Thursday, October 21, 2010

New at al.com: Blogger Roundtable for Arkansas

Thanks to an email mix-up, my contribution to this week's al.com Blogger Roundtable got delayed a few days, but it's up now.  A preview:

Auburn question 1: Cam Newton's Heisman buzz is building with every linebacker he trucks over en route to the end zone. Archie Manning is ready to give him the trophy already. Is he your front-runner? Why or why not? Where would Auburn be without him? Where would Florida be with him?

Asking where any team would be without their star player has always struck me as a silly question. I remember when Alabama fans in the early 80's used to grouse that AU wouldn't have won a game without Bo Jackson; in other related topics, your car would run a lot slower if gasoline didn't exist. It was a goofy point then, and it's a goofy point now when applied to Newton. 

Nobody knows where Auburn would be without Newton, other than being sure the past seven games would have been significantly different, in that they would have had no Godzilla on the field. Perhaps Barrett Trotter would be breaking records in the passing game (if the Arkansas game on Saturday said anything, it's "don't underestimate the second-string quarterback"), and perhaps not. I don't know, and you don't, either.

All that said, duh--Newton is special. He's that rare player that elevates the team around him, and he does so with an aplomb and effectiveness that can't help remind me of one Vincent Edward Jackson. He's a great player at Auburn, and he's helped by the fact that he's playing in an offense perfectly suited to his style, but it's pretty clear at this point that he would be a great player anywhere. I find it really hard to believe that Florida would be 4-3 right now if he were still wearing their tacky shade of blue.

1 comment:

Xavier said...

Will,
Great stuff as always. Bonus points for referencing "Godzilla" and "Cthulhu" in one article. I'm still waiting for the article where you compare Saban to "Arioch, Lord of the Seven Darks."

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