AUBURN | It was just six weeks ago that Bryan Harsin ended Auburn’s 22-year losing streak at LSU. The type of win that should help define a coaches’ first season.
But Saturday’s historical loss to Mississippi State, blowing a 25-point lead in Jordan-Hare Stadium, has replaced the good feelings from early October. There’s no more anticipation of a winner-take-all Iron Bowl.
That loss to the Bulldogs, that catastrophic capitulation, is now the defining game of this season. That stinks, perhaps it’s not fair, but it’s the cold, hard truth.
What happens next, how Harsin and his program respond to Saturday’s defeat will also play a part in how his first season is viewed.
Auburn has fallen to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference, tied for 5th in the SEC West with two games to go. There’s still a scenario where the West can end in a five-team tie, but that’s not very realistic and the Tide can clinch the title and a berth in the SEC Championship game with a win over Arkansas Saturday.
Perhaps a win in the Iron Bowl combined with that win in Baton Rouge would help change the narrative of this season. We’ll see.
We all know what Alabama is capable of doing to an opponent that’s unable to compete for four quarters, but it’s South Carolina that better be at the forefront of the Tigers’ attention this week.
That same Gamecock team that’s 5-5 after a loss at Missouri Saturday has already shown what it can do to a talented team that comes into Williams-Brice Stadium not focused on the task at hand when they clobbered Florida 40-17 a week ago.
And Auburn has shown it can drift in and out of focus quite easily. Mental toughness is not a strength of this year’s team.
Not yet, at least. But being around Harsin, even in the age of Zoom interviews, gives the impression that he’s a coach that likes a lot of grit in his team and that’s what he’ll build as we move ahead in his tenure.
And let’s not forget that one game or one season won’t define Harsin’s legacy at Auburn. Shug Jordan wasn’t defined by going 5-5 in his first season or 2-8 in his second, nor was Pat Dye by his 5-6 record in his first year at the helm.
Both have statues outside Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Saturday’s loss was a historical one, yes, but in the big picture it’s just a bump in the road for Harsin as he shapes Auburn into his image.
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What Bo Nix did Saturday, throwing for a career-high 377 yards and two touchdowns while playing with a major injury for a portion of the game is nothing short of heroic. Whether you’ve been a Nix fan or detractor or somewhere in-between, there’s no denying his competitiveness, toughness and will to win.
Now, the Tigers must find a way to win their last two games including the Iron Bowl without him. This is T.J. Finley’s team for the remainder of the season. He will prepare this week as the starter with Dematrius Davis and Grant Loy as his backups.
For Finley, this is the opportunity he’s been waiting for, albeit not how he wanted to get the job. He’s a more traditional drop-back quarterback and not near the running threat as Nix. Not having to account for a quarterback in the running game could make it even more difficult for AU’s running backs. It’s on this coaching staff to come up with a good plan starting this week and this offensive line to start coming off the ball with more authority.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 28 years to the day four future international superstars join an esteemed children’s show. On Nov. 15, 1993, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling join the cast of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, which already included Keri Russell and JC Chasez. Spears, Aguilera and Timberlake went on to become pop music superstars and are among the best-selling artists of all-time while Gosling and Russell are award-winning and highly-successful actors. The original Mickey Mouse Club ran from 1955-59 and launched the career of singer and actor Annette Funicello. The series was revived in 1977, and included Facts of Life actor Lisa Whelchel (Blair), and finally from 1989-1994, which included a cast of many future stars. It was rebooted again from 2017-18 with Club Mickey Mouse.
Spears, the Princess of Pop, was launched into international fame as a 16-year old with her first single, 1998’s Baby One More Time, one of four No. 1 hits. The three others were 2008’s Womanizer, 2009’s 3 and 2011’s Hold It Against Me. Oops!… I Did It Again was also an early big hit and peaked at No. 9 in 2000. She won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2004 for Toxic. Aguilera had three No. 1 singles with her self-titled debut album in 1999: Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants and Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You). She won the first of five a Grammy Awards as a 19-year old in 1999 for Best New Artist. Timberlake’s career took off in 1995 when he became an original member of NSYNC along with Chasez. Bye Bye Bye was a big hit in 2000 and It’s Gonna Be Me hit No. 1 later that year. Timberlake’s first solo album won two Grammys and included the hit song, Cry Me a River, which was about his breakup with Spears. He had three No. 1 singles from his 2006 album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. His fifth No. 1 came from 2016’s Can’t Stop the Feeling. He also starred in several films including The Social Network. Gosling has starred in 30 films with his breakout coming from 2004’s Notebook. Other hit movies include Blue Valentine, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Big Short, La La Land and Blade Runner 2049. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for La La Land. Russell has her breakout in the lead role of Felicity from 1998-2002, in which she won a Golden Globe. She was also a star of The Americans from 2013-18 and has appeared in more than 20 films including Waitress and Austenland.
