Josh Moon's editorial

[AU alum 2]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/p.../711250314/1055

COMMENTARY: Tide still can't quite put its finger on stopping streak

AUBURN -- Way back in January, when Alabama made Nick Saban the highest paid college coach in the country, everyone pointed to the 2007 Iron Bowl.

That was going to be the day of redemption for long-suffering Crimson Tide fans.

Nov. 24 was going to be the day Saban put Tommy Tuberville in his place. Saban was going to take that thumb and do -- well, not-so-nice things. Order was going to be restored. Little brother was going to be taken to the woodshed and taught a lesson.

That, of course, was the fantasy.

The reality that played out Saturday night Jordan Hare Stadium was much, much different.

And reality was just as ugly this year for the Tide as it has been the previous five.

Auburn 17, Alabama 10 was much more than just another lesson in humility for the Tide nation.

It was a lesson in football basics -- the team with the best players wins the games.

All the coaching and game planning in the world won't overcome a void in talent. You can pay Nick Saban $4 million. You can prop him up as the greatest thing since Vince Lombardi. You can hire a staff of football gurus. And you can talk and talk and talk about a return to glory.

But if that team doesn't have the better players, you can forget it. You might as well have Bill Curry out there making $200,000 a year.

If that reality didn't hit UA fans late Saturday night, it might not ever.

Because the simple fact is, Saban doesn't have the players to win this game. He might be as far as two years away from it.

Just go back and look at the game film if you doubt that. Auburn was better than Alabama at almost every position.

Only the fact that this is a rivalry game kept this thing close. The Tigers played it close to the vest, didn't take many chances, rarely went for the jugular.

That made it rather ugly to watch.

It was all about defense, hitting each other hard and not screwing up. But then, that's all Auburn has had to do the past four years -- not screw up.

Because on its best day over the last four years, Alabama couldn't play with Auburn.

The Tigers have come into each of these games since 2003 and played a weird little cat-and-mouse game with Alabama. It's almost like they're trying to see how little they can do and still win.

That has to be incredibly frustrating for the Alabama players, coaches and fans. To have wins dangled in front of you, just out of reach.

Here's something I don't understand: Many people, for some odd reason, view the fact that UA has less talent right now as some sort of knock on Tuberville's coaching prowess.

Here's bad news: It's not.

Tuberville deserves a ton of credit for this six-game Iron Bowl streak. The guy's coached his butt off out there. He's recruited better than the past several UA coaches and he's assembled himself a pretty solid coaching staff. The better players didn't just show up at Auburn by chance. Tuberville and his assistants went out and got them.

I love to hear fans talk about how the Alabama program has been "down," about Tuberville beating a "crippled" UA squad.

I hate to break it to all of you, but of all the things that led to the Tide program being "down," -- probation, poor coaching hires and just plain ol' stupidity -- all of those things count. It doesn't matter what led to you having less talent. It only matters that you lost. It counted when it was AU going through it all those years. Back when the Bear was knocking out an entire decade of these things. It counts just the same now.

If you're wondering how to count it, just go back and watch the final seconds of last night's game. Count the extended fingers.

Josh Moon is a sports writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached at jmoon@gannett.com.

[quietfan 233]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/p.../711250314/1055

I love to hear fans talk about how the Alabama program has been "down," about Tuberville beating a "crippled" UA squad.

I hate to break it to all of you, but of all the things that led to the Tide program being "down," -- probation, poor coaching hires and just plain ol' stupidity -- all of those things count. It doesn't matter what led to you having less talent. It only matters that you lost. It counted when it was AU going through it all those years. Back when the Bear was knocking out an entire decade of these things. It counts just the same now.

If you're wondering how to count it, just go back and watch the final seconds of last night's game. Count the extended fingers.

EXACTLY!! I HATE it when Bammers act as if nothing counts because they're "down", or on probation, or behind in talent, etc.. Well d'uh! That's exactly the point--regardless of the reason, you are not as good as Auburn right now!

By Bama logic, we can stop counting those years with Barfield because "it's not our fault--we were behind in coaching, talent, and depth" and "Bear wouldn't have been able to beat us all those years if we hadn't been down!".

Right...and January wouldn't be the coldest month if the sun didn't get lower. ...genius