2010 Lookback--Kentucky

We Reviewing all 13 games. This week, the road trip to Lexington.

Now this was a fun trip.

Going in... Auburn had a road game at a fairly tough place to play, but we felt pretty good about it going in. We were looking forward to our Lexington stay with the my good buddy Jeff, also known as the most interesting man in the world.

What happened.... We discovered Kentucky fans cared more about tailgating for horse racing than football. We bet on some ponies and lost about three dollars. Cam Newton was again outstanding, but the Auburn defense looked suspect. We won the game, but lost our car (for a few minutes anyway), and headed home undefeated and the highest ranked SEC team (thank you Gamecocks!).

What did it all mean? Auburn to this point was still a question mark. We could score points with anyone, but were we elite? Honestly I wasn't ready to say that after the win in the Commonwealth.

I'm conflicted here

Obviously a pretty good song, but these two guys just don't seem very street to me. Check it out...

2010 Lookback-La-Monroe

January 10th keeps getting closer! Until then, we're looking back at the season. This week, cupcake city, also known as La-Monroe

Going In... We knew this would be a W. We wanted to rest some guys and not get anyone hurt. Rob packed up the family and headed down for the game. Rob's wife Dana the terminator ran from Chelsea to Auburn in 45 minutes (not really, she's not Kenyan)

What Happened...Mission accomplished as far as the game was concerned. Rob's kids made it through the coin toss and were ready to go.

What did it mean? Auburn looked rock solid, sharp, and did exactly what they needed to do against an overmatched opponent. Cam flashed some passing ability, didn't run the ball once, and Auburn was 5-0 going into the meat of its schedule.

2010 Lookback--South Carolina

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We're continuing our season review of 2010. Today it's game #4, the OBC and the Gamecocks.

Going in...Auburn was facing a tough opponent at home again. Our Tigers already seemed battle tested, but Spurrier had the Gamecocks looking tough with a home victory over Georgia. Frosh RB Marcus Lattimore was the real deal. Alshon Jeffrey looked like a rising star. Stephen Garcia looked like he needed a shower.

What Happened...Once again, Auburn spotted an opponent a two touchdown lead, but took total crontrol of the game in the second half, forcing 4 turnovers in the fourth quarter, Spurrier amazingly pulled Garcia in favor of his freshman QB with a haircut that would make Johnny Unitis proud. He threw two picks on the final two SC drives.

Cam Newton became the Cam Newton we all hoped he would. Michael Dyer won the battle of freshman running backs.

In other news my wife yelled at me for not changing the battery on a beeping smoke detector in the 4th quarter.

What did it all mean...Auburn suddenly emerged as the challenger to Bama in the SEC West. An offense that was clicking covered up some serious holes in an albeit opportunistic defense. We were all glad that we wouldn't have to see the Gamecocks again ;).

2010 Lookback-Clemson

We're reviewing all 13 games of the 2010 season up to the BCS national Championship Game. Today we'll look at Game 3.

Going in... I was pumped about this one because: #1 the Mrs and I were actually going down to the game. #2A college friend of my wife who is a huge college football fan (specifically Clemson) was joining us. #3 We had a free place to stay.

We still had many uncertains about Auburn as a team. Clemson was also a mystery because they had played no one. All we knew was they had a pretty good baseball player as a QB and a ton of talented players on defense.

What happened... Clemson jumped out 17-0, I contemplated bailing at half. Our friend Margie was cheering like mad during the first half. If I didn't like her so much I would've dumped my drink on her. We looked absolutely awful.

In the second half, Margie got really quiet for some reason. She turned and told me during the 3rd quarter that she would've cut me but she likes my wife too much. Auburn roared back and won it in OT, as Clemson's kicker proved he is no Wes Byrum.

What we learned...That Auburn has some serious cojones for coming back like that. The offense that was throttled in the first half showed that it could be brilliant in the second. We did just enough to win, for sure. Looking back now it was one of those season changing games. If we lose at home to Clemson, we probably go 9-3. We also saw th Auburn defense begin a season long tradition of disabling (literally) opposing quarterbacks.

2010 LookBack--Mississippi State

We're reviewing perhaps the most magical season in Auburn football history. Today, the now hated Mississippi State*.

Going into this game...Rob said a fast start for AU would be key. I was worried about Thursday night games on the road. I also gave the knuckleheads on the roundtable a hard time for bumping Rob in favor of other former AU players to do their commentary. (That and picking Auburn to lose)

What happened...Auburn got up early and went into slowdown mode. The offense basically went into a shell and relied on the defense to win the game (and a couple of key Bulldog missed opportunities). Some guy named Fairly emerged as a defensive nightmare for opposing qb's. I was left wondering why Gus would slow us to a crawl and speculated that maybe he was keeping the training wheels on Cam for his first road game.

What did it mean? Still more questions than answers. The D looked better in week two. The offense looked mediocre, but a road win in the SEC is nothing to sneeze at, and we were 2-0 staring a very tough two game stretch in the face.

*Sour grapes much? I hope you are all happy, Joe Schad staked his journalistic integrity on you guys. That egg on his face is all your fault, Mrs. Mullin. Oh and congrats on being promoted from Coach's wife to "recruiter".

Lookback 2010-Arky St.

Figured we'd kill time by briefly looking back at the 2010 season, game by game. We'll try to do this for all 13 before January 10th.

Going into this game...We just weren't sure what we could expect. This new guy Newton, was he any good? Would he be another Daniel Cobb? Would the defense be any better? What did we know for sure? That our buddy Matt has an awesome man-cave. That and fantasy football draft nights can cause an awesome hangover...

What happened? Auburn's offense steam-rolled, the defense looked no better than the 2009 version. We got our first look at Cam Newton. Rob and I had lots of patients the following Monday, because it was so awesome it caused people's eyes to bleed.

Going forward, what did it mean? This Auburn offense may be the best ever, but the Defense may be a liability, and cost us a few games. Matt requires smoked chicken wings from the green egg in exchange for getting to use the man-cave. Done and done, sir.

Bama Fan wakes from 3 month coma....

http://bidgoodbob.blogspot.com/2010/12/bama-fan-wakes-from-3-month-coma.html

I spit my coffee all over my screen to this one.

Classic from LSU freek

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2010/12/8/1864503/lsufreek-on-urban-meyer#comments

SEC Title Review: (AU 56 SC 17)

Congratulations to the most resilient football team in America. SEC Champions with a perfect 13-0 record!! Complete domination over the Eastern Champ Gamecocks. You made a statement to those who doubted resounding from coast to coast...your preparation and execution, your passion and love for one another, your representation of Auburn University, those that have come before you, those that will try to emulate you, those that can only follow from a distance to those in attendance wherever you play is to be and will be admired for decades to come.

Your reward...a trip to play for it all and carry the SEC banner for its fifth straight national title. And because of the success this conference has had in national title games, you will be rooted for by no one beyond the SEC states. All the other conferences will root against you. The media will set you up for a fall. Even most of the SEC will root against you...at least in the state of Alabama. For any other team, I may worry the weight, the pressure would be too much to carry. But this team has more character and desire to prove themselves week in and week out, my level of worry is nonexistent.

Watching the offensive explosion in the Georgia Dome was a thing of beauty! Gus Malzahn on a script to begin games is mind blowing. Allowing him a month to prepare for Oregon will be exciting to see. And the defensive play was solid once again. You limit a team to yards through the air alone, cutting off the running game at the knees, and you're gonna win the vast majority of your football games. This defense gets that. Kudos to Craig Stevens and T'Sharvan Bell. Your level of play has been stellar as of late and an enormous reason we've been successful as a unit.

I have to agree with Dr. Z that Cam is a top 10 pick. In fact, before the season began, Coach Malzahn actually said if Cam developed like he thought he would he would be a top 3 pick. If I'm a NFL GM I have no hesitation in building my franchise around this guy. His value in marketing alone would reap any team enormous financial gains. He's well spoken, humble, a man among boys on the field, and I've heard my wife state on several occasions how good looking he is.* If a team would take a chance on a battering ram in Tim Tebow in the first round, there's little doubt a team will jump onboard the Newton train within the first 10 picks.

So we should soak in this team, this magical season, this once in a lifetime quarterback. Enjoy this championship and enjoy the memories this team created for each of us. Enjoy the fact our brethren of the crimson persuasion are in utter torture watching what the Tigers have accomplished. Enjoy how quickly Coach Chizik not only closed the gap that existed between Auburn and Alabama, but surpassed the Tide one season removed from a national title. Enjoy Christmas and New Years knowing a well-grounded, humble Auburn unit will play for it all to begin 2011. I know I will. Thank you 2010 SEC Champion undefeated Tigers for making this year a special one for the Auburn Family.

SEC Championship Edition

Wow. Full discretion here. I thought we would win this game, but 56-17? That was quite a performance.

Cam was near perfect. He is so much better than he was early in the year it's scary. He looked average in the first half of the Clemson game, but I have never seen a guy develop so quickly as a passer. He throws lasers. He shows touch. He is precise. He is a top ten draft pick I hate to say. Combine the fact that he is off the hook awesome and the crap he's had to deal with (bite me joe Schad), no way he stays for a senior season.

Defensively, or best performance of the year. Far and away. I love the pressure. It almost appears a light went off in Ted's head about it. Who knows? But the defense makes me feel more and more comfortable these days.

Not a whole lot more from me. We'll have more breakdowns in the weeks to come. I look forward to the next month of basking in the glow of our greatest season yey.

War Eagle Auburn fans, and savor the flavor because for us, it doesn't happen very often.

SEC Title Preview-Future's Open Wide

Rematch time. Anyone else sick of ESPN? I know we've talked about it before, They also have trotted out people to contest and compare apples (USC case) to oranges (Cam case). This even promted the NCAA Pres to cme out with a statement saying it was not the same. So I say this with the utmost respect, Joe Schad, go %^$k yourself. You had a lousy source. Egg is on your face. We all know you're in CYA mode.

I don't buy all the rematch is better for the first time loser, at least not in this case. The make-up of these two teams is so different now. When AU played SC the first time, we were unsure about what we had in Cam. We found out what a great runner he was that night, but he is so much more now. He is multi-deminsional, and one heckuva passer. Ontario Speedwagon has also emerged, along with the development of Michael Dyer.

Carolina is also different. Marcus Lattimore is the real deal. Alshon Jeffries is arguably the best receiver in the league. Greazy Garcia has been better as of late as well.

This game could go either way, at least that's what the talking heads say. How many times have I hear this week what a great big-game coach the OBC is? I think that's true, circa 1995. I think this year the OBC has taken advantage of a super weak division. think about it for a second, if Florida, UGA, and Tennessee were their norma selves, what would Carolina's record be? My guess is 7-5 or 6-6.

On the other hand Auburn has come through the toughest West Division maybe ever unscathed, topping it off with the unthinkable (at least back in August) victory over the Saban Nation.

The key to this game starts and ends with Cam Newton. I have no doubt SC will score 21 points in the first half, because Ted Roof enjoys spotting anyone 21 points. Granted, I wish he wouldn't. Cam will make plays one way or the other. Another thing to keep in mind is the fastest of fast tracks in the Ga Dome. It is supposedly the fastest turf in football. Auburn has way more team speed. Don't be surprised to see Dyer or Speedwagon break a long one.

I also think given Garcia's injury situation, Nick Fairly will likely see to it he doesn't finish the game, but here's hoping he gives u a couple of turnovers before he leaves.

Auburn will stop Lattimore, but it will be intersting to see if Spurrier abandons the run. My guess is he'll chunk it around quite a bit.

If we don't turn it over, we win, plain and simple.

Auburn- 38
Chicken Tenders 28

Great Read

Check it out...

Money quote:
“Even if you guys were told the truth, you wouldn’t believe it,” said Bynes, Auburn’s star linebacker. “The truth doesn’t sell.”



Read more: http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/feed/2010-11/cam-newton-probe/story/truth-of-the-matter-newton-cleared-of-wrongdoing#ixzz16zgUJC4c

SEC Title Preview

First things first...Cam may have been cleared by the NCAA but Auburn is by no means out the woods just yet. In fact, Auburn is going down at the hands of the FBI on tax evasion charges. Simply put, Auburn has yet to pay property taxes on Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa...a stadium it has owned for 10 years now! My friends, we will undoubtedly be found guilty here.

Now, to the game. It's this simple. Auburn is a team of destiny. South Carolina is being credited as resurgent for beating up on a floundering Florida team that was just demolished by Florida State, Troy, and a Clemson team that has had the wheels come off of their season at 6-6. I watched Arkansas completely destroy South Carolina in all phases of the game in Columbia. South Carolina stands no chance! Auburn wins by three TDs.

South Carolina-24
AU-45

Hey Good News

As of December 1, Cam ruled eligible. Suck it Haters...

Uh oh, Bad News.

As of November 30, Cam ruled ineligible by Auburn University.