It's not just a 7-5 season, Oh no...no, it's much, much worse than that!

[JR4AU]

It's the typical Finebaum spin, but from Scarbo.  Auburn never just loses a game because the other team was better.  It's always a sign that the program is headed in the wrong direction.  It's not like anybody that really pays attention couldn't see this coming.  The Jr. and Sr. classes almost non-existent on this team, due to the final lack of effort by Tubs and crew.   The loss of 2 of Auburn's all time greatest players in Cam and Fairley.  And the loss of 24 Sr's.   Nope great programs simply plug in more great ones, and chug along.   And Scarbo his here to tell you all about it.  Malzahn wants out of Auburn, not a Head Coaching Job.  If you listen to the likes of Finebaum and such, there's never been a coach that wanted to be at Auburn, and every mediocre season is a sign things are headed the wrong direction.  Yep, one year removed from an undefeated season and BCS Championship 7-5 is the rule, not the exception.  Memory is that of a goldfish with some fucksticks.   

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/12/mike_dyers_suspension_a_perfec.html

Mike Dyer's suspension a perfect ending to Auburn's troubled season
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 6:47 AM     Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 6:47 AM
Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News By Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - It's a mythical title, much like being a college football na­tional champion, but Auburn has earned it.

Mike Dyer's suspension put the Tigers over the top.

They are 60 minutes away from completing the worst sea­son by a defending national champion in the BCS era.

At least. And no one else is even close.

It doesn't matter whether Tre Mason makes the most of his time to shine in the Chick-fil-A Bowl or whether Auburn runs Virginia out of the Georgia Dome on New Year's Eve.

It doesn't matter whether Gene Chizik calls a perfect game in his new role as interim defensive coor­dinator or whether one quarterback finally makes a statement that he's the man heading into 2012.

The season will end officially for the Tigers not long before the ball drops in Times Square, but the curtain on 2011 can't close soon enough.

It's not just the record, though that's a major contributor. When Auburn went 7-5 during the regular season in Chizik's first year, it was a sign of improvement and a reason for encouragement about the program's direction.

Is anyone encouraged by this 7-5? Besides Auburn's rivals.

When your closest loss is a non-conference defeat of 14 points, when you get rudely dismissed by the four best teams in your league by 24, 28, 35 and 38 points, you're not rebuilding. You're reeling.

If Auburn was simply too young and too thin to stay with the big boys this season, the record could be rationalized, but there are cracks in the foundation of this program.

Consider that the season started with four players, one of them a returning starter, getting arrested and dismissed from the team for their roles in an armed robbery in March, and it'll end with the team's MVP under an indefinite suspension in December.

Dyer's attitude has been an issue all year, but it appears that his actions have gotten him sidelined for at least one game. When your best player has attitude problems, and there's not enough talent surrounding him to cover for it, your team has a serious problem.

Another problem that has been addressed, at last halfway, is the failed three-year marriage of Chizik and Ted Roof on defense. When's the last time an SEC coordinator with a national title on his resume left for a school like Central Florida but not to become a head coach?

Roof got a soft landing, but Chizik is faced with a hard question. Who can he hire that will get Auburn back to playing Auburn defense?

On the other side of the ball, after his worst season as a college offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn has been working to find a head coaching job. Now there's reportedly mutual interest between him and Arkansas State.

His inability to get hired at North Carolina, where he had a relationship with the new AD, or Kansas, which chose an SEC offensive coordinator who had a worse year in Charlie Weis, raises another legitimate question.

Has Malzahn's upward mobility been hurt by that flaky interview of his wife, Kristi, which has gone viral on the Internet? Her loose-cannon demeanor on the video flies in the face of the belief that a head coach's wife should be seen and not heard.

Put it all together, and how bad has this season been for Auburn? The highlight was not being charged with a single major violation by the NCAA.

Only one other BCS champion can rival Auburn's descent from ecstasy to agony. One year after winning the 2007 BCS title with two overtime defeats, LSU lost five games in the regular season.

The 2008 Tigers had quarterback issues. They were stuck with Harvard transfer Andrew Hatch and freshmen Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee.

They had defensive coordinator issues. Bo Pelini left after the BCS title to become the head coach at Nebraska, and Les Miles foolishly replaced him with co-coordinators from within the staff.

That LSU team suffered three double-digit losses, including a 30-point beatdown at Florida, but it also took undefeated Alabama to overtime and lost to Arkansas by a point.

Those Tigers closed their disappointing title defense in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, where they beat Georgia Tech 38-3.

Does anyone believe these Auburn Tigers are capable of scoring 38 points against Virginia without their best offensive player?

Does anyone believe this team is a year away from contending for another division, conference or national title?

Is 7-5 beginning to look like the rule rather than the exception?

[GH2001]

Scarbo: the worst sea­son by a defending national champion in the BCS era.

He conveniently left out, however, that Auburn also LOST the most starters of any defending BCS champion EVER. Not trying to make excuses, but if we're gonna talk about things of the like, he should include all the surrounding facts.

[Townhallsavoy]

Terrible article for the most part.  He even brought up LSU in 2008 (who didn't lose anywhere near as much as we did from their 2007 BCS team).  I don't see how that strengthened his point.

I do agree with this part:

If Auburn was simply too young and too thin to stay with the big boys this season, the record could be rationalized, but there are cracks in the foundation of this program.

Consider that the season started with four players, one of them a returning starter, getting arrested and dismissed from the team for their roles in an armed robbery in March, and it'll end with the team's MVP under an indefinite suspension in December.

Dyer's attitude has been an issue all year, but it appears that his actions have gotten him sidelined for at least one game. When your best player has attitude problems, and there's not enough talent surrounding him to cover for it, your team has a serious problem.

Another problem that has been addressed, at last halfway, is the failed three-year marriage of Chizik and Ted Roof on defense. When's the last time an SEC coordinator with a national title on his resume left for a school like Central Florida but not to become a head coach?

Roof got a soft landing, but Chizik is faced with a hard question. Who can he hire that will get Auburn back to playing Auburn defense?

We've had a lot of disciplinary issues that are truly out of Chizik's control, but as we all know, programs are judged by results not excuses. 

Also, the defense has been the worst in history.  Roof's fault?  Probably.  But Chizik hired him.  And Chizik will have to replace him. 

[JR4AU]

Terrible article for the most part.  He even brought up LSU in 2008 (who didn't lose anywhere near as much as we did from their 2007 BCS team).  I don't see how that strengthened his point.

I do agree with this part:

We've had a lot of disciplinary issues that are truly out of Chizik's control, but as we all know, programs are judged by results not excuses. 

Also, the defense has been the worst in history.  Roof's fault?  Probably.  But Chizik hired him.  And Chizik will have to replace him.

So, you also agree that there are "cracks in the foundation of the program"?  Great!  7-5, player suspended, and the sky is falling! 

[Townhallsavoy]

So, you also agree that there are "cracks in the foundation of the program"?  Great!  7-5, player suspended, and the sky is falling!

I wouldn't go as far as to say that there are cracks in the foundation of the program, but suspensions will never be a viable excuse for a subpar record. 

[AWK]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that there are cracks in the foundation of the program, but suspensions will never be a viable excuse for a subpar record.

Have to agree...

unless the whole offense gets suspended or something like that.

[Yoda]

Its a BS fluff article to get ratings for his new radio show going up against finefuck by the way.

[GH2001]

Its a BS fluff article to get ratings for his new radio show going up against finefuck by the way.

My first thought was that he is simply playing to the crowd that reads him ala Finebaum. Well done Yoda. I think you nailed it. Clay Travis did the same thing when he started his site a while back.

[JR4AU]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that there are cracks in the foundation of the program, but suspensions will never be a viable excuse for a subpar record.

I don't think I or anybody suggested that. 

[GH2001]

I don't think I or anybody suggested that.

Although Scarbo did suggest up a ton of other things aka conjecture.

[JR4AU]

Its a BS fluff article to get ratings for his new radio show going up against finefuck by the way.

Maybe.  Good call.  But he's going to fail if he's going to try and emulate Finebaum, which this article certainly does.   He needs to fill the "anti-finebaum" niche.

[Townhallsavoy]

I don't think I or anybody suggested that.

Scarbo suggested it. 

He attempted to make it sound more deleterious, but yes, I agree with him that suspensions are a cause for concern.  Further, if they continue and we also continue to have subpar seasons, Chizik will be the victim of the sky falling on top of him. 

[War Eagle!!!]

Facetious, Deleterious...what the fuck has this place become???

[Townhallsavoy]

Facetious, Deleterious...what the fuck has this place become???

It's become my GRE practice field. 

Did you know that eleemosynary was a word?  If you did, why?  Why the fuck is that a word?

[ssgaufan]

Scarbos new show sucks!  Whoever that ho is that is on it with him sucks too.  Better than finebaum though.