Dynasty-type teams are so hard to beat, even when they're finally a little down, because they just don't blink. If you go back and rewatch the Auburn game, you might be more nervous the second time. Which is saying something. You'll see how any one of those Bowers catches, any one of those third and longs we converted, might easily have gone the other way, and we would have walked away the loser. Somehow it didn't happen. We had a narrow window to come back and claim victory, and we made it through.
I fully believe ten years ago we lose this identical game. We lost a lot of games in the past when we had more talent and were higher ranked than the opponent. Winning culture means your guys don't blink. Note that one of our lineman was talking about the players' confidence when we were on our own 2 yard line. I can remember times in the past, and you can too, when the body language on the sideline was "we're beaten." This game, the Auburn players were going wild, waving towels, the fans were screaming their lungs out, and we didn't back down. Compare, say, to how Tennessee wilted under similar pressure last year in Sanford.
An oddity: I haven't watched ANY of the first four games a second time. For me, that's crazy. I'm addicted to rewatching games. This year, I just haven't had the desire. But this week's game, that I was almost certain we were going to lose at points, I'm looking forward to rewatching somehow. Despite getting gashed on the ground. Despite the places we struggled. It just feels like a real victory, even though it was over an inept team. We always knew that if anyone was going to beat us this year, it would be ourselves. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Yesterday, we met our failings and found a way to prevail. I'm hoping that's something we can build on. Getting gashed on the perimeter is a coachable problem. We'll plug it. We're not the monster we've been the last two years, but we're not done yet.
I fully believe ten years ago we lose this identical game. We lost a lot of games in the past when we had more talent and were higher ranked than the opponent. Winning culture means your guys don't blink. Note that one of our lineman was talking about the players' confidence when we were on our own 2 yard line. I can remember times in the past, and you can too, when the body language on the sideline was "we're beaten." This game, the Auburn players were going wild, waving towels, the fans were screaming their lungs out, and we didn't back down. Compare, say, to how Tennessee wilted under similar pressure last year in Sanford.
An oddity: I haven't watched ANY of the first four games a second time. For me, that's crazy. I'm addicted to rewatching games. This year, I just haven't had the desire. But this week's game, that I was almost certain we were going to lose at points, I'm looking forward to rewatching somehow. Despite getting gashed on the ground. Despite the places we struggled. It just feels like a real victory, even though it was over an inept team. We always knew that if anyone was going to beat us this year, it would be ourselves. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Yesterday, we met our failings and found a way to prevail. I'm hoping that's something we can build on. Getting gashed on the perimeter is a coachable problem. We'll plug it. We're not the monster we've been the last two years, but we're not done yet.
