Will Tre Mason and the Auburn Tigers take out their frustration on Ole Miss Saturday?

After Auburn’s embarrassing and devastating loss to Arkansas on Saturday, running back Tre Mason said there was a lot of anger in the locker room.

In a much publicized press conference, Wide Receiver Sammy Coates said, “It’s how a lot of people feel on the team. They have anger built up because of the season. To win, we have to let that anger out. We have to let it go.”

“We can’t keep stepping in the same direction with anger built up because we are worried about something that happened in the past.”

Anger is just as good a motivation as any for this team to try to get back on track. Anger not expressed toward each other but outward toward opponents can be an effective medicine for what ails the Tigers… specifically a lack of winning.

Aristotle said that everybody can get angry – that’s easy. But the difficult thing is to have that anger directed at the right object, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason, and in the right way.

Anger is a strong emotion – one that is closely related to passion. And passion is what this team lacks. Harnessed and directed in the right direction, it could be a productive force for change, for improvement, for winning once again.

Any time a team finds themselves in a predicament like Auburn is in – there is going to be frustration and tension, which can build up into anger.

Its what each individual does with that anger that will determine the outcome of the team.

It can be a negative force that divides and saps the energy out of the will to win and destroys the bond of team-man-ship. Or it can forge an opportunity to be better… to building a team committed to achieving victory.

At this point in the season, the next opportunity to be better will take place in Oxford, Mississippi in three days.

Sammy Coates said, “To win, we have to let the anger out. We have to focus on the rest of the games … We have to forget (the past). It’s over. We have to do what we have to do to win.” Translation, “We have to take our anger out on our opponents.” I say, “Yeah, get angry you Auburn Tigers!”

Beat Ole Miss!