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Article on the Barn

Aaagh! You beat me to it! Lol!

I read the article and laughed so hard. Hey, its one thing to schedule weaker opponents because the SEC schedule is tough already. Its quite another to whine and complain becuase you weren't given a shot at playing for a NC (because your schedule was weak), then turn down an offer to play a good ballclub the following year.

Ya think the Sports mags care? Nah... if they got the chance, they'd be happy to rip people off publishing 'comemorative issues' proclaiming Awburn the 'real National Champion' again.

This article is just one more example of how Awburn has become the butt of the 2nd biggest joke in college football. (The first being 'justice within the ranks of the NCAA).

:)
 
I'm all for taking shots at Auburn and playing a competitive out of conference schedule, but does anyone actually believe that Auburn would have made it into the NC game had it beaten better out of conference competition, assuming USC and Oklahoma were also unbeaten? Personally I don't. USC and Oklahoma are the current media darlings and Auburn could have beaten any team other than those two and I contend that all 3 unbeaten, USC and Oklahoma still make the NC game and Auburn is left out. Two years in a row Oklahoma has made the NC game undeservedly in my opinion and been seriously outclassed both times. The shellacking by KState the prior year should have prevented that appearance. This year maybe everyone was fooled because they managed to beat perennially over-rated Texas and demolished a pathetic Colorado team in the "championship" game (weird how the opponent in a championship game can barely be 0.50). Don't get me wrong, Oklahoma is a solid team and Stoops an excellent coach, but they are starting to remind me of FSU in the 90s, win one and thrive on name recognition thereafter.
 
CapitalTider said:
I'm all for taking shots at Auburn and playing a competitive out of conference schedule, but does anyone actually believe that Auburn would have made it into the NC game had it beaten better out of conference competition, assuming USC and Oklahoma were also unbeaten? Personally I don't. USC and Oklahoma are the current media darlings and Auburn could have beaten any team other than those two and I contend that all 3 unbeaten, USC and Oklahoma still make the NC game and Auburn is left out. Two years in a row Oklahoma has made the NC game undeservedly in my opinion and been seriously outclassed both times. The shellacking by KState the prior year should have prevented that appearance. This year maybe everyone was fooled because they managed to beat perennially over-rated Texas and demolished a pathetic Colorado team in the "championship" game (weird how the opponent in a championship game can barely be 0.50). Don't get me wrong, Oklahoma is a solid team and Stoops an excellent coach, but they are starting to remind me of FSU in the 90s, win one and thrive on name recognition thereafter.
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I agree that Auburn would not have made it into the NC game had it played--and beaten--a better slate of non-conference opponents. They lost too many games the year before to earn a better pre-season ranking and just don't have the respect of the media.

However, if they had made it in, I think they'd have probably replaced Oklahoma, and I think USC would have beaten the tiggers worse than they beat OU.

I disagree that Oklahoma wasn't deserving. Texas was a really, really good football team in 2004, and they were good in each of the other four years that OU has beaten them under Stoops. OU is the real deal. It's just that in the last two years, LSU and USC were just better football teams.

Ironically enough, it was Oklahoma's defense that won them their first title under Stoops. They absolutely strangled a fine FSU offense. The irony is in the fact that both LSU and USC strangled OU with even better defense.
 
CapitalTider said:
I'm all for taking shots at Auburn and playing a competitive out of conference schedule, but does anyone actually believe that Auburn would have made it into the NC game had it beaten better out of conference competition, assuming USC and Oklahoma were also unbeaten? Personally I don't. USC and Oklahoma are the current media darlings and Auburn could have beaten any team other than those two and I contend that all 3 unbeaten, USC and Oklahoma still make the NC game and Auburn is left out. Two years in a row Oklahoma has made the NC game undeservedly in my opinion and been seriously outclassed both times. The shellacking by KState the prior year should have prevented that appearance. This year maybe everyone was fooled because they managed to beat perennially over-rated Texas and demolished a pathetic Colorado team in the "championship" game (weird how the opponent in a championship game can barely be 0.50). Don't get me wrong, Oklahoma is a solid team and Stoops an excellent coach, but they are starting to remind me of FSU in the 90s, win one and thrive on name recognition thereafter.
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I agree to some extent. Oklahoma and USC are media darlings and were ranked high in the preseason. This hurt Awburn. However, part of the reason AU wasn't ranked as highly is because of what happened the previous season. They were picked by some to win it all and they self imploded all with very good talent. So I suspect that may have had something to do with their preseason ranking. Add to that the out of conference schedule and it really hurt their chances.

Even so, there was some talk of AU having a chance to get into the NC game if they'd pounded UT, so I do think strength of schedule was a factor.

Preseason ranking hurt AU as much as anything, but they certainly could have helped their case if they'd been able to play a higher ranked opponent than Citadel. They had the change to rectify that this next season and play Fresno St, but they chose not to go that rout. I expect they know they wont be in the NC hunt because of the losses to their team and didnt want to hurt their chances at a decent bowl by losing to Fresno State as well as possibly an SEC team or two.

Can't say as I blame em really. But it is funny that they whined about not being in the big game last season and then turn down a chance to strengthen their shedule this year.
 
LMAO!

"... Hill is speaking with a politically correct tone because, well, he'd love a shot at Auburn somewhere down the road. Yeah, good luck with that. Auburn has bigger fish to flop. Like The Citadel. Or Western Kentucky. Or big, bad Ball State."
 
CapitalTider said:
I'm all for taking shots at Auburn and playing a competitive out of conference schedule, but does anyone actually believe that Auburn would have made it into the NC game had it beaten better out of conference competition, assuming USC and Oklahoma were also unbeaten? Personally I don't. USC and Oklahoma are the current media darlings and Auburn could have beaten any team other than those two and I contend that all 3 unbeaten, USC and Oklahoma still make the NC game and Auburn is left out. Two years in a row Oklahoma has made the NC game undeservedly in my opinion and been seriously outclassed both times. The shellacking by KState the prior year should have prevented that appearance. This year maybe everyone was fooled because they managed to beat perennially over-rated Texas and demolished a pathetic Colorado team in the "championship" game (weird how the opponent in a championship game can barely be 0.50). Don't get me wrong, Oklahoma is a solid team and Stoops an excellent coach, but they are starting to remind me of FSU in the 90s, win one and thrive on name recognition thereafter.
Click to expand...

So if aub beats Michigan and FSU instead of the Citadel and La Mo you don't think they play instead of Oklahoma? I think they would have jumped them both. Remember, OK and aub were tied at #2 at one point. I don't buy it. If they beef up their schedule, they're in. They're scared and don't deserve to play.
 
I'm sure the prior season hurt Auburn's chances tremendously by causing them to be ranked much lower in the pre-season than they would have been normally. Ivan Maisel or Stewart Mandel basically said as much at the beginning of the season, you know "fool me once, etc." To a certain extent I believe writers were also making up for the slight of USC the prior year. Even if Auburn had made it in, they likely would have replaced Oklahoma and been spanked by USC again. Auburn had a slight chance if they could have beaten UT and VT soundly, but they did neither. So they have very little, if anything, to complain about. But I do not think it is fair to criticize them too harshly for weak scheduling when a stronger schedule wouldn't have helped them anyway. I think that's sports writers trying to justify their handling of the situation. Texas has been good, maybe this year even better than Oklahoma, just unable to win it on the field. Maybe Mack Brown has the "Johnny Majors' Syndrome" as I like to call it regarding Oklahoma. Irregardless, Brown's pleas with the media for the Rose Bowl and the media buying into it was unseemly to me.
 
Cr1mson T1de said:
So if aub beats Michigan and FSU instead of the Citadel and La Mo you don't think they play instead of Oklahoma? I think they would have jumped them both. Remember, OK and aub were tied at #2 at one point. I don't buy it. If they beef up their schedule, they're in. They're scared and don't deserve to play.
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Many of the writers said as long as OK and USC were ranked #1 and #2 and undefeated it would VERY hard for anyone to jump them. Maybe if Auburn had scheduled those two teams or teams of that caliber they MIGHT have made it in. But how many programs schedule two out of conference games like that in a single year? We (Alabama) sure don't and haven't in quite a while, if ever. Plus who's to say that those two (or comparable teams) would have agreed to play Auburn and give up the home revenue. How hard has it been for us to schedule Penn State or how OK balked at mention of another series. Let's be realistic, anyone Auburn COULD have scheduled would not have made any difference in the final outcome.
 
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