The Auburn Tigers may be 4-6, but there's a different energy with DJ Durkin coaching in an interim capacity following Hugh Freeze's firing after a listless 10-3 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on November 1. Auburn's 45-38 OT loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores was a step in the right direction. Perhaps the stacked roster is finally turning the corner.
Perhaps not, in the eyes of folks who wouldn't see it if it were tattooed on their eyelids.
Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken, one of the biggest AU haters in media, didn't so much as float the idea of an Iron Bowl upset while discussing the Alabama Crimson Tide's way forward after a 23-21 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in Week 12, though.
Wolken claimed the Tide were good to go in the College Football Playoff and SEC Championship Game despite their second loss on Saturday, talking about the Tigers in the same way he talked about the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
"It’s fair game for Alabama fans to be mad about that stuff, and goodness knows if Alabama fans have any reason to be mad about something, they will be," Wolken wrote.
"But this wasn’t anything like the Tide's cataclysmic loss to Oklahoma last year when it really felt like their season ended in Norman. With Eastern Illinois and a road trip to Auburn closing out the schedule, Alabama should be securely in the College Football Playoff at 10-2 and could end up playing for an SEC title depending on how tiebreakers shake out. In this weird year of parity, you’d still give Alabama a decent shot on a neutral field against anyone other than Ohio State."
Wolken claimed the Auburn job was worse than every Power 4 head coaching job on the market besides the Arkansas Razorbacks'. This isn't an objective opinion.
Luckily, the kind of take he just made is oftentimes brought back up by players who read this and use it as fuel. After everything some of AU's players have been through, some two different firings, and now two different coaching searches, this is ideal pregame fodder.