The highlight of the day was Gordon's 53 yard touchdown run on a 4th and 1 play. In the end Wisconsin had over 500 yards of offense with 400 of it coming on the ground. As I have said previously, when you rush for 400 yards on someone you take away their manhood. I have to believe this is on the coaches. It sure seems like we have enough guys to do better than this especially against a Wisconsin team that did not have a quarterback. You can add this horrendous New Year's day performance to this list I described in my last post after the Iron Bowl:
"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."
Auburn is now 2-5 in those games. What a complete disaster from a team that was expected to compete for championships. We saw a similar implosion in 2003 but the difference is just how badly this defense played. The 2003 Auburn offense with all of its talent drastically underperformed because of bad coaching but it was not historically bad. That offense had plenty of raw material to become one of Auburn's best the next year with good coaching. Even with a change of coaches I will also repeat from my last post that I do not think there will be a quick solution to Auburn's defensive problems.
I will say though that it was a huge win to bring in Will Muschamp. I have recited many times that the last time Auburn had a good defense was Muschamp's last year at Auburn. However unless Muschamp and the other Auburn coaches can break Bama's recruiting stranglehold on the majority of the region's best defensive players I am not sure how big a difference Muschamp can make. In Muschamp's first tour as defensive coordinator he had access to many more good defensive players with Tuberville being a defensive coach and recruiting against Mike Shula. Things have changed drastically since then as Bama scoops up nearly every great defensive player in the state.
Auburn simply has to get more good players on defense. That may also include moving some of these good offensive linemen we have sitting around on offense to defense. For example, what if we had moved tight end C.J. Uzomah to defense these last two years? Could a player of his caliber made a bigger impact on defense? Auburn once moved a good tight end to defense in 2003 and the guy is still playing in the NFL. I am talking about NFL All-Pro Jay Ratliff. What if we had moved Trovon Reed to defense earlier? I thought he showed a lot of potential this season but unfortunately he was a senior. Malzahn has to quit hoarding all the good players on offense. Through recruiting or moves he must get more talent on the defensive side of the ball.
Let me be straight here as well, the buck stops with Gus Malzahn. He is not the offensive coordinator, he is the head coach. This is HIS defense. I am all for having an offensive minded coach but a defense this bad is inexcusable. Hiring Will Muschamp is a good first step but like I said above he is going to have to do more than that to change this defense. I believe Malzahn is at a major crossroad. This season was a complete disaster in terms of the team record, team discipline, team leadership and overall coaching on BOTH sides of the ball. He had a very good senior-laden team returning and he ran it into the ground.
I have spent more of this post and the last lamenting this historically bad defense but while the stats looked good an Auburn offense with so much senior talent drastically under performed in many spots this season. As I have said many times, Malzahn hurt this offense by stubbornly trying to run the ball and run the 2013 offense when he had two playmakers like Coates and Duke Williams at his disposal. These guys and the rest of Auburn's wide receivers were criminally underused. The coaches continually trumpeted how much better a passer Marshall was but continually would not call a straight drop-back pass at critical times all season.
It has been maddening watching the play calling at times this season. The play selection in overtime against the Badgers was the worst. We have a senior quarterback who is one of the biggest play makers in Auburn history and we end his career having a tight end try to throw the ball??? It is completely unacceptable as it has been all season as Malzahn continually went to runs, misdirections and trick plays rather than just putting the ball in Marshall's hands on a straight pass. But hey I am just a dumb blogger, what do I know? I submit the Iron Bowl as evidence for my case. The only time all season Auburn let it fly and put up over 600 yards of offense.
I am now wondering who did make some of the big picture calls with Cam Newton and the offense during the 2010 season? During that season Newton started out running a lot but more and more each week he started throwing the ball. By the end of the season Auburn was winning on Newton's passes not his runs. Nick Marshall is not Cam Newton but I still think he could have made the same type of progression. However it never happened as again Malzahn stubbornly stuck to the 2013 playbook when it was obvious that the blocking was not as good and teams had figured out how to defend it. So many times it was obvious the best choice was for us to be more balanced and pass the ball and it never happened other than the Iron Bowl.
I am now starting to doubt whether things will change next season with Jeremy Johnson hopefully coming in for Marshall. I fear another ridiculous quarterback "race" and the coaches continuing to try and run the ball the majority of the time. It is obvious Auburn should be more balanced on offense but like I said above it was obvious this year as well. Again, Malzahn is at a crossroad, will he take this chance to evolve and innovate the Auburn offense or will he continue to stubbornly stick with the 2013 playbook? I believe the answer to that question and again him and his staff's ability to get better players on defense will determine his long term fate at Auburn.
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