What they’re saying after Auburn 33, Ole Miss 20

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Our hands are freezing and we have a costume party to attend.

So let’s get right to it. No one wants to hear what we have to say anyway, right?

The quotes, you say? Say no more!

Gene Chizik

(On the win)
“I can’t give our football team enough credit, starting with our seniors, in just the way they responded in a tough stretch there. That was the question everybody wanted to know: How’s your football team going to respond in a tough time. I think today was a great example of the way they were going to respond. All the kids, they willed that win.“

Gus Malzahn

(On the performance by Chris Todd)
“Yeah, very happy for him. He’s a very good quarterback and he showed today. Made some very good plays in the passing game and he got back on track, so that’s very important for the rest of the year.“

Ben Tate

(On his performance)
“It was just another day at the office. I try to come out and run hard week in and week out—no matter what the score is. I just love the game of football and I try to play it as hard as I can on every play. You never know when it’ll be over.“

Ted Roof

(On the defense)
“It wasn’t always pretty. But, once again, we got two defensive scores today, that pushes it to six for the year, so we’re real proud of that. Overall, just the way we finished, with a lot of enthusiasm – I’m just proud of the way we played.“

Walt McFadden

(On his interception return that went under further review)
“When I kept running for the touchdown, I was like ‘Man, I stepped out of bounds. Man, this isn’t going to count.‘ But I’m going to enjoy it while I can. You don’t get too many touchdown returns as a DB. I was like, ‘Man, I’m finna enjoy this while I can.‘“

Antoine Carter

(On the game)
“We came into the game talking about how we were going to play our best game. We went out, gave it our all and left it all on the field.“

Antonio Coleman

(On this, perhaps, being the best defensive effort of the year)
“From a standpoint of turnovers and stuff like that, probably so. As a unit, as an overall defense, I think this is the best game we’ve played all year. We’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve got Homecoming next weekend and we’ve got two tough fights coming after that. So we’ve got to get ready for those.“

Andrew McCain

(On whether or not luck was on Auburn’s side today)
“I think they were but at the same time that’s part of football. You don’t get lucky; you create those opportunities. Our defense did a great job of creating those opportunities, putting pressure on the quarterback and putting him in some bad situations and we got the interceptions.“

(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)

Auburn needed this one ...

... I know you agree.

Antonio Coleman does.

Auburn 33. Ole Miss 20.
What a game. What a third quarter. That was fun. If you didn’t see it, I highly recommend watching the replay. Good times.

Anyway, here’s SOME of my column that will run fully in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News.

Enjoy.

Oh, and have a safe and happy Halloween.

Gene Chizik needed this win more than anybody.
Well, maybe not.
Chris Todd needed it.
So did Gus Malzahn. And the offense.
Oh, and Ted Roof. And the defense.
The entire team, really. Pretty badly, actually.
As did the entire fan base.
OK, so everyone wearing orange, blue and Halloween costume Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium had to have this win.
Another loss might have been a back-breaker.
Another loss might have caused the real boos to come down harder than the rain that fell before and during the game.
(Would it be Auburn Football 2009 without the wet stuff? Seriously? Somewhere, Noah’s boat is coming along nicely.)
Another loss might have been it for this team.
For all the talk about it not being last year, four losses in a row could have very well caused a ripple in time and sent the Tigers back to 2008.
Another loss would have been bad. Really bad, actually.
But that wasn’t going to happen. At least not Saturday.
Auburn 33. Ole Miss 20.
Auburn six wins.
Auburn bowl eligible.
Auburn back on track. Offense. Defense. Special t … well, let’s not go that far.
“I can’t give our football team enough credit, starting with our seniors and just the way they responded in a tough stretch,” Chizik said. “As we all know, that was the question that everybody wanted to know was ‘How is your football team going to respond in a tough time?’
“I think today was a great example of the way they were going to respond.”
It’s true. Everyone wanted to know it.
And now we have our answer.

(Photo credit: Cliff Williams | Opelika-Auburn News)

Emptying out the notebook on Chris Holmes

And catching up after falling woefully behind.

Glenwood coach Chris Holmes used the opportunity of his team’s first win on the season—a 20-13 victory over Lakeside—to tell them he was resigning as their coach.

Holmes, who also teaches physics, algebra and calculus at the school, said he didn’t think it was fair to either his students or his players to divide his time between the two any more.

Let’s let him tell you about it:

“The guys deserve a better football coach than I am. That’s the way it is. I’m a teacher first and when I took the job two years ago, I told the headmaster I would keep the job as long as I felt I was doing my best job teaching and coaching football that I could. When it’s not football season, that goes pretty smooth. When it is, I don’t do a great job in either of them.“

“It came to a point where I had to make a decision about do I need to teach or do I need to coach.“

“I feel confident that we can get somebody that can do a bang-up job. I’m glad to help out however I can, be an assistant coach, if the new coach needs me. But they need somebody that their primary job is to be a football coach and that’s not me. It hurts me to see us not perform the best we can and knowing it’s my fault.“

“I gave a lot of thought to making this decision last year. But I knew how young we’d be this year and that it’d be frustrating for someone new to come in and take the reins. “

“It means a whole lot to go out with a win. I did not tell the guys until after the ballgame because I didn’t want them to make it about winning the game for me. I wanted the focus to be on our two seniors—Elliot Lynn and Will Prickett. I wanted them to win the game for those seniors, and they did.“

So thanks, coach Holmes, for all your help through the year.

“The Pick” and other excruciating details about Ole Miss-Auburn

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Ole Miss spooks Auburn fans into thinking its 2008 all over again. Rebs win 37-21.

We’re going to keep the minutiae brief because it’s early and we’re in a costume.

Happy Halloween!

****Auburn leads this series 24-9, holding an 11-2 edge at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

****This is Auburn’s second game ever against a team ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll. The previous game was a 1996 Independence Bowl victory over Army.

****Hey, it’s early! This is Auburn’s first home day game of the year.

****If Auburn plays in a bowl game, the Tigers’ current pace of 430.9 yards per game would result in a school-record 5,601 yards of offense by the end of the season.

****Even after last week’s aberration, the Tigers have still just allowed nine sacks through the first eight games. That’s good for 20th in the nation.

****Wes Byrum is tied for second nationally in field goal percentage (91.7) among kickers who have attempted at least 10 field goals.

****Remember when Antonio Coleman wasn’t getting any tackles? Well, he’s still doing his part and leads the team with seven tackles for loss.

****Auburn is 6-6-1 all-time on Halloween. The last time the Tigers played on Oct. 31 was 1998, when the Tigers fell to Arkansas, 24-21, at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

(Photo credit: My BlackBerry)

Seat 80 ... (A lot of) Raindrops keep falling on my head

Auburn Football 2009. Rain. Catch The Fever. And the Sniffles.

Another Auburn home football game, another rain storm. Fun stuff.

But we’re safe and warm and dry (or at least drying off) here at Seat 80 in the David E. Housel Press Box.

So much for the Navy Nightmare campaign Auburn’s throwing for this Halloween game.

I expect to see a lot of orange ponchos today. But, hey, at least orange is an Auburn color. Right?

So who’s going to win between the Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels.

I think I might be the only one with a press credential to this game to pick the home team, but, what the heck. I need the wins in my pick ‘ems. So I’m going for the upset.

AUBURN WINS!

12-9. Wes Byrum kicks four field goals for the Tigers.

How ‘bout that?