This is I both love and hate the bunker (auburnsports.com's message board). Any loss and immediately it's "We stink. Put in Someone else". I sent this e-mail to some friends who were doom and glooming and told them basically to suck it up:
I think you all need to quit jumping ship. Don't bail on Auburn. Don't bail on Cox. This is Auburn football. Did you really think we were going 11-0 this year? No. Do I still think we split the road games? Yes. Whether that road is Ws against Arky and UGA then so be it. I'll examine the issues:
1.) Our line. We are playing two freshman on the line. One redshirt and One true. Plus, Ziemba the true freshman is playing our most important o-line position: Right Tackle (Cox's Blind Side). I heard it said once that whenever you start freshman no matter if its college or high school you are almost guaranteed to lose as many games as the freshman you start.
2.) Our defense. Yes, the played good the past two games but not good enough. Were were the fumbles and INTs against USF? No where. Groves is a maniac on the outside but when you run the spread it almost negates him because he's going to bite on the wrong guy 50% of the time.
3.) Special teams. We don't have a boomer on kickoffs. Byrum can't kick off yet because of his ankle. If we had pinned them deep towards the end of the game we probably wouldn't have gone to OT.
4.) The schedule. We knew who South Florida was going into the season. The were the real deal. This was a team hungry to beat us to prove themselves. They stepped up. We didn't. End of story.
5.) Brandon Cox. Cox is our QB. Deal with it. If you don't like it I'm sure John Parker Wilson would love a few more fans. Here's a reminder about Brandon Cox. He's undefeated against Alabama. He would have been undefeated against LSU if John Vaughn could remember how to kick FGs. He also single handidly won the Georgia game in Athens. Is he as good as Jason Campbell. No. Is he better than Kodi Burns, Neil Caudle, Blake Field? Much Much Better. If you ditch Brandon Cox now then YES you will lose 5 games. What's Kodi Burns going to do? Run around till someone gets open? Try to tuck it and run and end up a piece of some LSU d-lineman's stool? Yes he's mobile. So what. We don't run a mobile offense. Our strength is our interior lineman so we run it up the middle most of the time.
6. Auburn football is about heartbreak. That's what makes us Auburn fans. We know what it's like to win and lose and it makes us stronger. Who's giving you crap today? Here's a comeback to each one of them. Is it an Alabama fan? just hold up 5 fingers and say "Better hope 3 million a year is enough to beat us". Is it a Georgia fan? good game against South Carolina. Stafford really looked like the QB of the future. When you get beat by Blake Mitchell, the alcoholic fratboy of SEC Qbs, you lose most of our respect. Is it a Tennessee fan? Ask them, "when you close your eyes do you still have nightmares of Cal's kick return". I could go on and on.
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OK, Kevin ... I hadn't checked in on the site in a week or so. I'm Firestone's uncle.
No, the meltdown began when State beat us.
1. Ziemba's not the problem ... Princess Dunlap is the problem. So is Leon "No" Hart. We've done some poor evaluating of OL talent. Lee Tilley? Anyone? Anyone? I think you will love Ziemba more than any lineman AU has had in a long while.
2. The defense didn't play as well Saturday. Part is because we're playing Larry, Curly and Moe at LB. Let's hope the Little Dime Bag of Hate comes back soon to fulfill the incredible reputation he has. After all, he's made one significant play in his AU career -- which arguably could have been reversed on review.
3. Special teams. Byrum will be one of our best kickers ever. But we've got to cover the cotton pickin' things. It's time to put real players on the kickoff team -- starters regardless of position a la Ronnie Brown and Carlos Rogers covering kickoffs in '04.
4. The schedule is tough ... losing to USF hurt, but we knew all along that we could have some difficulties with that game. I'm sorry, but State is the team that got absolutely obliterated by LSU in week 1.
5. Well, events changed on Cox. We have to be honest. Brandon Cox has not been a good QB since the Washington State game. In 2005, he had No. 1, No. 2, No. 86 and No. 23. He didn't have to be anything more than average.
Last year, he was below average, even as he was pummeled by opponents. He's just been surrounded by playmakers in the past. He's not up to this task now -- whether it's physical, mental or some other dimension that I'm not aware of. Kodi showed incredible poise last week. Had we not put him under center at the 37 early in the 4th quarter, and had we put him in on first and goal, I believe we win the game due to the dimension he brings. Furthermore, look how much better Ben Tate ran with someone in the backfield who was also a threat. If we're going to lose 5 either way, and we are, then let's lose them with Kodi in the primary role and Brandon in the supporting role.
6. What do we say to the Bammers? Not much. Because we've got to take our medicine and live in the now. I lived through the miserable times (3rd grade thru high school) of losing every year to them.
History doesn't matter. Current events do. It's time to go to work. No more Princess Dunlap. Leon's hurt, so that's taken care of. Prechae is a part of our past, and Trott should be, too. Rod Smith is on notice. This is no wait til next year. Let's get busy now.
We're going to take our lumps, but we'll come out on the other side if we don't bury our heads in the sand and be stubborn.
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