SZVETITZ COLUMN: AU learns from defeat

First, let’s just get something out of the way: There’s no such thing as moral victories.

By 1 point or by 100, it’s still a loss.

By 4 points or by 40, it’s still a loss.

By the hair on your chinny chin chin or by a full-blown, mountain-man special, it’s still a loss.

Auburn learned that Saturday against No. 10 Georgia. (See: Five “Ws”, six “Ls” … and zero “MVs.”)

But the Tigers also learned something else … they can compete.

No, it wasn’t the prettiest, and sure, Georgia gift-wrapped a lot of opportunities, but Auburn was still around at the end with a chance to win — twice inside the Bulldog 25-yard line late in the fourth quarter down by 4 points.

I know, you’ve heard it before. So have the Auburn players. And they don’t blame you.

“I think a lot of people probably doubted us,” junior cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “They probably (thought) it wasn’t even going to be close in this game, just considering the type of team Georgia is and the adversity we’ve been going through all season. I think a lot of people doubted us …“

And it’s true. A lot of people did. Severely.

But, to the ones it mattered to most, that wasn’t the case.

“… As a team, we still believe,” Powers finished.

Too bad belief doesn’t always translate into wins.

Again, it didn’t Saturday. But it did do other things.

It showed that Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville still has some fire left in his belly.

Going for it on fourth-and-1 at his 19 with 0:02 seconds to play … in the third quarter? Onions?

For a moment, the Riverboat Gambler — with a chance to go to Shreveport and the Independence Bowl to do some real gambling — was all in. Too bad, he and the Tigers got beat on the turn, leaving that sixth and all-important bowl-clinching win up to the Iron Bowl and No. 1 Alabama. Talk about having the deck stacked against you.

It didn’t matter Saturday. For a moment, Tuberville left his hands-on-hips demeanor on the sideline and took off after some officials after a questionable pass interference call. Tack on a 5-yard delay of game call on the coach.

You don’t see that much out of Tuberville. Nor do you see him give short answers to open-ended questions, or a less-than-four-minute postgame press conference. You did Saturday. Just one more thing to take from the game.

Still, it wasn’t enough. A loss is a loss is a loss.

But it almost wasn’t. Shouldn’t there be something said for that?

“Believe it or not, you got to be proud of the team’s effort today,” offensive line coach Hugh Nall said.

Believe it or not, confidence was wearing a blue jersey Saturday. Even in the loss.

You might have forgotten what that looks like, because it hasn’t been seen too much since something called the Chick-fil-A Bowl. But there it was. Yes, even after the loss.

“Every time we step on the field, we’re going to give it our all, no matter what the situation is,” Powers said. “We just stepped up to the challenge today. … We just stepped up to the challenge, and that’s how it has to be.“

And, yes, even after reading that quote, we’re sure Auburn lost.

But how much did it gain?

Well …

“It gives us confidence,” Powers said. “We didn’t play great, but we played well enough to win.”

But Auburn didn’t.

At least not on the stat sheet.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.