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.
No comments:
Post a Comment