GAME 9 REVIEW: ALL ON THE LINE

Texas A&M 20  Auburn 3.  I apologize for the late post but I have had soccer tournaments, soccer tryouts, etc... all weekend and to begin this week.  Unfortunately I was able to see most of this game and I guess the more things change, i.e. new coaches, winning in Baton Rouge, and so on, the more things stay the same, i.e. below average offensive lines, horrific offensive performances on the road, and so on.  Gus Malzahn's offensive coaching was one problem but his recruiting his last three years was a bigger problem.  Many of us pointed this out over and over but Auburn was stuck with his horrendous contract.  Now the Auburn football program has this albatross hanging around their neck and that albatross is three full years of bad recruiting plus the coaching change ruining Harsin's first recruiting season. I hate to keep harping on this but it is evident every week.

Bo Nix had a bad game and Auburn's wide receivers are in an SEC-sense TERRIBLE.  That is also the result of bad recruiting by Gus Malzahn.  I do not mean to personally insult these men who work so hard and I will cheer them on but I have to call it like I see it.  You just do not see a playmaker or even a third team All-SEC wide receiver in this bunch.  Anyway people have been harping on Nix and the wide receivers and they are part of the problem but the main problem remains the offensive line.  Also the defense has hung in there and done a good job but they too cannot be championship calendar without better personnel on the line.  I have said it before and I will say it again, name an Auburn championship year or great team and I will name you some really good to great linemen on both sides of the line.

Auburn stopped the bleeding for a little bit better year in 2019 with UMass transfer Jack Driscoll and project Prince Tega Wanagho panning out for their last season in Auburn.  That allowed Auburn to get a big win and upset over Bama but not much else.  Gus Malzahn could not recruit a big-time-almost-ready-to-play offensive tackle and it is literally killing Auburn.  Bo and the receivers would look a lot better if Auburn had an offensive line that could block consistently even against tough opponents for Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter.  This line cannot do that or give Nix any time.  It was hard to watch in 2018, 2019, 2020, and now also in 2021.  It will be hard to watch in 2022 as well because nothing is changing because it does not appear any elite tackles will be coming in this year.  NOTHING CHANGES TILL THEY DO.

Auburn has a few good prospects but it does not have a Willie Anderson, a Marcus McNeil, a Lee Ziema, or a Greg Robinson coming in to save the day.  I also do not see a Quentin Groves, a Nick Fairley, a Dee Ford, or a Derrick Brown coming in on the defensive side either.  The big time recruiting schools like Bama, Georgia, and so on have already been talking to any one who looks like they could be this kind of player for two years.  Auburn is already out.  Am I painting a bleak picture?  Well yes I am, again just look at Auburn's history the last 10, 20, or 30 years...  good linemen equal good seasons, no good linemen equal bad seasons.  It really is in many ways that simple.  As I said it is getting harder and harder to get those guys and that is why Auburn has only challenged for an SEC title one time since 2013 which is getting farther in the rear view mirror.

Again this year will end pretty much like last year which is pretty much like the year before and so on... Auburn should be good enough to beat Mississippi State and South Carolina but they could lose one too like they did to State in 2018 and South Carolina last season.  Regardless of Auburn's hideous performance this past weekend everyone is saying how vulnerable Bama is since they did not beat LSU to a pulp.  Yes Auburn has a chance since Bama is not the unbeatable juggernaut they were last season but everyone is just playing into their hands.  Bama is down a little but they are still a very good and extraordinarily talented team that is younger and slightly less experienced than normal Bama teams.  The moment you make them an underdog they will beat you.  I still predict Bama will beat Georgia in the SECCG.

I do not think I have ever seen Auburn win the Iron Bowl without being better than they are now on both sides of the line of scrimmage.  Auburn had a winning record and played Bama at home in 2011... and got annihilated. One of the big problems with that team was the poor units on both sides of the line. Auburn has had many big upset wins in the Iron Bowl but... you guessed it, they were again better on both sides of the line.  Auburn will finish either 7-5 or if it can avoid an upset in the next two weeks 8-4.  Basically the same record as 2018, 2019, 2020...  I wish there was something else to say.  I really do but there is not.  Really when you look close it really does remain true that: "there are no miracles on the football field" as Pat Dye once said.  

It is tough to hear but it is where Auburn is at, you will know if things might change by the recruiting class.  In 1993 after losing Dye and finishing a disappointing season, Terry Bowden brought in LT Willie Anderson who is a candidate for the NFL HoF.  In 2002 after a horrific ending to the season including "Black Saturday" to Bama, Tommy Tuberville brought in LT Marcus McNeil who played for years in the NFL.  In 2007 Tuberville brought in LT Lee Ziemba who would become an All-American and in 2010 Gene Chizik brought in LT Greg Robinson who would become the second pick in the 2014 NFL draft.  What did all four of these elite offensive left tackles have in common?  They all were major pillars to undefeated seasons in 1993, 2004, and 2010 plus a near national championship in 2013.  We need one of those type players on the line and their commitment will be the herald that things could change down on the plains...

Until then we will continue to see games and seasons like this but I guess the good news is as you look around the country and see the situations that Florida, Texas, and Nebraska are in, we at least know that it could be worse.  It could be a lot worse.