EYE ON THE TIGERS: Loss at Arkansas not the end of the world

Somehow, one loss has seemingly turned into a season-ender no matter where you look in the SEC.

Take this past weekend, an action-packed, big-time-matchup-filled day that was so big, Sports Illustrated devoted this week’s cover page to tell America just how awesome the conference truly is.

Yeah, sure. It’s great. Best football top to bottom that you’ll see in the country.

It’s just lacking one big something: Perspective.

You’d think after Florida won the national championship twice in the last three years with a loss in each of those seasons, or maybe after two-loss LSU took home the crystal football in 2007, that fans wouldn’t write off their respective teams after they just so happen to come out on the wrong end of one of these great SEC events.

Yet it’s happened at nearly every stop in the conference after this past weekend.

Look at Ole Miss, who, after losing to quite possibly the best team in the country, Alabama, has become everyone’s favorite punching bag. Quarterback Jevan Snead, who has nine interceptions in five games, has taken the brunt of the fan barrage.

It made him mad enough to spill his guts in a diary entry this week on SportingNews.com.

“Sometimes you want to tell everyone to chill out a little bit,” Snead wrote. “We don’t need fans telling us how displeased they are with us. We are more upset; we know we could’ve played better.”

Head east to Georgia, and the talk has centered on “changing the culture” of Georgia football in the wake of Saturday’s ugly loss at Tennessee. Mark Richt, he of six 10-win seasons over the past seven years, is the newest “coach on the hot seat” simply because his team is 3-3 at the midpoint of the season.

A trip up to Knoxville will put you on the high end of all the ebbs and flows. One week after many writers were predicting an 0-for-October, all is temporarily well again at Rocky Top after a thumping of the Bulldogs. All of a sudden Jonathan Crompton doesn’t seem like such a bad guy — at least for this week.

Playing Alabama next week might send Vols fans lower than they’ve been all season.

All that brings us back to Auburn, where, after Saturday’s loss at Arkansas — yes, it was very ugly — the 5-1 Tigers might as well be 1-5 if you’re paying attention to the outside voices.

Soft schedule. Weak opposing defenses. An overrated offense. A terrible defense.

Boom. No more national ranking.

Again, Auburn, which didn’t make a bowl game last season, has equaled its win total from last year with an entire half-season remaining.

With Furman remaining on the schedule, it’s safe to say the Tigers will do better than last year, which is something of a rarity when you look back at how other new coaches have done at Auburn.

Ralph “Shug” Jordan, Auburn’s winningest coach, went 5-5. Pat Dye finished 5-6 in 1981. Tommy Tuberville did the same in 1999.
Gene Chizik is 5-1.

“This is not Chicken Little; the sky is not falling,” Chizik said. “It’s not doom and gloom.”

Yes, the Tigers had numerous flaws that were previously covered by the Band-Aid known as “winning” exposed in the Arkansas loss. And yes, that loss might have been the cold splash of water to the face that some misguided fans, who truly believed the Tigers wouldn’t lose this season, may have needed.

But it’s no reason not to appreciate where Auburn is: 5-1 with six games to play in one of the best conferences in the nation.

“Any team in the country would pretty much be glad with a 5-1 start,” tailback Ben Tate said. “I can’t say that we’re happy with 5-1 because, really, we should be 6-0. But it’s not a bad thing that we’re 5-1 at all.”

Andrew Gribble covers Auburn University sports for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be reached at agribble@oanow.com or 737-2561.