GAME 4 REVIEW: DISASTER AVOIDED... FOR NOW

Auburn 34  Georgia State 24.  Never has a score been more deceiving than the one I just listed... the score was Georgia State 24  Auburn 19 at the 59:07 mark in the game.  Quarterback T.J. Finley took the snap on 4th down ten yards away from the end zone and Georgia State sent the house.  He proceeded to try to turn and scramble and ran right into two Georgia State defenders.  The game was over and Auburn had finally lost to one of these type teams...  till somehow someway he got away from them and hit Shedrick Jackson for a game-winning touchdown.  Auburn was awful for 59 minutes and even with the benefit of what looked like a bad officiating call going their way it still did not look like the offense would score.  Auburn simply could not hit passes most of the day with either Bo Nix or T.J. Finley and Georgia State was determined to not let Auburn run the ball.  It was very hard to watch.

Also before Georgia State goes too far blaming that one call for Auburn winning they need to get over themselves.  They got away with a few penalties as well and if they could have gotten a punt off when it was obvious Auburn was coming for it they would have won the game.  They also simply ran over Auburn receiver Ja'varrius Johnson on a screen pass during this same drive and both teams did plenty of hand checking all day. Auburn was called for six penalties for 65 yards and Georgia State for only two for 20 yards so give me a break with the whole "the refs were on Auburn's side" garbage.  It was a tough and frankly embarrassing day all around for the Auburn Tigers.  It showed how far the talent level on the lines eroded under the previous coach.  For most of the game, Georgia State simply looked like the best team.  The defensive line in the first half looked about as bad I have ever seen.

There is no point in trying to break down this game, Auburn was awful in every phase of the game except special teams.  Anders Carlson was 4 of 5 on field goals and although his miss was costly as Auburn had the momentum he is going to miss one at some point. The punt block and recovery for a touchdown was as big a play as the last one and how cool that it was blocked by one CAYLIN NEWTON.  That was about it on the positive side.  On defense, I know team leaders Owen Pappoe and Zakoby McClain were out, McClain only for the first half because of the horrendous targeting call last week, but it was simply unbelievable how bad the unit got beat in the first half.  The lack of real talent on the line was stark and the coaching was unacceptable.  The Tigers got it together in the second half but why in the world did it take that long?  Georgia State was just running read options?

However before I delve into the rest, let me hold up and say one thing about when Auburn inevitably loses one of these games.  First, it is pretty incredible that Auburn has not yet.  The Tigers have escaped sure losses like this several times including Appalachian State in Tommy Tuberville's first game at Auburn and against Jacksonville State in 2015.  Auburn keeps escaping but it will most likely happen sooner or later.  Let me be clear though to all the Bama fans and others who were just ready to pile on, it has already happened to you and your "best ever" coach in Bama's case.  Uh UAB was worse than Georgia State in 2000 and $aban lost to them in "Death Valley" in his first year at LSU.  He then lost to Louisiana Monroe as well his first year at Bama.  So while yes I understand rubbing it in and enjoying it as we did during those losses, it will not be the end of the program and you still have more...

Back to the situation Auburn finds itself in...  defensively things look pretty bleak.  The Auburn defense first allowed Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford to go 28 of 32 for 280 yards last week and then allowed Georgia State to run over, through and around them this week.  Obviously there are some coaching issues but the main issue that jumps out to me is again the lack of elite talent and size on the line.  Auburn has some good players and gamers on defense but the line is not close to the better teams in the conference.  This is all on Gus Malzahn and his staff, as they did not bring in ONE elite defensive tackle after Derrick Brown in 2016.  The preseason is over and Auburn has a bunch of good teams and good offenses coming their way.  Right now there is nothing else to expect but more of the last two games or worse.  The biggest thing that can be done is RECRUIT.  I mean can Auburn just get ONE elite tackle???

Offensively things are not much better and now Pandora's box has been opened with the quarterbacks.  On Bo Nix I will just repeat what I said last week: "I like Bo Nix and have defended him in this space as he was a victim so many times of our predictable offense under Malzahn.  He developed some bad habits from that experience and frankly from him trying to be a playmaker in high school.  I think we all hoped the new coaches could help with these issues but it just does not look like it is going to happen.  Nix is just not an accurate quarterback.  He can make plays, throw some great passes, and get hot at times but he is just not accurate.  He refuses to step up in the pocket, make the throw, and take the hit.  The bottom line is you just cannot be a good passer unless you do that."  Bo Nix proved every bit of this correct with his performance yesterday. 

Auburn's wide receivers may be the weakest point of this offense but Bo and frankly T.J. Finley as well continue to miss passes when somebody gets open.  You just cannot miss open guys many times as this level.  The quarterback issue will be a problem going forward for the rest of the season now unless T.J. Finley starts and shows a lot more than he did yesterday but I will say he did come in to a tough situation.  Finley has looked to me like a baseball-style quarterback with a tremendous arm but not much touch and like Nix, not accurate.  The only thing I do like better about Finley is he is more of a pocket quarterback.  It is hard to bench Nix after the good things he has done the last two years but he brought this on with his poor performances and decisions the last three weeks.  His performance yesterday was just unacceptable and him not being a captain also points toward something being wrong as well. 

Let me address the booing for a moment, I would not do it but it is inevitable at any school in situations like this.  Also as someone reminded me, the minute a player starts taking money for endorsements, all bets are off when it comes to booing.  Nix now in two years has had some amazing moments against Oregon, Mississippi State, and obviously Bama in 2019 plus LSU last season however he has had as many or more poor performances.  They say "it just means more" in the SEC and when you are the quarterback you get more of the credit when you win and more of the criticism when you lose.  It is the nature of the position.  I feel bad for the Nix family but as I learn more every year, sports are not fair or forgiving.  I did think the team seemed to respond to Finley and again it has concerned me ever since I heard Nix was not a captain.  I do not think I have ever seen a successful SEC team with a two year starter not a captain.

Auburn now heads to Baton Rouge with the season literally hanging in the balance.  Auburn and LSU both need this win badly to have any kind of successful season.  Who will Auburn start at quarterback?  It would appear to be Finley after Saturday however it would be pertinent to remember Auburn and Nix absolutely DESTROYING LSU and Finley just a year ago.  However Bo Nix with all his experience has yet to have a big performance on the road against a decent team.  That is the deciding factor to me.  I think T.J. Finley will lead Auburn next Saturday night against his former team in his home state.  THAT is a lot to put on a young quarterback especially since it was reinforced by Georgia State to sell out to stop the run and key on Tank Bigsby whenever he is on the field.  I believe every single team left on Auburn's schedule is going to do just that and Auburn is only going to win by passing better.

All eyes are now on LSU and this game will soon be forgotten but as many bad things as there were it was also special for many Auburn players especially T.J. Finley.  No matter what happens the rest of his career, this will always hopefully be a cherished memory.  It brought me to my feet cheering for one of the few times this decade.  He took the field 98 yards from the end zone and Auburn had to have a touchdown against a determined opponent.  He made some critical completions and a big scramble and then he did what really only a rare few ever get to do.  He made an absolutely tremendous clutch do-or-die play on fourth down to win the game for Auburn.  It is an incredible moment regardless of the opponent or circumstances.  Auburn appeared to lose the game with less than a minute remaining but T.J. Finley reached out and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.  He is now an AUBURN Tiger.

GAME 3 REVIEW: WHITED OUT

Penn State 28  Auburn 20.  Well if any game ever fit perfectly into "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" type of review for the game it was this one.  First, I still love that Auburn played this game.  It is just so rare to see a top SEC team playing a regular season game against a top Big 10 team.  I stand by the excitement I had for the game and still say in some ways it was the biggest game of the season for Auburn.  Unfortunately Auburn lost the game and while there were some good spots, there were also some bad spots plus some downright ugly ones.  There were some glaring mistakes by the coaches and mistakes from the players plus there is the ever-present reminder that Auburn just does not have championship talent.  The one constant is that Auburn has to recruit better.  That has to be solved before many other things can be solved.

Also while I love the game was so big and got so much hype, enough about the "white-out"!  I mean I understand it is a big deal for Penn State and it is kind of cool.  However this is not like some long standing tradition, it is like a decade old?!?  Every big time Power 5 school gets up and very loud for a big game, I think Auburn will be rocking for this game next season.  I just do not think Penn State is the toughest place to play even during "the white-out".  I mean ESPN just blathered on and on about this thing.  Again I understand hyping the game but I think it got ridiculous.  Also it may just be sour grapes but the reviews by Auburn fans about the whole experience filtering in through the forums and such about Penn State were not very complimentary.  I do not think that is all just from losing.

THE GOOD

First Auburn gets the chance to pay Penn State back next season in Auburn.  I will be looking forward to that game about as much.  On the field from this game I thought the offense did some good things.  I have constantly harped on the offensive line but I thought overall they played as good a game as they could.  They are limited but we are getting about as much from them as possible.  I thought the running backs were good.  At times I did not understand the rotation in the first half, I thought Tank Bigsby would be featured more but the carries were spread out about right in the final stats.  I think the problem was Penn State was keying on Tank every time he was in the game.  You could tell one of their main goals on defense was to slow down Tank.  I thought Jaquez Hunter did a great job exploiting this.

Auburn ran the ball for over 180 yards for almost 5 yards a carry and two touchdowns.  That is a great job against a top ten team with a good defense on the road in a rocking stadium.  I thought Bo Nix did a good job in spots.  One of those spots was hitting tight end John Samuel Shenker four times for over 60 yards.  Those were all big plays and the biggest involving the tight end since C.J. Uzomah left Auburn in 2013.  Chandler Wooten did a great job filling in for Zakoby McClain when he was ejected on a horrendous targeting call.  Wooten ended up with ten tackles, six of them solo.  I thought the special teams were excellent with Anders Carlson hitting two tough field goals and Oscar Chapman averaging 49 yards a punt.  There were some other good plays on both sides of the ball but these guys were the biggest positives this night I thought.

THE BAD

Auburn would make a good run or pass and look good but other than the two touchdown drives they just could not put it together.  I like Bo Nix and have defended him many times in this space as he was a victim so many times of our predictable offense under Malzahn.  He developed some bad habits from that experience and frankly him trying to be a playmaker in high school.  I think we all hoped the new coaches could help with these issues but it just does not look like it is going to happen.  Nix is just not an accurate quarterback.  He can make plays, throw some great passes, and get hot at times but he is just not accurate.  He refuses to step up in the pocket, make the throw, and take the hit.  The bottom line is you just cannot be a good passer unless you do that.  He was all over the place in this game overthrowing and underthrowing many balls off his back foot.

He just throws off-balance so much of the time and I mean he just absolutely cannot throw an accurate deep ball.  You could tell Penn State scouted Auburn pretty well.  They brought the heat and dared Auburn to hit the deep ball and the Tigers cannot do it.  It appears that Bo just will not trust his line and stand in there.  The offensive line is improved but still weak at pass blocking and Bo scrambles every time rather than as I mentioned earlier standing in and delivering the pass.  Of course it does not help that Auburn's wide receivers are now the weakest part of this offense.  These guys are trying hard but are not helping Nix or the offense out much.  They are limited talent-wise and are inexperienced.  Last night they dropped several catchable balls and were obviously afraid to take a hit.  There just does not appear to be a play-maker in the bunch.

THE UGLY

I loved the selection of Derrick Mason as the Auburn defensive coordinator.  He appeared to do a great job defensively at Stanford and Vanderbilt but he is just not getting it done.  I knew it was a warning sign when no matter what the situation was a backup quarterback came in and completed 13 passes in a row last week.  Mason's Auburn defense made Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford look like Tom Brady!  I am sorry there is absolutely no excuse for letting this guy go 28 OF 32 FOR 280 YARDS!!!???!!!  Yes I am not a football coach and an expert but I think I can say confidently from watching the game for over 40 years that to be successful on defense YOU HAVE TO PRESSURE THE QUARTERBACK.  You cannot do that with three players and if you cannot do it with four (ala Kevin Steele) then YOU HAVE TO BLITZ!!!  It is not rocket science!

I just do not think you can let any decent quarterback sit back their all day and hope for him to make a mistake these days.  That might work with a bad air-raid Mississippi State offense but it is not going to stop anybody any good.  It was embarrassing to watch Auburn give up pass after pass.  I think good defenses are aggressive and I would rather take some chances than get picked apart.  In addition to Mason, Auburn has two or three other assistants who have been defensive coordinators and this is the best we can do?  I understand the Auburn defensive line is just not good but it is obvious that this is not the best solution.  These guys better get it together or longer days are ahead.  Auburn plays some teams that can pass the ball better than Penn State.  This might be the way at Vanderbilt but this is not the way at Auburn.  The coaches better adjust RAPIDLY.  Next I am not even going to get started on how ugly the reffing was in this game.  It was horrifyingly bad but pretty much standard for the SEC.

Finally, while there are some things out of the coaches' control like the talent they inherited, players not executing, etc...  there are plenty of things within the coaches control and the buck stops with the HEAD COACH.  Auburn's defensive decisions are ultimately Bryan Harsin's responsibility as are the two absolutely BONEHEADED calls that were made at critical points in this game.  The first was trying to run a trick play to open the second half with a young inexperienced player who had never played in a full stadium on the road.  Harsin can blather on and on about whatever but the bottom line is that was a STUPID CALL.  You only do things like that with experienced players and in my opinion not to open a half on a critical drive.  It was a terrible decision by the head coach that was only exceeded by the even dumber play call on Auburn's last chance to tie the game.

First, I HATE the fade pass down near the goal line.  It is a low percentage play that should only be called on early downs with again experienced players.  WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER CALL OR LET YOUR QUARTERBACK CALL THAT PLAY IN THAT SITUATION???!!!???  Again Harsin can blather on and on and on but there is nothing to say other than it was  DUMB CALL that cost us our last chance to win the game.  It is a coach's job in any sport to give their team the best chance to be successful and Bryan Harsin failed at that this night.  Also his tendency to drone on and not say anything in every situation and in this case to not take any responsibility is ending the honeymoon real quick.  It is a fact Auburn Nation embraced this guy and it is his fault in many ways that he is losing  many of them.  These football coaches really need to watch Bruce Pearl and learn how to be a head coach and handle the fans.  

THE LAST WORD

Auburn will win next Saturday in their last easy game against Georgia State.  Auburn is going to lose to Georgia and Bama at home.  There might be a slight chance against Georgia but not much of one. Auburn has nowhere near the talent they had just two years ago in the Iron Bowl against Bama.  The Texas A&M and Ole Miss games are starting to look like long shots as well but those teams have their issues too.  I believe Auburn can and has to win against Arkansas, Mississippi State, and South Carolina even those too could be tough games.  I think the key to Auburn having a chance to get some big wins in these games all comes down to the LSU game.  I think the game in Baton Rouge in two weeks is an absolute must win for Auburn.  I also think LSU fans are saying the same thing.

IF Auburn beats LSU and ends the stupid losing streak over there against a very beatable LSU team, it buys the coaching staff some goodwill and the team overall a lot of positive energy and valuable confidence.  It gives this coaching staff a big achievement and win no matter what happens the rest of the season.  Auburn beats LSU, Arkansas, State, and South Carolina plus gets one win against either Ole Miss or Texas A&M they can finish 8-4 and right now I think that is the best we can possibly expect from this team.  Again though I do not think it happens with out a big win at LSU.  There will not be a "white-out" or College Gameday or all the hype in two weeks but two bitter rivals will clash in a huge game that very well could decide what kind of season each team will have.

GAME 2 REVIEW: The countdown is on...

 

Auburn 62  Alabama State 0.  There is just not much to say about this one.  It started badly but ended where it should be.  The Auburn offense definitely came out sloppy and uninspired settling for two field goals to open the game and only scoring one touchdown in the first half.  Special teams provided the other touchdown running back a blocked field goal.  Head coach Bryan Harsin then from all reports communicated his displeasure to the offense at halftime and that along with Alabama State pulling starters early to avoid them getting hurt set the stage for a record breaking third quarter.  The Tigers scored 35 points and piled up almost 300 yards in that quarter.  Auburn then ran out the clock in the fourth and now the countdown is on to again what I think is the biggest game of the season.

I said last week:  "I am already fired up for what to me will be Auburn's biggest game of the season at Penn State in less than two weeks.  I cannot remember Auburn playing a big-time Big Ten team in the regular season...  EVER.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime type matchup.  I love our rivalries but for this year I think this Penn State game is the big one.  There will be plenty of time to talk about the conference season but right now the countdown is on to what will hopefully be a truly special game Saturday September 18, 2021."  I am doubly fired up now especially after the word came down that College Gameday will be there and that the Penn State fans were chanting "We want Auburn!" at the end of their game against Ball State on Saturday.  

Luckily Auburn Undercover writer Phillip Marshall did the research and I was correct in not ever remembering Auburn playing a Big Ten team in the regular season.  It has happened, once, but that one occurrence was a 7-7 tie at Wisconsin in 1931 (!!!).  The fact is that it just does not happen much at all and even less with Auburn.  That is what makes this so special.  It sounds like the Penn State faithful are as pumped up as Auburn fans about the game from the note above on their game Saturday.  Another factor that makes this game doubly interesting is the unknown.  Anything could happen in this game, it could be close, it could be a blowout, it could be something in-between.  Both teams were not great last season but have started strong this season.  

Penn State has the one quality win at Wisconsin the first week of the season and I believe that does make them the slight favorite.  Auburn fans should be glad as that puts Auburn in their favored underdog position.  I think that is one of the ways that head coach Bryan Harsin really fits in at Auburn as all his years at Boise State as a player and coach were playing as the underdog and having something to prove in just about every big game.  This will be his first opportunity in this role at Auburn and what a big opportunity it is.  A win could really kickstart this season and recruiting at the same time.  The Tigers could really use that boost as so much apathy settled into the program Gus Malzahn's last two years at the helm.

The history of this series is pretty short, the series record is 1-1.  Auburn and Terry Bowden played Penn State in the Outback Bowl in 1995 in Auburn's first bowl game after being on probation for two years.  I remember being really fired up about that game as well till it started...  The Nittany Lions massacred Auburn that day in ironically Patrick Nix's last game at quarterback for Auburn.  In fact if I remember correctly Dameyune Craig finished the game for Auburn and the majority of the game was played in the rain.  Auburn then played Penn State again in the Capitol One Bowl on New Year's Day 2003.  I remember the game being one of the hardest hitting and most physical bowl games I have seen with Auburn winning 13-9.  That win also made the 2003 Auburn team a real preseason darling.

Penn State head coach James Franklin has faced Auburn twice as a coach, once as the offensive coordinator at Kansas State in 2007 and then as Vanderbilt's head coach in 2012.  Auburn beat Kansas State but Franklin beat the Tigers at Vanderbilt against the worst Auburn team in modern history.  Franklin also caught Tennessee struggling that season and that helped him lead the Commodores to a nine win season and that went a long way toward getting him the job at Penn State.  Franklin has been very successful at Penn State with winning seasons and bowl games his first six seasons.  That includes three eleven win seasons and top ten rankings.  His only stumble was last season when the Nittany Lions went 4-5.  Considering the rest of his career that year looks like an outlier.

On the other side, do we know much more about Auburn after this past game against Alabama State?  We do not know much more than we did after last week but a few good things were reinforced.  Those were that this coaching staff is going to be much more balanced as the Tigers still threw the ball 29 times including letting back up T.J. Finley throw again.  Auburn had to run the whole fourth quarter as the game got out of hand but up till then, the game plan was again very balanced.  We know Auburn's strength on offense is running the ball and the back seven on defense are nasty.  We also know that Auburn's offensive and defensive lines still have serious issues.  The question is can they be good enough to beat a top ten team on the road.  Unfortunately I have my doubts on that.

Obviously Auburn will need to keep it close and run the ball hopefully burning Penn State on the play-action pass.  I do not think Auburn right now can come back from far behind against a Power 5 defense pinning their ears back and bringing the heat.  I also think Auburn's defense will wilt if Auburn is behind and Penn State starts pounding the ball.  On the other hand I think Derrick Mason's defense could wreak some havoc if Auburn has the lead.  What will happen???  The countdown is on till we tee it up and find out.  I know I keep repeating myself and I may be singing a different tune late Saturday night but I love this rare match up and am so excited to watch it.  I think the entire Auburn nation feels the same along with Penn State.  I hope the game lives up to the hype.  Let's enjoy it.

GAME 1 REVIEW: Just What The Doctor Ordered

Auburn 60  Akron 10.  The Bryan Harsin era got off to a good start last night at a packed Jordan Hare Stadium and frankly it was the best moment for Auburn sports since the last time the stadium was packed at the 2019 Iron Bowl.  There are many problems in the world right now that make sports seem pretty insignificant but right here I am just looking at the small little spot of Auburn University sports. Auburn beat Bama for a huge win and knocked the Tide out of any championship contention to end the 2019 football season.  Bruce Pearl then followed up Auburn's amazing Final Four run with another great season before the sports world shut down because of COVID.  

I did not ever say anything about one of the greatest seasons in Auburn basketball history that will be completely forgotten.  Bruce and the boys went 25-6 (the third best record in Auburn basketball history I think?) and 12-6 in the SEC and were looking at maybe winning another SEC tournament and making another deep run in the NCAA tournament.  That season featured some of the most exciting games and maybe the greatest regular season run of wins I have ever seen in Auburn basketball.  In one single stretch of games Auburn beat Ole Miss on the road in 2OTs, beat Kentucky at home with College Gameday in town, beat Arkansas on the road in OT, beat LSU in maybe the greatest basketball come back in Auburn history in OT and then finished the streak beating Bama in yet another OT game.  Samir Doughty, Isaac Okoro, Danjel Purifoy, and Austin Wiley.  Absolute Auburn greats gone and forgotten.

The 2020 baseball season was wiped out and then we got Gus Malzahn's last excruciating season on the plains that included exactly one big win over an overrated LSU team.  Unfortunately for Auburn things did not get any better as we went into 2021. To ring in the new year we got a typical Malzahn-ian bowl effort.  He was not there but the team played like he was losing ugly to Northwestern.  Harsin and company did the best they could to save the recruiting class but it is not a strong class.  Unfortunately this part will continue to hurt Auburn, Gus' declining recruiting efforts will continue to hamper Auburn's championship hopes long after his departure.  I do not want to take away anything from a great start last night but the bottom line for Auburn football is this coming recruiting class is critical.

Back to the start of 2021... even the great Bruce Pearl could not stop the downward trend of Auburn sports after COVID-19 started.  The basketball Tigers were just too young and the pathetic NCAA kept super recruit Sharife Cooper out over a third of the season.  The young Auburn basketball team could just never get going.  The only high point was maybe the greatest first game in Auburn basketball history put up by Cooper in a loss to a really good Bama team.  He was amazing putting up 26 points and nine assists in his debut and almost carrying Auburn to the win.  The women's basketball team went winless in the SEC and then the baseball and softball teams both crashed and burned as well.  It has just been one thing after another for Auburn sports since the start of the pandemic.

The hits continued off the field with the NIL (name, image, and likeness) ruling by the Supreme Court and the full inception of the transfer portal.  These two things will continue to effect college football going forward.  The NIL stuff was really no surprise as the greed surrounding college sports and the millions of dollars taken in by conferences, schools, and coaches continued to rise.  It was only natural that the players were going to be part of it sooner or later.  The complete idiocy of the NCAA as an organization contributed to the issue coming to a head sooner rather than later.  The biggest problem I have with the whole thing is the complete lack of any real rules regarding uh anything.  College football and basketball have pretty much become professional minor league so I am to the point I wish it would become official so we could have some rules.  College sports especially football just look like professional wrestling to me with the championship contenders picked before the season starts.

That is all external to the Auburn athletic department in these trying times but unfortunately Auburn seemingly cannot keep it together internally either.  First you have lame duck president Jay Gogue continuing to lead Auburn nowhere as he has done his entire career.  Literally the next time Auburn is PROACTIVE about anything will be the FIRST TIME.  The latest incident on his watch is evidently many of Auburn's coaches revolting against athletic director Allen Greene.  Greene while appearing to get it right with Harsin has evidently gone completely overboard cutting costs in the Auburn athletic department further hindering Auburn's collective sports teams who as I just described are up against it already.  Things have gotten so bad that Gogue moved Auburn COO Lt. Gen. Burgess into the athletic department.  You just have to shake your head...  You just do not hear sh!t like this happening in Athens or Tuscaloosa.  I mean things are bad enough and we now have a civil war in the Auburn AD???

After ALL OF THIS, we finally got into SEC media days and Auburn fans were looking at putting some of this behind us and trying to get fired up about the upcoming football season.  New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin took his turn on the last day and ended up putting his foot in his mouth and fumbling the ball on Auburn's COVID vaccination plan.  I guess all of us can continue to argue amongst ourselves about which is worse, the disease or the vaccine, but in my opinion a sports team cannot.  You have a better chance of having a good season and winning by getting your vaccinations and Harsin basically admitted he had not gotten his and that Auburn was behind most of the conference.  This officially ended his honeymoon with many Auburn fans and started literally countless bitter arguments between Auburn fans on the subject especially in nameless and faceless forums.

Harsin and several of Auburn's coaches then contracted COVID-19 during preseason practice.  He also hamstringed the media even worse than Malzahn giving them the same limited bland short practice looks plus banning them from discussing injuries.  I am so tired of college coaches and their petty dictatorships.  Every big time college football program wants to blather on so much about the NFL well then how about you act more like the NFL on practice looks and injury reports.  The college football preseason is just so much blathering on about nothing that it is not any fun at all anymore.  Nobody wants to hear the 1000th guess about Auburn or anybody else's season.  That is why there is no preview here on this site.  You just have to endure till you finally get to the start of the season.

And that is where we finally got to last night and it was Auburn's first great sports moment since this whole pandemic started...  A beautiful day, the Tiger Walk, a full stadium, the flight of the eagle... AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A DECADE NO GUS MALZAHN OFFENSE.  I mean I think I know now a little bit about how it feels to get out of prison (-:  I will just quote a good friend of mine here on the offense last night: "You saw clean substitutions, very few penalties, decisive play calling, throwing intermediate passes, utilizing the middle of the field (on those passes), and personnel groupings that did not defy logic."  I would add did not defy logic or TIP OFF EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO RUN.  Things may go bad for this football team but let me be clear the team IS better right now.

Obviously Akron remains one of the worst teams in the country but you can blow out a team and still not get anything out of it ala Malzahn.  Gus would have run the ball 70 times in that game and gotten about the same score but we would be no better off.  Harsin and company were much more balanced which as I have screamed the last 10 years helps you get better!!!  You have to throw the ball in lesser games to be any good at it in the big games which is a lesson Gus never learned.  I did see his big win at Central Florida and all I have say to that and to the other success he will have there is his crap will work at a lesser level especially when you are the big fish in that small pond.  The fact remains is he was done after the 2017 season and Auburn is much better off regardless of how things go.

The stats speak for themselves.  Again Akron is awful but to play nearly perfect in any football game is a good thing.  Bo Nix who by the way has never been the problem was... almost perfect going 20-22 for 275 yards and three touchdowns.  Tank Bigsby and Jaquez Hunter both had over a hundred yards rushing.  Shaun Shivers was finally used as he is supposed to be used which is as a change of pace back and that resulted in him getting a touchdown running and receiving the ball.  The ball was SPREAD AROUND to nine different receivers (has that ever happened at Auburn?).  Four Auburn receivers had three or more catches and another one had two.  The young Auburn wide receiver corps looked very good.  Senior Shedrick Jackson led the way with five catches.  Finally the much maligned (I am one of those) Auburn offensive line powered the whole thing.

I also want to point out again the BALANCE.  In a game like this Auburn ran the ball 31 times for 315 yards and passed the ball 27 times for almost 300 yards.  I know many people are like so what?  For those people I challenge them to google every nothing game like this under Malzahn or frankly under pretty much any past Auburn coach.  I bet you will not find a game remotely similar to this in these type games.  I have said over and over in this blog that I hate this attitude that Auburn always has to be a running team.  I hate it because any successful team outside a few rare exceptions must be a BALANCED team.  Look no further than the football factory to our west for proof of this point.  It is also again key to maintain that balance in games like this.  IT WAS SO REFRESHING.  The "cherry on top" was the coaching staff letting backup quarterback T.J. Finley throw the ball with the third team in garbage time.  It is a little thing but it is a huge thing because your backup QB needs it so bad.

I have spent so much time on the offense for obvious reasons but I also thought the defense looked better as well.  Many people started hating on Kevin Steele when it looked like he might be the next Auburn head coach but I disliked him long before that and stated it many times in this blog.  I thought he was so overrated.  He did a decent job but it was mainly against poor passing teams.  He absolutely got roasted every time Auburn played a good passing team, every time.  I like Derek Mason's attacking style much better.  Auburn will still get burned plenty but hopefully they can also make big plays more as well.  The player of the night for me was senior T.D. Moultry who has seemingly been in exile the last two seasons.  He ended the night with seven tackles, three for losses including a sack.  I still think parts of Auburn's defensive line are undersized and will struggle against good teams but the back seven looks rock solid.

All in all, for really the first time since the pandemic hit it was truly great to be an Auburn Tiger.  That was what last night was all about.  There will be losses and tough times this season but hopefully there will also be a few big wins as well.  I am already fired up for what to me will be Auburn's biggest game of the season at Penn State in less than two weeks.  I cannot remember Auburn playing a big-time Big Ten team in the regular season...  EVER.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime type matchup.  I love our rivalries but for this year I think this Penn State game is the big one.  There will be plenty of time to talk about the conference season but right now the countdown is on to what will hopefully be a truly special game Saturday September 18, 2021.  First up though is another scrimmage against Alabama State and my hope is the Auburn football team can do the same thing in that game next Saturday they did last night, play good and get better as a team.