I have long enjoyed Jerry Hinnen’s writing, and this piece on the last Georgia-Auburn game is no exception. He makes a cool comparison with the way the key fourth down play in the 2005 game went with the way the key fourth down play this past Saturday went.
What’s most enjoyable is Jerry’s exploration of karma as it’s effected the series.
What he does is fumble. What the fumble does is stay in-bounds. What Taylor does is make the recovery. And what Auburn does immediately afterwards is run out the clock, kick a chip-shot field goal, and move to 15-7-1 against Georgia over a 23-year span.
As more than one than one gleeful Dawg has pointed out since Saturday, in the series’ 15-year-span since that play, Auburn’s gone 3-12. THREE AND BLEEPING TWELVE. A Georgia fan might argue that if not for the bounce of the ball in Athens in 2005 and Jordan-Hare in 2013, we’d be talking about a 2-14 stretch, but it’s hard for me not to feel like those two games are some form of repayment for all the do-or-die late-fourth-quarter drives Auburn hasn’t finished.
I’m not sure enough is ever going to happen for the 2013 ending to constitute repayment in full. At a minimum, Georgia’s gonna be owed for many games coming. But enough on that, what I find worth noting is the notion that reliance on luck is part of Auburn’s formula if it’s to turn the series around.
Contrasting Cox’s throw with Nix’s is to point out that if Auburn’s going to bring this series back to parity, it’s going to take both ends of that 2005 play. It’s going to take better luck than Georgia’s lone fumble tumbling out of bounds from several yards away while Auburn’s is recovered by the Dawgs; than the officials reversing a critical late-game catch they could have easily let stand; than the accumulation of events that left Auburn with zero points from 5 separate trips inside the Georgia 40.
No, he’s definitely not claiming that luck is the only way the Tigers are going to beat Georgia. But he’s not kicking the old adage about being lucky rather than good out of bed, either. I know, almost every great team is the beneficiary of a good break or two now and then. It’s just that it’s not something I count on for my team to win. Maybe that’s just the difference between being a Georgia fan and an Auburn one.
