That, ladies and gents, is phenomenal work, the sort of thing Mr. Jeff Fuller* has been building to lo these many anonymous YouTubed years. Kudos to you, sir.
Ramsey? Some of the biggest news on the recruiting front over the next couple of weeks might not come from an actual "recruit" at all, not if Chaz Ramsey returns to Auburn as Jay Tate recently indicated he might. Assuming Ramsey can come back healthy (a great big giant assumption, but still), adding a player that had essentially left the team that already has a year of starting SEC experience and Ramsey's wealth of talent would be another huge coup for Chizik's "Hey! I Don't Suck!" campaign. Fingers crossed. (Of course, this link is now 10 days old and I've probably missed where Ramsey was named NASA's next space shuttle captain or something, so disregard if this has been resolved somehow.)
Timing. As you know, Gus Malzahn is keeping his day job with the Golden Hurricane through their appearance in the GMAC Bowl. The official JCCW reaction is: fine by me. I'd rather have a guy who feels it necessary to finish his commitment to his current group of players than one who's comfortable with bolting before the season's truly over**. If only the GMAC wasn't being held January freaking 6th.
Auburner +1. First, after a sad drought on the comic-making front, we get a classic. But even that sort of paled next to this excellent post from Mark on the generational divides in the Auburn fanbase, various James Bonds, and how if Will Muschamp had stabbed himself with a pencil, you wouldn't want to hire him as an engineer (or something like that). Money graf:
Now that Gene Chizik is head coach, I'm going to have to make some unfortunate revisions to my previously held football beliefs. I can no longer fault Nick Saban for leaving the Miami Dolphins. Voluntarily leaving a team worse off than a coach found it is now officially “Ok – but sorta frowned upon” and not “Horrible – something that the absolute scum of the Earth does”.Eventually, Mark devles into what's sure to become a classic Auburn debate over the years, if it's not one already: who's better, Dye or Tubby? There's an argument to be made for either, but speaking as someone who came of age as an Auburn fan during that glorious run of three straight Sugar Bowl appearances ... I'll take Dye. But, as Mark points out, that could just be the generational thing talking.
Get down with your bad self. Ronnie Brown in a random picture AA found:
Dance all the way to the Super Bowl, Ronnie.
Auburn Hoopity. The men are doing OK (even if the SEC's sucktastic performance-to-date and a lack of a bona fide nonconference win means an NCAA berth is all but out of the question already), but the real story on the Auburn hardwood is that Nell Fortner--fresh off her 100th coaching victory--has put together what appears to be the best Tiger women's squad since Joe Ciampi was taking Auburn to three straight national championship appearances back in the mid-to-late-'80s. The women tip off against a decent Duquesne squad in ... oh, call it about 10 minutes from now. The RPI isn't quite as kind to Auburn at this point as the polls are, but that'll probably shake out in SEC play and that win over RPI No. 10 Ohio St. isn't going anywhere. In short: it's time to start paying attention.
Etc. Jay Ratliff gets the uplifting profile treatment, even if that Super Bowl talk seems a little silly after yesterday ... Auburn equestrian still looks as good as you've heard it does, apparently ... Ohio St. aside, it's actually the Big 10 that's given the SEC the most bowl trouble over the past couple of years.
Aaaand lastly ... I feel like I should say something about Paul Rhoads becoming Iowa St.'s head coach, but what's there to say other than to thank Rhoads for his rather-excellent brief service for Auburn and to wish him "Good luck" at ISU? It's a little ironic, yeah, but it's not like Rhoads was an Auburn lifer or was a serious candidate for the AU DC position--his going to Ames is an interesting footnote, but I don't see as much more than that.
*How do I know A96's real name? Because back in February, TWER wrote one of the posts of the year about him. Check it, if you haven't already.
**Hypocrisy alert level for not holding Chizik to a similar standard: orange.
4 comments:
I would say that its a toss up between Dye and Tubs as second best Auburn coach. Donahue was the best.
But Dye should have shown Tubs or Terry half the support that he's shown Chiznick and maybe Terry doesn't quit and Tommy doesn't whatever.
Can't see Dye being real supportive of the spread.
IIRC, Dye was supportive of Tommy for the first couple of years. If Chizik manages to succeed and become a long-term coach at Auburn, I expect Dye's support to wither with time.
It is Dye. No brainer there. Old school is over. Point production is IN. Bring it, baby!!
Re: Mazlahn
It also gives us a chance to see his team compete with him calling the plays for the offense on Jan 6. I'll bet the GMAC Bowl will be a must-watch game across the entire Auburn fanbase. I know I'll be watching and noting the play calling.
Personally, I think the guy is who Tuberville SHOULD have hired last year with the spread offense in mind. While I liked Big Al, I think the spread is too dynamic to ignore for long.
Besides, Mario Fannin in the Wild Tiger formation with Tate and Burns threatening to reverse/pass from a pitch and go? I pity the defense that has to figure out how to stop that.
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