Ag Football Recap: Ags Roll Tide, 29-24

It seems like so long ago....

"The Aggies can't compete in the SEC"

"The Aggies are going to get killed in the SEC"

"We've upgraded with TCU"

Here's a better one for you:

"First of all, you've got to really congratulate Texas A&M's team.  They played a tremendous game and certainly out played us in the game today."

That last one was from Nick Saban's post game press conference.  Nick Saban!  He was sad.  That needs to be fed to recruits on a spoon.

Ten years ago, this week, Texas A&M offensive coordinator, Kevin Sumlin, coached his freshman QB, Reggie McNeal, to a victory over #1 Oklahoma. 

Today, Texas A&M head coach, Kevin Sumlin, coached his freshman QB, Johnny Manziel, to a victory over #1 Alabama.

Is it too early to start fundraising for a statue? 

Sean, Katie, my Father-in-Law, my wife's cousin (and her daughters), my wife's aunt....the whole gang was over.  It was a very spirited evening filled with OOOOOHHHHHH YEAAAAAHHs and OHHH NOOOOOOs.

Simply put, we went into Tuscaloosa and stunned the #1 team in the nation.  It wasn't a game they choked away, it was one that we went out and took.  It put A&M on the map and it legitimized us and our move to the SEC. 

We put up over 400 yards and 29 points on the stingy Alabama defense.

The game started out with a 'Bama 3-and-out and we marched down the field and scored on a 1 yard C-Mike TD run.  On 'Bama's second drive AJ McCarron threw a pass over the middle and Howard Matthews crushed the WR just as the ball hits his hands and it popped out right to Sean Porter.  It was the first INT thrown by McCarron in 142,974,928 pass attempts - and was really the only stat media folk could point to as to why he should be in the running for the Heisman

Johnny threaded a 32 yard pass on a post route that Kendric McNeal dove for and caught at the 9 yard line.  On 3rd down, Johnny took off to his right and ran into Jake Matthews and the ball popped out of his grip - but Johnny caught it out of the air, spun to his left, ran a few steps and then and found Ryan Swope sitting all alone in the back of the endzone.

"Oh my gracious!  How about that!"
                                       - Verne Lundquist

It was a brilliant Johnny Football moment.

We forced another 3-and-out and then manufacture a 14 play, 73 yard drive that manifested with another short C-Mike TD run.  Bertolet missed the PAT.  It has become a tradition.....but it's now 20-0 in A&M's favor.

As the second quarter started, the Tide picked up their first 1st down en route to their first TD drive of the game.   We couldn't answer....Johnny made another incredible play to find Swope for a first down but then couldn't convert on a 4th-and-6 a bit later - Johnny was pushed out of bounds about 10" shy.

Bama's next drive they had a couple of gashing plays before punching it into the endzone.  It amazes me how quickly momentum can swing in college football.  At this point everyone at the house got really quiet - an eerily, nervous quiet.  And it stayed that way through the half - that was the longest halftime ever - and well into the third quarter.

To start the third quarter we went 3-and-out but forced Bama to punt, who forced us to punt again.  Then they scored on a FG to bring the score to 20-17. 

We're all sweating bulletts....we've seen this play out before and the announcers make sure to remind us of our ghosts of 2011.

The offense finally started clicking again.  Johnny went to Mike Evans (the Beast) for a couple big first downs and ended up tacking on a 23 yard FG.  23-17 Ags.

The defense forces another 3-and-out so Bama punts to us again.

Johnny found Swope in traffic and Swope makes the catch and takes a WHOLLOP and picked up 15 more yards on a contact to the head flag.  Johnny went to Evans twice but Fulton has incredible coverage and forces incomplete passes (he had two on the prior drive like that as well).  Bertolet ends up missing a 37 yard FG.  ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH.

McCarron turned around and hit a 50 yard pass....my house goes silent.  On the next play, Yeldon coughs up a fumble and the Ags recover!!!!!  We went nuts.

On the first play, Johnny hit Swope on a wheel route - it was magnificant - Swope caught it in stride in double coverage....42 yards.  Ryan Swope is fearless and I love him for that.

On the next snap, Johnny hit Malcome Kennedy at the left pylon - Kennedy made an incredible juggling catch - for the TD.  We went for two and couldn't convert it but pushed the lead out to 29-17 with 8:37 left in the game.  Holy Moses, what a ballgame.

On the following drive, McCarron is inches from being picked again - Deshazor Everett went up for the ball and came down with his toe in bounds but his back heel landed out of bounds.  Then McCarron hit Amari Cooper for a 54 yard TD down the left sideline.  29-24 with 6:09 remaining.

We were forced to punt on another 3-and-out.  Alabama takes over with 4:27 remaning at their 40 yard line.

On the first snap McCarron hit Kenny Bell for another 54 yard pass to the 6 yard line.

Holy $*^#.

McCarron is dropped for a loss on 1st down.  On second down Lacy ran for 1 yard.  On third down McCarron scrambles all over the field, looks like he might have found an opening but gets hit and dropped at the 2 yard line.

It's 4th down and they are on our 3 yard line.  If they score, they take the lead and leave us with just under 2 minutes left.

Alabama puts the WR in motion from left to right and McCarron throws to him out in the flat by the right pylon - and Deshazor Everett stepped in front of the pass and picked it off!!!  I'm not even sure what I was screaming at this point in the game.  When I could take a breath during the commercial break I apologized to the others in the room in the event that something inappropriate came out.

Bama does force us to punt from right at the goal line and should have about 30 seconds left - but they are flagged for an offsides and we are given the first down.  Johnny takes a couple of kneels and the clock hits 0:00.  We celebrate joyously.  

This was easily one of the biggest wins in school history.

We have defeated the last two National Champions by a combined score of 92-45....and finish our season with an undefeated record on the road (La Tech, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Alabama)

Johnny finished the game with 253 yards and 2 TDs passing and another 92 yards on the ground.  Thomas Johnson quietly had a couple of really big plays.  Mike Evans didn't huge numbers but he fought for several key first downs - the kid is so strong.  He's a beast.

Swope became the school record holder in career receptions.....he has 111 yards on 11 receptions and a TD.  In 7 SEC games, Swope has 48 receptions for 668 yards and 7 TDs.

Holy cow, the rematch next year at Kyle Field is going to be nuts!

We have Sam Houston State next weekend and then Mizzou right after Thanksgiving.  Then, barring some sort of nutso turn of events that would put us in the SEC title game, we wait for our bowl game....will it be the Captial One Bowl?  The Cotton Bowl?  The Fiesta Bowl?  It should be an exciting month and a half.

WHOOOOOOOOP!

Ag Football Preview: Alabama Crimson Tide

The Alabama Crimson Tide are one of college football's elite programs.  The Tide has 14 National Championships, 22 SEC Championships, and are one of the winningest programs in college football history.

Everyone instinctively points to Bear Bryant for this success, but this goes beyond the legend of The Bear.  Bryant had a National Championship from his playing days at 'Bama.....one of five that they had notched before he even showed back up in 1958 as the head coach.

I've read a couple of books about Bryant, a couple about 'Bama football, and then of course one of my favorites, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, by Warren St. John.  I've always like 'Bama and almost always rooted for them when I watched casually as a non-partisan viewer.  I have a framed picture of Bear Bryant hanging on the wall of my study (post-College Station).  This is one of the reasons I cried for two years for us to make the move the SEC.  Now that we play them regularly, I don't know if I'll be able to hold a level of respectable admiration (like I did for Nebraska) or if I'll grow to despise them like most of the conference already does.  This is one of the learning curves I'm going through with realignment.

Coach Wade Wallace won in 1925, 1926, and 1934 and then Coach Frank Thomas won in '34 (with Bryant on the squad) and '41.  National Championships, that is.

Bear in '61

Following Thomas' time in Tuscaloosa they settled down into normalcy for a number of years before stealing Bryant away from our Texas Aggies.  Bryant famously said, "Momma called. And when Momma calls, you just have to come runnin'."

In his fourth season, the Tide won the '61 NC and then went on to win again in '64 and '65.  Bryant's boys then hit a skid.  From '61-'66 the Tide were 60-5-1 but from '67-'70 they were a mere 28-15, including a couple of 6 win seasons.  Unfathomable, right?

What did Bear do?  He secretly consulted longhorn head coach, Darrell Royal, and brought the wishbone to Tuscaloosa in the off-season and turned college football on it's side. From 1971-1979 the Tide went 97-11 with three more National Championships.

The Bear retired following an 8-4 season in 1982 at the age of 69 and four weeks later he suffered a heart attack and died.  Thousands upon thousands of college football fans lined the interstate as his hearse drove to Birmingham.

He is the most legendary coach in the history of American sports.

Former All-American, Ray Perkins, takes over the impossible task of filling Bear Bryant's shoes. He was replaced by Bill Curry in '87 who was replaced in '91 by Gene Stallings.

Me with Bebes

Bebes Stallings was a Junction Boy under Bryant in 1954 at A&M and coached our Ags from '65-'71 (where he beat his mentor in the '68 Cotton Bowl).  He is currently on the Board of Regents at A&M....but he has a statue outside Bryant-Denny Stadium.  Why?  He won the National Championship in 1992.

(Jackie Sherrill also played for 'Bama under Bryant, yet another incredible tie in between the two schools)

Stallings continued a strong run through the mid-90s until Mike Dubose took over in '97.  That was kind of the beginning of the end.  The Tide went through Dubose, Fran, Mike Price, & Mike Shula over the next decade.  Yeah, we stole Fran from them, which at the time was a big deal - but, as we now know, it turned out to be yet another fleecing by the Tide.

Then, and excuse the pun, the tide turned.  'Bama went out and hired Nick Saban.  Game over SEC.

Saban took over a squad that went 6-7 in '06 and by '08 was SEC West Champs with a 12-2 season record.  One year later he was a National Champion behind Heisman winner, Mark Ingram ('Bama's lone Heisman winner).  Two years later Saban hosted the crystal trophy again.....and is sitting in the driver's seat this year.

He has a statue too. That's a pretty powerful recruiting tool.

On the way back from Auburn we visited Bryant-Denny Stadium and it is intimidating - even when it is empty.  It's the largest stadium I've been in (it holds just under 102,000 crazies) and it feels every bit as big as that.  It is just enormous.  I cannot wait until I get up to Tuscaloosa in '14 to see us play there.

I cannot imagine what the traffic is like getting to Tuscaloosa and getting to the stadium.  The city just doesn't seem like it would be really traffic friendly.

If you are lucky enough to be making the trip this weekend - do yourself a favor and get some ribs at Dreamland.  They are incredible.  It's a little off the beaten path (keep an eye out for Jug Factory Rd) but whoa nelly they are good.

The other recommendation I'd make would be to skip the Bear Bryant Museum.  There is very little Bryant in there, it's mostly the history of Alabama football.  It was cool but unless you have a rooting interest there are only so many jerseys you can look at from the early-1900s or trophies from the 19xx Whatever Bowl. 

The two coolest things, I thought, was a setup of Coach Bryant's office and John David Crow's Heisman trophy.  JDC houses his trophy at the museum as Bryant's only Heisman winner.....BUT it is in the lobby so you don't even need an admission ticket to get to see it.

The school isn't super steep in things to see in terms of unique traditions (if you don't count winning).  The one thing that you will hear, hopefully only once, is their Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer chant.

Pre-Game:
Hey (Opponent)!
Hey (Opponent)!
Hey (Opponent)!
We're gonna beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama!

Post Game:
Hey (Opponent)!
Hey (Opponent)!
Hey (Opponent)!
We just beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama!

Alabama is the Yellowhammer state, a nickname that originates with the state bird.

This year's squad currently sits as the undisputed #1 team in the nation and is coming off of the college football regular season equivalent of the Super Bowl.  They went into Death Valley and knocked off #6 LSU with a last minute TD drive last weekend.  It was one of the best games I've seen in a couple of years.

ALA O v. aTm D
==============
  24 Rush 31
  80 Pass 70
  48  Tot 46
  17 Scor 27

Their offense isn't going to fill the highlight reels but it is perfectly designed to compliment their defense.  A.J. McCarron is efficient, experienced, more than capable, and doesn't turn the ball over (as in 0 INTs on the season).  He's the starting QB for the best team in college football - and after his game winning drive last weekend finds himself right square in the middle of the Heisman race.

Their running game is sick.  T.J. Yeldon and Eddie Lacy are one of the best one-two backfields in the country.  They are strong, and fast, and quick and powerful.  They also run behind one of the best offensive lines ever assembled.

aTm O v. ALA D
==============
  10 Rush  2
  19 Pass  8
   5  Tot  2
   4 Scor  1

They have the best defense in the country, which should come as no surprise - Nick Saban always does.  They are led by their three linebackers Nico Johnson, C.J. Mosley, and true freshman Trey Depriest.  This is the matchup that everyone will be tuning in to watch.  Can our high tempo, spread offense execute against the textbook definition of "SEC defense" that we hear so much about?

Here is something interesting to look at.  While we have played two teams in the same realm of defensive greatness (LSU & Florida), 'Bama hasn't seen anyone close to our level of offense.

  OPPONENT    TotO  ScoO
===========================
  Michigan     82    60
W.Kentucky     66    57
  Arkansas     46    77
       FAU    105   114 
  Ole Miss     57    55
    Mizzou    109    94
 Tennessee     18    24
  Miss. St     73    48
       LSU     71    57
-------------------------
 TEXAS A&M      5     4

I'm not at all insinuating that Bama's defense is good because they've played bad offenses - they're good regardless of who steps on the field.  What I am saying is that they haven't seen an offense as powerful as ours.

That is what makes this game so exciting - there is a reasonable expected result (the #1 team will beat the #15 team) but then there is this huge unknown which is so intriguing and mysterious.

Nick Saban is going to pound us all night long with their big OL and running game to control the clock and wear us out.  Then he's going to press our WRs and make Johnny beat them - with freak of nature linebackers zeroed in on him.  I don't think that is any secret - the problem is that very few teams can out execute 'Bama with that game plan.

Completely unrelated: Saban is only 2 months younger than Mack Brown!?!  I would have put the over/under at 10 years.

Here are the stats between our common opponents this season:

            Ark   OM  MSU  LSU
            ===  ===  ===  ===
aTm RushO   218  290  361  134
Ala RushO   225  125  179  166

aTm PassO   498  191  332  276
Ala PassO   213  180  235  165

aTm RushD   142  159   98  219
Ala RushD    58   80   47  139

aTm PassD   373  305  212   97
Ala PassD    79  138  209  296

Another interesting trend....Alabama's pass defense over the last four week has given up: 126 yards then 203 yards then 209 yards then 296 yards.

This is why they play the game.  Just another game that the exemplifies the reason we wanted to make the conference move to the SEC.  This is fun.

I did that entire preview without any houndstooth.  Don't worry you'll get enough by the end of the weekend.

BEAT THE HELL OUTTA ALABAMA!  WHOOP!

R.I.P. DKR

I was saddened to find out today that iconic longhorn head coach, Darrell Royal, has passed at the age of 88.

I may have hated the colors he wore, but today is a sad day for the world of college football.

Here.

Ag Football Recap: Ags Continue to Roll, 38-13

Did the Ags just go on the road and knock off a top 15 team?  Yeah they did.

The one thing that might have been bigger?  We wore BLACK uniforms.

Yeah, the Maroon & White.....the old traditional school....we changed it up a bit.

On the field, the Ags surged ahead early and often - by the of our first drive of the second half it was a 31-0 ballgame.  We finished with 693 yards of offense - on 97 plays.

It was led by a very strong running game - 361 yards.  Johnny had 129 yards (and 2 TDs), Ben Malena added 112 yards and a TD and C-Mike had 50 yards and 2 TDs.

We did it through the air too....Swope had 121 yards on 9 receptions and Mike Evans had another 97 on 9 receptions.

And no turnovers.

The defense was stout.  The Bulldogs ran for 98 yards and only threw for 212.  Damontre Moore probably had the defensive play of the game as he tracked down a MSU wide receiver from behind and made the tackle.

Next week is another monster clash as we travel to Tuscaloosa to take on #1 Alabama.  This is SEC football!

Ag Football Preview: #15 Mississippi State

Mississippi State football is not as renowned on the field as most of it's SEC West rivals but this season they have put together something for the fan base to get excited about.

They were 7-0 and ranked #11 in the BCS rankings going into last weekend's match up against #1 Alabama....but 8-0 was not to be.  Bama dismantled them.

The Bulldogs have one SEC title from back in 1941 and won their division one additional time (1998).  They do not have a strong history of greatness. 

We have two very obvious ties to the school.  They were originally named the Mississippi A&M Aggies until they were nicknamed the Maroons and later the Bulldogs.  The other is that we shared a head coach in Jackie Sherrill.  Jackie took over the program in 1991 and coached in Starkville for 13 years and left as the winningest coach in school history.

They play their games in Davis Wade Stadium, which we visited on our trip last weekend.  It seats about 55,000 but it is pretty non-discrept and there really wasn't anything, that we could see, special.

The big tradition that MSU has are the cowbells that their fans bring and ring.  For years it was against SEC rules for artificial noisemakers but in 2010 the conference voted to allow MSU to use their cowbells.

We've faced the Bulldogs 5 different times, but our only game against them since 1919 was the Independence Bowl on New Year's Eve in 2000 - it was my freshman year.  It snowed in Shreveport and the running game was the only way to get the ball down the field - Ja'Mar Toombs had nearly 200 yards on the ground.  It went to OT and following a Toombs TD we had the PAT blocked and run back.  We lost a bowl game to MSU.

This week's game is a little different.  It is safe to say that this game will be the difference from us having a pleasantly surprising season to a WHOA season. 

A win on the road against a top 15 team would be huge for the program, and frankly, I think we've got a pretty good shot of doing it.

The Bulldogs have 7 wins but only one of those opponents has a winning record - their best win is against a 5-3 Middle Tennessee State? 

Their three SEC victories are against Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee - who are a combined 0-17 in SEC play. 

Basically, they're a product of their schedule.  They still have us, LSU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss on the schedule - they could very easily finish the season with a 5 game losing skid.

MSU O v. aTm D
==============
  60 Rush 38
  63 Pass 80
  66  Tot 55
  43 Scor 34

Mississippi State's offense is worse than our defense.  Against that schedule.  This plays HUGE into our favor.

aTm O v. MSU D
==============
  14 Rush 45
  19 Pass 21
   5  Tot 28
   3 Scor 15

Their defense has been pretty good - but they haven't faced an offense that comes close to touching us.

I think this is a winnable game as long as we don't go into a turnover slump.  Protect the ball and win.

BTHO MSU!

Patience

I'm working on my Auburn Road Trip Recap.....slowly but surely.

We just closed on our new house so I just got the internet hooked up (thanks brother!) and I have a bunch of unpacking and preventative maintenance tasks that are leaving me exhausted by the end of the evening.

It might not be up before the MSU preview but I'll get to it at some point.

Ag Football Preview: Auburn

Auburn is very interesting program.  They remind me of A&M because they were a fellow land grant university and were named early on the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Alabama.

In the broad picture, they are also like A&M in that their fellow large state school arrogantly looks down their nose at them.

The Tigers claim three national championships (1913, 1957, and 2010) and three Heisman Trophy winners - QB Pat Sullivan in 1957, RB Bo Jackson in 1985, and QB Cam Newton in 2010.

When I was a kid, Bo Jackson was like a mythical creature.  He couldn't have been human.  I read his 218 page autobiography in one day while in 3rd grade.  I was just entering the crazy world of sports fandom in the late-80s/early-90s and at that time there were no bigger names than Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Joe Montana, and Magic/Bird.

You could have made a sports Mount Rushmore those would be the faces on it, albeit the Magic/Bird half-and-half would be a bit weird looking. 

I never played Tecmo Bowl but I knew who Bo Jackson was.  He was a rare two-sport athlete - not just a guy who could play both games, but a guy who was good at both games. 

I was a baseball nut so I remember him hitting a lead-off HR in the '89 All-Star game - a BOMB to center field.....he ran up walls and threw strikes to home plate while still halfway up the wall.....he splintered bats over his knee like toothpicks.  The guy was like a cyborg. 

He broke his hip, in what would essentially end his sports careers, but not before building his legend just a little more....he HRed in his first at-bat back a vow he made to his mother before she passed.

Cam Newton is another story entirely.  This was recently, so you all know the story.  He was a freshman at Florida but was kicked off the team following an arrest for stealing a laptop.  He went to Blinn JC in Brenham and then his father was paid a large sum of money to push Cam to Auburn.  In his single season at Auburn he had one of the greatest seasons in college football history.  It was cemented with a 24 point comeback victory in the Iron Bowl against #9 Alabama (in Tuscaloosa).  He went on to win the Heisman and the National Championship.  A tainted Heisman and tainted National Championship.

Sir Charles has an eagle on his arm

The Tigers also love eagles.  Their battle cry is "War Eagle!" and I expect we'll hear it at least 100 times this weekend.  One of the stories of the origin was that a Civil War soldier had found an eagle on the battlefield and kept it as a pet.  He brought it to a game and the eagle flew over the stadium and Auburn marched down the field against arch-rival Georgia for the win.

A great tradition came from that and Auburn now has a golden eagle (named War Eagle VII) that circles around the field prior to kickoff.  I'm excited to experience that in person - I love seeing other school's traditions.

Toomer's Corner after a victory

The other tradition that Auburn is most well known for is wrapping Toomer's Corner.  The corner is downtown Auburn and Toomer's Drug store is on it.  That's not the cool part though - there are two old oak trees at the corner and after big wins the Auburn faithful wrap the trees with paper.

Unfortunately, after Auburn won the national championship in 2010 an outraged 'Bama fan (Harvey Updyke) poisoned the oaks and they are dying.

Only in Alabama would someone be stupid enough to commit a crime of this magnitude and then call into the most popular radio show in the south and brag about it.  That happened.  His children's names are Crimson Tyde Updyke and Bear Bryant Updyke.  We can't make this stuff up, these are real people.

This was the biggest reason I decided to make the trip to Auburn this season over going to Ole Miss or Alabama - I want to see the trees before they're completely gone.  They're not in great shape, or even good shape, but they are still there.  It's a complete shame that someone took the liberty of single handedly killing one of the cooler traditions in college football.

Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium

The Tigers play their home games at Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which is located on-campus.  It is named after Shug Jordan (the winningest coach in Auburn history), Cliff Hare (a member of their first football team and later a dean at the school), and Pat Dye (who coached the Tigers from '81-'92).  It has a seating capacity of 87,000+.  Side note: it is pronounced "JURD-an"

This is only the second meeting between the two schools, which somewhat surprised me.  We beat them in College Station back in 1911 by a score of 16-0 and then again in the 50th Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1985 season.

Wrecking Crew > Bo Jackson

That game is probably considered one of our school's signature wins - mostly because of the incredible goal line stand that kept Heisman winner, Bo Jackson, out of the endzone on 4 consecutive plays.  Kevin Murray went nuts and the Ags won on a cold, blustery New Year's Day in Dallas.  That goal line stand was the epitome of Wrecking Crew defense, and the photo above hung on R.C. Slocum's wall in his office as a reminder.

This season's Tiger squad is pretty bad.  I don't think anyone expected them to win the division or conference but that isn't the problem....they are 1-6 on the season (0-5 in SEC play).  The only team they beat was Louisiana-Monroe.....in overtime.

Only once have they scored more than 20 points.  That was bad in the 1960s.  They are kind of terrible at football.

   Auburn O v. aTm D                aTm O v. Auburn D
========================       =======================
 122 (97)   R   138 (45)        221 (19)  R   194 (95)
 154 (113)  P   254 (86)        303 (17)  P   217 (47)
 276 (119)  T   392 (62)        524 (9)   T   411 (75)
15.7 (118)  S  22.1 (38)       43.0 (9)   S  25.1 (55)       

Not only are those stats there, but they have also given up 24 sacks in 7 games (que Demontre Moore) and have turned the ball over 19 times (11 INTs and 8 fumbles) compared to their defenses' 9 forced turnovers.

Defensive coordinator, Brian VanGorder, is most likely a registered sex offender, probably.  There is no way he's not, right?  And there is no space in their last name.  There is no way you would hire this guy and then send him into the homes of a teenage boys to meet the parents with the goal of wooing them into letting their boy go with him.

At the helm of this squad is Gene Chizik.  He has a national championship ring from just two long seasons ago - but is about to lose his job.  You see, his glory is completely resting on his ability to have purchased the services of Cam Newton.  If you take Cam Newton out of his record, Chizik is just 16-16 overall and .7-14 in SEC play.  Before that he was 5-19 as the head coach at Iowa State.

Sadly, Chizik's mother passed away on Monday.  I wish to send him and his family condolences in this time of  sorrow.

It just hasn't been a good 3 months for him.  I'm not really even sure how to follow that up.

So I will leave it at this....

I am really excited about the trip - we're leaving on Friday and will likely spend the night in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans and then finish the drive Saturday morning.   It should be pretty fun - this is why I wanted to go to the SEC....I love road trips.

BTHO Auburn!  WHOOP!