By Don Borst
FOXSports.com
How quickly things have changed for Auburn -- and for all of college football.
Just a short while ago, the Tigers were a gutsy, come-from-behind ballclub with a new-age college football superman whose coach was invoking favors from God on national TV, and they were positioning themselves to dethrone defending national champion Alabama.
The size, the speed, the arm, heck, just all of the talent that is Cam Newton kept the Tigers winning out Saturday after Saturday (just as they did against Georgia on Saturday). And the smile, oh, the smile!
And now, suddenly, at best they are the black hats, absorbing the arrows of jealous rivals.
At worst, they are all that is wrong with college football.
One way to look at it, the way Auburn hopes we all look at it through Jan. 10, 2011: No matter what might have occurred in the recruiting process with Mississippi State last winter, it has no bearing on Auburn or Newton now.
Another way to look at it, the way that quickly brings the bile into the back of my throat: This goes on all the time.
And, finally, the way that seems to be most difficult to ignore: In contrast to what happened to USC and Reggie Bush, who accepted money from an agent based on his future NFL earnings, these allegations are of a whole different universe. Extra benefits are one thing, but alleged six-figure payments to sign a letter of intent to attend college are quite another.
Over the years, Auburn has rarely been accused of having much institutional control of its football program, anyway. Two of its greatest seasons were short-circuited because the program was on probation, and all the shenanigans that have surrounded Bobby Lowder, Auburn's infamously powerful booster, make this seem a little too familiar.
