Max
Member
ByPHILLIP MARSHALL Nov 1, 8:33 AM
Auburnās game against Texas A&M on Saturday was supposed to be the last step before engaging Georgia and Alabama in games that would be significant in the fight for the Southeastern Conference championship and even the national championship.
It didnāt work out that way for Auburn. Those plans were torpedoed by back-to-back October losses to Mississippi State and Tennessee, probably the worst team in the SEC. A great hue and cry rose from the Auburn faithful, and it hasnāt abated yet.
ESPN will televise Saturdayās meeting of 5-3 teams, but it will be at 11 a.m. The rematch between head coaches from the BCS Championship in January 2014 will be a sidebar to the Alabama-LSU game in Baton Rouge, which could decide who wins the West, and the Georgia-Kentucky game in Lexington, which will definitely decide who wins the East.
That doesnāt mean it doesnāt matter what happens at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It matters a lot, and not just because of the impact it could have on Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and the Auburn program going forward.
Championships are worthy goals of every college football program that devotes the resources to make them possible, but they arenāt the only goal. College football isnāt the NFL. Its sole purpose is not to crown a champion.
If you are a competitor ā and you wouldnāt be playing at this level if you werenāt ā winning the game is motivation enough. Representing your school, your family, your teammates and yourself matters, regardless of what is or isnāt at stake.
Some ā maybe most ā of the most iconic moments in Auburn football history came in games that had no championship implications.
If only championships matter, Cadillac Williamsā 80-yard run on the first play of the 2003 Iron Bowl didnāt matter. Bill Newtonās two blocked punts, taken to the house by David Langner in 1972, didnāt matter. Auburnās electrifying win over eventual national champion Florida in 2006 didnāt matter. I could go on and on and on and on.
If only championships matter, Pat Sullivanās Heisman Trophy didnāt matter. He never won a championship. Bo Jacksonās Heisman didnāt matter either. Auburn lost four games the year he won it.
All those things, of course, mattered then and matter now. They are part of the fabric of Auburn football.
Itās ever so easy these days to have the impression that only the four teams who play for the national championship are important. Every other game, every other bowl game, sometimes seems to have been reduced to irrelevance. But theyāre not irrelevant.
For the men who play football for Auburn, Saturdayās game is of great importance. A trip to Georgia a week later will be even more important and a trip to Alabama two weeks after that more important still. When all those games have been played, then and only then will we know where this team stands in Auburn history.
No, thereāll be no Auburn championship trophy. Not this season. Maybe there will be little but disappointment. And maybe this team will be remembered as one that picked itself up off the deck, accomplished great things down the stretch of another season and set the stage for playing for championships in the future.
With four games left to play, nobody knows. And, even for a team that wonāt reach its goal of lofting a championship trophy, thatās what makes it fun. And thatās why it matters and matters a lot.
Auburnās game against Texas A&M on Saturday was supposed to be the last step before engaging Georgia and Alabama in games that would be significant in the fight for the Southeastern Conference championship and even the national championship.
It didnāt work out that way for Auburn. Those plans were torpedoed by back-to-back October losses to Mississippi State and Tennessee, probably the worst team in the SEC. A great hue and cry rose from the Auburn faithful, and it hasnāt abated yet.
ESPN will televise Saturdayās meeting of 5-3 teams, but it will be at 11 a.m. The rematch between head coaches from the BCS Championship in January 2014 will be a sidebar to the Alabama-LSU game in Baton Rouge, which could decide who wins the West, and the Georgia-Kentucky game in Lexington, which will definitely decide who wins the East.
That doesnāt mean it doesnāt matter what happens at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It matters a lot, and not just because of the impact it could have on Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and the Auburn program going forward.
Championships are worthy goals of every college football program that devotes the resources to make them possible, but they arenāt the only goal. College football isnāt the NFL. Its sole purpose is not to crown a champion.
If you are a competitor ā and you wouldnāt be playing at this level if you werenāt ā winning the game is motivation enough. Representing your school, your family, your teammates and yourself matters, regardless of what is or isnāt at stake.
Some ā maybe most ā of the most iconic moments in Auburn football history came in games that had no championship implications.
If only championships matter, Cadillac Williamsā 80-yard run on the first play of the 2003 Iron Bowl didnāt matter. Bill Newtonās two blocked punts, taken to the house by David Langner in 1972, didnāt matter. Auburnās electrifying win over eventual national champion Florida in 2006 didnāt matter. I could go on and on and on and on.
If only championships matter, Pat Sullivanās Heisman Trophy didnāt matter. He never won a championship. Bo Jacksonās Heisman didnāt matter either. Auburn lost four games the year he won it.
All those things, of course, mattered then and matter now. They are part of the fabric of Auburn football.
Itās ever so easy these days to have the impression that only the four teams who play for the national championship are important. Every other game, every other bowl game, sometimes seems to have been reduced to irrelevance. But theyāre not irrelevant.
For the men who play football for Auburn, Saturdayās game is of great importance. A trip to Georgia a week later will be even more important and a trip to Alabama two weeks after that more important still. When all those games have been played, then and only then will we know where this team stands in Auburn history.
No, thereāll be no Auburn championship trophy. Not this season. Maybe there will be little but disappointment. And maybe this team will be remembered as one that picked itself up off the deck, accomplished great things down the stretch of another season and set the stage for playing for championships in the future.
With four games left to play, nobody knows. And, even for a team that wonāt reach its goal of lofting a championship trophy, thatās what makes it fun. And thatās why it matters and matters a lot.
