Saturday, October 30, 2010

Week 8 Review - 2/3rds Perfect

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. 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The ONLY way to review a game (plus other notes)...

Kudos to Rob Pate at Eyes On Auburn for using my favorite format of reviewing gamesOn 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.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Week 7 Review - One For The Ages

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...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Week 6 Review - A Perfect Saturday

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.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Week 4 and 5 Review - Superman has returned




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…