Things are not as they seem on the Plains.  In fact recently there was an ambush on the plains and it came replete with casualties.  Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was abruptly fired on Wednesday, Oct 9th by head coach Tommy Tuberville.  This came less than 24 hours after Tuberville told the media that he had confidence in Franklin and there weren’t any staffing changes planned.  Obviously by the next day the situation had changed.

In addition there have been rumors floating around about how the firing had nothing to do with coaching but involved “personal issues” like not getting along with fellow coaches, berating players and using racial slurs.  Well gosh golly gee . . . it’s a good thing we got rid of that mean old racist Tony Franklin then.  The Auburn administration and coaching staff had their hands tied right?  What were they to do?

Cough, bullsh*t, cough.  Sound familiar?  We all know that thanks to the rumors that Terry Bowden was fired for cheating on his wife and not his football issues.  The ranks of coaches who have been fired/paid off at Auburn is truly staggering.  Doug Barfield, Wayne Hall, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, Al Borges, Tony Franklin, etc - the beat goes on.  There are two kinds of coaches at Auburn University, coaches who have been fired and coaches who are GOING to be fired.  Unfortunately for Tommy Tuberville, he looks to be on the list for the latter.

Anyone familiar with Auburn knows the rumors being told to boosters and “insiders” are standard operating procedure on the Plains.  Only one man is capable orchestrating this type of death march, Bobby Lowder.  Lowder has been gunning for Tuberville’s head for years now ever since Tommy was able to turn the Bobby Petrino disaster into a half decade’s worth of coaching autonomy.  That “get out of free” card seems to have expired.  While Lowder doesn’t yet have the clout to openly fire Tubs he’s positioning himself to arrive to that conclusion shortly.

Losing brings enemies and Tuberville’s perpetual underachievement since 2004 has brought him a fair share of critics within and outside the program.  Lowder has capitalized on this and is currently attempting to divide the program.  Tuberville has now fired 2 offensive coordinators within 12 months.  I’m sure after some strong “encouragement” on behalf of Trustee Lowder.  Such a conversation likely boiled down to “either you fire so-and-so to placate some angry boosters or you can go pack your own bags“. (more…)

With all the current shenanigans going on at Auburn University these days it reminds me of a previous coaching administration and a blast from the past! 

If there was ever a first family of college football the Bowden Clan could stake a very strong argument for the title.  Bobby Bowden, head coach of FSU and currently the winningest coach in college football, had 6 children of which four were boys.  Out of those four boys three of them ended up coaching college football.  Actually when you consider the exploits of the Bowden boys all four would make for the subject of an interesting book.  Whether it be Jeff Bowden and his tumultous reign as offensive coordinator at Florida State and his ensuing exile, Tommy Bowden and all the Jeckle and Hyde teams he has produced in his tenure at Clemson, Steve Bowden who wrote a best-selling book about his father and later swindled him for 1.6 million in a fraudulent securities scam and of course the bowden boy we will focus on here: coaching pariah and current TV/Radio analyst Terry Bowden.
 
For those who don’t remember Terry Bowden’s career, Terry began his career coaching at tiny Salem College in West Virginia where he coached current FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher (who later followed Terry to Samford).  After leaving Salem to coach Samford, Terry coached the Bulldogs for 6 years accruing at 45-23-1 record and earned enough recognition to finally land a high level college coaching gig at the University of Auburn.  At the time Auburn University was in a state of panic as claims of illegal benefits being paid to players had reached the press.  The King of Auburn football, Bobby Lowder, finally decided it was time for Coach Pat Dye to resign before the Eric Ramsey allegations exposed further wrongdoing.  What better way to right the ship and steer press coverage away from scandal than to hire the “innovative” and “up and coming” son of Legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden?
 
THE KING
 
While it is not known who first recommended Terry for the job, his hiring couldn’t have happened with Lowder’s consent because NO ONE does anything at Auburn without the approval of the dictatorial power broker and Auburn Trustee, Bobby Lowder.  Lowder is one of the few remaining old school figures that once ruled college football.  A remnant of the day when deals and decisions were made behind closed doors where cigar smoke and the laughter of grey haired gentlemen filled athletic department board rooms.  Lowder is a man who has used his financial empire (banking) to literally buy control of Auburn University and cast it in his own image.  His political allegiences and ties have made him a dangerous figure to anger while virtually untouchable to reformists and opponents alike. (more…)

The team had a high-powered offense.

The sophomore at quarterback was a legit Heisman contender.

The coach was a success, if not somewhat controversial.

Caldwell was one of the top receivers on the team.

Sound familiar? It should. Only this time, these words do not describe the Florida Gators of 2007.

Instead, they describe the Florida Gators of six seasons prior, in 2001. The signal-caller was Rex Grossman, a kid from Indiana who picked UF over IU, the school of his forefathers. It was Steve Spurrier’s last season behind our sidelines; the visor on his head had Gator insignia. And Reche Caldwell was a top option on the receiving corps - kid brother Andre would sign in ‘03.

How powerful was this edition of the Fun-n-Gun? It scored 538 points in one season, a school record that stood until last year’s team notched 552. Grossman, a pocket passer, threw for 3,896 yards, which remains the school record. His 3,904 yards in combined yardage was a school record that stood until Tebow had 4,181 last year. He had 34 passing touchdowns, third in school history behind Danny Wuerffel’s 1995 and 1996 seasons. And his 39 passing and rushing touchdowns that year trail only Tebow’s and Wuerffel’s Heisman-winning seasons in 1996 and 2007.

But, as with USC, they were plagued by teams that scored enough points on them to make life uncomfortable. Only this time, the magic number was 20.

In a scene eerily reminiscent of last season, the Tigers were tied with the Gators, with the ball in their hands on the last touchdown drive. Then, as Wes Byrum would do six years later, Damon Duval kicked the game-winning field goal.

Incidentially, Byrum split the uprights from 43 yards, just 1 yard shy of Duval’s mark.

Then, in a game that was postponed due to the 9/11 attacks, Tennessee won a wild shootout 34-32 after Grossman failed to convert a two-pointer on the final play of the game. The win snapped the Vols’ seven-game losing streak at the Swamp, gave Tennessee the SEC East title, and effectively killed Grossman’s Heisman campaign.

That he lost by 62 points to Nebraska’s Eric Crouch in the Heisman race underscores just how close he came to a stiff-arm, and possibly more.

By the time it was all said and done, another Sunshine State team stole the show. Miami won their fifth national title with the most dominant team in school history.

Auburn graced us with their presence in the O’Connell Center on Saturday, and treated the Gators to a tough, competitive SEC matchup which ultimately fell in the Gators’ favor. Final was 72-56, although the game was quite a bit tighter than that, particularly in the first half.

The character and personality of this team is starting to emerge. This squad is led by two of its freshmen, Nick Calathes and Jai Lucas, both of whom are lights-out competitors with poise beyond their years. They are prodigious scorers, as they both racked up 16 points apiece, although Calathes is as valuable for his passing as he is his shooting. Their supporting cast of Dan Werner (Mr. Versatile), Walter Hodge (Cool Hand Luke) and a bench filled with talented frosh such as Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus, and Adam Allen makes for a team which can push the tempo, score in bunches and play great team ball. Even the pressure defense is starting to shape up. Freshmen, people! We’re talking freshmen here!

Note that I left Marreese Speights off this list. Yes, yes, I know: the box score shows that Speights had a good game. He notched 14 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes. But stats don’t tell the full story in this case. At this point of the season, Mo’s development is not where most had hoped it would be. Speights is the first to get winded and seems willing to allow opposing bigs to have their way with him in the low post, although he occasionally “snaps out of it” and shows flashes of brilliance.

Two games into SEC play, we should not have this problem, not with the player most felt would be the Gators’ MVP this year.

Mo is a sophomore and has now started a total of two SEC games, so he is a long way off from being written off by anyone, least of all me. With the coaching staff we have in place at Florida, odds favor Speights’ growth and development into being the best he can be. If the glimpses of his potential prove to be true, he is certainly capable of becoming an All-SEC center.
(more…)

Auburn takes on our Gators in the O’Connell Center today. Tip is at 12:00PM ET.

At first glance, you’ve got to really like Florida’s chances in this game. Due to injuries, Auburn is suffering from an unfortunate bench depth problem and have only 7 guys they can play. Three of those players — guards Quantez Robertson, Rasheem Barrett and DeWayne Reed — played 38 minutes or more in their last game against Arkansas. Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo simply has no alternative. His players have to put up big minutes every game unless he wants to put four players on the floor. They literally limped out of Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum and got on a plane to head straight to Gainesville.

Which was Thursday night. That game ended less than 37 hours before today’s contest is scheduled to begin.

Florida, meanwhile, comes in with three full days of rest and the momentum gained from a surprising upset of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Florida is obviously favored, although I’m worried that this youthful squad might be susceptible to “big win hangover.” The Gators are good, but they’re not good enough to coast through an SEC game. Any SEC game.

Starting conference play with two in a row would be a great help to Florida’s chances to keep their NCAA tournament streak alive. The SEC is generally ‘down’ this season, but that’s a double-edged sword for UF; while it’ll be easier to win a few more games, it will also be harder to impress the tournament committee with the quality of those wins. As such, I think the Gators will need to win 10 of their 16 conference games, which means we’ll have to take care of business and do the following at minimum:

• - get a split with either Tennessee or Vandy (1 game)
• - win both against Kentucky (2 games)
• - beat Georgia and South Carolina twice (4 games)
• - beat LSU (1 game)

Assuming we beat Auburn today, that’ll add the 10th win since the Bama road win started things off earlier in the week.

Is this doable? Yes, although the hardest of these tasks is getting a split with Vandy or Tennessee; beating Kentucky on the road won’t be easy, either. It also leaves zero margin for error. If the Gators are caught napping in any of these games, we’ll have to pull out a road win against Mississippi State or Ole Miss, which I think would be very tough, or Arkansas, which is probably our best fallback “must-win” game if any of the above don’t come through. Winning at least one tournament game would push us to 11 wins, and I don’t think the two-time defending national champions are left out of the Big Dance with 11 conference wins, 25 total victories and road Ws against five conference opponents.

As such I view today’s game against Auburn to be a critical opportunity for the Gators. They must capitalize to keep the train rolling. I reiterate: this squad is too young and too inexperienced to take anything for granted. View today’s game against the Tigers as a challenge, because despite the circumstances, that is what it will be. Feel free to comment on our gameday open thread, below. Go Gators.

In his article “Can AU keep Tubs on the Plains“, Paul Finebaum of the Register Herald has addressed a possible resolution to the crisis at Auburn University; a crisis named Tommy Tuberville. Auburn sits at 3 wins and 2 losses for the season. Ahead the Tigers face road games at Arkansas, LSU and Georgia and home games against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Alabama. While the home games seem manageable the road slate is grueling and lets not forget Auburn’s two losses this year have been at home and they trailed late in the fourth quarter at home in their season opener. Should the Tigers play hard the rest of the year and upset a few teams they could still be looking at an 8-4 season.

The problem at Auburn is not as much what Auburn has done, they are essentially the same program that went undefeated in 2003, but instead what the rest of the league has done. The environment that pushed the Tigers to the top in 2004 has changed drastically in 2007. This isn’t the same league it once was. As traditional programs like Florida and LSU have regained prominence, new powers like South Carolina and Kentucky have emerged to compete with the likes of Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. A league that boasts of having the best football talent and passion now combines it with the highest paid and accomplished coaching fraternity in the country.

Tuberville may have stopped the hemorrhaging with the Florida upset but he’s not stupid. He knows the game has changed in these parts with Nick Saban. He also knows that he is always going to have to prove himself at Auburn and his relationship with the Auburn Board of Trustees will remain what it currently is — non-existent.

The two early season losses pushed Tubberville to the limit making the Florida game a “must win game” just 5 games into the season.

The Auburn coach has done a very nice job so far of saving this season from a complete disaster. Much credit should go to him. Tuberville remained patient when some of his Auburn fans were ready to jump ship on Brandon Cox and the program.

But long term the progonosis is not good. As Saban exerts his influence over the state Auburn fans and boosters have lost faith in their head coach. Tuberville has always been a good coach and solid recruiter but surrounded by programs with great coaches and recruiters something has to give. Auburn will never drop to the level of an Ole Miss or perhaps even Arkansas but they look to be squarely stuck in the middle tier of the SEC for then near future. But there may be a way for both Auburn AND Tuberville to come out ahead in this situation. Another coach with ties to the state of Alabama is on the hotseat: Texas A&M coach Dennis “The Menace” Franchoine

In the event he is pushed out the door (and if put to a vote of the Aggie Nation, he would go packing), Tuberville would emerge at or near the top of anyone’s list of top contenders for the job. He might also be hotly pursed by Arkansas after the expected removal of Houston Nutt.
Tubs knows the terrain in Aggieland, having spent a brief period of time out there as R.C. Slocum’s defensive coordinator. He is a close friend and confidant to Slocum, who still carries weight with high-ranking boosters.

Tuberville would seem the perfect fit in Aggieland. Tommy has the affable personality that Franchione lacks, he will be able to recruit the fertile grounds of Texas, a state which can support far more programs with top shelf talent than Alabama can, and Tuberville knows how to win big games. In the Big 12 the season is largely about average games and a few big games - aka OU and Texas. When the underdog Tuberville knows how to go for broke and turn into the riverboat gambler that he was once known for. As the favorite the Auburn coach tends to go conservative and play the odds which leads to boring games and the annual upset or two.

The biggest problem with the situation on the Plains is that following the Bobby Petrino fiasco, a huge buyout was included into Tommy’s contract. This restricts not only Auburn from firing him but also HIS leaving the program. This means that if Tommy is fired the University has a 6 million contract buyout but the same goes for Tuberville should he elect to leave. In the current situation however, this might be a non-issue.

What about the $6 million buyout for Tuberville? If he left, he supposedly would have to pay, just like Auburn would have to pay if he were fired.
In life, and particularly in college football, everything is negotiable.

Tuberville is a man of character and would never admit to entertaining another job offer. While at Ole Miss he made the same denials about the Auburn position. This is something that will not be resolved until after the season. Tuberville is married to Auburn University but both parties are growing more and more estranged. Is this the opportunity for both sides to come to an mutually amicable divorce? If so, it might turn out that the only big name “firing” in the SEC coaching ranks this year takes place in Knoxville. 

For all those Auburn fans who read my doomsday prognostications, I see you have returned for me to take back all I have said.  I am to now state that Tommy Tuberville is a great coach and Auburn will soon be playing for SEC and National Championships.  HA! HA! HA!  Sorry, . . . even typing that makes me laugh.  People . . . get the hell out of here!!!  (a phrase for disbelief not a statement that you cannot come here and share your differing opinions).  Auburn is freakin 3 AND 2!!!  What is that?  A 60% winning percentage almost halfway into the season with the meat of their SEC schedule lying ahead?

If anything, this only serves to PROVE my point.  Auburn is good enough to beat UF on the road yet they can’t beat Mississippi State at home?  Even if you admit that South Florida was an understandable loss (accepting that the Bulls are just a more talented and better coached program) Tuberville looks more and more like a Ron Zook clone.  In 2005 - Beat Alabama lose to Wisconsin.  In 2006 - Beat LSU and lose to Arkansas at home, beat Florida and lose to Georgia at home.  Now that they have beaten Florida who is the next unranked team to upset them?  Vandy?  Arkansas again?  Ole Miss?

If Tuberville pulls out a 10-3 season I will give him his due, aside from that . . . get used to losing on the Plains.  Auburn has the talent to beat Florida and Alabama this year but it could be the last time those two things ever occur in the same season (and might even not happen individually for quite a while).  Tommy’s last recruiting class was very thin (once you take into account that a third of a highly touted class never made it to campus) and this year’s looks to be shaping up to make last years class look awesome.  Auburn will not compete in the SEC with Tuberville at a high level.  At an Arkansas level, sure.  Better than Ole Miss and Mississippi State, definitely.  At a Florida, Georgia, LSU or Alabama level?  NO!

Auburn will go 8-5 or 9-4 this year.  Their most dominant defensive presence, Quentin Groves (the best player on their team IMO), is now hobbled with foot problems and even when he returns later in the year will not be able to get the push he is famous for.  Their offensive line is young and inept.  Their senior quarterback is shell-shocked from years of poor pass protection and their young quarterback is lost and if not protected better will end up as guy-shy and battered as Cox.

The Tigers will get worse as the year goes along and there is one reason for that.  Depth, they don’t have any (see the poor recruiting discussion from above).  As the injuries mount (yes the yearly excuse from Tiger fans) the team play will get worse.  The drop-off from starter to backup is more precipitous than at a lot of schools.  This isn’t just a problem at Auburn (see Alabama and Florida State) but it means you are not prepared for the future.  Saban has an excuse as he inherited someone else’s team.  Tuberville?  Had the top team in the league 3 years ago and has been at Auburn for almost a decade.  There’s no excuse for that (Other than those damnable NCAA Academic standards!!!).

This is bottom line for Auburn - they have top 3 or 4 SEC caliber talent and experience in their starters but will finish 6th or 7th in the league.  Take out Tuberville and put in a Bob Stoops, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier, Jeff Tedford, Jim Tressel, Dennis Erickson, Rich Rodriguez, etc, etc and Auburn would be fighting with LSU for the West and SEC title.  As it stands they are playing for the Peach or Liberty bowl.  At the end of the year I will revisit “Tommy the Tube” and either give him his props or state the obvious again for you folks.

At Florida we recognized that Lon Kruger and Ron Zook had some success but just weren’t getting the job done in the long run.  Maybe Auburn expectations just aren’t high enough to recognize they could do better.

I’ve finally managed to watch the game tape. Wasn’t easy; that’s a pretty ugly looking home football team out there on Florida Field.

But with knowledge comes understanding. I’ve come away feeling better about the loss than I did initially.

Why? Because although Auburn outplayed, outcoached, and outscored the Gators, Florida was a few mistakes away from winning a game they had no business losing.

Total respect to the Tigers, but this shouldn’t have happened. The advantage of the Swamp coupled with one of the SEC’s best offenses should not have allowed Auburn to stay in this game. But after watching the tape, I see a team which is getting better and will give LSU a serious run for their money next week.

You heard me correctly: whatever the line is against LSU, the Gators will cover, and stand probably a 40/60 chance of winning the game.

3 reasons we lost, after the jump.

(more…)

You’re better than us.

Yes. We acknowledge your superiority. Your coach outcoached us. Your team outplayed us. You beat us at home, in the Swamp, which has never happened in the Urban Meyer era. You’re also better-looking and smarter than us.

Somehow, some way, you have our number. Even in a year in which you field one of your weaker teams, you still find a way to beat us. Your senior quarterback, who played so poorly in his first few games that the Auburn coaching staff burned a freshman’s redshirt, looked like an All-American against our defense. And our offense, supposedly ready to ring up 500 yards and 50 points against the New England Patriots, couldn’t get out of its own way for a half of football, then squandered multiple opportunities to eak out a win in the 4th quarter.

You beat us twice in a row, which sucks. You get to crow for the next five years or so, or until we face off in the SEC Championship game (which if we did, you’d probably win.) Our beloved Baby Rhino, Tim Tebow, might never log a win against the mighty Auburn Tigers.

But at the end of the day, we thank you. Our formerly inflated, biggie-sized self-worth, which came due to our 59-20 trouncing of Tennessee, can now be found on the 99-cent value meal menu. We thought we were unstoppable, and that a close call against one of the SEC’s worst teams was due to a bunch of kids taking their first road trip. We were wrong. We now realize that the Volunteer Abuse Game was an aberration, that Troy stacking 31 points on us in the Swamp should have been a dire warning, and every quarterback we play, not just Ole Miss’ walk-on, is going to look like a Heisman candidate against our defense.

Now we know Tim Tebow is a mere mortal. We know that if one or two of our best receivers are dinged up it will be hard to win a lot of games. We know that our team is only ‘pretty good’ in the SEC scheme and that games against Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia will be require every last shred of effort and luck to win. We refuse to even think about playing LSU at this time, as the thought makes us physically ill. We thank you because now that our team has been exposed, we can lower our unrealistic national title repeat aspirations and work our damnedest at making an appearance in the SEC Title game and a January bowl.

After watching South Florida beat West Virginia and Mississippi State give Spurrier’s Gamecocks every last bit they could handle (with their backup QB, no less), it’s obvious that your two early losses weren’t embarassing at all. South Florida is a Top 10 team, Mississippi State is much-improved from 2006, and Brandon Cox picked a hell of a night to put it all together. Dude couldn’t miss. Congratulations, you have a very good football team and you won a game in some of the most hostile conditions imaginable.

My hat’s off to you, Auburn. Now please excuse me while I go throw up again.

I can’t harp on it any more, Auburn is not an elite college football program.  Tuberville was a mediocre coach before the miracle year of 2004 and somehow he gets far more love from the press than he deserves because he was “cheated” from a chance at a national title.  The 2004 Auburn team was a mirage.  The only thing those Tigers were cheated from is a blowout loss in a Title game matchup.  Instead they were able to (barely) beat an inferior Virginia Tech team and at least claim they were undefeated.  I doubt Auburn could have beaten Oklahoma let alone Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush’s USC squad.  That would have just ended up being an embarrassment to the league.
 
Let us put Auburn in perspective.  Alabama is a state with a high football passion and produces a fair share of quality athletes.  Tuberville’s heyday was helped considerably by the flagship program of the state, the University of Alabama, being on probation and in turmoil during Tuberville’s rise.  It was during this time that Auburn was able to lure talented players like Jason Campbell, Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown (not to mention Giants running back Brandon Jacobs who transferred to Southern Illinois for playing time).  Let’s not forget that although the Tigers were indeed 13-0 in 2004 Tuberville was only able to squeeze 8 wins out of those same great players the year before.
 
During Auburn’s pathetic offensive display on Saturday night we heard how Auburn has more wins over the past three seasons than LSU, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.  Well la dee freakin da people.  Were you overly impressed with Auburn’s 11-2 record last season?  The Tigers were an opportunistic team that had the ability to beat better teams (LSU, Florida, Nebraska) by capitalizing on mistakes or poor coaching decisions but could also get easily run off the field if an opposing team played well (Georgia, Arkansas).
 
The SEC was a much different place in 2004 than it is today.  (more…)