Game 4 Review: Foregone Conclusion

Auburn 51  Missouri 14.  This score seemed a foregone conclusion after seeing how Missouri's season opened and man they were even worse than I thought.  This team despite coach Barry Odom's epic rant after the game is really bad and sorry Barry they did not look well coached.  Missouri just made mistake after mistake from penalties to turnovers to just bad calls.  They are now the worst team in the conference and that is saying something this season.  Auburn played well and that was nice to see but it was disappointing to see Auburn return to the standard Gus Malzahn run-heavy game plan.

Last week Auburn threw almost 40 passes against Mercer and it looked like there might be a scrap of hope that Gus would let Chip Lindsey balance the offense some.  I should have known better.  This game Auburn went back to the standard Malzahn game plan for these type of games.  Run them over and throw over the top a few times.  Another disappointing part was not getting true freshman and current backup quarterback Malik Willis any meaningful snaps.  He just doesn't seem to have any kind of plan for taking the second half of these routs to help certain players get better.  Meanwhile over in Nashville Bama toward the end of a worse rout used the time to get their freshman backup quarterback better.

I do not mean to sound so negative after a big win but it looked a lot like the big wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas last season.  We won big, we destroyed the lesser team but we did not get better.  We were still not prepared for Georgia and Bama.  We had no passing attack and we had not used garbage time to get our starting or backup quarterback ready. It just looked exactly the same...

THE GOOD
Well the whole team played pretty well.  On defense the Tigers finally allowed an opponent to break 300 total years but that was mostly toward the end of the game.  On offense even without the injured Kamryn Pettway running back Kerryon Johnson had five touchdowns and his relief Kam Martin added 74 yards on nine carries.  It really makes one wonder why Kam Martin did not have ONE carry the last two weeks (???).  Quarterback Jarrett Stidham had over 200 yards passing and a touchdown on just 17 attempts.  Wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers, whom I think could be the best wide receiver on the plains, led the team in receiving yards and caught the touchdown.

THE BAD
As I said earlier the Tigers from Missouri were simply awful last night. The racial strife from a few years ago has not only decimated the football team but the university as a whole as enrollment has dropped 35% in the last two years.  It was sad to watch last night as the stadium was practically empty as the second half started.  The night then concluded with head coach Barry Odom going on a rant about how turnarounds work and that he is the man to do it.  All in all it was an ugly night in Columbia, Missouri for the home team.  It looks it will get worse the next few weeks with road trips to Kentucky and Georgia.

THE UGLY
It was another ugly week for the SEC in addition to Missouri.  The Volunteers barely beat a winless UMass team at home and South Carolina got very lucky to pull past Louisiana Tech in the last seconds.  LSU had trouble with Syracuse at home and Florida needed another miracle to win against Kentucky.  I have been extremely surprised that Coach Jim McElwain has not been able to get the Gators really going.  Vandy came back down to earth as did Mississippi State.  Right now it looks like it will be Bama vs. Georgia in Atlanta.  Auburn has the talent to be right there with their two biggest rivals but...

THE LAST WORD
It all comes down to the Auburn coaches.  They will most likely continue running the exact same game plan they employed this week.  That will not cut it against Georgia and Bama and will most likely get them upset somewhere else as well.  The degree of difficulty goes up some this week against State even considering their performance Saturday.  It will be a big first step for Auburn toward their final reckoning at the end of the season.