Game 12 Review: The Ugly, the Uglier and the Ugliest

Bama 55  Auburn 44.  The 2014 Auburn football team defense is the worst defense on a winning team at Auburn I have ever seen.  They are simply the worst.  They might be the worst of all time.  Like tonight it is not about the numbers, it is about coming through in the clutch and this defense can give up the big play or score at the worst time every time.  I have never seen a worse job of defensive coaching in my life period.  Bad teams put their defenses in bad positions but the Auburn offense put up over 600 yards of TOTAL OFFENSE and over thirty points.  That is not near enough with this defense.  The only thing that stopped Bama on this night was Bama.  Here is my breakdown of this game:

THE UGLY
The Auburn defense in the first quarter.

THE UGLIER
The Auburn defense in the second quarter.

THE UGLIEST
The Auburn defense in the second half.

Here are the totals for this pathetic unit in our last six SEC games: Mississippi State had 469 yards of offense and 38 points, South Carolina had 535 yards of offense and 42 points, Ole Miss had 485 yards of offense and 31 points, Texas A&M had 457 yards of offense and 41 points, Georgia had 412 yards of offense and 34 points and finally the Pièce de résistance in Tuscaloosa tonight where Bama had 541 yards of offense and 55 points.  Auburn was also 2-4 in those games.

Gus Malzahn will not fire any of these defensive coaches so there will plenty more of this next year.  I also think that if anyone thinks a few new players or the return of Carl Lawson will change things they are sorely mistaken.  The game has clearly passed these coaches by.  The only results that matter on the resume is this season and again these totals are the worst I have ever seen for a winning team at Auburn.  It is also patently obvious that Auburn does not have many good defensive players either.  I just don't see any quick solutions to Auburn's defensive problems. 

However the obvious place to start is revamping the coaching staff and making a commitment to finding better defensive players.  Otherwise I see a lot more seasons just like this one in our future.

Game 11 Review: Sullivan's Last Ride

Auburn 31  Samford 7.  The 2014 Auburn football Tigers slogged through another unimpressive performance against in-state FCS foe Samford coached by former Auburn Heisman winner Pat Sullivan.  I think this might have been the last time we see Sullivan in Jordan Hare Stadium as a player or coach.  I think Sullivan's health issues will soon force his retirement from coaching.  It will end a career that has spanned over 40 years.  Pat Sullivan is a very special person and the definition of class.  My family and I made our first trip to Jordan Hare this year and I think the thing I will remember most about the game is the video of Sullivan's highlights at Auburn. 

 

First I want to again recommend the book this blog is named after, "Saturdays To Remember" by David Housel.  Housel's chapters on the greatest games of the Sullivan era are the best in the book.  People today just do not understand how good Sullivan was or what he did for Auburn.  The blocking rules for offensive linemen were much different in Sullivan's time.  His passing numbers for that era were truly amazing.  He was also the oasis in the middle of the deserts of the 60s and 70s for Auburn.  Sullivan played for Auburn from 1969 to 1971 and outside of 1963 and 1972 Auburn did not beat Bama or really have many good seasons from 1960 through 1980 (except for 1974 where the Tigers were very good but lost to Bama).

Pat Sullivan led the Auburn Tigers to a 25-5 regular season record from 1969-1971 including two wins over Bama.  He also brought an offensive magic never before seen on the Plains.  The Tigers scored 50 or more points six times under Sullivan.  Auburn averaged almost 35 points a game under Sullivan for three seasons.  He put on some amazing performances during that time including a 49-26 beatdown of Bear Bryant and the boys from Tuscaloosa.  Sullivan topped that the next year when he led Auburn back from down 17-0 to beat the Tide again.  There is also his legendary freshman team comeback over Bama where the Auburn freshman were down 27-0 and Sullivan brought them back to win 36-27. 

Pat Sullivan's finest performance might have been his last win at Auburn.  This was the game that clinched the Heisman Trophy and is still one of the greatest games in Auburn history.  Sullivan and Auburn were 9-0 and headed to Athens to take on Georgia who was also 9-0.  It was the first time two SEC teams had met this late in the season undefeated and untied.  It was a game for all the marbles including possible conference and national championships and a Heisman Trophy as well.  In the biggest game of his life Sullivan was 14 of 24 for 248 yards and four touchdowns leading Auburn to a 35-20 win.

Sullivan finished the season completing 162 passes on 281 attempts for 2,012 yards and 20 touchdowns.  Sullivan finished his college career with 6,284 passing yards and 57 touchdowns, along with another 18 touchdowns on the ground.  Sullivan would then go on to play in the NFL.  He would return to Auburn later as a color commentator on the radio and then as quarterbacks coach.  His five years (1986-199) as quarterbacks coach and offensive co-coordinator were the five most successful years in Auburn history.  Auburn went 47-10-5 in those five years and won three SEC titles.

Those five years also featured the best passing offenses since Sullivan had been at Auburn as a player.  Sullivan tutored three of Auburn's greatest quarterbacks in Jeff Burger, Reggie Slack and Stan White.  Sullivan would then leave Auburn to start his head coaching career at TCU following the 1991 season.  He would lead TCU to the Southwest Conference Championship in 1994 and was then hired by LSU.  Unfortunately in something you almost never see LSU could not negotiate a buyout of Sullivan's contract at TCU and the deal fell through.  It was basically a career killer for Sullivan but I know he would say God knows best.  Sullivan would return to his hometown of Birmingham as offensive coordinator at UAB and then head coach at Samford.

Sullivan also returned to the Auburn family after the arrival of head coach Gus Malzahn culminating in his role of honorary coach for the Tigers at last year's SEC Championship Game.  It was truly a special moment in Auburn history.  I hope Sullivan will continue to spend time in Auburn if he does retire from coaching.  He is still the first face on Auburn's "Mount Rushmore" of players in my opinion.  I have centered just on Sullivan throughout this post.  I know the first thing he would do when talking about all this history is point to all of his teammates, coaches, friends and family. 

 

"Maybe other people deserve this honor more than me, but from the bottom of my heart, no one will appreciate this more than me."

 

Pat Sullivan after winning the Heisman Trophy and after the unveiling of his statue at Jordan Hare

Game 10 Review: November Rain

Georgia 34  Auburn 7.  It is a cold rainy Sunday throughout most of Alabama.  It certainly matches the mood of most Auburn fans.  I ended last week's review with this statement: "Auburn can beat Georgia or Bama but the question is how will they respond to this gut wrenching loss."  Well everyone got the answer to that question loud and clear.  Auburn responded with one good drive and then the wheels came off in Athens. 

The Bulldogs simply pounded the Tigers into the Samford Stadium turf.  Time always tells the tale for teams and coaches and it did for this team as well.  As many great coaches have said, a team either gets better or worse and this one has gotten worse.  This team has shown some bad tendencies on both sides of the ball all year plus a lack of leadership and it finally caught up with Auburn yesterday.

THE GOOD
Well there is not much good you can find for Auburn in this game.  As Coach Gus Malzahn said the team got beat soundly in all three phases of the game.  There was a critical fumble and missed punt block on special teams and another complete collapse on defense.  Georgia had not one but two running backs with close to 150 yards.  Unfortunately in this game the offense also joined the party and put up less than 300 yards of total offense and only one touchdown.  The lowest output under Gus Malzahn as head coach. 

I guess the only good is remembering the magic of last year at the end of the season.  We knew last year was a once-in-a-lifetime type of end to a season.  We knew there would be plenty more days like this but last year helped so much and hurt our biggest rivals much more than this loss and another potential loss in two weeks.  Auburn had a lot coming back this year and a seemingly good chance at a title and no one wanted to lose that.  However now that it is gone, hopefully all the things that have gone wrong this season will be a good learning experience for these coaches.

THE BAD
I am really starting to worry that Gus Malzahn will spend the rest of his time at Auburn running this 2013 running offense.  I am starting to worry that he will not throw the ball enough even with Jeremy Johnson taking over.  All we hear from the coaches and other Auburn bloggers is how great a passer Marshall is yet in the game against State and yesterday's game Malzahn admitted he was too stubborn in not passing the ball.  What is going on?  I just do not understand his stubborn refusal to throw the ball. 

It has been obvious from day one of this season and I have said it many times on this blog that we had to throw more this year to be successful.  He has just refused to do it and it certainly contributed to losses against Mississippi State and against Georgia.  Auburn must become a more balanced offense or they will just be a slightly different version of Georgia Tech.  I certainly hope that with Jeremy Johnson taking the reins and seeing how this season ended that the coaches will open up the passing game next year.  You have to be able to run the ball but for long term success you have to be balanced as well.

THE UGLY
You take away Nick Fairley and Dee Ford and Auburn would have six consecutive years of the worst defenses in Auburn history.  Auburn has not had a defense ranked anywhere close to the top since the Tuberville era.  I can actually live with that, I just don't understand why Auburn defenses have to be SO bad?  I mean it is not like the Tigers even had a mediocre defense in 2010 and 2013.  They were still statistically bad defenses but just not an absolute train wreck like this year.  I know you cannot have a great defense running the offense we run but why can't we at least have a mediocre defense?

The defense this year has looked a lot like 2012.  Whatever we are doing is NOT working.  First, the Tigers have got to get some better players, especially on the line.  It all starts up front and Auburn is getting killed in the trenches.  Defensive line coach Rodney Garner needs to use some of his recruiting prowness to restock his own position.  It has to start there.  Auburn needs improvement all over but it has to start there.  Coach Malzahn then needs to really evaluate whether the defensive philosophy we are using is going to work.  I do not think it is working or will work.  I think a change in leadership and philosophy is needed.

THE LAST WORD
It sure seems like the sky is falling with Auburn's ugly fall from grace and Bama's concurrent rise to the top.  However we must again remember we were there last year.  We were on top of the world and ESPN was showing "The Immaculate Deflection" and the "Kick Six" over and over and over again.  We put a dagger through the heart of both Georgia and Bama.  We won the SEC Championship.  We are down some but with all our problems I do not see a 2008 or a 2012 collapse on our horizon under Malzahn. 

The biggest focus now must be on recruiting.  Unfortunately it is all about recruiting.  The teams with the best players win.  You have to coach them up but the teams with the best players win.  It is as simple as that.  Auburn needs more good players especially on defense.  Recruit, recruit, recruit.  That is the last word from this vantage point on this cold rainy November morning.

Game 9 Review: EXCRUCIATING

Texas A&M 41  Auburn 38.  This has to be one of the most excruciating games I have watched in over 30 years of watching Auburn football.  People have talked a lot about Auburn's exciting wins over the past year or so but there have been some excruciating losses as well between this one and the national championship game.  Auburn has a much better team than the Aggies but were outplayed on defense and gave it away on offense.  It was hard to watch Auburn's pathetic defensive effort and bumbling mistakes on offense and special teams. 

I guess the question is now how did Auburn beat these guys last year?  It is obvious now that A&M simply owns Auburn.  They crushed Bo Jackson in his final game as an Auburn Tiger in the Cotton Bowl, ran the Tigers out of their own stadium in 2012 and have now given one of the most well... excruciating losses in the long and storied history of Auburn football.  A team that Bama beat 59-0 a few weeks ago just delivered the death blow to Auburn's championship chances.  It is simply unfathomable what happened yesterday.  I will admit, I took the Aggies lightly as a fan but it is simply unacceptable to see an entire team do it.

THE GOOD
This would be the Auburn offense apart from the huge mistakes they made.  The Auburn offense rolled up almost 600 yards of offense (???) including close to 400 yards rushing and 200 yards passing.  Quarterback Nick Marshall was brilliant other than helping to fumble the game winning score away on the goal line.  Marshall was 15 of 21 for over 200 yards and a touchdown through the air and two touchdowns on the ground.  Cameron Artis-Payne who continues to turn in a better and better game each week rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns but of course was the other person involved in fumbling the game winning score on the goal line as well as a big fumble to open the game.

Almost every receiver had a big play and appeared to block well.  The line obviously blocked well to fuel all this offense but had several critical penalties that stopped drives and of course the final game losing snap.  I just do not understand what happened on the goal line or on that ill-fated snap.  We have not seen any of these types of mistakes the last two years and two pop up within minutes of each other to doom Auburn's season???  Unbelievable.  I know we are a read-option team but the coaches should have been more conservative on the goal line and just called a straight hand-off or quarterback run.  I still do not understand what happened on the botched snap.

THE BAD  THE UGLY PART 1
It is simply inexcusable for a championship team to be as lazy as they were on a critical field goal in a conference game where they are behind.  The special teams coach should be reprimanded for that awful play.  You could argue that ten point swing doomed Auburn as much as anything.  Another ugly part of the game was Duke William's knee injury.  He has been by far our best receiver and it was a huge loss to the team that I think also temporarily stunned the offense.

It was also ugly what happened after the game as LSU once again choked another one away to Bama in OT.  The Bama fans were in all their glory on social media rejoicing in Auburn's demise and their own lucky win.  The waves have parted for them and they have their two biggest games late in the year and at home.  Mississippi State has not looked near as good since upsetting Auburn and I am not liking their chances next week in Tuscaloosa.  Things will get much uglier in this state if Bama takes down State next weekend.

THE UGLY PART 2
Simply put, that was the worst display of defense I have ever seen on an Auburn team ranked in the top ten or the top twenty five for that matter.  What a complete disaster.  What a sickening display of defense as Texas A&M, a team that had been dispatched easily by both Mississippi schools and then by Bama 59-0 pushed the Auburn defense all over their own field.  Auburn could not get a stop.  The only thing that ever stopped A&M was playing it a little conservative late.  The Aggies rolled up almost 500 yards including almost 200 yards on the ground. 

You have to know the Aggies to know how bad that is.  They are not a running team at all however we made them look all-world.  Every time they needed a big run they got it.  The only thing worse than watching them run all over Auburn was watching the Tiger defense make their true freshman quarterback Kyle Allen who was in his first SEC road game look like Peyton Manning.  Unbelievable.  This 18 year old kid threw for almost 300 yards and four touchdowns against our soft awful defense. 

It all started up front as Auburn's defensive line did absolutely nothing but get their butts kicked.  They could not get any pressure on this kid and on top of that Auburn could not cover anybody.  What the heck are the coaches doing???  Every team Auburn plays has guys wide open over the middle taking it to the house, run slant after slant after slant, use swing passes go for big yards, etc...   At some point I do not understand why the coaches would not bring everyone up and make this green rookie quarterback hit the long pass.  How many slants can one team allow?

This defense has now allowed 38 points to Mississippi State, 35 to South Carolina, 31 to Ole Miss and now 41 to Texas A&M.  This defense is AWFUL.  Gus Malzahn better start getting to work on the defensive side of the ball.  It is obvious that coaching is a big part of this.  Ellis Johnson is not getting it done.  His job might on the line depending on how bad the defense is in Auburn's two upcoming rivalry games.  I have not even mentioned the brain dead penalties including a potential game turning offsides penalty.  What are these players thinking?  You cannot make those mistakes.

THE LAST WORD
Auburn is finished as far as any kind of championship goes.  The only thing left to play for is pride and playing spoiler to our biggest rivals.  Georgia is still in the race for the East and Bama is headed for this playoff unless Mississippi State or Auburn do something about it.  Georgia and Bama both have great running games and big play potential in the passing game.  That does not bode well for this Auburn defense.  However if the defense could just make a few plays and the players on both sides of the ball quit making dumb mistakes this could still be a very good team.  They can beat Georgia or Bama but the question is how will they respond to this gut wrenching loss.

Game 8 Review: The Ugly, the Bad and the Good

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: I want to apologize to my readers for the lateness of this post. It has been an out of the ordinary couple of weeks with soccer tournaments, tennis matches, basketball practices, basketball games, the new release of Call of Duty, etc...)

Auburn 35 Ole Miss 31. The #3 and #4 teams in the country played a de facto playoff game on Saturday November 1st and the game lived up to the hype. Both teams put it on the line and absolutely played their guts out. Unfortunately the game was tainted by penalties and a horrific injury. Everyone has seen horrible injuries in sports but I do not think I have ever seen an injury like this occur on the most important play of the game, the play that the entire game came down to.

THE UGLY
Auburn was clinging to a 35-31 lead as the time drained out of the fourth quarter. They had survived the last Ole Miss incursion into the red zone by stripping the ball from Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace as he stretched for more yardage.  This time it did not look like there was anyway Auburn would stop the Rebels especially as Wallace swung it out to superstar wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and he streaked toward the end zone.

 However just as Treadwell was about to take it in Auburn linebacker Kris Frost flew in and grabbed Treadwell's jersey and hips and pulled back mightily.  We then unfortunately found out what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Treadwell was bent back and his leg was broken and his ankle dislocated.  He then dropped the ball before crossing the goal line and Auburn linebacker Cassanova McKinzy jumped on it. 

 

There is not one person on the Auburn football team or fan in their right mind that was not horrified at the graphic injury. There is not much more you can say. It was horrible and everyone wishes it had never happened regardless of who won the game. Hopefully Treadwell can recover from this and resume his career.  Treadwell was a man among boys for the rest of the game shredding Auburn's defense for over 100 yards and a touchdown on 10 catches.

 

 In fact Ole Miss had TWO other 100 yard receivers in tight end Evan Engram and Vince Sanders. Bo Wallace was 28 of 40 for 341 yards and two touchdowns. Ole Miss rolled up almost 500 yards on the Auburn defense. The Auburn defense was looking like the bad or the ugly this week till making the two big stops at the end.

THE BAD
Penalties. This would be the ugly part of the game if Laquon Treadwell's horrible injury had not happened. I definitely do not want to just pile on the refs this week although they deserve plenty of criticism but also pile on Auburn for some of these penalties. Auburn was penalized 13 times for 145 yards. That has got to be close to a record. What are the coaches doing about all these penalties? The problem seems to get worse each game.

There was some incredibly stupid personal foul penalties along with some obvious pass interference or holding calls. I know one of those was a good play because the 15 yard penalty was better than the long pass being completed but that not true of the rest. This team looks incredibly undisciplined at times. You simply cannot win a championship killing your won drives or donating free yards to your opponent through penalties. I know the coaches want the players going all out but they have to do something about these penalties or it will definitely come back to haunt the Tigers.

With that said there were also some completely BS calls that did not make any sense. First there were some pretty bogus calls on Auburn and after that they let Ole Miss get away with things they called on Auburn. On top of all that they let both teams get away with things later in the game they had called early in the game. The reffing in the SEC has simply hit a new low this season.

I know I will be called a homer and biased with these observations but I have one huge piece of evidence that something stinks. An offensive holding call has still not been called on an offensive lineman playing Auburn in a big game since before the national championship game. There were none called against Florida State, Kansas State (in fact no penalties period were called on Kansas State), Mississippi State, South Carolina OR Ole Miss. There was a call in the Mississippi State game against a wide receiver after the game had already been decided but NONE in any of those games against an offensive lineman.

I know holding is done on every play but the egregious holds still have to be called and have been called on Auburn. Auburn was penalized for one bad hold in just about all of those games killing a potential scoring drive. Just calling one hold is huge. This streak encompasses almost 200 passing plays. It is literally impossible to not see at least half a dozen near felony holds in that many passes. You really have to wonder why it seems impossible for an Auburn's opponents offensive lineman to be called for a hold??? South Carolina is not that good a team and threw the ball 50 times yet no holds were called.

THE GOOD
Whew that is a lot of bad stuff to wade through to get to the good... There was some definite good though in this game for Auburn. The offense went toe-to-toe with one of the best defenses in the country and scored five touchdowns. The coaches finally threw the ball to open the run and what do you know, it worked. Auburn might have beat Mississippi State with a similar game plan. Nick Marshall was brilliant for the most part with over 250 yards passing and two touchdowns. Marshall's 65 yard bomb to Sammie Coates has to be one of the most unbelievable plays I have seen all season. 

Marshall really did a great job avoiding the rush and buying time long enough to get his receivers open downfield. Duke Williams had some big catches as well as Quan Bray. Marcus Davis made a great touchdown catch on one of the best play calls of the game. I would really have liked to see that call against Mississippi State in the red zone. Auburn also had what I think was their most impressive day running the ball. They made it look easy but Ole Miss does have a very good defense. Cameron Artis-Payne made that blocking count with 143 yards rushing and Nick Marshall had two rushing touchdowns.

THE LAST WORD
The injury was understandably the talk of the town after this game but beyond that Auburn beat the #4 team in the country on the road.  They overcame some serious obstacles to do it.  Regardless of how the season ends, this was a big win.  This game and the LSU game stand above all others so far this season.  Now Auburn just has to stay the course and beat two teams they are better than to set up another possible winner-take-all game in the Iron Bowl.  The Aggies are next.

The other big news around the SEC was Florida mauling Georgia.  I don't think anyone saw that coming.  That took a lot of air out of Georgia's sails but I GUARANTEE you will see a different team against Auburn in two weeks.  Richt has been historically bad against Florida and great against Auburn.  More relevant to Auburn this week was Texas A&M struggling against Louisiana Monroe.  I think the beatdown Bama laid on the Aggies ended their season. 

Butch Davis and Tennessee finally got another big win at the expense of Steve Spurrier and South Carolina.  I think Carolina was a little hungover after the Auburn game and let Tennessee catch them at the end and then anything goes in overtime.  While I don't think it was the signature win Davis needs it was a much needed win for the Vols.  Meanwhile Bret Bielema once again got very close to that signature win he needs against #1 Mississippi State.  They once again came up short but you have to give it to Bielema.  Arkansas is a much better team this year.

Auburn vs. Texas A&M coming up next.  Last year I thought Auburn got their respect back upsetting A&M and Johnny Football in College Station after the absolute whipping the Aggies laid on Auburn in Jordan Hare in 2012.  However after remembering that awful 2012 game this week I think Auburn needs some more payback for that game.  It is one of the most embarrassing moments in Auburn history and this is A&M's first game back to Jordan Hare since then.  Auburn needs to really bring it this Saturday to complete making up for that horrible game.