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Which is something I have a hard time understanding about Auburn. how you can be SOOOOOO good one year and the very next year be so bad. Doesn't matter. Auburn has had some great teams over the years....and yes, has been able to win the national Championship MUCH more recently than Georgia!

I actually believe it is easy to explain. Auburn fans love to insinuate that it is harder for Auburn than the State Schools. By that I realize Auburn is a state school I am speaking more to the school in each state that garners more political power and public prominence. Auburn is by far historically the best school in the country that works from this position IMHO.

In great recruiting years Auburn is lucky to get 3 of the top 10 in our own state and though we have a ton of success in Georgia we rarely take more than 2 of the top 10 in Georgia. Looking form Alabama's perspective and Georgia's perspective they likely take 4-6 each year and typically higher ranked players than Auburn.

This has shifted some as Alabama has become more of a national recruiter. Still it puts Auburn at a disadvantage. Thankfully recruiting isn't a exact science and you can't judge the heart of a young man with recruiting rankings.

If you can assume overall support of a program (boosters, schools, fans, media attentions, etc…) plays a factor again Auburn has a up hill battle compared to its contemporaries. Our booster and alumni base is smaller than each other Big 6 school.

Auburn's ups and downs are based on those realities and some of our own internal issues. Oddly those same internal issues often push Auburn toward the high seasons as well.

Auburn was extremely consistent under Tubbs. I remember thinking I would trade the consistency for the type of media bumps that got USC and Oklahoma into the title game in 2004. Until 2010 I believed Auburn would always be on the outside looking in because of the Media not because of the quality of the program or the teams being rated. Gus' to this point seems to be respected by journalist, etc…and that helps our program. 2010 and 2013 were humps we crossed that also help. I wouldn't trade 2010, 2013, 2004, 1992 or 1983 to eliminate 2008 or 2012.