This is gonna be fast, because it’s Friday afternoon. But there’s too much that needs passin’ on to wait until Monday, so:
Take that, you stupid Achilles. As expected, Aairon Savage has been granted his sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA after his back-to-back season-ending injuries. It very much remains to be seen if Savage can return to even contributing-form much less his SEC All-Freshman form, but if he can? Given the current state of Auburn’s secondary depth chart? It’ll be like Gene Chizik put on his winter coat for the first time in months and found a hundred dollar bill and a functional nickel package in the pocket.
Ditto. So I was going to write a post breaking down Alabama 2009 vs. Auburn 2004 after Chris Low (who else?) ranked this year’s edition of the Tide the best SEC team of the decade … nevermind that the ’04 Tigers were every bit as good on defense (score-wise) and clearly leagues more talented offensively, and never came within a blocked field goal of a defeat or trailed an unranked team for 58 minutes. It’s close, sure. But I am Homer McHomerson and I say Auburn ’04 was better.
But nevermind about the post: Acid pretty much already did my job for me. Read what he’s got instead.
Elsewhere in the BlAUgosphere. Dude, PPL is just killing it lately: the Schmineschmaum flowchart from yesterday and the Auburn hoops Mad Libs from today are both what the suits at ESPN Classic would call “Instant Classics” if they were, you know, sporting events instead of Auburn-blog photoshops. And did you know two other schools use the same interlocking A-U logo we do? Now you do. Like I said: killing it.
I wish Ben had saved this little dig for one of his TWER columns, but oh well:
He is a South Carolina fan. Which is just sad really. It’s like having scabies. South Carolina fandom is an itch that never goes away, no matter how much you scratch.
I believe the phrase is “LOL.”
And JRS reminds you of the greatest baseball card of all-time. It would be good without the snake because of the beard, it would be good without the beard because of the snake, but together?
Here at TWER: Jeremy digs into Auburn’s connection to a Connick Jr.-Zellweger rom-com, he reprints a must-read Plainsman review of Catcher in the Rye on the occasion of J.D. Salinger’s passing, and J.M. revisits the career of the immortal Man or Astroman? before their March reunion shows. Read or lose.
Your daily dose of random. Enough time has passed that we can have a chuckle at some of the, uh, missteps in Gene Chizik’s time at Iowa St., right? I hope so, because I’m sorry, but I can’t stop laughing at this:
Via BHGP. And oh, what the hell, a Random 10:
1. Bohola, “The Bushes of Jersualem”
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, “Yankee Go Home”
3. David Byrne and Brian Eno, “Life Is Long”
4. The Strokes, “Hard to Explain”
5. The Clash, “Jimmy Jazz”
6. Neko Case, “Maybe Sparrow”
7. They Might Be Giants, “We Want a Rock”
8. Coldplay, “Yellow”
9. Franz Ferdinand, “Do You Want To?”
10. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Travelin’ Band”
Enjoy your weekend, folks.
Something else everyone should check out;
On the auburntigers.com homepage, in the little All-Access video box, is a little free three-minute Every Day clip on Antonio and Ben Tate at Senior Bowl practice. Everyone should check it out, and make sure you watch it through the very end.
Actually, Jerry, I think Chris Low beat you to the Homer McHomerson title, too, with his typically Tennessee lean and mancrush on Eric Berry.
I think one thing that people need to consider during this debate is the type of coach Tuberville was. He NEVER ran up the score. He would put the brakes on after a ten point lead. The thing is, with the 2004 team, how do you put on the brakes there? You couldn’t. These guys would still score playing vanilla. There’s a huge difference in how the 2004 Auburn team played with a lead and how this the 2009 Bama team and 2008 Florida teams played with leads. Auburn gets the nod because of this.
Umm… 2004 Auburn gets the nod over 2009 Bama because… 2009 Bama wasn’t really that good. I mean, really, they weren’t. They’re the most default, unmemorable champions than I can remember in the BCS era. They’re just so FORGETTABLE. Like, who are the NFL prospects coming from this squad? McClain? That’s it?
Add on to that a coulda/woulda/shoulda lost FOUR times during the season (UT/LSU/us/Texas – yes, Texas; that game wouldn’t have been “different” if McCoy had played, it would have been an “ass-whoopin” if McCoy had played. The freshman almost beat them. And that was after the pick six shovel pass.)
As far as the best team of the decade, it’s gotta be 2008 Florida. They were just slaughtering folks. Then 2004 Auburn, because, good Lord, look at all the talent. And right behind them would be 2006 Florida. I think we underestimate them because we witnessed them lose, but other than that game, they, too, were just slaughterin folks. And LSU 2007 was a great team too; forget the two losses, because 2007 was the deepest the SEC ever was I’d say. Then 09 Bama. I guess.
PPL really believes that sports media in the state of Alabama is fair and balanced vis a vis the Auburn Tigers?
REALLY?
If so, the dude is WAY too far inside the bubble to even have clue one. That’s the only explanation. Like asking someone who worked for Pravda whether or not the USSR press was fair and balanced. Because the vast majority of sports media in the state of Alabama is so damned far in the tank for bammer and has their heads so far up $aban’s rectum it’s ridiculous.
Dear sweet lord, this is one of the reasons why Auburn does have such a terrible, constant climb uphill in-state… because some Auburn people just refuse to recognize the obvious.
AubOrange,
1997 was the deepest year for the SEC. In total, including bowl games, SEC teams lost 5 non-conference games. Five… total… out of 42 games. That’s an astounding 88% non-conference winning record. I doubt we’ll ever see another year where the conference is that deep.
And if it hadn’t been for Peyton Manning’s go-ahead TD with 3:46 to play, Auburn would have claimed the toughest SEC Championship ever.
Elvis —
You’re probably right. I guess I was just thinking in terms of this decade when I said that, but I didn’t specify that.
Truth is Bama easily could have lost two last year. Almost every other kicker in the country at least gets it airborne enough to clear Cody’s lard ass (the local sports talk guys were laughing at how big his “man boobs” are from the weigh-in pics at the Senior bowl.) And, UTx had them on the run in the champ game. Good team? Sure. One for tne for the ages-nah.
JB
Speaking of Cody’s lard ass, the draft talk about him at the Senior Bowl has been hilarious. I’ve been saying all year that he’s a fourth rounder… And now everybody finally sees it.
I like the They Might Be Giants on that list Jerry, though i was the only one that listened to them.