The blame game goes on and on

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Call it the blame game. He has long been a part of athletics at all levels, but college football takes him to the highest level, especially in the South. If your team loses, it must be someone’s fault. Maybe it’s the coach. It might be the quarterback. He may be one of the coordinators. But it must be somebody.

Maybe the other team is just better? No, if that’s the case, it’s the coach’s fault for not recruiting better players. Often bad players are blamed because fans, for all their passion, don’t really know who was supposed to be doing what. It doesn’t mean they don’t believe they know.

I’m not sure if the blame game is any different in Auburn than it is in most places, but here are five Auburn players who in the age of social media have experienced the worst blame game:

QB JASON CAMPBELL

Campbell won the starting position in 2001 as a freshman, lost it, got it back, lost it again and took it for good in the middle of the 2002 season. new starter even until 2004. He learned the hard lesson that quarterbacks get too much credit and too much blame.

In the end, Campbell was the 2004 SEC Offensive Player of the Year, led Auburn to a perfect season and was a first-round draft pick in the draft. He played 10 seasons in the NFL.

LB JAKE HOLLAND

I thought I remembered the quote from Auburn’s defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson in 2013. I looked at the interview transcripts that I had saved, and I was right. He was asked about Holland. “He’s a good soccer player and a smart soccer player,” Johnson said. “It would be a lot harder for us to be successful without him. “

Auburn fans were unmoved. Many were convinced that he was not a good player and that he should not play. As these things often go, it got personal. Holland, to his credit, never complained. And he helped the 2013 Tigers win the SEC Championship and enter the BCS Championship game.

QB BO NIX

Even when Nix was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019 and became the first true freshman quarterback to earn an Iron Bowl victory, the critics were relentless. Fans have talked about his footwork and fundamentals.

In 2020, Nix was playing behind an extremely inexperienced offensive line which took a heavy blow mid-season with the loss of Brandon Council. He and new offensive coordinator Chad Morris didn’t click. Nix was frustrated and it showed. At one point at Jordan-Hare Stadium, he yelled from the sidelines, “They know our games!

Through it all, Nix racked up more yards in his first two seasons than any quarterback in Auburn history. He is set to be the starter for the third consecutive season.

OC CHIP LINDSEY

After Auburn lost a 20-0 lead to LSU in 2017, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn told Lindsey, his first-year offensive coordinator, that he was getting out of the way. . And he did. The result was that Jarett Stidham established himself as a rising star and Auburn scored 40 or more points in six of the eight SEC games.

In 2018, after the end of spring training, Malzahn told Lindsey to change the offensive terminology to one that had been used before 2017. As the season began, Malzahn was increasingly involved in the offense. According to program insiders, Lindsey continued to call plays, but Malzahn worked out the game plan and made the play sheet. Basically, Lindsey called Malzahn’s plays. A team that should have been in the championship race had to beat Purdue crewed at the Music City Bowl to finish 8-5.

As is often the case, Lindsey took a lot of heat. Miserable, he left for Kansas after the season and then landed in Troy, where he is the head coach.

OL CHAD SLADE

Slade was an athletic and versatile lineman who was equally at ease on guard and tackle. Partly brought home by analysts who should have known better, many Auburn fans were convinced Slade was not an SEC offensive lineman. His teammates and coaches thought very differently, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Today, Slade is in his seventh season in the NFL and his third with the New York Giants.

Will the blame game ever end. That would be great, but the anonymity provided by social media ensures it won’t. The blame game is part of the game.

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