Sometimes, probably once or twice a year, I just have to do a whole separate post on something so unbelievable I just can't include it with my regular weekly post. Here is the first such posting this year.
I know my hindsight is 20/20 and my rants about heat-of-the-moment antics of coaches or players are things I may have even done myself . But not this one. I was watching it live and appalled at the lack of common sense of Auburn's head coach, Gene Chizik. Now let me first say that Auburn obviously has a team and great coaching staff and I give their play-calling and D-line a standing ovation for Saturday's performance. But what happened to their brains in the final two minutes remains a mystery.
There's ~2-minutes left in the game, Auburn has the win in hand but Georgia is driving for a "maybe it won't look so bad" score when their QB (Aaron Moore) gets knocked down byAuburn's Nick Fairly, who' d already been in his face all day l-o-n-g (including a couple of late sucker hits). This time it was fair but big boy Fairly, while falling, hit his giant noggin on Moore's knee / shin sending Moore to the ground reeling in pain. Moore limps off the field and the #2 QB is called in to finish up.
On the next play, the UGA O-line decides to gang up on Fairly for a little revenge. Maybe it was a little much but they did nothing illegal and, hey, it's football. But it did cause a bit of post-play ruckus resulting in a 15-yard UGA penalty and an Auburn ejection (for throwing a punch). Then to rile up UGA some more, during the penalty calling by the ref, Fairly has the fence-post sense to do a little celebration jig about UGA's penalty (although the refs don't notice).
Now at this point, it's obvious (at least to me) that things are a little too chippy out there, emotions are high, the kids are tired, and the coach better pull these guys off the field for the final minute and put in some 2nd- and 3rd-stringers. But no, Chizik just puts Fairly right back out there, giving the UGA O-line another shot at him...resulting in another post-play scuffle...and anotherAuburn ejection (but no UGA penalty).
Up next? Chizik and Auburn face their in-state, Iron Bowl rival, #10 Alabama --- minus two defensive starters for the first half. "Stupid" is the only word I can think to use...and it fits.