Thing is, he's right. Auburn's Tuberville lobbies for title chances By JOHN ZENOR, AP Sports Writer October 26, 2004 AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Tommy Tuberville would be shocked if a Southeastern Conference team went undefeated, won the league title game and failed to get a shot at the national title. But it could happen -- to Tuberville's Auburn Tigers. The third-ranked Tigers (8-0) are fourth in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Southern California has the top spot, followed by Oklahoma and Miami. For Auburn, winning out might not be enough to play in the Orange Bowl for the BCS title. "I'd be shocked if a team ever goes through their schedule in the SEC and wins an SEC championship game, be 12-0 and not have an opportunity to win the national championship,'' Tuberville said. "I think you can just look at the teams in our league, it's very demanding.'' Auburn can lock up a spot in the SEC championship game with a win Saturday at Mississippi, owning the West division title before its first open date next week. The Tigers then host No. 10 Georgia and visit Alabama, so while a spot in the league title game seems to be a lock, a perfect record is far from assured. Just in case, Tuberville started his lobbying. "LSU won the (BCS) national championship last year and had a loss in the conference -- at home,'' Tuberville said. "If we would have an opportunity to win all the way through, I don't think there would be much doubt we would have an opportunity. "There would probably be some people who would think I'd be wrong about that, but that's the reason you have polls and the BCS to determine who has fought the toughest battle.'' Auburn almost certainly needs at least one of the higher-rated teams to lose. A rematch against either the Volunteers or Georgia would await for the league title game in Atlanta. Oklahoma also must survive a conference title game in the Big 12, while Miami still faces No. 13 Virginia on Nov. 13 and No. 22 Virginia Tech on Dec. 4. USC doesn't have a ranked opponent left. Tuberville said for Auburn to win the SEC championship and not get at least a shot at a national title, "I'd say there would be something wrong with the system if that happened. The Big 12 playing the championship game, (it's the) same thing. That's just added pressure and a tougher schedule obviously.'' Auburn won its only national championship in 1957. The last SEC team to win every regular-season game and not get a shot at the national title: Auburn in 1993, thanks to NCAA probation. "We've got something special going on with this team,'' tailback Carnell Williams said. "We've got a chance to do some things that haven't been done at Auburn in a long time.'' Quarterback Jason Campbell said the Tigers are getting "addicted to winning.'' "You just have that urge and want to win all the time,'' he said. "I think that's what this team's got right now. At the same time, it's been a great ride.'' Lest they get ahead of themselves, the team called a players-only meeting Sunday. The subject: Focus. "We kind of sat down and Jason Campbell talked about how we just need to stay focused,'' Williams said. "We're going to have a lot of stuff thrown our way, with the SEC championship, national rankings, things like that.'' Defensive end Bret Eddins characterized the national championship talk as "interesting.'' "But I think everybody on the team realizes that we're one game away from being out of that picture,'' Eddins said. Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;...0aA--?slug=ap-auburnchances&prov=ap&type=lgns
heh nick saban would never dare say this even if in the same position. suddenly those 18-22 year olds are going to look ahead via coach. monkey see, monkey do.
The extra SEC CG game will definitely help in the computer polls for Auburn. But Tennessee has to win out and get as high as possible in the computer polls themselves in order for it to help enough. Auburn could conceivably be #1 in 2 or even 3 of the polls by season's end. At this point, Oklahoma's conference CG opponent appears to be a joke. Missou and Nebraska are the best possibilities. Neither will probably be near the top 25 in the BCS standings by the time they play OU. But OU gets a huge boost in 2 weeks if Texas A&M can still be undefeated by the time they face them (they play Baylor this weekend). Oklahoma State also gives them a boost this coming weekend. So Auburn and OU should garner all first place votes in the computer polls, probably splitting them down the middle (i.e., if Tennessee can win out except for the Auburn loss in the CG). Miami would get nearly all 3rd place votes and USC would get almost all 4th place votes. The computer average should look as follows: 1) OU .98 ...Auburn .98 3) Miami .92 4) USC .88 Using the current human poll results, since I don't see it varying much from now til the end of the season if all top 4 teams win out: 1) OU = .963 + .964 + .98 = 2.907/3 = .969 2) USC = .992 + .991 + .88 = 2.863/3 = .954 3) Auburn = .890 + .914 + .98 = 2.784/3 = .928 4) Miami = .905 + .887 + .92 = 2.712/3 = .904 So basically, even from Miami's perspective, if Miami is #1 in all computer polls and USC is #4 in all computer polls, USC would still have a higher overall BCS score over Miami, and by a considerable margin (2.863 vs. 2.792). Anybody see something wrong with that? USC would have to be #6 in almost every computer poll for Miami to surpass USC with the current human poll voting.
I like Tubberville, he gives the rest of the SEC someone to ridicule. I can't imagine Auburn having another coach. I am torn between wanting them to get knocked off and wanting them to go all the way and get bumped from the big game by USC. Kinda leaning toward the latter. It will be a joyous occasion to watch the Trojans and Aubbies go at it. However, I really think they will get beat by UGA and Bama.
The most likely scenario is Auburn beats Georgia and then loses to Alabama, taking over as the worst loss in school history. Watch it happen. I, myself want a 5 way tie with the aforementioned teams plus Wisconsin, all undefeated. BCS be damned!
Yeah I didn't say that quite right. I meant that if they don't lose between now and then. A&M has one of the best computer rankings in college football (8th best). Watch the boost in computer polls after these next 2 weeks for OU. Should be #1 in most of the polls by then. Auburn's big boost comes one week later vs. Georgia as well as Miami playing Virginia. USC has only one way to go, down, in the computer polls. They should definitely be no higher than maybe 3rd in 1 or 2 computer polls at the end of the season.
I don't know if they are supposed to beat either one of us, but I think they will be in both games and play LSU and AU alot better game than last year.
Tubby should be keeping his mouth shut and just worry about winning games. Typical goof move by one of the biggest goofs in coaching. However, they do have a good team (no thanks to him) and I would highly doubt that Bama beats them. Did you watch that hideous offense against tinysee? Gawd, they are horrible. That QB cant pass at all, he has no arm strength and throws fluttering ducks. The Chicken D will eat them alive. They lost another RB for the year to a knee injury. How many more players can they lose before they are bringing in the water boy to play? They are down to their 3rd string QB, lost their top 2 RB's and the only thing keeping them in games in defense. I suspect they will beat Bama. The best chance they have to lose is to GA because Tinysee looks average. They dont have much offense either. The stars are lining up for Aubs but based on history, they will blow it somehow. I kinda like islstl's scenario though...5 way tie atop the BCS...screw the whole damn thing up so its a complete cluster would be just perfect. Have 4 teams claiming the title...PERFECT!
