THE GOOD
There is not much to write here. There was not much good in the game yesterday. I guess it is good that Jeremy Johnson finally ran the ball some and had the nice touchdown run even if the game was already over. I guess it is good that Kerryon Johnson got in the game and made some plays. It was also nice to see Stanton Truitt make a couple of catches but unfortunately it reminds me of how much different things might be if Auburn had a coaching staff that could put even a half decent passing attack on the field.
Good grief. I mean how much worse can Auburn get on defense??? Last week Jacksonville State wore us down and went on two double-digit play drives consuming almost ten minutes of the game in the fourth quarter in Jordan-Hare and then this week LSU literally runs Auburn out of Tiger Stadium. I guess the bottom line is regardless of the coaching staff Auburn cannot recruit enough good defensive players. The Tigers are now going on eight years of bad defenses, generating the top five worst defenses in the history of Auburn University and now it looks like this one might supplant one of those awful units.
I have simply run out of adjectives to describe how bad these defenses are. Will Muschamp has made absolutely no difference. This defense simply took up where it left off last year and in fact reached new lows yesterday giving up over 400 yards rushing. As I have said when Auburn did it to other teams, when a team rushes for 400 yards on you they have taken your manhood. There is not much need for a breakdown. The line was awful, the linebackers were worse and the secondary was terrible as well. I do not see any hope in sight especially with Carl Lawson possibly out of the season although he would not have made a difference yesterday.
THE UGLY PART TWO
Auburn simply does not have a passing game. Everyone can blame Jeremy Johnson and he has definitely made some bad plays but it is just as evident that these coaches did not work on the passing game near as much as they should have in spring and fall practices. In fact I remember us wasting an entire fall scrimmage on just running the ball. How is that working out? I will continue to say it, this offense was never going to be a power running unit with only freshmen at H-back and tight end. However it sure seems these coaches prepared for this season planning to be just that.
It was also nice to read Acid Reign over at Track'em Tigers finally say what I have been saying over and over again:
"Offensively, Auburn has been figured out. The Tigers like to put 3 or 4 receivers out there that they have no intention of throwing to, and instead try to run power plays against a strong, stacked front. The bottom line is that we don’t really have SEC caliber lead blockers. Everyone in the playing rotation at tight end or H-back is a freshman and are not ready to win confrontations with a nasty linebacker corps like LSU’s. Auburn’s only hope against defenses like LSU’s are to learn to pitch and catch a lot better! - See more at: http://trackemtigers.com/lsu-abuses-auburn/#more-35835".
THE LAST WORD
Things look really bad. I cannot believe people are still trying to compare this season to 2013, give me a break. Again I think the better comparison is with the disastrous 2012 season. Will this season turn into that disaster epic where Auburn loses all its conference games? The next game against Mississippi State will go a long way toward determining that. Gene Chizik was in nearly the same spot in 2012 against Arkansas (the Arkansas team coached by interim coach John L. Smith who had just lost to Bama 52-0). It was a winnable game even for that Auburn team and a win could have restored a little confidence and probably enabled Auburn to also beat Vandy that year. It would still have been a really bad season but not the worst season ever that it turned out to be.
Auburn is in almost the exact same situation this week. Mississippi State is a lot better than that Arkansas team but they are still one of the few conference teams Auburn has a chance to beat. I think it is now the biggest game of the year for the Tigers. An Auburn win restores a little confidence and could enable Auburn to get wins at Kentucky and Arkansas which combined with the two wins the Tigers already have and hopefully wins over San Jose State and Idaho would make Auburn bowl-eligible. That is pretty much the best case scenario for the Tigers at this point.
Right now it does not appear Auburn has any chance in their other games. Ole Miss and Texas A&M will outscore the Tigers while Bama and Georgia will do the exact same thing LSU did yesterday. Long term Gus Malzahn looks like another one-hit wonder like Terry Bowden and Chizik. Malzahn and his all-star staff are able to get some very high-rated recruits but also seem to bet wrong on more than they get right. Couple that with his stubborn refusal to change his offensive philosophy in any way and the future does not look bright.
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