Week 3 Review

I think we now officially have "the monsoon game". I have been in Auburn for a lot of games but I did not mind watching this one from the comfortable dry confines of my house. I mean WOW. That was one for the books. Couple that with a game that started late and then took you from one extreme to another and I can’t imagine how tired all those people at the game were, I was completely exhausted at home.

Before delving into Auburn there were a few other surprises around the SEC. I picked Arkansas to win and blew that one but I did say "The real wildcard is Arkansas' defense. Have they improved from last year?" Uh I think we now know the answer to that question after they gave up 52 points to Georgia at home. The Auburn vs. Arkansas game in a few weeks should be a real track meet. Meanwhile how good is Georgia looking? They are 2-0 and have won two big SEC games in a row.

Elsewhere UT surprised everyone holding Florida to 23 points. I thought Kiffin the elder would do that for most of the game but I figured the floodgates would open at some point. If only UT had a QB... Another surprise was Miss St winning a tough road game at Vandy after a tough loss to Auburn last week. It won't get much press but I think that is big win for Dan Mullen and State. On the flip side, a year after getting to a bowl Vandy looks like they are back at the bottom of the SEC.

Now to Auburn/West Virginia... Where the heck do you start on this one? Let me try and stick with the regular format...

THE GOOD
I guess the first good thing I can say is that Auburn fought back from 14-0 and 21-10 deficits. It is a good thing that both the offense and defense (especially the defense) hung in there after bad to horrible starts. Of course let us couple that fact with it is a good thing that while West Virginia has playmakers they are not a well coached team in many ways. It is good they turned it over 6 times. Without those turnovers Auburn does not win this game. However it is a good thing that we were able to grab those turnovers and take advantage of them. It is a good thing our injured defenders kept getting back up and getting back into the game. Seeing Antonio Coleman and Jake Ricks down on the field is truly frightening.

Gus Malzahn came through again. I really like offenses that are not afraid to go to whoever can be used (and then come back to the main playmakers). It is just great stuff. Our offense started slow but Malzahn seemed to get things going by a big pass play to Eric Smith of all people. Even this morning when I looked at the receiving stats I wondered for a moment who “Smith” was? I love it. The guy had 3 catches for 67 yards. Great job Mr. Smith. We then came back to our main man Darvin Adams at the times when we really needed it. Six catches, 80 yards, 3 TDs… it has been awhile since we have had a WR step up like this.

With the running game shutdown for most of the game (till Tate started hammering away late in the game) you have to give props to Todd for 284 yards and 4 TDs. At times the guy makes great decisions and he gets the ball there but my gosh it is ugly. No doubt he made some big plays but I still do not think we have played a good defense yet. WVU did a good job taking away the run and getting some pressure on Todd but they are not a good defense. I still have serious doubts about Todd against a good SEC defense but luckily for us there does not appear to be too many of those (see Arkansas vs. Georgia).

For those who had started to maybe count UT as a win (including myself) we better look out. Monte Kiffin just held Florida and Tim Tebow to 23 points (aided by a big fumble but still a great job). I think the upcoming UT and Arkansas games are getting more and more interesting. In UT we will play a team with a great defense and not as much offense, in Arkansas we will play a great offense and not as much defense. Both on the road.

Back to WVU… As always Ben Tate ran hard. The guy is simply Mr. Dependable. He always shows up. As I stated last week, Miss St figured out McCalebb in the second half and WVU started where they left off. I hope Malzahn can figure out more ways to get him involved. It was good to see Trott back out there and get his first catches of the season. Kodi did a solid job at the “Wildcat”. He missed a big pass play but made a big one as well. Him being a threat passing will be huge down the road I think.

Finally, I don’t know how many times I have to say it… GET MARIO FANNIN MORE TOUCHES. Once again the guy is one of our biggest playmakers. He proved it again last night on the 82 yard run that got us going in the second half.

THE REALLY GOOD
Watching highlights of USC losing to a team that went 0-12 last season at least 80 times… (-:

THE BAD
Since both defenses gave up over 900+ yards of offense I think we can safely start with them. I know Auburn had to be careful in fall practice to not get anybody hurt but good grief I have not seen a much worse job at tackling and containing a QB than the first half. WVU was moving and scoring at will.

Is WVU’s offense that good? Is our defense that bad? It is probably a combination of both. WVU has some great playmakers in Noel Devine and Jock Sanders and a very athletic QB but the debate has already been raging over the Auburn blogs this week about the defense. I thought WBE did a good job on it. Basically to summarize, our defense was not great last year and the spread doesn’t help. However at this point as far as the spread is concerned it is a tradeoff we are willing to make.

This in no way though excuses the awful tackling and horrible angles our guys were taking last night. It does not excuse 10 of 15 third down conversions. We have to do better and we did in the second half. Four interceptions in one quarter against BCS competition no matter how they are gift wrapped is a good job by the defense. Now the question is which way the defense will go from here. Will we wear down and resemble last year’s unit or improve over the season. There is no way we will be a great unit statistically but we can be much better than last night. Unfortunately I think injuries could make the decision for us.

THE UGLY
Fortunately I can’t put Auburn here this week. I think WVU has this one all to themselves. I think they proved how you are always in the game against a spread team. I could see why Tub played so many games like he did watching them. More kudos to Malzahn for not letting us fall in that abyss yet.

As I said before WVU has some great playmakers but their coaching on the details of the game is awful. I mean their fifth year senior QB who looked so good at times played like an undisciplined high schooler just as much. I mean most of those interceptions were horrible horrible decisions. The fumble in the first quarter slowed their momentum and allows us to score a TD and get back into the game. Then four consecutive interceptions in the fourth quarter??? It does not get any uglier than that.