Auburn: Additional Thoughts

First, let me just say how wrong all the talking heads were about that last play. Miles knew exactly what he was doing with the clock. He decided he wanted one crack at the end zone, followed by a 40 yard field goal attempt. He got the play into Flynn with plenty of time. Flynn took the snap about 2 seconds later than Miles probably would have hoped, but Flynn got the pass away with 7 seconds on the clock. There was PLENTY of time for the pass to fall incomplete and give us a field goal chance. The only reason it got to one second is because the clock operator allowed the time to bleed off after the play was over. If you look at replays, it is clear that there were 4 seconds on the clock when the play was over (see picture). I don't know why the clock kept running, but if it had been important to the game, time would have been added.

It wasn't that gutsy of a call. I'm not sure it was the right call to make, but Miles had perfectly rational reasons for choosing to play it that way. The plan ensured that if we scored, there would be little or no opportunity for Auburn to do anything with it. If I was the coach, I think I would have tried to play a little faster, maybe using my timeout there, and try to get a first down on the play and get a few more plays off. Miles saw it different. He saw an opportunity to get two chances at a game-winning play, the success of either of which would have virtually ended the game. That said, I think he planned for the play to the end zone to be over with about 4 seconds on the clock.

My second thought is that we are not a great team. Don't get me wrong. We are a good team. And we are certainly an exciting team. We're a team with character and personality. What we are not is great. Great teams don't win on last second or last-minute plays. Great teams blow other teams out. We haven't blown out a decent team since Virginia Tech. That's not to say I'm not proud of them. I am. But if we want to lay claim to being "great", we need to start dominating again.

My third thought is that there is no way in hell the hit on Dorsey was legal. I understand that the Auburn boards are aflutter with activity justifying and/or rationalizing the hit, but there's no way. It wasn't in any respect a legal hit. I'll give the player the benefit of the doubt that he was not out to injure Dorsey, particularly if he comes out and says it publicly. I do, however, believe we should make a concerted effort to put pressure on him to do so. I'm going to call into some of the local radio shows to bring up the subject. I think others should do the same. If the kid comes out and says, "I'm sorry it happened, and I didn't mean to do that," I say the controversy is over. But he should do it. You can't hit a person like that and not answer for it. He could have ended Dorsey's season and cost him millions of dollars on a blatantly illegal hit. I think he'd be suspended and fined for it if he was in the NFL.

*I don't know who to credit for the incredible picture that accompanies this entry. I found it in a post by MikeDTiger in this thread over at TigerDroppings. Brilliant!