The View from Section 109: The Clemson Game

Happy New Year, folks. With the important bowl games winding down, I've decided to finally sit and write out an analysis of a pretty entertaining Chick-fil-A Bowl win over Clemson. As an added bonus, you'll get to read some of the thoughts and views from the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, played on Dec. 29.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts. First off, I couldn't have imagined watching 90 plays from scrimmage from an AU offense under Tommy Tuberville's watch. Even crazier, there wasn't a single huddle (sans the groupings around Franklin prior to the first play of every drive). After Monday night, I'm ready to get to J&M or Anders and buy my AU 18 jersey (which will serve a double-purpose as it reps both highest-potential All-Americans on the current roster, Kodi Burns and Wes Byrum).

Nothing could have prepared me for the sights I witnessed on our sidelines with the four guys frantically signaling in the plays. As one of the guys behind me said from our perch in Section 342 of the Georgia Dome, "This ain't Auburn football. This is Troy, baby!" While I strive for AU to be a lot better than a team who finished as runner-up in the Sun Belt, it didn't take four plays to show that the times were achanging at my alma mater. The only thing I really didn't like about this new offense was that when we lost yards, we lost a LOT of yards. The numbers could have been closer to the 30-point, 500-yard neighborhoods if it weren't for silly mistakes of our own doing. Then again, I'll take a dramatic win in overtime against a pretty good opponent with only nine practices to put in a completely different philosophy on one side of the ball.

I don't think I could be more excited about the future of this program being in the hands of kids like Burns, Chris Todd or Barrett Trotter. I know there are three other QBs in the mix next year, but I don't think we'll keep Furr at field general and am not convinced that Neil Caudle can stay healthy or Blake Field is capable of directing more than two or three drives in meaningless games. Remember, a 40 percent healthy Brandon Cox > 100 percent healthy Blake Field.

I'm going to miss Brandon Cox as the leader of this offense, but it's (reluctantly) apparent that he's not nearly as good today as he was when he stepped onto the field against Alabama in 2005 as a sophomore. Sure, when he was off, he was WAY off. However, it's going to be hard to replace his leadership capabilities with the big games on the line. All Brandon ever did was win big games as the signal-caller at AU and take a ton of hits in the process. Besides, this spread is not an offense in which a kid like BC can excel and it's good that he got to leave AU as a winner (27-9 isn't a bad record at all, considering he was pretty darn tough against the toughest teams we played during his three-year reign). Looking towards 2008 and beyond, my friend Andrew Monroe says it best: "War Kodi Burns!"

Brad Lester is going to have a great senior year in this offense, barring on whether or not he can stay on the playing field. While he didn't surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season, Ben Tate was playing his best football at the end of the year and can really make a push for a fantastic junior campaign should we line up under center a play or two and allow him to follow a lead blocker. There isn't anyone else on our roster I trust more to get us into the endzone from three-to-five yards out than No. 44. Mario "Speedwagon" Fannin is a natural fit for this offense, and the kid will deliver on much of his promise if we keep finding ways to put the ball in his hands.

How could you not be excited about the possibilities of throwing the ball down the field to big-time receivers that we've signed the past couple of years (Terrell Zachery, Tim Hawthorn, Chris Slaughter) to go along with a steady go-to guy in Rod Smith and a clutch deliverer in Montez Billings? I hope we begin to revisit the Gabe McKenzie options more at tight end, which pretty much disappeared past the first half of the Miss. State game. Franklin has been glowing about the talent level at tight end, which scares me since this group includes practice All-American Tommy Trott. Who knows, maybe the catch Trott made in the bowl game is a sign of things to come from the Montgomery prep standout. Until this is proven, I'll continue to hope for more throws to McKenzie and less snaps for Trott.

All in all, a good way to get off to a fast start heading into the offseason. This will be one of if not the most important spring practices in the Tommy Tuberville era. I just hope it's not one where we are breaking in two new coordinators, should some of the rumors concerning Will Muschamp heading to Texas pan out.

War Eagle and it's great to be an Auburn Tiger. -6-

A few notes on C-L-E-M-S-O...(pause, pause)...N: I'm thankful that CJ Spiller is at Clemson where he can't really damage anyone on a national level like he would have done at Florida. If that kid is in neon orange and metallic blue, we don't have a two-game winning streak over Urban's Gators. It's not a stretch to think that UF would be playing Monday night in New Orleans with a guy like Spiller to take a few runs away from Tebow. Cullen Harper decided to run his mouth a little prior to the game, and I don't expect him to rid himself of the nightmares caused by Pat Sims and Sen'Derrick Marks any time soon. Aaron Kelly couldn't catch a cold when he was guarded by Jerraud Powers, and James Davis talks way too much to have been bottled up as often as he was Monday night. He reminded me a lot of Larry Johnson prior to and after the 2003 Capital One Bowl.

***LIBERTY BOWL***

Also, concerning the Liberty Bowl...I had the opportunity to attend this year's "classic" with my dad and my buddy Chris "Deuce" Purser. We watched from our perch in section 116 as the defensive masterminds from UCF and Miss. State battle it out to an epic 10-3...wait, I can't say anything to really put a positive spin on this game. Outside of the company and the many jokes that were made at the expense of surrounding factions, this game was awful. God help Auburn if we are ever excited to play in this game. It makes me laugh a little thinking that Bama was going to be all hellbent with joy to play there this year. Thanks to the wonderful Memphis education system, I was able to purchase three $4 drinks for a sum total of $2, or $0.67/Coke for you math majors out there. This was the lone highlight of being in this stadium. State should have lost, plain and simple, to a pretty bad CUSA team. Should they have played Tulsa, it would have been U-G-L...(pause, pause)...-Y. However, I had a good time (even though it was almost at the expense of my body temperature reaching below freezing) with my dad and Deuce and am glad (sort of) that State was able to keep from embarrassing the SEC (we'll leave that up to Florida).

***ONE LAST MENTION***

Special thanks to my dad for making these two trips possible. We had a good time at both games. Deuce, you made the Liberty Bowl that much more bearable and thanks for procuring the programs. Andrew, thanks for the laughs sustained via text messages with our own commentary. Cassie, you were great in getting us to the apartment in Memphis so that we didn't have to pay $20 to park at the game. Brad, Amber and Jared all made it to Atlanta, and Jared came through in the clutch with his suggestion of Spondivits for food after getting back to the hotel Tuesday a.m.