Since it's apparent that no changes will occur until after the Iron Bowl, here's something to consider as we wallow in the mire of losing. When Tubs made the decision to radically alter his offense for the 2008 season, which I thought took a lot of courage even if it was a bit misguided, he said something to the effect that you can't win forever by just playing good defense and kicking field goals. The irony is that's basically how he (and many, many other successful coaches) had won his entire career. His biggest problem was he didn't commit fully to the new philosophy. (What did Barnes say in 'Platoon', something about fighting a war with one hand wrapped around your b@lls?) Anyway, we know the rest of the 2008 story.
Enter Chizik, whose greatest success at AU obviously came via the spread, yet he decided to chunk that for a more traditional offense. He, too, did not fully commit to the his scheme, however, and we've seen a mixture of a lot of things old and new, few of which worked. I wonder what our record would have been had we lined up in a 2-back set most of the time, running the ball 40-45 times per game and throwing it 20-25 times?
At any rate, we saw two coaches go drastically away from what led them to their greatest successes, fail to fully commit to new schemes, and ultimately crash and burn within the confines of a three-month season. The thing I don't get is how Tubs' teams that year at least appeared to play hard, even in going 5-7 and getting blown out several times, while this year's team melted down in every game and has appeared to just stop trying altogether. Is the psyche of this team such that if only we had won one of the early season games we could have had a completely different season? Would the confidence gained from an early win have made all the difference, or is it more likely that this group had no will to fight on once there was some adversity?
What a roller-coaster ride AU football has been the past 51 months.
I Tubby had not used Jetgate his last few seasons to extort more contract money, then he might have had kept his job. He was toxic with his rumors and duck hunting trips. I felt when he brought in Tony Franklin that we would win a NC very soon. He knows defense. What he missed was keeping Nall and other offensive people. These guys purposely worked against TF. Tony Franklin was not good for Auburn however. His appearance was not professional. I have seen sailors come off a three day bender than looked better.
Auburn knows the formula to winning championships. Score more points. Auburn is only one of a handful of schools who could take the spread and play good defense too. This is college football and winning sends kids to the pros, not running a team like the pros.
Irony of Tubs, Chiz