GO WEST YOUNG MAN

"Go west young man", well it appears that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene did just that to complete the search for a new head football coach on the plains. Greene went all the way to Idaho and Boise State University to get Bryan Harsin as Auburn's new coach. It was an absolute surprise to me and I think to most people. The truth be told I have been glued to this search since it started picking up speed and yesterday morning I was convinced the whole thing was just not serious and Kevin Steele would still end up being our head coach. I have not been a fan of Steele as defensive coordinator. I have always thought he was vastly overrated so I certainly was not in favor of him becoming head coach. Therefore considering that and where the search was yesterday, I was absolutely ESTATIC when I heard Harsin.

I guess though I need to get a few thoughts off my chest about Gus Malzahn and this search before we THANKFULLY TURN THE PAGE ON ALL OF IT. I actually got my review of Auburn's final game against Mississippi State done on time and posted early the Sunday after. I did not think Gus would be fired, I just did not think Gogue would do it and I was wrong. I did not update that post, it was the final chapter on Gus and I wanted to leave it. Several times during this search I wanted to write a post as I had some real rants ready but things were changing so fast that I wanted to wait till it was over. I also thought about doing a summary post on Gus' career but after reviewing every game in the Malzahn era I have had enough of writing about his games. 

I will give two more paragraphs to Gus Malzahn and then frankly I never want to talk about him again. Gus did some good things at Auburn. Nobody will ever forget 2013 especially the Georgia and Bama games. The "Miracle at Jordan Hare" against Georgia was just that. The "Kick Six" is the greatest play in college football history and one of the greatest games.  Gus led Auburn to destroying #1 Georgia and beating Bama, who was also #1 at the time, by more than ten points for the first time since 1969 in 2017. Those are also unforgettable games. Auburn was the best team in the country for three weeks. Finally I will never forget the Iron Bowl last season, it was an incredible game and the last one I will get to watch with my parents at Jordan Hare as they retired their season tickets. GREAT MEMORIES.

Thank you Gus for your part in those tremendous games. Thank you for the winning seasons. He is the only modern Auburn football coach to not have a losing season and that is an accomplishment. Unfortunately though I believe he was also the only modern Auburn football coach to NEVER beat Bama, Georgia or LSU on the road or win a significant bowl game. There were too many poorly coached games especially on offense. Gus could never adjust after they changed the substitution rules and defenses caught up to him. He refused to ever really adjust or change his offense regardless of whoever was supposedly calling the plays. He just never seemed to have a clue about or add any modern passing concepts. He did it his way till the end.

And it was definitely time for his Auburn career to end as I wrote in the last two game reviews. I would also like to take this time to also correct something I hear over and over during times like this but is not true, Auburn has NEVER fired a coach early. Auburn has NEVER had an itchy trigger finger. Auburn may not pick the new ones right but they have ended each coach exactly when they had to be ended. Pat Dye resigned at the right time considering his health and other issues. Terry Bowden had the worst recruiting class in Auburn history in 1998. He absolutely had to go. Tommy Tuberville's last recruiting class was also a disaster and he obviously was not ready to go head-to-head with $aban. Finally Gene Chizik turned in the worst season in Auburn history before being let go. 

That brings us to ten days ago and the beginning of this search. There is another famous saying "all is well that ends well" and I think that is true here but whew this truism was certainly tested by this coaching search. I mean what a complete disaster before yesterday. I will cover most of my angst with this search by stating two things, in this day and age you cannot do public coaching searches or use committees without making an already tough process worse. I think you have to empower your athletic director to find a candidate and use all methods at his disposal privately as possible and then present that candidate to the people who will approve the hire. Auburn may have done some of this but it just seemed too much was public regardless of all the disinformation that was out there.

There are many things about this search that still do not make sense. Did the power brokers behind-the-scenes at Auburn really think they would be able to just pop Kevin Steele in there as head coach initially? If so they are really out of touch with reality. The whole #StopSteele campaign was a PR disaster. After that exactly what happened with Billy Napier? I will say that I still think Napier was the best candidate. He grew up in Georgia and had spent time on both $aban and Dabo's football staffs and had then done a top job at Louisiana. Did Auburn offer him the job? Did they put limitations on him? What happened there? I guess we will never know but I would like to. Honestly why did we even talk to Bill Clark at UAB? The timing of that also made Auburn look really bad. 

I also got sick of hearing about coaches that get way more attention than they deserve. Hugh Freeze did some good things at Ole Miss and while I believe in forgiveness and restoration I do not think you can put him in charge of a major football program after what he did in Oxford. If I ever hear Lane Kiffin's name again it will be too soon. Folks, Lane Kiffin has to be the most overrated coach ever. He has frankly never done anything as a head coach. He was a failure with the Raiders, he quit on Tennessee and then he failed at USC and he had plenty of time. I mean enough with Lane Kiffin. I think Brent Venables is a good coach but Auburn definitely did not need another defensive head coach who would be completely dependent on a big expensive offensive coordinator hire.

There was definitely a lot of misinformation out there, some were the media and fans scrambling after anything and I am sure some was put out by Auburn's enemies. However I do think Auburn was talking to these coaches in the order the information came out and it looked really bad. It really does look like the only initial plan after firing Gus was hiring Steele and that was a really bad plan. It sure appears that Auburn has been scrambling since then. The whole committee deal and hiring process seemed hastily thrown together and nobody knew who was really in charge of the search. I guess they do now and frankly he should have been in charge the whole time. The athletic director is now like the general manager of a pro sports franchise and I believe he has to be the man.

It really does appear Auburn athletic director Allen Greene at some point did take the lead on this search and he delivered to Auburn president Jay Gogue, the board of trustees and the Auburn family as a whole an excellent candidate. I honestly did not think this could happen at Auburn but am certainly happy it did. Greene it appears finally led Auburn to THINK OUT OF THE BOX rather than concentrating on who someone had coached for and where he lived or had ties to. I have said it so many times about any search whether it be Auburn or Bama or whoever, just hire a good football coach. You have to start there. I believe Auburn has done that here. I am sure that Gus Malzahn and the Bammers were all laughing there heads off this week but I do not think they are laughing any more...

Bryan Harsin is 76-23 as a head coach leading his Boise State teams to three Mountain West conference titles and bowl games every season. The Broncos have won ten games five times under Harsin. During Harsin's tenure as offensive coordinator Boise State went 61-5 and won two New Year's six major bowl games. He also served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas under Mack Brown in 2011 and 2012. This guy is a proven winner and good football coach. This differs greatly from Auburn's previous hires. Gus Malzahn had only head coached in high school and one year at Arkansas State. Gene Chizik was 5-19 as a head coach at Iowa State. Tommy Tuberville did a good job helping Ole Miss dig out from harsh NCAA sanctions but nothing like this. Terry Bowden came from Samford.

The biggest question about Harsin so far is his lack of recruiting experience in the south. I am not going to argue that, it is a big question. However Harsin's experience is very similar to Urban Meyer when Florida hired him out of Utah. Urban Meyer was looked at like Harsin at that time. It worked out. Also Tennessee was in the same spot Auburn is a couple of years ago searching for a coach. They went with the Jeremy Pruitt and his southern experience. He was considered one of the best recruiters in the country and had worked extensively for $aban at Bama along with a stint at Georgia and helping Florida State win the national championship as defensive coordinator. However his recruiting greatness has not translated to Tennessee. My point is that no ties to the south is not a death knell here.

Auburn also desperately needed an offensive coach. We thought we had it in Gus but he was a one-trick pony that again could never adapt. I think I can state as fact that Harsin is a proven good offensive coach. Boise State has long been known for offensive innovation and he has been there in one position or another for all of it. They have had great running and passing games. I think if Harsin gets the players he can have some very good offenses in the SEC. I also think he can have a great defense as well. Boise has put plenty of players into the NFL on both sides of the ball. Also after reading and listening to a lot of information about Harsin, I hear good things like: serious, focused, will not back down... I like what I hear and cannot wait to watch this guy go to work.

There are no guarantees, I definitely understand that. You have to get the players, you have to get them at every position. The timing and combination of players has to be right to even compete for a title. Auburn has some serious holes in their roster that have to be fixed and Auburn is surrounded by great teams. It is a serious challenge. Harsin could fail... but on the other hand he could also succeed. Did anyone think Boise State would stay a great football program for fifteen years when he started there in 2006? That was certainly a challenge that took a lot of great recruiting and coaching. Harsin obviously wants the increased challenge of competing in the hardest conference. The facts say he is a good coach and has a good chance of succeeding at Auburn.

The next question everyone has after recruiting is what his staff will look like. Many people want a clean sweep of our staff and I am not opposed to that. However I do think many powerful Auburn people want some of the current staff to stay. At this point, I am not opposed to that either. I do think Harsin agreeing to keep some of the current staff maybe one of the things along with his low buyout that made him attractive to Auburn and got this done. He will need the help of some experienced coaches who know the recruiting areas. This might be a concern to some people but after learning about Coach Harsin, I do not think this is a concern. This guy appears to be a strong leader and again an experienced his coach. He is going to run this football program his way. I do not think we have to worry about that.

Personally I am so happy that somehow some way Auburn was able to hire a good football coach. Things looked bleak yesterday. I came home completely convinced that this search was doomed to failure. I have watched so many games in stony silence the last few years. It just has not been fun and yesterday around 5:00pm I thought I was in for years more of that but then my phone buzzed... Bama and the rest of the college football world continue to always count Auburn out  and hey I had counted us out as well. Auburn has a lot of issues and messes up a lot but it is still a special place that has always been about comebacks. I think we just made another one. I think somehow some way Auburn picked the one guy that could unite everyone and bring us back again. Lets get started!!!

WAR BRYAN HARSIN AND WAR DAMN EAGLE. 

GAME 10 REVIEW: FATIGUE

Auburn 24  Mississippi State 10.  The Auburn football team mercifully closed out their 2020 season Saturday night with a win over a really bad Mississippi State team. The game itself was the worst I had seen all season through three quarters but Auburn finally made some plays and finished the Bulldogs off. I still think it is good that the SEC played football and frankly most teams did a great job including Auburn getting a full or close to full season in. Unfortunately the yearning for football as a relief from an awful year only goes so far, it is still not much fun to watch bad football and this game was again really bad. I think most SEC football fans outside of Tuscaloosa are glad to have the season over with. I am definitely glad it is over with after watching Auburn the last three weeks.

I also could care less about watching Bama and the same cast of characters from last year play for their "championship". I mean do that many people outside these schools enjoy watching the same teams play every year? The college football system in my opinion is just broken. The governing body appears to have completely lost control of the two major sports and there is absolutely no real enforcement of any rules outside the façade of  "secondary violations" and occasionally doling out stiff penalties to schools who are not part of the "blue bloods" of football or basketball. Kansas has broken how many rules in basketball now and nothing happens? Bama is going to hit what twenty years of #1 recruiting classes without ever committing a major violation. PLEASE. 

Fatigue has definitely set in. I love Auburn football and basketball but hate the system both play in. Is it just sour grapes because my team is not that good now? Maybe but when I watch a game and am bombarded for four hours with all this play off bull***, I am going to react. When I see a rebuilding Auburn basketball team beat Memphis before the football game (a feat that never would have happened pre-Bruce Pearl) and I know these kids cannot play any postseason ball I get mad. Again Chuck Person committed a felony trying to make money himself off Auburn basketball players leaving early for the NBA. How is that an NCAA violation? How did Auburn profit from that? If he had burglarized one of their houses do we get probation for that? The blue bloods never do!

OK ok back to the game and the current Auburn situation, fatigue has definitely set in here too. I cannot adequately describe how tired I am of watching Gus Malzahn offenses flounder around. I honestly do not think I can take another year of it. I know I have said that before but now more time has passed and I think as I wrote last week that everyone affiliated with Auburn has had enough now. I have completely documented the Gus Malzhan era on this blog. I have written time and again about how bad he coaches the passing offense. Many people have written how every single quarterback under Gus gets WORSE. Nick Marshall got worse, Jarrett Stidham got worse and now Bo Nix has gotten worse. Nix, a rising star last season, finished 15 of 32 for 125 yards against a bad State team he LIT UP last season.

Frankly, I am scared to think about the type of regression we might see next season if Nix becomes the first quarterback to play three straight seasons under Gus Malzahn. Except for a few plays, Nix was just awful last night, awful. I will say a lot of it is because his offensive line is even worse and cannot pass block to save their lives but still he was really bad. It was a real mess but one guy and one play turned it around enough to win the game. The one guy is Tank Bigsby who came back with a vengeance rushing for almost 200 yards on 26 carries. As the offense was falling apart around him, Bigsby would not quit, would not go down and was definitely the MVP of the game for Auburn on offense. Bigsby's balance is unbelievable, he will get hit and grabbed and he does not go down.

However even with Bigsby's heroics the game in my opinion came down to one play. Bo Nix and Seth Williams who for awhile looked to be disconnected and mad at each other again like the South Carolina game rallied and made this play and one more as well. The first one again in my opinion was the difference in Auburn winning or losing the game. The fourth quarter started with Auburn only up 9-3 and the momentum clearly shifting to State. State had just pinned Auburn deep on a punt and it was 3rd and 7 for the Tigers at the Auburn eight yard line. State gets a stop and they get good field position with momentum and could take the lead with one touchdown. Bo Nix who as stated above has been horrible all day drops back... every Auburn fan including me is already shaking their head...

Nix then threw his best pass of the day hitting Williams in stride for a 25 yard game. That play completely turned the momentum. Tank Bigsby tore off a run for 27 yards the next play. The drive would later stall outside the State 30 yard line and Auburn would be faced with 3rd and 14. The cameras also caught State defensive back Shawn Preston Jr. talking some serious trash to Seth Williams the play before... and that was a big mistake. Nix must have saw the commotion and with the game on the line again he threw another beauty that Williams went up and GOT for a touchdown. Williams was up in Preston's face immediately letting him have it. It was the one absolutely classic play from this terrible game. I am glad we got to see Nix to Williams for two more big plays.

It could be the last time as I think Williams declares for the NFL and might not play in a bowl game if there is one. Kudos to this combination that has made some huge plays for Auburn the last two seasons starting with Oregon through the Iron Bowl last season and from Kentucky through this game this season. I was also glad to see the defense absolutely dominate State. Now State's offense does not have a lick of talent but Auburn's defensive guys have hung in all year and they needed that. Despite some of the bad things you have to give kudos to the coaches and players for working hard to stay healthy and complete a winning season of 6-4 in this crazy year. It definitely took a lot of work to do it and it is an accomplishment. These guys have definitely earned some time off.

The question now is where does Auburn go from here? As I wrote last week I think Gus' time is over at Auburn but also as I said last week I think Auburn's weak administration will not do anything this season. I have not seen anything yet that makes me think that has changed. Yes Auburn's coaches and players just completed a great effort to complete the season and get a winning record but big-time college football is a 365-day grind and the all important early signing day is in THREE DAYS. Auburn looks to be way behind at the moment with no significant immediate help in the trenches. Can the coaches at least bring in a half decent recruiting class?  Who on the current roster is leaving?  Will Auburn get any significant transfers? There are many more questions than answers for Auburn.

GAME 9 REVIEW: IT IS TIME

Texas A&M 31  Auburn 20.  Another game against a good team and another loss... I am sure many on the resident Auburn sites will point to the spots in the game Auburn could have made a play that might have won them the game. However I believe those people are deluded. Texas A&M was the better team and they absolutely dominated Auburn for the most part. Frankly it should not have been as close as it was. Auburn has some really good guys with strong character playing for them but they simply do not have enough upper echelon talent especially on the lines. Auburn's defensive line is just not good. They are good men but are simply not SEC-caliber players. The same is true on the offensive line. There is a little talent at guard but not enough. Auburn simply does not have an offensive tackle on the roster.

The quarterback play is sporadic along with the coaching. Tank Bigsby looks to be a good prospect but he is not an upper-echelon SEC running back yet and none of the other running backs are even close. Auburn has All-SEC talent at wide receiver but the line play and coaching minimize the impact they can have. Auburn as it has been most of Gus Malzahn's tenure remains above the half line in the SEC but not in the top three which has also been true over the same time period. Auburn is a decent show, a mediocre meal, a lukewarm shower... it is not bad but it just does not satisfy either. Auburn football has in some way become monotonous or boring, other than a few big wins it has been the same for a decade. Those wins have been big but over time people and teams either get better or worse.

As I and many other Auburn fans have remarked, Auburn's recruiting though ranked high has slipped over the last few years and looks really bad right now. Auburn as always has NO offensive tackles currently in the class and not enough impact players for the defensive line. As I heard an analyst for one of the Auburn sites say and write this week, Gus Malzahn's offensive tackle recruiting the past few years is completely unacceptable. It will be an incredible accomplishment for this class just to be in the top twenty. There does not appear to be anyone coming in  that is going to immediately help turn this team around. Right now from everything I am hearing is that Auburn's fate next season depends on this probable upcoming one-time immediate transfer window.

I am not buying it. I mean the only thing that is going to really make a difference is an elite offensive and defensive tackle and I just do not see Auburn being the school that gets those few guys. That brings us to my point, Auburn, while not bottoming is getting worse under Malzahn. It appears there will be no championships won with last year's recruiting class or this upcoming one. I hate to keep repeating myself but YOU CANNOT WIN AN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT ELITE LINEMEN. Auburn had no chance this year and it does not appear they will have a chance next year either. I am tired of reading about how much Auburn does with low rated recruits. That may be true but you name me a championship Auburn team and I will name you a group of elite highly recruited linemen.

Auburn is getting worse under Malzahn and with it being eight years in with two years of declining recruiting classes the answer seems clear. It is time to for Auburn to move on from Gus Malzahn. It is not about the ongoing fight between supposed "optimists" and "pessimists", it is simple truth. History has proved that nowadays other than a few rare exceptions even a good coach can only last around a decade at a school or a professional sports team. The team then just needs a new voice. This fact has been stated by many great coaches. I have called for Malzahn's head a few times on this blog and I think my reasons were valid but now I do not think it is a debate. Gus Malzahn is about to finish his eighth season at Auburn plus three as a coordinator. He has done some good things but it is time to go.

Auburn is obviously not a championship contender and with the recruiting declining things could deteriorate quickly. Gus delivered one of the great seasons in Auburn history and three really big wins since then in 2017 Georgia and Bama plus 2019 Bama. However that is pretty much it. He also has lost EVERY big away and bowl game he has coached at Auburn. He has kept his teams working hard and has done a good job with keeping good character and academic achievement in the program. HOWEVER he has been well and I mean WELL COMPENSATED for everything he has done for Auburn. In fact he has been paid more money than every head coach in Auburn football history combined. He has attained generational wealth at Auburn and has gotten to live his dream as a big-time college coach.

He should see it is time now. Do not let the bottom fall out like Terry, Tommy and Gene did. Right now he could leave the program better than he found it. However if he is as stubborn about this as he is about his offense then Auburn needs to step up and do the right thing for the program. Why should Auburn make this change now? The biggest reason is recruiting, this season is already lost and the last few have not been good. You will put the program further behind by wasting another recruiting class if you wait till after another mediocre to bad season to end. The next reasons are fans, boosters, and money as those are all inextricably tied together. Malzahn has lost the majority of them I believe, if not by the losses then by the lukewarm product on the field most of his tenure at Auburn.

Malzahn will probably continue as coach and it is an obvious prediction that next year will just be more of the same. There is a complete vacuum of leadership from the board of trustees to the president to the athletic director at Auburn. There does not appear to be anybody capable of dynamic leadership. I have no confidence that these people can bring in a better coach. Auburn could get someone worse than Malzahn and turn into Tennessee. However that fear is no longer the reason to keep Malzahn, his time is simply up. They can put it off or live in fear but another head football coach will have to be selected soon whether anyone likes it or not. It is better to do it now.

GAME 8 REVIEW: OUT SICK

Bama 42  Auburn 13.  Well that pretty much went as expected... there is not much to say. Here is your expert analysis on the game yesterday... Bama has better players than Auburn at every position.  I mean again there is not much else to say.  I know it was tough for Bama fans not being able to see Nick $aban chew out some third teamer for a mistake in the fourth quarter with Bama up 30 points but hey it was a tough day for everyone.  On that subject I wanted to dedicate this post to ol' Saint Nick since he was out sick.  I am certainly not making fun of getting COVID-19 since in the end we might all get it and it can be a deadly disease.  I do not ever cheer for anyone to get hurt or sick but I wanted to balance the coverage after listening to Gary Danielson on CBS slobber over Bama.

I mean Danielson is so full of himself and Bama it is literally nauseating.  I certainly hope ESPN does not retain him when the TV package fully moves to them.  Of course they will probably bring in someone just as bad.  Anyway I know as a lifetime sports fan and from coaching at the low level I have coached at for almost 20 years that the close tough losses stick with you.  Sometimes they stick with you more than the great wins.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the same is true with ol' Nick.  Everyone knows $aban's enormous accomplishments including another big win in the Iron Bowl on Saturday but lets slow down and take a look at some of his not-so-great moments to again balance the coverage.  Those moments that he cannot forget and keeps him yelling at those poor third stringers...

TOP TEN NOT-SO-GREAT NICK $ABAN MOMENTS

10.  He probably has managed to forget these but luckily we do not... these would be his embarrassing losses to UAB and Louisiana Monroe in his first years at LSU and Bama.  I mean I know he had some rebuilding to do but ouch.  He also lost to Auburn both of those years and had to watch Tommy Tuberville run around with six fingers in the air in his first Iron Bowl.  Again, ouch.

9.  $aban won his first national title at LSU but he did not go undefeated, LSU lost to Florida that year, and he also won a split national championship.  This was the last one of these.  LSU was crowned the BCS champions but USC won the AP title.  It is just a little thing but we know it still bothers him a little bit...

8.  All $aban talks about at Bama is the NFL and what an expert he is on it and how he can get players ready for it.  He talks about his friendship with Bill Belichick and everyone kind of thinks that $aban did have some NFL success but the truth is he did not.  He did coach with Belichick at Cleveland but they did not have success there. He coached a couple of years with the Oilers as a DB coach and of course two years as head coach of the Dolphins that produced nothing but $aban's only losing season.  His complete lack of any success in the NFL has got to get under his skin regularly.

7.  Nick had Bama turned around in 2008 with an undefeated regular season but lost to Florida and Tim Tebow in the SEC Championship and then got smoked by Utah in the Sugar Bowl.  He would of course turn it around in 2009 but those two losses to end that season had to hurt. Bama did not win anything and as you will see below, $aban has not actually completed many perfect regular seasons.

6.  Bama was back in all their glory in 2009 and were the unanimous #1 to start 2010.  Their next back-to-back looked sowed up already... till $aban and the boys were upset by South Carolina and then lost to LSU before one of the top moments on this list, the CAM-BACK.  This is $aban's only three loss season with the Tide and I know it still grates him that he had a 24-0 lead on Auburn AT HOME and LOST.  

5.  Luckily for $aban Bama fans only care about putting new "national championship" numbers on their car or pickup truck no matter how illegitimate they are.  Thus Bama fans do not seem to care about two of $aban's "national championships" where they lost to their biggest rivals, did not win their division and did not even make it the conference championship game.  This happened in 2011 where they lost to LSU who won the SEC and in 2017 to Auburn.  However the powers-that-be always put them in regardless and they were able to parlay their good fortune into two more "championships".  However we know the asterisks beside those titles still burn $aban up.  

4.  The funny thing about the whole $aban "reign" is you really never hear much from Bama fans about the 2009 team.  I guess they were not dominating enough barely beating Tennessee and Auburn in the last minutes.  However they still are the ONLY Nick $aban Bama team that went undefeated and won everything.  Almost every other year he manages to blow a game to an "inferior" team.  In 2012, Bama lost to Texas A&M, Auburn in 2013, OLE MISS in 2014 AND 2015, and of course the aforementioned loss to Auburn in 2017.  Yes, yes we know Bama still won it all several of those years but we know those blemishes on those almost perfect seasons still bother Nick.

3.  Bama and Nick had a big thing to hang on to coming into 2016 and that was the fact that when they got to the national title game, they won.  I mean even if they did not win their rivalry  game, their division or their conference... they still won that game.  That is until Clemson and Dabo finally slayed the giant in 2016 and on a last second pass no less.  I mean that one hurt.  Bama was undefeated and about to become the first team to ever go 15-0... till that play.  There is no doubt this one sticks in $aban's craw and could be #1 on this list but hey we know it is top three along with his other loss to Clemson...  Clemson and Dabo met Bama in the title game again in 2018 and they handed $aban his worst loss at Bama and denied Bama nation another opportunity to increment those national championship numbers.  I mean this was a complete beatdown, 44-16, and it once again denied Bama, $aban, and Tua of a perfect season.  

2.  Last year, LSU was obviously the best team in the country when everything was done but you know before the Iron Bowl that Bama and $aban thought they could beat them in a rematch, ala 2011.  Tua or no Tua Bama and $aban knew they could do it and all it took was a beat down of a three loss Auburn team and they would sneak in the back door again just like in 2011 and 2017 and win it all.  Auburn was not near as good as they were in 2013 or 2017.  I mean no three loss Auburn team was a match for the Bama juggernaut. After it was over the Bama fans flipped quickly to the "If Tua had been there..." card but we know Nick $aban believes they should have won this game. He knows that he still had the better team and that him and his coaching staff messed up and he is still pissed.

Ahhh it feels good.  There was the first pick-six Smoke Monday took to the house, the field goal before halftime that enraged $aban, the clutch pass completions by Bo Nix that kept scoring drives alive, the Zacoby McClain 100 yard pick-six (on a really dumb play call by $aban and his coaching staff), Shaun Shiver's "helmet popping" run, the missed chip shot field goal that would have tied the game and then of course the humiliating "twelve men on the field" penalty.  That penalty is all on $aban and the coaches.  They were about to get back the ball and had a good chance at pulling out the win before that embarrassing mistake.  48-45, you know it still has to be fresh in his mind and bothering the heck out of him even as he watched his boys run it up on Auburn this past Saturday.

1.  You know it, they know it and of course $aban knows it...  Bama was on the precipice of an undefeated perfect season and winning their THIRD national championship in a row (even if 2011 has that asterisk by it) along with getting another Heisman Trophy.  IT WAS ALL THERE FOR THE TAKING.  Bama had the lead and multiple chances to put the game away but got stuffed on fourth and one and then got a field goal blocked. They then allowed a late touchdown drive that tied the game.  However they got the ball back and somehow got it past midfield and successfully got one last second added back to the clock to give them one more chance to win the game before overtime.  $aban then decided to attempt a 57 yard field goal.

They try to call this play lucky but there is no luck involved, if anything there was some horrific coaching by Nick $aban involved.  Think about it.  You already had a field goal blocked and now you are going to try an even longer field goal with an inexperienced kicker.  All I am saying is if that was Auburn I think that is a dumb call.  I actually think the higher percentage and lower risk play in this situation is a "Hail Mary".  Bama was past midfield, had big strong receivers and a Heisman candidate quarterback.  I would have been much more worried about that.  Also Auburn called timeout and replaced their man back with a kick returner.  As the "greatest coach in college football history" should you not consider that and maybe prepare for the possibility of a return?  I guess not.

The rest is history and the KICK SIX play that gave Auburn the win in the 2013 Iron Bowl and destroyed Bama and $aban's dreams of three-in-a-row is now considered the greatest play ever in college football.  It has been showed countless times and will continue to be.  You know $aban has either seen it again several times or actively avoids it.  You know it still burns him up and that keeps me warm at night.  "THERE GOES DAVIS!  THERE GOES DAVIS! AUBURN IS GOING TO WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!  THEY ARE NOT GOING TO KEEP THEM OFF THE FIELD TONIGHT!!!" So yes while he is probably the greatest coach in college football history or close to it, he has still had many heartbreaking and enraging losses that will always bother him.  We know it and he knows it.  

So congrats Bama and Nick on another Iron Bowl win that you will try to act like does not mean much to you.  And yes we know that you have been in many more national championship contention games than us and of course we know "the number" (I cannot get out of my neighborhood without seeing it on a vehicle) but we also know that there have been just as many or more heartbreaks between those sacred wins.  We know that your average oblivious fan can probably forget those soul crushing moments but we know that ol' Saint Nick can not.  So Nick please get well soon and you will probably add another championship (with an asterisk in this COVID-19 season) for the fans to update their cars with but there is also a good chance Trevor Lawrence adds another great moment to this list as well. 

GAME 7 REVIEW: SMOKED

Auburn 30  Tennessee 17.  The Auburn football Tigers finally returned to action this weekend and I am just now getting this game review out.  They and I are both rusty from so much time off.  We last saw Auburn playing their best game of the year against LSU and then there was the official bye week and then the game against State got postponed.  It had been a full three weeks since the Tigers played when they took the field against the Vols.  I was excited as I loved the Auburn v Tennessee series.  It was the worst thing about going to divisions when this rivalry was stopped therefore it is big deal whenever the Vols roll back onto the schedule.  It is definitely not the Tennessee football program I grew up with but still a big game.  

Auburn definitely came out rusty.  I mean no matter what you do in practice you just cannot simulate game speed and intensity.  It is why so many bowl games are so bad.  You just lose your edge.  Auburn had definitely lost that edge.  You add to that fact that Jeremy Pruitt has pretty much owned Gus Malzahn and things looked scary early.  It was Pruitt at Florida State who figured out Gus' offense first and prevented Auburn from winning the national championship since Gus would not adjust.  It was Pruitt at Georgia that crushed Auburn and it's great offense the next season.  It was Pruitt leading the charge the next two years at Bama helping beat Auburn.  Gus finally got Pruitt in 2017 but Pruitt got back on track the next year leading the Vols to the upset over Auburn in 2018.

He fortunately did not follow that one up with another upset this year as Auburn woke up and with Tennessee's help took control of the game.  Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from this weekend...

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

The good in this game was the collective effort to come back after an abysmal first quarter.  Auburn got the ball shortly after the second quarter started down 10-0 and Bo Nix had thrown an ugly interception in the end zone on Auburn's last drive.  Things were not looking good.  However Tennessee made some critical mistakes and Auburn was good and opportunistic enough to take advantage of them.  The first big play came when Bo Nix hit a wide open Anthony Schwartz in stride for an easy first touchdown.  It was a busted coverage but Auburn has missed plenty of those in the Gus era so kudos still to Nix for recognizing it and making a good throw.  The defense then forced a three-and-out and the Auburn offense drove back down and tied the game 10-10 on an Ander Carlson field goal.

The half ended 10-10.  The Tigers then took the ball first in the second half and drove down to get another field goal to go up 13-10.  Kudos to Shaun Shivers and D.J. Williams for tough running with Tank Bigsby hurt early.  You have to also give the Auburn offensive line credit for their work as well.  The game completely turned though on a big play by the defense...  After losing the lead for the first time in the game the Vols romped back down the field literally running over Auburn.  There were runs of seven, eight, nine and 21 yards. This looked like it was fixing to turn into a shootout until beleaguered Tennessee quarterback Jarret Guarantano tried to force the ball into the end zone... and Smoke Monday was waiting.  Monday then took it to the house and completely turned the game around in the process.

The Auburn defense was not good statistically on the night.  In fact they would be the bad on this night.  Tennessee had 28 first downs, 242 yards passing and 222 rushing.  That is pretty bad defense but even in the midst of a tough night they made the plays when it counted.  There was Monday's game changing pick six, there was the only forced three-and-out when it was needed most and there were four sacks and six tackles-for-loss at key times in the game.  Once again I saw the overworked Daquan Newkirk down late in the game and watched him battle back to his feet and stay in the game.  These guys keep battling and on this night it may have been the difference between winning and losing.

The Tigers would then drive for another touchdown and field goal to seal the deal.  Auburn is now at five wins with an excellent chance for a winning season and even seven wins.  It is definitely a big deal in this particular season.  Gus Malzahn has done some really bonehead things at Auburn but he has held things together this season and at least kept Auburn a winning program. I have been one of his harshest critics but whenever I watch Tennessee I back off a little looking at the disaster they have become. All of my life till this last decade Tennessee was a top-tier football program. They are not anymore and I just do not see a lot of hope for a turnaround anytime soon from what I saw in this game. I think the biggest reason is great coaches and programs at Clemson and Ohio State ruling UT's recruiting territory.

THE UGLY

The ugly is going to be next week when this group of Tigers heads to Tuscaloosa to take on the Bama demolition machine.  The college football system as a whole has always been a joke.  It has always been a rigged unfair popularity contest but things have now gotten worse with so many more teams and only a few able to stack the talent. I have actually heard Bama fans talking about their "tough" years over the last 30 years and they have had a few but everyone else has had more and nowhere near the number of good years. They have built a ridiculous recruiting advantage led by Nick $aban both above and below board. I am not sure they are better than when Auburn upset them last year but Auburn is nowhere near as good on the offensive and defensive lines which spells certain doom.

It is again going to get ugly and it will take a great effort to keep it from getting completely out of hand as $aban will be looking for payback for Auburn embarrassing him so bad last season tricking him into a game losing penalty.  I truly believe Bama will display little sportsmanship and leave the starters in for at least one or two drives past when they would usually come out to get their revenge.  The Auburn defense is just not near good enough to slow down the Tide.  I just hope the offense can do some damage as Auburn will bring a decent offense to Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2014. It is years like this that make you extra thankful for huge wins like last year's Iron Bowl.  That game gets more amazing and more special the farther I get away from it.  Heck I might replay it rather than watching Saturday...

The ugly for me also is the way Bruce Pearl is treated by the national media and people in general.  He is called cheater and cheater over and over yet the people who say that cannot tell you what he has done.  Bryan Matthews on Auburnsports.com today said it best: "He lied to the NCAA about a BBQ 12 years ago and paid for it with a three-year show cause. A BBQ. One of his assistants committed a crime and paid a price along with two of his players.  That's it as far as I know so spare me your Pearl outrage. IT'S UNBEARABLY PRETENTIOUS AND CONTRIVED."  Bama is on year twelve of the greatest college football recruiting in the history of the world with no questions asked while Pearl is put down and Auburn is self-imposing a postseason hoops ban this year.  I just shake my head.

THE LAST WORD

The sad thing is that the Auburn football players on both sides of the ball will put everything into the Iron Bowl. They will give it everything they have and I am not sure how much they will have left for next week against Texas A&M which this year is a more important game.  Auburn had some key players injured against the Vols in Tank Bigsby and Brodarius Hamm.  It would be a miracle if more are not hurt this weekend against Bama.  This game will not only hurt losing it but it could be much more devastating if it hurts Auburn badly in their next two games.  That is now how things work in sports but it would be tough to take.  Auburn has next-to-no chance at Bama but has a great chance of upsetting Texas A&M at home and beating State on the road to finish 7-3. Let's just get this next one over with...

Finally and more importantly I am incredibly fortunate and thankful to be here complaining about sports. This season seems to have a little more meaning in this year of turmoil. We have so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

GAME 6 REVIEW: TERRORIZED

Auburn 48  LSU 11.  The Auburn football Tigers have had a tough time in this rivalry with LSU.  In fact I have always considered LSU Auburn's nemesis.  The only team to beat Pat Sullivan twice... LSU.  The only loss by the 1972 Auburn "Amazins" team... LSU.  The team that delivered Auburn what I consider their worst or second worst lost EVER by winning 7-6 thus denying Auburn the chance to play Notre Dame for the national championship... LSU.  The only team that beat the 2013 SEC champion Auburn team in the regular season... LSU.  The team that came back from a 20-0 lead to beat Auburn in 2017... LSU and there are many more.  However while LSU has delivered those heart breaking blows, Auburn always rises back up to get a little payback.  It does not make it even but it helps.

In 1993 after not winning in Baton Rouge for 50 years (although Auburn and LSU did not play each other very often before the SEC went to divisions) Stan White led the Tigers to a 34-10 beatdown of the Tigers.  I was there, it was incredible.  In 1999 a seemingly weak Auburn team came into Baton Rouge and put the biggest whipping on LSU they had ever given, 41-7...  till today.  In 2002, Auburn crushed LSU and Nick $aban 31-7.  In 2014, Gus Malzhan and the boys took out their frustration over three straight losses to whip LSU 41-7 again.  Now we can add 2020 and a brutal 48-11 stomping.  On this Halloween Auburn took the role of the unstoppable killer while LSU took the role of the weak group of people who get terrorized.  It was that decisive on a beautiful day at Jordan Hare stadium.

THE GOOD

You do not want to get carried away with one game and LSU is obviously in rebuilding mode however LSU did destroy the South Carolina team that beat Auburn two weeks ago.  Auburn could not just show up and beat LSU, they had to want it and they had to play their guts out.  They did both.  The orange and blue Tigers showed up with a mad on after three straight losses to LSU and everyone in the country saying Auburn only won their games because of lucky calls.  We can start where every game is won and that is on the line of scrimmage.  Auburn dominated the line of scrimmage paving the way for this beatdown.  The offensive line paved the way for 200 yards rushing and 300 yards passing while the defensive line held LSU to just 32 yards rushing and less than 250 yards total offense before trash time.

It all starts on the line of scrimmage and while LSU is not Georgia or Bama this season they still have some good young talent and my hat is off to the Auburn linemen in this one.  Tank Bigsby averaged almost five yards a carry and scored two touchdowns behind this line and Bo Nix turned in maybe his finest game as an Auburn Tiger.  He rushed for over 80 yards with a touchdown and passed for a spectacular 300 yards and three touchdowns on 18 or 24 passing with 124 of those going to Anthony Schwartz.  Nix made the right move every time when he decided to run.  He led an all-out assault on the LSU defense that resulted in three touchdowns in the second and third quarters.  Bo Nix was simply incredible today.  The 91 yard touchdown pass to Schwartz was absolutely gorgeous.

You could say though that the defense got everything started and gave the offense many of those opportunities.  It was a 0-0 game and Seth Williams had just fumbled the ball back to LSU when Nehemiah Pritchett picked off LSU quarterback T.J. Finley and returned it 48 yards to set the Auburn offense up and Eli Stove then took it from there and made a nifty move to get in the end zone.  A few possessions later the Auburn defensive line collapsed on Finley again causing him to fumble and Christian Tutt came flying in and scored on an outstanding scoop-and-score.  That gave Auburn the momentum and then the offense put up maybe their most outstanding drive of the season.  They drove !!! 99 YARDS !!! for their third touchdown of the second quarter with Nix hitting Ze'vian Capers.

Again Auburn is still running the Malzahn offensive system.  That will never change but Chad Morris like Chip Lindsey in 2017 is making a few good changes or tweaks within the system.  The most important one was emphasized by Capers' touchdown, Morris is spreading the ball around.  For so many years Malzhan would not spread the ball around.  Opposing defenses would not seriously cover players and Auburn would never make them pay.  It seems Morris has at least convinced Malzahn of his folly.  In this game the ball was spread around almost equally between Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz, Eli Stove and J.J. Pegues.  I know some of those are basically runs but the principle is still the same IF you do not tip your plays by subbing which hopefully Auburn is getting better at not doing as well.

The Auburn offense then came out in the second half and did something Malzahn teams rarely do, they started fast and dominated the third quarter.  The orange and blue Tigers took their first drive 75 yards with Nix running it in.  The defense then made another big play with Big Kat Bryant intercepting a tipped ball and the offense took advantage with Tank Bigsby taking it in a few plays later.  The Auburn defense then forced a three-and-out and the offense took over and drove 70 yards for another touchdown with Bigsby taking it in again.  Auburn was up 42-3 but it was just now the end of the third quarter.  One more blow had to be administered for the knock-out and when Auburn took over on their own nine yard line after the defense stopped LSU again they ended the fight with that 91 yard touchdown toss.

THE BAD

Um lets see well Seth Williams did fumble, the starting defense let LSU kick a field goal right before the half and Anders Carlson missed an extra point that would have made it 49-11...  I think that is about it.

THE UGLY

As I said three weeks ago I cannot stand Dan Mullen.  He is just as I read someone else calling him, a troll.  He is a decent coach but acts like such a jackass it is hard to appreciate anything else he does.  Again he falsely slandered Marlon Davidson last season and then a few weeks ago he encouraged Florida to pack the stadium regardless of anybody's safety concerns before coming down with COVID 19 himself along with several players where Florida had to shutdown the program for more than a week.  Well after making that big of an ass of himself he was back at it this weekend confronting the refs after a missed call and seemingly encouraging a brawl with the Missouri players plus inciting the crowd on his way out and then denying everything during an interview.  I mean wow, this guy is something else.

THE LAST WORD

The last time Auburn was this impressive against a big rival on the CBS 2:30pm game was in 2017 against Georgia and Bama.  That seems like a long time ago even with the big Iron Bowl win last season.  It was so nice to just sit down and enjoy a big Auburn win against a big rival on a beautiful day.  I really enjoyed every minute of it.  As I wrote last week this game was huge for both teams for fulfilling their realistic goals this season.  I think Auburn now has a chance at seven wins which frankly at this point would be a huge accomplishment.  Auburn now gets a bye week before traveling to play a reeling Mississippi State team and then returning home to play the Vols.  Auburn can get to six wins with just solid outing in these two games and reach their goals.  They now have the momentum.  

GAME 5 REVIEW: Thank goodness for the mrs

Auburn 35  Ole Miss 28.  Since the SEC went to divisions in 1992 Ole Miss has more often than not been a solid win by good Auburn teams or a needed win by average Auburn teams.  The Rebels have gotten a few wins along with way mostly over really bad Auburn teams but for the most part it has been all Auburn in this series.  There have been a lot of close ones with the winning score a touchdown or less like this past Saturday but again Auburn has snagged most of those as well.  This one was sorely needed as a loss would have really heated up Gus Malzahn's perpetually warm seat on the plains.  It did come very close to happening but Bo Nix and Seth Williams, seen arguing last week on the bench, patched things up and made the play of the day to bring home the win for the Tigers.

THE GOOD

Auburn got more balanced on offense by running the ball more and it made a big difference.  Although it was probably Ole Miss' awful defense that helped the most but for whatever reason Auburn was much better on offense this week.  Tank Bigsby led the way with 130 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns plus a kickoff return for a touchdown that called back on a very iffy penalty.  Bo Nix finally had a good game on the road going 23 of 30 for 238 yards and the winning touchdown to Seth Williams who caught 8 passes for 150 yards.  That is good balanced football.  Now there were some bad series and another terrible job at the end of the first half but overall things were better.  Also offensive lineman Brandon Council was injured and is out for the season.  That is really bad news.

Again I think the good this week is balance.  The goal on offense is balance with the play calling slanted slightly toward your strength.  I got really sick of hearing on different Auburn sites this week how terrible it was that Auburn passed so much against South Carolina.  Yes I want to use Tank Bigsby but again the goal is balance.  One of the main reasons Gus has had problems at Auburn is his unbalanced offense where he ran the ball too much and did not have a competent passing game ready to go against better teams.  Auburn MUST have a better passing game.  Auburn MUST be more balanced.  They have NOT been the last decade.  I do not think running Tank Bigsby till he is hurt like he did with Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson is the way to go.

THE BAD

I have heard a lot about the defense doing well in this game because they did not give up the outrageous yardage Bama gave up.  I do think they slowed Ole Miss down and used some good tactics but giving up almost 300 yards on the ground and over 400 total is not good.  I do not care what Bama did, again I understand Ole Miss has a good offense but they pretty much went up and down the field on Auburn.  They drove all the way down and were knocking on the door on their second possession but then threw a dumb pass that got intercepted.  They then had four touchdown drives that were 75 yards or more and a couple of other chances to score off Auburn mistakes.  Finally they had a wide open receiver that might have scored at the end of game if he could have caught a ball that hit him in the numbers.

The defensive line continues to struggle and after overusing Truesdell and Newkirk against South Carolina the coaches finally had to bite the bullet and play some of the younger guys more.  That is smart and they have to do it.  Auburn is so thin on the defensive line any injury is going to be devastating and I will be very surprised if the Tigers make it through this season unscathed.  One of these young guys could be a starter very soon and they need some experience.  However getting that experience is going to come at a cost.  The defense also obviously continues to miss K.J. Britt but I am not sure how much it would matter unless Auburn can hold the line.  I will continue to say it probably every post this season but Auburn better be out there recruiting defensive tackles hard.

THE UGLY

The ugly is this ridiculous narrative that Auburn has won all these games on ball calls.  I mean are you kidding me?  I will not replay the other games this season but I will definitely talk about this one.  This week everyone is saying the call that Shaun Shivers did not touch a ball when it looked like he touched it being called a touchback cost Ole Miss the game.  Again, are you kidding me?  There were enough bad calls in this game to make that opinion laughable.  That probably was a bad call but what about the phantom holding call that cost Auburn a kickoff return for a touchdown?  What about the absolutely clear blatant holding on several of Ole Miss' big plays?  I am not talking tic-tac holding, I am talking clear and egregious holding.  You do not call that and you call Auburn for it on that kickoff?

GIVE ME A BREAK.  Lane Kiffin and his pathetic conduct was basically just to hide his gutless calls late in the game where he could have won the game like Sam Pittman and Arkansas.  He did the same thing Pittman did.  He had the lead and he had the ball with less than five minutes in the game.  This is the time to be aggressive and go for the kill.  All I have heard this season is how great the Ole Miss offense is and how fearless Kiffin is calling plays.  Well big bad Lane Kiffin turned into Gene Stallings at this point and tried to waste some clock running the ball rather than being aggressive.  He blinked, he tightenened up and he choked.  Like Pittman, he had to have known he would probably lose if he gave the ball back to Auburn but he still played it conservative and he lost.  He lost the game for Ole Miss.

THE LAST WORD

The two upper echelon SEC West programs outside Bama meet this Saturday when the Tigers from Auburn and LSU collide.  Both programs are desperately trying to pull out a winning record for this season so they can declare victory and hopefully help recruiting.  I have thought all along LSU would be very dangerous.  They lost a lot but they have a lot of young talent.  You make them the favorite and they are very beatable but you make them the underdog and it is a different story.  They rebounded from the awful loss to Missouri by beating South Carolina soundly.  I think Auburn will get their best shot on Saturday.  It will once again be two flawed but talented teams tangling like most of the SEC this season but I really believe a win in this game will be huge for whichever team gets it.

It would be huge for LSU with really tough games and potential losses to Bama and Texas A&M plus maybe Arkansas coming up.  It would be huge for Auburn with potential wins coming up in Mississippi State and Tennessee.  I really think this game is that big combined with Auburn winning this past game against Ole Miss.  Auburn and Gus Malzahn have the real goal for this season right out there in front of them for the taking and that is a winning season.  They could accomplish that goal before the inevitable Iron Bowl beatdown by beating LSU at home, a struggling State team and then a beatable Tennessee team at home.  This might be the toughest step.

GAME 4 REVIEW: INT + TD x 3 = LOSS

South Carolina 30  Auburn 22.  I am not sure if I have ever seen a game quite like this one.  I know I have but nothing comparable comes right to mind.  Auburn comes out looking great and has great field position while nothing is going right for South Carolina.  Bo Nix then throws one of the worst interceptions I have ever seen, South Carolina scores and the game starts to turn around.  Nix does it again, South Carolina scores again and the momentum clearly shifts.  Nix then does it one more time and it is the difference in the game.  It is not all Nix's fault on the last two but whatever, Auburn threw three interceptions which South Carolina turned into three touchdowns and like the title of this posts says, that equaled one horrendous game and possible program changing loss.

Auburn is not a very good football team but could have very easily still won this game and made the best out of this season.  The Tigers did not and there is now a pretty high probability this season could really take a turn for the worse.  The only thing standing between Auburn and an abysmal season are the Mississippi schools.  It really comes down to that.  The Tigers pull it together and beat Ole Miss and Mississippi State and then pull out one or two out of three against LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M and they pretty much make the best of this terrible season in this terrible year.  They lose one or both to the Magnolia State schools and I think the bottom falls out.

THE GOOD

There is just not a lot to put in this section for this game but there are a couple of things.  First Auburn actually came out looking great on offense.  For the first time maybe ever at Auburn under any coach the ball was thrown to six different receivers in the first quarter.  It is even more incredible under Malzahn.  Auburn actually spread the ball around!  I was completely awestruck.  It, of course, did not last long but regardless of the bad things that happened in this game, Auburn needs to go back to that and stick with it.  You cannot keep trying to force the ball to Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz.  You have to spread the ball around to have an effective pass offense.  Of course you cannot throw back-breaking interceptions either...

The other good thing that everyone agrees on is Tank Bigsby.  He was great again this week with over 100 yards on just 16 carries.  The guy has vision, toughness and his legs never stop churning.  I think Auburn should have thrown to him out of the backfield a few more times in this game as well.  Whether Auburn is ahead or behind you have to keep this guy involved in the game.  He is a playmaker.  I also have to mention the offensive line.  They got beat bad at times but they also pass blocked well at times.  Bo Nix had time on many passes but unfortunately most of those times especially in the second half he could not find an open receiver or made a bad decision.  Auburn had nearly 500 yards of offense against a decent South Carolina defense and you have to give the line some credit there.

THE BAD

Auburn's biggest long term problem is the defensive line.  Again I know these are probably good men who have worked their butts off for Auburn and are trying hard but they are just not SEC quality.  They are absolutely getting killed every week.  South Carolina only had 300 yards of offense but it was effective and they won the time of possession.  They made the runs and the throws every time they needed too although again even with Auburn's defensive problems they should have won this game.  Auburn lost because of turnovers, period.  However Auburn is going to have a hard time winning many games this year and next and so on until they are able to bring in good SEC quality defensive linemen.  It is scary watching Auburn play now, how bad will it be next year?

Auburn senior defensive tackles, Tyrone Truesdell and Daquan Newkirk, were like I said last week good subs last year and at least look like defensive tackles.  Redshirt freshman Colby Wooden looks barely big enough to be a linebacker as do anyone else I have seen out there for Auburn.  Right now Auburn barely looks like it can fill out the position next season.  Barring a recruiting miracle, Auburn's defensive line could be worse next season.  Again Auburn simply will not win another big game till they fix this problem and how long will that take?  The Auburn coaches have FAILED on the recruiting trail.  It sure seems like recruiting legend Rodney Garner has finally lost his touch and nobody else is getting it done either.  Name me a great Auburn team or great Auburn win and I guarantee you there were great defensive linemen involved.

THE UGLY

I wrote last week how much I liked Bo Nix and how I did not think he was the problem with Auburn's offense.  I still believe that over the long term but there is no doubt about it, he was the problem in this game and was the biggest factor in losing this game.  He started well but his first interception was simply inexcusable.  It was as bad a throw as I have ever seen.  You cannot throw that pass and he should have gotten lit up by the coaches after that unbelievably stupid throw.  It turned a game that looked like it would be an Auburn blowout into a game that Auburn would eventually lose.  The other two interceptions might not have been all Nix's fault but he still had a hand in them and plain and simple all of them added up to Auburn losing the game.  You simply cannot do that and win games.

It was not just the interceptions either.  Nix looked out-of-sorts all day.  I am not sure what happened after that great start but Nix made some bad throws and too many times could find no one open.  Nix's weakness I commented on last season popped up again as well and that is his inaccuracy.  He had some open receivers but he either missed them a little or a lot.  It also appeared him and Seth Williams got into it.  They both appeared to act like immature prima donna babies on the sidelines.  Where is Chad Morris or Malzahn?  Forget play calling for a minute, it is time to bring some discipline back to this team.  That also extends to all the trash talking on both sides of the ball.  I know it is part of the game but it appeared to get out of control today and hurt the team.  I did not see any positive leadership out of players today and that is always an ugly sight.

THE LAST WORD

I guess that last point might be the worst of all when it comes to this season.  This is certainly not a great team but they are good enough to pull together and with some half decent coaching at least finish 5-5 or maybe even 6-4 with a few lucky breaks.  However it could go the other way as well and right now the odds look better on that happening.  The lack of discipline and immature act on the sidelines makes me think this team is about to fall apart and might not win another game this season.  Your record shows how good your team is but the way you play and handle adversity shows your team's character.  The 2020 Auburn Tiger football teams now stands at a crossroad.  Which way will they go?

GAME 3 REVIEW: 'Tis More Blessed to Win Than to Lose

Auburn 30  Arkansas 28.  In a mistake filled game that went back and forth with a crazy ending on a sloppy rain-filled day the Auburn football Tigers came out on top.  You can certainly find plenty of areas to criticize for Auburn, in fact pretty much all of them but as a coach famously said: "You play to WIN the game!".  Auburn looked nothing like a championship contender but won the game Saturday.  LSU and Florida would have loved to have said that.  Auburn and Arkansas both wanted this game bad and both had chances to win.  I think by the end of this ten game all-conference game gauntlet every win will be precious, no matter how ugly it looked when it was played.  That is especially true as the schedule just gets harder from here for the Tigers.

The game, the pain, the grit of the Auburn team was summed up in one moment for me.  Late in the game, the camera zoomed in on senior defensive tackle Daquan Newkirk.  Newkirk has been a career backup thrust into the starting lineup trying to help replace maybe Auburn's greatest defensive tackle.  He has struggled and at this point in the game, he was on the ground and hurt.  He looked like a boxer that had just been knocked down.  You could tell he was hurt and probably needed to stay down.  He did not.  He struggled to his feet with determination before any trainers could come out and half jogged, half limped to the huddle.  He was not going to quit, he was determined to keep going.  I think that is a picture of this Auburn team.  They have been and will continue to get hit but will keep getting up.

THE GOOD

The first good is the grit of the team I just talked about especially in the trenches.  These guys are obviously not the most talented as plenty of people including myself have pointed out.  However I cannot question their effort and perseverance.  Tank Bigsby would be next on the list.  He established himself as Auburn's clear starter at running back with 146 yards on 20 carries plus four catches as well.  He truly was a "tank" continually bulling forward for more yards.  He has really impressed me since my initial disappointment in his size.  The kind of effort he is giving is what inspires those linemen to block harder for him.  The Auburn running game needed that badly.  

The Auburn receivers do have the talent and I think the coaches are just scraping the surface on these guys.  They did at least get Anthony Schwartz plenty of targets this game and he responded with ten catches for 100 yards and a clutch touchdown run after the catch.  Auburn has to continue getting better at using the awesome talent of Schwartz and Seth Williams when they are in the game together either getting the ball to them or using them as decoys.  We have the trigger man as well.  Bo Nix made plenty of mistakes Saturday but when it came time to win the game I sure felt confident seeing #10 jog onto the field.  Auburn is extremely lucky to have Nix at quarterback.  

Finally the Auburn special teams came up huge in this game.  They were the difference.  They had one big miss in Anders Carlson missing a late kick for the lead and giving Arkansas a chance to win but on a tough rainy day that is going to happen along with some kickoffs out of bounds.  As I said about Nix though there is nobody else I want to see running out there to kick that clutch field goal than #26.  Other than that miss though the special teams were awesome with Jordyn Peters making an unbelievable play blocking an Arkansas punt in the end zone that was recovered for Auburn's first touchdown.  Tank Bigsby then ran for over 100 return yards on kickoffs while Christian Tutt added 30 yards on punt returns.  It is always bigger than you think to have good returners.

THE BAD

The defense is trying, they are playing hard but whew they just cannot get off the field.  On the positive side they did hold Arkansas to a little over 100 yards rushing and less than 3 yards a carry.  Unfortunately they got absolutely shredded through the air against maybe the worst passing team Auburn will play this season outside of Kentucky.  Arkansas and quarterback Feleipe Franks passed for over 300 yards and four touchdowns plus they converted several clutch third down conversions.  It was tough to watch at times.  Obviously the line is having a tough time but there are two sides to that.  First holding the line against the run and rushing the passer.  I did think Auburn would be a little bit better rushing the passer.  Looking at the schedule they have to get better in this area to have a chance to win.

THE UGLY

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman has obviously done a great job with the Razorbacks.  They were a complete disaster the past two years that did not even compete in many games.  They are competing now and that is the sign of a good coach.  However when it came down to time to make the calls to beat a higher echelon SEC team like Auburn Pittman plain and simple choked.  Auburn missed a chip shot field goal and Arkansas got the ball back with a one point lead on their 20 yard line with two and half minutes left in the game.  You had to know if you gave Auburn the ball back they would probably win.  You know you have to get at least one first down to have a better chance and two to win.  You have a senior quarterback who had again thrown for over 300 yards and four touchdowns...

This is 2020 and I think it is pretty obvious that college football is much more offensive.  The days of getting the ball late and running it three times in a row and punting it back to the other team and hoping your defense pulls it out are gone for the most part.  Auburn was extremely fortunate in the Iron Bowl last year that Bama did not make them pay for basically doing this.  However Coach Pittman decided to do this and he indeed lost the game.  He can complain about calls but this is where he could have won the game.  The simplest way to say it is: no guts, no glory.  He did not have the guts and he did not get the glory.  I think you put the game in the hands of your senior quarterback and go for that first down and do not let up.  Have confidence in your team and it is better even if you still lose.

THE LAST WORD

There were a lot of crazy games Saturday but it really still just boils down to Bama, Georgia and Florida.  We get another "game of the century" this weekend with Georgia at Bama and that will be an interesting game but the only thing I think this game might effect is the SEC East race between the Dawgs and Gators.  It will really not make much difference otherwise.  The jury is still out on the Gators but I think they have a chance and according to head coach Dan Mullen their chances would increase if their fans would pack out their stadium for their next game.  I do not want to start an argument over whether fans should or should not have the choice to go to a game but I do think Mullen's comments were in poor taste and showed little concern for other people outside giving him a better chance to win.

I personally cannot stand Mullen who I think is constantly disingenuous and shoots off his mouth not caring if his words will hurt somebody else.  The last example being last season when he accused Auburn defensive end Marlon Davidson of malice against his quarterback in a halftime interview without having seen a replay and of course playing innocent during the whole Cam Newton saga when it was his team and not Auburn that was trying to pay Newton.   As for the Auburn Tigers, they will travel to South Carolina.  This looks like a tougher game than many people think to me.  I know a lot of people have kind of written off the Gamecocks and coach Will Muschamp but this team was a few plays away from beating Tennessee and Florida.  I think Auburn will get their best shot, I hope the Tigers are ready.

GAME 2 REVIEW: Grounded and Pounded

Georgia 27  Auburn 6.  Anyone who has read this blog knows that I am not a huge fan of Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn.  He has led the Tigers to some big wins but has continually taken away from the legacy of those games by following them up with really bad losses.  However those losses have to be put into two categories.  The first one is that we had the talent to compete a lot better or win the game and we lost because of bad coaching.  The second one is that we did not have the talent to compete and lost because of recruiting.  The game Saturday was definitely the latter.  This game was lost before it was ever played.  It was lost over the last few years on the recruiting trail. 

Auburn had no chance Saturday.  Georgia just has better players especially in the trenches.  It is that simple.  That is not a slight on the Auburn players.  These players are good guys who have worked their butts off for Auburn University to be the best they can be.  Unfortunately sports are unforgiving.  Things rarely work out like in the movies.  Miracles are far and few in between and that is why we celebrate them so much.  Most of the time the team with the best players wins, period.  That is what happened Saturday.  Again I have written a lot of posts criticizing Gus Malzahn's coaching.  I do not think the coaching was great in this one but it just did not matter.  

THE GOOD

There will still be good in this crazy season even after this humiliating loss.  It is clear now that the championship contenders in the SEC are Bama, Georgia and Florida.  These teams appear better than the rest and while injuries and COVID might bring one or more of these teams down, right now they are the best.  Auburn is in that next tier and still has a chance to be the best of that bunch as all the tier two teams have problems just like Auburn.  Auburn could also watch this season completely go down the drain but not for the same reasons as this past weekend.  Auburn's fate now lies with injury/COVID luck and coaching.  NOW the onus is on Gus Malzahn and his staff.

Auburn at it's current talent level if again it is not decimated by injuries and COVID can beat Arkansas, South Carolina, the Mississippi schools, LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M.  The Tigers unfortunately have absolutely no chance in the Iron Bowl the way things are now but again have a chance in the rest.  It will start this week against a rejuvenated Arkansas team that ended Mike Leach's honeymoon after just a week.  Even with that said I still think Arkansas is one of the worst teams in the conference talent-wise and frankly is the best team Auburn could play after this loss.  We will see a lot about this Auburn football team in how they respond to the loss to Georgia against the Razorbacks.

THE BAD

I guess I will start with exactly what I wrote in this section last week: "I have continued to voice along with other Auburn people the fact that Auburn's recruiting in the trenches has faded in recent years.  Auburn and Gus Malzahn have recruited other positions well and done pretty good overall however they have just not got it done on the lines the last two or three years and it shows.  Auburn does not appear to have any All-SEC talent on either line."  I was hoping that maybe somehow I was overstating it but I was not.  This game unfortunately proved that every word of that is spot on and in fact I might have understated the problem.  

Auburn was absolutely destroyed on both sides of the line of scrimmage Saturday.  It was hard to watch and also hard to write about.  Georgia grounded Auburn's offense holding the Tigers to just 39 yards rushing and barely over 200 yards of total offense.  Georgia pounded Auburn's defense running the ball for over 200 yards and gaining almost 450 yards total.  It was a complete beat down.  It is also bad this rivalry, the best in college football statistically a few years ago, has now turned into Bama vs. Tennessee.  It is simply not much of a rivalry when one team wins all the time.  Auburn has now only beaten Georgia three times in the last fifteen years. 

THE UGLY

Auburn has always had a lot of positives going for it including it's geographic location.  It is right in the middle of arguably the best recruiting area in the country and Auburn has gotten it's fair share of great players over the years.  Unfortunately this recruiting area is hotly contested by Auburn's two biggest rivals and at this point in time they are winning big in this most critical of battlefields.  The ugly truth for Auburn is that a dominant Georgia program hurts a lot more than Bama and $aban.  Bama has always recruited well and while Auburn must win some battles in state they actually have done pretty well there for the most part.  There is no doubt Bama takes players Auburn wants but Auburn has found ways around that and one of those ways was recruiting in Georgia.

Auburn is right on that border with Georgia and has gotten so many good players from that state.  Georgia has always recruited well for the most part but Auburn has still been able to get their fair share of great players.  Unfortunately Bama and Georgia have pushed each other to unprecedented heights and Auburn appears to be the loser in this clash of these recruiting titans.  Again Auburn has still gotten some good players but they have not been able to get many elite linemen at all the last few years.  I hate to keep repeating myself but it really is that simple.  Auburn is not going to win many games in either of these rivalries until it turns things around in the trenches.

THE LAST WORD

Where does Auburn go from here?  Is Gus Malzahn on the hot seat again?  It appears Auburn people have pretty much settled into two groups.  Group one thinks there is no reason Auburn cannot make the same jump as Clemson and Georgia did, i.e. from good football school to perennial championship contender and the current level is unacceptable.  There are degrees in this group as well.  For example I will always grade Auburn on that scale but know Auburn will have rebuilding years.  My biggest problem with Auburn coaches over the years is when they have that elite talent and waste it.  This group also favors replacing the coach when recruiting clearly starts to drop.

Group two thinks Auburn is not not in that class and we just need to be happy with our big wins and history.  They look at Gus Malzahn's one conference title and wins over Bama and think that is the best we can expect and we should stay with him.  Again there are degrees but that is the basic sentiment.  Of course the wildcard is still Gus' huge buyout.  That pretty much says he is not going anywhere no matter how bad things get especially in tough COVID financial times.  The time is coming though in my opinion where Auburn will have to change coaches.  As Steve Spurrier said a coach these days can really only stay at a school for a decade or so and then regardless of records, fatigue sets in.

We will see over the rest of this season what this coaching staff can do and it starts NOW.

GAME 1 REVIEW - Auburn spells relief S-E-T-H

Auburn 29  Kentucky 13.  Somehow, someway this unprecedented year of pandemics and politics found it's way to the football field for SEC schools.  Everyone has their opinions on the events happening in our country but in this venue I will stick to football.  I will just repeat the quote I have at the top of this blog, a quote from a movie about race and sports during a time of upheaval and that is:  THE FOOTBALL FIELD IS... "MY SANCTUARY. ALL THIS HATRED AND TURMOIL SWIRLING AROUND US... BUT THIS, THIS IS ALWAYS RIGHT.  STRUGGLE, SURVIVAL, VICTORY AND DEFEAT.  I KNOW IT'S JUST A GAME...  BUT I LOVE IT."  We definitely saw teams struggle, survive, win and lose yesterday in the conference and I loved it.

I knew teams would struggle without the spring and with the different compacted fall practice however I was still definitely underwhelmed with Auburn's performance on both sides of the ball outside of Bo Nix and Seth Williams.  That view changed throughout the day as I watched pretty much every team struggle for at least a bit outside of Bama and maybe Florida.  It was a crazy day to be sure.  I have never seen a football season open with all conference games.  This season is really going to be one for the books.  There are no cupcakes, there are no rest games.  Talent is always most important but depth and injury-luck (and I am including COVID-related games missed as an "injury" in this statement) is going to make or break almost every team this season.

Here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from my vantage point yesterday...

THE GOOD

The good for Auburn was again Bo Nix and Seth Williams.  Bo Nix's weakness that I saw from last season that could hurt him going forward was his accuracy.  He threw some unbelievably great balls, see the Bama game, but then would miss easy ones, see the Georgia game.  He just was not consistent and many times that does not improve for quarterbacks.  Luckily for Auburn he looked better and more accurate to me yesterday finishing 16 of 27 for 233 and three touchdowns averaging almost 10 yards a throw.  That is a tremendous day to open a season against a solid opponent (at least if you are not playing for Mike Leach).  He really put some zip on the ball and appeared to throw with a lot of confidence.  Of course it helps when you are throwing to...

Seth Williams.  Williams was a man among boys yesterday.  He is clearly Auburn's best overall player and he will be playing on Sundays next season.  I do not believe I have ever seen a wide receiver be the best player on an Auburn team except maybe Ronney Daniels in 1999.  As I have said many times Auburn simply has never been a place where receivers put up big stats but that was not true yesterday as Williams caught six passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns.  The touchdown catches were both incredible as well.  Bo Nix and Seth Williams are already one of the greatest combinations in Auburn history and I think they will continue to add to their legacy this season.  Obviously a team is in big trouble if they lose their starting quarterback but I think Auburn will be in just as much trouble without Seth Williams.

THE BAD

I have continued to voice along with other Auburn people the fact that Auburn's recruiting in the trenches has faded in recent years.  Auburn and Gus Malzahn have recruited other positions well and done pretty good overall however they have just not got it done on the lines the last two or three years and it shows.  Auburn does not appear to have any All-SEC talent on either line.  I know Big Kat Bryant got hurt but it still just did not look good yesterday even with all other factors considered.  People can talk about recruiting stars not meaning anything but look back at any really good Auburn team and you will see plenty of studs on both sides of the line of scrimmage.  I am just not sure how good this Auburn team can be without massive improvement at the point of attack.

It also did not help that the running backs did not distinguish themselves at any point yesterday either.  I love Shaun Shivers, he will always be an Auburn legend after last year's Iron Bowl.  I love his attitude and effort but in my opinion he is a change of pace back.  He is not your work horse.  I think we should continue to use him in that capacity and he is definitely an important part of the team as a captain and a leader.  However Auburn needs someone to step up and be the main running back that can get that yard when it comes to a critical 3rd and 1.  I know the line let them down a lot yesterday but there were a few plays to make and they were not made.  D.J. Williams did not look impressive and I knew Tank Bigsby was short but I thought he would look more like Rudi Johnson.  I wish I had gotten to see Mark-Antony Richards but he is not too big either.  Auburn desperately needs a running back to step up.

THE UGLY

The ugly yesterday was the cornerstone of college football games missing with the fans.  It was great to see football but it is definitely not the same.  It also makes that much difference.  As good as Mississippi State was I think they lose that game if that stadium is full putting pressure on that quarterback.  I think you saw quiet low-pressure stadiums all over the conference help the offenses.  Fans are important in the NFL but not near as important as college football.  They are much more a part of the game.  I am certainly thankful even more now that I was able to go see last year's Iron Bowl.  I am not sure things will be the same for a long time even with a vaccine.  This pandemic has put in an automatic fear of large crowds for a lot of people.  

The other ugly thing I saw football-wise this past week was talk of going to a ten game conference schedule permanently.  Nick $aban publicly voiced his support for it as he has been asking to go to nine games for a long time.  It is easy for him to say that for a perennial powerhouse like Bama.  The ugly truth though is that it would destroy the bottom part of the league and even some of the top tier teams when they are down.  A nine or ten game conference schedule means that Vanderbilt and the other teams in the lower half would never get to a bowl, never have something positive to build on.  A school now who does not care about a national title can schedule four weaker schools and then if they can just get two conference wins they can get to a bowl and feel good about themselves.

AROUND THE CONFERENCE

The best game of the day was by far the Mississippi State vs. LSU game.  It was awesome to watch State sling it around the field and to see LSU get brought down a peg after a year of everyone slobbering over them.  The next best game was Tennessee at South Carolina.  Both teams desperately needed that game and the Vols came out on top.  Jeremy Pruitt appears to have done a tremendous job steadying the ship and slowly building things back up in Knoxville.  Meanwhile this loss might be the beginning of the end for Will Muschamp in Columbia.  The other Mississippi school also looked pretty good on offense but the Gators were too much.  Texas A&M looked decent on defense but bad on offense.  They did not look like the preseason darling they were hyped up to be.

THE LAST WORD

Bama, of course, looked once again like the most talented team in the conference.  They are certainly still the overwhelming favorite to win the conference if Mac Jones continues to play well and they stay relatively injury-free.  Georgia on the other hand struggled like Auburn did in the first half and had to change quarterbacks as well.  They might be the powerhouse they have been the last few years but they did not look like it.  That sets up a HUGE game next Saturday night in Athens.  I think Georgia is better in the trenches than Auburn per my comments above but I believe Auburn has the better quarterback and the best playmaker in Seth Williams.  IF the Tigers can improve some on the line of scrimmage there is a good chance Auburn would get a win in Athens for the first time in fifteen years.