Jacksonville State had it all there for the taking. As Kevin Scarbinsky put it: "With barely 2 minutes left, JSU had the lead and the ball and a chance to put the game away. Up seven, facing third-and-4 at his own 13-yard line, JSU coach John Grass had the opportunity of a lifetime to stamp himself as the best (former) high school coach on the field." Jax State and quarterback Eli Jenkins had been killing Auburn's defense all day. Call a gutsy play, you know Auburn will probably score if you punt it back to them. One play for five yards and Jax State has the biggest win in their history...
Thank goodness they did not and Auburn was able to pull it out at the end. Unfortunately for the Tigers that is the only good news out of that game. What a complete embarrassment. There is still an argument to be made that Jax State was the best team on the field. They had more passing and total yards of offense than Auburn and basically just as many rushing yards. They had more first downs and dominated Auburn in time of possession. Auburn also had more turnovers and penalty yards as well. What a complete abomination from beginning to nearly the end by Auburn.
Every single bit of this lies at the feet of Gus Malzahn. After doing a bad job last season he has opened this season doing a worst job. I saw someone write on an Auburn board this morning that history is repeating itself. Gene Chizik went to the national championship game, went 8-5 and then disaster struck. Gus Malzahn appears to be doing the exact same thing. After watching the game yesterday, this season is starting to look a lot like 2012. Auburn will not beat one SEC team on their schedule playing even remotely close to the way they did yesterday.
THE GOOD
There has only been one good thing so far that has come out in the first two games of this season and it is Peyton Barber (also similar to Tre Mason in 2012). The guy has almost singlehandedly won both games. His effort at the end of the game yesterday was definitely the only good thing I saw. The play of the game was Barber taking a short swing pass on 3rd and nine on the late game-tying drive and then faking, spinning and lunging to get the first down. Melvin Ray also made a great catch on the tying touchdown.
THE BAD
Auburn's list of injuries and Blake Countess' ridiculous ejection from the game would be legitimate reasons for the bad defensive performance yesterday if Auburn was playing an SEC team but not against Jax State. Auburn let an FCS formerly Division 1-AA team push them all over their own field. First Jax State had TWO receivers with over 100 yards and then at times Jax State seemed to run at will.
Jax State went on two scoring drives in the fourth quarter with both of them over 10 plays consuming almost TEN minutes. Auburn, the #6 team in the country predicted by many to win the Southeastern Conference got their defense worn down and then beat down by Jax State in their own stadium in the fourth quarter. The defense just looked awful as Jax State completed slant after slant and at times just shredded Auburn with the read option.
The future looks bleak indeed for Auburn on defense. Even though I became a ridiculous sunshine pumper in my season preview I knew the interior defensive line was suspect and after two games they have looked pretty bad other than a few highlights by Montravious Adams. Unfortunately the defensive ends do not look any better. I saw the Jax State quarterback just own senior defensive end DeVonte Lambert and so far freshman superstars Byron Cowart and Jeffrey Holland have made no impact.
The linebacking corps just does not seem much different. They make plays here and there but are just not good enough to be a strength. I hoped that might change with Muschamp but I guess not. The secondary had depth concerns coming into the season as everyone knew and now with Tray Matthews and Josh Holsey out, there are a LOT of freshman getting playing time which is bad news. Now Auburn is travelling to Baton Rouge to take on LSU and monster tailback Leonard Fournette. I do not see how a defense that got pushed all over its own field against Jax State will be able to slow down that guy.
THE UGLY
This would be the Auburn offense led by quarterback Jeremy Johnson. I am now starting to wonder who exactly was responsible for Cam Newton's development as a passer at Auburn in 2010. It sure seems now that Gus Malzahn is simply incapable of developing a balanced offense that has the passing part as the strength. People can pile on Jeremy Johnson but we know that he is a better player than this and that is on the coaches. What have Malzahn and quarterbacks COACH Rhett Lashlee been doing for the last nine months? There is no evidence of even a hint of good coaching around Johnson.
In addition to that it appears as though Malzahn's plan for the season was to continue to be a run-based play-action team when it is obvious for the second year in a row Auburn has more assets on the passing side. It is simply inconceivable to me that these coaches who are paid so much money and do this for a living would not open things up on offense. Is it against the law to now ever have an offense that is better at passing the ball than running at Auburn? It sure seems like it. We open it up once last season and score 44 points on Nick $aban and Bama and then we go right back to being a run-based play-action team??? It simply boggles the mind.
Malzahn is the most stubborn coach I have ever seen and it seems that will be his downfall at Auburn. He seems unwilling or incapable of changing or adapting his system to his players and THAT is the mark of a good coach. Take the guy who Auburn's stadium is named after, Shug Jordan. Back in the dark ages before legalized holding and high flying passing attacks, Jordan realized what he had in quarterback Pat Sullivan and receiver Terry Beasley. Jordan changed his offense to a balanced passing attack. Auburn still ran the ball and was balanced but featured Sullivan and the passing attack.
For three years, Auburn had the most prolific offense in the Southeastern Conference and went 25-4 in the regular season. After Sullivan and Beasley left, Jordan transitioned back to a "three yards and a cloud of dust" team led by tailback Terry Henley and went 10-1. After that Jordan implemented the "veer" offense and produced a 10-2 season in 1974. He adapted his offense to his personnel and won big. Pat Dye did the same thing transitioning from his run heavy early years to a more balanced offense and won three straight SEC titles in the late 1980s.
Also for the record Pat Sullivan threw five interceptions in his first game but Shug Jordan did not shut it down and coach "scared" after that. There are going to be ups and downs to a pass heavy attack but just like a good running attack, sooner or later the plays will come. You have to keep throwing it and work it out. Again, Auburn doesn't have a dominant run blocking line and again has nothing but freshmen at H-back and tight end. However Auburn does have a quarterback with a ton of passing potential and a stable of wide receivers.
All over the country, there are good passing attacks with less weapons than Auburn has. This is on the coaches. They have not prepared Johnson and now they have him so scared to make a mistake that he can barely make a throw and when he does it is usually short. I am not sure how much worse a job Malzahn and Lashlee could have done up to this point. I cannot believe the people blaming Johnson and wanting Sean White? Are you kidding me? So since the coaches did a horrible job with a guy that has shown he can be a good quarterback, we want to replace him with someone completely inferior coached by the same guys?
THE LAST WORD
I have never had a game take the wind out of my sails like the one yesterday. It sure seemed like a season-ender for me. Auburn does not have much of a chance at a winning record much less competing for the SEC West unless they play miles and miles better than they have shown so far this season. At this point that does not seem that likely. The defense was never going to be that good and its only chance to be decent was predicated on having a good offense.
It looks like the offense will be much worse than last season as Malzahn tries to run basically the same offense he ran with Nick Marshall except for less quarterback runs and a few more short passes. I will say it again and again, a run-based play-action offense with this personnel is never going to be that successful. Unfortunately the only way I see Malzahn attempting to change that is complete desperation and that means the season is over any way.
The rule is not to take too much out of one game but how can this team that looks so badly prepared especially on offense these first two games against meager opponents possibly turn it around? How can this team get wins against LSU, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M on the road? Well maybe Auburn has a shot against Arkansas. Take that Bielemma, at least Auburn and even Malzahn have done something. You go 7-6 and act like you won the national championship and then brag and crow the whole offseason about how great you and your program is... and then you lose to Toledo at home.
How can Auburn stay with Georgia and Bama at the end? Heck how can Auburn beat the Mississippi schools at home? It all starts at Baton Rouge next week. Auburn coaches, players and fans will try to quickly forget what happened this last Saturday but I think this embarrassment will continue to cast a long shadow over this entire season.
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