Will Auburn's Spread Offense Deliver?

Tommy Tuberville has 81 victories in his 10+ seasons as the head coach at Auburn. He has 4 Western Division titles, 1 SEC Championship, and 5 bowl victories. He is arguably the 3rd best coach in Auburn history, and at 54 Tuberville has a great chance to surpass Pat Dye (99 wins, 4 SEC championships) for second place on the all-time wins list at Auburn (Shug Jordan's 176 wins are likely out of reach). However, as Shakespeare once wrote, "What's past is prologue." That means what has already happened merely sets the scene for the really important stuff, which is the stuff our greatness will be made on. At least that's what I take Antonio to mean in Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

For Tuberville, the prologue is that he has steered Auburn successfully through the turmoil of Terry Bowden's removal as coach in 1998. Tuberville has restored Auburn as a yearly contender for the conference championship and January bowl berths. He has run a clean program and stayed away from the illegal recruiting practices that ultimately ended Pat Dye's tenure as coach. He has shown that Auburn can win, and win consistently, in modern college football: a perfect 13-0 season in 2004. Perhaps most importantly, he has shown that Auburn can be the dominant program in the state: 6 straight wins over Alabama. Where does Tuberville go from here? What's past is prologue.

One thing, and one thing only, eludes Tommy Tuberville: a consensus national championship. Relatively speaking, it is the only rung left to climb on his career ladder. Everything he has accomplished at Auburn, the good seasons, the bad seasons, that perfect season, have created a coach that wants more than anything to build a national championship team. For a generation of Auburn fans, raised on the success of the 1980s, and who have enjoyed the teams of the current decade as adults, that national championship is also the last hurdle to clear. The desire for a national title, however, has only increased the pressure the fans bring to bear on Tuberville. The success of the past 10 seasons, while appreciated, is no longer good enough for many fans. Tuberville has raised the bar. He knows it, too. That is why Tuberville has taken the leap into the spread offense. Despite his preference for a more conservative brand of offensive football, he is willing to do what he thinks is necessary to bring a national championship to Auburn.

Tuberville is often referred to as the Riverboat Gambler. Maybe a magician is a better description. Michael Caine once described, in a movie, the elements of a magic trick: “Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called The Pledge: the magician shows you something ordinary, but of course, it probably isn’t. The second act is called The Turn. The magician makes his ordinary something do something extraordinary. Now, if you’re looking for the secret . . . you won’t find it. That’s why there’s a third act, called The Prestige. This is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you’ve never seen before.”

For Tuberville, a coach with a 25-20 record at Ole Miss, the pledge was the promise to return Auburn to its winning ways, compete for SEC championships, and ultimately bring a national championship to the Plains. The turn occurred in 2000, when Tuberville led Auburn to a surprise Western Division title. It has continued with an unprecedented run of success, including no fewer than 9 wins in each of the last 4 seasons, and 6 straight wins against Alabama. He has made the ordinary into the extraordinary. So why are Auburn fans so bitter, so cynical, after a 4-3 start in 2008? We're all waiting for the prestige. We want Tuberville to give us the final act. We want him to finally pull the rabbit out of the hat, make the woman he sawed in half whole again, reappear after making himself disappear. We want him to bring a national championship to Auburn. It is the shocking ending that none of us has seen before, but want so desperately to experience.

The spread is both the prestige of Tuberville's career and a magic trick in itself. It's a microcosm of Tuberville's career. He has endeavored to climb that final rung, and the spread offense is the means by which he intends to do it. Tuberville has made the pledge: recruit better athletes and use the spread to create an offense the equal of his vaunted defenses. The turn? Well, that hasn't happened yet. Therefore, the prestige is still off in the distance. But if Tuberville could deliver on his promise to restore Auburn among college football's elite programs, then we should not be so quick to doubt his ability to pull the rabbit out of the hat with the spread offense. What's past is prologue for Tuberville. Everything he has experienced, especially the 2004 season, has led him to this moment. He has staked his Auburn legacy on the spread offense.

Many fans have perhaps given up on the 2008 season. With 3 SEC losses, and a difficult remaining schedule, some Auburn fans can't bear to watch. But if you ignore the record, ignore the wins and the losses, and simply watch the games, you might see something special happen this October and November: the turn. Auburn has five opportunities to work on making the ordinary do something extraordinary. That's what I'll be looking for. Perhaps the 2008 season will become the prologue for greater success in 2009 and beyond.