Chizik Unbeaten In September

[AUChizad]

http://blog.al.com/chatter/2009/09/chizik_auburn_enjoy_a_special.html

Auburn Football, SEC »
Chizik, Auburn enjoy a special September
By Paul Gattis -- The Huntsville Times
September 27, 2009, 2:15PM

Right now, we're typing while horizontal on the couch, debating the merits of leaving Auburn at midnight last night for the 3 1/2 hour drive home.

And the part of me on the side of driving home after the game is losing the debate.

Anyway, we typed about Auburn going 4-0 in September under new coach Gene Chizik and the historical significance of that achievement.

We had already completed the column and filed it to the office before the game ended. And it was almost like Chizik knew what we wrote about.

"We have a lot of work to be able to win the month of October," Chizik said after the game.

"That is going to be the beginning of a tough month, and we are going to have to play lights out to beat them," he added, speaking of Saturday's game at Tennessee.

 Here's the link to the column or, if you prefer, you can read it right here without having to look at my smiling mug shot:

AUBURN - Maybe it means nothing. Or maybe, at this point, it means everything.

Gene Chizik is perfect. Four-for-September, 4-0 in his first month as Auburn's first-year coach after Saturday's 54-30 smashing of Ball State.

Does it mean nothing? Then why have so few done it?

Nick Saban couldn't do it, couldn't go unbeaten in his first month at his new job. Not at Alabama, not at LSU.

Urban Meyer did it, only to lose 31-3 to Mike Shula-coached Alabama on Oct. 1 of his first season.

It's just one more sign, one more piece of evidence that the unpopular hire from Iowa State was right and all the critics were wrong.

You wonder where that guy is now, what he's thinking. You know, Airport Guy. The guy who greeted Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs and his new coach at the Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport last December.

You remember that guy?

"Booooo!," Airport Guy yelled that day. "We want a winner, not a loser."

It's gotten more than 646,000 views on YouTube. But nowadays, it seems like some sort of archival museum footage from a long ago time.

OK, a deep breath and some perspective.

Yes, Chizik escaped September unbeaten - only the fourth first-year SEC coach to do that since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992. Auburn knows the original well. Terry Bowden won his first 20 games at Auburn.

Then Houston Nutt did it in 1998 at Arkansas, winning his first eight. And there was Meyer in 2005.

Now Chizik in 2009.

But, some perspective.

Chizik has done it without leaving Jordan-Hare Stadium. He's done it without facing a quality SEC team.

But he also had no control over that. And he largely inherited the roster he's done it with.

In short, Chizik has done all he can do so far. Nothing more than be asked of any coach anywhere.

The Tigers are 4-0 with four double-digit wins, re-discovering a lost swagger along the way.

But now Auburn must face a test. Now Auburn must see if their road white jerseys fit as well as the home blue ones. Now they must go into a place where swagger is the currency in lieu of actual substance.

Lane Kiffin, Tenn.

It will be a new challenge for Auburn as their coach attempts to go 2-0 against the other two new coaches in the SEC.

A Monte Kiffin-coached defense will await Auburn in Neyland Stadium, a muscle like the Tigers have not seen this year.

But who can put boundaries on Auburn?

After all, when you ace September, the rest of the season has a history of falling into place.

Auburn won 11 games under Bowden in '93 while Arkansas and Florida each won nine games under their first-year coaches in '98 and '05, respectively.

A nine-win season under Chizik? From a coach who had five wins as a head coach when Auburn hired him?

I wonder what Airport Guy thinks about that.