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.
No comments:
Post a Comment