Watching Auburn play like Iowa State of the past two years is simply the confirmation of a miracle. Don’t worry, unlike Auburn, ISU still has plenty to play for this year.

I’m simply voicing my gratitude to the Auburn faithful. I can’t voice it enough.

Earle Bruce, Johnny Majors and Pop Warner aren’t just “some ISU coaches.” Any real football fan would know that.

To Orange…

Yes, I think we were fortunate the running backs were churning out yards. Fortunate because the scheduling gods smiled on Auburn. In case you were wondering, the running backs continued to churn out yards until this week — to no avail.

Todd hit receivers in stride against Ball State, WVU and Louisiana Tech. Not so much Tennessee, MSU, Arkansas, Kentucky or LSU. Teams with better speed figured out his progressions and have since denied him the first read. After that, he panics.

Catches we haven’t seen in 15 years? Good grief. Don’t be ridiculous. Devin, Ben, Courtney and Anthony all made quality catches. Maybe you’ve forgotten Ronney Daniels. There’s not a receiver on Auburn’s roster right now who could carry any of their water.

Perfectly disciplined? Eric Smith suspended. Byron Isom suspended. How many kids booted off the team? Auburn has played sloppily on both offense and defense in patches all season long. Perfect discipline? No.

What are you talkiing about handing the ball to referees and helping people up? What does that have to do with the price of bread in Nairobi?

Maybe Auburn can turn things around. At this point, however, there is no evidence to suggest that it is about to happen.

No one gives a damn about any ISU sayings, and Texas lost like three games in each 06 and 07, after Chizik left.

You don’t know anything about real muscle, or anything about meaningful November football.

So you’re saying we weren’t great, but fortunate? We were FORTUNATE that our running backs were churning out yards? We were FORTUNATE that Todd was hitting our receivers in stride? We were FORTUNATE that Adams and Zachary have been snatching down amazing grabs that none of us have seen in at least 15 years? We were FORTUNATE that we were perfectly disciplined? FORTUNATE to have minimal penalties on both sides of the ball? FORTUNATE to get up and immediately hand the ball to the referees, and pick up every fallen teammate?

The offense that hung up scores of 37, 49, 41, and 54, and then 26 on Tennessee, is NOT the same offense that came out flat against Arkansas, gave up against Kentucky, and got held out of the end zone against LSU. They’re NOT the same.

Maybe you DID get all happy and delusional. The rest of us didn’t. The rest of us saw what we saw, and now we’re seeing something different.

We have some problems, all of which — save defensive depth, which is a problem that we are capable of coping with (see first five games) — have emerged after the first five games, and all of which can be fixed. All we need is our discipline, a healthy quarterback who’s looking forward instead of backwards, and a heap more running plays slapped onto the game plan, and we will have our swagger back and be the same team that made all those catches, broke all those tackles, scored all those points, and truly was GREAT.

Gene Chizik is a September coach in a November league.

To quote another great former ISU coach, Johnny Majors, “The first thing any coaching staff must do is weed out selfishness.” Kind of hard to weed out selfishness when the HC himself is looking out for number one.

To quote one last ISU great, Pop Warner: “You play the way you practice.”

Until Auburn puts the pads on in practice, until they do the dirty work of learning fundamental tackling, until they lift weights for football muscles instead of beauty contests, they’ll keep playing this way.

Keep in mind that Texas improved the year after Chizik left. So did Iowa State. Trend?

We were NOT a great team through five games. We were a fortunate team playing horrible defense.

La. Tech and Ball State were gifts. Anybody should beat them. Mississippi State at that stage of the season, too. That’s three.

West Virginia handed that game to Auburn on a silver platter. Auburn had to take the game, yes, but lost in the excitement (and lost by me as well) were some significant issues that have since kicked us in the gut.

Tennessee simply wasn’t ready to win. If they’d played the way they did in the fourth for even one more quarter, that would have gone badly.

If Todd’s shoulder is really that damaged, then he should come out. If the coaches aren’t capable of seeing that and making that call, what does that say about them? If YOU can say for certain that his shoulder is injured without having access to the reams of medical information readily available to the coaching staff, then why is it they are not able to reach the same conclusion?

I don’t know that what we wanted to see at 5-0 is really what we were seeing. Maybe we saw something that really wasn’t there at all because we desperately wanted to. That’s the classic definition of a mirage.

I am real. Very. I’ve got nothing to prove to myself or to anybody, really.

I won’t be reading any more of Strickland’s blogs. I’ve lost all respect. He’s just trying to prove to himself that he was right with his own pessimistic predictions from before the season.

The only disappointing thing about our play the last three games is that we haven’t given another quarterback a chance to run the offense, because it’s very clear that Todd’s shoulder is out again. Hopefully we’ll see some of Caudle next week. And say what you will about Kodi Burns, but he can complete all the BS dumpoffs that Todd’s been completing the past three weeks, as well as give us another running threat.

Regardless, we were a GREAT TEAM through the first five games. The differences between the team from the first five game and the last three are VERY clear. There is no doubt in my mind that we can solve these few problems very easily, and return to being a great team again down the stretch.

Quit trying to be cool with your pessimism, and be real.

My job is to analyze last night’s game and offer my opinion on the team. That’s why I write.

What would you have me do? Paint pictures of kittens? Describe the awesome way Chris Todd jiggles when he’s being indecisive? Marvel at the way the defense runs behind the LSU players to make sure they get into the endzone?

Nothing condescending unless you take it that way.

Our fundamental disagreement as you put it is that I asked you for quantifiable, logical reasons for your anticipation of improvement. You gave me “I think” and “I feel” That’s really nothing but vapor.

I’m open to hearing it. Explain it. What is it about Chizik that inspires your confidence? What in his resume do you see that leads you to believe he — or anybody on this staff — is capable of making the adjustments needed to reverse the slide.

Was it his experience at Iowa State where that team got worse every single day he was there? Was it Malzahn having “his” offense taken away from him by Nutt?

If there’s something I don’t see, I’d be glad for you to point it out. Your feelings and hopes aren’t tangible enough.

I’ll be back again later this week for further analysis. I’ll preview the Ole Miss game. And I’ll analyze the aftermath.

It’s what I do.