The Bodda Getta

When you post things like this, you make me think that you take message boards way too seriously. What is posted on message boards has very little effect on the success of AU's program. So, people can post, "hey, we need to come together and be positive" or "we will be better off when we focus on us" all they want. It doesn't have that much effect. Some, maybe. Maybe a recruit or two every ten years or so makes a decision based on what he read on a message board. Maybe 20 or so extra people show up for A-day because they were inspired by something they saw on a message board.
What you can do on message boards is give your fellow message board brothers and sisters from rival schools heck. It won't bother the sane ones. But, the fanatics get worked up about it. They do it to us all the time. 2010 was the mother of all efforts on their part. There were constant stories about the plains burning and Cam being bought and paid for, etc. It didn't bother me, but some of our members got really worked up about it. Some didn't even enjoy a great season. So, I'm fine with nobody ever giving credit where credit is due to our rivals. I'm fine with saying they are cheating in recruiting, they have the refs in their back pocket, they have unfair media coverage, they are using steroids, etc. If it gets a few of their fanatics worked up, Great. If some posters think some of our posters are whiny, delusional, tin-hat wearers, etc., who cares. It's a message board for God's sake and very few of us know anybody else on this thing in real life.

For anyone confused...I didn't just wake up yesterday and decide to heap accolades on our chief rival and the much despised Nick Saban because I suddenly became fond of them and was just overwhelmed with admiration.

This was a post that was reactionary to things that have been posted for years. The posts I'm talking about represent a far to common reaction by Auburn fans to all things Alabama related. They sign a top player, we ask how much he got or what kind of car he now drives. They win a close game....the other coach much have been an idiot, or the refs must have gotten a message from the SEC office to make sure Alabama wins. They win 61 of 68 games over a five year period....must be because Tennessee and all of their other rivals are having down years (for five straight years....in the SEC).

And yesterday, their players were physically superior to Notre Dames, so they must all be juiced (while we find ourselves so impressed with our own work-out monsters like Craig Sanders and Mario Fannin).

I didn't all of the sudden decide to just write a random post bowing to the enemy. I decided that I was tired of watching too many of us come up with every excuse under the sun to downplay their success to the point of total ignorance and making us look like whiny babies. Sorry, I don't like it when my kids (both under 6) act like whiny babies, and I like it less when adults that all represent Auburn act like whiny babies.

So I wrote a quick post to point out what I thought were the actual factual truths about their success, minus all the Auburn-inspired BS that attempts to act like they are the one program to ever win multiple titles that did it solely by buying players, getting help from refs, voters moving them up in polls because ESPN had guns to their heads, by being the only program that roids-up their players, and by getting lucky enough to play no winning teams in five years in the SEC. That's what we sound like. And it's ridiculous.

It's easy to take half the facts and make them sound sexy. It's difficult to see the forest and the trees and easy to digest one or the other.

Of course there are other variables. Of course Alabama has gotten lucky that teams like Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State. Of course they got lucky that Oregon lost to Stanford this year. They got lucky that Colt McCoy got hurt.

When I say "it's Nick Saban", I obviously don't mean that he is all-controlling God-man that can cause upsets to occur so he can play for a title. Of course there are other factors, but the PRIMARY factor, by a large margin, is the man at the top of the program, and that's Saban.

If Gus goes on a similar run and wins 90% of his games and plays for multiple titles in a five year period, it's going to involve some luck. There are going to be games where the opposing coach makes a bad choice. There are going to be times when a team in front of us gets upset. Are we all going to discount what Gus and Auburn has done because of the few breaks along the way? Or are we going to give the vast majority of the credit to where it should be given....the man in charge?

The whole point of the post was to suggest its lame, and it is, for Auburn fans to just turn a blind eye to the success and try to make every excuse possible to explain away their success a phony or just lucky. You just don't go 61-7 by getting lucky.

And your excuse back earlier in the thread is no better. They're that good because Tennessee is down and Les Miiles made a bone head call? We'd have tons of titles if all of our 1-loss teams won?

Do you know how many Top 5 teams Bear Bryant played from 1961 to 1965 when he was in the midst of one of his best five year stretches? Three. He went 1-2. In his next best stretch, 1971 to 1975, he played six Top 5 teams, and went 1-4. Saban has played eleven Top 5 teams in the last five years, and has gone 6-5. Bryant played a grand total of THREE (caps for emphasis, not yelling) Top 5 games in the SEC in those TEN years combined. Saban has played EIGHT Top 5 games in the SEC in the last five years.

Tom Osborne played five Top 5 teams from 94 to 98 (to Saban's 11). Osborne faced 31 teams with a winning record from 94 to 98. Saban has faced 43.

Dye faced FOUR Top 10 teams in the SEC from 1986 to 1990. Alabama has played TEN. Dye played one single game in the SEC against a Top 5 team in five years from 86 to 90. Alabama has played eight of those games in the last five years.

And for the record, Auburn has six teams in our history (10 game minimum) that have zero or one loss and no ties. Saban has three in the last eight years.

See, you're making me post stuff that makes it look like I'm singing their praises or pumping them up. But really, I'm just pointing out that your idea that Alabama has had it easy because one of their main rivals, Tennessee, has sucked, is just not accurate. Looking at the number of top teams they've played, they had it harder than Osborne did in the Big 8, and a lot harder than what Dye faced.

The whole point is that there is no reason to make excuses. Sure, there are reasons and things that have contributed, but that's the case with every single coach in every single season ever played. So what's the point in dragging out the excuses just so we can whine about Alabama's run?

Look, I don't care for Saban. I started a thread earlier this year titled, "the day Alabama hired Tommy Tuberville", because back in 2007 when Saban was hired, that's essentially who he resembled. But since then he's built what he's built. No sense in denying it or making excuses for it. There are all kinds of things that go into a perfect storm that makes this kind of run possible, but it starts at the top with Saban. He's implemented the things at that program that have allowed them the success they've had. I just can't for the life of me see why that's so hard to admit.

Sing and dance because of it? Praise them and join in their parade? No. No way. But for the love of Auburn, can we stop making excuses and being so obsessed with trying to diminish it. It's exactly what they would do...and exactly what we would make fun of if they did it.