Week 6 Review: Grounded

Arkansas 38 Auburn 14.  The loss was not as hard to take as watching Auburn's passing game literally die on the table in front of us.  Most people did not expect this young rebuilding Auburn team to sweep two tough SEC games on the road.  As I said in my last post, getting one was huge.  However having a passing game this bad while employing the highest paid assistant in the country to coach the quarterback position is completely unacceptable.  I could say almost the same thing for the wide receiver position.  Yes I know Emory Blake is out but as I have pointed out before we have PLENTY of other scholarship wide receivers that are not freshman.  To the breakdown...

THE GOOD  BAD #1
The defense did play well in spots getting some big stops.  Arkansas scored several times off of hideous Auburn interceptions that were not the defense's fault.  However I cannot give a passing grade to a unit that gave up a 92 yard run (the longest in Arkansas history) to a wide receiver and allowed the opposing quarterback to complete 18 passes in a row.  It was also a sobering moment when ESPN flashed up the graphic that Auburn was dead last in the conference in every major defensive category.  That is just hard to take.  I will say the defensive effort might have still been enough to get a win behind a better offense.

THE BAD #2
Auburn would have lost this game even if the game had been called fair.  Let me make that clear.  However I will still point out that this game was horribly called.  Auburn did commit the majority of the holds it was called for but Arkansas committed the same holds and was NOT called for them.  There was a sickeningly obvious one not called on the big 92 yard run and several more just as obvious.  Auburn was called for 11 penalties for 105 yards while Arkansas was only whistled 4 times for 26 yards.  Yeh RIGHT.  Give me a break.  Auburn committed all of those holds while Arkansas played completely clean.  I think all of Arkansas' penalties were also called in the first quarter till Petrino started taking the ref's heads off.  No more calls on Arkansas were made after that.  Pathetic job.

THE BAD #3
It got to be kind of funny when my buddy kept texting me when we got the ball "Dyer on first down".  Talk about predictable.  I know we could not pass but good night call something different.  I mean we were beyond predictable.  We also run the majority of our running plays to the right side.  Arkansas obviously figured it out because the whole team would be on top of Dyer by the time he got to the line of scrimmage in the second half.  However we still ground out almost 300 yards on the ground although I would not expect that number again except against Samford if our passing game does not improve which leads me to...

THE UGLY
Barrett Trotter is fourth year junior and has been in the Malzahn system for three years.  There is absolutely no excuse for Auburn's passing game being this bad.  DeAngelo Benton, Q. Carr and Travante Stallworth are all upperclassmen and have had plenty of experience.  There is absolutely no excuse for Auburn's passing game being this bad.   Both of these positions are again coached by some of the highest paid assistants in the country.  There is absolutely no excuse for Auburn's passing game being this bad.

Trotter started out looking pretty good this season but has since gotten worse every week bottoming out with this debacle.  Kiehl Frazier, obviously the future, has shown flashes of brilliance running the ball but proved without a doubt that he is not close to ready by throwing two really ugly interceptions.  Couple that with the abysmal receiving and you have, as a buddy of mine pointed out, the worst Auburn passing game since Gabe Gross in 1998 and THAT is saying something.  I am most disgusted with Benton who we have heard about over and over for three years.  He missed a pass that hit him in the gut and one in the hands (that was then intercepted) and was called twice for holding. 

Where do we go from here?  Do we make the same mistake we made in 2007 and throw the true freshman out there when he is not ready?  Do we stick with Trotter?  Do we give Clint Moseley a shot?  I think Frazier should stay the change-of-pace of quarterback.  He is doing fine in that role.  I know the coaches do not want to have a quarterback controversy and get another quarterback involved but that is where we are at.  We cannot shut down the passing game and Trotter is not getting the job done.  Clint Moseley is the backup.  If the race was sooo close as the coaches went on and on about during the spring and fall then Moseley should definitely get a shot.  He has also spent several years under Malzahn.  If he does not do anything put back in Trotter.  At this point we cannot do any worse than we did last night.  I do not think we can mess up Trotter anymore than he is right now.

My guess though is that the coaches will stick with Trotter and hope that he can pull himself out of his tailspin as Brandon Cox did in 2007.  Cox though had a track record of success while Trotter has gotten worse each game he has started in.  Again I understand that nobody wants to be in this situation but unfortunately we are and we have to be able to throw the ball a little bit to win football games.  The coaches need to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

UP NEXT
A big big game.  Florida comes limping in to Jordan Hare after back-to-back beatdowns from the top two teams in the country.  They are having quarterback problems as well but their problems are because of injury.  Auburn REALLY needs to get this win.  It would give Auburn a winning season if they can beat Ole Miss and Samford as well.  At this point I do not see Auburn beating LSU, Bama or Georgia.  Georgia looks much improved.  I am heading down to the plains for the first time this season for the game so I will have an eyewitness review for next week...