Not the Season to Be Jolly

It's been a long 30 days: two blow-out losses to our biggest rivals, one coordinator gone and the other still in doubt, no leader emerging at quarterback, no big-play threat re-emerging on offense, assistant coaches shopping around, and then this weekend, our best offensive player suspended indefinitely and our second best now interested in auditioning for the pros. Wait. No one ask if it can get any worse because I can't afford to take another hit. The only good thing that happened was a bowl invite come our way that we probably didn't deserve and that may yet come back to haunt us.

You have to wonder if the chips keep falling because everyone within the organization sees the writing on the wall. Roof was a foregone conclusion. Malzahn's been shopping for a while and maybe that caused Trooper and Curtis Luper to go want to go hang their shingle out elsewhere. Perhaps the players see the coaches no longer 'all in' and they don't care as much and think they can get away with being silly kids--like Michael Dyer evidently did. What was he thinking? Gene Chizik may not have seen it yet, but cracks are starting to show in this facade.

The team regressed during the season. There were no true leaders that emerged on offense or defense. First the players seemed to give up, then the fans got nervous and now the coaches are getting fidgety. What is going on? This isn't the Auburn I've known for over a quarter century. I don't like feeling this way. I'm not one to be overly negative. Many will realize that over the years that has hardly been my M.O. But I fear that this team is going to keep regressing even further that it may cause problems for next year.

I wasn't kidding two weeks ago when I said that I didn't want us to play a bowl game. I'll be honest. I just want this season to end and for us to regroup for next year. Call the game because of rain. It's too late, naturally. Sometimes the best move is just to end something. Like I noticed with the Atlanta Braves this fall, choking their way through the last month of the season: you don't collapse your way into the playoffs. It's pointless. And even though the bowl season is hardly a playoff, I'm basically of the same opinion. Although the Chick Fil A Bowl is probably the finest of the smaller bowls, it's a prize from the bottom shelf for us this year and the top for Virginia. I don't want to get rolled.

Auburn is suffering from a crisis of leadership with it's coaches and it's players. It seems like no one wants to step forward from either group and take the reigns. We have one more game left for them to try and hold it together with duct tape and bailing wire. I don't want to go out like this. We need a bowl victory. If you don't think the Capital One Bowl win over Northwestern wasn't important, just look at the springboard it gave for the following year. We've got to get this team to feel alive again one last time.

All I want for Christmas is a bowl victory, and I'm even willing to wait a week later for it. I hate to sound like the Grinch this year. Auburn will be back, this I know. I just can't wait for that day. Somebody say something below to make me feel better. Merry Christmas.