Had some random thoughts this morning about the similarities of the '09 Auburn team which came out of nowhere to win it all in 2010. Maybe I just need to be in Memorial Stadium on the 31st.....What do you think?
“The offense finished the season ranked 2nd in the SEC and 16th in the nation (with just under 432 yards per game),while the defense struggled with depth issues and finished 68th and 2nd worst in the SEC.[10] The pass efficiency defense however was 3rd best in the SEC and ranked 22nd in the nation.[11]”
In 2009, Auburn was an 8-5 team that played a tough schedule and didn’t lodge a decent in-conference win while managing to lose to the SEC’s best like Bama, LSU and Georgia. They finished the season unranked and off the radar.
Sound like any team we know? NU defensively blew it in their three biggest games of the year in addition to stumbling at UCLA in front of Erin it’s a good thing I’m easy on the eyes Andrews and a nationwide Fox telecast. Much like ’09 Auburn, our offense was stellar and our defense clearly struggled. The nation isn’t talking about us, we’re not in the SEC so ESPN won’t either and we’ll be starting the year somewhere in the lower half of the polls and we have a lot of question marks defensively.
The Tigers began 2010 ranked #22 and we all know the Scam Newton (definitely NOT my guy) story and how and why he may have chosen Auburn. Despite my detest for him and his body language, he was bigger than the game and clearly could take the game over and dominate. Well we know the rest of the story and I may have forgotten to mention their title run was led by the former coach of the Cyclones who amassed an impressive 5-19 record while at the helm! Gene who?
While Taylor isn’t Scam, he IS a big-time, Senior college quarterback who has proven he can take over and dominate a football game. Especially when "playing against road games". Just ask Washington, Okie lite, MSU, etc. I think we can all agree that we will be better on defense, we may have the best offense in the country and we are off the radar.
When I met Tommie Frazier at the Husker Huddle at the Capital One Bowl I asked him what is the single most important thing holding NU back. He had one word – turnovers. If Taylor cleans up his act (primarily with respect to fumbles and silly picks) it might allow us to maintain field position, better control the game and be a more efficient, executing machine. Tommie would know.
The stage is set. Auburn did it in ’09 with a similar setup. Why not Nebraska?