All the talk prior to Thursday night's Auburn-South Carolina game centered on whether the Tigers could earn "style points" in its contest with the Gamecocks. In other words, would Auburn beat South Carolina bad enough to impress the pollsters? This is what college football has come to now.Say what you want to about the NFL, but at least there, a win is a win. Is Auburn the second best team in the country? Right now, I honestly don't know. Then again, I'm not convinced Ohio State is the best team in the country. Did Auburn play with its A-Game Thursday? Not even close. But they still won.
With that said, we should taking nothing away from Auburn's 24-17 win in Columbia. This team went on the road against a 3-1 Steve Spurrier team at night. Any kind of win is impressive in that environment. Still, by Friday morning, all the talking heads on the radio and television were speculating over whether the Tigers seven point win was enough to stay ranked second in the country.
Please. You must be kidding me. A road win at night in the SEC should never drop a team in the polls. Say what you want to about ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, but he echoed that point prior to the start of Thursday game. Talking to the Auburn Radio Network, Herbstreit said that most people around the country don't realize the difficulty of playing on the road in the SEC. He went on to say that playing even what is considered a middle-tier team like South Carolina is difficult. Herbstreit said that's what separates the SEC from other conferences. I couldn't agree more.
And neither can Tommy Tuberville. "If they think that wasn't a tough ball game to play, they need to come watch an SEC game,'' he said. "I saw the two teams in front of us (in the Harris Interactive poll) play close games last week, too.
How can you possibly drop Auburn in the polls and not drop Southern Cal after last week's game? They managed to beat an Arizona team that was pounded by LSU a few weeks earlier, 20-3 in Tucson. What's more impressive: A seven point Auburn win over South Carolina or a 17 point USC win over Arizona? That's a pretty easy answer. I'll take Steve Spurrier over Mike Stoops any time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-30-2006 @ 6:28PM
sue said...
...Auburn is the best team in the country. We were the best in 2004 and still the best. Anyone who discounts a win over a Spurrier team whether at home or on the road; whether during the day or at night is not really the brightest bulb in the pack. War Eagle!
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9-30-2006 @ 9:15PM
auburnham said...
LSU scores our style points for us every week! Over 40 points against opponents other than AU.
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10-02-2006 @ 3:03PM
Mark said...
I have never understood "style points". Too many things factor into games,such as injuries, weather, home or road, history. SO much emphasis is put on the
"mythical" national championship, that teams now feel like they have to run up scores on teams to create these "style" points. Fine, maybe Auburn should have beaten Buffalo 90-0? It doesn't prove anything to AU fans, embarrasses an up-and-coming program, and risks injury to players on both sides. With an SEC schedule where few teams can be taken for granted, winning out IS the only goal worth having. I hope we beat Bama this year decisively, but(as most AU fans will tell you)I'll take a 1 point win the ugly way, because a win is a win. If that isn't good enough for the pollsters, then we NEVER had a chance to begin with. I like the fact that Auburn hasn't, and won't, run up scores just because we can. I always found that practice with Miami and Nebraska disgusting.I am one of the ones out there screaming "10 game season and playoffs". THAT is the only way we will truly get a national champion, and even then, people will argue. In the end, what's the point, some glass egg and people talking about "if you had played US", etc,etc
and trying to defend the myth next year with a DIFFERENT group of players. It really is tiring to keep hearing about it, and blogging, but here I am....
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