My Thoughts from the Stadium (Alabama 2023)

[abw0004 10,134]

Good morning everyone,

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.  Mine was filled with lots of good food and great memories with my family.  As we enter the Christmas season, lets dive into the final "My Thoughts" thread of the regular season.

Shout Out:  Before I start, I want to give a shoutout to @RunInRed for inviting me and a few other Nesters to his family's tailgate on Saturday.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, your beautiful wife, and your lovely two children.  I also got the chance to meet @johnnyAU and his son at the tailgate.  It is fun to put faces with names, as much as we are on this forum and interact with each other.  For that, I am truly grateful to meet you both and your families.

Atmosphere:  What can you really say, other than it was electric from start to finish on Saturday.  Going into the game I thought maybe we would not be as loud due to the previous game, but fans got there early and got loud.  How loud?  The fans next to me had to wear ear plugs.  It really felt good that we, as fans, had our players' backs the entire game.  I know the recruits felt it too.  I was extremely proud to be an Auburn fan in those moments.

Alabama Fans:  The Alabama fans really were pretty docile this game.  I am not sure why as they are usually a little more obnoxious.  It might be because they are only a bubble playoff team this year, or because they just were unsure how Auburn was staying in the game with them.  Either way I was fine with that.

Marching Band:  For those not in attendance, Auburn's marching band played their Metallica show again with the LED lights in full effect.  If you have not seen it, I highly recommend going over to YouTube to watch it.  Very intricate showmanship.

Outcome:  I know we did not finish we way we wanted during the Iron Bowl.  I know the feeling of having the game in our hands and to lose it so quickly.  But taking a step back, we were supposed to get blown out.  Our talent was just not there.  I know a lot of people like to point out that we have the 18th most talented roster of players coming out of high school in the country, but that is very misleading.  None of those players had really been developed until Freeze got here.  Our coaches had our players prepared for this game and had them playing to their max level of their abilities to give us a shot of winning this game.  That has me excited for our future.  This has our recruits excited for our future.  Honestly, you should be excited too.

Senior Day:  Saturday was senior day for our players.  I did my best to clap extra loud for each one of them, considering all they have been through.  It is not easy playing for up to three different head coaches during your college tenure, which is what these seniors did.  To those players, I hope you go out into the world and become successful in everything you put your mind to, but I also hope you come back and visit us at Auburn.  We sure won't forget about you.

Looking Forward:  This season sure had a lot of ups and downs.  The range of emotions played out in almost every one of my game threads.  But that is in the past now and we need to look ahead to our future.  The next wave of Auburn players are on their way.  It is time to take the foundation we laid this year and start to build on it.  I know being patient is not an easy task, but that is what it takes to build something lasting.  All good things come in time, and I am for one, very excited for what is to come.  So for the final time this regular 2023 season, 

 

[all4AU 379]

The AUMB blew the Million Dollar Band out of the water. The Alabama fans next to me knew that and also seemed to be blown away by the atmosphere, especially in the 4th quarter. They knew we believed in our team and that our atmosphere was a force to be reckoned with. No need in wondering why they struggle so much when they play here. 

[I_M4_AU 8,003]

At the very end of the game Thorne throws an interception and it was (or appears to be) returned for a TD, yet no score change.  Is there an explanation that the refs explained to the crowd.  I missed it if it happened.

[all4AU 379]

Just now, I_M4_AU said:

At the very end of the game Thorne throws an interception and it was (or appears to be) returned for a TD, yet no score change.  Is there an explanation that the refs explained to the crowd.  I missed it if it happened.

Player was confirmed to have stepped out of bounds.

[VicTree 143]

47 minutes ago, all4AU said:

Player was confirmed to have stepped out of bounds.

I wondered about that too.  I turned off the game when it was 33-24.  I didn't know until later when I looked at the scores from the day that it had changed.

[GAAubie 501]

Thank you to all that attended the game and thank you for those that were in town just to tailgate. I regret not being there!

[Hank2020 3,217]

2 hours ago, abw0004 said:

Good morning everyone,

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.  Mine was filled with lots of good food and great memories with my family.  As we enter the Christmas season, lets dive into the final "My Thoughts" thread of the regular season.

Shout Out:  Before I start, I want to give a shoutout to @RunInRed for inviting me and a few other Nesters to his family's tailgate on Saturday.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, your beautiful wife, and your lovely two children.  I also got the chance to meet @johnnyAU and his son at the tailgate.  It is fun to put faces with names, as much as we are on this forum and interact with each other.  For that, I am truly grateful to meet you both and your families.

Atmosphere:  What can you really say, other than it was electric from start to finish on Saturday.  Going into the game I thought maybe we would not be as loud due to the previous game, but fans got there early and got loud.  How loud?  The fans next to me had to wear ear plugs.  It really felt good that we, as fans, had our players' backs the entire game.  I know the recruits felt it too.  I was extremely proud to be an Auburn fan in those moments.

Alabama Fans:  The Alabama fans really were pretty docile this game.  I am not sure why as they are usually a little more obnoxious.  It might be because they are only a bubble playoff team this year, or because they just were unsure how Auburn was staying in the game with them.  Either way I was fine with that.

Marching Band:  For those not in attendance, Auburn's marching band played their Metallica show again with the LED lights in full effect.  If you have not seen it, I highly recommend going over to YouTube to watch it.  Very intricate showmanship.

Outcome:  I know we did not finish we way we wanted during the Iron Bowl.  I know the feeling of having the game in our hands and to lose it so quickly.  But taking a step back, we were supposed to get blown out.  Our talent was just not there.  I know a lot of people like to point out that we have the 18th most talented roster of players coming out of high school in the country, but that is very misleading.  None of those players had really been developed until Freeze got here.  Our coaches had our players prepared for this game and had them playing to their max level of their abilities to give us a shot of winning this game.  That has me excited for our future.  This has our recruits excited for our future.  Honestly, you should be excited too.

Senior Day:  Saturday was senior day for our players.  I did my best to clap extra loud for each one of them, considering all they have been through.  It is not easy playing for up to three different head coaches during your college tenure, which is what these seniors did.  To those players, I hope you go out into the world and become successful in everything you put your mind to, but I also hope you come back and visit us at Auburn.  We sure won't forget about you.

Looking Forward:  This season sure had a lot of ups and downs.  The range of emotions played out in almost every one of my game threads.  But that is in the past now and we need to look ahead to our future.  The next wave of Auburn players are on their way.  It is time to take the foundation we laid this year and start to build on it.  I know being patient is not an easy task, but that is what it takes to build something lasting.  All good things come in time, and I am for one, very excited for what is to come.  So for the final time this regular 2023 season, 

 

This was definitely a positive thread for me this year. Appreciate your efforts!!

[Zinzan 123]

Due to my son's fall baseball season, this was the first game I was able to attend all season. I committed to coming down (from Kennesaw) a week before the NMSU game. Auburn was coming off it's victory over Arkansas, and I was pretty pumped for the Iron Bowl. I honestly did not think we had much of a chance of winning, but felt certain we would play hard, the AU family would show our love and support, and we'd impress our visiting recruits. And maybe, just maybe, we'd keep it close and give ourselves a shot at the upset.

After the NMSU debacle, I was decidedly less optimistic about a lot of that, including whether or not we'd keep the game close enough to keep our fans from leaving at half-time. (I never leave early, so I would be there to the end, no matter what). I wasn't looking forward to the trip, to be honest, but would never stand-up my season-ticket holding buddy, once I've committed.

The game, the weather, the crowd, the tailgating, the band, the eagle, the flyover... Everything was spectacular. I am proud of the players and the fans. And I'm hopeful for the program. The end of the game was a kick in the guts, but there's nothing like the Iron Bowl. My first Iron Bowl was the Van Tiffin game, btw. Similarly painful ending, but the setting at Jordan-Hare is incomparable.