Author Archive for BuckFama
Here is our opportunity to help the coaches bring in the top recruits in the country. The Under Armour All American game will be played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Jan 2nd, 2010 at 11 AM EST. This is the perfect opportunity for Auburn fans to go show their support for our current commitments playing (Dyer, Parkey, Mosley, Holland, and Owens) as well as show Antonio Goodwin that he needs to continue to be on board. Also playing in this game is OL Eric Mack, James Stone, DE Corey Lemonier, and Safety Ahmad Dixon. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster and they are only $10.00. Wear your orange and blue, make signs, come cheer, support, and show these top recruits the blessings of being a part of the Auburn family. People complain about coaches and administration and everyone else for not doing enough to help push the program to the top. I say we, as fans, take matters in our own hands to do our part in assiting those folks in their efforts. Fans can make a huge difference in the world of college football, so BE THE DIFFERENCE!!!
Not sure where this originated or who this gentleman is that wrote it, but definitely felt it was worth passing along.
“It was a low key day. Alabama was supposed to dismantle Auburn. Their Heisman candidate had a national stage to take center spotlight. But something unexpected happened.
Our tailgate was a fun morning. We hosted many Bama friends who came by. The food was fabulour, the music was toe tapping, and the weather was perfect. We went to our traditional “Tiger Walk” and cheered the team and coaches into the stadium – like gladiators inot their arena knowing a hungry, undefeated opponent was on the other side pacing and suiting up for a David and Goliath moment. But something unexpected happened.
The sea of orange filled the sun-kissed stadium. Every seat was filled. Our Eagle, Tiger, flew around the tops of our heads and landed midfield. The teams entered to thunderous applause, fanfare and frenzied fans. Bama fans wore stickers that said “Fear the shutout.” But something unexpected happened.
Auburn, fueled by the fans and faith of spirit with hard work, threw everything they had at Alabama. And for 56 minutes Auburn prevailed. The score, the stats, the noise, the pride; for 56 minutes we owned it. But something unexpected happened.
Alabama put together a successful last minute drive and scored the go ahead points. The TV announcers loved the battle for ratings. No one in the stadium moved. But something unexpected happened.
The Alabama fans stayed and “sabaned” their victory. Their band played. Their victory ended a perfect scheduled season. But something unexpected happened.
What possibly could be wrong? The Bama fans had suffered, sweated, cursed, paced and prayed for 56 torturous minutes and their team finally pulled it out and won. But what they saw next was not suppose to happen … either.
The Auburn Family stayed. They were supposed to flee in defeat but alas the opposite happened. We stayed in our seats and waited for our team to walk off the field. 80,000 family members escorted them off with thunderous applause and chants of “It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger!” The recruits stayed and watched this family of ours lift up our team who served up a whole humble pie to #2 Bama.
It reminded me of the scene in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” when the Who’s in Whoville gathered after their presents and decorations were missing but lifted their voices loudly anyway to lift up their gratitude and celebrations. For us it was about thankfulness, honor and family. For 56 minute we were fans, but as our team walked off the field for a few minutes we were all one family. It was a great feeling and we had not even won the game … on the scoreboard.
We walked out of the stadium chanting AU cheers down the ramps. Alabama fans quiet and shocked. Their Heisman candidate was disposed of. Their defense was embarrassed. Their haughtiness was silent.
I have not mentioned the crudeness and ugliness that I witnessed or was a part of from Alabama fans prior and during the game. Their reputation for being rude fans lived on – not pulling for their team and being good fans but being jerks to others – even to children. However, after the game they were silent. Eerily quiet. One would have thought they lost the game. The lack of cries of “Roll Tide” was noticeably absent.
But something happened. Auburn continued to make us proud, played their hearts out, made idiots of the sports announcers who proclaimed earlier this was a waste to play, and silenced the visiting fans.
Yes, something happened. Auburn won everything but the scoreboard. This was not supposed to happen! Alabama was not supposed to allow this!! It was just Auburn for goodness sakes, right? Wrong.
Not a perfect day but an AUsome day. And with already picking up some of the top recruits in the nation, a new coaching staff that have eyes of the tiger, and an AU Family ready to support them all, we only have one question – when does the 2010 season start? I CAN’T WAIT!!!
Auburn coach Gene Chizik knows how defensive coordinator Ted Roof feels this morning. He’s been there before – literally. Six years ago, as the man running the defensive show for Auburn, Chizik limped off the Tiger Stadium turf after being blistered 31-7 by LSU. That was 2003. Better days were just around the corner.Today Auburn fans are not sure what the future holds for this football program. Suddenly, fans who just three weeks ago were lauding embattled athletic director Jay Jacobs for proving his critics wrong are now shaking their finger in his face saying, “I told you so.”
There are plenty of places to point fingers. The truth is, no one person is solely responsible for this sudden crash in Auburn fortunes. Chizik is still the coach he was in September. So is his staff. Was it a big mistake not playing backup Neil Caudle earlier Saturday night? Perhaps.
Have SEC schools figured out this quickly how to defend the offense of Gus Malzahn? It’s certainly possible, but more than likely improbable. Could anything have been done Saturday night in Baton Rouge to cause a different outcome? Unfortunately no.
The simple truth is that Auburn’s program is in much worse shape than anyone realized even a year ago. For all of Tommy Tuberville’s greatness, he fell down on the job during the last three years of his tenure – especially when it came to recruiting.
There are not more than two or three players on the 2009 roster that Alabama really wanted for themselves. The truth hurts. This coaching staff is good, but they’re not miracle workers. Coaching can make players better and they can be motivated to play over their heads at times; but in the end it’s near impossible to trump talent.
The cold hard facts today are that Auburn is a long way from its glory days. Turning on Chizik now would be a huge mistake for this program. Whether you wanted him or not, it’s hard to argue that his methods aren’t pointing Auburn in the right direction. Splintered factions among the fanbase likely means lost recruits in February.
As fans endure these final weeks of the season, we can all learn a lesson from our neighbors to the north. After a decade of failure, Alabama officials, alumni and fans came together and said enough. They vowed to do whatever it took to put their program back on top. In a matter of less than three seasons, they are all in lockstep with one another. The results unfortunately have been astounding.
They hired the right coach and stood behind him despite the rough inaugural season that included a loss to Louisiana-Monroe. In two short seasons they returned to national prominence. Today they sit at the top of the polls. They are on track next season to open the second addition to their stadium in less than 10 years. Things turned around lightening fast for Alabama.
This morning Auburn fans have a choice. Do we all get on the same page and move forward or do we turn on each other, pick sides and fight until the program is in complete shambles? We watched Alabama do it for a decade and it was wonderful.
This game will be the first road game of the season for Auburn. That’s unfortunate, as there will be a lot of AU players on the field surrounded by a very hostile crowd for the first time in their college careers. But everybody has to grow up sometime, and Neyland Stadium is as good a place as any.
UT has struggled to establish a legitimate passing game, and QB Jonathan Crompton, a former Parade All-American, has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. Crompton is big and strong, and has a big-time arm, but he has had problems both with reading coverages and with throwing accuracy. Like most quarterbacks, he does not handle pressure well. If Auburn can generate a pass rush early, they can take Crompton out of the game and put UT in one-dimension mode.
The Vols have a strong running game, with a pair of 215 pound tailbacks that run very hard. Both Hardesty and Brown are averaging 5 yards per carry. Whether head coach Lane Kiffin allows Crompton to open up the passing game or not probably depends on how he feels his team matches up against AU. If he feels like he has the much better team, he’ll take some chances with Crompton. If he feels like he can’t afford a mistake, he’ll play it conservatively, the way he did against Florida. I look for something in between the two. Kiffin will feel fairly confident in his defense, and will expect field position to favor the Vols, given Auburn’s abysmal special teams. What he will likely do is establish his running game with Hardesty and Brown, and mix in a good bit of play action passes to build Crompton’s confidence and keep the AU defense from focusing totally on the run. Brown is an excellent receiver out of the backfield, and those are safe throws that Crompton has made repeatedly. If Auburn’s defense does not tackle better than they have in previous games this season, UT may never have to bother with throwing the ball. There is little question that Auburn can stop the run by stuffing the box, but they won’t want to do that unless it becomes clear there’s no other way. Defensive coaches like to plan for every contingency, and Chizik and Roof will be as worried about being beaten by the deep ball as about stopping the inside running game. Lou “Holthz” said once years ago at a coaching clinic, “If the offense puts a guy with no arms out wide, the defense will put a guy out there to cover him.” That statement is absolutely true.
The chess match between UT defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and Auburn OC Gus Malzahn should be fun to watch. The elder Kiffin has spent the past 26 years in the NFL, working with and against the best players and coaches in the football world. But one of the things that is difficult for a coach to do is to understand just what his players are capable of, vs the ones he coached before. Things that a Derrick Brooks or a Ronde Barber could do, UT’s current defensive players (with the possible exception of Eric Berry) probably can’t. Coaches stepping down in level of competition often ask things of their players that they are not physically capable of. Regardless, there’s no question Monte Kiffin is one of the best defensive coaches there is. However, he has been beaten many, many times over his long career, so, like any other coach, he is hardly invincible.
What Kiffin does exceptionally well is pressure the quarterback. Protection, or, for that mattter, run-blocking, is about the numbers. If the offense has 5.5 players to the right side of the formation and 5.5 to the left, the defense tries to line up the same way. (The .5 comes from a player lined up directly over the ball, thus counting as a half to each side.) Kiffin follows that rule, but still tries to outnumber the blockers to one side or the other by showing a player as “in coverage”, so he doesn’t get counted in the blocking scheme, and sending him. He will send linebackers, corners, or safeties. He will also zone blitz, dropping a defensive end or even a nose tackle into coverage to confuse the quarterback. Malzahn, of course, understands the “balance” rule (5.5 vs 5.5), and tries to gain a numerical advantage with shifting formations and motion. When you get two coaches in a room with a chalkboard, talking about offense and defense, it usually comes down to who has the chalk last. This game may turn out the same way. As Monte is surely as good with the chalk as Malzahn, hopefully Malzahn is quicker to the board and gains an edge that way.
I think Tennessee is the most physical defensive team Auburn has faced this season. Their DL is well-coached; they maintain their rush lanes, and generate good pressure on the QB. They tackle well as a team. They have, however, struggled some with coverage in the secondary. If Auburn can give Todd time to set up and throw, there will be open receivers. For that to happen, though, Auburn will have to establish at least reasonable credibility for its running game. UT was able to get pressure on the QB in both the UCLA game and the Florida game, often with only rushing four. Tennessee hammered the UCLA QB to the point he was almost totally ineffective, although only getting two actual sacks. The Bruins won the game, but only because Crompton was even less effective. UCLA’s QB for that game was a redshirt freshman, in only his second career start. UT did sack Florida QB Tim Tebow three times, in addition to forcing a fumble and an interception from Tebow.
Given the loss of UT’s senior MLB, Monte may opt for the double eagle look he used often against Florida. (For those unfamiliar with the “eagle”, picture a 5-2 defense, with the defensive tackles and inside linebackers swapping alignments.) That scheme can easily be played with only two linebackers, using an extra defensive lineman. If that happens, it means three down linemen in the middle, and increases the Vols’ chances of getting an inside push on the pass rush. In that event, AU will need to move Todd’s throwing position outside, something they have shown they can do very well. Having both guards and the center covered also means there is no one other than a running back to pick up an extra rusher from the back side. All the more reason Todd needs to be throwing from either side of the formation, versus the middle.
Auburn leads the series with UT, and has won four straight against the Vols, including last year’s less than epic battle of not-very-goods. Possibly the biggest factor in this one is the home field. The crowd will be raucous, as this is pretty much a must-win game for the home team. If Auburn’s young players can keep their poise, not let the noise affect them, and not let Monte Kiffin confuse them, they can pull this off. If not, we are 4-1 and facing a challenge virtually ever week for the remainder of the season. Regardless, *how we play* will tell us a lot about what we can expect from here out. This game has the potential to be one of the most physical of the year, and if Auburn is up to that challenge, this game could be a cornerstone for great things in years to come, as well as a 2009 season that virtually no one really expected.
For Ariton (Ala.) four-star defensive end Craig Sanders, the Tide officially rolled into his life in May when he committed to play football for Alabama.
Wednesday, four months later, he decided to officially roll it back out.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder will instead sign with Auburn.
Sanders, one of the country’s top overall recruits, informed Tiger lead recruiter Jeff Grimes of the news Wednesday night during a telephone conversation.
“It feels good. It feels really good,” Sanders said of his Auburn commitment. “I talked to Coach Grimes and Coach (Gene) Chizik. When I told Coach Chizik, he said he was riding by Gold’s Gym and he was so pumped he was going to stop and go lift some weights.”
Sanders, his mother and stepfather visited the Plains earlier this month for the Tigers’ 41-30 win over West Virginia. The visit was all Sanders needed to see.
“That pretty much put the icing on the cake,” Sanders said. “I went up there and sat down with all of them. I met Coach Grimes’ whole family. I met Coach Chizik’s whole family. They were all so nice.
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| Sanders is Auburn’s ninth in-state commitment in the ’10 class. |
“It’s just a family thing at Auburn. I feel at home up there.”
Sanders’ switch from Alabama to Auburn marks the first and only time in at least eight years the Tigers have “stolen” a Tide commitment.
Since 2004, the last six signing classes, the Tigers didn’t manage to persuade any Alabama commitment to switch. The Tide however, convinced four of Auburn’s pledges to switch and ultimately sign.
Marcus Carter and Ali Sharrief were both committed to Auburn before signing with Alabama in ’04. Josh Chapman switched to Alabama in ’07. Last year, it was Jonathan Atchison. Carter, Sharrief and Chapman were all in-state recruits.
Tommy Tuberville and staff may not have been able to switch a Tide commitment, but Chizik and crew found a way to do it. And it took them less than a year. Sanders said he can see why.
“With Auburn, it’s definitely the coaches. It starts with the coaches,” Sanders said. “I love those guys. Coach Grimes is a good Christian man. I just enjoy talking to him, and not just about recruiting.”
Sanders said he might have rushed his initial decision to commit to Alabama.
“Back in May, I made the popular choice and chose to go to Alabama,” he said. “After looking at it and praying about it, I realized my heart wasn’t with Alabama. It was with Auburn. I felt more at home at Auburn.”
Sanders plans to make the Plains his home a little sooner than most ’10 recruits.
“I’ll be in Auburn in January,” Sanders said of his early enrollment. “I already have senioritis. I’m ready to get there. I can’t wait.”
Rivals.com rates Sanders the No. 7 overall recruit in Alabama, the country’s No. 12 weakside defensive end and No. 199 overall prospect.
He is Auburn’s 17 commitment in the ’10 recruiting class, ninth in-state commitment and the third defensive end.
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