Auburn 45 Florida Atlantic 10. Auburn finished out their non-conference schedule with a beatdown of the Owls from Florida Atlantic. Employing a devastating rushing attack Auburn built a 21-0 lead right out of the gate. They piled on another 17 points in the second quarter and the game was over. Auburn ran inside and out with ease. By the end of the game ten different people had run with the ball for Auburn. The rushing attack was initially led by quarterback Nick Marshall and Auburn's three-headed monster at running back of Cameron Artis-Payne, Corey Grant and Tre Mason plus a reverse to Ricardo Louis. Auburn finished the game with Kiehl Frazier, Jonathan Wallace, Jonathan Ford and even some Chandler Shakespeare. Jeremy Johnson also ran the ball a few times.
There is really not a whole lot more to say about this game so I will keep this tight...
THE GOOD
This would be the aforementioned rushing attack. Obviously a whole lot of credit has to go to the boys up front and last night that was Greg Robinson, Tunde Fariyike, Reese Dismukes, Chad Slade and Avery Young. Auburn now has one of the best rushing attacks statistically in the nation. Of course the Owls like Western Carolina and Texas A&M's league worse defense did not offer much resistance. In the coming weeks we will see how good Auburn's rushing attack really is.
Also on the good side would be quarterback Jeremy Johnson's performance in relief of an injured Nick Marshall. Johnson tossed a 36 yard touchdown pass to Sammie Coates on his first play and found Coates again a few minutes later for a 67 yard touchdown pass. Johnson finished 10 of 16 for 192 yards with those two touchdowns and one interception. Coates finished with over a 100 yards receiving as well for the second straight game. Marcus Davis was the leader in receptions with four.
The defense played very well holding Florida Atlantic under 250 total yards as did the special teams outside punt returns. Auburn only had a few injuries with Nick Marshall going out and had Marcus Davis down. I believe both are OK but you won't really know till next week. Marshall was seen laughing and cutting up on the sidelines so you have to think he is not hurt too bad. Guard Alex Kozan sat this game out but it sounded like he should be ready to go next week.
THE BAD
In my opinion, the bad of this game was Gus Malzahn's decision to not get Nick Marshall any reps in the passing game. Yes he got hurt on his second drop back of the night but let us be clear here, the guy still needs a lot of work on his passing game. Marshall hit some big passes last week against Texas A&M but finished with an under 50% completion percentage. Auburn did not attempt one pass in the first quarter??? Auburn's rushing game has proved itself and there was no doubt Auburn would get plenty of reps running the ball.
I have already pointed out several times how Malzahn did this in 2011. Auburn would just run the ball and get the win and not work on the passing game any. Auburn would then fail miserably in the big games when they needed to pass the ball. Auburn can not just run the ball to beat several of their remaining opponents, they will need to hit some crucial throws. Marshall has made enough of those throws so far but again I still think he needs as many reps throwing the ball as he can get. Auburn wasted a good opportunity to get him some of those reps last night.
Also, I think it hurts recruiting to look so one dimensional. I know Jeremy Johnson got to throw some balls later but you make a hell of a first impression to any quarterback or wide receiver recruits when you don't throw a pass in the first quarter. Another thing that makes it so frustrating is we did it right with Cam Newton. Malzahn used some of those nothing games to let Newton work on his passing game. Cam did not run the ball in those games.
The only other bad thing I saw in this game was the punt returner. First, Chris Davis is arguably our best and most valuable defensive player and we are taking the chance of getting him hurt again returning punts. We have a dozen wide receivers that would not be as big a loss that should be able to get the job done. Second, Davis did a terrible job last night. First he caught a punt he should not have going back into the end zone. Yes he made a good run after that but it was still a terrible decision. Next, he tried to run one back and got popped. He could have gotten a concussion and been out the next week or so. Finally he fumbled one. Jason Bray did not look any better but he is just not as valuable as Davis.
THE UGLY
The ugly I will point out today is the Bama vs. Tennessee "rivalry". I know Auburn has not fared well against Bama the last couple of years but Tennessee has now lost seven in a row with six of them being blowouts. I know the series is dominated by winning streaks by one team or the other but this has to be one of the ugliest steaks for Tennessee in its history.
Of course, when Bama can get away with anything, it doesn't help any of us. Safety Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix returned last week with little to no attention at all. Again as I posted a few weeks ago, it is hypocritical, biased and unfair. Again, if any Auburn player had been busted taking an "illegal loan" from an ACTUAL EMPLOYEE OF THE UNIVERSITY then all hell would have broke lose. He certainly would not have been back after two games.
THE LAST WORD
Auburn's destiny lies in it's own hands and is playing and feeling good. The toughest part of the season though starts this week as Auburn ends the season with four straight conference games. Auburn goes on the road against Arkansas and Tennessee and returns home for Georgia and Bama. A lot of Auburn fans are already chalking up the wins but Auburn is still not quite good enough to just show up and get the win. It is always tough on the road in the SEC. A good example would be Cam and the national championship team. Auburn barely beat Mississippi State 17-14 and Kentucky 37-34 on the road. Those were two of the worst teams Auburn played in-conference that year.
The same can be said of Arkansas and Tennessee. These are both trap games but hopefully Coach Malzahn will keep the Tigers focused like he has the rest of the season. I think Auburn should be able to outscore the Razorbacks. I think Auburn has a lot more weapons but weather could be a factor. More than one Auburn team has had to play in some tough weather out in Fayetteville. November football is here and the Auburn Tigers have put themselves in position to make this one exciting month...
Talk about a Saturday to remember for the underdog... It started early in the day in the SEC East: Missouri 36 Florida 17, Vanderbilt 27 Georgia 24 and finally Tennessee 23 South Carolina 21. It spread to the SEC West where in the game of the day it was Auburn 45 Texas A&M 41. It ended late in the night with Ole Miss 27 LSU 24. Unfortunately Arkansas could not join the party but Auburn's win was so big it really did not matter this Saturday. I cannot remember a Saturday where the underdog dominated like this in conference games. However I do remember losing my mind watching Auburn games and it was good to be back.
Even in Auburn's long and storied history they have not won too many road shootouts like that. The first one that comes to mind for me was against Florida State in 1984 but Auburn was not near as big a underdog in that one. The 1994 Florida game might be a closer comparison. Auburn was able to get enough stops against a great quarterback and offense in that game because of an outstanding effort on the defensive line and that is exactly what happened yesterday against the Aggies. That is of course along with one of the great offensive efforts in Auburn history.
The Auburn offense was better yesterday than pretty much the best offense in college football. Texas A&M has one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Johnny Manziel, the best receiver in college football in Mike Evans and one of the best offensive minds in the game in coach Kevin Summerlin. The Auburn offense led by a relentless rushing attack was more balanced, gained a few more yards, had a few more minutes of possession and most important had a few more points.
Auburn had close to 400 yards rushing and as I have stated before when you rush for 400 yards against somebody you take their manhood. Texas A&M has one of the worst defensive units in the conference but even considering that Auburn's offensive effort yesterday was incredible. It starts up front and Auburn's offensive line paved the way aided by juggernaut Jay Prosch. Auburn's offensive line was filled with potential but the jury was still out on them starting the season. The verdict is in and it is good. At running back, Tre Mason continues to amaze and show he is another great one at "Running Back U". Mason has unbelievable balance and just will not go down. He turned in his best performance to date with 178 yards on 27 carries yesterday.
Nick Marshall is not Cam Newton but he is also not Chris Todd, Barrett Trotter or Clint Moseley. He is a playmaker and he made a ton more yesterday. I have never seen a guy who could overthrow a pass by 20 yards and then come back the next play and deliver a beautiful pass Peyton Manning would have a hard time throwing. Marshall also delivered with his legs putting up his second consecutive 100 yard rushing effort. He also showed his mettle again converting time and time again under pressure. Sammie Coates shrugged off a horrible late first half drop to be Auburn's best at wide receiver grabbing over 100 yards and a big touchdown.
The play of the day though for me was Marshall to Marcus Davis on a critical 3rd and 9 on the game-winning touchdown drive. It was a pass and catch I will not soon forget. Marcus Davis has already caught more critical passes as a true freshman than most Auburn receivers have caught in their entire careers. I hope Marcus keeps to the straight and narrow and has a great career at Auburn. Juggernaut Jay Prosch might have had the next biggest catch rumbling for 56 yards. Talk about a special player, Prosch is a huge reason this offense has been so successful.
I felt like I had been put through the wringer after that game. The defense did enough to win but it was certainly tough to watch in some spots. A couple of times A&M scored in the blink of an eye. You also just cannot let one receiver gain almost 300 yards. On the flip side, it was killing me watching the defense get stops in the first half and our offense not capitalize. I hated giving up that touchdown at halftime. I know Coates should have had that ball but I think it would have been much smarter to run the ball 3 times and hopefully get that first down and start the second half even.
Let me also address the controversial "horse collar" no-call at the end of the game. That probably was a horse collar by Kris Frost at the end but Texas A&M fans have zero and I mean zero grounds for complaining after their team got away with some egregious holding in that game. I know the SEC doesn't call holding anymore and that is one thing but I do not think A&M was called one time all day for holding and that was beyond ridiculous. I was losing my mind watching some of the holding they were getting away with. Let me also say that is why Auburn fans have been calling for Kris Frost, the guy ran down Johnny Manziel one-on-one in the open field.
This game has so many snapshots to remember... Nick Marshall's touchdown runs, Ryan White's goal line interception, big runs by Corey Grant and Ricardo Louis, Jay Prosch rumbling down the field, Sammie Coates bursting through for a touchdown, Manziel down, the huge pass to Marcus Davis, Tre Mason pounding away and stretching for that game winning touchdown. This was truly a Saturday to remember. I have tried not to talk about last year much once this season started but this is a time to do that. Texas A&M humiliated us last year in our house. It is hard to describe how far this Auburn team has come to beat those same Aggies on the road this year.
I, for one, have remained skeptical but there is no denying now what is happening down on the plains. This Auburn team is coming together and is improving every week. They are a team to be reckoned with now by anybody. Auburn will now be favored at Arkansas and Tennessee. Those games especially Tennessee will not be easy on the road. Auburn is still not good enough to take teams for granted but with that said there is a good chance Auburn could be 9-1 coming home to play both Georgia and Bama. The impossible dream is starting to be whispered about.
How far can these guys go? That will be the story of the rest of this amazing football season. I cannot tell you how far these guys can go but I can tell you they have already come a long way, longer than most thought, including myself. This team is becoming one of those special Auburn teams that comes out of nowhere, rising from the ashes. These teams are a big part of what makes Auburn so special. It is good to be a part of one again.
Auburn 62 Western Carolina 3. Those that know me or have read this blog for any amount of time know that I prefer to stay realistic and not get carried away. In fact I state in my very first post on this blog that "what finally pushed me over the edge is all of the sunshine pumpers... I have been accused of being negative but as all pessimists say, we are not negative but realistic (-: Honestly though I try to keep a fair common sense view of things." With all that said, there is no stopping the Auburn Nation after this weekend. I will not even try fellow Auburn fans... let the optimism flow baby.
I think after the last two years Auburn fans deserve a good week in the sun.
So many things good happened yesterday that Auburn fans will be buzzing about this week... Auburn goes video game against Western Carolina on Homecoming; Georgia goes down hard to Missouri; South Carolina runs Arkansas out of their own stadium and finally Ole Miss almost upsets vaunted Texas A&M. The same Ole Miss Auburn crushed last weekend. Everything looks possible. Auburn could upset Texas A&M next week. Auburn definitely could beat Arkansas and Tennessee on the road after that. Auburn might now even be favored against Georgia at home. Finally maybe just maybe if Auburn is that good then they have a chance in the Iron Bowl. It all seems to be coming together.
I will not rain on the parade... too much. I will just say that it is always dangerous taking too much out of comparing games against common opponents. Arkansas under various coaches has risen up from seemingly nowhere to play great games against Auburn. Texas A&M would have probably won last night fairly comfortably without a couple of critical turnovers. Georgia has won six out of the last seven games against us, most of them being blow outs. They can never be underestimated. Finally, Bama is still the #1 team in the land (albeit against the easiest schedule ever with not one game against the top four teams in the SEC East).
The bottom line though is that there is a LOT more hope out there than we started the season with and that is a good thing. Gus Malzahn's "New Day" has dawned with a lot of hard work and a little luck and it is great to enjoy Auburn football again. My father-in-law was kind enough to order the game yesterday on PPV and invite me over. My interest ratcheted up a whole when I heard Jeremy Johnson would be starting at quarterback.
Some friends and I kind of debated all week on whether Auburn should pull the redshirt off Johnson or not. However in the end the answer was obvious. There was no way Malzahn was going to let there be a chance of having to play against Georgia or Bama with Jonathan Wallace. That would only drag a piece of last year into this year and bring everyone down. Auburn will not beat anybody any good with Jonathan Wallace and Nick Marshall as proven last week can easily get hurt. Nobody wants to watch Jonathan Wallace play outside his family and friends. Add to that the fact that Jeremy Johnson is good enough to play and might soon be our best quarterback and it was a no-brainer.
This was probably the best time to bring him in as well as this is basically the first easy game Auburn has had. Arkansas State was a solid team and Nick Marshall desperately needed the reps at that point in the season. Johnson appeared ready and turned in one of the better opening performances by a quarterback in Auburn history going 17 for 21 for 200 yards and four touchdowns. He did throw a couple of bad passes including an ugly interception but for the most part looked great. Now let me say that I have watched Auburn play a lot of patsies over the last 35 years but I have not seen many worse than Western Carolina. I think Hoover High School might have given Auburn a better game.
The only negative on the game was the defense letting these bums even get in field goal range. Fortunately the offense more than made up for it setting school and SEC records while still playing every single person on the bench. Let me put it this way, Chandler Shakespeare had the most rushing attempts on the day. Auburn piled up over 700 yards on offense with 500 of it on the ground including over 100 each for both Tre Mason and Cameron Artis-Payne. Ricardo Louis was the big receiver of the day with Sammie Coates held out.
A beautiful Homecoming down on the plains where they also honored the 1963 Auburn football team. That team went 9-1 led by Auburn greats Jimmy Sidle and Tucker Fredrickson. Sidle rushed for over 1000 yards that season and Auburn beat Bama with Bear Bryant and Joe Namath and played Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Their only loss came to Mississippi State when Auburn turned the ball over going for a win instead of a tie late in the game. Interestingly enough and detailed in the book by David Housel this blog is named after, Auburn beat Bama in 1963 behind backup Mailon Kent after Sidle got hurt early in the game.
Hopefully Auburn now has their backup ready or more ready. I think Nick Marshall will be back for Texas A&M and hopefully so will the players that were held out of this game for injuries and rule violations (Patrick Miller and Brandon Fulse). The countdown is on for what has now become one of the most highly anticipated games of the season. It is a lot bigger for me, that is for sure. I would still bet on the Aggies but Auburn has a chance to win this game and that is a lot more than I thought they had at the start of the season. Let the optimism flow baby... War Eagle.
I have been meaning to post something regarding the completely hypocritical, biased and unfair way college football is governed and covered by the media. I really have a hard time finding the words when situations like Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel are made a continuing story for almost six months each if not more and immediately investigated while similar situations are completely ignored, most of them being at the University of Alabama.
My first point is not even if Bama is guilty, it is just simply seeing them and the allegations against them investigated by the media like the allegations against Auburn.
Auburn was crushed thousands and thousands of times all over media outlets during the Cam Newton saga and then repeatedly attacked (with full ESPN coverage) multiple times since then with not a shred of proof to back up the allegations made. Meanwhile there is so much smoke at Bama you can hardly see the campus and any story no matter how big is gone in a matter of days if that long.
The next question is obviously if any of these allegations will be investigated by the NCAA? It does not appear so. Now that Bama has trouble, it is really not time to apply the rules. It is time to get philosophical and talk about how players really should be paid and how the NCAA is just not working. When crushing Cam Newton and Auburn was the rage there was only talk of crime and punishment. That has also happened on many other high profile cases outside Tuscaloosa and it is unbelievable all these schools and the national media will say nothing.
Ohio State was crushed yet Bama is not investigated for T-Town Menswear which appeared to be similar allegations. USC was stripped of it's national title for using an ineligible player, Reggie Bush, that took money from an agent. It appears Bama won the 2011 NCAA title using an ineligible player, DJ Fluker, that took money from an agent yet it appears nothing will come from it. That particular allegation appears to have the most proof but again, crickets.
Anyway I could go on but the people at the Never To Yield Foundation have done a better job than I could ever do. This post: "WHERE THERE'S FIRE, THERE'S FIRE" is literally the best summary of the allegations and incidents that have occurred in Tuscaloosa since Nick $aban took over I have ever seen. Please take the time and check this post out, you certainly won't read about it anywhere else...
Auburn 30 Ole Miss 22. The 2013 Auburn Tiger football team took another big step toward redemption last night. One of the definitions of redemption is: "the act of making something better or more acceptable". After last night, I think one can definitely say these players and coaches are making Auburn football something better and more acceptable. It began in the trenches as Auburn simply whipped Ole Miss on both sides of the ball at the line of scrimmage. It has been a long time since we have seen the Auburn lines do that. Now Ole Miss is obviously not Bama but this is a huge step in the right direction. Here is "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" from last night...
THE GOOD
As I just mentioned, all of the good started up front on both sides of the ball. The Auburn offense started the game by simply running the ball down Ole Miss' throat. Quarterback Nick Marshall behind the Auburn offensive line was simply devastating running the read option and rushing for 140 yards on 14 carries. Tre Mason and Cameron Aris-Payne added plenty more and Auburn rushed for almost 300 yards. Auburn's passing numbers were not near as good but Auburn was running so well that it was not needed as much.
I definitely thought Coach Gus Malzahn got a little too conservative late in the second half. It is a little different when you are the HEAD coach at this level and you are in position to win a big game. Everyone always jumps the defensive head coaches like Tuberville but even the offensive coaches like Malzahn pucker up as well. I understand not doing anything stupid but I think we could have called a fairly low risk play to burn the Rebels when they are blitzing safeties and cornerbacks. I also would have run some slightly different running plays and not the read option after Marshall started limping. Ole Miss knew he was not going to run.
On the other side of the ball, Auburn completely stuffed the Ole Miss running game especially quarterback Bo Wallace. It was obviously a huge part of the game plan and it worked great. Auburn seemed to be in Wallace's head all night not letting him run, sacking him six times and picking him off twice with the first one being a "pick-6" by Robenson Therezie. Wallace still put up 300 yards passing but other than a few big plays did not have a good night throwing the ball. Auburn also stopped Ole Miss speedster Jeff Scott who did nothing other than one 52 yard run where Auburn almost had him in the backfield.
Kudos to all the guys up front including: Dee Ford, Gabe Wright, Elijah Daniel, Nosa Eague and Carl Lawson in his coming-out party. From al.com: "The defensive line accounted for 12.5 of Auburn's 14 tackles for losses and none may have been bigger than those provided by Lawson. The freshman was in Wallace's face for most of the night and led the Tigers with 3.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The 14 tackles for losses were the most for Auburn since recording 16 against Kentucky in 2004."
THE BAD
There is not too much in this column for this game and that is always nice. Unfortunately though this game was a lot closer than it should have been due to two big Auburn fumbles in the second half. Both drives were started in great field position and could have pretty much put this game away. Auburn had manhandled Ole Miss most of the night and should have won this game going away.
The first one was a little bit on the coaches as Ole Miss blew up the read option that Auburn kept calling over and over. The second one was pretty much a great play by Ole Miss safety Cody Prewitt. I sat there and watched Cameron Artis-Payne try to protect the ball putting both hands over the ball. However it was not enough and obviously a big strong guy like Aris-Payne cannot let that happen but it was a great play by the Ole Miss safety to get it out of there.
THE UGLY
This was seeing linebacker Cassanova McKinzy down on the field and the medics bringing the cart out for him. It is always a reminder that when you get some of the biggest strongest guys on the planet hitting each other bad things can happen. It was a real relief to see McKinzy back on the sideline with just a neck brace. Auburn people are a little more sensitive to this after what happened to defensive back Zach Etheridge a few years ago.
THE FINAL WORD
I think most Auburn fans can let out a big sigh of relief. Auburn has won the two biggest games of the season in beating State and Ole Miss. There were a lot of tough losses last year but getting whipped by both Mississippi schools started the avalanche. Auburn has gained a true measure of redemption by turning that around this year. The state of Mississippi has been conquered and now this Auburn team can go hunt bigger game.
Auburn will beat Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic at home guaranteeing at least a 6-2 home record. Auburn is also now basically bowl eligible. The next goals are grabbing road wins at Arkansas and Tennessee. Tennessee looked much better yesterday but is fixing to go through a really tough stretch of games. I think Auburn has a great chance in those games. Texas A&M has looked mortal this season but I am not sure if we can outscore Johnny Football at home. However this Auburn team, if it keeps improving, might have a chance at a big upset somewhere...
Some thoughts during the 2013 Auburn football team's bye week...
- This is actually the first of two bye weeks each SEC team gets this year. The next one for Auburn will be at the very end of the season before the Bama game. This one however comes at a good time after four games played and a tough road loss. It also comes before Auburn's now most important game of the season after winning against Mississippi State. As a buddy reminded me last week, a successful Auburn season (since the SEC went to divisions) begins with beating both Mississippi teams. It seems extra important this year with every team jockeying for position in the SEC West.
- This game looks like it is going to be a very entertaining shootout with lots of storylines. It is unbelievable that CBS passed on this game to show Georgia whip a troubled Tennessee team. I mean are the ratings really going to be better for that game? Georgia beating LSU was an awesome game and Georgia is shaping up to be the best in the East however Tennessee is awful. They barely got by South Alabama last week and played an extremely ugly game against Florida on CBS two weeks ago (???). I just do not understand it.
- Meanwhile Auburn and Ole Miss, while not contenders both come into the game at 3-1 with some decent wins between them. Both have similar coaches with similar stories that run similar offenses. Both offenses should put up some points in this game. I think it is going to be a shootout considering the defenses. I give Ole Miss the edge at quarterback but I think Auburn has the better running game. The big question is will be which team can get some all-important stops from their defense in the critical situations.
- Auburn expects to get several injured players back on defense. Cornerback Chris Davis would be the most important return. However while Davis and any additional depth is good it kind of cracks me up how some of these Auburn sites make it sound like they are the difference in Auburn having the best defense in the country. Auburn's defense fully healthy has not been that good at any point in the last three seasons. In fact, as Ryan Black from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer pointed out a few days ago...
"After four games, the Tigers find themselves right where they left off last season: Near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference in every major defensive category. Auburn is allowing 439.5 yards per game, which ranks ahead of only Texas A&M in the 14-team SEC. The Tigers also rank 13th in pass defense (267.5) and are just slightly better in the rushing department, giving up 172 yards per game, which is 12th-most in the league."
- So people can analyze and talk about how great certain units and players are but the defense as a whole is simply not getting it done. The games looming against Texas A&M, Georgia and Bama are frightening when you think about how many points they are going to score against Auburn. It is really hard as a long time Auburn fan having to watch bad to mediocre defenses for so long. It seems the last time Auburn had a decently rated defense was in 2007, Will Muschamp's last year as defensive coordinator.
- On the flip side, an Auburn win this weekend would give the Tigers and Gus Malzahn a real shot at eight wins. Auburn should have a great chance to win at Arkansas and Tennessee after watching how those two teams played the last two weeks. This is what all the super positive people have been predicting and wanting from this season. I think it would be great as well although watching us to lose to Georgia and Bama again at home will significantly downgrade the experience. However I think if Auburn gets to a bowl, a lot of Auburn fans will be happy and all the other Auburn sites will point to our glorious guaranteed future. I have also stated that is about the best we can hope for from this year. All that kind of talk though ends for me next year, Auburn has to beat one or more of LSU, Georgia or Bama.
Let's start with the Rebels... War Eagle.
