You never know if Twitter stories are true, but, Gawd, I really hope this one is.
Now there’s a different twist on the ol’ “How do you get a rival student/grad off your front porch? Tip him for the pizza” joke.
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Category Archives: Auburn’s Cast of Thousands
Rolls and runs on the Plains
So, Barrett Sallee asked a question last night…
… and I responded with this.
I suspect he thought I was being snarky.
But for once, I wasn’t.
Mark Richt may not have won his fair share of titles over the last few years of his run in Athens, but beating Auburn was a different story. Kirby hasn’t done too badly so far, either.
Sallee hasn’t responded to my last tweet, so I’m wondering what you guys think. It’s not that I don’t respect Auburn — clearly the Tigers go into this season as the toughest opponent on Georgia’s schedule — but what has to happen to turn around a 3-10 stretch? The obvious thing to me is that Gus does a lot better when he has the right kind of quarterback for his system, but even with that, Cam was a generational-type talent, the kind that doesn’t exactly grow on trees, and Auburn split the two games with Marshall. (For that matter, Stidham did the same in 2017.)
Any thoughts?
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands, Georgia Football
Pay it forward.
Kirby Smart agrees with Gus Malzahn when it comes to rotating rivalry games late in the season.
The Georgia coach backed the idea Malzahn suggested earlier this month, that the host or visitor of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry should not also host or be the road team in the same season for the Iron Bowl in Auburn’s case, or the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate game in Georgia’s case.
“Yeah, absolutely. If we get a chance to fix that and return the favor that we paid to them,” Smart said. “I hear about that a lot – obviously I wasn’t there – but about the two times there to travel back-to-back. I think if you can make it more consistent, it will balance things out, probably be helpful in the long run, but I got a feeling there’s more to than just us and them. It always affects so many other moving parts, but it would be nice to do that.”
Maybe it’s not as tough-sounding as you’d like, but it’s better than anything McGarity has put forth. (Which is to say, nothing.)
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands, Georgia Football
A move so obvious…
… even Gus Malzahn gets it.
The Auburn Tigers have the tough task of facing rivals Georgia and Alabama on the road this fall. If coach Gus Malzahn had his way, that wouldn’t be the case.
During an appearance on Birmingham’s WJOX’s 3 Man Front on Thursday, Malzahn was asked if he’d like to break up the time between playing Georgia and Alabama. Malzahn responded by saying the timing — Auburn plays Georgia on Nov. 10 then Alabama on Nov. 24 — wasn’t his concern.
Instead, Malzahn has more of an issue with both being on the road.
“I think the big thing is having them staggered — one at home and one away [each year] would probably be the best for those two at the end,” Malzahn said. “Last year, it was two at home, this year it’s two away. If you look back at 2010, we played Georgia at home and played Alabama away. That would be my wish.”
No doubt Auburn fans got a huge rush from the way the two home games against their biggest rivals played out in 2017. This year’s when they get the hangover from it.
C’mon, SEC. Get your shit together.
(h/t Reservoir Dawg)
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
Wear it and be wonderful.
Evidently this is a real thing.
Yes, that’s a 2017 SEC West division champs ring. Soon to be a collector’s item, no doubt.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
Wednesday morning buffet
The chafing dishes are open for business.
- It’s official. Booch goes to ‘Bama: “With that announcement came the predictable, obvious and necessary jokes. The coach with the five-star heart is joining a program with five-star players. The man who coined the phrase “champions of life” is now a member of the national champions. A former SEC coach is now going to be getting coffee for the greatest coaching legend of our generation.”
- Auburn’s shitty finish to last season “left a chip on our shoulder”? What, you’re mad at yourselves for crappy play? Does that mean you’ll take it out on each other in spring practice? Geez, Malzahn can’t even do motivation right.
- Evidently Jon Fabris was at spring practice yesterday. I hope they kept him away from Rodrigo Blankenship, who definitely does not need a directional kicking challenge.
- There’s a new professional football league on the horizon that intends to play in the spring with players who don’t make it on NFL rosters. I mention this because of one marketing element I wholeheartedly endorse: there will be no TV timeouts and 60 percent fewer commercials. Praise Jesus and let’s hope it turns out to be the start of a trend.
- Jacob Eason speaks (h/t): “Honestly I couldn’t tell you. But if I’d not gotten hurt and I finished out the season I doubt we’d be talking right now. But that’s the thing about football. It’s an injury-related sport, things are going to happen and it did but I couldn’t be in a better spot.”
- Jason Butt drops an intriguing note in his story about Natrez Patrick: “Patrick’s December arrest marked the third time he was booked on a marijuana-related charge. In the past, that would have been automatic grounds for dismissal. However, Georgia’s drug policy changed recently to allow for certain offenders who are dealing with addiction not to be subject to removal from the team.” We’re not living in Michael Adams’ world anymore and that’s a great thing for Georgia football, not to mention it’s a more enlightened way to deal with kids struggling with addiction problems.
- Dan Mullen explains that paying college athletes wouldn’t work because they’d have to pay taxes… you know, like every other hard-working American — including Dan Mullen — already does, which would put them in a financial hole. Sounds rough. (It’s also probably bullshit.) Rhetorical question: would Mullen be able to overcome his scruples if at some future date players got paid?
- Drew Lock on Derek Dooley’s new offense: “It’s more complicated of an offense but I do think it’s easier.” Whatever you say, Drew.
The Auburn Way
Would it surprise you to learn this?
The new batch of data was unambiguous. Half of the students in one major were athletes. One in three black players on Auburn’s football team was enrolled in the program.
Rather than question how this might have happened, the university’s provost instead offered a plan: Create more programs like it.
“The following report points to the need for more majors that have enough elective courses etc.,” Timothy R. Boosinger, the provost at the time, wrote in the late winter of 2015 to G. Jay Gogue, who was then the president. So many athletes concentrated in one major — public administration — can attract controversy, and it did. Offering more programs with similarly flexible requirements would, Boosinger implied, solve the problem.
The provost assured the president that those other programs were in the works, and that he had met with Jay Jacobs, who was then the athletic director, “to discuss the new offerings that are in the pipeline.”
The email and other communications obtained by The Chronicle suggest an openness among Auburn’s academic leaders to tailor a curriculum for the specific benefit of athletes, privately discussing the creation of new majors that would best serve a small but high-profile segment of the student body. These discussions demonstrate the power of athletic interests at universities with big-time sports programs and the quiet ways in which they put pressure on the academic enterprise.
Nah, I didn’t think so. Well, then, what about this?
The athletics department’s interest in public administration was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2015. Faculty committees had voted to discontinue the program after its centrality to the department’s educational mission was questioned. But Auburn kept the major after a lobbying effort from athletics officials, who at one point offered money to keep it afloat.
Okay, no surprise there.
Auburn officials say that no money came from athletics.
Hmm.
And the punchline…
In response to questions from The Chronicle, the university said that the athletics department does not unduly influence curricular decisions.
“The shared governance system at Auburn serves as a type of internal watchdog, guarding against the very type of situation at the center of your questioning,” C. Michael Clardy, a university spokesman, wrote in an email. “We as an institution are committed to the integrity and rigor of our academic programs.”
Well, that’s a relief.
Filed under Academics? Academics., Auburn's Cast of Thousands
