It was just one of those special days for me. It started for me early this morning at an 8am tennis match. I got beaten badly 6-1 in the first set but was able to come back and win in a third set tiebreaker. I then come home and watch the game and again had certainly counted Auburn out but they came back and won too. The sky is a little bluer, the food tastes a little better and we could all enjoy an Auburn win over a decent team for the first time since Labor Day. Of course we better enjoy it because it will probably be the last one for this season. This win saved Malzahn for another year but only a win next week can "change the narrative" which is evidently what Jimbo Fisher was telling his team a win in this game could do according to the announcers on TV.
THE GOOD
Auburn only had 19 RUSHING YARDS FOR THE GAME ON 21 ATTEMPTS. Read that again. In a million years I would never think Gus Malzahn or frankly any Auburn coach could win a game with that stat. Texas A&M had over 200 yards rushing and over 400 yards total. The A&M offense spent a good deal of the game destroying Auburn's supposed great defense and #5 Trayveon Williams was the best offensive player on the field. That guy is Darren Sproles reincarnated. Every time I looked up he was tearing through the Auburn defense again. He ended with almost 200 total yards and three touchdowns.
Texas A&M was much better than Auburn in nearly every facet of the game except one... turnovers. You hear a lot about how deadly turnovers can be and you sometimes start to tone it out but today was a good example. Auburn scored two touchdowns off Aggie turnovers and that was the difference in the game. Texas A&M had the momentum both times as well but the turnovers changed everything. Auburn got its first touchdown on a trick play pass from Ryan Davis to Sal Cannella after the Aggies fumbled and Auburn's fourth quarter comeback started after an interception by Noah Igbinoghene. Freshman Christian Tutt also had a huge punt return on Auburn's last drive.
Jarrett Stidham finally caught fire and receivers Ryan Davis and Darius Slayton were thankfully ready when he did. The season has obviously been a well-documented disaster for Stidham but today at the end of the game he finally started putting them on the money. Being a part of a comeback like this is something these guys will always remember as well the rest of us. Another good thing about this win is getting a little payback for the national championship loss to Florida State. It certainly does not make things even but helps a little. This was going to be Jimbo Fisher's first signature win at Texas A&M over one of the top programs in the conference but instead it is a stinging loss.
THE BAD
I could pretty much use the same stat lines from the last section. It is good that Auburn was able to overcome such horrendous performances but it is really bad that they had to. Gus Malzahn's offense is still and I guess will always be extremely predictable. Texas A&M like Tennessee seemed to know every play. The predictability just makes everything worse and the Auburn offense is pretty bad. The offensive line is just awful. Again I know these guys are working hard but man they were bad most of today. I mean 19 TOTAL YARDS RUSHING???!!!??? Texas A&M had a good defense but not that good. I mean that is just ridiculous.
They also were not very good in pass protection. Texas A&M defensive linemen seemed to just run right through the line at times. The Aggies had 3 sacks and 7 tackles-for-losses. On top of that, the few times that Stidham had decent protection early there was nobody open. Auburn only had seven first downs through three quarters. Again that is just ridiculous after a BYE WEEK, the Texas A&M defense is not that good. This is also why that while I am happy for team I will give no kudos to Malzahn. He did not have this team ready to play even with an extra week to prepare and if Texas A&M had not turned the ball over twice this would be a very different post.
Finally let me put in my weekly complaint about the HORRENDOUS officiating that we see EVERY WEEK in the SEC. This game was definitely not the worst I have seen but the phantom pass interference call on third down and goal that gave Texas A&M their last touchdown was really bad. First I did not see any interference and second the ball was clearly uncatchable. That call could have decided the game. I will give kudos for the two actual holding calls made on Texas A&M. Teams have been tackling our defensive line all year. However the bottom line is SEC football is a MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY. HIRE FULL-TIME REFS.
THE UGLY
The ugly truth that most people are now seeing and I am now reading on various Auburn sites is that Gus and the boys have not recruited the offensive line very well the last few years. It has sure been obvious this season and after the joy of the comeback win starts to subside you are left with a team that does not have a good offensive line or any great running backs. The even worst news is that there do not appear to be any coming next season looking at Auburn's current list of commitments. Gus may have saved himself this season but next season is looking like a much bigger disaster with this same offense and Auburn's current defensive front seven gone.
This is also compounded by having to listen to another week of this "game of the century" BS about Bama and LSU. Every year it is the same garbage when LSU has not beaten Bama since 2011 and really have not had many good teams. I mean yes Bama has an awesome team and has been very good but stop with all the ridiculous hype about this stupid game every stinking year. The only thing worse is listening to the garbage about the "Third Saturday in October". Bama has to take everything to a nauseating extreme. The LSU game cannot be just a big game, their quarterback cannot just be a great quarterback and so on. Of course after they beat this overrated LSU team it will be worse...
THE LAST WORD.
We now finally come to Amen Corner. Auburn will first travel to Athens to take on the Bulldogs. Georgia sure looked good today destroying Kentucky and winning the SEC East. It does not look great for Auburn considering how they played today but the Tigers are in their favorite spot. Auburn will be a huge underdog that nobody gives a chance and that is where they excel if they have any talent. This team has some talent but not a lot of coaching. Auburn usually does not have a chance if it cannot run the ball. It sure does not look like they will be able to run the ball after today plus Georgia is better than Texas A&M. It just adds up to a long day in Athens next week.
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