BUT Before Ole Miss and now Arkansas, even more than UGA and AU, I have anxiety about the "game" that we'll bring i.e., A game, C- offense w/ A+ defense, etc. Simplify it if you must but I'm willing to bet that every game OU has gone into, their fans had less anxiety based on the level of CONSISTENT performance their team has exhibited. I'm not saying OU is as great as everyone says they are, but one quality they possess is consistency. National champions almost always(Ohio State defies the rule) need it. If you had told me in August that we would be in the hunt for the national championship going into the SECCG in December I wouldn't have believed it. Point being, we are extremely blessed to be where we are after a couple very close games (and some awesome blowouts that were so sweet to watch). Week by week in the SEC amazing upsets can and do occur considering the overall play of this VERY tough conference. Next year was the year that I (and others) felt would be our opportunity to cheer for our team in the NC. I still feel that way but I am hoping and praying the team that showed up for Auburn is the team we see from here on out this year. If we could play with that level of consistency 90% of the time, the rest of this year and forward, I say we're the best team in the country hands down. Believing in the A game! For any Piggies who read the post, don't read more into this than you should. We confindently beat you down Friday and move on to Atlanta to clean up the image of the West after the disgusting mess you left at the Georgia Dome last year!
I don't agree with you about this one... Consistency you say is the biggest key? How bout last years Ohio state team? How many games did they have a close call in? ANd the year before that with Miami, you might remember the poor game they played against Boston College. The one where BC was driving down a Touchdown about to score and tie the game, when Ed Reed returned the ball from the 3 yard line to the other endzone...barely winning. Oh yea, and the 2000 Sooners N'Tl champs who beat Kstate 27-24 in the big 12 championship game. And they also barely beat OKSt. 12-7, Oh yea, and Texas A&M 35-31. Oh yea, the 98 Nt'l champs Tennessee who needed that miracle fall by their QB to win the game. You really don't give props to the teams that we have played. We played them tight because they are good teams. But we found a way to win. Winning in adversity is much bigger in the big picture than being consistent. Just ask the past 3 or 4 Nt'l champs.
I mentioned Ohio State as a rulebreaker. I'm not saying 100% ass-kicking three and out defense, score on every offensive possession kind of football. I'm saying 90% confidence that your A team on both sides of the ball is showing up on gameday. We are 73% right now on offense (8 out of 11 games), 99% consistent on defense. 73% is great, 90% is better. Our near perfect D covers the difference. We've found a way to win 10 of 11 and you're dead on that that is the mark of a true champion but you can't say week in week out that consistent performance is not at least EQUALLY important as, let's face it LUCK. Of course there will be close calls for everyone. If there weren't I could find a million better things to do than sit in front of the TV and watch the favorite win EVERY weekend. That IS college football, unpredictability. A universal truth: Consistency lowers the occurence of unpredictability!
