http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/john_walters/11/29/campus.blit z/index.html > > The loveliest village on The Plains truth > > Auburn fans, I know you don't want to hear this, but these six words explain > why the Tigers are unlikely to play in the Orange Bowl come January: > Louisiana-Monroe, The Citadel, Louisiana Tech. > Those three schools represent 1) Auburn's non-conference schedule this > season and 2) nothing out of the ordinary. Look, it's not the players' > fault. But the athletic administration at Auburn consistently schedules a > trio of weak, non-BCS conference schools who agree to play at Jordan-Hare > each year in order to pad both the Tigers' record and the athletic > department's budget. > I crunched numbers. Actual chomping of data. Beginning with the 1993 squad > that finished 11-0 while on probation (Terry Bowden's first season as Tigers > coach), here is Auburn's out-of-conference combat record: > . 38 games overall > . 34 games played at Jordan-Hare, only four on the road > . Only two of those 38 opponents were ranked (Southern Cal both times) and > the Tigers were 0-2 versus the Trojans in this period. > . Only seven of those 38 opponents are BCS schools (USC twice, Virginia > twice, Syracuse twice, Georgia Tech) and in those games Auburn's record was > 2-5. > Earlier this month Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville made a comment to the > effect that he'd find it hard to believe a school from the SEC could finish > undefeated and not be invited to play in the national championship game. > Believe it, coach. > No school can control the quality of its in-conference opponents. You hope > that they are tough enough to challenge you, but not so strong as to beat > you. Oklahoma and Southern Cal were both fortunate in that they beat two > schools, Texas and Cal, respectively, who have gone 10-1 and are in > everyone's top eight. > Auburn, although it does play in the SEC, has beaten its in-conference > competition, but no opponent this season has been as good as Cal or Texas. > SEC folk -- I lived in Alabama and covered the conference exclusively for a > year, and have returned many times since -- are usually correct when they > argue that theirs is the best conference in the nation. However, the > stifling parochialism displayed by Auburn (just one trip west of the > Mississippi in the past 20 seasons) and its SEC kin has at last come back to > bite the Tigers. > Not to mention -- although I'm about to -- that Auburn played seven home > games (and four road) this season, which is about its average. Southern Cal, > meanwhile will have played six and six; Oklahoma six home, five away (not > including the Big 12 Championship game). > Auburn can control its non-conference slate, and year-in and year-out > chooses to tackle patsies. A partial list of its non-SEC opponents from the > past 11 seasons: Samford, Northeast Louisiana (three times), East Tennessee > State, UT-Chattanooga, Appalachian State and Louisiana-Monroe (twice). > Auburn, listen: Homecoming should only happen once a year. > Don't blame the players. And don't blame the system. But, if you agree that > Auburn, Oklahoma and Southern Cal are the only three schools deserving of a > bid for the Orange Bowl, well, then you have to play musical chairs with > that trio. And you can't blame any one school for the quality of its > in-conference foes. But while Southern Cal was scheduling Notre Dame, > Virginia Tech, BYU and Colorado State (two of those games on the road) and > Oklahoma was taking on Bowling Green, Houston and Oregon in Norman (at least > one of those was a BCS program), Auburn stayed home, played three lambs and > counted the gate receipts. And that, most likely, will make it the first > undefeated SEC school not to play for a national title since ... the '93 > Auburn Tigers.
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