Did anyone really expect the SEC to come down hard on Auburn?
Gene Chizik, getting a Gatorade bath from Cam Newton and other AU players, has taken the "friendly" out of the rivalry with UGA. (Associated Press)
Auburn looks like the SEC’s best shot at having a team in this year’s BCS championship game, which also would help the conference’s chances of getting two teams into BCS bowls. And that translates to a lot of dollars for the conference.
Nick Fairley is a big part of Auburn’s success on the field.
So should anyone really be surprised that the SEC chose not to suggest Auburn suspend its defensive headhunter for the blatant spearing in the back that was only the most egregious of several late hits he delivered to Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray?
Instead, the conference is handling the matter “internally with the institution.” That means any disciplinary action is up to Gene Chizik, the same guy who during the fracas at the end of the game with the Dogs was stirring it up on the sideline and allowing Fairley and one of his assistant coaches to dance in celebration on the field.
Asked by The Macon Telegraph what he thought of the conference’s inaction on the matter, UGA athletic director Greg McGarity said, “I probably better not comment on that. I need to stay away from that. I don’t want to get into any type of trouble or conflict with the conference office.”
Which is a diplomatic way of saying he thought the conference blew it.
I’ll say one thing for Chizik: He’s changed a lot of UGA fans’ view of the so-called friendly rivalry between Georgia and Auburn, as Darrell Huckaby notes on the Dawbone site. Said Huckaby: “I think Gene Chizik has taken the friendly out of the rivalry forever — not because he played a player who most of the nation feels will eventually prevent the Tigers from being able to count the victory in their long and storied history, but because of the way he and his team conducted themselves throughout the contest and particularly at the end.”
I’m sure Darrell will be bombarded with AU hate mail for that, as have any of us who’ve questioned any of the actions of Tiger players and coaches.
Speaking of which, has there ever been a more thin-skinned bunch than Auburn fans, who have been all over the blogosphere and talk shows the past few days trying to equate Bulldogs players running out on the field with Fairley’s cheap shots and taunting?
I like the way MrSEC put it: “Auburn fans need to stop trying to defend the indefensible. As if a team dancing on someone’s logo is reason enough to risk injuring someone. How incredibly stupid. … By defending Fairley’s helmet-to-back shot, it makes it appear as though AU fans would defend anything and everything done by someone in navy [and] orange.”
But I guess that’s what comes from being perpetually the second-ranked program in your state thanks to the school over in Tuscaloosa.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
444 comments Add your comment
j
November 17th, 2010
11:41 pm
Boise Fan sounds like he is from Georgia. Let me pretend to be somebody else so I can cry about getting my @$$ whipped. Especially when you use specifics like back in the SEC West. Your showing East vs. West competitiveness. Also, you must have some extra frustration that not only do you Dogs suck but you are worried that the East sucks as well.
Boise fans probably don’t even know there is an East and West division and could care less.
Nova
November 17th, 2010
11:43 pm
UGA players came out on the field with a “chip” on their shoulder. You could tell that early in the game.
I’m sure players thought they had it won, but came “unhinged” late in the 3rd
Fairley, got called for his late hit, the hurt knee on Murray happened by Fairley being blocked into him—everyone saw it that way. So, no Fairley is NOT anything , but one tough, physical player.
j
November 17th, 2010
11:49 pm
Fred Dawg,
Way to step up. You are awesome. Everyone shut up and listen to the BIG DAWG speak. Fred you are spot on and it takes a lot to step up and say it like it is. Sometimes it takes a little straight talk to get everyone to stop their griping. The only way to improve the situation is to step back and take a look at the big picture, otherwise you get the same thing and people just complaining and finding something to vent their frustration out on.
aladawg
November 17th, 2010
11:57 pm
Dan Ryan, you are an ignoratn idiot, hell yes that SOB meant to hurt Murray. Get you head out of your butt then you can see all those late hits.
Auburn loses.....again
November 18th, 2010
12:10 am
Even in victory, Auburn will play second fiddle to the Bammers. Auburn’s boosters make Bama look clean….yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Warshane
November 18th, 2010
12:34 am
Would someone please put Bill out of his misery? No Auburn fan that I know of is justifying the penalized late hit in the back on Murray. It was uncalled for and was stupid because it allowed a stopped GA drive to continue. However, this idiot has conveniently changed his tune because in his first post game blog he was complaining about the “so-called” hit to Murray’s knee while Fairley was on the ground. I guess Bill has finally watched the tape and realized his initial reaction was stupid. I wish UGA fans would show the gonads of Buck Belue who has accurately called this tempest in a teapot for what it is: “if Fairley played for UGA, he would be a rock star” SORE LOSERS!!!
Free A.J.
November 18th, 2010
12:35 am
Bill King=Nail on Head. Evidence is ALL OVER this board, period. AU=perpetual red-headed stepchild of the state of Alabama. Your inferiority complex is as blatantly obvious as that of Georgia Tech and Clemson (that would be Auburn with a man-made LAKE). Thin-skinned, can’t take any criticism, Cam Newton did not do anything wrong, Nick Fairley got goaded into his actions by the Georgia players, Gene Chizik is a genius (even though we really didn’t want him), blah blah blah. Dirty cheating players who will get theirs. Hope y’all enjoy watching Soccer at Jordan-Hare the next few years while the Dawgs climb back to the top!
fecoop
November 18th, 2010
1:00 am
You lost quite crying. If you are really interseted in the truth get 3 officials from non SEC conference and have them review the game and call all the penalties . There were SEVERAL CHOP BLOCKS by Ga. I guess that is how you teach your linemen to play fair. You need to start looking at yourself. Yea Nicks hit it the back was wrong but so was chop blocks and then Jones Kneeing Faiarly several times when he was on the ground and tackling your RB. That is what started the whole thing. But I am sure you will say he was only Plowing the ground. What a bunch of losers. I do hope you beat Tech and go to a bowl.
ugaman
November 18th, 2010
2:49 am
boling got suspended for a half because of a chop. to me it is because auburn is in the hunt that fairly got off. just be fair and consitant. treat it all equal. d-lineman at bama got 2 games a.j. 4. sec needs to be fair.
Win P.
November 18th, 2010
6:47 am
To answer Dan Ryan’s question to Bill about “Nick’s” intention to hurt Murray and remove him from the game. Did Dan see the game? It was clear in the first five minutes,that was the PLAN and it happened. Losing is bad for most fans, to lose to a “dirty” team is even worst. (bad guys are not suppose to win) Since UGA cannot make it to the National Championship game, I loved the success that Ala., Fla. LSU had in representing the SEC. Also, I felt AU and Tubberfield (sp?) had been cheated the last time AU was undefeated. At this point I could care less who becomes NC champions as long as it is not AU. UGA and Richt need to get their act together and take football seriously, that means win some hard ones.
Surprised
November 18th, 2010
7:37 am
First of all,
The rivalry with Auburn has never been ‘friendly’ — what did you clowns think was going on? A knitting contest?
Secondly,
Auburn’s ‘dirty’ playing?
Sorry folks, I saw our guys deliver a few illegal shots too.
Finally,
We got our asses whipped. Stop whining and move on.
You can’t polish a turd. Stop trying to justify the loss.
Bulldog59
November 18th, 2010
7:44 am
Chizik has taken the Tigers back to the 80s, where schools were investigated for payments, players were encouraged to do whatever it takes, legally or illegally to win the game, etc.
(1) Chizik obviously promotes and encourages dirty and dangerous play by Fairley, (2) if the NCAA finds violations in the recruitment of Newton, and drops the hammer on Auburn, the responsibility falls square on the shoulders of Chizik. He is the coach that brought in the Newton, a player with 4 strikes against him. He basically gambled the future of Auburn football on what could be termed a “habitual violator.”
For the sake of Chizik’s legacy and the future of Auburn football, he had better hope nothing more is found in the Newton saga. But don’t bet on it. The NCAA never leaves empty handed.
SC Fan
November 18th, 2010
8:01 am
I have watched three Auburn games this year. Clemson , USC, and Ga. ALL were examples of Chizic coaching his boys to try to hurt the qb. Sad but true.
BMDPD
November 18th, 2010
8:02 am
How many sacks did Fairly have (ZERO, NONE, NADA). That proves that our O-line did a great job of blocking him. So, if he had zero sacks, how come I can tell you the three plays where he busted Murray’s chin, sternum and knee? The fourth play was a spear in the back. Man you people are stupid. I hope he gets what is coming to him.
AUfaninEvans
November 18th, 2010
8:12 am
There is not an “in the grasp rule” in college. If you try to tackle and they won’t go down, you have to take them off their feet. This is when it appears the pile driving occurs. So it would appear that the BQs should just fall down so they don’t get hurt. This is called football!
Bill King 2
November 18th, 2010
8:21 am
Georgia is having a really bad year and their offensive line is quite frustrated at not being able to protect their freshman QB so should anyone really be surprised that the SEC chose not to suggest UGA suspend two of its linemen for their blatant first quarter chop block against Auburn’s outstanding multiple SEC Player of the Week award winning lineman Nick Fairley.
{ { { Y a w n } } }
November 18th, 2010
8:37 am
And the poor, pitiful puppies continue to whine.
Geee — don’t ya’ll wish there was an award for “whining” ? You’d have it locked up every year!!!
Bill King 2
November 18th, 2010
8:48 am
Someone here said that Kleenex and Puffs were in a bidding war for exclusive rights to be the official tissue of UGA.
sowega
November 18th, 2010
8:55 am
Bill King would be a perfect fit for MSNBC.
AUbob
November 18th, 2010
9:04 am
Can anyone explain where was the class displayed when they tried to burn down toomer’s corner?
Also please quit complaining about the bad Fairly hits, this is football and not manzy panzy game.
Tiger
November 18th, 2010
9:10 am
What a bunch of cry babies, why don’t you put your quarterback in a pink dress! Whaa whaa whaa goes the UGA theme song.
NCAA ENFORCEMENT
November 18th, 2010
9:26 am
Auburn is going down
Bill King 2
November 18th, 2010
9:31 am
“But I guess that’s what comes from being perpetually the second-ranked program in your state thanks to the school over in Tuscaloosa.” Bill, get your facts straight, especially in your summary statement. Auburn has beaten that other school 7 of the last 10 years. So instead of scheduling Georgia or Georgia Tech, tonight Tuscaloosa plays Georgia State.
Bill King 2
November 18th, 2010
9:33 am
When you’re at the top, every direction is down.
jtdawg
November 18th, 2010
9:42 am
Dan Ryan
Yes and yes.
Classless.
Chicklet and his staff – classless.
Auburn fans defending that trash – classless.
I’m man enough to admit when my team embarrasses us and itself – why can’t they? Oh yeah, suffer from perpetual inferiority complexes….
jtdawg
November 18th, 2010
9:45 am
Glad you “classy” Auburn fans condone players trying to hurt each other on the field.
God forbid an Alabama player take a shot at Cam’s knees…… karma, it’s coming your way. Wait, you already live in a trailer and have nothing so I guess you guys just don’t care…
Regina
November 18th, 2010
10:12 am
You have to laugh at the irony of dawgtards complaining about Auburn players when their own team owns the Fulmer Cup and is known as The Cesspool of the South.
Get your own house in order first.
Curds and Whey
November 18th, 2010
10:15 am
Serious Dawg fans need to start organizing and demanding that Richt be fired. Otherwise, sports writers will be asking the same question this time a year from now.
Richt represents mediocrity. Saban and Meyer represent excellence and championships. Richt simply isn’t in their class, nor will he ever be. Richt would have to be incredibly lucky to win the division, and the odds against him winning the SEC championship would be at least 50:1.
Those are the simple facts, and there’s no amount of enthusiasm or cheerleading or Top 5 recruiting classes that can get around it.
As they say in poker, “Read ‘em and weep.”
Judge Dawg
November 18th, 2010
10:19 am
When the FBI wiretaps are released, there will be no place to hide. I am glad Coach Richt is not in this class of program.
george
November 18th, 2010
10:21 am
and please explain to me how chizik is classless by getting his team fired up on the sidelines after beating clarke county jail while richt sends his whole team on the field?????? makes a whole lot of sense. QUIT BEING SUCH A SORE LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
george
November 18th, 2010
10:35 am
Our New Auburn fight song:
Heads in the Sand
Heads in the Sand
Auburn Fans looking like Fools with their
Heads in the Sand
eagleproud
November 18th, 2010
11:23 am
Call the waaaaaa mbulance. UGA tried to slap Auburn in the face and got their butts kicked. Chop blocks, late hits etc.. have been a part of UGA football for years, this game incuded. I remember your beloved Hines Ward ending the carreer of Benji Roland with (an illeagal) crack back block to the knees and not a word was said. With Farley you picked on the wrong bird.
Oh, greg. Check your grammar.
Bill King 2
November 18th, 2010
11:26 am
From cfbstats.com; Georgia ranks #9 of the top ten teams based on number of personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Despite both Georgia and Auburn receiving 6 penaties last Saturday, Auburn still did not make the top ten. Not a rumor, not hearsay, just a fact.
IRISH DAWGS
November 18th, 2010
1:05 pm
auburn has a history of paying player,going back to 1957.put on probation for giving player money,than 1993 again put on probation for paying players. now 2010 is going to be the same old story,auburn put on probation for paying a player.Auburn when will you every learn?
Tiger
November 18th, 2010
1:36 pm
Tigers eat bulldogs for lunch….burp….
AUfan
November 18th, 2010
2:47 pm
So Fairley and AU is to take all the blame……….hum seems to me that #60 jumped Fairley and punched – look at the film he swung at him – and Fairley ran away; 23 of your players should bee suspended for leaving the bench area, at least Au coach had enough control to keep his players on the bench. Your coach has no control or class at all – see Ga – Au game two years ago with your player acting like idiots on the sidelines and getting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after TD. I know Au should have stopped them. Fairley’s late hit in the back was uncalled for as well as the two AU players taking swings at Ga players late in the game.(#93 got hit late) but so were Ga’s actions. Players faking injuries and getting up slow to try to slow down the Au O.
On the play in question when Fairley hit the qb’s shin, if you have ever played football and you are trying to get the qb your head is down and you don’t know where the ball is. He was trying g to get the sack. I will agree that Fairley is an animal and his hits will cost him money next year, but if he was playing for Gay o would not feel the same way.
As far as AU’s best player being from GA – keep them at home –it’s not our fault you can’t take care of your own as well as out of state teams. AU has always recruited your best players – that’s why you have two former AU coaches on your staff and your greatest coach of all time is from AU – Dooley. And as far as next year goes if the O-line gets the job done AU will be fine and the D even better – without Fairley.
david
November 18th, 2010
8:13 pm
Bill, you are very ignorant and clearly have little understanding on the entire situation. Notice after Fairley has his eyes gaulged on the field, and his players defend him, that the Georgia players hop off the bench while Auburn players sit on theirs. He does not intend to hurt anyone. He is a huge and intense player that gets the job done. If Nick Fairley wanted to take anyone out of a football game, he could make it happen in one drive. You also prove your ignorance when talking about Chizik celebrating and playing Cam. He was celebrating a great victory over a school that once had a good football team. His decision to play Cam proves that he knows Cam did nothing wrong.
Kathy
November 19th, 2010
10:20 am
When has this EVER been a friendly rivalry. When the Dawgs are on the losing end, it is not friendly.However, when they are winning all is good. With that said, I believe Fairly’s hit on the Ga. quarterback was a CHEAP SHOT.
Auburn_92
November 19th, 2010
11:06 am
Pot meet kettle. . . .
UGA fans are delusional if they think the mutts played a clean game. And clearing the bench like a bunch of thugs? Hency the nickname, THUGA.
WDE. That is all.
WDE
November 19th, 2010
11:12 am
Auburn, classless? Did you know that a UGA fan set Toomer’s Corner on fire after the game?! Way to stay classy, Georgia.
Jay
November 19th, 2010
1:02 pm
I’m not so sure a UGA fan started that fire…there’s usually hundreds if not thousands of AU people there after a game. I just can’t see a UGA fan getting away with something like that with so many witnesses and just about everybody has a camera or camera phone on gameday. Probably just a random cigarette.
Catherine
November 19th, 2010
1:39 pm
@Jay, it was at 2:30 or so AM…not thousands of fans with cell phone camera’s out that late! And from what I read, there were a couple of witnesses, who said the guy lit it intentionally AND that he had a GA cap on. Doubt an Auburn fan would wear that!
As for the rest of this crap that GA keeps spewing, give it a rest already! Did Fairly hit late…sure. Did he intentionally want to hurt the GA quaterback…doubt it. Was there ALOT of provocation from the GA players all game long…definitely. I watched some of it happen right in front of where I was sitting at the game and it was early in the game.
Even with all of that, I didn’t agree with the boos when GA players were down. At least not at first. After about the 5th or 6th time (not sure how many times they did it, since I didn’t count, just know it was ALOT)…even I began to believe they weren’t really hurt. Slowing down the game by pretending to be hurt is unsportsmanlike as well.
AU-GA has been a friendly rivalry over the years. I hope that the one time that it got out of control doesn’t make it a bitter rivalry for years. Maybe that’s what GA wanted all along though. Takes the focus off the fact that their team isn’t winnidoing quite so well this year and put it on something extraneous to their football program.
Cam Newton Catch All Thread
November 19th, 2010
5:46 pm
[...] integrity by posting this link. So, calm down Aubie. I just found it relevant to the discussion. Did anyone really expect the SEC to come down hard on Auburn? | UGA: The Junkyard Blawg Reply With [...]
uga2002
November 21st, 2010
9:22 pm
So let me get this straight. The first play of the game was a 12 yard run by Cam Newton and a 15 yard personal foul by Georgia. Georgia, mind you, a team with multiple arrests in the pre season.
Thence, we proceeded to chop block Fairley, and we were called on it, but evidently we did it a multitude of times. Fairley, probably in revenge mode for our team trying to end his career because they were incapable of blocking him fairly, spears our QB. He is called for it.
Auburn puts the game far out of reach and thus we are left wallowing around trying to make the score more respectable as time runs out. Fairley is then, as Buck Belue said on his radio show, blocked into Murray on what was a clean hit. Painful, but clean. So we retaliate and start a fight, we clear our benches, we have a pitiful excuse for an offensive lineman and a running back with legal troubles throwing punches and an entire team clearing the bench – which is against the rules and mind you that dirty team, Auburn, did not clear the benches. You know why? Because their coaches didn’t let them.
Auburn guy is tossed. Next play our WR tries to throw their DB into our sideline… so that I guess we could beat him up? Anyways, fight breaks out and Auburn guy is tossed. At this point CMR blames the referees for his team starting fights. ???? So CMR has the team line up in a reverse V formation and run out of the stadium with a tails tucked between our legs.
Next, one of our finest sets fire to Toomers Corner with Lord knows how many people there. Innocent people. Next you look on these fine blogs on the ajc and you see UGA fans talking about how they hoped Alabama would end Fairleys career because he speared our QB after we kept chop blocking him.
And Auburn is the dirty one?
This is what I find amazing, its that the SEC didn’t come down hard on UGA. What else I find amazing is the audacity of UGA fans to post some of the worthless dribble they post here. Lastly, that Bill King is the best blogger they could find to write about UGA??
Come on AJC, get some real writers that don’t throw childish immature degrading temper tantrums on his keyboard!