November 05, 2003

What's up on the Plains?

Lost amongst the fervor of the quagmire that is the SEC East, Eli resurrecting an Ole Miss program like a Phoneix from the ashes, and LSU's emergence on the national stage, an interesting SEC storyline remains unexamined.

That storyline involves the Auburn Tigers. You remember the Plainsmen, don't you? The Tigers from Auburn were perched one spot higher in the polls than LSU currently sits, and their shot at a national title much more tangible and real than LSU's chances ever appeared at this point?

What happened? Well, everyone knows about the spectacular nosedive the program took. Tommy Tuberville's troops stumbled out of the gates with an embarassing 23-0 home shutout by Southern Cal, followed by a shocking 17-3 loss to the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech. The Machiavellian Emperor of Auburn, Bobby Lowder, was bound to be pinching the foam rubber of his plush seats in Jordan-Hare watching his team's dubious start. But, more on him later.

Out of the Top 25, and seemingly in a death sprial, Tuberville rallied the troops and ripped off five wins after bringing in an offensive consultant to help out his two co-offensive coordinators and inserting a blocking back into the backfield to supplement the blocking for uber-talented tailback Carnell "Caddillac" Williams.

With much fanfare and lots of bandwagon rejoining, Auburn rolled into LSU on a serious high note, and the rest is either ignominious (if you're an Auburn fan) or sweet (if you're LSU) history. A 31-7 snoozer saw the wheels fall of the bandwagon, and any idea of real success for the season fell along the wayside as well.

The rest of the media and fan attention went with LSU, Ole Miss, and the decidedly SEC-West like wild, wild SEC Eastern Division race. But, what about Auburn?

Well, hanging 70 on UL-M gets the bad taste of the LSU woodshedding out of their mouth, no doubt, but the fans of the Plainsmen can't be happy about being relegated to "what ifs" and being "mathematically still in the race". Being forced into the spoiler role is not exactly what most AU fans had in mind at the outset of the 2003 campaign. But, here they are.

So, who's to blame?

Well, first and foremost, recruiting is responsible. On that front, there is only one man to blame for inadequacies. That man is head coach Tommy Tuberville.

Auburn's three losses have seen them out-physicaled and out-talented on both of their lines. This is a result of deficient recruiting efforts on the line of scrimmage.

Another reason for Auburn's shortcomings in the trenches is their Strength & Conditioning staff. The need to get bigger, stronger, and to excel in their conditioning is glaringly obvious. All too often, Auburn has either been outmuscled in the early going of their losses or prevented from making a comeback. In their one impressive win, against an over-ranked Tennessee opponent in the Top 10, they allowed Casey Clausen to have a career night and bring the Vols to within a breath of victory, before a late INT iced a 28-21 victory.

So, the recipe for the chicken soup to heal the Tiger's souls seems to be an emphasis on recruiting more talented and more physical big men, & revamping their S&C staff to put an emphasis on getting bigger and stronger.

But, will this be enough for Emperor Lowder (I told you we'd get back to him)? Bobby the Banker has lobbied the Alabama Legislature to keep his tentacles locked around Auburn, and has supressed constructive criticism by The Plainsmen, AU's own student newspaper, in the past. What will he do in the face of this fall from grace? Does this situation warrant serious action from Emperor Lowder? Does it warrant any action at all?

The excellent adventure that was to be turned into the bogus journey for Auburn, the sojourn from media darling to national joke to resurrected darkhorse team to once again also-ran is complete. Will Lowder be content if Tuberville just goes out and hauls in an amazing recruiting class, and replaces a S&C coordinator or a Grad Assistant or two? Is Tuberville safe from Bobby the Banker?

The off-season will be an interesting time around the SEC. With Fulmer just this week being rumored as having "off the field" troubles in Knoxville, and Zook silencing the doubters but not stopping the doubt, and Cutcliffe's future and the MSU job opening all still up in the air, the entire conference should again provide some interesting off-season news.

But, below the headlines, below the radar, nestled in the Plains, Auburn's offseason could be the most interesting story of them all.

Posted by TigerEducated

 

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Comments & Trackbacks

1. Chris Lawrence says:

   posted on November 6, 2003 01:06 AM — link

   Interesting fact: Tuberville's W-L record at Auburn is 36-22, while Cutcliffe's since taking over at Ole Miss is 37-21. IOW, Tommy has seriously underperformed relative to the expectations of him. And bear in mind that Tommy has already done the "reshuffle" once. It's hard to see how he gets away with a second one.

   That being said, as long as Auburn is still mathematically alive I wouldn't be too hasty to dismiss Tuberville's future prospects.

   Granted, that may only be another 72 hours, but still... if he pulls out the win (Auburn is favored, they hold the series lead, and the Rebels have a horrible record on CBS; I do think Ole Miss wins, but close and with a bit of instinctive "homerism") and Auburn finishes 7-1 in the conference--looking like a good chance, since Georgia appears to have crawled into a fetal position in the past three games--a wholesale cleanup is unlikely.

   My current thoughts on Ole Miss-Auburn are here.

2. Kevin says:

   posted on November 6, 2003 09:57 AM — link

   I agree that Tommy is in some hot water. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him get booted after this season. There are plenty of good coaches out there that would love to go to Auburn.

   I would think a great what-if list would include TCU's Gary Patterson, FSU's Mickey Andrews, and maybe even the disgraced Mike Price. I seriously doubt that Spurrier would ever coach the Tigers. He'll just come available and Zook will mysteriously disappear.