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.
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