Now we have to deal with #4!

Well it has been a while since my last post, work has been crazy, but there is plenty to sound off on.

First lets start with yet another high ranking...#4. As stated before this is a good and bad thing. Good because if we do run the table we will find ourselves in the national title game, no controversy this year. Bad because of a bunch of reasons. With 3 opponents in the top 15 and my feeling by years end a lot more in the top 25 (bama, Arkansas, and possibly south Carolina), this SEC schedule is looking tough for any team to run the table with. And then there is Washington State. Lost 4 games last year by 4 points or less...so they were that close from a good season. The throw the ball a lot and expect to score points...all things Auburn does not deal well with...especially early in the season. WSU has everything to gain and nothing to lose...heck we even paid them to come play us...what would be better than beating the #4 team in the nation, 3000 miles away, and get paid for it. I love Auburn getting some of the recognition its program deserves, but putting a big target on our back is never a great thing.

Second we have injuries abound. Wow, I mean I could go down the list but that would be too much to type...but the bottom line is we are young...you take away Brandon Cox and Kenny Irons and I think we are ranked 17th or 18th...that is how much they bring to the table. Our defense is young and learning a new offense, our offensive line is young and learning to play together, so what have the coaches done, stuck it to them..forced them through pain and adversity. Now this could go one of two ways...we could have our injuries now and it make us stronger, or it could be really bad and we limp into the game on September 2nd and gets out butts handed to us. I am hoping with our coaching staff it will be the first option and I think it will.

Lastly there is the issue of Tommy Tubberville basically saying to the press he cannot prepare his team for a Sept 2nd game against a quality opponent. Now this (and I hope it is) might be a motivational tool to keep players focused with all the hype around them and kind of sober all the talk...but it if isnt...I am very disappointed in him...and let it be said I am a huge supporter of Tubberville. WSU while a much higher quality opponent than Buffalo is still WSU, they are a PAC 10 team...which besides USC sucks as a conference...that does not belong on a smash mouth football field like we play in the south. Plus you get past that and you have the same amount of time to prepare players, young and old, that they do. We are young and inexperienced...but that it his job as a coach to overcome especially when you recruit the kind of talent AU has in the past couple of years. We should have one of the best RB's in the nation and a top 10 quarterback, there is no excuse for you not feeling that your team is prepared to play a quality opponent on the first game. I think due to our lack of success with USC and GT we have gotten cold feet...when I say bring them on...lets see if we are any good and if we are we will win, bottom line. All I have to say for any respectable Auburn fan to be ticked at Tubbervilles statement...is Miami and FSU....first game of the season for the past three years...and both of their coaches expect to win and both of those teams are yearly preseason top 10. WSU is a great ball club and I think they will play hard and fast..but if our coaches do their job I think we should win...not saying we will, but we should win.

WAR DAMN EAGLE until next time, most likely a preview to the WSU matchup and my thoughts on tailgating in the SEC.

Two-A-Days and #6 in the Nation

Well it has been a while since I posted...went on vacation. So a couple things to talk about.

The first preseason poll is out (Auburn is ranked #6), and I wont start on my rant about why a preseason poll should not exist, but as much as the fans complain about it, we also tend to enjoy the spark it gives to kick off the war of words between fans. Heck it also gives sports writers better things to talk about than a stupid sociology class. Just FYI Auburn has been cleared of any athletic wrong doing so no NCAA problems.

As an Auburn fan I cringe and rejoice at this ranking. Cringe because the last time Auburn was showered with rankings and talk of greatness we went 7-5 with a trip to the Music City Bowl. I welcome the ranking because the only way Auburn has a chance at the national title game is to have a repeat of the 2004 season and to start higher in the rankings than the 17th they started that year. Auburn has got the potential to be great and the home schedule that favored them in '04, heck we even have a harder schedule since we have added Florida, but there are a lot of question marks that were not there in '04. There are huge shoes to fill at receiver, a defensive and offensive line that is young and talented but have not played many games together, two starting linebackers on the bench for three games including the LSU game, and not to mention a defense learning a totally new scheme. I hate to be a skeptic, but I don't see us reaching that pinnacle this year, but if we start 3-0 I might start to believe.

Then there is fall practice, basically all I have read for the past two days is sloppy, so much so that the defensive line was required to run till exhaustion. I have heard bad things about the receivers, already another starting LB has gotten injured, and there has been fights between players that resulted in coach Nall threatening to throw this player off the team if it happened again. Sound like the #6 team? Well lets take a look at things, 106 degree heat index, plus pads, plus two a days, plus fatigue can equal early mental mistakes and frustration. This is also very parallel to what happened this time last spring, so I am not calling it quits just yet. It is early with little offense and defense in right now, basically they are getting the depth chart decided and working on physical football. I personally think it is healthy for the team to have adversity right now that they will be forced to deal with before the season starts.

Auburn is on the pinnacle of being a great football team, and this might be the year, but the season has not even started, not one whistle blown, so lets take it a day at a time and just be thankful that Notre Dame is not #1 :).