TAKES. FIFTH EDITION. VOLUME 12.

Y'all have lost focus again.

There's a lot of hollering and yelling out here and it's almost entirely unwarranted. My old man - a man who became an Auburn fan in 1969 (neither of his parents really had any allegiance because they didn't go to school and weren't from Alabama) and willed himself into Auburn's agricultural school and whose biggest concern in life was that I follow in his footsteps to Auburn University - even started talking a little crazy after that game. My old man was at Auburn during the Doug Barfield era. He watched Auburn lose 9 straight to Alabama. In person. He chartered a bus one year when he was in school to take a bunch of bros to Legion Field to watch Bear Bryant beat Auburn's ass.

And he looks at me after that game and says he's fed up.

And I'm like, "Homie, are you hearing the words coming out of your mouth right now?"

Nick Saban is coaching the greatest dynasty of all time, across the state, at Auburn's biggest rival. It is a once in a lifetime thing. And somehow, two AMAZING things have happened (or not happened, as it were):

- This was the first time since 1992 that Alabama has won three games in a row. Bear Bryant won NINE in a row in the 70s, y'all. Like, this shocked me. Auburn has won four and six in a row in this series. During the greatest dynasty of all time, this is the first time that Alabama has beaten Auburn three times in a row.

- In the middle of the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport, Auburn has won two SEC Championships and it has won one national championship and competed for a second. The man currently coaching at Auburn is almost entirely responsible for all of that.

You ran the third best coach in the history of Auburn football off because he didn't want to work as hard as Nick Saban. And you were probably right for it, but who the hell would want to work as hard as Nick Saban when it's a losing cause? Gene Chizik did, and Gus Malzahn does.

What do you want to do? Fire Gus Malzahn and end up with Ed Orgeron? What is it you think is better?

I've slacked on TAKES this year and a big reason - lately - is because that Georgia game took the wind out of my sails. It took the wind out of all of ours sails. And if you're being honest with yourself, you're not disappointed because of the Iron Bowl result. You had conceded that. You're disappointed because of the Georgia game. Still. That shouldn't have happened.

"Why was Gus playing Sean White in the Vanderbilt and Georgia game if he was hurt?"

Well, we don't know a ton about the "injury." And that's fine. But he played in the Vanderbilt game because the season was actually at a do-or-die moment. Lose to Vanderbilt and it's over. Hang on and you still legitimately have a shot at the playoff.

So he played. And they won. And they did. And he made his situation worse and couldn't be effective at Georgia.

"Why isn't there a good backup quarterback?"

I don't know, dude. He has two Mr. Footballs and the top rated JUCO quarterback in the country. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. If Jalen Hurts gets injured, Alabama is screwed, too.

Auburn should have been 9-3. 8-4 might just be good enough to get them into the Sugar Bowl. It's definitely good enough to have them among the best three teams in the best conference in America that are not the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport.

So stop acting like you have a right to act spoiled. It's gross. If Tommy Tuberville hadn't have laid the groundwork for this, you wouldn't even know what success feels like. And you ran him off.

Merry Christmas.