by Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

It’s interesting where ideas come from for a good story. Today was a good example.

The man who delivered stone to our new office building asked me if I was that guy in Panama City Beach who wrote those sports articles? I said, “Yes”.

He said he reads a lot of sports stories, and since I live in the same county as he does, he checks my stuff from time to time even though he’s a die-hard Seminole fan. After a couple of nice comments to him about the FSU resurgence after the one loss to Oklahoma, he asked me why no one wrote an article on something that bothered him personally, and he thought maybe would bother a lot of other people.

His question was simple. How many games would Auburn have already lost had they not had Cam Newton; has there ever been another player that meant so much to a team’s win-loss record?

I told him that would be an excellent article idea and I’d work on that, so here goes.

In recent memory, no one comes to mind that means so much to a team except maybe Tim Tebow. I think Tebow personally carried the team on his back for several games including the SEC Championship game where they defeated Alabama two years ago and went on to win a national championship.

So Cam Newton is nothing new exactly, nor is his effect on his team.

As for the other part, I could see three games they certainly would not have won and  perhaps a fourth game that Auburn may not have won without him.

Simply put, without Cam, Auburn is a team that gives up too many points and relies too heavily on one man to do almost everything on offense.

Just like Florida did with Tebow.

Look at Florida now without Tebow. Out of the top 25 for the first time in many years, struggling for simple respectability now.

And while Auburn feels that they have a solid backup and future great one in the wings, so did Florida and none of Auburn’s replacements would come in the with the buildup and accolades that Jon Brantley had when the season started.

It’s called putting all your eggs in one basket.

So for all the fun Auburn is having now, it should scare them to look into the future. Their recruiting classes have been nowhere as good as Florida’s, yet they expect better results.

Time will tell if Auburn can continue to ride Newton like a rented mule and if he can continue to carry the load without breaking as Tebow did.

If he does, he deserves all the accolades that are befalling him, if he doesn’t, then it shows he had Tebow talent but maybe not Tebow luck, stamina or will.

Either way, it’s an interesting year to be an SEC football fan and sportswriter.

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