GETTING SOBER+

That’s the harsh reality for many fan bases as this incredulous 2014 college football season moves into the home stretch. Didn’t it seem like just yesterday that we were drunk with enthusiasm, passion and hope? Visions of a place in the new College Football Playoff danced in our heads. Now reality, like a stern judge banging his gavel, has set in and it’s time to look to bowl games and 2015 to find that, sometimes elusive and flirtatious, silver lining.+

Stay with me Georgia, UCLA, South Carolina, Oklahoma and yes, my fellow Auburnites. SIGH, we were once highly ranked and oh so pretty on paper. You can now wad up that piece of paper, throw it in the trash and tear off a new sheet from your legal pads. It’s time to start drawing up plans for next year.+

Hope doth spring eternal.+

National Signing Day is just around the corner.+

Spring practice will follow shortly.+

Hoorah!!!+

REHAB
Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 10.09.47 PMWhat do you think?

Now, as they shake the hangover from drinking the highly spiked Kool-Aid, where do the teams’ fans listed above go for some reflection? Where does the arduous rehabilitation process begin? How can they get better?+

First you have to admit you have a problem.+

Let’s take it one team at a time, beginning with the team with the highest preseason ranking and moving down. We will use the AP poll.+

Oklahoma+

The Sooners came into the season ranked #4. They now find themselves at #16. I had them picked as a playoff team as did MANY others. Problem? Is it Big Game Bob? Do they need a breath of fresh air? Could Stoops revitalize TWO programs by stepping down in Norman and relocating to Gainesville? Lincoln? +

AuburnScreen Shot 2014-11-06 at 10.00.25 PMWhat do you think?

Oh mercy. Down from #6 to #21. OUCH!!! Just a mere three weeks ago my Tigers had just returned from Oxford with a scintillating 35-31 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels. They were #3 in the College Football Playoff Poll. The next game was against struggling Texas A&M. Piece of cake, right? WRONG! The Tigers proceeded to lose their remaining SEC games. Problem? Well, they admitted they had one and fired DC Ellis Johnson. Now the recovery process continues by hiring a strong replacement. Muschamp? Pelini?+

South Carolina+

Preseason #9. Today, unranked with a 6-6 record and bowl prospects in Birmingham or Shreveport. OUCH #2!!! Did they really beat Georgia? Oh well, we now know that the Head Ball Coach will return to the sidelines in Columbia. What will the ole rascal do to invigorate the Gamecocks? Problem? Defense? D was a huge reason for their shortcomings. Do I hear an echoooooo… Muschamp? Pelini?+

UCLA+

From #7 to #17. Not as big a drop as those mentioned before them. But it was a large disappointment to lose to Stanford and miss out on the PAC-12 Championship Game. Problem? Well, maybe they only lose a few games every year much like someone in denial only has a few drinks with dinner. Wink. Could Jim Mora Jr. confront them? It remains that he was/is one of the hottest names in FBS coaching circles. “Should he stay or should he go..” to (fire up the echo machine again) Gainesville? Lincoln?+

Georgia+

Okay, so the Bulldogs only fell from #12 to #15 but the hand wringing, whining and howling continues in Athens; especially after the defeat at the hands of hated rival, Georgia Tech. Between the Hedges no less. They are the perennial bridesmaids. “Mark Richt is a great guy. He’s such a good Christian man. I really like Mark Richt. He’s a class act.” We hear these mantras over and over, year after year. Problem? And I quote Bill Shanks of the Macon Telegraph, “I don’t care what Richt does on Sunday. Saturday is the concern.” And so, who organizes the intervention here?+

Game DayWhat do you think? ONE DAY AT A TIME

That is how one gets sober and stays sober. That is also how one builds a football program. One day at a time. One day at a time on the practice field. One day at a time repeating the fundamentals. One day at a time in the weight room. One day at a time on the recruiting trail.+

You get up. You show up. You practice, plan and, yes, pray.+

You do all of these things over and over and over until you think you can’t do them any more and you… practice, plan and pray… again and again and again.+

That is football.+

That, my friends, is also life.+

So, as we continue to move forward into this holiday season, let’s look back and give thanks for a wonderful, magical and amazing college football season. (No, I am not channeling my inner Drew Barrymore) +

And then look forward to Advent.Notre Dame football is here to stay…whether you like it or notWhat do you think?

Advent is defined as, “The arrival of a notable person, thing or event.”+

Could that be the shiny, new College Football Playoff?+