O Auburn, where art thou?

Is Auburn in decline?  Bill Connelly’s chart would seem to suggest so.

If you’re looking for the English translation,

If you completely remove 2010 from the chart above, you get a pretty clearly defined, seven-year downward trend. That Auburn not only bucked its trend and played at an elite level in 2010, but won a national title, is still just the damnedest thing.

Of course Matt Hayes would tell you that’s just the result of playing Georgia every year.