Game 8 Review: Thank goodness for the Mrs...

Auburn 31  Ole Miss 16.  Yes thank goodness for Ole Miss.  They usually are the cure, for at least a week, for what ails Auburn.  That was the case this week as the Tigers were able to get the win in Oxford after the horrendous loss to Tennessee.  I want to be real clear though, nothing has changed.  Gus is still the same coach he was last week, and against Mississippi State and for the last six years.  The simple fact is Auburn just has better football players than Ole Miss.  Now Auburn has better football players than Tennessee and State too but they were a bit closer and I think have better coaches.

This was a typical Malzahn run-based win over a lesser team.  Auburn ran the ball 46 times with Boobie Whitlow gaining 170 yards.  Stidham completed a little over 50% of his passes but the receivers and Whitlow made several good runs after the catch.  ESPN showed a stat during the game that 30% of Auburn's overall passes are screen passes so actually Auburn throws even less downfield than we think.  There was a lot of hubbub during the week about getting freshman speedster Anthony Schwartz the ball more and that added up to three touches.  However Auburn got a much needed win.

It is always better to win than to lose but again nothing has changed.  Gus Malzahn made that real clear after the game with this gem...  "“We were able to run the football, that’s getting back to Auburn football.”  That in a sentence is his problem and Auburn's problem.  I am so sick and tired of hearing this ridiculous notion that you are any less of a team winning championships passing the ball.  It has worked out pretty good for the Patriots and it seems to be working out pretty good across the state.  Again I am not talking about moving to the "Air Raid" offense but I am talking about being balanced.

I have heard it being pointed out that we have passed more in previous weeks, well yeah we have been behind and our run game has been completely stuffed so we have passed more.  However it has actually proven the point as much as games like this against Ole Miss. When Auburn passes a lot it does not look very good.  That is because within this system it is obvious the finer points of the passing game are simply not repped or taught.  People know a well coached passing game when they see it.  Look at Phillip Fulmer's teams at Tennessee with David Cutcliffe as his offensive coordinator and the ones with out.  It is a stark difference.  

Look at the current best football team in the world, the Los Angeles Rams.  Their passing game was awful under run-based head coach Jeff Fisher but now they are balanced and have one of the best passing games in football with coach Sean McVay.  Contrary to popular opinion, Auburn has been at it's best being balanced with a good passing game.  The best years under Shug Jordan in the modern era of football were with Pat Sullivan WHO WON THE HEISMAN TROPHY FOR HIS ABILITY TO PASS THE BALL.  We have retired his jersey along with the guy he THREW THE BALL to the most, Terry Beasley.  Terry Beasley was an All-American due to his ABILITY TO CATCH THE FOOTBALL, not block.

Coach Pat Dye won the SEC and the national championship in 1983 with the very run-based Wishbone formation but quarterback Randy Campbell's clutch passing won more than one game against maybe the hardest schedule ever played.  Auburn faltered in 1984 and 1985 even with THE BEST RUNNING BACK EVER without Campbell but recovered to put up the best four years of football in Auburn history from 1986 through 1989 by becoming MORE BALANCED and PASSING THE BALL better.  Again the greatest four years of Auburn football only came about when a run-based coached made the decision to pass more.

The 1993 and 1994 teams had great running backs in James Bostic and Stephen Davis but just as important was quarterback Pat Nix throwing to Thomas Bailey and Frank Sanders.  These were truly balanced teams and Auburn went 20-1-1.  Fast forward to maybe the most talented Auburn team ever in 2003 which went 8-5 because of bad offensive coaching mainly in the passing game.  The same guys came back the next year with a competent offensive coordinator, not a great one but a competent one, who knew how to coach the passing game and you get maybe Auburn's greatest team in 2004.

You can even look to 2010 when Malzahn was offensive coordinator and look at the progression of Cam Newton.  Auburn was able to win a championship because of his growth as a passer.  It has become obvious that Malzahn did not teach him that,  It was some else on that staff, I think Chizik or Trooper Taylor, and they did not allow Malzahn to run the offense totally his way.  Auburn passed way more with Cam than Malzahn would have if he would have been totally in charge.  I said then and I still say now that 2013 was the exception to the rule.  That was a ground-based team that was not balanced but I do not think you will see an exception like that again in our lifetime. 

Also as great as that 2013 team was they lost the national championship game with a 21-3 lead because of the coaching staff's refusal to pass on first down. I think you are understanding my point though and that is you have the be balanced to be your best.  You have to be balanced to win championships throwing out rare exceptions.  This has been proven in Auburn's history and I think you will see the same thing if you study the history of any football team.  You need a good running game and you can be "ground-based" but you need a good competent well-coached passing game too.  

Again look across the state, all I have heard is that this is $aban's best team and maybe the best team ever at Bama.  WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?  The defense is nowhere near as good as other defenses under $aban.  The running backs are not as good the ones from Bama playing in the pros right now.  I certainly do not think this is their best offensive line ever.  All these units are very good but nowhere near Bama's best ever.  THE DIFFERENCE IS A GREAT QUARTERBACK AND A GREAT PASSING GAME.  I mean all you have to do is watch or look at the stats.  The huge difference in this team and any other great team at Bama is the awesome passing game.

Everyone cannot have a Tua or a Peyton Manning or a Jason Campbell every season but a good coach at Auburn should be able to almost always put a competent passing game on the field.  To conclude there is nothing wrong with being balanced and relying on the pass a little more than the run sometimes based on your personnel.  Again see Bama, they are more of a passing team with Tua but were more of a running team with Derrick Henry.  Of course even with Henry they had a competent passing game and that is what Coach Gus Malzahn can not do consistently running his offensive system and that is why I do not enjoy watching it.

Game 7 Review: REIGN OF FIRE

Tennessee 30  Auburn 24.  I was there yesterday right in the middle of Apocalypse Now in Jordan Hare.  I watched till the brutal end surrounded for most of the game by joyous Vol fans.  It started out well with great weather, a flyover by a B2 stealth bomber (!!!) and a touchdown by the home team on the first possession.  It all went downhill from there and now there will truly be a "reign of fire" down on head coach Gus Malzahn for this complete disaster.  I have been going to Auburn games regularly since 1983 and I have seen some pretty brutal losses.  However I am not sure I have ever seen Auburn upset by a team it was favored by over two touchdowns to in the state Tennessee was in.

 

I also do not think I have seen a team with this much talent completely go down the tubes.  This team will have to beat Ole Miss next which is still possible to just go 6-6 assuming likely losses to Texas A&M, Georgia and Bama.  If you look at Auburn's semi-recent seasons where the team did not have a winning record, you usually see some talent but not near as much as this team.  The Auburn teams in 2012, 2008 and 1998 had some pieces but none had a defense close to this team nor a quarterback that had a chance of ever beating Bama no matter how strong the team.  It boggles the mind how bad a coaching job Gus Malzahn has done to lose to a team that had lost 11 conference games in a row, a team that lost 40-14 to West Virginia, 47-21 to Florida (at home) and 38-12 to Georgia this season. 

 

I tell you though, after this complete debacle, it is hard to decide who is the bigger incompetent boob, Gus Malzahn or the MORON or MORONS who decided to give him a SEVEN YEAR 49 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT WITH A PERCENTAGE BUYOUT WHICH CURRENTLY IS OVER 30 MILLION DOLLARS.  Auburn pretty much deserves to be in this spot with leadership that STUPID.  I know last year's team had some big wins but just read some of the game reviews in this blog from 2014, 2015, 2016 or see them all summarized after the LSU game in 2017. 

 

Some of the opinions set forth in this blog might be up for debate but I think I have certainly proven that Gus Malzahn is not worth a SEVEN YEAR 49 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT WITH A PERCENTAGE BUYOUT WHICH CURRENTLY IS OVER 30 MILLION DOLLARS.  I mean ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Do the "top men" who make decisions like this at Auburn do their due diligence or get any outside opinions?  I mean how in the world could you give a contract like that to a man who had gone 8-5 with the talent he had in 2014 and then 6-6 in 2015 and then 8-5 again in 2016.  Those seasons all include losses to both Georgia and Bama.  It was equally as obvious that the talent level on the team had dropped some and was fixing to drop a LOT.

 

I am not up for dissecting ANOTHER Malzahn debacle, I mean you just get tired of saying the same things over and over and over again.  I will say the one thing that has stuck out to me as Stidham has struggled is the whole quarterback deal.  Gus Malzahn runs an option offense that is meant to have a mobile quarterback.  He won his only two championships at Auburn as a coordinator and a coach with a mobile quarterback.  So considering that fact WHY IN THE HECK HAVE WE NOT HAD ONE SINCE THEN?  I mean this offense is where drop-back quarterbacks GO TO DIE.  Jarrett Stidham is just the latest one to regress in this offense.  He now joins Barrett Trotter, Jeremy Johnson and Sean White.  These quarterbacks strengths do not go with this offense at all.

 

Enough though, what is the bottom line here as we sift through the ashes of this season?  First, I do not want to hear people talking up Tennessee.  They will likely not win another conference game this season.  They are not a good team.  This loss is one of the worst losses in Auburn history and certainly Malzahn's most embarrassing.  The season is over and the coaching staff has completely failed.  However, we are still stuck with Malzahn through next season at least if not two more.  You simply cannot fire him and pay that kind of money out.  It is just wrong.  Auburn does not need that kind of really bad publicity.  It would be a mistake as big as giving the ridiculous contract to him. 

 

So with that said, we simply have to go forward in one way or another.  There is nothing that can save this season but we can get some young players valuable experience and maybe along the way pick up a decent win.  First I think you have to start Malik Willis if for no other reason than to give us another running threat and help this awful offensive line.  Run blocking is easier than pass blocking.  Also Stidham has had his chance and I just do not think at this point he is able to contribute in any meaningful way.  I hate it for him but it is simply where we are at.  He has lost the team and I just do not think Willis could be any worse and he can run.

 

We then need to get Asa Martin some meaningful reps and continue to utilize the young wide receivers (as much as they can be utilized in this offense).  On defense you have got to blitz more.  We simply do not have a good pass rusher and we have to blitz more.  We either need to get a stop or get off the field.  We cannot continue to allow these long torturous drives.  We need to get some of the younger guys on the line and at linebacker some experience as again almost the entire front seven is gone after this season.  There is nothing that is going to make anyone feel any better about a lost season but we can at least get something out of the rest of the season by getting these young guys experience.

 

I admit though that everything I just said though true rings hollow in the big picture.  I ended my last post asking the question "will the decision to commit to Malzahn long term ultimately help Auburn or put the Tiger program into an extended tailspin?"  I think I know the answer now unfortunately.  The decision to give him this contract is going to put he program in an extended tailspin. We are most likely going to take it on the chin again next season even getting these players experience.  Recruiting is going to suffer and this time we cannot bring in a new coach to stop the bleeding.  The program will just continue to slide as the leadership has to wait till the time when it is fiscally possible to change head coaches.  It is going to a long and excruciating wait.

Game 6 Review: The Outlook is Stark

Mississippi State 23  Auburn 9.  I have seen the end of several head coaching careers at Auburn.  I do not think Auburn has, contrary to popular opinion, ever pulled the trigger on a coach too early.  It has always been the obvious right time.  The NCAA and his own health problems spelled the end for Coach Dye.  The worst recruiting class in modern day history was curtains for Terry Bowden.  Everything kind of sliding off the table made it clear it was time for Tuberville to leave and Chizik had to go after the worst season ever.  I think the end is nearing for Gus Malzahn at Auburn but thanks to the idiotic leadership on the plains giving him that ridiculous contract it is not going to happen.  I fear the loss last night might signal Auburn sliding into that black hole the University of Tennessee currently resides in.

I mentioned all of Auburn's modern head football coaches above.  The common theme in their departures except for Coach Dye was current or imminent recruiting problems.  You have to stop the bleeding as soon as possible to prevent a long term program slide.  Auburn was able to do that just in time after Bowden had alienated most of the high school coaches in the state.  Auburn was able to do that after $aban came in and Tuberville had lost that fight to recruit.  Auburn did it again with Chizik after the worst season ever and Malzahn has done some good recruiting.  However it appears that while the rankings might not show it yet, recruiting has started to slip the last two years.

Auburn was led last season on offense by NFL prospects Braden Smith, Austin Golson, Casey Dunn and Darius James on the line plus Kerryon in the backfield.  It is obvious now that Kerryon was the leader of the offense and Jarrett Stidham was effective when Kerryon had his back.  It is apparent now that Stidham is not a great leader and not half the player without all those guys from last season.  The offense was still not great against tough competition last season but good enough with a great defense.  Auburn lost a few key difference makers off the defense last season but still has a fearsome front seven this season.  However the offense, Malzahn's specialty, is just not good enough to get wins even with a good defense.

This season, in terms of competing for a championship, is over.  I thought it was over after LSU but it is definitely over now.  That automatically gets me thinking about Auburn's future outlook.  I have to say, as this post is titled, the outlook from Starkville, Mississippi last night is indeed stark.  I do not see any upcoming All SEC offensive linemen in this group.  The best candidate is five star Calvin Ashley who was whipped badly last night but even if he can be resurrected it will probably take a few years.  These guys are just not that good and I just do not see them improving enough from the disaster they are now.  I mean you have to be really good to make this ridiculously predictable offense work.

I do not see a great running back in the bunch.  Asa Martin was Mr. Football last season and probably the best chance but like Kam Martin and Boobie Whitlow he is undersized to be that every down power back.  That could change but will it change enough or matter behind a mediocre offensive line.  The passing game does not matter.  Gus cannot coach up a passing game and the only time it is effective is if...  Auburn has a great running game.  So if Auburn does not have a great running game there will be no passing game to bail it out, i.e. even incoming super frosh Bo Nix.  That was patently obvious last night as Auburn had to try and throw the ball against a good defense.  It is also obvious that every single quarterback that spends more than one season with Malzahn regresses as a passer, EVERY SINGLE ONE.

That is just the offense.  The defense which got absolutely bludgeoned last night could lose almost the complete starting front seven.  All the linebackers and Dontavious Russell are seniors and the other best defensive linemen, Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, will almost certainly leave early.  I believe the defense will take a huge step back next season.  Let me pause though to recognize senior linebacker DeShaun Davis, the guy is a beast.  He got hurt pretty good but immediately came back in.  The guy is absolutely giving it everything he has and it is sad this season could not have been better for him.  He is not the only one either, I know the majority of these guys are working their butts off. 

Unfortunately for these players they are led by the most stubborn-to-a-fault person I have ever seen in head coach Gus Malzahn.  It really boggles the mind.  The last time the defense really killed the team was !!! 2014 !!!  The offense has consistently been the problem since then.  There have been some all-time horrible offensive coaching jobs along with the predictability and lack of any semblance of a modern passing game.  AFTER ALL THAT THE LEADERSHIP AT AUBURN MADE THIS GUY THE FIFTH HIGHEST PAID COACH IN THE COUNTRY PAYING HIM SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.  The morons also gave him this percentage buyout garbage which makes it impossible to fire him for at least two more seasons.

Back to the start of this post and Auburn pulling the trigger to fire coaches at the right time.  Again I think Auburn has made all of its modern coaching changes at the right time.  The interesting thing about now is that I think Auburn will need to change coaches at the end of next season and they will not be able to.  The question is will the decision to commit to Malzahn long term ultimately help Auburn or put the Tiger program into an extended tailspin?