CAM NEWTON - YOUR DADDY'S GOING TO PRISON
by Dyke L. Marler
(Atlanta, GA)
The Latest Update on this Story is at Cam Newton Controversy CAM NEWTON-YOUR DADDY’S GOING TO PRISON
November 25, 2010
Dyke L. Marler
Tuscaloosa, AL
Bama fans do not play nice at their house. “Ya’ll don’t have any class” rolls off their backs like water off Teflon. “$Cam Newton,” “Cam-ouflage,” “Cam for Heistman.” You’ve heard them, I’ve heard them and now Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers have to venture away from their home field, where they have played 8 of their first 11 games, and they will hear them too. Yankee Stadium and the Bronx have nothing on Bama fans and the things they will be yelling at Cam Newton in the 2010 Iron Bowl. Auburn has played 3 away games this year, at Kentucky, at Ole Miss and at Mississippi State and that pathetic road schedule, in no way, has them prepared for what is about to hit them right in the mouth in Tuscaloosa..
Well here’s the deal as I see it-there will not be cowbells but there will be more than 45,000 opposing fans. There will be no graciousness, manners or candelabras (or Houston Nutt on the opposing sideline) before the game and I can assure you that nobody will be talking about basketball season. “FBI,FBI,FBI” will rain down on Auburn more than the Monopoly money that Bama fans will reportedly use to “make it rain” on the players when Auburn exits the tunnel. This one should be a classic and the final outcome could be decided in a Courtroom a year from now.
Alabama is a 4 point favorite in Vegas and has won 20 straight home games. Auburn is 11-0 and ranked #2 in the Nation and desperately wants to replicate Bama’s 2009 season of a State, Conference and National Championship followed by a Heisman Trophy. Quick note to Auburn fans - Bama followed that with placing an unprecedented 6 players on the AP All-America first team, but my experience is that Auburn fans simply block out what they don’t want to hear.
Bama comes into the game relatively healthy, possibly missing sophomore offensive guard Barrett Jones. Auburn also comes in healthy, although they will be minus defensive tackles Mike
Blanc and Michael Goggans for the first half of the game. Both are suspended by the SEC for throwing punches at Georgia players in their game two weeks ago.
This game will come down to the play of 5 players and I will list them in descending order of importance; Courtney Upshaw, DeMarcus Millner, Dre Kirkpatrick, Onterrio McCalebb and Cam Newton. Courtney Upshaw must maintain outside containment to mitigate the effect of Onterrio McCalebb on the speed sweep. CB’s Millner and Kirkpatrick must do the same and defend the pass against a talented and veteran group of Auburn receivers. For Auburn, Onterrio McCalebb must continue his success with the speed sweep and Cam Newton has to continue to master the QB counter option. I guess you could call that his “money play.” Mike Dyer and Mario Fannin (or Herschel Walker and Marcus Dupree) are not going to beat Bama running between the tackles.
Contrary to what 99% of my colleagues are saying, all is lost if Auburn loses the Iron Bowl. Gene Chizik and his Tigers are very obviously facing an NCAA investigation with possible crippling sanctions. It has been widely reported by every major wire service that Cecil Newton has admitted to the solicitation of extra benefits for a signed LOI for his son. When your Coaching staff, star player and Board of Trustees are all lawyered up, you almost need a new prescription to see the glass as half full. Auburn loses 14 of 22 starters to graduation, their all time leading scorer, kicker Wes Bynum and Nick Fairley and Cam Newton are projected first rounders in the NFL Draft. It is also difficult to imagine that Auburn Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn will not be offered several Head Coaching jobs in the off season.
In Alabama, football championships work from the inside out. A state championship is almost as important as a National Championship. The last time Auburn tussled with that dilemma was 1957 when, while on probation, they won their last NC. If the Tigers lose to the Tide on Friday, their fans might want to move en masse to Boise or Eugene, because it’s going to get ugly in the Yellow Hammer State.