Game 8 Review: Bad Offense and Bad Officiating

You did NOT see any of these calls yesterday!

LSU 23  Auburn 20.  Sometimes I have to really rack my brain to come up with a fresh or original title for my posts but that was certainly not the case this week.  I think this might be the most dead-on and accurate title for a game review ever.  On offense it was not Gus' finest work but it was the same meltdown we have seen everytime Auburn has played a good team on the road under Malzahn.  It was frustrating but nothing new however the officiating might have been the worst I have ever seen.  I am certainly not blaming the officials for Auburn losing the game, I am just pointing out their clear incompetence or game-influencing calls.  College football is starting to resemble wrestling in my opinion.  It is just not any fun to watch with this kind of blatant incompetence or game-influencing.

THE GOOD
It is sad the Auburn defense got absolutely no support from the offense or officials and I mean NO SUPPORT.  The defense was left out there for almost 90 plays or almost 120 if you count plays cancelled by penalties and then replayed.  I read that is the equivalent of the defense playing FIVE QUARTERS.  That makes the 508 yards gained by LSU not look quite as bad.  These guys absolutely played their guts out.  It was really sad to watch because there was no way the offense or the officials were going to let them even have a chance at being on the winning team. 

Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson were once again outstanding.  These guys are men.  It is really sad they have played with such bad offensive teams the last two years.  I pray nothing bad happens to either of these two guys and they are ready for the start of the NFL season next year.  Any team will be lucky to get these guys.  Auburn's secondary was outstanding as well yesterday with FIVE guys having double figure tackle totals.  The other guy that really stood out to me was K.J. Britt.  The guy is just a beast.  He played with so much passion and energy.  Auburn is certainly lucky to have a guy like Britt to replace Deshaun Davis.  He is definitely what I would look for in a middle linebacker.  

THE BAD
"Bo Nix never had a chance.  He will be just another in a long list of quarterbacks that showed promise but then got worse under Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn.  Auburn came out yesterday and played horrible on offense like they have done so many other times under Malzahn especially on the road.  It was just par for the course and we all should have seen it coming.  I hate Malzahn's offensive system.  This stupid offensive system is just a step above the triple option and it always will be.  Nothing has ever changed regardless of who is calling the stupid plays.  There is a bunch of formations and then the same few running and passing plays.  

The results at Auburn closely resemble that of a triple option team.  Auburn destroys teams it can run on and is a little better than but it nearly always loses to teams with good defenses and experienced coordinators.  THE OFFENSE IS SO PREDICTABLE.  It always has been and it always will be under Gus Malzahn.  He has never beaten anybody any good on the road outside of Texas A&M and it appears he never will.  He simply cannot beat a good team on the road.  It has been over six years, it is in stone.  I will never expect anything but an embarrassing loss anytime an Auburn team under Malzahn plays AWAY against a good team.

The problem here is not losing.  It is the offense looking completely lost and playing embarrassingly bad.  It is just like in 2014 against Mississippi State and Georgia or 2015 against LSU and Georgia or 2016 against Clemson and Georgia or 2017 against Clemson and LSU or 2018 against Tennessee and Mississippi State.  Those were mostly good teams.  I am not talking about whether we should have won or lost, I am talking about the bottom falling out on offense all the way in every single one of those games and others I did not mention.  

Bo Nix once again looked really bad and really unprepared.  I expect a coach, especially one PAID SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR, to be able to at least put a basic rudimentary passing game on the field but Gus never has on the road against a good team and he never will.  Again we will get to see some more games like Mississippi State a few weeks ago but when Gus Malzahn has to play a team as good or better than his team on the road in a big time game he will lose every single time and he will probably look extraordinarily bad doing it..." AND HE DID IT AGAIN YESTERDAY.

I wrote all that after the Florida game two weeks ago and it is still exactly right.  You can read my post from Auburn's meltdown two years ago when they blew a 20-0 lead in Baton Rouge if you need more detail. Honestly how many times can you say the same thing?  How can any coach be this stubborn to keep running the same stupid offense and never change?  I do not want to make a mistake and end up like Arkansas or Tennessee but Auburn has gone as far as it is ever going to go under Gus Malzahn.  I simply cannot stand watching his offense.  I am just so sick of watching the same thing for the last SEVEN YEARS.  Thanks for 2013 but is time to make a change.  PLEASE.

THE UGLY
I am even more sick of watching college football become the WWE.  As I said last week, the college football system already allows the "playoff teams" to be subjectively picked to get the "best matchups" but now it sure appears that games are being influenced during the regular season.  I just do not think that is an opinion but observable fact.  I am not mad that LSU beat Auburn.  I expected that as I wrote above and many times in the past.  I am mad after watching LSU being allowed to blatantly hold the ENTIRE GAME.  Yes yes I know there are always missed calls and I know LSU had some penalties but it was obvious the refs were letting LSU blatantly hold.  

This strategy allowed LSU to have a huge advantage with their passing game.  Auburn defensive end T.D. Moultry was pulled down in full sight of the refs on LSU's first touchdown.  Let us see if LSU gets away with that in two weeks.  I bet they will not.  It is almost like not calling one foul on a basketball player the whole game.  LSU THREW THE BALL 42 TIMES, IT IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO THROW THE BALL 42 TIMES AGAINST A DEFENSIVE LINE LIKE AUBURN'S AND NOT HOLD ONE TIME.  I do not count the stupid holding call they made at the very end of game when LSU was running out clock.  I am counting the 42 PASSES MADE BY LSU.

Is this LSU offensive line the greatest of all time or even the best this season?  They are not even close!  Auburn's defensive line IS being called the best in the country.  The refs are saying that LSU did not hold on one pass play that entire game.  I am sorry it sure looks like blatant game-influencing.  The refs got the message that nothing can derail the Bama vs. LSU game from being another stupid "game of the century" (even though LSU has not beaten Bama since 2011).  It is time to make more money!  This is just ridiculous.  One of the cons of being a passing team is having a few holding penalties a game.  Again this travesty is like saying a basketball team did not foul one time in a game or lets just say not fouling on 42 possessions.  IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

THE LAST WORD
I say next year we just go ahead and pick the four playoff teams at the start of the season and get it over with.  Maybe then we could get some decent officiating without the pressure of preventing the next "game of the century".  I know officiating is extremely difficult but there is no excuse for what happened yesterday.  It is just a game but I will make these observations.  This game and whatever happens in it will not effect my life.  I can find other things for entertainment and still love my school but "I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in CLEAN sports that develop these qualities."  Lets keep it clean and let the games be settled on the field fairly.