Even as Newton, Tigers roll, storm follows them to Glendale

ATLANTA — As Oregon pulled away out in the Pacific Northwest, South Carolina surrendered in the Southeast. The simultaneous results sapped all the drama out of Championship Saturday. It’s fitting that a sorry year for college football featured a letdown on its biggest day.

There will be no TCU in the BCS National Championship Game, no debate over who belongs and who doesn’t. Instead, college football’s 2010 will be capped precisely the way the sport’s leaders feared: with four weeks of Newton-palooza.
Even as Newton, Tigers roll, storm follows them to Glendale Auburn's SEC title game victory assures there will be no respite from the Cam Newton saga over the next five weeks, Dave Curtis says from Atlanta.

Auburn’s 56-17 SEC Championship game victory here Saturday means all the title-game talk will start with, and revolve around, the recruitment of star quarterback Cam Newton. The Tigers will carry that stench all the way to Glendale, Ariz., and no NCAA ruling can eradicate it.

When Auburn gets mentioned, there’s no avoiding thoughts of Newton, and his father, and what else there is to learn about how they and their associates acted before Cam ditched Mississippi State and signed with AU. It’s the first brainstorm; all the things to like about this Tigers team sit distant runners-up.

Forget the improving defense, the veteran offensive line, the comebacks and the in-game coaching adjustments. Forget Oregon and the offensive tempo that helped bring it to the sport’s biggest stage.

Forget even Newton’s play, priceless for 13 games and counting. He hit deep passes, and trucked defensive backs near the goal line on Saturday, again towing the Tigers to victory. He stood as tall and strong as the Gamecocks defensive ends and outran their defensive backs. Newton plays football as LeBron James hoops it up—except Newton might carry his anonymous teammates to a championship.

Auburn fans chanted, “Heisman, Heisman” when Newton left Saturday’s blowout for good with about seven minutes remaining. He’ll win that and the Manning, the O’Brien, the Walter Camp, and the Maxwell—a sweep of the national individual prizes a quarterback can win.

“He’s probably the best player in college football today,” South Carolina’s Antonio Allen said. “Run, pass, he can do it all.”

He’s also at the center of a controversy that won’t go away soon. Newton is eligible—barring new information, he’ll start at quarterback for the Tigers on Jan. 10 against Oregon. But the speculation about potential findings, and whether Auburn’s season and Newton’s awards will stand, will continue. And that will place another stain on an already ugly year.

Need a quick refresher on 2010? At the beginning, Urban Meyer took a months-long leave for health reasons, and Colt McCoy took a national championship game-long leave with a bum shoulder.

In the middle, the NCAA buried USC with Reggie Bush-related sanctions and penalized players at North Carolina and Georgia for dealings with agents. Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand sadly lost the use of his legs, for now, after covering a kickoff against Army. Notre Dame student manager Declan Sullivan died as he filmed a Fighting Irish practice.

And now, the nation’s best player and the nation’s best team are linked with one of the more disturbing football recruiting stories of the past decade. The Tigers have handled the attention and the stress fine so far, and they take pride in that part of their performance.

“There’s been a lot of adversity,” linebacker Josh Bynes said. “But we’re a family. We stick together and get through those situations.”

For the next month, the family’s manchild and the storm around him will stay center stage. College football needed to avoid that. But after Saturday, it’s all the sport has left this year.

WHAT WE LEARNED

Same old SC: The Gamecocks long have carried the label of crumbling at the least opportune times. They've blown chances to win the East Division in recent years and lost by big numbers in high-profile games before. Saturday's meltdown might reset the standard. "I'm embarrassed," defensive back Antonio Allen said. "I don't even know what the score was. Was it 50-something? 49?" The 39-point margin of defeat wasn't the lone sour number for Carolina: ­ Auburn averaged 8.3 yards per play and converted nine of 12 third downs. Expect the lopsided score to serve as motivation for the Gamecocks all offseason.

Full of grace: Darvin Adams will be remembered for snagging Cam Newton's 54-yard Hail Mary heave on the first half's final snap. But the single play shouldn't overshadow his day, which included seven catches, 217 yards, two scores and a handful of key blocks on run plays. "Darvin is the definition of a complete football player," Newton said after the game.

No rush: South Carolina came to Atlanta as the SEC's leader in sacks and recorded none Saturday. Part of the problem is tackling Newton. But the Gamecocks' four-man rush also struggled to beat Auburn's five offensive linemen. If Oregon wants to take down the Tigers, it will need a better performance from its defensive front than the Gamecocks received from theirs.