My Thoughts From the Stadium (Liberty)

[abw0004 10,110]

Good morning all,

I hope this thread finds you well.  It is now Thanksgiving week!  We are smack dab in the middle of what I call the "big three" (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).  For those that know me personally, I love the holiday season.  Christmas in particular.  Actually just yesterday I spent the whole day putting up the outdoor Christmas lights.  But don't worry, I do not actually light them until the day after Thanksgiving.  I have to do it now because the project takes me about 5 hours to complete and I still have the indoors to accomplish as well.  But enough about me and my childish wonderment.  Let's talk some Auburn football!  For the final time in this regular season (and potentially this season depending on where the bowl game is located), let's get started shall we?

Atmosphere:  Saturday in itself could not have been more perfect.  The temperature was cool, with little to no breeze.  The sun was setting, just could not have been more pleasant.  Everyone was in a relaxed mood to watch the game, as it should have been with it being Liberty.  The stadium was not packed, as expected.  For starters, we have not filled out any stadium, Washington included.  Secondly, it was the tune-up game the weekend before Thanksgiving where most students had left for home to be with their families.  The eagle flight was a little botched as Auburn played a senior day hype video at the same time so no one knew the eagle was flying until it was too late.

Auburn Marching Band:  I wanted to put this at the front of my post.  You know, as fans on this board, we are really big fans of Auburn.  We have to be to put in the time to write on a message board when we have other things to do with our free time.  I am not sure we hold a candle to our marching band.  You need to remember how hard/long they practice, and they have a Fall camp just like the football team.  Win or lose, they are at every single game to the very end.  You think it's rough when it's hot and humid at a football game?  Try doing it in the full marching band gear.  And where they sit, the sun is the last place it hits before it sets over the stadium.  They are a big reason I am there so early to every football game, to support them.  For their final performance at home, the Auburn marching band choose to do their AUTLive Cancer performance with Bruce Pearl (this performance he was not present being in Maui).  I am really glad they chose this performance.  Why?  During the performance, they ask all cancer survivors to please stand, and my father just happened to attend this game.  His just finished his last radiation treatment the Monday prior so I was really proud to have him stand.  You really do not understand the word "cancer" until you or a family member has it.  Many members on this forum are going through it right now.  It can turn your life upside down, and it meant the world to me for the marching band to team up with Bruce Pearl for this performance.  Thank you.

Auburn's Performance:  Auburn played as expected in this game.  It was a fine tune-up, and gave our defense the first shutout since the Alabama A&M game in 2016.  What a way for the seniors to go out.  Stidham seems more confident in the pocket as of late and I am not sure why.  I am happy to see it however, and it rubbed off on his teammates.  Malik Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season, including A-Day.  He was allowed to air it out, and the pass the Anthony Schwartz should have counted in my opinion.  Seth Williams flat out is a stud.  But more on him in a bit.  Anders Carlson returned to form as well.  The most memorable moment for me was when Stidham scored on a rushing touchdown.  He had the biggest smile, and when Chandler Cox came over to congratulate him, they appeared to have a really special moment together.  It is hard to explain really, just something to go back and watch.

Seniors:  This game was a bittersweet moment to be a part of.  It is always fun to watch Auburn in any sport, much less football, but at the same time it was sad to watch out seniors for the final time at home, plus any juniors that declare early.  I really hope some of the football players are reading this that are graduating, because it truly has been an absolute honor to watch you grow the past few years.  Through the ups and downs, I still loved every moment watching you on the field.  I am really glad you chose to play at Auburn, and I hope to see your return for a game or two.  We all welcome you back with open arms at any time.

Future stars:  For me, I am really excited for our freshmen and our freshmen redshirting coming back.  This year we played more freshmen than any other year.  That will only pay dividends moving forward.  Seeing the redshirt freshmen play in the second half really took away some anxiety of the seniors we have leaving.  And for the current freshmen playing, they have looked like veterans all year.  Seth Williams would have to win the freshmen MVP for me.  As many have seen from my posts the last few months, this guy is a stud and will continue to be.  How we stole him from Tuscaloosa is beyond me but I am glad we did.

Interesting Tidbit:  On the car ride up, we were listening to the Tiger Talk show and Trovon Reed was a guest.  Very well spoken young man and in my opinion, I really wished we switched in him DB much earlier in his career.  When asked what his favorite season was, want to guess what season it was (attended 2010-2014)?  2012.  Why?  He said because that year it made everyone closer and want to fight for one another the following year, 2013.  "Typically you have one guy in the locker room thinking they were the best of everyone, and in 2012 we all sucked."  Everything has a silver lining and that season prepared that team for 2013, when no one expected us to do well just like no one expects us to do well next year.  You never know.

Iron Bowl:  Auburn is not predicted to win this one.  The spread is 24 points as of this post.  Alabama has been lighting it up all year where we have taken a few stumbles along the way.  Is Alabama beatable?  "Of course." - Deshaun Davis.  Do I have hope we can pull off the upset?  Yes.  Why?  Because I do have that hope, and that is a very powerful thing to have.  You will lose every game you go into thinking you will lose.  I know our seniors don't think that, so why should we?  We have the talent and the experience to do it.  We have done it before.  We have nothing to lose.  So let's open up the playbook and take risks.  See what happens.  You never know.  Upsets happen every week.  You don't need to have faith in our coaches, you need to have faith in our players.  It can't hurt for us to rally behind our guys one more time this season.  Only good can come from our support of them because they do see what we say about them.  And I, for one, believe in them.

So let's show our seniors how much we believe in them, and support them.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all, and by the way:  

[shabby 1,956]

"Malik Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season, including A-Day.  He was allowed to air it out, and the pass the Anthony Schwartz should have counted in my opinion"

 

Totally different assessment from the TV. he missed a read. His pass you mentioned was under thrown and would have been an easy TD if on target. I've seen nothing from him all season that indicates he has been impressive all season. Just the opposite in fact. I do agree with you about Williams. Glad you enjoyed the game

[abw0004 10,110]

11 minutes ago, shabby said:

"Malik Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season, including A-Day.  He was allowed to air it out, and the pass the Anthony Schwartz should have counted in my opinion"

 

Totally different assessment from the TV. he missed a read. His pass you mentioned was under thrown and would have been an easy TD if on target. I've seen nothing from him all season that indicates he has been impressive all season. Just the opposite in fact. I do agree with you about Williams. Glad you enjoyed the game

Thanks for mentioning this.  Did not catch that.

[The Freak 2,527]

2 hours ago, shabby said:

"Malik Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season, including A-Day.  He was allowed to air it out, and the pass the Anthony Schwartz should have counted in my opinion"

 

Totally different assessment from the TV. he missed a read. His pass you mentioned was under thrown and would have been an easy TD if on target. I've seen nothing from him all season that indicates he has been impressive all season. Just the opposite in fact. I do agree with you about Williams. Glad you enjoyed the game

Agreed.  Gus even had a hissy fit over it.

[gr82be 14,423]

3 hours ago, shabby said:

"Malik Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season, including A-Day.  He was allowed to air it out, and the pass the Anthony Schwartz should have counted in my opinion"

 

Totally different assessment from the TV. he missed a read. His pass you mentioned was under thrown and would have been an easy TD if on target. I've seen nothing from him all season that indicates he has been impressive all season. Just the opposite in fact. I do agree with you about Williams. Glad you enjoyed the game

It's one of those same but different type things. In fairness @abw0004 said Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season which somewhat lines up with your assessment. It's a true statement, just might have meant something different to each of you.  There have been some missed opportunities to get him some reps this season for sure. Coach has to pick his spots for sure but he could have played more than he has. 

[abw0004 10,110]

29 minutes ago, gr82be said:

It's one of those same but different type things. In fairness @abw0004 said Willis looked as impressive as he has been all season which somewhat lines up with your assessment. It's a true statement, just might have meant something different to each of you.  There have been some missed opportunities to get him some reps this season for sure. Coach has to pick his spots for sure but he could have played more than he has. 

That is correct!  Basically anything was better than A-Day.

[passthebiscuits 6,844]

I love the band...but when they play "War Eagle" at the opener of every game, it is painfully too slow. My only gripe I promise.

wish our year had gone better. Basketball game on today at 1:30!

[Linayus 676]

1 hour ago, passthebiscuits said:

I love the band...but when they play "War Eagle" at the opener of every game, it is painfully too slow. My only gripe I promise.

wish our year had gone better. Basketball game on today at 1:30!

You mean when they play it to each side of the stadium? I can wholly agree to that. lol

[Win4AU 4,052]

I’m glad Adams and Tolbert got to play on Senior day but I would have liked to see Willis get another drive.  I’m glad they let him throw and he did miss a read and the pass could have been better.  I will say this about Willis.  Like most Running Qbs he’ll play better with pace.  Once some of those nerves wear off maybe he’ll breakout like Nick did.  That first game against Wazzou was not pretty at the Qb position.  Either he’ll get it or he won’t.