Oh Lord, get ready for the meltdown

[BamaGrad03 0]

They do have a blue stripe down the middle.

[Argo 8]

but not a maroon stripe......quick AUesquire, what color is THIS?? JK

[AUesquire 1]

It's 2:40.

[Bama Bo 0]

It's 2:40.

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[AUesquire 1]

It's kind of a take off from a joke about an old man that get's asked what time it is and then the old man...well he...

Oh, hell just forget it. You try a little humor around here and grief is all you get. Grief I tell ya'.

[AURainman 6]

I think Bama's 2003 team was decent. It was a close Iron Bowl. We just dropped a lot of close games. Double OT to arkansas, 4 ots to UT...etc.

132199[/snapback]

4-9 and a couple close games made them decent?

We aren't judging heart here. We're talking about victories. The 2003 team was picked on, spit on, ripped to pieces, etc. and I don't even know how they showed up on Saturdays. But pitying them for what they went through doesn't give them a "decent" rating!!!

....and the Iron Bowl wasn't as close as you remember...

[Argo 8]

I think Bama's 2003 team was decent. It was a close Iron Bowl. We just dropped a lot of close games. Double OT to arkansas, 4 ots to UT...etc.

132199[/snapback]

4-9 and a couple close games made them decent?

We aren't judging heart here. We're talking about victories. The 2003 team was picked on, spit on, ripped to pieces, etc. and I don't even know how they showed up on Saturdays. But pitying them for what they went through doesn't give them a "decent" rating!!!

....and the Iron Bowl wasn't as close as you remember...

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Let me get this straight. When comparing defense vs. defense this year you guys pointed out on a daily basis that YPG should not be a deciding factor, ONLY SCORING stats should.

"and the Iron Bowl wasn't as close as you remember"??? Are you saying that it wasn't close because AU has soooooo many more yards than UA?? I thought yards didn't matter, only score. If that's true, than I would say a five point game was close. I'm just using AU logic here, so please correct my thinking.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

I'm sorry, but the 1998 Tigers, while I love them as individuals, were a terrible team. I have to say that last year's Bama squad would have beaten us.

[BamaGrad03 0]

tf24...you have to remember...if Bama loses to AU, its NEVER as close as the scoreboard. Just look at this thread talking about THIS year's game...apparently they blew us out of the water. Too bad nobody told the AP voters.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

tf24...you have to remember...if Bama loses to AU, its NEVER as close as the scoreboard. Just look at this thread talking about THIS year's game...apparently they blew us out of the water. Too bad nobody told the AP voters.

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Be honest...you think the 8 point difference is indicative of how that game truly went? As easily as we were moving the ball on you in the second half, do you really think we couldn't have put 7-10 more points on the board? Did you not notice the soft coverage we went into on your final drive? I mean, be for real. You guys played as hard as you could early on and were up 6-0. We come out and go three straight drives for TDs and were driving on another but chose to run the ball and milk clock. We moved the ball on the final drive too but chose to run it out.

No one said we blew you out of the water, but anyone who actually watched the game could see that 21-13 does not show how absolutely in control we were after halftime.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Its funny how you conviently forget that you didnt get a 1st down for the first 18 mins of the game.

Also funny how you forget that you hit a 50 yard pass on 3rd and 16. (i dont call that moving the ball with ease...i remember Simeon sacking Jason the play before) That seems more like a lucky break in busted coverage if you ask me. We havent given up plays like that all season, we get you down to 3rd and 16 and you catch a guy running free in our zone? Oh but im sure you guys were setting us up on 1st and 2nd down.

Very interesting that you guys want to allude to "soft" zone coverage on the last drive, but you dont mention the drive before where we drove it 80 yards and dropped a sure fire 1st and goal on the 5 catch.

Thats how you guys see it though. Thats how you always see it. You hit a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16...and another 50 yarder where a guy was covered like a blanket, but Madison was a little short to cover the guy. So the wobbly pass that hits Obomanu (or whoever) just happens to be in the ONLY place it could have been completed.

But im sure yall were just hustling us in the first half.

Its kind of like last year...Carnell rips off an 80 yarder first play of the game...you guys think THAT is normal. But the #1 Kick returner in the SEC runs back a kickoff 100 yards...and it was a fluke and we got "lucky"

[WarTim 3,456]

REALLY sad to see uaters on the AU board actually trying to make an arguement about how good a team they HAD 12 years ago might have been. Guess that is even more proof of how truly pathetic things are at the "program" in west al.

p.s. With a 6-5, soon to be 6-6, record ..what would you know about an AP Voter?

[BamaGrad03 0]

We dont have to argue it...when you look back in the record books it says 13-0 and UNANIMOUS national champion.

No *'s for probation no *'s for being left out of a computer ranking...just #1.

I was actually enjoying the hypothetical discussion....

[StatTiger 3,188]

Thats how you guys see it though. Thats how you always see it. You hit a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16...and another 50 yarder where a guy was covered like a blanket, but Madison was a little short to cover the guy. So the wobbly pass that hits Obomanu (or whoever) just happens to be in the ONLY place it could have been completed.

BG,

So are you saying that all of our big plays ( 51 and 32 ) were just luck? Borges' offense set a school record for plays of 30-yards or more in one season. Take away the two against Alabama and it's still a school record. There is a reason that the Coaches in the SEC voted Auburn's entire starting backfield, All-SEC and it wasn't because of a "wobbly pass" or blown coverage by an opposing DB. Jason Campbell was the top QB in the SEC this season and his QB rating was at it's highest on 3rd down. He completed 70% of his passes on third down. Of his 79 pass attempts on 3rd down, 30 went for a firstdown and 10 went for TD's. He was the most productive QB on 3rd down in the SEC, hands down.

Alabama played a great game and Auburn did not blow them out. However, Borges made great adjustments prior to the end of the half. In four consecutive possessions, AU gained over 270 yards on 36 plays, 13 firstdowns and 21 pts. Take away the two big plays and we still have nearly 190-yards in 4 possessions. It was far more than just two big plays...

[BamaGrad03 0]

Im not saying it was just big plays or anything. im saying when AU does good...its what is the norm...when bama does good...its luck...thats how you guys see it.

I could counter your stats by saying he hit a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16 against the #1 pass defense and #1 pass efficiency defense in the nation.

JCam had a good year, but to say its normal for him to jack up a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16 against the best defense he saw all year is a stretch IMO.

Many (not you) of the people on this board want to dumb it down to it "not being as close as the final score" It ABSOLUTELY was as close as the final score. If CTT "called off the dogs" as many of you want to believe, then hes the dumbest coach who's ever coached the game...because it came down to a dropped pass on the 5 and a recovery of an onside kick to seal it for AU.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Also, if we ONLY moved the ball on our last TD drive because of "soft Zone" coverage...is that the same reason we moved it 80 yards on the drive before with like 7 mins left in the game?

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Its funny how you conviently forget that you didnt get a 1st down for the first 18 mins of the game.

I think I said you played great for a quarter or so.

Also funny how you forget that you hit a 50 yard pass on 3rd and 16. (i dont call that moving the ball with ease...i remember Simeon sacking Jason the play before)

Partly because Jason's been doing that all year. We have one of the best 3rd and long conversion rates in college football. Ask LSU. He converted a 3rd and 12 and a 4th and 12 on that last drive. And that was just that game.

That seems more like a lucky break in busted coverage if you ask me. We havent given up plays like that all season, we get you down to 3rd and 16 and you catch a guy running free in our zone? Oh but im sure you guys were setting us up on 1st and 2nd down.

No, just doing something we've been fairly adept at doing to others.

Very interesting that you guys want to allude to "soft" zone coverage on the last drive, but you dont mention the drive before where we drove it 80 yards and dropped a sure fire 1st and goal on the 5 catch.

Yeah. One drive. Yay, Bama. That still doesn't change the fact that we figured out whatever you did on the first drive and absolutely shut you down for 3 and 1/2 quarters then, rather obviously, played off your receivers and were keeping everything in front of us. It wasn't hard to see the difference.

Thats how you guys see it though. Thats how you always see it. You hit a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16...and another 50 yarder where a guy was covered like a blanket, but Madison was a little short to cover the guy. So the wobbly pass that hits Obomanu (or whoever) just happens to be in the ONLY place it could have been completed.

Dude, Campbell completes like 65-70% of his passes. He's been ridiculous this season. The underthrow is one of the most basic long pass plays in the book when you know you have a 6' 2: WR on a much shorter corner.

But im sure yall were just hustling us in the first half.

No, you have a good defense and were playing your hearts out in the first half. It just wasn't enough to keep us bottled up after that.

Its kind of like last year...Carnell rips off an 80 yarder first play of the game...you guys think THAT is normal. But the #1 Kick returner in the SEC runs back a kickoff 100 yards...and it was a fluke and we got "lucky".

Well, I've never said that you were lucky. But Carnell ripping off big runs isn't exactly abnormal, except this season. I think the point is that we were leading 18-2 and your offense wasn't doing jack. In that context of how dominated you guys were, the kickoff seemed a little fluky. I mean, long runs for TDs in general are much more common that kickoff returns for TDs anyway. That's all some people are saying when they make a distinction.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Also, if we ONLY moved the ball on our last TD drive because of "soft Zone" coverage...is that the same reason we moved it 80 yards on the drive before with like 7 mins left in the game?

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Well, actually it was 60 yards and 48 of it came on one play...which was another good reason to back off and make you guys run clock: not giving up long pass plays to speedy guys like Prothro.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Here's Alabama's breakdown of yardage, by quarter:

1st: 80, 55 on the first drive

2nd: 16

3rd: 34

4th: 148

So from the first drive of the game until over a third of the way into the 4th, you guys got a sum total of 75 total yards. Meanwhile, after ending the first half with a 78 yard drive, we come out and promptly post drives of 78, 52, and 58 yards all ending in TDs. That's my point. You guys started well, we shut you down. Then you had a good play and a drive where anyone with a scintilla of defensive knowledge could see that our DBs were keeping everything in front and playing soft zone. You do the math.

[StatTiger 3,188]

JCam had a good year, but to say its normal for him to jack up a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16 against the best defense he saw all year is a stretch IMO.

For this season under Borges, it was not a shock to see JC do very well on 3rd down passing.

Here is a breakdown by downs:

1st: 180.7 rating

2nd: 149.0 rating

3rd: 189.9 rating

Here is his career rating on 3rd down passing by year:

2001: 93.2

2002: 121.7

2003: 128.2

2004: 189.9

Of his 55 completions this season, 11 of them were 20-yards or more and 8 were 30-yards or more. This doesn't count, the 4 other deep passes which were dropped this season on 3rd down. Why did JC suddenly become so deadly on 3rd down this season? Coach Borges said that when he came in, he noticed that Campbell was reluctant in throwing the deep ball because he did not want to make a mistake. This also explained why many of his deep balls prior to this season always seemed a second or two late because he would not pull the trigger right away. Once JC became more confident in the system, he began to throw deep more frequently. Borges also stated that JC was one of the brightest QB's he's ever worked with because he's played in so many different offenses.

Many (not you) of the people on this board want to dumb it down to it "not being as close as the final score" It ABSOLUTELY was as close as the final score. If CTT "called off the dogs" as many of you want to believe, then hes the dumbest coach who's ever coached the game...because it came down to a dropped pass on the 5 and a recovery of an onside kick to seal it for AU.

Tuberville did state that he tell Borges to scale back after we went up 21-6, which was evident by Al's play selection. In the four drives I previously mentioned, Auburn threw the ball 39% of the time. In our last two offensive possessions, we ran the ball 10 times and passed it only 1 time and that was on 3rd down. At the time, it appeared to be the right thing to do because Alabama had only gained 135 yards in their prior 8 possessions before Alabama started to move the ball late in the game. You guys actually gained more yards in your last 2 possessions than in your first eight.

I guess it comes down to perception. I think most Auburn fans on this board and on ITAT saw the game as being closer than they expected. As I stated before, I was glad to get out of there with a win and I previously agreed with your prediction of the game being close.

WDE

[AUloggerhead 2,232]

On topic: I agree with Finebaum's opinion that the 04' AU team would whomp the '92 uat team. No contest. I recall the '92 uat team, too. True, they were fierce defensively, but they couldn't have held up against the awsome offensive machine which Al Borges wields today.

Off topic: I challenge anyone who recoreded this year's Iron Bowl to go back and watch what Borges did in the first half. Remember, his MO is to script some plays for the 1st couple of series and then adjust the offense to how the opposing defense is playing. That is exactly what he's done all year long and the Iron Bowl was no different. Two untimely turnovers, a fumble and an interception, disrupted the AU offense from kicking it into overdrive. Even when uat had downed a punt inside the AU 5, Borges lined them up in a 2-tight end set up and rammed it down the uatter's throat for a 1st down. They were moving the ball before Campbell had his pass intercepted. After uat failed to move the ball against the Greatest Defense Ever and had to settle for a FG, AU took the ball and drove it the length of the field before the half. In other words, Borges had already gained the measure of the puny Nancy-boy defense of DC Joe Kines. Because of John Vaughn missing a point-blank FG, uat fans everywhere loudly proclaim how they "shut out the AU offense." Whoopy-dee-freakin'-doo ... ... this is in the same vein as the LSU fans taking credit for their defense making the Oregon St kicker miss 3 extra points. One would think that after watching the 3 straight AU TD drives in the 2nd half, uat fans would be embarrassed to even mention the word "dominate" with their defensive showing. But, no ... ... the kool-ade is so strong, it blinds them to the obvious. WDE 12-0 & Bragging Rights for another 365 days.

[AUesquire 1]

In the week following the Iron Bowl, Brother Oliver was on Finebaum in one of his segments. He said he was asked the day before the Iron Bowl what he thought would happen in the game and he said very plainly that UA would play tough until Borges started attacking Bama's corners. He said that as soon as that happened AU would take control of the game.

He was exactly right. Once AU figured out the blitz packages and started burning them through the air, it was over. And of all the excuses I've heard this year for Bama, saying part of Auburn's success was because of a 5'9" DB is just plain embarrassing. Injury excuses I can accept. Your DB being vertically challenged is a joke.

[AURainman 6]

JCam had a good year, but to say its normal for him to jack up a 50 yarder on 3rd and 16 against the best defense he saw all year is a stretch IMO.

For this season under Borges, it was not a shock to see JC do very well on 3rd down passing.

Here is a breakdown by downs:

1st: 180.7 rating

2nd: 149.0 rating

3rd: 189.9 rating

Here is his career rating on 3rd down passing by year:

2001: 93.2

2002: 121.7

2003: 128.2

2004: 189.9

Of his 55 completions this season, 11 of them were 20-yards or more and 8 were 30-yards or more. This doesn't count, the 4 other deep passes which were dropped this season on 3rd down. Why did JC suddenly become so deadly on 3rd down this season? Coach Borges said that when he came in, he noticed that Campbell was reluctant in throwing the deep ball because he did not want to make a mistake. This also explained why many of his deep balls prior to this season always seemed a second or two late because he would not pull the trigger right away. Once JC became more confident in the system, he began to throw deep more frequently. Borges also stated that JC was one of the brightest QB's he's ever worked with because he's played in so many different offenses.

Many (not you) of the people on this board want to dumb it down to it "not being as close as the final score" It ABSOLUTELY was as close as the final score. If CTT "called off the dogs" as many of you want to believe, then hes the dumbest coach who's ever coached the game...because it came down to a dropped pass on the 5 and a recovery of an onside kick to seal it for AU.

Tuberville did state that he tell Borges to scale back after we went up 21-6, which was evident by Al's play selection. In the four drives I previously mentioned, Auburn threw the ball 39% of the time. In our last two offensive possessions, we ran the ball 10 times and passed it only 1 time and that was on 3rd down. At the time, it appeared to be the right thing to do because Alabama had only gained 135 yards in their prior 8 possessions before Alabama started to move the ball late in the game. You guys actually gained more yards in your last 2 possessions than in your first eight.

I guess it comes down to perception. I think most Auburn fans on this board and on ITAT saw the game as being closer than they expected. As I stated before, I was glad to get out of there with a win and I previously agreed with your prediction of the game being close.

WDE

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shhhh.....it was a fluke, remember!!!!

[WarTim 3,456]

This is amazing. You can actually SEE bg's head exploding as he reads each and every post!

[BamaGrad03 0]

There ya go Titan! Our defense played good for one quarter. Thats why you had negative total yards until your last drive of the first half...the first half that ended with you guys having zero points on the board.

You guys sound like spurrier after a LOSS...its all "we did bad" not they did good.

Stat, you and I have very little disagreement with the Iron Bowl. I hope you know that. 99% of the stuff I am touching on is in relation to things others have said.