Blame game goes on without end

[aubiefifty 16,822]

Blame game goes on without end

ByPhillip Marshall Aug 28, 12:35 AM

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Call it the blame game. It has long been part of athletics at all levels, but college football takes it to the highest level, especially in the South. If your team loses, it must be somebody’s fault. Maybe it’s the coach. Maybe it’s the quarterback. Maybe it’s one of the coordinators. But it must be somebody.

Maybe the other team is just better? Nah, if that’s the case it’s the coach’s fault for not recruiting better players. Often the wrong players are blamed because fans, for all their passion, don’t really know who was supposed to do what. That doesn’t mean they don’t believe they know.

I don't know that the blame game is any different at Auburn than it is at most places, but following are five Auburn players who, in the social media era, experienced the blame game at its worst:

QB JASON CAMPBELL

Campbell won the starting job in 2001 as a freshman, lost it, won it back, lost it again and took it for good halfway through the 2002 season. The calls for new starter even as late as 2004. He learned the hard lesson that quarterbacks get too much credit and too much blame.

In the end, Campbell was the 2004 SEC Offensive Player of the Year, led Auburn to a perfect season and was a first-round draft pick. He played 10 seasons in the NFL.

LB JAKE HOLLAND

I thought I remembered the quote from Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson in 2013. I looked back at the interview transcripts I had saved, and I was right. He was asked about Holland. “He’s a good football player and a smart football player,” Johnson said. “It would be a lot harder for us to be successful without him.”

Auburn fans were unmoved. Many were convinced he was not a good player and shouldn’t be playing. As these things often go, it became personal. Holland, to his credit, never complained. And he helped the 2013 Tigers win the SEC championship and play in the BCS Championship Game.

 

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I thought I remembered the quote from Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson in 2013. I looked back at the interview transcripts I had saved, and I was right. He was asked about Holland. “He’s a good football player and a smart football player,” Johnson said. “It would be a lot harder for us to be successful without him.”

Auburn fans were unmoved. Many were convinced he was not a good player and shouldn’t be playing. As these things often go, it became personal. Holland, to his credit, never complained. And he helped the 2013 Tigers win the SEC championship and play in the BCS Championship Game.

QB BO NIX

Even when Nix was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019 and became the first true freshman quarterback to lead a victory in the Iron Bowl, the criticism was relentless. Amateurs talked about his footwork and about his fundamentals.

In 2020, Nix was playing behind an extremely inexperienced offensive line that took a big hit a midseason with the loss of Brandon Council. He and new offensive coordinator Chad Morris did not click. Nix was frustrated and it showed. At one point at Jordan-Hare Stadium, he screamed to the sideline: “They know our plays!”

Through it all Nix has passed for more yards in his first two seasons than any quarterback in Auburn history. He is poised to be the starter for the third consecutive season.

OC CHIP LINDSEY

After Auburn blew a 20-0 lead at LSU in 201 7, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn told Lindsey, his first-year offensive coordinator, that he was getting out of his way. And he did. The result was that Jarett Stidham established himself as a rising star and Auburn scored 40 or more points in six of eight SEC games.

In 2018, after spring practice was completed, Malzahn told Lindsey to change the offensive terminology to what had been used before 2017. As the season began, Malzahn was steadily more involved with the offense. According to program insiders, Lindsey continued to call plays, but Malzahn made the game plan and made the play sheet. Essentially, Lindsey called Malzahn’s plays. A team that should have been in championship race had to beat outmanned Purdue in the Music City Bowl to finish 8-5.

As is often the case, Lindsey took plenty of heat. Miserable, he left for Kansas after the season and then landed at Troy, where he is the head coach.

OL CHAD SLADE               

Slade was an athletic and versatile lineman who equally at home at guard or tackle. Partly driven home by analysts who should have known better, many Auburn fans were convinced Slade was not an SEC offensive lineman. His teammates and his coaches thought very differently, but that didn’t seem to count.

Today, Slade is in his seventh season in the NFL and third with the New York Giants.

 Will the blame game ever end. It would be terrific it could, but the anonymity provided by social media assures that it won't. The blame game is part of the game.

[CodeRocket 410]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

At one point at Jordan-Hare Stadium, he screamed to the sideline: “They know our plays!”

I had not heard this before and if true, it might explain a lot about our offensive dysfunction over the last few seasons.

[boisnumber1 2,819]

No idea why Holland is on this list. Ellis Johnson's comments are the epitome of coachspeak. It's not like he then writes "And Holland went on to play in the NFL..." 🤷

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by boisnumber1

[Gowebb11 9,339]

53 minutes ago, CodeRocket said:

I had not heard this before and if true, it might explain a lot about our offensive dysfunction over the last few seasons.

Apparently at the Tennessee debacle in 2018 Pruitt was running up and down the sidelines calling out our plays to his defense. The predictability was there for a few seasons now. Particularly bad when the QB is not allowed or trained how or what to check into. Thankfully it’s a new day. 

[aubiefifty 16,822]

50 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

No idea why Holland is on this list. Ellis Johnson's comments are the epitome of coachspeak. It's not like he then writes "And Holland went on to play in the NFL..." 🤷

 

people on this board gave holland hell. it was pretty bad. his dad left because of it the best i remember. i think that was what you were asking.

[boisnumber1 2,819]

8 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

people on this board gave holland hell. it was pretty bad. his dad left because of it the best i remember. i think that was what you were asking.

But the title is the blame game. No one ever blamed Holland for anything other than not being good. Yeah it was over the top, but it was not inaccurate in the least.

This whole piece sounds like it was contrived by Marshall to enable himself to make excuses for Bo without just coming out and saying so because he knows he would get slammed if he did.

[homersapien 11,393]

1 hour ago, CodeRocket said:

I had not heard this before and if true, it might explain a lot about our offensive dysfunction over the last few seasons.

Hell,  many - if not most - AU fans knew our plays.  It would be dumb to think our opposition couldn't figure it out.

[homersapien 11,393]

9 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

But the title is the blame game. No one ever blamed Holland for anything other than not being good. Yeah it was over the top, but it was not inaccurate in the least.

This whole piece sounds like it was contrived by Marshall to enable himself to make excuses for Bo without just coming out and saying so because he knows he would get slammed if he did.

If that's not the same as "blame" it's the functional equivalent.

And I happen to agree with Marshall about Bo.  I'll just blame Gus for his development, or lack thereof.  

[boisnumber1 2,819]

13 minutes ago, homersapien said:

If that's not the same as "blame" it's the functional equivalent.

And I happen to agree with Marshall about Bo.  I'll just blame Gus for his development, or lack thereof.  

I'm not saying I don't agree with him about Bo. I'm just saying he got a little desperate for examples when he pulled Holland's name out of his...hat. 

[homersapien 11,393]

Just now, boisnumber1 said:

I'm not saying I don't agree with him about Bo. I'm just saying he got a little desperate for examples when he pulled Holland's name out of his...hat. 

Considering he went on to play in the NFL, I think it was a good example of how irrational or compulsive fans can be.

[boisnumber1 2,819]

11 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Considering he went on to play in the NFL, I think it was a good example of how irrational or compulsive fans can be.

Maybe you should enlighten us on Holland's NFL career.

[alexava 6,973]

55 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

people on this board gave holland hell. it was pretty bad. his dad left because of it the best i remember. i think that was what you were asking.

Fans in the stadium actually booed jake when announced in the starting lineup. It was embarrassing to  be sitting there. 

[alexava 6,973]

4 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

Maybe you should enlighten us on Holland's NFL career.

Yes, I would be most interested. 

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

1 hour ago, boisnumber1 said:

No idea why Holland is on this list. Ellis Johnson's comments are the epitome of coachspeak. It's not like he then writes "And Holland went on to play in the NFL..." 🤷

 

FYI......Holland suffered from injuries but played through them because he was needed.  At times the injuries limited his effectiveness. He never should've been treated the way he was by Auburn fans anyway. He's a nice young man who worked hard and gave 100%. Shame on anyone who thinks he didn't deserve respect. Not every  player in the SEC goes on to play in the NFL. That's no reason to discount Holland's contributions. 

[homersapien 11,393]

22 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

Maybe you should enlighten us on Holland's NFL career.

Four years in the NFL.

Also,

Holland played at Auburn from 2015 to 2017. As a junior in 2017, he was named an All-American by Sports Illustrated after recording 45 tackles and 10 sacks.^[2] After the season, he decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2018 NFL Draft.^[3][4] 

 ^{- Wikipedia}

 

[gr82be 14,440]

24 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

Maybe you should enlighten us on Holland's NFL career.

I'm going to guess Homer may have been thinking Jeff Holland. 

[homersapien 11,393]

22 minutes ago, alexava said:

Fans in the stadium actually booed jake when announced in the starting lineup. It was embarrassing to  be sitting there. 

That's just flat out shameful as an Auburn alumnus and fan.

 

[homersapien 11,393]

1 minute ago, gr82be said:

I'm going to guess Homer may have been thinking Jeff Holland. 

Yep.  I thought that was who we were talking about.

Regardless, you just don't boo your own players during a game.  Some of the criticism on this forum is bad enough.

[God Cam It 97]

2 hours ago, CodeRocket said:

I had not heard this before and if true, it might explain a lot about our offensive dysfunction over the last few seasons.

I remember him and Chad yelling at each each on TV towards the end of the year. It was toxic. 

 

Was it against Tennessee a few years ago when their DBs were calling out the plays before they were snapped on TV live and the announcers were even talking about it? Sad times. 

[WeaglWeaglWDE 599]

2 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Apparently at the Tennessee debacle in 2018 Pruitt was running up and down the sidelines calling out our plays to his defense. The predictability was there for a few seasons now. Particularly bad when the QB is not allowed or trained how or what to check into. Thankfully it’s a new day. 

It was pretty obvious. We were handicapped in so many different capacities. 

[NoALtiger 3,867]

We’ve got amateurs here that talk about footwork and fundamentals? I hadn’t noticed.  

[cole256 17,084]

Ahhh another poor guy piece.... How about you shouldn't be personally insulting ANY player? How about ALL the guys that dealt with things they shouldn't have. There's not a person that's been more disrespected than Jeremy Johnson was on this board.

But yeah Bo is so mistreated, he's the only guy that had to endure Gus.....

[augolf1716 21,221]

No one and I mean no one got more blame then Neiko Thorpe. God I don't know how he took it and the kid has played in the NFL 8 years.

[bigbird 60,571]

3 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

No one and I mean no one got more blame then Neiko Thorpe. God I don't know how he took it and the kid has played in the NFL 8 years.

Hmmm, nice take. 

[augolf1716 21,221]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Hmmm, nice take. 

Damn straight it was numnuts