SZVETITZ COLUMN: Remember 36-0? Tigers are trying to forget

Let’s get one thing straight.

Last year’s in the past, yes, but it’s not as easily forgotten as Gene Chizik makes it seem.

It takes more than 363 days to get over 36-0. Especially if you’re a player. And, of course, if you’re a fan. Especially.

Chizik said earlier this week that the Tigers aren’t focused on what happened last year in Tuscaloosa.

That’s history. And, like most things, Chizik doesn’t like to dwell on (or talk about) the past. This is a new team. New coaches. New
attitude. New outlook.

But, it’s the same old Iron Bowl. The same rivalry. The same pride and bragging rights.

In this game, the past is just as present as, well, the present.

But Chizik has a different approach to this idea. He and his staff aren’t bringing up last year’s Beatdown in T-Town to rally the troops because they don’t think it’s necessary.

“We are not living in the past, although history is always made in this game,” Chizik said. “We don’t dwell or constantly live in the past and motivate through what happened here and there. This is a new time and a new year.

“Last year’s game, we’ve moved on. There is no relation between the two.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

Maybe another reason he hasn’t brought it up is because he doesn’t have to.

The players remember. They were there.

“I lived it,” junior linebacker Craig Stevens said. All of it.

And in case he forgets what it was like, he can go back to the tape. No words can describe that experience.

“We don’t talk about it that much, but we watch the video to kind of get us to remember that feeling from last year,” Stevens said. “We don’t want to relive it again. So we use that as motivation.”

The players have been using a lot of their experiences from last year as motivation. It’s something they don’t want to have happen to them again.
Ever again.

And it’s not just the Iron Bowl loss — the Tigers’ first in seven years. It was the way everything crumbled around them, as they limped to a 1-7 finish
after being picked in the preseason to win the SEC West.

“All of last year, like I’ve said before, was just a big mess,” said Kodi Burns, who started the last seven games of 2008 at quarterback. “We really didn’t give ourselves a chance — running different offenses every game, every game being in total disarray.”

And it culminated with 36-0.

Sure, Chizik isn’t going there. But, again, he doesn’t have to.

But what he has stressed is that this year is what matters.

And he’s right. Too right. This year is all Auburn can control and play for. That’s the reality. And it’s sunk in.

It’s a different culture in the Auburn Athletic Complex this year, that much is for sure. And that’s a testament to Chizik and AU officials understanding that change was paramount. And you can see the difference.

But, the question is, how much so? How much better are the Tigers than they were last year?

Well, we’ll find out today. Like it or not, this is the game that the entire season will be measured on.

Because the two are most definitely related.

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