Chick Fil A Bowl Reax: Welcome back Trotter

Here's mild mannered Barrett Trotter around the beginning of the year...



Here's Barret Trotter after flipping the Obama play card for 6 weeks...



It's amazing what a little time off will do for a guy. I'm so proud for Barrett for staying so even keeled throughout the season. Somewhere in the Clemson game he lost all confidence, somewhere in the Georgia Dome he found it, and Auburn has some serious momentum going into 2012.

So for a little while let's forget about coordinators, Mike Dyer, and two arch rivals playing each other in the game that belonged to us only a year ago, and savor the flavor of the best game our Tigers played all year.

Passing thoughts...
-The defense still has a ways to go, but all in all they looked much better fundamentally on New Year's eve, especially in the second half. Maybe Chiz should pull a Saban and coach the defense while having a figurehead in place.

-Happy trails Guz. It has been a roller coaster. We all wish you well in Jonesboro Arkansas, wherever that is.

-Anyone else miss Mike Dyer the other night? Me neither. As the O-line grows up, I think we'll miss Dyer less and less if he chooses not to return.

-Virginia's defense is SLOW upfront. Barrett Trotter moved around like he was Andrew Luck (who may be the ugliest white man I've ever seen, but I digress). That #31 ranked defense looked pretty suspect to me.

-Do you know how ridiculous it is that a guy as big as Angelo Blackson can get back there to block a punt? He must a a freakish athlete.

So 2011 is in the books. 8-5 ain't great, but most of us will take it. Remember 50+ freshmen and sophomores saw a good bit of time for Auburn this year. That bodes well for 2012.

War Eagle everyone.

Chick-fil-A Bowl Preview

What an incredibly fickle year for the Auburn faithful! A year in which the Auburn Family experienced the pinnacle of college football as well as what has become synonymous with the worst in college football, Harvey Updyke (Winner of the Paul Finebaum Caller of the Year Award!). We saw four talented players destroy their lives with heinous, incomprehensibly poor decisions, as well as Auburn sign another stellar recruiting class tops nationally. We were introduced to the "bag man" and assured by "credible sources" our National Title would be stripped, and we celebrated as another Auburn great (perhaps the greatest) went on to become the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. We lost a key component to our defensive tenacity in Coach Rocker joining the staff of the Tennessee Titans, and had our curiosity piqued by the staffs unsuccessful attempt to lure Russell Wilson to run the Malzahn attack (our first clue to offensive problems on the horizon). We saw Barrett Trotter win a hard-fought QB battle only to lose his leadership role never to return, ushering in the Clint Moseley era. From scrapping back to pull off a shocker over Utah State to going into Columbia, SC and winning in big boy, old school fashion...beating a top 10 team on the road and going 3-2 through the most difficult October stretch in the country. From stuffing Mississippi State at the goalline to preserve the nations longest winning streak, to getting blown out to our biggest rivals. The NCAA closing its 13 month long investigation into Auburn and Cam Newton in which Auburn turned out squeaky clean in all things Cam related, to losing two coordinators, a five star recruit to Alabama (bless his heart), our best offensive player...all in two weeks! It's been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride!

All that to predict Auburn wins the Chick-fil-A Bowl. They win it going away. Yes, without Mike Dyer, down a coach, with an outgoing offensive coordinator...this team will play it's most inspired football game we've seen all season.

Defensively, no one has been more critical of Ted Roof than me...right here on this blog. I like Coach Roof, have met him, like his demeanor, the respect other coaches speak of when referring to him, the love his players displayed for him...but his time had come and Coach Chizik has lit a fire underneath this defensive unit. Listening to Auburn defenders trying to verbalize the stark differences between a Gene Chizik run meeting/practice and a Ted Roof meeting/practice has been eye-popping during bowl preparation. The "little things" had been neglected resulting in big (mostly bad) things on Saturdays (now going on three years). Playing defense is all about attitude and Coach Chizik will have these guys with the proper bent come Saturday night. I think it will be reminiscent of the effort we saw at South Carolina.

Offensively, this group will desire to send Coach Malzahn out in stellar fashion and I'm intrigued to see how it's accomplished with Mike Dyer no longer an Auburn Tiger. I have to believe we have more talent than Virginia and think a "hold-nothing-back" approach by Gus Malzahn could be a thing of beauty. I almost feel we will be asking ourselves post-game, "Where was that all season?!"

The only caveat is the mental preparation. Bowl week has lots of distractions. Lots of opportunities to make poor choices. Lots of opportunities to loss sight of why you're actually there. Surely Auburn holds the advantage in this department as it's united in ending this season positively for their coaches.

The Auburn Family needs something positive to occur Saturday. It's not a "must win" game by any stretch...Auburn will hire capable coordinators, will sign a tremendously talented class, and will be right back in the hunt next fall. The roller coaster cycle has us in a downward plunge at the moment and the Chick-fil-A Bowl is our opportunity to begin our ascent. Get ready for the ride cause things are about to get interesting!

Virginia-17
AU-28

Rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated

What a crazy few days for Auburn football. First, Ted Roof bolts for sunny Orlando to re-unite with his old boss George O'Leary. George really doesn't pay much attention to resumes any more, so Ted was a great hire.

I'm least concerned about this move. Chizik could hire an orangutan with a headset and likely do just as well as Ted Roof 2011.

Probably the most shocking news of the week was Gustav leaving for, of all places Arkansas State. Speculation that Guz was unhappy or the ship sinking on the plains are nonsense. Blowhards like Clay Travis even speculate its because the NCAA is still ready to drop the hammer. But Clay's about as good a sports journalist as he is an attorney, so take what he says with as many grains of salt you can find.

I think Guz just really wanted a head coaching gig and after his fail in 2011 his window was closing. I think he did a really good job in his tenure at AU up until the second quarter of the Clemson game and beyond. He arguably did his best job in 2009 at Auburn coaching up a team with no proven weapons at WR and the One-armed Zombie to a pretty amazing offensive year.

His departure doesn't mean the sky is falling however. We have too many very good to great players on offense to be mediocre on offense in 2012. If T.J. Yeldon sticks, and there's no reason to think he won't at this point, we should have an embarrassingly good backfield in 2012. This may sound nuts to anyone other than the guys at the Auburner, but I think asking Al Borges to consider a return is not a bad idea.

It's obvious when the guy has talent he's one of the best. If Tubs would've stuck with him after 2007 Auburn would've won 8 or 9 in 2008. The job he's done at Michigan is astounding. He and Chiz had a pretty good working relationship when they both served under Tubs. He loves the town. I think he'd be a good pick. I doubt he'd come back, but he'd be worth a shot.

Finally, we come to the issue of one Michael Dyer, who busted on the scene in 2010 and has become the best player on offense in 2011. Speculation about his attitude and other things that are legal in Colorado with a prescription have dogged him in 2010. So Mike, meet me at camera 3.....



Whazzup brah? I hear you've been having some...let's call them creative differences, with the coaching staff. I feel ya brah. 3 carries in the first half of the Iron Bowl won't cut it. But let's get right to it- There's a lot of grade A beef moving to the Plains for 2012. To be #1 next season, you better be "all in", to borrow an over-used quote. You have a chance to be special. You have shown what an asset you can be, but you've also shown you can be an equal headache. So suck it up, pull your head out, and do whatever you need to do to get back in good graces by spring. Otherwise you'll be an afterthought. Don't be an afterthought, broseph.

Anyway, that's all I got for today. War Eagle everybody...

Time to Reflect: Random Thoughts

--The LSU defense made Georgia’s Aaron Murray look like Clint Moseley. And I don’t mean for that to sound disparagingly...that defense is so solid, they took one the SECs most experienced and talented QBs and made him look like one the of the SECs most inexperienced. It really made me feel sorry once again for Clint Moseley and the fact he’s being judged for his play against the two best defenses in college football…behind a porous offensive line, and a predictable running game. So we don’t need to throw in the towel with Clint Moseley yet.

--Speaking of the LSU defense. Their defensive line is obviously dominant and just like Auburn's--they're all sophomores. We used inexperience/youth as an excuse. LSU just lined up and beat the hell out of every offense it faced. Time for our front four to grow up.

--Every team Auburn lost to this year had at least 10 wins. 3 of the 5 are playing in BCS bowls, 2 in the national title game, and one that got completely screwed in Arkansas being picked over in favor of VT and Michigan. There’s no shame in who Auburn lost to this season. There is shame in how we lost a few of those games however.

--9 of Auburn’s 12 opponents are in bowl games.

--Remember Utah State having their way with our defense? They finished the year 7-5, 6th in the country in rushing and will go bowling in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

--Guys I feel like will be large contributors next season: Jermaine Whitehead, LaDarius Owens, Kris Frost, Erique Florence, Sammie Coates, Mike Blakeley, Justin Garrett, Greg Robinson/Christian Westerman, Angelo Blackson….not even mentioning Phillip Lutzenkichen, Emory Blake, Mike Dyer, Corey Lemonier or Onterio Mccalebb.

-- Auburn needs a dependable playmaker at WR (JaQuay Williams) to go alongside Emory Blake, a fiercer demeanor in the trenches (Robinson, Westerman, Latu), another powerful, every-down tailback (TJ Yeldon, Blakeley), a few stud linebackers (Frost), and an accurate, mobile QB (remains to be seen), a new defensive coordinator (Stoops? Ellis Johnson? Jeff Fisher? Jack Del Rio?).

--If I had a Heisman vote: 1. RG3 2. Trent Richardson 3. Andrew Luck
Anyone capable of making Baylor a winner deserves the Heisman. Alabama wins every game they won this year if Eddie Lacy takes every snap and Trent Richardson never plays a down. He's not as important to his team as RG3. Luck is the next Peyton Manning. Tyrann Mathieu is the best big play guy I've ever seen, but he's not even the best corner on his team...probably not the 2nd best either.

--BCS: The travesty is not in the BCS Title Game Rematch…the ultimate travesty is the selection process by the Sugar Bowl and putting a Virginia Tech team in over Arkansas or Boise. VT beat no team in the top 25 and was completely dominated by Clemson twice. Arkansas lost to the two teams playing of the National Title Game.

--The BCS is run by the powerful, for the powerful, favors the wealthy, is an equal opportunity screwer and sooner or later it will screw your program. Sounds like life...or our government!
Without BCS LSU would have Clemson in the Sugar Bowl for the title..so it does some good.
Harris Poll is a joke: these people are never heard from, operate in obscurity and aren’t held accountable.
Coaches Poll is a joke: You shouldn't vote based off who you think is a better team…you should vote based off who has done more to earn their ranking. That’s why preseason polls should never occur. They taint the jury pool and are based on nothing but a brand name and a guess.

--Virginia will be a tough game for Auburn. It pits their strength against our weakness...the trenches. Auburn needs to a victory to springboard into next season. This young team really needs a positive to end the season.

Bama Reax-Season to Forget

I hope that's not a contract extension.

2010 was a season we'll never forget as Auburn fans. 2011 will go down as a season we wish we could forget. 5 losses, none of them close. 2 losses we blew a 14 point lead. Blown out, embarrassed by arch rivals.

Most of us can stomach 7-5. If the losses were close. Now we look for answers.

To me, it has to start with Ted Roof. Rob and I both have advocated for a new direction on defense. In 2009 we blamed lack of depth. Nick Fairley covered up a whole lot of problems last year. This year we used inexperience early. But this unit got worse. No improvement, just regression.Those of us who grew up with Hall, Oliver, Chizik, Muschamp know That defense at AU is a cornerstone. Under Ted Roof, it has been an afterthought.

Offensively, I am just as disappointed. I wondered aloud in the summer about why exactly we were interested in Russell Wilson. I think now we know the answer. It's easy to be an offensive genius when Cam Newton is your signal caller. It's also a much simpler job when you have an experienced offensive line. When you have neither, you get 2011. As in 14 vs Arkansas, 10 vs LSU, 7 vs UGA and 14 (none on offense) vs Alabama. We are rudderless without a decent signal caller. Trotter and Moseley at this point are not even close to being SEC caliber quarterbacks. Frazier may develop into a good one, but at this point he resembles another sought after high school quarterback from Arkansas. That guy wound up having a pretty good career at receiver for the Tigers.

I expected and expect better from Auburn. Two top 5 recruiting classes and a third on the way say so. We must continue to improve. 2011 is a cast away season.

I too see a bright future on the plains. There is too much talent there for me to think otherwise. We'll see some changes in the off season. In all likelihood Guz will be headed for a head coaching job. If and when that happens, do we stick with the same type system or go more in a pro-style direction?

And like a 40 year old house, it's time to replace the roof. It's leaking, and it will eventually destroy the house.

I love Auburn and nothing will ever change that. I still believe in Chizik. I think he has been a great get for our school. I am with him. He needs us as fans to support him, as do the players. I'm still all in. I know you are too.

War Eagle...

Alabama Review (AU 14 UA 42)

How do you analyze a thrashing of epic proportion in a rivalry deserving far more than we witnessed Saturday on Pat Dye Field? As I watched, I was astounded by the vast expanse separating both teams as well as the voluminous disparity wedged between this years Auburn team and last. I knew this years Tigers would take a step backwards from last seasons unparalleled success. I did not expect a giant leap in reverse. The gap created between our Auburn Tigers and the preeminent teams in the SEC in one short year is larger than I thought it would be and Coach Chizik and staff have a major challenge ahead to close the chasm by next season.

I thought defensively we did about as good as we could expect against the run in the first half. We sold out to stop it and in doing so allowed AJ McCarron to have a career day. Chalk AJ up as yet another suspect QB playing the game of his life against the Auburn defense this season...which begs the question...are we that unlucky defensively to run into these offenses at their peak? Is it our defensive philosophy/gameplan? Or is it the players attempting to carry out that gameplan? This is the question Coach Chizik must address immediately to begin Auburn's ascension to the top of college football once again.

I cannot explain why we neglected to cover the Alabama's TE? I can only assume a linebacker totally blew his assignment. I promise this...no matter what defense was called from the sideline, it doesn't involve ignoring the TE. Alabama did a fantastic job of softening up the Auburn defense with easy passes early in the football game working towards running it down our throats as the game progressed. Having played on teams at Auburn with pathetically anemic offense at times, I can tell you first hand as the game progresses and you see your offense is not going to have any semblance of success, it makes you think twice about continually sacrificing your body to bring down a stud like Trent Richardson. It's an extremely difficult position to be in as a defender.

Auburn now must turn its attention to the future. Having this time to practice during bowl preparation is enormously important for this young football team. I promise you the Tennessee's of the world are at an immense disadvantage for being off till spring football, and Auburn has to get better, and grow up during this extra practice time. Second, Coach Chizik must address the coaching situation. I still believe he should take the reigns as coordinator for the bowl game and either bring in a new coordinator for next season or just do it himself. I have been tough on Coach Roof as of late, but truth is it's not all his fault. To expect 18 and 19 year olds to physically whip the best players in college football is not logical and was destined to fail. His body of work however has not lived up to Auburn defensive standards...not even close.

In 1998 we finished the season 3-8. We were pretty good defensively, downright terrible offensively. If you had asked me then, I would have told you no one in the country outworked us and that our offensive staff fit our personnel just fine. In reality, I couldn't have been any farther from the truth! When Coach Tuberville and staff (particularly Kevin Yoxall) arrived we were introduced (quite brutally) to a brand new realm of work we had never known. The point...every player, fan base, any most of the time coach believes their program is doing everything the right way, with the right people, with the right philosophical approach. In reality, if you're not constantly reevaluating your program, your coaches, your personnel, and everything in between, then you run the risk of falling behind. Programs catch on and catch up in hurry. Auburn can right the ship just as fast as it veered off course. To do so will require some very tough decisions be made.

I still wake up the day after an Iron Bowl loss thankful I'm on the Auburn side of the rivalry. I know many fantastic Alabama people that love their university every bit as passionately as I do Auburn...as they should. But love of Alabama is easy love, cheap love, lazy love. The enormity of their sidewalk alumni proves this point. To love Auburn, you must first experience Auburn...and once you do it's in your blood forever. Sometimes, the Auburn football program breaks our hearts making love a difficult exercise. But, the stronger the winds blow, the fiercer the attacks, the more persistent the ridicule...the more solid we become, the sweeter the ride is to the top, the more united we all are! As goes the old proverb, "Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind...the stronger the trees!"

Auburn will be back in the short-term. I believe Coach Chizik will take the necessary steps to resolve what ails us. Let's support Coach Chizik, his staff, and the players that are left to endure the steps taken to create change. War Eagle!

Dr.Z''s Iron Bowl advice-Wreck it.

So sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but my game day is live from Folly Beach SC. Lots of family stuff to do today so I'll get right to it.

Nobody gives you a shot to win today Auburn. You are a 20+ point dog at a place where you haven't lost since 2009.

They say your offense is a shell of its former self. You have a defense that only looks decent when the offense downshifts to Mal Moore speed.

You have been pretty decent this season, say the experts. 7-5 is a great year for a team that lost so much from a 2010 National Championship. But you know better.

Now walks in Alabama, with their world gift wrapped for them. Sure, they could have taken care of business in there own house a couple weeks ago, but they choked it away against LSU. Since then we've had to endure whining about kickers, and rampant speculation about how they could backdoor their way into a rematch for the national title.

All that pretty much happened by the way. Every star aligned for Bama. Beat you tomorrow Auburn, and they get their wish.

So here is my advice to you, Orange and Blue: Wreck it.

For all of us who have to listen to the noise from the other side of spoiled, entitled Bammers. For the fans who adore you and live and die with you. Those of us who choose you because we believe that to be successful requires work...hard work. We cherish every win, every championship.

The other fan base? Not so much. They believe that every Championship is theirs. So much so that they claim ones that aren't. So much so that if you win it, they poison your oaks.

So no prediction today. I'm not going to break down offense v. defense. Just a request:

Wreck it. Everything has gone right for the entitled, tree-poisoning Nation. It's time they are reminded who the defending national Champion is. Or who holds a winning record in the series since Bryant died.

We all need reminding sometimes.

Wreck it.