- I've finally stopped shaking. I believe I scarred my 5 month old son tonight. We all screamed at the top of our lungs, and he freaked the hell out. But it was good. It was good for him to experience the elation of an Auburn classic win.
- That was a top five all time historic play in college football. Flutie, Kordell, "The Band is Running onto the Field," Bluegrass miracle, and now the Miracle at Jordan-Hare.
The implications were enormous. Auburn was still alive for the SEC West, SEC conference, and BCS championships. Auburn was 1-6 against their 2nd biggest rival and the only win came on the back of the GOAT. Auburn had squandered away a victory that would have been describe as a blowout. And it was 4th down and 18.
I've never seen anything like it. That was classic. Generations from now, children will hear about that play and marvel at it in the same sense that we all have marveled at Punt Bama Punt and the Interception Game.
- I wasn't there, but apparently, the eruption in the stadium beat out the 2006 Florida game. I did my best to add to the noise from my living room.
- Now a bit of the uglies. How do you give up a lead like that? How do you allow yourself to go from absolute domination to playing like you have no chance at winning?
Part of me is livid and disappointed. But the rest of me is reminded that we are still a young and inexperienced group of players who haven't experienced this kind of success before.
No matter how far away we get from it and no matter what kind success we continue to have, 2012 still lingers around. That's what tonight was. A bit of 2012.
In 2012, we were a group of misfits who had no chance at competing against Georgia.
But think how different the experience has been for 2013.
We won our tough close games in the beginning of the season. We learned how to fight and scratch and claw our way to a victory against Washington State and Mississippi State. (Unlike Miss State, Clemson, and LSU in 2012)
We learned that we would no longer struggle against patsy cupcake teams from small conferences when we played Arkansaas State (unlike against LA Monroe and Utah State in previous years)
We learned that we still had a journey ahead of us and that away games are a different beast when we were beaten by LSU. However, we learned how to believe in ourselves and believe in Malzahn when we weren't just manhandled and we competed.
We learned that we were an improved program when we beat Ole Miss and that no matter what the experts predicted, we had a chance at winning and winning convincingly as long as we executed the game plan.
We learned that the LSU game was behind us when we went into College Station and beat the Aggies.
We learned that many SEC teams were falling behind us and that we could dominate our opponents when we played Arkansas and Tennessee.
And we learned that against good football teams that aren't bad like Arkansas and Tennessee, you can't expect to just blow them out by playing 3 good quarters. That's what we learned tonight.
- So while it hurt to see us almost lose, I'm appreciative for what we experienced tonight. Our team got to grow up a little more while maintaining its position in the SEC and the BCS.
- I'm ready for them. I want the next game badly. I'm going to have a hard time waiting two weeks, but I know the team needs a good week of rest and then a great practice week leading into what will be one of the most important Iron Bowls in history.
- One more win. That's the mantra right now. One more win and we're no longer growing up. One more win and we're competing for championships. We're the adults. We're the team to beat.
- It feels good. Feels really good.
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