Good morning.
Auburn is 3-1. Somehow.
I've never seen an Auburn game like that. It was worse than the 3-2 win at Mississippi State insofar as that result wasn't left to the proverbial "football gods." I mean, the Mizzou tailback lost his grasp on the ball as if stripped by an angel. Or a devil. If he holds onto that ball, Mizzou wins. If their All-American placekicker hits the 26-kick at the end of regulation, they win.
With that said, this season remains on track for me.
ON TRACK?
I said in August that this was 2008 all over again. That team was led by an embittered coach at the end of rope with Auburn. His team lacked offensive talent, couldn't score, its solid defense eventually powered down due to frustration.
That 2008 team started its season 4-1. Included there was a road win over a poor Mississippi State (3-2) team and a home win over a poor Tennessee team (14-12) to stoke frustration among supporters fed up with Tommy Tuberville. Most everyone was fed up with him by then; these were the dying days of the Kodi Burns Quarterback Experiment. The staff was flip-flopping Burns and Chris Todd to no avail. Ben Tate was making the most of blocking problems.
Yes, we've seen this current team before. It was only 14 years ago.
• Tuberville wasn't fired until Dec. 4, 2008, because life was different back then.
• Barring an unforeseeable run of excellence during the next few weeks, Bryan Harsin won't make it to November.
• In fact, I sense that Important People don't think he should survive the bye week, which runs from Oct. 16-22. I heard that described as a "worst-case scenario" yesterday.
• There will be much pearl-clutching outside the Auburn sphere when this occurs. As has been the case before, that is of little concern to anyone here. I don't say that as a criticism.
• Rich McGlynn wasn't made Interim AD to protect Harsin. He knew coming in that part of his job will involve firing Harsin.
• I would not fire Harsin right now despite the Bunker's belief that today is too late. I don't see an obvious choice for Interim Head Coach and I don't think this team would be better off with another current staffer serving as the No. 1 guy along the sideline. I reserve the right to change my view on that week to week.
• I do not believe parting with Harsin at this juncture gives Auburn any meaningful head start on identifying or actually landing its next head coach. Everything that needs to be done in that manner can be done today.
• To its credit, the team has not quit. This team is faltering because it's underpowered and its scarce offensive resources are not able to thrive within the offense Harsin and offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau envisioned — largely because Zach Calzada is supposed to be their talisman. I was intrigued when Auburn went full Big 10 with that first touchdown drive Saturday. Robby Ashford's running ability is one of the few good things about Auburn's attack right now, but then the Big 10 stuff stopped working and was abandoned and everything sputtered again.
• I firmly believe Auburn is year-over-year fixable. We've seen that happen so many times. Though this team will not return much star power for the 2023 season, the Portal is an equalizer in the right staff's hands. Look at what Lane Kiffin is doing at Ole Miss with the Portal. He's the best.
• I think Lane Kiffin, as terrific as he is, would be a terrible fit at Auburn. Important People want a coach who will work with them. Kiffin doesn't like that kind of oversight. Some might instead call it "organization harmonization" and he's still not into it. He's a One Man Wolf Pack and that's not what Auburn needs right now.
• I'm cautiously optimistic that peacemakers within the Auburn sphere will be able to engineer a consensus among Important People regarding the next coach. That's what Auburn needs most. Important People must go back to supporting the coach and standing behind a coach they believe in. That hasn't happened in a while.
• In this (new) NIL world, a program cannot achieve greatness without unity. This is a massive obstacle for a unity-challenged university like this one, but modern problems require modern solutions. It's up to each man or woman to figure out how they can evolve in a way that benefits the FOOTBALL PROGRAM. If that means being more open to others' viewpoints when it comes to football coaches, athletic directors, methods for funding Ever To Conquer and On To Victory, well, that would count as evolution in my book.
• Thank you for reading and for subscribing to AuburnSports.com.
Auburn is 3-1. Somehow.
I've never seen an Auburn game like that. It was worse than the 3-2 win at Mississippi State insofar as that result wasn't left to the proverbial "football gods." I mean, the Mizzou tailback lost his grasp on the ball as if stripped by an angel. Or a devil. If he holds onto that ball, Mizzou wins. If their All-American placekicker hits the 26-kick at the end of regulation, they win.
With that said, this season remains on track for me.
ON TRACK?
I said in August that this was 2008 all over again. That team was led by an embittered coach at the end of rope with Auburn. His team lacked offensive talent, couldn't score, its solid defense eventually powered down due to frustration.
That 2008 team started its season 4-1. Included there was a road win over a poor Mississippi State (3-2) team and a home win over a poor Tennessee team (14-12) to stoke frustration among supporters fed up with Tommy Tuberville. Most everyone was fed up with him by then; these were the dying days of the Kodi Burns Quarterback Experiment. The staff was flip-flopping Burns and Chris Todd to no avail. Ben Tate was making the most of blocking problems.
Yes, we've seen this current team before. It was only 14 years ago.
• Tuberville wasn't fired until Dec. 4, 2008, because life was different back then.
• Barring an unforeseeable run of excellence during the next few weeks, Bryan Harsin won't make it to November.
• In fact, I sense that Important People don't think he should survive the bye week, which runs from Oct. 16-22. I heard that described as a "worst-case scenario" yesterday.
• There will be much pearl-clutching outside the Auburn sphere when this occurs. As has been the case before, that is of little concern to anyone here. I don't say that as a criticism.
• Rich McGlynn wasn't made Interim AD to protect Harsin. He knew coming in that part of his job will involve firing Harsin.
• I would not fire Harsin right now despite the Bunker's belief that today is too late. I don't see an obvious choice for Interim Head Coach and I don't think this team would be better off with another current staffer serving as the No. 1 guy along the sideline. I reserve the right to change my view on that week to week.
• I do not believe parting with Harsin at this juncture gives Auburn any meaningful head start on identifying or actually landing its next head coach. Everything that needs to be done in that manner can be done today.
• To its credit, the team has not quit. This team is faltering because it's underpowered and its scarce offensive resources are not able to thrive within the offense Harsin and offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau envisioned — largely because Zach Calzada is supposed to be their talisman. I was intrigued when Auburn went full Big 10 with that first touchdown drive Saturday. Robby Ashford's running ability is one of the few good things about Auburn's attack right now, but then the Big 10 stuff stopped working and was abandoned and everything sputtered again.
• I firmly believe Auburn is year-over-year fixable. We've seen that happen so many times. Though this team will not return much star power for the 2023 season, the Portal is an equalizer in the right staff's hands. Look at what Lane Kiffin is doing at Ole Miss with the Portal. He's the best.
• I think Lane Kiffin, as terrific as he is, would be a terrible fit at Auburn. Important People want a coach who will work with them. Kiffin doesn't like that kind of oversight. Some might instead call it "organization harmonization" and he's still not into it. He's a One Man Wolf Pack and that's not what Auburn needs right now.
• I'm cautiously optimistic that peacemakers within the Auburn sphere will be able to engineer a consensus among Important People regarding the next coach. That's what Auburn needs most. Important People must go back to supporting the coach and standing behind a coach they believe in. That hasn't happened in a while.
• In this (new) NIL world, a program cannot achieve greatness without unity. This is a massive obstacle for a unity-challenged university like this one, but modern problems require modern solutions. It's up to each man or woman to figure out how they can evolve in a way that benefits the FOOTBALL PROGRAM. If that means being more open to others' viewpoints when it comes to football coaches, athletic directors, methods for funding Ever To Conquer and On To Victory, well, that would count as evolution in my book.
• Thank you for reading and for subscribing to AuburnSports.com.
