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.