Tuberville still a favorite for fans

By Andy Stewart / Selma Times – Journal

Who is Wade Faulkner anyway? He’s my wife’s first cousin, and he is the man who is responsible for me missing my first Auburn home game in a long, long time. I broke Andy’s rule for fall weddings which is to &uot;double the price of the gift and go to the game&uot; and attended his wedding in Mobile on Saturday. Thanks again Wade, you spared me the agony of personally witnessing the 38-17 beating that Auburn took from the Razorbacks.

The Auburn football team was coming off an open-date against a team that was seven days removed from losing a six overtime game to Tennessee. Despite this advantage, we managed to give up 426 yards rushing to a team that was missing their starting tailback. We also had three turnovers, got a punt blocked, and missed a field goal. The game was blown when we turned a three-point lead into a seven point deficit with less than two minutes left in the first half. To sum it up, we got out-coached, out-hustled, and run over by the underdog Arkansas team. What in the H.E. double hockeysticks did our team do during the off week?

In my opinion, Tommy Tuberville turned in his worst coaching effort since he arrived on The Plains. He allowed an inferior (6 point underdog) team to come to our house, and whip us like red-headed stepchildren. This is the second time in our last three home conference games that he has let that happen to Auburn. I’m sure ya’ll haven’t forgotten the 2001 Iron Bowl. Local Auburn fan, Steve Todd, a man who has an opinion about everything including the Tigers)said he was &uot;tired of Tuberville&uot;. Are you’? I’m not. I still think Coach Tuberville is the right man for the Auburn job. It will take his strong leadership to get this young Auburn team back on track, and back to Atlanta and the S.F.C Championship game.

Despite the loss, the Selma boys had a good game. Brett Holliman was credited with one tackle on &uot;special teams&uot;. Ben Obomanu had a busy day with a season best four catches for 43 yards.

The Florida Gators will not have much sympathy for us this week, because they are coming off of a humiliating conference home loss too. They lost their second consecutive conference game last week 367 to the L.S.U. Tigers, and dropped out of the Top 25 polls for the first time in 209 weeks. The Gators are an eight point favorite over the Tigers this week, but Florida has been underachieving all season under their new coach Ron Zook. My sources in Florida tell me that last years Hiesman runner-up, Gator Q.B. Rex Grossman. is in danger of being benched. Things sure have changed down in Gainsville since Steve Spurrier left town.

Auburn won’t be able to take advantage of the Gators problems unless we show some major improvement this week. Daniel Cobb has got to stop turning the ball overand letting the team get behind early in the game. &uot;The Swamp&uot; is no place to try and pull out a come-from-behind victory. On the defensive side of the ball we have got to show that we can stop the run. Florida runningback Earnest Graham is better than any back we have faced all year, and I’m sure he can’t wait to see us come to town. Also, our kicking game has got to improve. The once reliable Damon Duval is missing way to many field goals, and he has had two punts blocked this season. Without a doubt, Auburn will get drowned in &uot;The Swamp&uot; if we continue to play like we did against our last two opponents (Syracuse and Arkansas).

Despite the negative tone of my column I still think Auburn has got a chance to be a good team by the end of the season. Remember this Auburn fans, nothing is as good as it seems (Western Carolina, Vanderbilt, Miss. St., Syracuse), and nothing is as bad as it seems (U.S.C., Arkansas). We need to win this game against Florida to stay in the S.E.C. West division race, but it won’t be easy. Keep the faith. It is still great to be an Auburn Tiger. War Eagle.