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.
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...
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