key to victory
Editorial Cartoon: AU’s Secret Plan
I actually talked to a lost soul today, clad in orange and blue, who said Bama wouldn’t win Friday because they haven’t been in a hostile stadium this season.  Forget that 90% of this team played in Death Valley’s version of Armageddon last year, not to mention Knoxville and Athens. They’ve had more gimmick jerseys and ______ (pick your color) “out” nights employed against them than any team in the nation. They’ve played in two consecutive Chick-fil-A kick-off games, simulating absolutely crazy bowl atmospheres about as closely as possible. They played in the real National Championship game last season, against Florida. This year they faced off against a team in Oxford, circling their wagons in the SEC West’s version of the Battle for the Alamo. They’ve gotten everybody’s best every time they’ve gone out.

And what’s been the result? Domination. With the exception of Tennessee, who executed a nearly perfect game plan opposite Alabama’s worst game of the season, no one has even come close.

If you’re in the camp that thinks a life-sized bobble head called Aubie can make the difference…or a buzzard flying down to get a dead mouse on the fifty yard line…or a neat-o Tiger walk…or dipsy doo passes…or a loud stadium…will be a detriment to this team on Black Friday, bless your heart.

Alabama is coached…no, programmed…by Nick Saban, who gave up blood-filled veins long ago in exchange for ice water. This isn’t Franchione phoning it in. There aren’t any Tre what’s-his-names coming to your rescue. A shell-shocked Bill Curry isn’t leading the Tide from the tunnel. This ain’t 1989.

Twenty years and (finally) some competent administrative decisions later, it’s Nick Freaking Saban, leading a team designed to beat you down for four quarters, slowly peeling back one layer at a time until all the world sees that you don’t belong on the same field with them. As you leave the stadium or turn off your TV’s late Friday afternoon, there will be no doubt that the rowdy crowd did little more than irritate the man who said himself on the sidelines last year that he hates those “*#&@&!”. A team that’s been programmed to finish will do so. What Utah did to Alabama (and that single-celled Chizik and Malzahn no-doubt will try to do) was solved by Saban and crew by the time he took the post-game podium. There will be no surprises that they haven’t seen, anticipated and game planned for throughout this season. And all the “36-0” scores painted on weight room walls won’t make a bit of difference. In fact, it’ll only serve as a reminder of the chasm that exists between Auburn and Tuscaloosa. This game means much to Nick Saban, and he fully understands the impact it has on his program. Don’t bet on it getting anything less than a championship game-type preparation from one of the greatest active coaches in modern day college football.

I still believe the game will be fairly close in the first quarter and a half, with Bama nursing a less than touchdown lead at halftime. But the second half will follow the same script so many others have this season. Auburn’s D is terrible, and we will run at will in the late 3rd and 4th quarters. Look for Richardson to have a big game while Ingram pads his stats down the stretch.

In closing, how sad are you, and how sad is your program, when you honestly believe crowd noise alone will circumvent top talent, superior coaching, and team chemistry, and a real defense that knows what to do with the dipsy-doo?  

Come, Black Friday, come……come, Black Friday, come….come, Black Friday, come…

18 thoughts on “Capstone Saturdays: AU’s Secret Plan”

  2. Auburn will win it easily.
    Malzy will pull out his sure-fire cant miss super secret playbook and hit the Bama D with so many running plays they will beg for a pass. Ben Tate and Onterio McCanada will each rush for 300+ yards. And Gene Chizik will be carried off the field by throngs of adoring fans to the tune of “Your the Best” from the movie Karate kid II.
    The world will see that the cultural epicenter of the ENTIRE WORLD IS in Lee County. And Toomer’s corner will be rolled with enough toilet paper to stretch around the globe 6 times.
    Northern Railroad will perform such classics as “Sweet Home Auburn” My Homes’ in Auburn” and The War Eagle fight song. (As soon as anyone can remember all of the words.)
    It will be heaven on earth.
    Being an Auburn Man means never having to say you are sorry.

  4. ITK, I have always loved how you and Cappy cite a single Auburn fan (and in this case an unnamed, anonymous AU fan) and go off on rant acting as though the views of that one fan represent the entire AU fan base. No one with half a brain (and there are plenty of AU and UA fans who ain’t got that) thinks Bama will be cowered by crowd noise.

    There is no doubt that the 89 game was special. The crowd was absolutely a factor. I was sophomore at AU then, and it was the loudest game I have ever been to in my life. There were times when Pat Haden and Musberger for CBS couldn’t even hear each other talking, which I’ve never seen. However, the bigger factors were Alexander Wright, Stacey Danley, and a defense that only allowed about 11 pts a game. I find all of the articles comparing this game to 89 a little silly.

  5. Come on Julio, the crowd noise and 1989 were common themes from Auburn callers on most every talk radio show on Monday. I didn’t listen to the OD on WJOX Monday (because I listen to Cowherd), but I was told that was THE theme of the show from the studio hosts, etc.

    I do believe the crowd noise in 1989 played a big role in the early fake field goal error. According to what I was told later, some of the players didn’t hear the fake called, and therefore, didn’t know what was happening. That was big in the momentum of the early game. So, crowds can make a difference.

    The largest thing about the game wasn’t Auburn’s offense or defense or the crowd. It was Pat Dye. He was a much better coach than Bill Curry.

  6. Errr, Cappy there’s a big difference in AU fans talking about the crowd noise in the 89 game and saying that Bama “wouldn’t win Friday because they haven’t been in a hostile stadium this season” as ITK represents as the universal belief of all AU fans. Crowd noise will be a factor Friday, as it would be in any big rivalry game. But it’s not going to be that big a factor.

  7. I very much disagree with your comparison of Bill Curry. Pat The Pimp Dye wasn’t a better coach. Dye cheated and because of it resigned! Eric Ramsey ring a bell? Curry inherited the mess and recruits that Perkins abandoned us with. He tried to install a finesse offense without the proper athletes much like Rich Rod is trying to do at Michigan. His teams won and even played a competitive game in the Sugar Bowl against National Champion Miami. His recruits won the ’92 National Championship and many pundits say that team was Bamas’ all time greatest! He did not abandon Alabama. He was run off by dumbass fans who sent him and his family death threats. He simply didn’t want anymore of a fan base that fanatical. It’s not fair to hate or discredit him just because he took down Bears tower! Yes he was a different kind of coach than we are used to. He was not blue collar. Much like Jim Tressel at Ohio St, he was Country Club. But he was very good and with him we would not have spent the past 15 years on probation! RTR

  9. Shutup Julia! We weren’t comparing Curry to Saban. But with Curry here you wouldn’t have had the 6 fuckin fingers either and we might have had another NC or 2 considering all the 10 win seasons we’ve had since ’92 in spite of probation and stupid coaches. RTR.

  10. You’re right EG, we wouldn’t have had 6 fingers. We would have had 12. Curry’s lifetime record against AU is 0-12. If Bama would have won an NC under Curry, they’da done it with a 10-1 regular season record.

  11. BWHAAHAHHAAA !!!! WHEW !!!! Eggy,,he does have a point.

  13. Julia, the other 9 loses were with teams hardly in Alabamas’ class. The ’89 loss to the Barn was close (as have been all our losses to you post Ears W.) and was from a lack of a dominant D, which was also the only reason Miami won the NC. The people were there to play D – witness the ’92 greatest D of all time. He just need a different DC and the fortitude to stick it out a little longer. Hey, I’m not on the Curry bandwagon! But the whole Bama nation treated him wrong because he moved out the Bears stuff, and it’s time to admit it. Man 26 and 7 with an SEC championship in his 3rd year aint bad! We’re only 28 and 8 under Saban and still a huge game away from him winning the SEC in his 3rd year! Anyway I give him his due and wonder what the last 19 years would have been like if he had stayed. There are a lot of points I could bring up if I wanted to type a book here. Including fans disgust with Stallings for not matching Spurriers fun and gun O, when Curry had one at Bama before Spurrier came to Florida.

  14. EG, he was at Ga Tech for 7 years. At the time, that was Auburn’s most historical rival (even more so than UGA). Geez, Curry even managed to beat Bear at least once while he was at Tech. He played AU twice while he was at UK. Don’t tell me UK can’t beat Auburn because I just watched Rich Brooks do it. Curry nearly wet himself every time he played Auburn.

  15. Well…if auburn is down 14-0 at the end of the 1st and 24-6 at the half, then it won’t be as loud in there.

  16. That’s the funniest cartoon I’ve ever read on here! LMFAO!!!! The cartoon IS FACTUAL TOO!!!!

    You barner’s got another thing coming to you Friday. We are going to kick your ass up and down your field — you’re not even going to know what happened. Thanksgiving can not be over so fast as I have remembered. We are going to beat the hell out of Auburn AND THEY KNOW IT.

    That’s why you punk ass barner’s come on here and post because you got absolutely NOTHING going for yourselves. WE REPRESENT the state — somewhere deep inside you wish you were us right now because we are undefeated and going to the SEC Championship game — and possibly to Pasadena. ENVY IS ONE OF THE EVIL’S OF ALL MEN.

    IT’S GREAT TO BE AN ALABAMA FAN AGAIN!!! 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING OF SUFFERING AND ANGUISH — WE FINALLY ARE HERE.

    ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!!

  17. There’s too many posts on the Shane thread. My search engine won’t let me post there anymore. Dammit, I lost two really great posts. Oh well, on to other subjects. I’m wondering which Barner team is gonna show up Friday? The scary one that whupped Ole Miss, Tennessee, Miss St and W. Va, or the pussy one that lost to Kentucky and Georgia and got stomped by LSU and Arkansas? Not that it really matters. Actually I hope ya’ll keep it close. Don’t want to be #1 next week and piss off Florida. I want em to be pissed off after the game! LMAO! Oh by the way, I’m now Crimsonite from the planet Crimson, and I’m here for Super Tide to use against the Super Pretenders. Ya’ll are dead meat!!! ROTFLMFAO! RCTR!

  18. LMFAO!!! How about the pussy team who got stomped by LSU —

    oh BTW — nice tag name 🙂

    RTR!!!!!!!

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