MUSIC CITY BOWL REVIEW: BAD COACHING CONTINUES

Maryland 31  Auburn 13.  Well another game, another coaching embarrassment for the Auburn football Tigers.  Since breaking their hands patting themselves on the back for stomping a bad Arkansas team, these Auburn coaches have been part of the most embarrassing home loss in program history, the worst most needless loss in program history caused by the dumbest call in program history, and one of the most embarrassing bowl losses in program history.  I mean I am sure glad the season is over as I literally cannot take anymore.  I can definitely wait nine months to watch this team again.  Yeh yeh I am glad we had a good recruiting year but will it matter if THEY CANNOT BE COACHED UP???  Right now it looks like we will set the record next year for big time wide receiver recruits LEAVING.

I know as well all the EXCUSES for all our bad play this year.  No one documented the disaster the program was after Bryan Harsin left more than I did here.  I also know how bad some of our units were like wide receiver.  I understand we had our best defensive lineman and our starting cornerbacks opt out for the bowl game.  I understand first year coaches do not typically have great seasons.  HOWEVER, even considering all that you just have not seen much good coaching this year.  You do not see any trademarks of a good coach with Hugh Freeze.  FIRST, coaching starts with getting maximum effort out of your players and Auburn has been lacking in that department much of this season and especially in the New Mexico State game and this stupid bowl game.

Next, a good offensive coach shows little things that mark him as a good offensive coach.  I have not seen any of those markers this season.  I am pretty much to the point that I think Hugh Freeze is a fraud as a coach.  I think he is still a pretty good recruiter but he has just shown nothing in the coaching department.  His teams seem very finesse and are frequently lacking in effort and toughness.  His offense just seems very vanilla and blah to me.  There is really nothing that distinguishes it.  I am so disappointed.  I thought he was a great hire, the right hire.  I thought he was a good offensive coach but I am just not seeing it?!?  I know everything I wrote last year when we hired him.  I know his record at Ole Miss and Liberty but again I... am... just... not... seeing... it.

Unfortunately I also know that many coaches have a short shelf life.  Terry Bowden did a great job his first two years at Auburn.  No one can dispute that but then he just fell apart and never got it back.  I would say the same thing for Gene Chizik and many other coaches.  Every coach has to have everything come together to a certain extent but it appears many coaches only have one good run.  Hugh Freeze has had two at Ole Miss and Liberty.  It just appears he is on the downside of his career and the game has passed him by.  He looks like a tired old man.  Now unlike Bryan Harsin he is still recruiting and hopefully that will bode well for Auburn's future with or without Freeze but as a I said before, they can all leave just as easily as they came so I am not sure.

Of course thanks to our complete incompetent pathetic buffoon former AD Jay Jacobs Auburn has to go on the road at Georgia and Bama next season so they will basically start 0-2.  On top of that Auburn still has a tough schedule overall even with divisions going away so even with good coaching I am not sure how much better the record will be.  However I do know if we have the coaching we have had this season next year things could actually get worse regardless of all the new recruits.  As I mentioned before, it has to start with effort and toughness.  It has to start there.  It then has to continue with improvement in offensive execution.  We have got to start seeing the little things done right on both sides of the ball.  

Right now fresh off this complete embarrassment of a bowl game performance I cannot see it.  The offensive line will be mostly the same.  There is no ready-to-go tackle coming in.  The quarterback will be the same at least to start the season and he certainly does not seem like a big game winner.  The wide receivers will be different but can these coaches get the ball to them?  Will the wide receiver coaching that has been about the worst I have ever seen this season magically get better?  Again I just do not see it.  Right now from this view, Hugh Freeze needs to fire these coordinators and go hire somebody that will get the job done if that is even possible.  It is unbelievable how hard it evidently is to find an actual good coach at this level and it is beyond ridiculous the millions and millions and millions of dollars Auburn University has wasted on bad football coaches. 

Here at the end of 2023 I have am just not seeing any return on Auburn's current investment on the field.  So the mantra goes on as it has at Auburn for the last decade...  maybe next year.

GAME 12 REVIEW: ...

Bama 27  Auburn 24.  There is just not much to say about this game after the way it ended.  The bottom line is a bunch of millionaire defensive coaches just had to help their players convert a 4th and goal at the 31 yard line.  The analytics, the odds, the percentages were so far in the defending teams favor it is almost incalculable.  Auburn did not need blocked punts, jumps over the top, reverses, long passes, unbelievable kick returns, or helmet popping runs.  Auburn just needed to make boring mundane plays like catching a punt and stopping a team on 4th down and goal from the 31 yard line.  Auburn with the weakest defense in its history should be able to stop the Dallas Cowboys on 4th and goal from the 31 yard line.

There is literally almost no way to screw it up.  These defensive coaches found a way mainly by only rushing two men and letting the quarterback have all the time in the world to throw.  You rush three and send a delayed fourth.  Boom the game is over because he cannot scramble.  It is that easy.  This no Monday morning quarterbacking, this is no dumb fan talk, this call needed nothing but a tiny bit of football experience.  What it got was what I called out as the biggest problem in sports today, overcoaching.  Pathetic overpaid millionaire coaches trying to outthink the room.  They have only managed in embarrassing and humiliating themselves beyond the ability to come back.  If you cannot make the call in this easy easy easy defensive situation then I do not trust you to make tougher calls in tougher situations.

I am done with this season.  I am proud of the players but like they themselves would say, who gives a sh*t?  Auburn lost a game they had won.  I do not blame Koy Moore for the fumble on the punt although catching it would have probably won the game.  He is a player on the field and mistakes are made.  Stupid coaches rushing two players and blowing a 4th and goal from the 31 yard line I do blame.  I am not proud of them or happy that Auburn got so close or that Auburn "is headed in the right direction" or any of that bullsh*t.  Auburn won the game and then stupid coaches worked very hard and were successful in losing it.  This has nothing to do with recruiting or any of Auburn's other problems.  Auburn lost a huge game they had won because of nothing but overcoaching.  

There will never be another Iron Bowl easier to close than this one.  Auburn now has to wait two long years to even have a chance at beating Bama again since the Tigers have not gotten within like 30 points in Tuscaloosa in over a decade.  I guarantee Bama will not play this bad next time in Auburn and who cares if they do since they have played bad the last two times and Auburn has choked as bad as possible both times and given them the win.  They will just win in two years again because more sorry pathetic cowardly Auburn coaches will make gutless stupid calls like the last two times.  However no coach will make a stupider call and blow it worse than today where they allowed a team to pretty easily throw a touchdown on 4TH AND GOAL AT THE 31 YARD LINE. 

GAME 11 REVIEW: And it all came crashing down

New Mexico State 31  Auburn 10.  I guess that as the saying goes "what goes up must come down" but I did not think Auburn would come crashing down so soon or so badly.  A week after the best performance by an Auburn football team in years comes one of the worst losses in program history.  Auburn did not get upset by a lesser school, they got absolutely demolished by a school many people have never even heard of.  Auburn, a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and one of the elite members of that conference with multiple conference titles and a national championship in the last 20 years, got beaten soundly and run out of their own stadium by NEW... MEXICO... STATE.  There is a lot of debate between Auburn fans on how bad this loss is but the bottom line is that it is pretty bad.

I guess first, my thoughts on the game...  I guess I will start with what I just said, man it was bad.  It was so bad I started doing work around my house because I just could not sit there and watch the football or the TWO SOLID HOURS OF COMMERCIALS that come with it.  I will continue to say that sports have been almost completely ruined by commercials.  I would rather pay per game or anything other than the way it is now.  Again it really seems like you are watching three plus hours of commercials with some football mixed in.  The same is true of basketball other than the games are a little shorter however you have to watch a ton of stupid free throws along with the commercials in basketball.  It has come to the point that I have a hard time watching any football or basketball games any more.  

Back to the game...  It definitely was a perfect storm that happened yesterday to Auburn.  You had all the ingredients for an upset.  The favored team was coming off a huge win the week before... check.  The supposed cupcake coming in was a good team that could win it's conference... check.  That good underdog team had a really good quarterback... check.  That underdog team had a really good coach... check.  The underdog team got a couple of huge big plays at critical parts of the game... check.  I could go on but I think you get the picture.  Auburn was just unlucky at scheduling the wrong team at the wrong time and then of course SHOWING UP COMPLETELY UNPREPARED.  I mean what exactly was the plan on defense?  I mean New Mexico State had ALMOST 40 MINUTES OF POSSESSION.

There is always a measure of blame on the players who actually play the game but this game is mainly on the Auburn coaching staff.  The players were not ready to play and as good as New Mexico State is they do not have more talent than Auburn does.  I think the main factor is the one I just listed.  The Auburn defense allowed the other team to hold the ball for almost 40 minutes.  The offense sucked but they did not get many chances.  The defense absolutely failed in every conceivable way in this game.  They could not get stops and how in the world do you not see a fake punt coming on that play at the end of the third quarter.  You have to see there is good chance that is coming.  It was just terrible terrible coaching and that was the play that ended the game in my opinion.  That drive alone chewed 10 MINUTES OFF THE CLOCK.  TEN MINUTES.  TEN MINUTES!!!

It was just an absolute disgrace.  The offense was not much better and you can bet that the coaches at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas are kicking themselves for not following New Mexico State's defensive game plan.  They stacked the line and took away the run AND on the read option plus pass plays always took away the running back.  They were willing to concede several big runs and passes by quarterback Payton Thorne but again completely take Jarquez Hunter and our other running backs out of the game.  It was brilliant and it absolutely worked.  They put the game on Thorne and our wide receivers and they are not good enough to win games without our running backs.  You can bet that Nick $aban, Kevin Steele, and the Bama brain trust are gleefully taking notes.  

It is done though and the question is how bad will the fall out be from this game?  I have read a lot of reactions from different Auburn fans and posters in the last 24 hours and things have broken down into the same two camps I described earlier in the season when the offense was so bad.  Both camps know the program is still in bad shape and recovering from the last four to six years of mediocre to very bad recruiting and roster attrition.  The first camp is trying to shrug their shoulders at this game like they did the mistakes on offense at the first of the season.  They say it is just part of the process.  The other camp says there is a degree of truth to that but the coaching should have been better on offense early in the season and it dang well should have been better in this game regardless of the condition of the program and the roster.

I am in the latter group.  You can try and shrug off this game but it is a big setback in this rebuild and for Hugh Freeze as head coach.  Yes I know Nick $aban lost to UAB his first year at LSU and to Louisiana Monroe in his first year at Bama.  However he did not get blown out in either of those games and he won a national championship at both schools two years after that.  If Auburn wins a national championship in two years I will fully forgive our coaches for this game.  I have also heard about all the other SEC schools that have lost games like this but I believe all those coaches have been fired and all those upsets were proof that the coach was not that good.  Is that the case here?  I can take many Auburn fans trying to not overreact but I have had enough of the ones that are just trying to shrug this off.

First, this is now the only thing anyone will remember about this season and this team.  I hate it and it is not fair but it is what it is.  Second, while it probably will not hurt recruiting too much it certainly will not help it.  Third, it really destroys any small chance there was at upsetting Bama this next weekend.  Auburn has rarely beaten Bama after a tough loss right before that game.  I do not see how it happens after this game.  Finally if Auburn loses the Iron Bowl then the Tigers will once again not have a winning regular season.  It would be the third year in a row without a winning regular season.  Has that ever happened?  I certainly admit my mistake the last few weeks writing about a winning season and just assuming that Auburn would win this game.  I guess I was part of the problem as well.  Lesson learned.

This Auburn team and staff now have to pick themselves up and prepare for the Iron Bowl.  Bama comes in at 10-1, undefeated in the conference, and on a nine game winning streak.  I am surprised at the number of fans that just assume this game will be close because Bama is coming to Jordan Hare.  I guess there is a reason for a little of that and I certainly cannot explain how Bryan Harsin almost beat Bama two years ago but I just do not see it this season.  Bama might not quite be the juggernaut it has been in seasons past but they are a very good football team.  They are built on four years of the best recruiting classes in the country while Auburn's last four recruiting classes have been mediocre to bad.  The talent gap is large in this game.

I continue to hear a lot being made of Auburn keeping it close against Georgia earlier this season.  I continue to say that yes that is true but Georgia turned the ball over several times and fourteen of Auburn's twenty points came off those turnovers.  I think that is the ONLY way that this Auburn team keeps it close in this game, i.e. Bama turning the ball over.  It is one of the major reasons Auburn was able to beat Bama in 2019 (other than having a much better team).  It could happen but I just do not think this one will be close.  I think the Bama defense is going to eat Auburn alive after seeing the blueprint this past weekend.  I think the Auburn defense will play much better but the Bama offense will break through eventually.  

I sure could have lived with that a lot better with a win over New Mexico State and a winning season already in the books...  It did not happen and now the real possibility of this Auburn team ending the season with two ugly losses is very real and it just ruins this season.  All I read is that we should not freak out so much over it because better days are ahead...  I sure hope so but the years are flying by and Auburn has not had a really good season in a really long time.  After this past game it sure seems like it could be a lot longer.

GAME 10 REVIEW: Mission Accomplished

Auburn 48  Arkansas 10.  There are those few times when it all comes together and man I have learned to try and soak up every moment.  It just does not happen a whole lot and it certainly has not happened for Auburn very much in the last few years.  As I have outlined the last few weeks I thought Auburn desperately needed a win in this game.  They got a lot more...  I thought this game would go down to the wire but it did not.  Auburn absolutely dominated Arkansas on both sides of the ball from the get go.  I was pretty blown away.  I mean even another ugly Payton Thorne interception did not change the momentum.  After all the early struggles this is what Auburn needed badly, i.e. a big win highlighting an improving offense.  Add to it that it was a conference road win and puts Auburn on a three game conference winning streak (which also has not happened in awhile) and things are looking so much better.

This win also gives, barring a meltdown next week against New Mexico State, a guaranteed winning season regardless of what happens in the Iron Bowl and in Auburn's bowl game.  I will not comment on the Iron Bowl yet but Auburn should have a pretty good chance in a bowl game for an eighth win and Freeze has a lot better record in bowl games than Malzahn did.  Of course pretty much any coach is better than Malzahn in bowl games...  Again barring something horrible next week this is mission accomplished for Hugh Freeze and his staff in their first season.  It is a minor miracle that Auburn is in this position considering where this program and roster was just a year ago.  There sure have been some bumps in the road during this season but in the end Auburn got where it needed to be.

The Tigers did it in style with three touchdown passes from quarterback Payton Thorne, another hundred yard rushing day from the resurgent Jarquez Hunter, and of course two more catches from one of the best transfers Auburn has landed in tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.  Add to that a defense that was just nasty on Saturday plus some elite special teams play and you get by far Auburn's biggest win of the season.  I am not sure what the future holds for the Hugh Freeze era at Auburn but let me say again, Freeze has done an absolutely outstanding job overall in getting Auburn to this point over the last year.  You have to remember that Arkansas absolutely beat down Auburn in Jordan Hare Stadium last season and Auburn also lost to Mississippi State.  Auburn cannot take these wins for granted period.

I honestly do not know about the rotating quarterbacks and some of the decisions on offense early but these last three wins and hopefully one next week should put all that behind Auburn and Freeze.  I mean it has been a pretty big downhill slide for Auburn since 2020.  Other than a few great moments from Bo Nix it has been a rough few years on the plains.  This game, current recruiting returns, and Auburn hopefully clinching a winning season next week all signal clear hope for the first time in a long time. Again I am not sure what the future holds for Hugh Freeze but he got the job done this year.  You just cannot overstate how much of an achievement it is to get to this point considering where this program was just a year ago.  This is definitely a win to savor and remember as a milestone even though Arkansas is obviously not a very good team. 

Of course it seems that Hugh Freeze regardless of whether he is winning or losing cannot stop from sticking his foot in his mouth.  I mean it is not a big deal but in the post game presser when asked how they turned things around on offense, Freeze basically said it was because he get involved.  I mean that might be true but you just do not say it in my opinion.  It just sounded kind of bad to me and he put another knife in the back of offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery when there was just no reason to after such a big win.  It is a minor thing but it just sounds petty.  As Kevin Costner's character in the move "Bull Durham" lectured Tim Robbin's character...  "KNOW YOUR CLICHES".  I mean just use of those well used clichés when asked that and give everybody credit. 

Auburn most avoid a bit of a trap game this week.  New Mexico State is still New Mexico State and they did lose to Auburn's opening opponent UMass who Auburn destroyed but they have rallied to be 8-3 and 2nd in Conference USA.  The Tigers should be OK but will need to at least show up for a bit.  Across the state Bama will be tuning up for the Iron Bowl with Chattanooga.  The countdown to the Iron Bowl will begin Saturday night and it will be a lot easier to get excited about it after this win over Arkansas.  The other big news out of this weekend was that several SEC coaches are on the hot seat and two have been fired.  As turmoil engulfs these schools it sure is nice to not be talking about a possible coaching change at Auburn for the first time in several years. 

GAME 9 REVIEW: Take some Vandy for what ails you...

Auburn 31 Vanderbilt 15.  Is your team struggling to keep their momentum going?  Do they desperately need a conference road win?  The prescription would be Vanderbilt.  Other than a few outlying seasons Vandy is and always will be the worst team in the SEC.  Two of those seasons intersected with two of Auburn's worst teams ever in 2008 and 2012 giving Vandy their only modern wins over Auburn and they barely got those wins.  Of course Auburn hardly every plays Vandy where our friends across the state played them every year other than two years for WWII from 1929 to 2002 (!!!???!!!).  That sure helped a lot of Bama seasons and helped them with many of their championships.  Those pickup truck bumper sticker national championship numbers would be a lot lower if they had played Florida or Georgia for all those years like Auburn did.  

I digress though.  Auburn has Vandy on the schedule this season and I am thankful for it.  The Tigers desperately needed a gimme in conference and on the road to boot.  Two big time Jarquez Hunter runs put Auburn up 14-0.  Unfortunately quarterback Payton Thorne threw a really ugly pick six to keep Vandy in the game.  But fortunately the defense held and the teams swapped a couple of punts before Auburn got a field goal right before the half and then aided by a big penalty got a connection from Payton Thorne to Rivaldo Fairweather to put the score up to 24-7.  Auburn then stopped Vandy and drove it down where for the second straight week Thorne hit a short touchdown pass to running back Jeremiah Cobb.  That effectively ended the game but Vandy did drive down and get a TD and a two-point conversion to make it a little closer.

It certainly was not a perfect game by Auburn but it got the job done.  I have read a lot about Auburn's goals now for this season and I have noticed they are one game off from what I think Auburn needs to do.  Head coach Hugh Freeze said the goal is to be bowl eligible with six wins.  I am sorry I disagree I think the goal is a winning season which Auburn has not had since 2020.  Auburn went 6-6 and was bowl eligible in 2021 and then lost to Houston in Birmingham finishing 6-7.  They like adding the bowl wins to the record but always try to keep them off as losses.  They count to me.  Auburn has had two losing seasons in a row.  However if these Tigers win in Arkansas this weekend and take care of business against New Mexico they have a winning season regardless of what happens in the bowl game. 

I think they need that regardless of what anyone else says.  It is important.  Unfortunately that job just got a lot harder.  Can Auburn beat Bama at home?  Yes but the chance is low.  Auburn's best chance at a winning season is beating Arkansas this weekend.  Arkansas got a huge win and a huge boost with a gigantic win at Florida.  They will be much tougher to beat now this week.  However while they are better they are still very beatable.  I think Auburn needs to pull out all the stops in this one.  A win would take the pressure off and give in my opinion Auburn a much better chance against Bama and in the bowl game with the pressure off.  Everything would be better if Auburn can go get this win at Arkansas.  It is going to be one of those games that not many people will pay attention to but just huge for the two teams involved.

Hopefully the Auburn offensive coaches will continue to make smart decisions like these past two games.  They continued to keep it simple for the most part in the passing game as I noted last week AND THEY STOPPED ROTATING QUARTERBACKS.  I did not comment on that last week and I should have but EVERYBODY knew that was STUPID and Freeze sure looks and sounds a lot better not trying to justify that hot mess.  Now there were some bad drops this week and that could ruin Auburn's chances against Arky or Bama.  I just do not know what to say about this problem.  These guys have played football their whole life, just catch the ball!!!  The blocking will also have to hold up as Arkansas will be better than Vandy or State in my opinion.

Well we are now to the end and have a big conference game on what looks like an absolutely gorgeous cooler November day with what I think is a lot on the line.  I am really looking forward to this one.  I think it could be the tightest game of the season.  It will show us even more about head coach Hugh Freeze.  I do not really count Cal and I know the Georgia was close but you never really thought Auburn would prevail.  The losses against Texas A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss were tight in spots but did not go down to the wire.  Auburn's last two wins against State and Vandy did not either.  I think this one might be the one that goes down to the wire. 

GAME 8 REVIEW: On Target, finally!

 

Auburn 27  Mississippi State 13.  Auburn and head coach Hugh Freeze finally won their first conference game of the season.  This was done by finally putting a competent passing game on the field which shockingly opened up the running game and Jarquez Hunter.  It is funny how that happens when you have a balanced offense.  The only surprising change I saw that enabled this was basically the one most Auburn fans have been asking for including me...  simplicity.  I am sorry as complex as everyone who makes their living off of football tries to make it, it is not rocket science.  What I saw Saturday was simplicity mixed with some actual blocking which is pretty important too.

Auburn's first or one of their early drives featured a straight drop back and passes to a receiver who ran what we used to call a "buttonhook", one who ran a slant, and one who ran an out.  Again it is not rocket science, all you need is a little blocking and a decently ran intermediate simple pass route.  I believe Thorne also used straight play-action on one or two of those as well.  There were no stupid RPOs but basic pass plays.  These got quarterback Payton Thorne into a groove with some confidence and then what do you know he hits Ja'varrus Johnson on a straight go route and running back Jeremiah Cobb on a simple lob both for touchdowns.  SHOCKER, you start with the basics, build momentum and confidence, and then your quarterback starts hitting some harder throws.

Again you also get the running game going and after a few big runs along with those passes your offense really starts humming!  Again, SHOCKER.  Tons of us have been saying these things every week.  I understand and will give you that A&M, Georgia, and LSU on that night had much better defenses than State but Ole Miss did NOT.  This could have all started last week.  Auburn did NOT do these things to start against Ole Miss and as we have seen many times once you get off to a bad start on offense, nothing seems to work.  I will continue to say there are basics to football and no matter how people try to make it seem so hard and complex to inflate their value, it is not.  Always go back to the basics when you are struggling.  

Auburn did that and had their best offensive day by far this season.  The Tigers slowed way down in the second half due to taking their foot off the gas and bad field position.  I was actually not as upset about that as many were.  I think the coaches could have done much better but they were scared of blowing this game and I cannot blame them especially after what happened on this field against State just two years ago.  It sure helped that State senior quarterback Will Rogers was out with an injury in this one.  This game probably would have been a lot closer and seriously tense if he would have played.   State backup quarterback Mike Wright did a decent job but he is just not the accomplished passer that Rogers is.

The defense did give up a few big plays to State but got the job done along with the special teams and Auburn got a big win.  This was the first step toward getting that winning record.  As I stated last week, if Auburn can win these four games before Bama and get that winning record the season is a success.  They can put the four ugly losses in a row behind them and really have something to build on.  Auburn has not had a winning season since 2020.  The next step is the Tigers getting their first conference road win of the season.  They get the worst team in the conference to do it against.  It is there for the taking.  Even this Auburn team would have to play extraordinarily bad to give Vanderbilt a shot at winning.

Now it could happen, Auburn is not good enough to take anyone for granted but if the Tigers can just play a solid game they should get the win and head to Arkansas with some actual confidence and momentum.  One step at a time, one game at a time though.

GAME 7 REVIEW: When the BOOING starts...

Mississippi 28  Auburn 21.  The 2023 Auburn football season nightmare continued on Saturday as the Auburn offense showed almost historic signs of futility.  Offense has now been a problem for Auburn the entirety of this decade but somehow some way things continue to get worse.  After getting a breakout run for a touchdown by Jarquez Hunter early and then another touchdown off an Ole Miss interception, the Tiger offense had SIX three-and-outs out of their next EIGHT possessions.  On top of that entering the fourth quarter Auburn had only thrown the ball SIX TIMES FOR 26 YARDS.  They did that while having several 3rd and long downs.  Those are just the stats but watching all that along with two solid hours of commercial breaks can break even the most optimistic fan.  

Somewhere in the middle of that the booing started.  For those who think that is the crime of all crimes I have to disagree.  When things get that bad people are going to show their frustration and I would say most to all of it is directed at our multi-million dollar coaches.  It happens and it has to get really bad at Auburn for it to happen.  It has happened in Tuscaloosa (more than once) and everywhere else.  I mean come on when you coach as bad as those guys did on Saturday you are going to get booed.  Now I will not argue with people who actually spent their time, effort, and money to go to the game who think booing is bad but I have a real problem with people watching on TV criticizing people who are actually at the stadium.  It will be worse next year with empty seats instead of fans who care.

Again I just do not know what to say anymore.  I will say that I think overcoaching is literally the biggest problem in just about every sport at just about every level and it looks like it is a factor at Auburn.  I think everyone sees the same things and has the same questions.  The biggest being why are the quarterbacks being rotated because it has never worked in the history of football?  Nobody understands why.  In my opinion, they need to just use Robby Ashford as a wildcat quarterback and only bring him in on those situations.  He is the ultimate wildcat quarterback.  He fits that role.  The use of the wildcat quarterback for short yardage downs is the only quarterback rotation that has proven to work to a certain extent.  

I am not sure how much it will matter but it will at least show some football intelligence by the coaches.  I understand how bad Thorne has been and he is bad but Ashford is just not a quarterback.  Ashford threw an absolutely horrific interception in this game while Auburn still had a chance to win.  Thorne threw his when the game was already over.  I know it should have been turned over on replay but it was still a horrible throw into double-coverage.  Auburn has two struggling quarterbacks.  Why are the coaches not calling more screens or short throws to our running backs in space?  I know it will not be hugely successful but Auburn's biggest pass play of the game was a dump off to Hunter.  Running back Brian Battie, one of the lone bright spots on offense, was not targeted I do not think.  That is just one example.  You just do not see anything smart being done on offense by these coaches.

I am calling out the coaches while I read a lot of people saying the players are so bad that it is not the coach's fault.  First, yes Auburn is way down but you just cannot convince me that they should not be better on offense than this.  I am sorry there is a lot of bad coaching here.  I understand that a lot of great coaches throughout college football history had bad first years like the current god of our state.  However I do not think you saw ineptitude like you are seeing at Auburn right now.  Time will tell although my second thought on the talent also throws more doubt on the current coaching staff.  Obviously this staff is not very good at evaluating talent when every quarterback, offensive lineman, and wide receiver other than tight end Rivaldo Fairweather turned out to not be very good.

I mean all of them?  That is pretty bad evaluation.  I guess you can give them a little slack as things were so bad Auburn needed any warm bodies they could convince to come but when every single quarterback, offensive lineman, and wide receiver disappoint then you are either coaching badly or evaluating badly. IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER.  Hugh Freeze also doesn't look like any of those great coaches starting out.  They all had the fire while Freeze looks like a tired old man after every game.  I understand this job is completely overwhelming but I am sorry you have got to hire a better coordinator than Phillip Montgomery then to help you out.  It may not be fair but you have got to be better than this.  Auburn is so bad right now on offense that it is repulsive.  It is turning off the fans and I bet the recruits as well.  You cannot be this bad.

The defense has done about as well as can be expected even with a pretty good dip at LSU.  You do see some smart coaching over there with the blitzes and such.  I really have had no complaints on that side of the ball and obviously do not have any from Saturday night.  I do however wonder about their professionalism when a veteran coach and recruiter like Wesley McGriff is suddenly moved off the field after a practice altercation with defensive coordinator Ron Roberts.  I mean honestly what is going on with this staff?  Cadillac Williams and Zach Etheridge have to be at their wit's end.  First they had to deal with the Idaho coaches and now this group.  You have the McGriff spat during the week and then the offense puts up their worst performance of the season...  I guess there is going to be another almost whole new staff hired for next season?  

Needless to say, Auburn football is in big trouble.  However let me end with something positive.  A lot of people including myself never thought Auburn would win the last four games even with better coaching.  The thing that has people losing their minds is again the offense being THIS BAD.  However Auburn and head coach Hugh Freeze and this beleaguered coaching staff HAVE ONE LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THIS SEASON.  They just need to get it together and beat a bad Mississippi State team, a worse Arkansas team that just lost to that Mississippi State team, and VANDERBILT plus of course New Mexico.  THAT GETS YOU TO 7-5, A GUARANTEED WINNING SEASON, AND A BOWL GAME WITH NO PRESSURE.  

Auburn still has enough talent to beat these teams.  As bad as things are, this is achievable.  Honestly if Hugh Freeze is really the guy I think he has to get this done.  The key to surviving is winning the games you are favored in.  Rarely when a team is in this position do they have a shot at redemption.  This team does.  Listen Hugh, the best thing you can do for recruiting right now is coach your ass off the rest of the way.  This staff, this team, this fan base, and THIS PROGRAM are hanging by a thread.  Mississippi State at Jordan Hare Stadium this Saturday just became the biggest game of the season.  A loss and  Auburn probably does not win any of those games and the season completely implodes.  A win means the road to redemption stays open.

GAME 6 REVIEW: Pretty much as expected...

LSU 48  Auburn 18.  It was another disappointing Saturday for the Auburn Tigers in what is becoming a long line of them.  Some people were surprised at the final margin but I am not sure why.  Auburn has maybe the worst offense in the SEC.  Right now Auburn simply cannot score enough points to beat anybody any good.  That is pretty much fact, not an opinion.  The cold hard statistics bear it out.  The only Power Five team Auburn has beaten this season is a bad Cal team and they were very lucky to pull that game out.  The Tigers were able to make it close against Georgia because of turnovers.  

The Auburn defense is an undermanned scrappy bunch and would be a decent defense paired with a good offense.  However that is not the case and this defense is nowhere near good enough to hold anybody in check with no help from the offense.  Outside of something strange happening, this Auburn season comes down to their matchups against the other SEC bottom feeders in Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.  They win those and New Mexico and get to 6-6 and would salvage something from this season, i.e. a bowl bid.  However right now I have a hard time seeing even that happening with this offense.

The response to the current situation has brought out two camps on the various Auburn sites.  Group one points out how bad the situation is that Head Coach Hugh Freeze took over.  They point out that Auburn simply does not have the players and it is going to take time to straighten out this mess.  They say you have to give him time and getting upset about these games and criticizing the coaches is pointless.  For the record I agree with just about all of that.  I think all of that is true but I think they are missing one key point.  I think that point is important because it effects the recruiting solution.

That key point is the current offensive coaching.  That brings me to group two of which I would include myself.  I think pretty much all of us in group two agree with group one EXCEPT that you cannot ignore this offensive coaching even though the talent level is so low.  The offensive coaching is horrendous and that is a fact.  Hugh Freeze was hired for his offensive acumen and you literally could not do a worse job with this bunch.  You should still be able to see a little bit of good coaching in this offense and you do not.  I think blaming a coordinator is just a smoke screen.  The buck stops with the head coach.

The first issue is the inability of the Auburn coaches to implement any kind of base passing game.  They cannot seem to consistently execute even the simplest passing play.  I know the players especially the quarterback are not that good but Payton Thorne was the quarterback of a team that won ten games in the second toughest conference in college football.  I know it was a running team and he was a game manager, etc... but he still had to execute some of these plays.  He should be able to do that.  The receivers with all their warts should be better than this.  The sequence of plays, the rotating of quarterbacks, etc... all smacks of dubious offensive coaching.  There is a problem here.

I think that is relevant as opposed to group one because since Auburn is SO BAD on offense prospective recruits will be turned off.  They might see opportunity but they also do not ever want to be a part of something like that.  You have to show them an offense or the potential of an offense they want to be a part of.  You also have to show them the studs on the offensive line starting with the tackles that are going to pave the way for them.  Auburn still does not have that.  The Tigers currently have four star DeAndre Carter from California verbally committed but Texas is coming hard after him.  If we continue down this path do you really think this guy ends up going to Auburn?   

I just do not understand what we are doing on offense.  I do not understand the play calling sequences.  I do not understand how they are trying to use different players.  I just do not get it.  We know Jarquez Hunter is a good running back but we have reduced him to nothing.  Whatever we are doing is not making any offensive player look good.  I know we are bad but Cadillac Williams was able to take a similar group and at least run with the ball.  They were bad but the team had an identity and something that the players could do well.  That also helped the defense by shortening games.  You have to hang your hat on something.  Again I just do not understand even what our offensive coaches are trying to do.

That brings us to this week against Ole Miss.  Auburn is always obviously better at home but Ole Miss beat LSU.  I do not think the home field advantage is enough to overcome the deficiencies on offense.  There is just not much to say however I do admit reading this blog has become a depressing venture (although that is not my fault, I just call it like I see it) so I am going to start including a "Saturday to Remember" feature about a good Auburn football memory against the team we are playing or whatever.  I guess you have to hang on to the past sometimes to get through today...

A Saturday to Remember

This past Saturday marks the end of LSU being a permanent resident on Auburn's schedule.  They have been there since the SEC went to divisions in 1992.  There have been a lot of great games in the series and I have been to many of them including a couple at Tiger Stadium.  I would love to do a historical on the series but that would be a very long post.  I have selected three games and that is pretty hard to do with this series.  I will have to have an honorable mention as well and that is when Auburn lost to LSU at home in 1996 but the old barn gym beside the stadium burned down.  That was the one time something just completely overshadowed the game especially since we were sitting in the upper desk on that side of the stadium.  I know it was terrible but I have never seen a fire like that before or since.  The flames rose higher than the stadium!

I guess I will go in chronological order.  I got to go to LSU and watch Auburn destroy LSU 34-10 in 1993 with LSU wearing purple at home.  It might be my favorite road game ever, it was so much fun.  I remember one of Auburn's touchdowns coming off a double-reverse flea flicker!  I got to see another great one the next year when I took my wife to her first game in 1994 and Auburn won 30-26 on three interception returns for touchdowns!  However I have to say the greatest win over LSU I ever saw was Cam Newton's Heisman game.  I am literally sitting here getting chills thinking about it.  His unbelievable touchdown run in that game was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen and Onterio McCalebb's 70 yard run to win it was another one for the ages.  

Until next week...

GAME 5 REVIEW: Tired

Georgia 27  Auburn 20.  Alright I am glad Auburn made it close and pretty much did the best anyone could expect for this game.  Unfortunately I am just tired of so many things.  I am tired of Auburn losing to Georgia.  I am tired of Auburn being a mediocre to bad program.  I am tired of Auburn not being able to pass the ball.  I am tired of Auburn getting stuffed on 3rd and 4th and 1.  I am tired of celebrating moral victories and the fact Auburn kept it close against some team.  However with all that said, you know what I am most tired of after watching this game yesterday???  That would be watching Georgia tight end Brock Bowers run wide open through the Auburn secondary catching ball after ball.  I mean seriously the Auburn coaches could not do better than that after he had already burned them so many times in a row? 

It is time to face facts, this is a mediocre-to-bad flawed team that will finish with a losing record in the SEC like the last two years.  They are in my opinion no fun to watch the way they are coached and in fact hard to watch.  I have not seen too many teams this inept at passing the ball.  I mean is Auburn playing football like the service academies now?  I mean yesterday Auburn could not execute the most basic passing play.  I mean yay the Tigers ran the ball good some of the time but one dimensional teams are eventually losers.  Also if Auburn was a well coached running team they would not get stuffed on EVERY SINGLE 3RD AND 4TH AND 1.  I mean at what point will these moronic coaches realize that you should bring in extra blockers and go under center for short yardage downs?  I mean come on.

In terms of competing in the Southeastern Conference Payton Thorne is not near good enough.  The Auburn offensive line and wide receivers do not look close either.  The coaching is worse than both.  The Auburn defense is doing enough to win games if they were playing with an actual good SEC offense but I am beginning to wonder if Auburn will ever have that again.  As I was reminded yesterday no football offense will ever be good without a good offensive line and in Auburn's case that means some ALL-SEC OFFENSIVE LINEMEN.  At this point it has been so long that I am wondering if Auburn will ever have a great SEC offensive line again.  Right now I would say NO they will not.  We always "in" on all these good linemen but they never actually come.

I do not know what else to say.  It is not the fault of the people who are at Auburn now but it is pretty much all on the leadership at Auburn for the last decade.  They allowed the program to decay and bottom out on their watch and on top of that many of them got golden parachutes when they left after doing a terrible job.  Auburn is a mid-tier SEC football program now if that.  Again we will end the season with a losing record for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW and with Georgia and Bama back on the road next season the streak will probably go to four in a row.  (NOTE: Bama and Georgia being moved to both being at home or both being on the road as opposed to the previous hundred years where one was at home and one on the road was the fault of former AD Jay Jacobs who I believe is getting paid a million dollars a year from Auburn for the rest of his life after being maybe the worst AD in SEC history).

I am so tied of it.  I am also tired of all being constantly reminded that Gus Malzahn is not a good football coach. He proved it again last night by blowing a 35-7 lead in the third quarter to BAYLOR (???!!!???).  He was actually much worse than Mr. Potato Head because he was just good enough to stay around as long as he did while his recruiting got worse and worse leaving us where we are now.  I challenge anyone to find ONE Central Florida fan that wants to keep him.  I do think Auburn right now should still be a little better football team but I guess we have got to give Freeze time.  Unfortunately that means more time watching this offense.  Thank goodness Auburn has a bye week this next Saturday.  The question now is will Auburn look any better on offense at LSU after a bye week?

GAME 4 REVIEW: NUMB

Texas A&M 27  Auburn 10.  Honestly the title of this post is the way I am feeling toward Auburn football.  I am just numb after so many years of offensive incompetence and I guess looking at many more to come.  I mean it really does start to add up.  You now have SO MANY instances of not just bad games and coaching but absolute incompetence like in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and now 2023.  You also had some of it show up in supposed good or decent years like 2014, 2017, and 2019.  Since Auburn last won the SEC title in 2013 we are basically going on a decade marked by offensive incompetence in football.  Auburn does not have much talent now but that does not excuse what happened in the game yesterday.  That was just bad coaching and preparation.

This is why I wrote about the Cal game like I did.  Nobody else did.  The excuses and reasons were flying from other spots but the Cal game was not just another "bad" game.  The offense was so bad in it and when you see that it is a bright shining blinking WARNING LIGHT of that which is to come.  However obviously even after trying to throw the ball last week our coaches did not heed that warning.  It then all crashed down around us yesterday in an epic showing of again offensive incompetence.  The numbers speak for themselves, Auburn only had 56 yards passing.  Let me say that again... 56 TOTAL YARDS PASSING.  The Tigers barely had over 200 yards of total offense and only managed a field goal.  It was astonishingly bad and Texas A&M is certainly not one of the better teams in SEC.

First, what is the identity of our offense?  You have to have one.  I thought we would be a run-based play-action team based on what the players Auburn has.  I never said I do not want to be run-based (just maybe not the entire history of the program) but just wanted to have a competent passing game to compliment that running game.  Gus Malzahn was hardly ever able to do that.  I thought Hugh Freeze could but so far I am not even seeing the basics done right by Freeze and his staff even considering the lack of talent.  I was hoping for smart coaching that adapts to the players you have.  Auburn has a stable of good running backs and it is easier to run block than pass block.  Auburn is severely limited on the line, at quarterback, and at wide receiver.  That sure adds up to a run-based team to me but I still do not see an identity in this offense.

I understand that once you get behind or show you cannot pass that running the ball is almost impossible but that does not explain why our first three plays of the game were two Payton Thorne runs and one pass.  I do not care about the Samford game, Payton Thorne is not good enough to run against SEC teams!  Why would you not start with giving the ball to a proven stud like Jarquez Hunter?  The coaches did the next series and it worked great but when it finally came to the point where a pass had to be completed Thorne was immediately sacked on second down and then threw incomplete.  It was just more of the same after that.  We would have a good run here and there and Thorne had a few completions but we just could not put anything together.  

I am not a football genius but I have watched and coached sports at the lower levels for a long time.  I think at this point if I was calling the plays at Auburn I would have given my best offensive player who is Hunter more than nine carries.  I would have started with sending him out first and using him as much as possible our first two series.  I would then look for play-action opportunities here and there.  The only way that is going to work though is if you keep pounding the ball and if I am going to do that I would use more multiple tight end big sets.  Auburn has several good tight ends and are still very Malzahn-ish from the standpoint of people not respecting our wide receivers AT ALL.  This is something that has plagued Auburn for a very long time.

Anyway the point is you have to have an identity and lean on your strengths first and I do not think the coaches are doing that.  That is just bad coaching and bad preparation.  The team cannot be successful if the coaches cannot even put them in a position to have a chance to be successful.  However, not every play was bad but the Tiger offensive line is.  That is the next problem.  Auburn got what looked like half decent linemen to come but unfortunately they are just not as good as expected.  The offensive line got beat badly many times during the game.  There were many plays where there was no surge for the running back or Thorne was swarmed immediately after he dropped back.  Thorne then threw some pretty bad passes the times he got the ball away.  I do not think the receivers are great either but if the coaching, the line, and the quarterback are all really bad it is already over.

I honestly do not know where Auburn goes from here.  They really have no chance in their next two games.  I am just not sure much can be improved going up against #1 Georgia and going on the road to LSU.  At this point again I would lean on Hunter and try to shorten the games.  The Auburn defense was good again yesterday but they are getting worn down with no help from the offense and the injuries are mounting.  It really does look like there is a good chance of the season coming apart the way things are going.  Auburn is not very good and has next to no depth.  I think the Tigers will be extremely fortunate to get to six wins.  Auburn badly needs to get there though to show some kind of improvement after such a hyped start to this season and to give Freeze credibility on the recruiting trail.

Unfortunately recruiting is the only way off this highway to hell and it takes awhile.  In fact, until Auburn can recruit and coach up a good quarterback and some actual good linemen this is not going to end.  Auburn is paying and will continue to pay for hiring idiot head coaches who cannot recruit well enough and letting them run the program into the ground.  Auburn not only hired them but paid them millions and millions of dollars to kill this program.   Auburn has a huge amount of big recruits coming in for the Georgia game.  This staff getting some of those big-time recruits to come to Auburn is much more important that the actual game to Auburn's future.

GAME 3 REVIEW: Throw the Ball

 Auburn 45  Samford 13.  Last week as my previous post indicated was shocking to me.  I have seen some of the offenses from head coach Hugh Freeze's previous teams and I just did not expect a game plan or a performance like that.  As I said I am extremely sensitive after having to watch Gus Malzahn offenses for over a decade.  Auburn's first two games looked like Malzahn was back.  All I have seen before this game was a run heavy game with only 18 passes thrown against UMass and a head scratching terrible offensive game plan against Cal.  Those are two staples of Gus Malzahn.  It has bothered me all week.  Was Hugh Freeze also going to abandon the modern passing game like Malzahn and Tuberville (most of his career) before him?  I was simply not going to be able to take it.  The good news from last night is that does not appear to be the case.  

THE GOOD

Auburn threw 36 passes against an inferior opponent to work on the passing game.  Hallelujah.  I believe if you check the record books I am not sure ANY Auburn head coach ever has done that.  If they have I bet you can count the number of times it was done on one hand.  Now let me say up front, Auburn should have just run the ball when they had it first and goal on the one yard line.  That was ridiculous.  However the rest of it was the right thing to do.  You have to practice the passing game in games like this to be ready for games like Auburn coming up.  It is a tenet that so many coaches just do not follow to their detriment.  Gus Malzahn was the worst offender of them all.  I cannot say how relieved I am football-wise that head coach Hugh Freeze took this stand last night.  I know many Auburn fans went immediately to the tired old "run the damn ball" line but I believe they are very wrong.  

Now it is not always pretty and Payton Thorne definitely had a few bad moments last night.  There were the bad throws on the goal line but we should have ran there anyway.  Then there was the deep interception he threw into triple coverage with a wide receiver running wide open across the middle.  However I think he improved and all the work in a real game did him a world of good.  You want him to make those mistakes in this type of game!  You do not want to wait till we are down ten points against an SEC opponent.  He is better now that he made that mistake and all the other ones.  THAT IS THE POINT.  That is why you work on the passing game in these lesser games.  I am so happy that we hopefully finally have a coach that gets that point.  I think it will pay dividends down the road but...

THE BAD

Sigh... the other big take away from the game last night is that this Auburn team right now is just not very good.  Hopefully they will improve but I think they are really going to take their lumps over the next three weeks.  Right now I think Auburn can maybe beat Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.  I really do not see any other wins outside New Mexico State.  Hey I still think this staff did all they could but Auburn does not play in the Pac-12 and Auburn has had four straight years of bad recruiting.  That includes an almost completely missing class.  It is like Auburn got NCAA probation for one year that did not allow us to recruit at all.  Jarquez Hunter is the ONLY remaining member of the 2021 Auburn football recruiting class.  A whole class gone.  The two before that by Malzahn were awful (after we gave him that 50 MILLION DOLLAR extension in 2017) and Harsin's last class was terrible as well.  

Again, most Auburn fans just do not understand how bad things were at the end of last season.  Auburn was again seriously in danger of not being able to field a legitimate roster.  You cannot fix that in one season even with the transfer portal.  I am not sure how many seasons it is going to take.  I guess it depends on how good the classes are and I am talking about how many game-changing linemen you can get on both sides of the ball.  This staff worked their butts off and Auburn threw a lot of NIL money around I believe to get the guys we have and at least the Tigers do have a legitimate roster.  However I just do not think it is going to be good enough to beat Texas A&M or LSU on the road or Georgia at home.  The big question that will define this season is will this roster after learning hard lessons over the next three weeks be good enough to beat Ole Miss at home or Arkansas on the road?

THE UGLY

Let me turn my attention to the other side of our fair state as I did not mention anything last week.  Bama Nation is absolutely melting down after losing at home to Texas last week and playing an absolute stinker in an ugly-as-you-can-get win at South Florida yesterday.  Obviously there are some issues in Tuscaloosa but OMG the biggest issue over there is how ridiculously spoiled Bama fans are after maybe the best fifteen year run in college football history.  They are just so spoiled.  Bama has had a knack over the last fifteen years of scheduling big name programs who are down for one of their first few games.  This list includes down teams from Clemson, Michigan, USC, Miami, Florida State, etc...  Bama has won ALL of them except Florida State $aban's first season.  It is just math people!  One of these teams, Texas, was finally good, ONE in fifteen years!  I am sure things will return to normal next season and Wisconsin will stink.

As for yesterday, yes it does look like Bama's seemingly never-ending talent advantage over everyone else seems to have shrunk considerably.  The advent of NIL has actually evened the playing field in this area and that part of NIL I like.  However as opposed to pretty much the rest of the SEC including Auburn, Bama has four TOP recruiting classes on campus and I am sure $aban and the boys will turn things around.  One place I really do not feel sorry for Bama and want to scream when I hear complaining is quarterback!  I mean OMG they are so spoiled!  Bama's last FOUR quarterbacks are STARTING IN THE NFL (!!!).  I am sorry but every single starting quarterback for your school cannot be that good, I mean come on!  Welcome to the world the rest of us live in Bama.  You have good quarterbacks and not-so-good quarterbacks and sometimes your quarterbacks leave and say go some place like Oregon and then become the best in the country.

THE LAST WORD

Auburn travels to College Station in the great state of Texas next week to take on the Texas A&M Aggies.  Auburn is shaky enough but this game also has an 11am kickoff and the Tigers have a pretty good history of not performing well on the road at 11am.  There is no doubt Texas A&M has its own fair share of problems.  Head coach Jimbo Fisher is definitely on the hot seat although he wins either way with his ridiculous contract.  I am not sure the addition of infamous offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino was the right move but last week against Miami the Aggie defense appeared to be the problem.  Texas A&M is definitely beatable and Auburn did beat them last season but overall I still think their roster is in better shape and they are at home.  It will definitely be one of the most interesting games next week.

GAME 2 REVIEW: Short Honeymoon

 Auburn 14  California 10.  Auburn got one of the absolute luckiest wins I have ever seen last night.  First, Cal got robbed of a touchdown on a bad call early and then missed three field goals.  Next, Cal's best running back and offensive leader got injured early in the second half.  Third, Auburn got one of its touchdowns on a short field due to a turnover and somehow some way drove for the other on one of the worst offensive nights in Auburn history.  I still cannot believe Auburn actually won this game with the offensive incompetence I saw during it.  However on the flip side the Auburn defense played a magnificent game with actual good coaching.  We saw an Auburn defensive coordinator with limited talent play aggressive attacking defensive football.  I cannot recall an Auburn team ever blitzing like I saw last night.  That part of the game was awesome to watch.

The whole "new era at Auburn" Hugh Freeze love fest that has been going on through the preseason and Auburn's home opener last week is officially over now though I think.  I like Freeze and think he is the right guy for Auburn as I have written in my last two posts.  However I am not sure I have seen a worse job coaching an offense than last night.  I am including the worst of Malzahn and Harsin in there.  One of the reasons Freeze was hired was his history as an offensive coach.  I understand that in the shape Auburn is in he has to spend more time on recruiting but there is absolutely no excuse for what happened last night.  As I have asked many times before of other coaches, what exactly have these guys been doing in practice the last nine months?  Auburn could not execute the simplest passing play.  

Payton Thorne may not be that good, the offensive line may not be that good, and the receivers may not be that good but there is again no excuse for not being able to execute a simple passing play for three quarters.  There is no excuse for rotating quarterbacks every play at times.  The most ignorant football neophyte knows that rotating quarterbacks every play never and I mean never works.  There is no excuse for a veteran quarterback that you have worked with the past nine months to look that lost.  There is no excuse for the just awful play calling.  It seemed like they were trying to call a bad play?  There is no excuse for three fumbles.  There is just no excuse for the complete lack of any semblance of a competent game plan.  Again this is not the fault of the talent level of the roster.  This debacle was on the coaches plain and simple.  

What do I think we should have done?  OK for starters you do not put David Ashford in the game unless it is a short yardage down.  Ashford is a wildcat quarterback plain and simple.  The point of the wildcat play is that you have an extra blocker with the quarterback running and he is a mild threat to throw the ball where the running back is not.  Those two things give the offense an advantage in a short yardage situation.  The wildcat does not work in other situations because the wildcat quarterback is not a long throw passing threat so the defense can crowd the line of scrimmage with no fear and in that situation the offense loses any advantage and the defense gains it.  The percentages are very low that David Ashford can or will complete a downfield pass.  We have seen a season of David Ashford at quarterback last year.  He is just not an accurate passer.

Therefore since know this about Ashford and based on the history of football you NEVER rotate quarterbacks every play.  EVER.  Again unless it is a wildcard situation you stick with a quarterback.  I am sorry this is elementary stuff.  There is just no reason I should even have to write this.  OK let us move on, as always this Auburn offense is a run-first play-action offense.  It seems that is all Auburn will ever ever ever be.  It is against the laws of heaven and earth that Auburn ever have a great passing offense complemented by the run and not the other way around.  For any who want to argue that point, find one other team at this level who has had only TWO seasons in the entire history of the school where a receiver had a thousand yards receiving (one of them being in 1971).  I would love to make my living recruiting wide receivers NOT to come to Auburn.  The history makes it the easiest job in the world.  I am not sure how anybody can get a wide receiver to come to Auburn to play football.

Back to the point though, this Auburn offense is a run-first play-action offense.  Obviously you come out running the ball and when you pass you play-action most of the time.  I did not see near enough plain ol' play-action passes last night.  You call the play and you squat the tight-end, drag the receiver across the middle, etc... and you let the quarterback make a read and pass the ball.  It is just not that hard.  You then hopefully get an incomplete pass at worst and you punt the ball, stop the other team, and then you try again.  At some point you the put in this unbelievably effective concept.  Auburn would have another national championship if they would have done it in 2013.  Here it is, get ready...  YOU RUN A PLAY-ACTION PASS ON FIRST DOWN.  I know it is a crazy idea but it is pretty effective.  

Instead our coaching staff was shuttling quarterbacks in and out and I guess trying to run RPO plays with a quarterback in Thorne that cannot run and is in fact slow.  The guy is a pocket passer.  The key for him should be getting the ball out of his hands faster.  I think the whole RPO thing is overrated as well because they are always short passes.  It is like an extended option play.  These coaches and other people act like it is undiscovered gold or something.  It is not.  You coach up your quarterback to make reads and deliver passes.  I thought Hugh Freeze did that but instead it looks like Gus Malzahn is back calling plays at Auburn.  I watched 11 bleeping years of that BS and do NOT want to watch a second more.  I understand this team being run based but what we saw last night was just incompetent coaching.

Auburn had only 94 yards passing last night against CAL.  CAL???!!!???  I think that says it all and backs up everything I have written.  There is no way, absolutely no way that Auburn should ever only have 94 yards passing.  That is just beyond bad coaching and game preparation.  Cal's defense might be better than Vanderbilt's in the SEC.  That is it.  My prediction for Auburn this year was seven wins but right now I think Auburn will be lucky to get to six and things are going to get uglier than I thought if last night is any indication.  Finally for the record this is why you PASS THE BALL in games like last week and why we should against Samford this week.  You have to practice this stuff in those games to be ready and it looks like Hugh Freeze is another in a long line of Auburn coaches who will not do it.

Alright lets move to the other side of the ball and some actual good news.  This entails me calling out myself.  I wrote last week on my doubts about the defense and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts.  I think that is clearly what should be written about the offense now.  The defense is going to take their lumps this season, no doubt, but I think they will go down fighting their butts off.  I like the attacking style rather than the typical play-it-safe bend-but-don't-break hope-they-make-a-mistake defense that Auburn has played a lot more of over the last few seasons.  You attack and you actually see a linebacker like Eugene Asante empowered to have a night like he did.  When was the last time you saw anything like that at Auburn?  It is just sad the offense played so bad on a night the defense played so well.

Yes it is sure nice to complain about the team after a win than a loss but lets be clear, the offense was that bad.  I am just not sure the amount of improvement needed to beat anybody outside of Vanderbilt in the SEC is possible this season.  Auburn fans can talk about how bad Texas A&M and LSU are but let me tell you, both of those teams are miles ahead of where the Auburn offense is right now.  If anyone thinks this Auburn team can beat either of those teams on the road playing offense anywhere close to what they played last night they are crazy.  I just thought Auburn would be much better on offense.  I just did not see this coming.  It really puts the whole season in doubt for me.  I hope I am just being an alarmist making too much out of a bad night...

I do know one thing though, again Auburn BETTER practice throwing the ball next week against Samford.  This will be their last chance before things get a LOT tougher.

GAME 1 REVIEW: A MILESTONE START

 Auburn 59  Massachusetts 14.  The Auburn football program reached a major milestone winning their 2023 season opener to finally start the Hugh Freeze era on the plains.  The last time the Auburn football team walked off a football field nine months ago in Tuscaloosa there were doubts about whether Auburn would be able to field a legitimate team in 2023.  Auburn's last two coaches had done such a bad job recruiting and Auburn's roster looked so bad that it made that last statement not an exaggeration.  The Auburn football program was at an all-time low.  However maybe just maybe something good has come out of the last decade at Auburn.  It appears that Auburn has finally hired a president with an ounce of common sense, an athletic director that was actually qualified, and a football coach that can recruit, coach, and actually communicate with people.  That is a true miracle at Auburn University.

I think this Auburn team will be fortunate just to have a winning season this year but that having a winning record is even a possibility is again, a miracle.  It is a testament to again getting this leadership in place and the work of Hugh Freeze and his staff.  The job they have done in the last nine months to rebuild this football program and get them to yesterday is unbelievable, and I do mean unbelievable.  This staff has completely rebuilt this roster mainly through the transfer portal but also by getting several key flips for signing day this year.  Freeze and company have brought in more offensive linemen in the past year than Auburn has brought in the past 6 years combined I think.  They certainly have brought in the most legitimate offensive tackle prospects in a very long time.  Auburn does not have championship talent yet but look at the difference between the roster at the end of last season and the one to start this one.  IT IS SIMPLY AMAZING. 

Hugh Freeze and his staff have not only changed the roster but they have changed the culture and the entire attitude around the Auburn football program as well.  I, like many others, think that some of the blathering on about culture in sports is overstated but not at Auburn.  Again Carnell Williams injected life into the program last season but the long term prognosis was still very bad.  People just do not understand how bad the roster was and how much damage our last two coaches had done to the spirit of the program.  The vibe around Auburn football has been pretty bad for a long time.  Hugh Freeze, Carnell, and the entire staff have changed that.  It has showed in recruiting and the roster overhaul, it has showed in ticket sales, and it showed yesterday in a tremendous season opener.  I actually cannot remember the last time I was that excited for a season opener.  

The whole day was a victory and the actual game was the exclamation point.  On the field Auburn had a legitimate quarterback behind center for the first time in awhile.  On the offensive line, Auburn had legitimate tackles for the first time in a very long time.  You saw a major upgrade in talent across the board and it showed in the game.  Again Auburn is not a championship contender and still has some big holes and areas that need improvement but they are much better than I thought they would be nine months ago.  Auburn predictably went back to basics and relied on the running game behind this retooled offensive line.  The Tigers even without starter Jarquez Hunter in the game ran all over the Minutemen.  Damari Alston, Brian Battie, Jeremiah Cobb plus Justin Jones and Sean Jackson rushed for almost 250 yards and three touchdowns.  You add to them Robby Ashford at the wildcat and those totals go to almost 300 yards and six touchdowns.

The Auburn running game will be the foundation of the offense but Auburn again has upgraded the personnel and coaching at quarterback as well.  Payton Thorne looked the part of the veteran game manager Saturday and obviously he will be asked to do more and more as the schedule grows harder.  He is not Cam Newton but he is miles ahead of what we have seen the last two years.  The receivers had an up and down day but again at least look improved over the last two years.  Auburn looks to have a solid competent SEC offense that can make some big plays.  All of us want to be better but again I am very thankful that this staff was able to just get us to this point.  Another big point is that not only is the talent level upgraded but so is the DEPTH.  Auburn has some depth on the line, at running back, at wide receiver, and definitely at tight end.  Now the outlook will grow dimmer if Thorne gets hurt but that is true for better programs than us as well if they lose their starting quarterback.

The prognosis on defense is not as rosy as we all got our first look at this Auburn defense.  Auburn has some SEC caliber talent on offense but in my opinion Auburn does not have a lot of SEC level talent in the defensive front six or seven.  Auburn got some talented young defensive ends on the roster but the line overall is weak and there appear to be no standouts at linebacker.  Time will tell and I hope I am wrong but it sure looks like this defense is going to seriously struggle against top SEC teams.  They are most likely going to have some rough days this season.  The secondary is veteran and pretty strong but they can only do so much if we have a weak front six or seven.  This coaching staff's next big challenge is getting in All-SEC defensive tackles which is much easier said than done.  Defensive tackle recruiting has almost eclipsed every position but quarterback in importance.  The jury is still out as well on defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and if he is the long term solution for Auburn running the defense.

I need to stop though and listen to Coach Freeze as he made it a point in his post game presser to say that he has learned to stop and enjoy the wins more and he has made that a point to his staff.  Right now we just need to enjoy this win and the huge improvement in this program and team plus get fired up for a cross country roadie to play Cal this next weekend.  I am not thrilled about a 9:30pm start time (!!!) but am always excited to play a Power 5 team (at least they are for now) Auburn has never played before.  Hopefully these Auburn Tigers can keep the good feelings going for another week!