I haven't been impressed by many of the top 4 teams, but honestly, Auburn seems to be playing better than USC, OU and Miami. They seem to be struggling less and having things go their way more. We all know about Tubberville's tendencies to choke, so what's different about this year? I think Tubberville is riding the "we beat the national champs" wave right now. The team is pumped up on confidence and everything is clicking. So, the question is, if Auburn hadn't "beaten" LSU, could they have beaten any of the other teams so far?
I still think that UGA can take them and if Bama continues to improve, they might shock Auburn simply because Auburn will fully expect to steamroll them.
If Auburn is undefeated going into the Bama game, I bet Bama and its fans would love to punk Auburn out of a chance to play for a NC. Bama is not going to let Auburn go 11-0 if they have something to do about it.
I will freely admit that I think beating you guys has triggered our success in games since then. Part of it is that we beat the defending conference and national champs. That's a no brainer. But I think the other part is how we did it. This team needed to get over the hump mentally of making the big, needed play when the game is on the line. We had the loss two years ago to Georgia with a minute left. Didn't make the play defensively. That same year we lost to Florida after Campbell and Brown direct a furious comeback when Duval misses a chip shot FG. Obomanu drops the game winning TD against Ole Miss last year. That kind of stuff. Driving the ball down the field, hitting the 4th and 12, then getting the TD pass to win finally got this team past that mental block that had haunted us at the end of games. So I think those two things combined, plus the experience of dealing with high expectations last year have all contributed to where we are now. Of course, there is an awful lot of football left so we can't slack up any. Too many good teams left ahead who can derail you if you stop focusing on the game at hand.
Bama's only chance to beat Auburn is on the bench for the year with an injury. Auburn will not allow Alabama to keep them out of the NC hunt - if they defeat UGA they will be prepared for Bama.
I'm sure they would, as would we if the roles were reversed. But that didn't change the fact that in 1993, we rolled into the Iron Bowl 10-0 and Bama was the defending national champ dying to ruin our season. We still won. Fact is, the more you win, the bigger the target on your back becomes as I'm sure you guys can attest to. We just have to play every game as if it will take our best effort to win it.
I don't think a victory over LSU triggered AU's success although I'm sure it did build confidence. Any win over an SEC opponent ranked in the top ten will give a team a boost in confidence, but the AU players know that LSU was champs in '03 which has little to do with '04. The war chickens are playing good ball on both sides and the DL has been a real suprise after losing so many starters. It's still a long way to go and AU had better take it one game at a time.
While it looks right now like Auburn is going to represent the West in the SECCG, I don't see them being undefeated in getting there. They're going to stumble at least once along the way, most likely getting theirs against Georgia.
kinda reminds me of LSU losing trev faulk then bradie james then winning it all. Auburn lost two excellent linebackers in Dontarrious Thomas and Karlos Dansby and now undefeated. the secret to winning the SEC and NC is having unknown linebackers. :wink: btw, trev has been playing for the Rams and doing well.
