Sunday, December 10, 2017

SEC Championship Review: Down Note

(Authors note: I am late again on post because I actually went to this game and did not get back till late Sunday and then went on business travel, apologies again...)
 
Georgia 28  Auburn 7.  A season turned around by upsetting #1 Georgia and #1 Bama at Jordan-Hare Stadium in November ended on a down note in Atlanta.  Georgia recovered from a bad start to win the SEC Championship convincingly.  I was there to see it in person.  It was tough to watch after the first drive where Auburn scored to go up 7-0 as nothing went right for the Tigers the rest of the game.  The only three drives that did not end in a punt ended in two critical fumbles and a blocked field goal.    The SEC Offensive Player of the Year, Kerryon Johnson, tried to gut it out but was ineffective as was the Auburn offense.  The Georgia defense easily stopped Auburn’s run without a healthy Johnson and then made sure leading receiver Ryan Davis did not beat them.  Auburn had nobody else ready.

It is hard to be unhappy about a 10-3 season that included wins over Georgia and Bama... UNLESS BOTH TEAMS MAKE IT TO THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF ANYWAY.   I mean COME ON.  It is simply unbelievable and could only happen to Auburn. I can understand Georgia since they won the conference championship but Bama?  In the season where the SEC was the worst Power 5 conference?  Bama’s ONLY significant wins were against LSU who got beat by Troy and Mississippi State who lost to a dilapidated Ole Miss team to end the season.  Tennessee, Bama’s other main “rival” finished 0-8 in the SEC, 0-8!!!  I mean are you kidding me???  The college football playoff is a complete joke like the BCS and bowl system before it.

THE GOOD
Again Auburn did finish 10-3, beat Georgia and Bama at home and destroyed every lesser conference team on the schedule outside LSU.  The Tigers had All-SEC players all over the field proving coach Gus Malzahn has been able to recruit in the shadow of big bad Nick $aban and that is pretty impressive.  The Tigers had a top ranked special defense for the first time since the early 90s and has a lot of guys that will play on Sundays.  Quarterback Jarrett Stidham, running back Kerryon Johnson, guard Braden Smith and kicker Daniel Carlson were the best at their position in the conference.  Coach Gus Malzahn obviously did some things right even if his shortcomings were shown in the losses.

Auburn did not lose at home this season.  The magic was back at Jordan Hare and that is always a beautiful thing.  I got to take my whole family to the Ole Miss game.  I got to once again enjoy big wins over Georgia and Bama with my sons.  I got to walk on the field after another epic win over a #1 Bama team.  I got to go to Toomers after both of those wins.  I then got to take my wife to the SEC Championship Game and it was awesome till that first fumble...  Also when you look around the SEC and see Ole Miss under sanctions and half the conference looking for coaches you have to be even more thankful that Auburn is good and relevant.  Auburn also has a good team coming back next season.

THE BAD
I meant everything I said in the last two paragraphs but... good gosh I still hate Auburn’s offense.  Gus Malzahn might have allowed offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey to do some plays against his tendencies and throw a few more of his option-style misdirection passes but that is not a long term plan for success.  Auburn will never have an actual passing game under Malzahn.  I have pointed that out many times in this space but since I have to continue to watch it I will continue to point it out.  A simple drop-back pass and read will never be a part of Malzahn’s offense.  Every pass is a misdirection or trick.  Any part of the modern passing game is just not welcome.

It is just excruciating to watch at times.  I am sorry again I REALLY HATE this offense... and now I have to watch it for many more years to come.  I mean when Auburn can run the ball the offense can be devastating but in games where a normal team would have to rely on the passing game Auburn is finished, i.e. Clemson, LSU and Georgia in Atlanta.  Auburn will never win a game through the air while Malzahn is coach.  I hate that.  It is why Malzahn continues to lose the critical games.  I certainly did not want to fire Malzahn or look for another coach but I did not think it would be the end of the world either.  I thought a moderate raise and extension should have been offered and then he could go to Arkansas or not.  I think this good season was built on a special defense that probably will not happen again during the Malzahn era.  I think we will soon be back to 2016.

THE UGLY
Georgia deserved the win in Atlanta.  They came with fire and a good plan on both sides of the ball.  On defense they stacked the line of scrimmage and smothered Ryan Davis and on offense they ran right at Jeff Holland and got the ball to their backs off short passes away from Auburn’s defensive line.  However they also played outright dirty football.  They committed numerous personal fouls including multiple face masks and piling on Kerryon Johnson every chance they got.  They committed so many fouls that the refs called just enough where they kept Auburn in the game long after they should have been out of it.  I have no respect for Kirby Smart or the gutter ball Georgia was playing.  It is just completely unacceptable.   It is sad to say but the Auburn vs. Georgia rivalry is no longer as special and needs to be moved to earlier in the season.

It is just too hard to play two of the top schools in the SEC every year in the last three weeks of the season.  It has killed too many of Auburn’s championship seasons and almost derailed several more.  In this new era of SEC football it has to be changed especially since the home and away rotation is the same as Bama.  It is sad but things just do not stay the same except of course for the “sacred cows” of college football always getting ahead.  As a friend told me, just about every team does have to win their conference to get into the playoff but it was not made a requirement so the powers that be can always get Bama, Ohio State, Texas, USC, etc.. in when they want.  It is pathetic and blatantly unfair.  The NFL does not give the Dallas Cowboys a shortcut to the Super Bowl, MLB does not give the Yankees an express ticket to the World Series and likewise no college football team that does not even win their own division should be in a four team playoff.

THE LAST WORD
It is really sad to feel this hollow after this kind of season but I do.  I am sorry but I have to say it again... I HATE THE GUS MALZAHN OFFENSE.  I simply cannot stand watching it.  How in the world have Georgia Tech fans put up with running the archaic triple option offense this long?  It is bad enough watching Gus' Wing-T.  He has done some impressive things but with the caliber of players he has managed to recruit he has also drastically underperformed.  Jarrett Stidham could be a good passing quarterback like Barrett Trotter and Jeremy Johnson before him but if you are not a running quarterback your talent will be wasted.  I wish we would just stop recruiting good drop back quarterbacks so I do not have to watch the waste.  That was another reason 2013 was fun to watch because at that time Nick Marshall was so raw and better at running the football it was the right thing to run the Gus offense.

Luckily for Gus the Mississippi schools are down and Arkansas is starting over.  Ed Orgeron will never be a great coach and I think Jimbo Fisher is way overrated not to mention poor Tennessee rolls onto the schedule next year.  Gus will feast on most of those teams but will lose to Georgia and Bama on the road next season plus lose another head scratcher somewhere else like 2014 and 2016.  Basically again Gus will continue to lose every game that comes down to a passing game.  I guess 8 or 9 wins with losses at Amen Corner is decent but I am sorry I am not looking forward to it.  I am not sure what I am going to write here.  I do not know how I can continue to break down years more of Malzahn games.  I can pretty much predict correctly almost every game we play in.  I went with 9-3 this season but a special defense got us one more win that I expected.  It will not happen again I do not think under Malzahn.  

BONUS BOWL THOUGHTS
Let me get this straight, we get the more "prestigious" bowl spot but we get sent to the Peach Bowl against Central Florida while LSU gets Notre Dame???  LSU has played Notre Dame several times over the last 20 years while Auburn has NEVER played them.  Do I even have to say that regardless of whether they are undefeated or not NOBODY CARES ABOUT PLAYING CENTRAL FLORIDA.  This completely stinks.  How can we get the best non-playoff bowl spot and get stuck playing in Atlanta again against a non-Power 5 team???  I mean it is like my same friend told me, the powers that be may not go out of their way to screw Auburn but they certainly take the opportunity when it presents itself... "Hey guys we have to send one of these teams to play Central Florida... of course Auburn, great idea!". 

It was great beating Georgia and Bama in November but again this season has certainly ended on a down note but hey now we get to watch basketbal... er nevermind.