Bye week thoughts on Alabama Football's 'Little Brother'

Down on the Plains, the 'Little Brother' to Alabama Football has had hope rekindled - sort of anyway. The almost dead as a doornail Auburn football program was resuscitated by Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats. The Lexington Herald-Leader described Kentucky's home loss to Auburn as a "collapse." It was worse than that. Not only was the Kentucky offense abysmal; in the game's second half apparently, Wildcat defenders chose to 'opt-out'- on tackling Auburn back Jarquez Hunter.

That Kentucky beat Ole Miss in September (in Oxford) is one of the mysteries of an unusual college football season.

The Auburn Tigers can celebrate being not the SEC's worst team. But at 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the SEC, the Tigers may or may not be on the brink of a true renewal. There's plenty of 'being sick of' among the Aubies, starting with Hugh Freeze. Talking about Vanderbilt quarterback, Diego Pavia, Freeze said, "I'm sick of seeing that quarterback. I've had enough of him."

Last season Pavia led 25-point underdog New Mexico State to a victory over Auburn. The biggest understatement about the game was that Auburn was unprepared for Pavia and the NMSU offense. At the end of last season, Freeze excused Auburn's loss to Maryland to the fact he had been so busy recruiting he had not been involved in game planning for the Terrapins. Some Auburn fans have grown weary of Freeze's excuses and wonder if he also skipped game-planning leading up to last season's loss to New Mexico State.

Amazing Stat for Alabama Football 'Little Brother'

Whatever the reasons, Auburn fans are sick of losing. As Auburn's Head Coach, Hugh Freeze is yet to win against a team with a winning record.

Freeze will give Pavia plenty of attention this week. Talking more about Pavia, Freeze said, "He moves and makes plays, and is savvy and smart and tough. Again, makes everybody do their assignment on every single play. It burned. It's 3 yards here on a broken play, and it's 4 yards, and it's third-and-3, and they get 3-and-a-half. A lot of it is due to the system. They're very well coached."

Freeze is correct about Vanderbilt. Clark Lea and his staff (including Jerry Kill and Tim Beck, head coach, and OC for NMSU last season) have coached the Commodores to become a credible threat against any team. Texas learned that last week. Alabama football fans will likely never forget an October Saturday in Nashville.

If Auburn can't handle the Dores, Hugh Freeze may have run out of excuses.