First, I thought Jay Tate at the HABOTN had the best (and first) good take on the game. I would also like to say Tate has really stepped up his game this year and has become the best Auburn beat blogger. His first point was Auburn cannot play big-boy football right now and I think he is spot on. His second take is a prediction that we will see major changes on the defensive side of the ball. He is the first one to say that and I think he is right there as well. I sure appreciate a beat guy that will post some opinions.
There is really not that much to say at this point. All of the problems Auburn has that caused this blowout have been evident all season and I have hit them over and over. Again, problems can be easily seen even by a fan if you always look at the team compared to achieving that first goal for an SEC team. I always look at an Auburn team and see if they are good enough to win the SEC West and then I look and see if that team will be good enough to win the SEC West the next season. Auburn will not be good enough to win the SEC West next season. As I have posted over and over, Auburn would not have a winning season this year if South Carolina and Florida had anything resembling a decent quarterback.
The number one problem as I have said over and over is Auburn is weak in the trenches. I see a few young guys on the defensive line that might be good and some redshirts that might help on the offensive line. Unless there are some real superstars in that group that is not going to be near enough. What do all these guys have in common? Lee Ziemba, Ryan Pugh, Mike Berry, Byron Isom, Mike Blank, Zach Clayton, Antonine Carter, Nick Fairley... All of them but Nick Fairley came to Auburn Mike Shula's last year at Bama. Fairley was initially recruited by Tuberville as well. Again, as I have said over and over again, Gene Chizik has brought in some nice recruiting classes BUT NOT NEAR ENOUGH LINEMEN.
Tommy Tuberville definitely deserves a lot of blame for our current predicament as he brought in next to no linemen his last two years. However Gene Chizik has had three full recruiting classes to address this problem and did not get it done. Football especially SEC football is won IN THE TRENCHES. Cam Newton is great but he also had great blocking and that is how you win championships. Auburn has not had a really good linemen class since 2006 and that is now almost six years ago. At this point, other than maybe Reese Dismukes and Corey Lemonier, Gene Chizik has not been able to produce any good linemen and neither of those two are tackles. Things do not look like they are going to change dramatically anytime soon.
The number two problem has been evident for three years now. Our defensive coaches are not very good. There is no other way to say it. They were horrible two years ago and horrible against anybody any good this year. They were even bad a lot of the time with a great defensive line last year. The proof is in the results. Auburn has had some good defensive coordinators, we know what it looks like. Our offensive coaches have not been much better when they do not have Cam Newton. However unlike their defensive counterparts they have shown they can get the job done when they have talent.
I would like to add one more note here. You can add our linebackers to both problems. First they are part of the equation in the trenches as part of the defensive front seven. They are also proof of the second problem as they are one of the weakest units on the field. Good defensive coordinators do a good job with their specific units and Ted Roof has not. However I will say he does not have a whole lot to work with. For the life of me I do not understand why we have not been able to recruit many good linebackers over the last decade. It is so frustrating. It is just about as frustrating watching Auburn put safety after safety up to play linebacker.
So in summary, AUBURN NEEDS TO GO OUT AND RECRUIT BIG STRONG LINEMEN AND LINEBACKERS AND GET AS MANY AS POSSIBLE. That will not fix things in the short term but it is what has to be done. Second, Auburn needs to upgrade the coaching on the defensive side of the ball. With the money Auburn is paying defensive coaches it should be getting A LOT more for its money. The offensive coaches better step it up as well since Auburn is paying them even more. It is also important to remember that the buck stops with Gene Chizik. He did a great job last year but you cannot rest on your laurels in the SEC or you get steamrolled. Just like what will happen one more time this season in two weeks...
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