A tip of the cap to Auburn

As much as I hate you toothless fricks, I have to admit that you are pretty much the only SEC program to even attempt to compete with us during Saban's run. Yes, you've had crap years in there, but you've managed to have some good ones, too, and have even managed to beat us now and then. And here we are, again, where you have come out of nowhere this season and look like you might be a real threat come Iron Bowl time. Impressive.

I hate you, but I respect your football program. It would have been easy to just give up and wait for Saban to retire, but you haven't done that. Respek.

Let's look at how some other programs have responded to Saban as a comparison:

Florida had a future HoF coach literally fake illness and quit to get away from him. They then followed him up with two Saban assistants, with only moderate success. Haven't beaten Bama since 2008.

Tennessee fired a HoF coach to try and keep up, with less-than-optimal results. They are currently led by a former marching band member. Haven't beaten Bama since 2006.

LSU fired a future HoF coach and are apparently planning to replace him with, no kidding, Ed Orgeron. This entire program has been driven insane by Saban's dominance. Haven't beaten Bama since 2011, and even when they did that year, it didn't count.

Ole Miss took the low road and cheated like crazy to compete. They did manage to beat us two years in a row, so all props for that, but their rulebreaking won them a grand total of zero championships. Sad, really. But they did beat us in 2013 and 2014, so they will always have that (until the wins are vacated).

Arkansas, Mississippi State, Georgia, South Carolina, and the rest of them all appear to have given up on football. Maybe they will take the sport back up once Saban is gone; we'll see.

So, in summary, props to you, Auburn. You are the only program keeping the SEC from turning into a total snoozefest. Keep up the good work, and seriously, frick you.