Auburn, Truth Or Fiction

When I wrote "Auburn is This Years Alabama", and predicted an eight win season pre season, I got a lot of hateful attention. Most of it was from Alabama and Florida fans, but some was from Auburn fans as well. The one theme that was common to each one was "You are a fool, Auburn will be lucky to win five games this season and Gene Chizik will be fired at the end".

You can not blame any of them. Alabama fans thought Auburn had been vanquished for at least a decade after finally ending the humiliating six game loosing streak to their cross state rival. Nick Saban has come to town to save the day and bring back the seventies domination of Auburn. Florida was sure Auburn would not rise any time soon to put a blemish on future National Championship teams like they have done in the past. Life was good every where but down on the plains.

Auburn fans had suffered through a humiliating season with a loss to Vanderbilt, a blow out at the hands of West Virginia and a humiliating defeat at the hands of Alabama where Auburn failed to even score. It was the most one sided game in the history of this rivalry of all rivalries. Tommy Tuberville was allowed to resign "Fired, Forced Out, Canned etc..". He had been one of the most successful football coaches in Auburn History. Most fans were further demoralized to find that Tommy Tuberville had gotten lazy on the job and recruiting was in a shambles as well. Auburn, once a stable of talent deep at every position, was considered one of the least talented teams in the SEC. Most Auburn Fans were so low they could see no change possible for years to come. Worse than that cross state rival Alabama was picking out what recruits they wanted at will it seemed young players were fighting to go to Alabama again. Auburn was relegated to competing for Athletes with Troy, UAB, South Alabama and worse than that, were loosing. It seemed no promising young player wanted to come to Auburn.

Next came the results of the coaching search. Auburn had chosen Gene Chizik, he had been a valued member of the Auburn Team years earlier. The problem was he had taken a head coaching job at Iowa State and promptly spent the next two seasons winning a total of five games and loosing the recruiting battle with Iowa as well as every other major University in the area. It was more than some Auburn fans could take. Once well thought of, Gene Chizik was looked at with all the fondness of the plague. Most fans wondered "why fire Tuberville for winning five games last season and hire this man who has only won five in the last two seasons?". Life was bad on the plains. Most fans closed their eyes and ears to avoid the pain and humiliation.

Gene Chizik had learned his weaknesses at Iowa State. Moving to Auburn was in some ways a way to start over. He commenced to hire a staff that could shore up his weaknesses. He started doing new and innovative things to get young players attention. He hired out going, energetic personalities to his staff. He hired Gus Malzhan as the offensive coordinator. The whole staff hit the ground running and salvaged a decent recruiting class. Tommy Tuberville had been padding the recruiting rankings by signing highly talented players that could not meet academic requirements. If these players were removed from Auburn's recruiting classes from 2005 on it put Auburn squarely in the thirties. Gene Chizik and staff improved this before fielding a team. They also created commotion with antics and brought attention to the program.

Gene Chizik is now into the fourth game week of the football season. Auburn is on the short list of many recruits. The program has started to build a hip reputation across the country. Gone are the days of of 3-2 defensive games. Excitement is reverberating in the stands and on the field, but more importantly across the high school landscape. It is unlikely Gene Chizik will out recruit Alabama this year, but Auburn is becoming the school of choice for players who consider Nick Saban a little stiff for their taste. This has already landed Auburn some much needed talent. The new offense is exciting and more and more high school players are talking about being a part of it. Coaches Like Trooper Taylor are bringing an energetic feel to the program.

Three games are now past and three victories are posted. The score on these is technically mixed. Auburn burned Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State for a blow out win. Last week Auburn started badly. Spotting West Virginia 14 points and looking inept on many fundamental skills. The mistakes made were too many to list. The score was so one sided so quickly I thought about leaving and going home after sitting through the previous deluge and a long delay. I felt sick at heart, in the past Auburn teams had a tendency to give up under such circumstances. The examples to prove this point abound.

Then Auburn answered, it was just three points, but it was an answer. I decided to stay and see just how badly this turned out. Half Time rolled around with a lot of sloppy play behind both teams and West Virginia only ahead one point. I reflected on how this seemed to be a different Auburn attitude. The team came back on the field and proceeded to out play West Virginia. They did not do this with perfect or even good execution. They did not do this with superior speed or skill. They did this with heart. These players were playing for their Coaches and School. They simply refused to loose even when everything was going wrong. We had missed tackles, missed sacks, missed assignments, poor footing and they still fought back. They won this game uuuugly! To me this said more than the previous two games. This rumble in the mud stated without a doubt this team has character. This group of young men cared. The cared about letting down their Coaches. They cared about letting down their school. Most of all they cared about letting down themselves.

This told me all that I need to know. Auburn is back and Gene Chizik is building a winning program with winners for players. I know that I said I would reserve judgement until later in the season, but sometimes you just know what you know. Gene Chizik is at Auburn to do a job and he has began to do just that. The School, the players, the Athletic Program will be better for it. I still say Auburn will win eight or more games this year. The difference is, that is not important now. I know the Auburn program is headed in the right direction the right way. Fun is again the first word of Auburn Football. Excitement is the rule not the exception. Every Auburn fan should go to the plains and wave a towel this year. Win, loose or draw I promise you will enjoy and like what you see. The Eagle is flying a little higher these days.