I have tried to wait till after this glorious football season to comment on how bad basketball is going on the plains but after seeing this article on CNNSI today I figured I would go ahead. With out further ado here is the comment on Auburn from the article:
"Auburn is projected to wind up as the worst-ever BCS-league team. According to Jerry Palm, operator of CollegeRPI.com, the Tigers are projected to finish at No. 292. The 2007-08 Oregon State team, at No. 269, holds the current (dis)honor. The worst SEC team ever was 1993-94 Tennessee, at No. 235."
You can look back at my spring post on Auburn basketball and I think I have a good grasp on how bad the program has been. This season will officially make Auburn the worst program in the conference since the SEC went to divisions in 1992. Auburn will pass South Carolina for the worst SEC record overall since then. However I ended the post with these comments:
"Regardless of the reasons now, there is the new Auburn Arena and what appears to be a pretty good coaching hire. Maybe just maybe Auburn basketball can start a new legacy next season. I sure hope so. I also hope the Auburn administration and leadership will now make changes as well and at least give the basketball program decent support from here on out.
Auburn will never be a top basketball school but there is no reason it has to be the worst program in the conference. That is completely unacceptable. I look forward to next season and am actually excited about all aspects of an Auburn basketball team and program for like the first time… ever? "
I thought maybe just maybe Auburn could start fresh. I knew the team would not be good but good night I did not know it would be near this bad. First, with typical Auburn basketball luck, the team lost the only two returning players with legitimate playing time to knee injuries. After that the team started out losing to COLUMBUS STATE in an exhibition. They have followed that up by losing to UNC-Asheville, Samford, CAMPBELL, JACKSONVILLE STATE, and PRESBYTERIAN.
I was there for opening night in the Auburn Arena against UNC-Asheville. On a positive note, I love the new arena. As someone who saw more than their fair share of games in the old Beard Eaves Mausoleum it is a huge improvement. It is a great place to watch basketball IF we had anything resembling a decent team. My first comments as the game began was "wow this team is really really bad". I do not want to disrepect the kids who are working their tails off on this team but facts are facts.
Obviously Tony Barbee will get a mulligan for this awful season but it will have an effect. It has effectively destroyed much of the boost Auburn should have gotten from a great new facility. I also hope Barbee has learned from his early recruiting efforts that if your recruits CANNOT QUALIFY it does not matter how good they are. Also for the love of basketball, can we please PLEASE recruit somebody who can SHOOT THE BALL. It is just so frustrating.
I will end with the same thoughts as I did this spring and will continue to say... "Auburn will never be a top basketball school but there is no reason it has to be the worst program in the conference."
First, I want to give props to all the Auburn bloggers out there, even the ones I do not care for. To blog decent stuff each week and get it out on time is definitely harder than it looks. As always, three young kids and work make it hard for me. Add the holidays and getting sick and it gets even harder. My apologies to the few people who actually read this blog. Another thing that has hurt is the lost of Jerry Hinnen at War Blog Eagle to CBS Sports. I do not agree with Jerry a good deal of the time but I really enjoyed reading his stuff and I know how much he has enjoyed this season and it would have been great to read his thoughts about it. It was definitely a large blow to the Auburn blogging world as nobody right now is quite as good as Jerry. We also lost most of Will Collier behind the pay-per-read wall at Auburnsports.com. Thank goodness we still have Andy Bitter to keep us up-to-date. I am sure someone as good as Andy will not last long as an Auburn beat writer.
OK with that out of the way, back to the matter at hand... Auburn is SEC champions. A lot of people I talk with year in and year out think I am always too hard on Auburn. I always say it is where you are coming from. When I grade Auburn any season I grade them on whether they can first win the SEC West and then whether they can win the whole thing. Winning the SEC West is my goal for any Auburn team any season. If they are not playing that way I am going to say it. Just about any team can get to a bowl game. It is one of the greatest accomplishments in college football to win the Southeastern Conference. This 2010 Auburn team is in that rare group and they did it in style. Like my last post said, I thought this could game could be a trap for Auburn. I am very glad that I was wrong. This Auburn team came out and swept away South Carolina in the biggest rout in SEC championship game history.
I will never forget going crazy with my family when Cam connected with Darvin Adams on the tipped "Hail Mary" pass at the end of the first half. The party was on after that. We broke out the margaritas and Auburn provided plenty more entertainment with the game ending Tasharvan Bell touchdown interception plus Cam and the Auburn offense getting a couple more as well. We then had the scrubs in the game with over FIVE MINUTES LEFT like it was homecoming or something???!!!??? I never saw that coming but was so happy to see it. Even the scrubs put it to South Carolina with Barrett Trotter running and passing and Super Mario Fannin scoring the final touchdown. It was again truly great to be an Auburn Tiger.
It is great to be in the mythical national championship game. If you have to play in the system, as flawed as it is, you might as well play in the best game. However no matter what happens this team is one of the all time greats in Auburn history. The SEC is still bigger to me as it is a legitimate postseason game as opposed to a system where the two teams wait 40 days or more to play a championship game. What if the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburg Steelers waited 40 days after the NFL championship games to play the Super Bowl? What if the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers waited 40 days after the NBA conference final series to play the NBA Finals? What if Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal waited 40 days to play a Grand Slam final after winning the semi-finals? The answer to all those questions is that it would stink and the two teams or players would NOT BE THE SAME as the ones that ended the season.
I know Auburn is the better team but you never know what will happen when a team plays 40 days after its last game. It is certainly much tougher when your team stars and coaches have to go on a two week award tour where everyone tells you how great you are and you are not working. It will be a big challenge for this Auburn football team but these guys have met every challenge so far and I know there is no way that Oregon will present a harder challenge than being down 24-0 to Bama in Tuscaloosa.
To end on a positive note, you have to know that Bama fans still have a sick feeling in their stomachs blowing that lead. All I know is that I sure would if the shoe was on the other foot. I also have to say that Auburn vs. Oregon is just a cool matchup. As I have grown to loathe the bowl system the only thing I can find good about it is that it occasionally gives cool matchups. This is one of them.
Finally, I want to say one more time, the 2010 Auburn football Tigers are the Southeastern Conference football champions. War Eagle.
The team had just won one of the greatest games in SEC history. The team was #2 in the nation and clearly the best team in the SEC. This team only had to win the SEC championship game against a team that had gone 5-3 in conference to go to the mythical national championship game. The championship game was just supposed to be a speed bump on the way. The #2 team had also ALREADY BEAT the 5-3 team during the regular season. It was all going exactly as planned till the 5-3 team upset them in the SEC championship game. The year was 2001, the team on the way to the mythical national championship was Tennessee and the team that upset them in the SEC championship game was LSU.
Clearly the scenario is very similar to the one facing the Auburn Tigers. Beware Auburn, your greatest trap might lay where you least expect it. Like LSU in 2001, South Carolina has a great coach at the helm. No coach has won more SEC championship games (no coach is even close). It would be a huge mistake to underestimate South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Most Auburn fans will say that won't happen to this team, but beware, Tennessee fans were saying the same thing in 2001.
Auburn fans have certainly been on a roller coaster ride since my last post. The Cam Apocalypse started Thursday November 4 and continues to roll on, the team won the SEC West beating Georgia in the home finale and now we are staring straight at one of the biggest Iron Bowl games in the series.
Personally I was delayed by end of season soccer tournaments, Call of Duty: Black Ops, my attendance at the Auburn vs. Georgia game and my complete disgust for the national and regional media for their coverage of the Cam Newton allegations. Sarah Palin has not been attacked in one month as bad as the Newton family (well she might be the only one who has).
I would rather spend my free time playing Black Ops or doing just about anything rather than talking about Cam Newton. However since there hasn’t been a new “story” in the last few days (there is something to be thankful for) maybe I can finally comment without my comment being completely invalid right after posting it because of some new story or allegation.
After sifting through this story for the last 3 weeks here is what I see: Cecil Newton MAYBE tried to solicit money from Mississippi State boosters through this Kenny Rogers guy. That is it. After all the stories and allegations that is about the only thing that might be true at this point. However there is still no credible proof that this occurred. Again, I can believe that it did but I do not believe it went down how these three stooges in Mississippi say it went down. I mean the stories these guys are telling are laughable pathetic attempts to somehow cover themselves and maybe Mississippi State and blame everything on Cecil Newton.
What does all that mean? Right now it means nothing without any proof. That is simply where we are at. I am not saying what did or did not occur. I am simply pointing out the obvious facts of the case. It also appears that a lot of this stuff is being used as a coordinated attack by someone against Auburn. How else can you explain the timing of each new piece of information or allegation?
I do not know what else to say about the whole thing. I do know it has further lowered my regard for the media (I did not think it could get any lower) and shown that there is a national and regional bias against Auburn for whatever reason. It is just incredible the hypocrisy and bias of the national and regional sports media against Auburn when we are good. Cam Newton’s dad MIGHT have tried to solicit money and it is literally the biggest story in sports while when last year’s Heisman Trophy winner takes an illegal benefit from a booster it is swept under the rug faster than you can say “Roll Tide”. Mark Ingram and Julio Jones were given an all expenses paid fishing trip from a Bama booster who later also gave a laptop to Jerrell Harris (which got him suspended for half the season) . These acts are undisputed fact however nothing was hardly ever said about it nationally or even regionally. Why?
Just look at the past. Auburn played the toughest schedule in the nation (fact) in 1983 and maybe one of the toughest schedules ever and was #3 in the nation. The #1 and #2 teams lose (the #2 team was the only one to beat Auburn and was beaten in a bowl by a team Auburn beat) and Auburn wins and they do not even move out of THIRD PLACE in the polls. Then of course the 2004 team is the only undefeated BCS conference team to not get a chance to play for the mythical national championship. It was also arguably the strongest team the SEC fielded this decade if the NFL draft is any indicator.
Since 2006 the SEC has won the mythical national championship ever year with only Bama last year going undefeated. Auburn will most certainly get bumped with a loss to Bama (a top 10 or 11 team in all polls) as the national media’s crusade for poor Boise State has reached its absolute peak. However Florida won both its mythical national championships with one loss and LSU won its title with TWO LOSSES. Throw in the fact that in 2004 if Nick $aban’s LSU Tigers could have stopped a Hail Mary pass at the end of its bowl game, the SEC would have had four 10 win teams for the first time ever and the fact that this year the SEC could have TEN bowl eligible teams and you have to be blind to see the bias against Auburn. Regardless of that the SEC is always considered “down” when Auburn is good when in fact it is not and was much more down in years like say 1992 and 2008. Again, not opinion, fact. Check the records.
The last few years has also shown that the SEC is not a conference of friendly or just fair rivals. It is a conference of schools who will do anything to bring each other down. I will not cheer for another SEC school anytime soon. What has the SEC being strong ever done for Auburn? Nobody came to our defense in 2004 and apparently none of the coaches in the conference are putting us #1 right now. Again, it also appears that these allegations against Cecil Newton are being used as a coordinated attack against us. Who would do that? I will just let that question hang out there.
All of this has certainly taken some of the joy out of this season and playing in the SEC and college football all together. However it was still very sweet to be sitting with my son in Jordan Hare as Auburn broke a four year losing streak to Georgia and won the SEC West. It was awesome being a part of the pregame at the stadium. It was special watching Cam Newton play what will probably be his last game at Jordan Hare Stadium. It was exhilarating watching Auburn roar back from a 21-7 deficit to blow past Georgia. It was incredible to walk around Toomer’s Corner after it was all over.
It is now down to the Iron Bowl, the SEC Championship Game and whatever happens after. It will probably be the three toughest games Auburn plays all season. The Iron Bowl may be the toughest one of them. Bama still has a ton of good football players and they have been playing a little bit below their capabilities in my opinion. $aban is still a great defensive coach and Auburn has not played a defense with as much speed as Bama’s defense. Finally, Auburn and Cam Newton have not played a true road game. Auburn’s only road games have been in Mississippi and Kentucky. Nothing will prepare them for the noise and venom they will face on Friday. I will be even more impressed with this Auburn team if they can go in to that environment against a very good team and bring out a win.
I will still be proud of them either way and will look forward to playing for a championship in the only real postseason game in college football next week as well. War Eagle.
I refused to worry about this game. Yes Houston Nutt has ruined many previous Auburn seasons but he has always come in with a big strong offensive line and some good or great running backs. Not this year. No team that had lost to Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt at home had the heart to take down this Auburn team. Not this year Houston Nutt and Ole Miss, not this year. Auburn succesfully defended their #1 ranking and blew out Ole Miss in Oxford guaranteeing Auburn will come into the Georgia game 10-0 and 6-0 in the SEC. In the wake of my blogging performance last week, let's get right to it...
THE GOOD
Cam Newton, of course. The legend grew with an unbelievable touchdown catch in the end zone. I am starting to think we need to get Cam Newton in on defense (which he actually did as well after an uncharacteristic fumble). He also did a great job throwing the ball. Of course he was standing behind a solid wall with no pressure on him. He is still going to have to speed up his reads against Georgia and Bama. His release is getting better. He showed off a quick release on several of those passes.
Cam Newton has a lot of company this week though. As mentioned, the guys up front got it done again leading another 300 yard rushing effort and the other Auburn running backs stepped up big time. Mike Dyer is finally looking like the running back prospect he was supposed to be. He broke tackles and showed big time acceleration in rushing for 180 yards. Ontario McCalebb showed off his speed and elusiveness for the second straight week going for 100 yards. The man behind it all called a brilliant game as well (except for trying the Neil Caudle trick-pass play, not going to happen in the SEC).
THE BAD
Our defense got it done in spots but is just going to have to play much better to get through our last two games. Yes Georgia had a lot of turnovers against Florida but Florida has been doing that to everyone the whole year. They have a good defense, Auburn does not. We are still asking a lot of our offense to have to score 40+ points every game. With our current defense, Georgia and Bama are going to score A LOT of points. We have a let down or a bad quarter or two on offense, it could spell doom against these two teams. Again I think we have to put more pressure on the quarterback. We cannot let Aaron Murray and Greg McElroy stand back there all day. It does not matter how many men we drop back in coverage.
We also HAVE TO TACKLE BETTER. There were a ton more missed tackles last night. Our guys have got to wrap up and bring the guy down. The offense is working at about maximum capacity, we need to use these next two weeks working on the defense. Our last two games will be the biggest and toughest of the season. If we are going to be a championship team I am convinced we have to play better defense.
THE UGLY
There was really nothing ugly about this game other than Ole Miss' grey uniforms (and I dogged the BCS last week) so I will use this space to point out again how ugly the current television format makes football. The pros have reduced the pain slightly by speeding up the games and getting them to fit in neat three hour time slots. However they did that by reducing the amount of football you get to see. College football has not YET done that but the networks still get in their commercials which make watching a live football game a completely exhausting experience. I do not know how anybody but big time fans of the teams playing could sit down and watch a college football game. It dampens everyone's experience watching games. I know the television people have to pay the bills but when there is more commercial time than the actual product carrying the commercials, something is wrong.
AROUND THE SEC
The SEC East has finally cleared up. Florida took down Georgia and now the Florida vs. South Carolina game in two weeks will decide the SEC East champion. Again, as bad as Florida has been this year I think they will get it done and ruin Spurrier's best chance to win the East at South Carolina.
Meanwhile everyone including me is starting to talk about the Iron Bowl deciding the West. However that is not true yet. Bama has two tough games remaining with LSU and Mississippi State who only have three losses between them. Auburn has to stop Georgia from getting "the thumb" on them as Auburn has not beaten the Dawgs since 2005. Auburn and Bama will have to get past these road blocks before the Iron Bowl.
Last and least, you have the BCS. Ah the BCS, where the #1 team in the SEC can whip another SEC team on the road and drop. I would wager a rather large sum that neither Bama and Florida with the exact same team as Auburn would have dropped after a 30 point beat down of Ole Miss in Oxford. I do not think they would have dropped even if Oregon had beat an undefeated actually legitimate USC team. You also would not have had ESPN's current group of cretins that masquerade as college football analysts dogging Auburn out. I love the schedule questions. Google Oregon's football schedule. Other than Stanford and I guess USC Oregon has played NOBODY. When you are propping up Stanford as your best win, doesn't that really say it all?
Things were tense up in section 101 of Jordan Hare Stadium with the game tied against LSU 17-17. Auburn had dominated the game but the Mad Hatter's luck seemed to be continuing with Auburn's terrible field position throughout the game, a fumble, a missed field goal, etc... A feeling of dread started to settle over me. Were we going to lose a game that we had clearly dominated? Then... Ontario McCalebb broke into the clear and joy fell from the sky. The Mad Hatter's luck had run out, Auburn had beaten LSU. In the aftermath the stats started jumping out. Auburn had just run for over 400 yards against the best defense in SEC. Cam Newton had over 200 of those yards. Auburn was 8-0 and 5-0 in the SEC. I was sick as a dog but happy as can be.
I am mailing this one in late for the record. Auburn is #1 in the BCS (more on that below) and I don't get a blog post up, good grief. It has been some kind of week here for our family with the drive back from Auburn, soccer tournaments, soccer team post season parties, fantasy baseball league post game parties, etc... Well let's get to it so I can head to another soccer game and then get back and settle in for Auburn and the Mrs...
THE GOOD
You can pretty much put the whole team in here with the exception of Mario Fannin and the special teams. Ah Mario Fannin, I have defended him and pushed him for years. However I think he has sealed his fate as a guy that cannot hold on to the ball. We still need him though, we still need him. I was reminding friends that once upon a time that James Bostic (the MVP running back of our 1993 undefeated team) also had fumblitis and was benched for the Georgia game. He responded by putting up 183 yards rushing off the bench with three touchdowns and SEC player of the week honors. He then helped bury Bama the next week with no fumbles if I remember correctly.
The special teams were back to normal this week with horrible punts, worse punt returns and a missed field goal. They terrible short low punt to Peterson could have cost Auburn the game. I just do not know what else to say about the special teams. They are consistently bad and a few good games here and there do not change that. This is the good section though and there was a lot more good than bad this game. Let me start with Nick Fairley. Wow. The guy put up a dominating performance against a team that is probably bigger and stronger than Auburn. By the end of the game there were literally tackling him at the line of scrimmage and he was still getting through.
Rushing for 400 yards though is the most impressive stat for me. I just kept repeating it over and over after the game. When you rush for 400 yards on somebody you take their manhood. Auburn knows. Arkansas did to us and Chizik in 2002. It is still one of my worst Auburn memories. Doing it against a top rated LSU defense is even more impressive. It starts with the offensive line and then goes to Cam Newton as he put himself at the top of the Heisman race and helped lift his team to #1 in the nation. Newton put up another astonishing highlight package. He is truly a sight to behold and I was glad to finally see him live and in person. I will never forget him slicing and dicing through the LSU defense for over 200 yards.
Finally, I also have to give props to the Jordan Hare gameday planners. The whole intro (with the exception of the band video?) was awesome and the new thing where the whole team runs toward the student section with the music going at the end of the third quarter is awesome. It has been awhile since I have seen the students so fired up. You get the students fired up and everyone else will follow.
THE BAD
Everyone likes being #1 however the Bowl Championship Series is still the most ridiculous and stupid method to determine a championship ever invented. It is still a joke and always will be. One night of watching the ESPN talking heads was enough for me. Being #1 is great if for no other reason than to annoy the Bama fans but I for one will not be drawn into this weekly drama. Frankly all involved can take the BCS and... well use your imagination. If you have to play in a bowl you might as well play in the best one but nothing will make the whole system legitimate in my mind.
I cannot want to beat Georgia and Bama any more than I already do. I want to win the SEC West and win an SEC championship. Those things are not subjective and you cannot be cheated out of them. You earn them and you play in the only real postseason game in college football, the conference championship game. It is played a week after the season ends by division winners instead of being played a month after the last game by the winners of a complicated popularity contest.
THE UGLY
Obviously you want to enjoy this season. Auburn as a whole deserves to. However there has been a lot of talk about how Gene Chizik has now completely proved himself. I disagree. He has definitely proved a lot but he still has a long way to go. Terry Bowden also proved himself in this situation but fell apart later. This season will not be the end of Auburn football. However it might be the end of Auburn playing at this level for awhile and Chizik's work is cut out for him.
Take a look at the Auburn depth chart and make some easy deductions and you come to the conclusion that we really better enjoy this year. On offense, Auburn will lose four outstanding offensive linemen, two starting wide receivers and will most likely lose Superman himself. I also stand by my preseason prediction that Gus Malzahn will leave for a head coaching job as well. On defense, we lose two starting linebackers, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles and will almost certainly lose Nick Fairley leaving us with only two true defensive tackles in Carter and Whitaker on the entire roster.
Chizik and Co. got a lot of good talent in the pipeline this year but Tuberville's last two years are still going to take a mighty toll on the program. Especially two years of recruiting no offensive linemen or defensive tackles. It is scary. Gene Chizik will completely prove himself if he can get us out of this ugly situation and win the SEC West a few years from now.
AROUND THE SEC
The SEC East is a complete mess but things will be much more clear after the Georgia vs. Florida game today. People are saying this game is not as big this year. I disagree, I think it is a huge game. Mark Richt has got to beat Florida in this situation. It would be a huge blow to Georgia to lose to Florida this year. Meanwhile Florida could put it self in position to win the East with a victory. After all Florida has been through if they can beat Georgia and South Carolina, they will play for an SEC Championship and in one game anything can happen.
The SEC West race is down to Auburn and Bama with LSU still in the race if they can beat Bama a week from today. Auburn still has a tough game with Georgia. I am very worried about that game but more on that in the weeks to come. I refuse to wring my hands and worry about the Mrs. I maybe crying tomorrow but Auburn should take care of business.
Kudos to Rob Pate at Eyes On Auburn for using my favorite format of reviewing games.
On top of that it was a great review of the game. It is awesome to get a current player's take on the game each week.
Well it looks like this Auburn grad and part-time blogger will be heading to the plains this weekend for the latest biggest game of the season. As I have said before I went to just about every Auburn home game for eighteen years but had to give it up when my children got older and start playing sports (and costing more). Now I make it to one or two games a season and usually not till November. However things opened up and the opportunity arose so I am taking it. I am more excited than usual getting to see Cam Newton in person for the first time and against the best defense he might face all season.
I feel pretty good about the game. You have to think that Auburn can score more points than LSU. Everyone also points to LSU's lucky escapes this year. However you also can go the other way as well. LSU hammered us last season and "The Hat" has owned us. The only time we beat the "The Hat" was in 2006 and that was a close one. I know we did not have Cam Newton last year (in fact we had the total opposite of Cam Newton) but the LSU offense had their best game in the last two years. Their defense holds Cam and the offense to 30 points and they win if they score the 31 points they scored last year. Our defense has the capability of making any offense look good, even LSU.
I think the special teams could go a long way in deciding this one. Auburn comes in after having it's best day from special teams in years while LSU comes in with superstar Patrick Peterson. As Will Collier points out,
LSU has continually burned us with great punt returners. Well I cannot wait to get down to Auburn for a big time 7-0 vs. 7-0 Saturday afternoon battle between Tigers. I will be back to review on Sunday and hope to have more good than bad to say. War Eagle.
Every week, I find myself at a loss for words to adequately describe this team. I have watched or listened to just about every Auburn football game for over 30 years. I have coached in youth sports for almost a decade. With that said, I have never seen anything like this. The game yesterday was a roller coaster ride of emotions to say the least. This team just does not fit in the standard football axioms. It is hard to make common sense judgements on this team because at Auburn, except for maybe a short time under Pat Sullivan, defense has always been the foundation for championships. For the record, we did not win a championship under Pat Sullivan even though he only lost five regular season games.
The football axioms also say that one-man teams will eventually be stopped and you cannot win a championship as one. Cam Newton continues to defy the odds on that one as well. 65-43??? Are you kidding me??? I never thought I would see that score in a regular season Auburn game ever. Again, I have never seen anything like yesterday, good and bad. I am not sure I have ever been through a game that just wrung me out like this game. I went from cheering like crazy to cursing the refs to cursing our defense to catatonic in my chair. Well I am not sure anyone can adequately "break down" the game yesterday but I can give some strong opinions on several parts of the game...
THE GOOD (this spot reserved for Cam Newton)
Yes, I think this is Mr. Newton's permanent parking place. He put on another dominating performance yesterday rushing for almost 200 yards and passing for almost 150 including a touchdown pass to Emory Blake. He had three touchdowns on the ground highlighted by his last one where he went flying over the defense into the end zone. Ontario McCalebb's touchdown was a result of Arkansas over compensating to try and stop Newton. As always, the guys in the trenches made it possible. Lee Ziemba, Mike Berry, Ryan Pugh, Byron Isom and Brandon Mosley have continued to excel since the South Carolina game. Mario Fannin put in his best day of the season although that was a fumble at the goalline. The wide receivers also made some big plays at crucial times with only one ugly drop that I remember.
For the most part though it was Newton making play after play. The guy is one of the best running backs in the country but he is also a good passer. He is accurate and throws a great ball. He does not make many mistakes and has a knack for doing the right thing at the right time. I know some of that is Malzahn guiding things in the background but a lot of it is Newton. Kudos to Malzahn and Chizik for not just stubbornly running "the system" as many other coaches would do but realizing Newton is a once-in-a-lifetime player and we must adapt to him. He is the best player in the nation. I do not think it is even close and I do not say things like that lightly. He should be the frontrunner for the Heisman right now.
Also moving into "The Good" section this week is the special teams. It is great to have them in after so many horrible moments over the last two years. In fact the special teams were also not just good but helped change the game for Auburn. The blocked punt and 99 yard kickoff return were some of the biggest moments of the game. I cannot remember the last time that Auburn blocked a punt against a good opponent. The kickoff was even bigger as Arkansas had seized the momentum at that point. On top of these great plays were Wes Byrum converting all of his field goals and great kickoff coverage.
THE BAD THE UGLY PART #1
That was maybe the worst called game I have ever seen. The refs could get nothing right. The obvious... yes it appeared Fannin fumbled on the goalline and the Arkansas guy did not however since the refs called it wrong on the field there was not enough evidence to overturn. HOWEVER, I still think things came out more than EVEN. It started out with a phantom holding call on Lee Ziemba that killed a big play and one of our drives. First it was not holding and second with all the holding that goes on in SEC games, that is the play you call a hold? Also, Arkansas passed all day long and yet they did not get one holding penalty called on them that I remember. Second the pass interference call on the play Mallett got hurt was obviously wrong and it gave Arkansas an easy touchdown. Third, Arkansas went for it on fourth down on their touchdown drive before halftime or maybe it was in the third quarter. The guy caught it but was down WELL SHORT of the marker and they got one of the most ridiculous spots I have ever seen. Somehow that one survived replay and spots are usually easy call. That bad call also led to an Arkansas touchdown. Finally, on one of Arkansas` other touchdown throws the wide receiver threw the Auburn defender on the ground. I am usually not one to complain about the refs but yesterday was about the worst I have ever seen.
THE UGLY PART #2
I find it comical that the post game reaction is that the defense "rose up" in the fourth quarter. I mean come on. The Arkansas guy was down on that fumble even though we deserved the call as I stated above. I do not think our defense can take a whole lot of credit for that. The Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson had all day to throw (as was the case the whole game) on both those interceptions. He just finally made some bad decisions. I do not think our defense can take much credit for that. If they pressure him and he makes a mistake I would give credit. The Auburn defensive performance was about the worst I have ever seen from an Auburn defense. It took much of my joy from the win. I can't think of the adjective to describe how bad they were. Bad, awful, terrible, disgusting, revolting, etc... do not seem to cover it. Yes we are 7-0 and seem to keep winning but ask Bama and Ohio State how fast things can turn around and they most likely will for Auburn. I do not see how any team can play defense this bad and win a championship even with a Cam Newton.
The basics of football are blocking and tackling. We are doing the blocking but I have never seen worse tackling in my 30 years of watching Auburn football. Case in point was our senior linebacker Craig Stevens who is a four year starter simply putting an arm out as an Arkansas running back or wide receiver ran straight past him. Arkansas receivers just ran wild after they caught the ball as Auburn defenders slipped off them or simply fell down as they ran past them. Auburn would not commit to pressuring the quarterback or jamming wide receivers so Bobby Petrino could empty his playbook and call whatever he wanted. WHAT IS THE POINT of playing conservative defense when the other team is scoring at will on big plays??? That is the only point of playing that kind of defense! Ted Roof is the worst defensive coordinator I have ever seen and he is being enabled by Chizik. Roof is also not even coaching his own position well as our linebackers miss more tackles than anyone.
Chizik was able to run this type of defense in 2004 when he had great pass rushers at both ends in Stanley McClover and Quentin Groves. All "Cover 2" defenses that have been hugely successful have a Dwight Freeney or a Charles Haley at defensive end and they can get pressure on the quarterback. WE DO NOT HAVE THAT. We do not have anyone even close. If you are an offensive team and you do not have great pass rushers YOU HAVE TO GAMBLE. Case in point would be the New Orleans Saints last year. They did not have great pass rushers so they gambled and blitzed a lot and were able to be good enough to win a Super Bowl. If tackling is the first fundamental of defense, pressuring the quarterback against a passing team has to be #2. You simply have to pressure the quarterback. You have to shorten the window the quarterback has to make a decision and in doing so he is more likely to miss the pass or make a mistake. The coach across the state has created his legend doing this. I understand picking the "Cover 2" as your defense but I do not understand adjusting your strategy when you are getting lit up like a Christmas tree by the other team's backup quarterback.
I do not see how these coaches justify what they are doing. The stats back it up. Last year's Auburn defense was one of the worst in Auburn history statistically. This year's version is right there with it as they gave up over 400 yards passing and almost 600 yards total (against mainly the back up quarterback). It is a complete embarrassment to play defense that bad. If we blitzed every play we would have gotten burned plenty but I firmly believe it would not have been near as bad. It also fires your defense up playing aggressive and not reacting all the time. It also shortens the other team's playbook. It was disgusting to me how many plays Arkansas called that had just about everyone going long because he knew the quarterback would have time.
AROUND THE SEC
The SEC East is playing really bad right now. South Carolina, a week removed from knocking off #1 Bama, loses to Kentucky and Florida goes down to Mississippi State at home. Georgia meanwhile is starting to come around and goes to Kentucky this next week. The SEC East race is wide open as South Carolina still has to play Arkansas and go to Florida. Florida maybe a weak team compared to the last few years but make them a big underdog and they are still going to beat some people. It should be very interesting to see how things end up shaking out in the East.
Auburn takes center stage again next week against undefeated LSU. It will be one of most anticipated games in the conference, country and in the series overall. The positive for Auburn is LSU's offense has been one of the worst in the country. The negative is their defense has been one of the best. It will be Cam Newton's biggest challenge so far at Auburn. Will LSU be the team to finally slow him down or will he add another chapter to his growing legend? It could be another "one for the ages" just a week after this unbelievable game...
It has been almost 3 years since the last perfect Saturday. A perfect Saturday in our household consists of Auburn winning and Bama losing. The perfect scenario is obviously an Iron Bowl win but days like yesterday are pretty good too. Interesting enough, after the last perfect Saturday is when things went downhill for Auburn and we are still recovering despite our perfect record so far this year. Maybe this perfect Saturday will mark a milestone of the Auburn program coming back. As good as yesterday was let me throw out a healthy dose of objectivity before starting my "Cam Newton for the Heisman" campaign. Auburn is going to lose a couple of games. Auburn is a good team and they are a lot of fun to watch (on offense) but there are still some gaping holes in this team that I will cover below. Here is "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" from last night's game against Kentucky. Actually I am going to change things up a little this week and go with "The Great, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"...
THE GREAT
Cam Newton. I did not see Jimmy Sidle play when he put over 1000 yards rushing at quarterback and led Auburn to a 9-1 season and the Orange Bowl. I did see Dameyune Craig in all his games, all the home ones in person, and I never thought I would see a more dynamic mobile quarterback than him. However I will say that I now think Cam Newton is the best mobile quarterback I have ever seen at Auburn and one of the best I have ever seen period. It is hard to compare him to Pat Sullivan or Jason Campbell since they were drop back passers so I will not. He put on one of the best single game performances in Auburn history last night against Kentucky totalling almost 400 yards rushing and passing and running for 4 touchdowns. He nearly single handed led Auburn down the field for the winning field goal converting several tough 3rd down conversions. He is a true superstar. Yes he still isn't great at reading defenses and delivering the ball to the open guy sometimes but nobody is perfect. He does continue to improve in that area and at this point I would not put anything past him. Again, Urban Meyer must go home at night and cry after watching the Auburn highlights. He had this guy at his school and could have replaced Tim Tebow with Cam Newton. Thank goodness he came to Auburn.
THE GOOD
I use the phrase "nearly single handed" but that is a bit of hyperbole. It is never just one guy in football. Cam Newton does some amazing things but his veteran offensive line is working hard in the trenches to give him those holes and creases to run through. Never forget the guys in the trenches. We also probably would not have won the game last night without the other true All-SEC player on our team, Darvin Adams. Adams is one of the best receivers in the conference and he had another 100 yards receiving and several clutch catches. Dyer and Fannin showed flashes with some good runs last night. The mastermind behind it all, Gus Malzahn called a good game in the first half and at the end but lost his mind in the third quarter. Kentucky put nine men on the line of scrimmage and rather than burning them through the air Malzahn kept running Ontario McCallebb wide on first down. This continually put us in second and long and made us easier to defend. However overall the entire offense was very good last night.
NOTE: I want to put in a note about where I am coming from before I critique the rest of the team. I nearly always critique Auburn from the standpoint of what it will take to win the SEC West. In my opinion, every Auburn football team should have one goal starting the season and that is to win the West. Their goal will change to winning the SEC championship game if they achieve that. I do not care about polls or the mythical national championship. Winning a division and a championship game is objective. You cannot be cheated out of it. You earn it. With that in mind I do not think I am being too hard on a team that is now 6-0 and 3-0 in the SEC and considered one of the top ten teams in the country. This team is a legitimate contender right now for the SEC West title and I will critique them based on that high standard.
THE BAD
The Auburn special teams overall are bad. It has been two years of this. They do good things at times but overall they are bad. First, it is a mistake to jerk an experienced senior in Shoemaker and put in a freshman. Yes Shoemaker has underperformed a bit but a freshman will most likely make a huge mistake in a big game that could cost us the game. They got lucky when they pulled this with Clinton Durst. I do not think that will happen again especially since Clark averaged only 35 yards a kick last night. The punt return team has passed the point of even being a factor. Every Auburn fan simply hopes that Carr doesn't fumble. There is no longer any expectation of a big punt return. We simply hopes he does not fumble. That is bad special teams. The kickoff coverage which had been good was simply awful last night. Senior Wes Byrum got the job done but this staff inherited Byrum. I am really worried about next year and what this staff will do with a young kicker. Byrum got the job done but this staff inherited Byrum. I am really worried about next year and what this staff will do with a young kicker. Gene Chizik talks a lot about Auburn history and how important it is yet his teams seemingly ignore the tenets of good defense and special teams that Coach Jordan and Dye emphasized. With that said let us move to...
THE UGLY
Our defensive performance last night was ugly. There is no other way to say it. When your offense scores 31 points in the first half against KENTUCKY and you then have to win on a last second field goal YOU ARE PLAYING BAD DEFENSE. My gosh where do I start? I guess in the same place I start every week with our ridiculously extreme philosophy of playing soft coverage. I understand have an overall philosophy but you have to make adjustments based on the team you are playing. The Auburn defense has rose up several times but that is mainly because of the defensive line. Most teams will not throw short the entire night and that is how we finally stop them. That was not true of Kentucky. The three step drop and throw nullifies a defensive line. They were content to throw short to their play makers ALL NIGHT and it is not like that is a surprise. These guys have been around their forever. Their is plenty of film on Kentucky and their attack. Why did our defense not do more to take away Cobb and Locke??? Why did we never play tighter coverage? It is maddening to watch. I guess I can end on a positive. I think this strategy might have some success against Arkansas since they probably won't be content to throw short all day. Of course I still look for Ryan Mallett and Arkansas to roll up big numbers on us. We can only hope we get some crucial stops like in the Clemson and South Carolina games.
AROUND THE SEC
The game of the day was obviously South Carolina's upset of Bama. What a game. After Garcia's boneheaded safety and Bama made it 21-14 I thought Bama would come back and get it. I thought South Carolina would be just another team that fell apart under the pressure of trying to upset Bama. However after they got the ball back they drove the length of the field to make it 28-14. That was a championship big time drive. It could be one of the monumental points of this SEC season. This is definitely the best South Carolina game of Spurrier's tenure there. This is his biggest win so far and one of the biggest wins in South Carolina history. This is also South Carolina's best chance they might ever get of getting the East title especially with Florida's loss to LSU. Speaking of that game...
I still think the guy is crazy but Les Miles did some coaching this week and as always he made an insane call that worked out for him at the end of the game. I will give credit though because even if Florida is not as good as expected it is tough to win in the Swamp. It was another incredible ending for LSU and Miles. It should be another great one when Auburn and LSU get together this season. Elsewhere Georgia finally got an SEC win and Arkansas beat Texas A&M.
Looking ahead, Arkansas at Auburn is game of the week this week. This is the beginning of crunch time in the SEC West. Auburn, Bama and LSU all still control their destiny to win the SEC West. Arkansas will either get back in the picture or be eliminated against Auburn. Bama will look to get back on track against Ole Miss. I bet we see a LOT of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson this next Saturday. I think that was Bama's biggest mistake against South Carolina. They only gave 17 carries to their dynamic duo. It appears that offensive coordinator Jim McElwain has been bitten by the spread bug. Bama is so big and strong, I think they are much more formidable playing a pro style offense running the ball and using play action. Elsewhere Georgia should get another SEC win against Vandy, Dan Mullen returns to Florida, South Carolina has to get back focused at Kentucky and LSU gets the week off against McNeese State.
The season after "Superman", Florida's Tim Tebow, left college football there was supposed to be a void. However "Superman" has returned and he is at Auburn. First, sorry for the lack of a review on Week 4, the South Carolina game. My son had an out-of-town tournament and that left little time for blogging. Fortunately, the Auburn blog nation pretty much said exactly what I wanted to say…
http://www.trackemtigers.com/2010/9/27/1713714/the-greatest-show-on-turf
http://www.thewareaglereader.com/2010/09/sunday-knee-jerk-stage-1-complete/
http://eyesonauburn.blogspot.com/2010/09/south-carolina-review.html
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/scarbinsky_gators_would_be_muc.html
The bottom line is that Cam Newton is AWESOME. The guy is a big-time playmaker and as I said before he is on his way toward coming one of the best quarterbacks in Auburn history. The touchdown run and now legendary leap into the end zone was AMAZING. As the articles I linked to above said, this team would be 3-2 or even 2-3 without Newton. Anyone who disagrees just does not understand football and everything this guy is doing for this offense. His mere presence on the field now opens up things on the offense. Yes, again he is still not great at reading defenses quickly and delivering the ball but he is improving. Even with his weaknesses he is still the most dynamic playmaker at quarterback in the conference and such a BIG improvement over what we have had the last few years.
Our defense is up and down, our senior offensive line has done a decent job, McCallebb is good at what he does, Dyer looks like he has a ton of potential, Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachary are All-SEC and the rest of the wide receiver corps looks good but to borrow an old phrase, Cam Newton is “the straw that stirs the drink”. We would have lost to Clemson and South Carolina without Newton and might have lost to Mississippi State. The best thing Chizik and Co. have done so far is bring in Newton.
The South Carolina followed our typical script with a Malzahn offense and a Chizik/Roof defense. The offense comes out on fire, goes flat and then recovers. The defense comes out and gets roasted, adjusts and closes pretty strong. As long as these coaches are here, we will see a lot more of this. Credit where credit is due though, the win over South Carolina was a big win. Coaches and players deserve full credit for getting it done.
I do think Steve Spurrier made a huge mistake jerking Stephen Garcia out. He still had a chance to tie that game with Garcia. There was no way a freshman was going to step into that situation and not have something bad happen. I will also say I thought the South Carolina defense would be tougher. However again you have to give credit to our offensive line for helping us put up 334 yards rushing. Gene Chizik’s strategy of calling out the offensive line sure seemed to work. It was an extra bonus to see Mike Dyer win the battle of the rookie running backs and get his first 100 yard game.
On the flip side, it was also surprising to see our defense completely shutdown Marcus Lattimore. Of course we paid for it through the air. South Carolina’s monster wide receivers and most of all Alshon Jeffery definitely lived up to their billing. However we won the battle and the defense caused 4 consecutive turnovers in the fourth quarter to win the game. Obviously Auburn got a little lucky but you have to work hard to put yourself in the position to be lucky.
THE GOOD: Cam freaking Newton.
THE BAD: Steve Spurrier’s decision to bench Stephen Garcia.
THE UGLY: Arkansas blowing it against Bama before our game started.
Now to the Louisiana Monroe game. Not a whole lot to say. The whole thing was pretty good from the offensive fireworks to the complete clearing of the benches. I just have a couple of minor complaints. First, would this not have been a good game to work on covering receivers a little tighter??? I do not understand playing way off these guys and letting them drive three times into Auburn territory in the first half and letting them get a field goal. I think it would have been a good game to work on tighter more aggressive coverage. This confirms we will see this crap for the rest of the season. Second, Malzahn needs to resist the temptation of getting too cute. Our lone field goal only came after we messed around trying to throw passes down by the goal line. Just hand off to Dyer and let him finish it. Red zone efficiency was one of Malzahn’s weaknesses last year because of this. Sometimes you cannot trick the other guy, you just have to man up and run right at him.
THE GOOD: Just about everything except the two issues I just mentioned. A special kudos to Emory Blake for two huge plays the last two weeks...
THE BAD: Louisiana Monroe.
THE UGLY: Florida’s performance and Urban Meyer’s coaching against Bama. Wow, they are not wishing they still had Cam Newton are they?
AROUND THE SEC
Observations from the last two weeks…
1. As stated above I will never forgive Ryan Mallett and Arkansas for absolutely blowing a game they HAD. Bama is now winning by teams just falling apart from the pressure. It makes me physically SICK.
2. After the game against UAB you could plainly see once again that things are bad at Tennessee. Who knew it would get so much worse a week later… (more on that further down)
3. Mark Richt, like Phillip Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville before him, is hitting that decline that seems to hit all good coaches who are at a school for a decade. Nowadays especially in the SEC it is hard for even really good coaches to last at a school much more than a decade. Fulmer managed to slow his down and Tuberville speeded his up but the start of the decline was about the same. Richt’s decline seems to be more like Tuberville. It is happening fast. At 1-4 with a lot of good teams left on the schedule I am not sure that Richt can save himself. That said, Auburn still better look out.
4. I honestly cannot believe some of these guys get paid millions of dollars after watching the end of the Tennessee/LSU game. How many HISTORICALLY stupid calls can be made in 27 seconds? Let us count…
STUPID CALL #1 – Running the ball with only 27 seconds left in the game and no timeouts. At the very least you have the QB roll out with a run/pass option.
STUPID CALL #2 – After making stupid call #1 and getting stopped, you then try to run in multiple substitutes in with the clock almost a 0:00.
STUPID CALL #3 – You watch your opponent make stupid call #1 AND stupid call #2 and as he is literally throwing the game away before your very eyes you decide to try and do multiple substitutions as well.
STUPID CALL #4 – As you make stupid call #3 you forget to keep track of who is going in and who is coming out and end up with 13 players on the field and end up costing yourself the game.
I have never seen anything like that in my life and I do not think I ever will again. After watching that (plus all his other late game blunders) and then his completely incoherent post game interview (plus all this other strange interviews) I have finally come to the conclusion that Les Miles is out of his mind. The guy is really mentally unbalanced. He is a complete lunatic AND HE IS GETTING PAID OVER THREE MILLION DOLLARS (!!!). Unbelievable. Even more unbelievable is the Derek Dooley manage to top his end of game blunders. A tough year at Tennessee just keeps getting worse.
5. Florida will win the East but they are not the powerhouse they have been. Urban Meyer also showed once again why coaches that run their entire offense out of the shotgun formation are stubborn and they are wrong. I stated earlier that sometimes you cannot trick a guy, you have to man up and run right at him. I would add to that that you also need to get under center at those moments. BUT NOOOOOOO… Meyer, Malzahn and the rest of them just will not do it AND THEY CONTINUE TO GET STOPPED ON 3RD AND 4TH AND 1. Florida drives down to inside the two yard line and they try to run out of the shotgun and they get STUFFED. Yes Tim Tebow was the exception to the rule but he is gone. Cam Newton should be an exception but he has been stopped on 3rd and 1 running out of the shotgun this season as well. Tommy Tuberville had a lot of faults but I saw him run quarterback sneaks from under center at least a hundred times during his decade at Auburn and I do not remember us ever being stopped. I am sure it happened but in a DECADE it did not happen as many times as it happened to Malzahn last season and Florida this season. Back to Saturday, after getting stuffed Florida then tried that ridiculous jump pass that everyone in the world knew was coming. Again, sometimes you have to man up and get it done. Florida had another chance with a 3rd and 1 on their next drive but wussed out and tried a pass that of course did not work. Florida with all their super recruiting classes and great players should be able to line up and get a yard against the Baltimore Ravens defense.
Well I guess this gets me up-to-date. This week is not the monster week the last few have been but there are some interesting matchups. Bama vs. South Carolina will be the headliner followed by LSU vs. Florida, Auburn vs. Kentucky, Arkansas vs. Texas A&M and finally Tennessee vs. Georgia. Hopefully I will be back to review it promptly this coming weekend…
"We still haven't reached our capability. We can't continuously put ourselves in the situation we have been. Sooner or later, our luck will run out." - Cam Newton after the Clemson game
Usually I regret not getting my review out promptly after a game. This time I am not. Saturday's game was definitely a memorable one. I have talked to many Auburn fans who watched the game and that were there. I have read Clemson posts. I have heard a lot of different points of view. After all that I am still having a hard time getting my head around this game. Auburn played terrible, Auburn played great, Clemson played great, Clemson played terrible. I guess I will start with the one thing that everyone can agree on and has mentioned about the game. It was a very hard hitting game and one of the toughest I have seen in awhile. I felt good about the game going in. I did not think Clemson could start with a couple of cupcakes and then come into Jordan Hare and do that. I was wrong. Clemson came in and punched Auburn in the mouth. They staggered the home team and nearly knocked them out.
However they did not and Auburn pulled off a memorable comeback on a sweltering September Saturday night. It was certainly a tale of two haves. Auburn was nearly as good in the second half as they were bad in the first half. Clemson was the opposite. I guess to start off with you have to break down this game into it's basic elements. Auburn played a good team that started really well. Auburn started really bad and got behind 17-0. Auburn rallied to win. Auburn has to be a good team to do that. Those are basic truths you have to accept about Saturday night despite all the bad things that happened as well. Again, Auburn played a good team that started really well. Auburn started really bad and got behind 17-0. Auburn rallied to win. Auburn has to be a good team to do that. With that said let's break it down...
THE GOOD
The good was basically the second half where Auburn scored three touchdowns and held Clemson to just one. Auburn scored on the bomb to Zachary, Darvin Adams magnificent catch and got a touchdown run from Ontario McCallebb. I can see the blame for Auburn's offensive troubles starting to be placed on Cam Newton. He is not great at reading the defense, finding the open receiver and delivering the ball quickly. However I think we can do a lot with him regardless but more on that later. Cam Newton, even with the two awful interceptions, was still a big reason Auburn came back and won. He was basically bent in half on the bomb to Zachary. Neither of our weak-armed quaterbacks from the last four years would have been able to make that throw. Newton's ability to run also continues to preoccupy the defenses we play thus opening up the big throws he did hit. The offensive line finally got off their butts and started playing ball in the second half and the running backs were able to get untracked a little bit. Adams and Zachary continue to shine when we can get the ball to them.
Defensively while I don't like our philosophy or schemes I love the effort. Our defense stayed after it and finally started giving Clemson problems in the second half. Josh Bynes really stepped up at middle linebacker. The hard hit that Fairley and McNeil put on Kyle Parker really turned the game around. The first job of a coach in my opinion is to get his players to play hard. Our coaches are doing that. However...
THE BAD
I think they could then put these players in a better position to succeed on offense and defense. Defensively, Chizik and Roof have stated both in action and words that their philosophy is not to give up big plays and to keep everything in front of them and make other teams drive the length of the field. This usually involves playing way off the ball and giving up a lot of yardage on short passes. Auburn then usually makes adjustments, occasionally blitzes and gets a few stops. However, would it not help the team overall to play a more aggressive style of defense? The defense could then maybe get a few three-and-outs and let our offense do their thing and tire out the other defense. Now of course we would give up more big plays ala Will Muschamp. However that would get our offense back on the field and not subject our defense to staying out there so long getting dinked to death.
I just do not understand it. A more aggressive defense would fit in more with our supposed goals of being a more aggressive offense. Instead we seem to make it the worst of both worlds by keeping our offense on the bench longer and keeping our still thin defense on the field longer. This is also exacerbated by the fact our offense if played according to our supposed goals will keep the defense on the field more anyway. It just does not make sense to me. I would rather bring our guys up and let them play more aggressively and go for the three-and-out. They will give up a few but I think we would be more effective than we are now.
I have the same lack of understanding for our current offensive philosophy. Why line up in the shotgun if you are going to run the ball 47 times??? Regardless of the proliferation of the spread offense and so many teams running their offenses out of the shotgun, it is still a passing formation. You cannot convince me that you would not be better off having a fullback and a tight end blocking instead of a couple of wide receivers. There is also the fact that Auburn has about a dozen wide receivers on scholarship and are bringing in more. Yet we do not use but two of them... just like a regular I-formation team.
I do not like the spread, I do not like running our offense out of the shotgun, etc... HOWEVER if you are going to do it, THEN DO IT. Again, I know everyone is blaming our lack of a passing game on Newton but there is a ton of high-percentage passing plays that he could do now and would give more touches to our many great wide receiver prospects. After the last two games it appears that Chizik is tightening up and putting the cuffs on the offense that he committed to like Tommy Tuberville did before him.
THE UGLY
Ugly is what could happen if the team does not heed Cam Newton's quote I started this post with. This game reminds me a little of the 1990 Auburn vs. Florida St game. I was there, I was a student. The game was similar to this one. It was a hard fought win over a tough ACC team with an exciting finish. The team was a little similar to this in that it was talented but could not put it all together. Auburn had not lost a game and would soon rise to #4 in the country. Unfortunately like Cam Newton's states above, the 1990 team's luck ran out. They got destroyed by Florida 48-7, beaten at home by Brett Farve and Southern Miss and then upset by an inferior Bama team.
I agree with Cam and see this team having the same fate if they do not play or get COACHED to their capability. They cannot continue to be so inconsistent each game. They coaches especially one Gus Malzahn have to put them in good situations with some creative playcalling. I cannot believe I am saying that about Malzahn but our offense seems to basically consist of a small amount of plays. I am like a lot of other people that are wondering where are the slants, screens and other short passes? Why can't the defense play a little more aggressive and make the offense go over them rather than dinking them to death?
AROUND THE SEC
Arkansas took a huge step beating Georgia in Athens. They certainly appear to be the #2 team in the West right now. We will see how good they are this week as they meet the Bama juggernaut. Bama, Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky all took care of business. Tennessee put up a good fight against the Gators but again just did not have enough to stay with them. I guess I will say each week how shocking the situation at Tennessee is. This Mississippi schools had a tough weekend. Mississippi State made a lot of mistakes and LSU took full advantage. Meanwhile Ole Miss' season is officially circling the drain as they got hammered by Vanderbilt at home. Couple that with the Jacksonville State loss and you have an ugly season that is only going to get worse. I think that even Houston Nutt is going to have a tough time getting an upset win or two with this team.
The game of the week will be Bama vs. Arkansas in Fayettville. Arkansas is one of the only teams that might have enough offensive firepower and coaching to make it close against Bama. An upset would rock the SEC race and the polls. A Bama win would be another decisive step toward another SEC title. South Carolina vs. Auburn is the other big conference game this week. South Carolina could take a huge step toward their first SEC East title with a win at Auburn. An Auburn win will have them at 5-0 going into Kentucky in two weeks.
Another interesting game will be Kentucky at Florida. This is usually a laugher but Kentucky is a solid team with a couple of big-time playmakers. They actually have a chance of upsetting Florida this year. It will definitely be a game to keep an eye on. The only other conference game features Mark Richt trying to get that first conference win at Mississippi State. I think he will. State's quarterbacks continue to let them down.
