Tag: Auburn

What the Week 14 CFB AP Poll means for Alabama’s Playoff hopes

What does this week’s AP Poll suggest abut Alabama’s Playoff chances?

All of Alabama nation is still flying high from yesterday’s magical Iron Bowl victory over Auburn. Yet, the relief can’t last much longer as the season really starts next Saturday when the Crimson Tide take on the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship.

The Bulldogs ride into Atlanta on a 29-game winning streak that has included the past two national championships. Beating the Dawgs will certainly be no easy task, but this Alabama team continues to rise to the occasion. While one might assume that the win against that Georgia team would be enough to get the Tide into the Playoffs, the Week 14 AP Poll suggests that the Crimson Tide still needs some help even with a win against Georgia.

After rattling off ten straight wins to end the regular season, Alabama still finds themselves sitting at No. 8 in the rankings with only one week to go. As things currently stand the top eight is as follows: Georgia, Michigan, Washington, Florida State, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama. So, what is the Tide’s path to the Final Four?

A win against UGA would obviously be enough for Alabama to jump the Dawgs. Michigan has already eliminated the Buckeyes from the Playoff race so Alabama would jump OSU with the win. Washington and Oregon will face off in the Pac-12 title with the loser being eliminated from contention. If Florida State beats Louisville and Texas beats Oklahoma State we are very likely looking at 1. Michigan 2. Winner of Oregon/Washington 3. Florida State 4. Texas 5. Alabama.

Michigan and Florida State will 100% both be in the Playoffs if they win this weekend with undefeated resumes. I find it unlikely that Alabama will be able to jump Texas even with a win against UGA because the results on the field do have to matter even if it was Week 2.

So, the final spot will likely come down to Alabama vs. the winner of the Pac-12. If Washington wins the Pac-12 title they will finish the year an undefeated 13-0 and they’ll be in. If Oregon wins, they’ll have avenged their lone loss of the season making it tough to leave them out as well. Even though I think Alabama is clearly better than Texas, FSU or anyone in the Pac-12, I think they might be in a bad spot to jump anyone. Oregon, with no ranked wins prior to this weekend, being ranked higher than Alabama all season has never really made much sense to me and now it might really come back to haunt the Tide.

So, as Alabama fans we need ONE of three things to happen assuming Alabama wins. Louisville must beat Florida State, Iowa must beat Michigan or Oklahoma State must beat Texas. If I am being honest, I don’t love my chances with any of them but crazier things have happened.

IF, Alabama misses the Playoffs I think the College Football Playoff commitee has a major problem on their hands. Oregon’s out of conference schedule included Portland State, Texas Tech and Hawaii while Michigan played East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. If you are Alabama, what’s the point of scheduling out of conference games like Texas if all that really matters is just a zero in the loss column?

I can also acknowlegde the SEC isn’t as strong as years past, but it’s still the best conference in the country. The SEC has more teams ranked than anyone else and that doesn’t even include teams like Tennessee and Texas A&M that would easily win divisions like the Big Ten West. How are we really going to leave the best conference in the country out of the Playoffs? Especially when Alabama will have been undefeated in that league with four wins against ranked opponents.

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Alabama knocks off Auburn in one of the greatest Iron Bowls of all-time

Alabama knocks off Auburn 27-24 in an all-time instant classic

Wow. There are no words to summarize what we just saw.

Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line and 43 seconds to go, it seemed as if the 88th edition of the Iron Bowl had gotten away from Alabama. That was before the impossible happened as Jalen Milroe found Isaiah Bond in the back of the endzone for a jaw-dropping touchdown to give the Crimson Tide a 27-24 lead with just over half a minute to go.

It’s truly heartbreaking stuff for Auburn fans who also had their hearts ripped out by Bryce Young in a similar fashion in 2021.

The go-ahead score was set up by a brutal muffed punt by Auburn who just couldn’t get out of their own way in the final few minutes. Bond’s catch will go down as one of the greatest plays in Iron Bowl history.

It was a very frustrating afternoon in its entirety for Alabama. The Tide committed way too many mindless penalties, they couldn’t find an answer for Auburn’s rushing attack all afternoon and Jalen Milroe committed two illegal forward passes in the same game – something I have never seen in all of my years of watching football.

The madness and chaos in its entirety is what makes the Iron Bowl great though. Auburn entered the game coming off of arguably their most disappointing loss in program history as New Mexico State thumped them by 21 in Jordan-Hare while Alabama has looked like national title contenders for the past two months. Yet, the Tide were beyond fortunate to get out of the Plains today with a win.

It didn’t have to be pretty, and it wasn’t at all, but Alabama found a way to win. Now, they have to regroup as they head to Atlanta next weekend in a de facto Playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia. A thrilling victory like this against Auburn must be celebrated, but Nick Saban’s goal isn’t to beat Auburn, but to collect hardware.

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Notre Dame shoots poorly in loss to Auburn

Man, was that ugly.

Despite the poor prognosis for its season, Notre Dame was one of four teams invited to the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. The Irish drew Auburn as their first opponent, and their next one depended on how they did in that first game. The answer to that question is not great as the Tigers dominated the Irish, 83-59. That means the Irish will face Oklahoma State, another first-time opponent, in the consolation game.

The Irish (1-2) never led in the contest but cut a 15-point deficit down to six before halftime. But the Tigers (2-1) went for the kill out of the break and succeeded with a 15-1 run to begin the second half. The deficit never got smaller than 16 from there, and it didn’t help that the Irish shot only 33.9% from the field, including a paltry 2 of 26 from 3-point range.

Aden Holloway and Johni Broome led the Tigers with 15 points apiece. Jaylin Williams had 11 points, and 10 points apiece came from Chris Moore and Tre Donaldson.

[autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] reached double figures in both scoring and rebounds for the first time in his career with 18 points and 11 boards, leading the Irish in both categories. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] scored a career-high 13 points, [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] scored 12 despite 4-of-20 shooting, and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] added 10 points to go with three steals.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Bruce Pearl reflects on his time with Mike Hamilton

Bruce Pearl reflects on the passing of Mike Hamilton, their friendship, their time at Tennessee and Hamilton’s influence in him being hired at Auburn.

Former University of Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton died on Nov. 10.

He was 60.

Hamilton was hired as Tennessee’s athletics director on May 10, 2003 and served in the role until June 7, 2011.

Hamilton hired Bruce Pearl as the Vols’ basketball head coach on March 28, 2005.

Pearl served as Tennessee’s basketball head coach through the 2010-11 season before being fired. He was fired on March 21, 2011 after an NCAA investigation into the basketball program.

Hamilton and Pearl remained friends after their departure from Tennessee. Hamilton also had an influence in Pearl being hired at Auburn by then-athletics director Jay Jacobs.

“Not only did Mike hire me at Tennessee, but Mike made the very first call to Jay Jacobs, and to me, about the Auburn job,” Pearl told Vols Wire. “Mike hired me, but he also had to fire me. Mike and I were great friends. He was a great man, great father, great husband, he was honest and he was fair. He had a servant’s heart and we did great things together.

“One of the hardest things he did was fire me. I always felt badly for giving him any reason to have to. I always felt badly, that part of his fall was caused by mistakes that we made, and I forever regret that. When he did terminate me, I was disappointed. I felt like Tennessee could have stayed with us, but it may or may not have been his decision. We still maintained our friendship and he did not lose confidence in me. I would not be at Auburn without Mike Hamilton.”

Amy Smotherman Burgess/USA TODAY Network

Former Tennessee basketball player Ernie Grunfeld served as the Milwaukee Bucks’ general manager from 1999-2003. Pearl was Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s head coach from 2001-05 and made a NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance.

Pearl detailed his hiring process at Tennessee under Hamilton.

“Part of the process was Ernie Grunfeld, general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks,” Pearl said. “Ernie kind of witnessed to what I was doing at Milwaukee and he was a strong recommendation. Mike also sent John Currie out to watch me coach in the NCAA Tournament before they hired me. John Currie also had a lot to do with Mike choosing me.”

PHOTOS: Bruce Pearl’s tenure as Tennessee’s head coach

AP Photo/Wade Payne

Photo gallery: Arkansas’ 48-10 loss to Auburn

Here are the best images from Arkansas’ 48-10 loss to Auburn on Saturday in Fayetteville.

Arkansas and embarrassing losses to Auburn in football are starting to go hand-in-hand.

Since the Razorbacks last beat Auburn in Fayetteville in 2015, they now have losses of these scores to the Tigers:

56-3 in 2016 a week after a huge win over Ole Miss.

52-20 in 2017. This was Bret Bielema’s final year.

34-3 in 2018.

51-10 in 2019. Probably when Yurachek knew he was going to have to pull the trigger on Chad Morris.

48-10 today.

That’s five losses by at least 30 or more points. It’s really a shame because this series used to be somewhat competitive, but it isn’t any longer.

Auburn is now bowl eligible with the victory, while Arkansas is 3-7 and left to wonder if it has to change coaches yet again to regain relevance in football in the Southeastern Conference.

Here are the best images from Saturday’s contest between the two.

Sour postgame Tweets: Hog fans take frustrations out online

After a 48-10 loss to Auburn on Saturday, Razorbacks fans released frustration via Twitter.

Riding in on a one-game winning streak, with a glimmer of hope still remaining for some die-hard fans, the Arkansas football team wasted little time Saturday in officially dashing any remnants of saving the season.

The Hogs got dismantled from the opening kickoff and never posed a threat against a lack-luster Auburn team that was suddenly made to resemble their 2010 National Championship team.

Although most Razorback fans were left speechless after the 48-10 beatdown in Razorback Stadium, it didn’t stop some of them from taking to social media to release some frustration.

Here is some of the feedback left on the Tweet machine following the game:

SEC decides on two permanent opponents in baseball starting in 2025

SEC Baseball makes huge decision on future conference opponents

The additions of the University of Texas and Oklahoma are without a shadow of a doubt great additions for the SEC. From the overall academic impact, they bring to the conference as well as being two of the most storied programs in all of college sports. That being said, their addition to the conference has not been the easiest thing in the world.

The SEC has operated with the East and West divisions for over 30 years, but with the two former Big-12 powerhouses on the way, there is a lot of maneuvering to do. For football, the conference had floated the idea of four pods consisting of four teams or realigning the divisions but neither ever came to fruition.

Baseball is a bit different because with so many teams in the conference, it is impossible to expect Alabama to play at least three games a year against all 15 of the other SEC programs. So, the SEC has announced that starting in 2025 the conference will keep two permanent opponents as a way to keep the rivalries strong within baseball. Alabama’s two permanent opponents will be Auburn and Tennessee as they should be.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Auburn and Arkansas has always been a competitive series

Arkansas and Auburn was a highly competitive series before Gus Malzahn took over and the Razorbacks fell on hard times.

Except for the Gus Malzahn years, Arkansas and Auburn was a toss-up game most of the time.

Before Malzahn took over Auburn as the head coach in 2013, the series was 10-10-1.

The two teams tied at 24 on Halloween 1992 in Jordan-Hare Stadium, which was the first year Arkansas was in the SEC.

Since then, the biggest winning streak the Razorbacks have joined over Auburn is just two, under Houston Nutt in 1998 and 1999 along with 2001 and 2002 and then Bobby Petrino in 2008 and 2009 and then 2011 and 2012 with both Petrino and John L. Smith.

Probably the biggest game the two have ever played was in 2010.

Auburn, who was 6-0 and No. 7 in America, was hosting No. 12 Arkansas, who had only lost to Alabama at home three weeks prior.

Cam Newton rushed for 188 yards and threw for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the two teams combined for 1,036 yards of total offense in a 65-43 shootout.

Tyler Wilson came in to relieve the late Ryan Mallett, who went out with a shoulder injury late in the second quarter.

Wilson threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns, but it was not enough. Auburn eventually went undefeated and Newton won the Heisman Trophy and the Tigers defeated Oregon for the BCS national title.

Behind Enemy Lines with Auburn Wire’s Taylor Jones

We go Behind Enemy Lines with Auburn Wire’s Taylor Jones this week in preparation for Saturday’s 3 p.m. tilt in Fayetteville.

Arkansas hasn’t beaten Auburn in Fayetteville since the four-OT victory in 2015, 54-46.

The Razorbacks did beat Auburn a year ago, however, and are looking to keep the winning feeling alive after beating Florida for the first time ever last Saturday and breaking a six-game losing streak.

Auburn comes into the game off a two-game winning streak, and needs one more win to achieve bowl eligibility.

Hugh Freeze took over the job last fall from Bryan Harsin, who was fired late last year as his program was in disarray.

Carnell ‘Cadillac’ Williams took over the program on an interim basis and breathed life back into it, and Freeze has gotten things back on track, although not in championship form yet.

We talked to Auburn Wire’s Taylor Jones this week and got his thoughts on Freeze’s debut and the state of the program.

Auburn has had an up-and-down year in Freeze’s debut

Auburn has been inconsistent in Hugh Freeze’s debut with the program, but only needs one more win for bowl eligibility.

Hugh Freeze was hired by Auburn last November to get the program back on the right track after it derailed under Bryan Harsin.

The Tigers (5-4, 2-4) got off to a 3-0 start, although one of the wins was an ugly 14-10 decision over a bad California team in Week 2.

Auburn lost four straight after that—at Texas A&M, Georgia, at LSU and Ole Miss.

They’ve bounced back and beaten Mississippi State and Vanderbilt the last two weeks, but neither of the wins were dominant. The offense has been mediocre all season.

Passing the ball has been the biggest issue, as Freeze’s team ranks 117th out of 133 Division I teams, throwing for only 165 yards per game.

Now running the football hasn’t been as much of a concern, as the Tigers are 26th with 191 yards per contest.

Defensively, they’re ninth in total defense in the SEC, and fifth in scoring defense in the league.

Arkansas hosts Auburn at 3 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network.