Scarbinsky: Winning's not always enough to earn respect for Auburn

[AUChizad]

http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/2009/09/scarbinsky_winnings_not_always.html

Scarbinsky: Winning's not always enough to earn respect for Auburn
By Kevin Scarbinsky -- The Birmingham News
September 30, 2009, 5:30AM

Auburn fans like what's happening now that Gene Chizik is leading the Tigers, but national poll voters are not very impressed. (The Birmingham News / Hal Yeager)AUBURN -- Sometimes, you know the answer even before you ask the question. But you ask anyway. Just in case.

It was in that spirit that I asked Gene Chizik this question Tuesday: Considering that his Auburn football team is undefeated four games into the season but still unranked, is there anything the Tigers can do, beyond winning, to get more respect?

His answer didn’t surprise anyone in the room.

"I don’t control that, and I don’t even have a thought on it," Chizik said. "Week to week, we have to win, and all that other stuff takes care of itself. I don’t spend a lot of energy on things I have absolutely no control over."

There’s only one problem with that response. Where Auburn is concerned, all that other stuff doesn’t always take care of itself.

The issue runs deeper than the fact that there are 17 undefeated teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and only five of them are not ranked in any of the three national polls, and one of those teams is Auburn.

The others: South Florida, Texas A&M, UCLA and Wisconsin.

It’s probably no coincidence that only one of those schools is THE state university in its home state.

Those other programs can’t touch Auburn when it comes to a larger, more dubious distinction: This is still the only school in America in a power conference that’s gone undefeated and not played for a national championship in the BCS era.

Chizik should remember. He was the defensive coordinator on that unfulfilled Auburn team in 2004.

The next year, he was the defensive coordinator at Texas. The Longhorns went undefeated. They played for the BCS title — and won it. I brought up that point to demonstrate that Auburn can’t rely on winning alone to take care of everything.

Chizik politely shot it down.

"I think the circumstances of each year ... there are a lot of moving parts in those decisions," he said. "Again, it’s something I have no control over. So, do I worry about it? No, I really don’t."

History suggests he should worry about it, and common sense suggests he and Athletics Director Jay Jacobs should do something about it besides winning games.

For example, the next time Auburn is presented an opportunity to play in a marquee game like the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff, the Tigers should grab it with both paws.

One way to open the eyes of ignorant outsiders/pollsters is to adopt an anyone, anytime, anywhere philosophy of scheduling. Because, in the eyes of the nation, that six-game Iron Bowl winning streak aside, Auburn isn’t Alabama.

Contrast Alabama’s rapid rise through the polls a year ago with Auburn’s slow slog through the Others Receiving Votes category this season.

Granted, this Auburn team didn’t open by beating a preseason top-10 opponent at a neutral site, as Alabama has done for two straight years. But Auburn’s 4-0 resume stands up nicely against a lot of teams that are ranked, from shaky No. 4 LSU to rattled No. 21 Ole Miss and beyond.

How much has Auburn impressed the national pundits? Of the 60 AP poll voters, 35 didn’t put the Tigers anywhere on their ballots this week.

What do Chris Todd and company have to do? Beat the Vols on Saturday and the Titans on Sunday?

Instead of downplaying his team’s first road trip, Chizik said this week’s Tennessee game "is going to be a huge indicator of who we are." That confident statement is an indicator of who Chizik is. More and more, the 19 games he lost in two years at Iowa State look far less important than the 19 straight games he’s won as a member of the Auburn staff.

One or two more might even sneak his team into the polls.

[jadennis]

I think Chizik is right, every year is it's own situation.  You can't look at one year and surmise anything from it.  Look at 2004.  Auburn started at #17, after winning 4 games, they were #8.  They would have been higher too, but in 2004, Top 5 teams weren't dropping like flies like they are this year. 

I'm also still not a believer in the "state school" issue.  Alabama gets their national respect because they won 82% of their games from 1958 to 1982 under the guidance of a member of the Mount Rushmore of coaches.  They get the automatic respect because they have won the SEC 20 times (it's really 21 but I refuse to recognize 1972, a year in which Alabama went 7-1 and Auburn went 6-1 with a WIN OVER ALABAMA).

Clemson isn't the state school.  Miami isn't a state school.  Notre Dame is not a state school....it's kinda like the Vatican, it's it's own little world.  You don't get respect because you're name is the University of Minnesota, you get respect because you create it by winning over a long period of time, in and out of different eras. 

In 2000, Oklahoma was coming off a 7-5 season.  They started the year ranked #19.  By week 4, they were 4-0 and ranked #10.  That's really no different than Auburn starting #17 in 2004 and being #8 by week 4.

Every year is different.  If Auburn was 4-0 and the wins were La Tech, Miss State, West Virginia, and LSU, we would be ranked.

[weagle251]

I think Chizik is right, every year is it's own situation.  You can't look at one year and surmise anything from it.  Look at 2004.  Auburn started at #17, after winning 4 games, they were #8.  They would have been higher too, but in 2004, Top 5 teams weren't dropping like flies like they are this year. 

I'm also still not a believer in the "state school" issue.  Alabama gets their national respect because they won 82% of their games from 1958 to 1982 under the guidance of a member of the Mount Rushmore of coaches.  They get the automatic respect because they have won the SEC 20 times (it's really 21 but I refuse to recognize 1972, a year in which Alabama went 7-1 and Auburn went 6-1 with a WIN OVER ALABAMA).

Clemson isn't the state school.  Miami isn't a state school.  Notre Dame is not a state school....it's kinda like the Vatican, it's it's own little world.  You don't get respect because you're name is the University of Minnesota, you get respect because you create it by winning over a long period of time, in and out of different eras. 

In 2000, Oklahoma was coming off a 7-5 season.  They started the year ranked #19.  By week 4, they were 4-0 and ranked #10.  That's really no different than Auburn starting #17 in 2004 and being #8 by week 4.

Every year is different.  If Auburn was 4-0 and the wins were La Tech, Miss State, West Virginia, and LSU, we would be ranked.

Preach it, brother.

[boartitz]

Pssst. I think he was referring to Wisconsin as the STATE school.

[Tiger Wench]

Pssst. I think he was referring to Wisconsin as the STATE school.

Forget it, he's rolling.

[jadennis]

Pssst. I think he was referring to Wisconsin as the STATE school.

I know, why to you mention it?  Do you mean because I said Minnesota, I was just picking a random state school that isn't typically all that good, it wasn't so much meant to be directed at the schools he listed.  

If I were directing something to his list, I would make a case for UCLA being as much a "state" school as anyone else.  It is University of California - Los Angeles.  USC is a private school.  Cal is actually University of California - Berkley.  So UCLA fits as well as any school California has.

[boartitz]

I know, why to you mention it?  Do you mean because I said Minnesota, I was just picking a random state school that isn't typically all that good, it wasn't so much meant to be directed at the schools he listed.  

If I were directing something to his list, I would make a case for UCLA being as much a "state" school as anyone else.  It is University of California - Los Angeles.  USC is a private school.  Cal is actually University of California - Berkley.  So UCLA fits as well as any school California has.

Quick. What's another D1 school in WI? One in that list was not like the others.