Game 12 Review: Whatever

(NOTE: I wrote every word of this post on Friday November 25th except the score and the fourth paragraph.  THAT is how predictable Gus Malzahn is against a very good team)

 

Alabama 30  Auburn 12  Whatever.  Bama wins the Iron Bowl.  You get the best players, you win most of the games.  I am not sure how a team gets the best players for almost a decade and the NCAA never even looks around.  I mean a terrible Ole Miss team is assaulted for some sort of cheating while the machine in Tuscaloosa rolls on.  I mean nobody has recruited at that high a level for that long a time in the history of college football but hey I am sure everything is aboveboard in Tuscaloosa.  There is nothing to see there.  Just move on along.  It is all about "the process".  What a load of shi... 

I am not sure what to say about the game.  Auburn is a good running team that cannot pass very well.  They played a defense they cannot run on... so what else was going to happen?  Oops sorry I think our company line is that "hey if Sean White would have been healthy we would have won!".  Yeah that line has sure been used a lot the last two years.  If Sean White would have been healthy we evidently would have beaten Arkansas, Ole Miss, Georgia and maybe Bama last season.  This season you change it to played or healthy and evidently we would have beaten Clemson, Georgia and Bama.  Wow, if only Sean White were healthy evidently he is better than Cam Newton.

I am sure many will be blathering that line next season as well with these coaches running the exact same thing as this year and most likely with the exact same results.  I am called negative but check my preseason post I predicted Auburn to go 8-4, spot on.  Gus will destroy most teams if they have a weak run defense but lose to just about any team that has a good one.  That is usually anywhere from 3 to 5 teams on Auburn's schedule depending on the year.  I am literally shuddering at the thought of watching this exact same offense produce the exact same results next season. 

Gus Malzahn put up another epic coaching performance today as we had 34 yards and ONE FIRST DOWN at halftime.  That means AUBURN WENT A FULL GAME WITH ONE FIRST DOWN AND ONLY 60 YARDS OF OFFENSE combining the second half against Georgia and first half against Bama.  We are paying FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for this pathetic offensive coaching from a supposed offensive coach!!!  It is unbelievable how bad he is against any kind of good defense.  Is this a legitimate big-time college coach???  Injuries are not excuses for a performance as bad as that especially trying to put everything on losing an average quarterback like Sean White

I do not see any point in "breaking down the game" any more.  I have covered the offense above.  The defense played hard but Bama has great players on offense and they can only hold them down so much when our offense keeps giving it back to Bama.  I mean pretty much anybody could see this result coming from a mile away.  Did anyone seriously think we were going to challenge Bama after being coached that bad on offense at Georgia?  It just does not work like that.  Football teams that get better throughout the season show it on the field (even with injuries Gus).  Football teams that get better throughout the season usually have a good passing offense they can rely on.

I keep reading this was a good season on several different sites. Our top wins were over Mississippi schools with overall losing records, an Arkansas team with a losing conference record and a bad run defense plus an LSU team that is 6-4 with no quarterback either. We have lost to all the better teams on our schedule including Georgia and Bama (for the third year in a row). How is that a good season? I t could definitely be worse but for Auburn I don’t think that is a good season.  There is a difference in eight win seasons.  You can tell the difference in a good team that has improved and a team that has not.

There have been eight win seasons (not counting stupid bowls win or lose) that have been seasons to remember and many that have been seasons to forget.  Look at 1984 and 1985, two teams that could not pass and turned in seasons to mainly forget outside Bo's Heisman run.  There is 1996, much like this season, where Auburn lost all their important games.  Nobody is happy with those seasons.  On the other hand there are eight win seasons like 1982, 2002 and 2007 where the team gets better and even after losing tough games to great Georgia teams came back and beat good Bama teams.

Well this season is done and while Auburn finished with a winning record it is just another forgettable one much like 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015.  All of those seasons Auburn ended up with seven or eight wins running this same offense and lost to all the good teams on their schedule including Georgia and Bama.  I am really looking forward to the high probability of ANOTHER one next season.  Hold the phones though, Auburn still has a bowl game to go this season and if Gus lucks out and draws a team with a less than stellar run defense he can blow them out.  That could get him another big raise and contract extension guaranteeing many more of these seasons to come.