Everything's gonna be alright...
The boon and bane of the internet is that you can have access to information that you might not have otherwise, BUT you get bombarded ad nauseum with everybody's brother's angle on a given subject, which can quickly lead to apathy and indifference. We've certainly heard every opinion proffered thus far on the limited information we have about what happened early Wednesday, but perhaps it's time that we gently reminded ourselves of a few things that we CAN take for granted. Like a flight instructor once told me, you can relinquish your death grip on the control yoke now and then AND the plane won't fall out of the sky. Just relax...
Tony Franklin wasn't the only coach on staff who knew anything about offense. We have quite an experienced cadre of coaches and believe me, they can handle formulating a game plan for Saturday. We can still run what we know about the spread and also mix in some more traditional offense--JUST LIKE WE'VE BEEN DOING. I'd say the last two weeks' worth of plays was only about half Franklin's, anyway. We're no strangers to some good old fashioned smash-mouth football, and if we have to draw plays in the dirt, then go find me a stick!
We probably shouldn't expect to call Ronnstadt to get a temporary OC to come down and work with us on a temp-to-perm basis. Nor should we expect anything out of Al Borges, who everyone seems to think's last whereabouts were at the corner of Mag and College. Face it. If you were Al, would you want to come back? Those kind of endings are for Hollywood. Tubs has already declared that NONE of the current coaches will be considered for the new OC, so it's good that he's already launching out feelers for a quality guy in the off-season. It's not a stretch though to imagine the next Spread guru might have second thoughts about attempting to sway the hard heads in Auburn that his path is the one true way...
Some have made mention that they're uncomfortable with having Ensminger and Nall back in the driver's seat of the offense, but I think we're a long way removed from the events of 2003. Right now, more than anything, these players need something real familiar to them, and these two are about the best you can do outside of mama's cooking. I'll grant you that it is indeed rich with irony that the antagonist of the 2003 debacle is rearing his ugly and flighty head back here this weekend, and I'm sure we'll all have a good laugh about it one day. I wonder if Petrino will fly in ahead of the team on the Razorback Lear or if we'll need Lowder to send one to pick him up?
And luckily for us, we've got the second of the three most dysfunctional teams in the SEC ( along with Tennessee and us) making an appearance at our house this weekend, and I think we'll have enough gusto to put that pig in the ground real quick. And even luckier, we'll have a rare mid-season off-week to prepare for a West Virginia team that's in the midst of their own identity crisis. Following that, we don't have anything too challenging until we get to Amen Corner--certainly enough time to re-establish some solidarity with what is still a highly talented football team.
And lastly: This decision has been made and the bus is leaving the station. Are you going to get in line with our coach and our team and hop on while there's still room aboard, or are you going to sit around and wait for the bandwagon? Our bandwagon runs every few years, compared to the Alabama one that runs every half hour. That doesn't mean that there's no room for dissent, but we need a united front, not only for ourselves, but for the Bammers. This is the first chink they've seen in Tubs' armour in a looong time, and they're going to try and use it to wedge the Auburn nation apart. I think this event is a rallying point for a team that's been confused for too long about what it is and Saturday is the first day we're stepping forward from that!
War Eagle!!!