Amen, Tubby!!

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville doesn't care if another too-close-for-comfort win fails to impress poll voters or the national media.

Tuberville found himself once again facing doubters after the second-ranked Tigers' 24-17 victory at South Carolina that wasn't secured until the Gamecocks' final pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

"We're not going to turn our season into apologizing every week that we won by one or two points," he said Friday.

The Tigers (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) certainly aren't piling up style points along with the victories. There was the 7-3 win over LSU, the victory over Buffalo that was fairly close until the fourth quarter, and now another survival contest against an underdog team.

But the laid-back Tuberville got a little testy amid questions about the outsiders' take on his team.

"If they think that wasn't a tough ball game to play, they need to come watch an SEC game," he said. "I saw the two teams in front of us (in the Harris Interactive poll) play close games last week, too.

"It's not about style points. It's about winning games. I could care less what they're looking for, to be honest with you. We're not going to get the respect anyway, for some reason. We're going to earn it. We're going to keep playing like we're playing. We're not in this business to impress anybody, other than our fans and our football team."

The Tigers had trouble stopping the passing and running of quarterback Syvelle Newton.

Newton threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jared Cook to bring the Gamecocks within a touchdown. He then led them back downfield. Auburn didn't clinch the win until Patrick Lee tipped away Newton's fourth-down pass to Sidney Rice in the end zone on the final play.

"We learned a pretty good lesson," Tuberville said. "We've got to contain a quarterback like that and make him stay in the pocket, and we didn't do that."

He said he wasn't surprised the game was so close. Regardless, with the win, "I've got a smile on my face."

But the Thursday game also leaves him with some time Saturday to check out No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Southern California, the two teams ranked ahead of Auburn in the Harris poll, a component of the BCS rankings.

"I'd be interested to see some games this weekend, some of these so-called high-ranked teams," Tuberville said. "I like our football team. We've got some less-than-strong points in some areas. I'm not going to say weaknesses, because I don't think we've got a whole lot.

"If the SEC has to prove anything to anybody around the country, then something's wrong."

The Tigers host Arkansas and No. 5 Florida in the next two weeks.
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I'll just go ahead and say what Tommy was trying not to but wanted to more than anything.....F**K the BCS and their prejudicial rankings!!! Twice in the last 4 years Auburn has been screwed out of the chance to play for a national title due to the BCS and the bullshit way that the "computers" rank teams weekly. There's truly no justification in the "rules of the rankings" and how they come up with who falls where in the polls. If you win by 1 point or 100 points, it's a win. You should be credited with the win. If you have 2, 3, 4 or 10 teams that go undefeated all season, you should have some type of playoff to see who goes on to the championship. Anybody can lose on any given day. Anyone remember a little story about David and Goliath? Why not just have a playoff system? Every other collegiate sport in Division 1-A has playoffs. Why not football? Each bowl game could be an elimination round, thereby insuring that no sponsorship would be lost. The championship bowl could rotate like the Super Bowl does. A different venue every year. That way, everyone would get the chance to see "the best of the best" eventually. It'll work if they would just give it a chance. Don't you think?
I'll get off my soapbox now.

My weekend in review:
We helped a close friend move on Saturday. We moved all the large stuff early and while the ladies were unpacking, we were assisting his wife's brother in laying hardwood flooring. I crawled all over his house installing the quarter-round shoe molding. It turned out pretty well . Although there were a few times that my knees were really beginning to re-evaluate the friendship. But he did buy us lunch and dinner so...I guess it wasn't so bad. Besides, he's always pretty eager to help me out when I need a hand with something.
Today, i felt like I'd been hit by a truck when I got out of bed. I guess it was the walking, lifting, pulling, crawling, etc. that I'm not used to doing that did it. But we went over and helped finish up with the moving and then came home around 11 or so. We grabbed a bite for lunch and then went to the woods. My wife milled about with the dogs while I put up a tree stand in preparation for the opening day of bow season in 2 weeks. Then we came home, washed the truck and fired up the grill. Grilled pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes, cream corn and some sort of cheesy bisuit. Damn good eating, if I do say so myself. Now I'm in that relaxing mode where I just begin to hate that tomorrow is Monday. But I'll get over it soon enough. Probably in about 4-5 days.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I'm off to the recliner for a little TV.