Game 6 Review: Back To Barfield

Ole Miss 41 Auburn 20.  I knew this year was a total bust last week after losing to Arkansas.  I knew the Gene Chizik era really came to end last week.  However I had the feeling all week that Auburn would rally this week when it was really too late.  I figured they would win one or both of these games against Ole Miss and Vandy.  I mean we beat Ole Miss in 1998 and that team was actually worse talent-wise than this team.  I knew we were bad and the coaching was really bad.  However as bad as I saw things last week I never thought we would go 0-8 in the SEC.  After the loss yesterday that scenario now looks more probable than just possible.  From national champions to winless in the conference in two short years.  That really does take some coaching. 

The last coach to do it at Auburn was the infamous Doug Barfield who replaced Auburn icon Ralph "Shug" Jordan as head football coach in 1976.  Barfield went winless in the SEC in 1980.  A friend of mine keeps remarking how much things now resemble the 1970s and after yesterday I agree even more.  In 1980, not only did Auburn go winless in the conference but Bama had just won back-to-back mythical national championships in 1978 and 1979 and was on top of the world.  Things looked very bleak at Auburn and that is how things are looking today.  Fortunately for Auburn we made a great hire to replace Doug Barfield and Coach Pat Dye came in and saved the day as I chronicled in a post I wrote earlier this summer.

The coaching hire we make at the end of this season will be almost as critical.  Let us pray that the incompetent boob who is currently running Auburn athletics into the ground is not the one making the decision.  I had a lot of conversations this past week on Gene Chizik's job security.  I thought the question was answered last week but I just did not think the powers-that-be would pull the trigger on Chizik this year.  After yesterday I do not see how we can keep him.  I mean when Auburn football becomes Ole Miss' homecoming fodder then it is time for a change.

It all started with naming proven failure Clint Moseley the starter on Friday and ended with the him tossing a brutal interception that gave Ole Miss their last touchdown.  I am not blaming Moseley, I am sure he is doing his best.  Unfortunately he ought be backing up the starting quarterback at Samford.  It is the coaches at Auburn that turned to him for the second year in a row hoping he could bail them out.  It is the coaches that recruited Kiehl Frazier, a five-star USA Today High School Player of the Year, and turned him into a joke.

Oh I am sorry, Kiehl Frazier was "hurt" and that is why Moseley was in there.  It was amazing how the "injuries" started piling up yesterday.  They always seem to do that in years like these.  Auburn may have some injuries but none that would have changed the course of this season.  That is all on the "coaching" done by this group at Auburn.  In 1998 when Auburn went 3-8 overall and 1-7 in conference, Auburn literally had nothing on offense.  I do not think there is one game that team lost that I thought they should have won.  That is not true of this team.  This team is good enough to beat Arkansas and Ole Miss.  It should be good enough to be Vanderbilt.

I guess at this point I should talk a little about the actual game.  I can talk about Moseley coming out looking pretty good throwing short passes (which is all he throws as anyone knows who has watched him play).  I could talk about Ole Miss seeing that and adjusting in the second half.  I could talk about continuing to run the majority of the plays from three-wide sets.  I could talk about the continuing avalanche of idiotic penalties.  I could talk about the defense's continuing problems against spread offenses.  I could talk about a bad snap giving Ole Miss a touchdown.  I could talk about bad tackling for the billionth time this season.  I could talk about Auburn getting outscored 62-3 in the fourth quarter this season.  I could talk about all that but frankly I am tired of talking about it.  Also I am sure I will get another chance next week. 

I have never seen a three game stretch quite like this one.  It is another big one next week at Vandy.  Last week against Arkansas Auburn played to salvage the season.  This week against Ole Miss Auburn played to save Chizik's job.  This coming week against Vandy Auburn will play to avoid going winless in conference.  Unfortunately after the last two weeks I do not see Auburn winning this game.  I cannot believe I am saying that about the Vanderbilt game.  I guess that shows how bad this season really is.  I think Vandy is better than Ole Miss and I saw them fighting tooth-and-nail against Florida last night.  Auburn has some players fighting hard but overall they look fractured and leaderless.  I am starting to worry about the New Mexico State and Alabama A&M games.

That is the sad thing.  We just hit the halfway point of the season.  This team has already proven there is no bottom.  Whatever your worst scenario is for next week and the rest of the season this team can top it.  That was certainly true yesterday.  I never envisioned us losing 41-20.  I am already starting to cringe thinking about how many points Texas A&M, Georgia and Bama could roll up on us.  Those games get progressively harder and unless something changes the team as a whole will have quit.  From national champions to this in less than two years.  It is simply unbelievable.