring practice:

-I was able to watch the A Day game and the final scrimmage. The offense looked great...the defense looked mediocre. However several defensive starters were out with injuries or held out just because.

- Brandon Cox had a great spring. He was extremely sharp. He showed exactly how injured he was last year. He has been moving around the pocket, throwing the ball down field (with great accuracy), particularly in the last scrimmage. His stats : 14/19 for 300 yds, 3 TDs, 0 INTs. His backups have been pretty bad. Which leads me to next thought.

-Kodi Burns will play some next season and will be the starter for the 2008 season. None of the backups will be able to match his talent. He is also a smart kid. I'm looking forward to watching him.

-The WRs took some steps forward. Rod Smith continues to be very dependable and has improved a lot as well. Tim Hawthorne started the spring out well, but got into a car crash and didn't participate in the rest of spring. Montez Billings had a good spring and Robert Dunn looked good int he final scrimmage. Prechae Rodriguez is still inconsistent.

- Mario Fannin is a hoss. In fact, all our RBs are pretty stout. I think Fannin and Tate will turn out to be fantastic players. Lester will also contribute a lot. Tristan Davis had a good spring after moving back to the offense.

- The O line had a rough spring but eventually started playing well by its end. There are still some questions there but Ziemba will be coming in to compete. From what I hear, he could start.

-The defense had an OK spring. # new linebackers stepped up and wowed the coaches. Patrick Trahan, Craig Stevens, and Chris Evans tallied numerous stops and big hits throughout the spring. If Tray Blackmon makes a return in May there will be nothing to worry about here.

-The secondary is returning a lot of experience and getting a big safety in Michael Mcneil. Theses guys a re solid.

-The D Line is also solid returning 3/4 starters including Quentin Groves. Once the entire Defensive unit is healthy, Coach Muschamp is gonna have these guys tuned in nicely.

The kickers are a big question mark. Walk on Ross Gornall has established himself as the guy to beat. Wes Byrum will be coming in and word is he has a big leg. The punting situation looks better with Ryan Shoemaker. The kick and punt returners will be good (Davis, Lester, Fannin)

-Next season's schedule will be rough. The home schedule is pretty bad and the away lineup is brutal. I think this team has a lot more talent than last year's and going to Atlanta is a definite possibility.

Auburn Basketball

The Auburn Men's Basketball team has had quite a season thus far. I myself have been to 15 or so games this year and I really like all that I have seen. This team is young and athletic, but far from prolific. They play hard, and that is a great thing to have. However, going beyond the court, these guys are trend setters. I recently learned from my big brother in my fraternity (he is a manager on the team) that the Men's team has started a Bible study. Furthermore, it was said that according to FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), Auburn is the only Division I-A men's team that has a Bible Study. I think that is awesome. I have the privilege of knowing a member of the team. I went to high school and played little league baseball with Drew Smith (#14). Drew is a quality guy who loves the Lord. He walked on as freshman, and he is the shortest white guy on the team, but he is a great player and person (one of the most humble guys I know). As it turns out, Drew is one of the main forces behind this Bible study. I've talked to Drew plenty of times throughout school and I always make it a point to tell him that I hope to get to see him play. Every time, his response has been that he is thrilled to get the chance to even put on the uniform and he is there for a reason. He has known from the beginning that aside from playing basketball he had another reason for being there. Now, we are starting to see it. It speaks volumes for the players and coaches. This is just another one of those things that sets Auburn apart from other places and school. This place is special. War Eagle.

Long Overdue

My apologies for not posting in a while. I started back to school and it has run my life. Here are some brief thoughts on the Cotton Bowl, which I attended, AU Basketball, recruiting, etc.

Cotton Bowl:

Not too much to say here. It was an ugly win, but a win is a win. An 11 win season is nothing to sneer at. That was actually quite an accomplishment considering the lack of big play makers. Also, remember, Auburn was the only team to beat to BCS bowl teams (LSU and Florida). Auburn was also the only team to beat the National Champ Florida Gaytors. I will say this about our bowl game. . . Will Herring was all over the field. The Iron and Cotton bowls to me saw Will playing the most comfortable at linebacker he had been all season. CT will be severely missed. He wasn't the deep threat we all wanted but he caught everything and his leadership is irreplaceable.

As far as the Blackmon/Lester/Sears suspensions, I hate to see it but Tuberville has made it clear he wont tolerate rule breakers. Sears is gone, but Blackmon is young and could have bright future. I think he will be allowed back provided he takes the proper steps to correct his attitude and behavior. On Lester's side, I just think it was grades. He will be a star next year. Kudos to Tubbs for skipping the ice cream cone punishment philosophy.

Bama:

The activities recently by Alabama are disturbing. Granted they got the coach they wanted. That's all fine and dandy. Frankly, Nick Saban doesn't scare me, or any other Auburn fan or player. Players win games, not coaches. Alabama showed just how desperate they are by investing so much money (which could have gone to better the school or give academic scholarships to those who deserve it) in a coach who has proven he isn't long term material. I just think its absurd to pay that much. After all, it is a UNIVERSITY whose goal is to educate. It just seems like the priorities are out of order. Paying Saban 4 million a year is taking a lot from deserving students and new buildings on campus. Also, Saban attitude toward recruiting this year is pretty classless. His philosophy is if they haven't signed, they are fair game. Now that is a true statement, but I have read some articles about the stuff he is telling players. It is pretty ballsy.

AU Basketball:

Man. It is great to see some success here. The Bama game the other night was phenomenal. First sellout since 99 when Chris Porter was here. The atmosphere was great. That was the first time seeing the place full so that was a great experience. I haven't seen an AU basketball team play that well in a long time. I have been to about 13 or 14 games this season. The team is very young and athletic. They aren't flashy but they play hard. Against Bama, they could do no wrong. The Florida game, well wasn't so great. It also sold out. Attendance was 11,700 which was the largest crowd since 94. But Auburn didn't play near as well as they did against Bama. I will say that the Officiating was awful. I'm not claiming that it cost us the game, but the poor calls kept us from having chances to make a comeback. But good things are ahead for the program. Maybe a long shot chance to get into the big tourney or at least the NIT.



Recruiting:

I'm sure everyone knows we picked up a big commitment from Lee Ziemba, a 5 star lineman from Arkansas. Also, Enrique Davis reaffirmed his commitment to Auburn and add in the promise from Kodi Burns and Auburn's 2007 class is top 10 material. Expect a few more commitments this week to solidify a strong class. I will post a breakdown on each player after signing day.

That's all for now. 2007 outlook coming soon.

By the way, if you haven't ever checked out theauburner, you should. Those guys are geniuses.