2024 GAME 12 REVIEW: Back to Form

Bama 28  Auburn 14.  Well just like every other good moment this season things turned back to crap quickly.  Every time the last two seasons a Hugh Freeze team does something good... the bottom falls out the next week.  Auburn finally got a big win last season at Arkansas... and then lost to New Mexico State at home.  I guess lets say that Auburn played well against Bama last season even though it might have been the worst loss in the series ever, the team then followed that up with an all-time horrific bowl performance.  Auburn starts this season with a video game night showcasing some good new players... and immediately follows that up with a catastrophic loss to Cal.  Freeze benches Payton Thorne and starts Hank Brown and blows out New Mexico... and then loses four games in a row, three of them he had to work hard to help Auburn lose.  The Tigers finally win an SEC game at Kentucky... and then lay an egg at home against Vandy.  The beat just goes on and on.

Once again this week after Freeze's biggest win at Auburn against Texas A&M...  Auburn laid another giant egg in Tuscaloosa against Bama with maybe the worst game plan of the year on offense.  This latest lost featured a Freeze specialty, abandoning the run game early.  Freeze and company only used running back Jarquez Hunter 13 times this game while throwing the ball 40 times with ineffective quarterback Payton Thorne.  Auburn padded the stats to make them look better at the end but the only stat that counts is the scoreboard.  Auburn drove into the red zone four times in the first half and came away with two field goals.  The Tigers did not score a touchdown till the game was over and Bama was up 28-6.  Finally, Auburn had a chance to make it closer after scoring their first touchdown but Freeze called a stupid easily sniffed out running back pass that was easily intercepted.  It was the final embarrassment in another terrible game on his watch.

Freeze has staked everything on upgrading Auburn's roster.  I talked about this last week as well.  However after another bad coaching job I am back to wondering if it will matter?  Bama is better than Auburn but they turned the ball over three times and the Tigers were in the red zone four times and could not get in the end zone.  Bama's defense is talented but not a top unit.  A good coach would have done more today, this season, and last.  We have seen two whole seasons on Freeze's watch and you just have not seen it.  You saw good coaching when Dye started, when Bowden started, when Tuberville started, when Chizik started, and when Malzahn started.  Not many of them ended well but you saw good coaching when they started.  I just do not think you can say the same about Freeze.  Auburn has had a couple of good games and a lot of bad ones.  Are better days ahead?  I have to say after watching another egg get laid today I am not hopeful.

I guess maybe if Freeze got a great quarterback and a great offensive tackle in the mix something might can change but what are the chances of that?  I mean a quarterback and offensive tackle that could be real difference makers in tough SEC games?  I think the chances of that are pretty low.  I think Auburn might can have a winning season next year and start going to a bowl regularly with Hugh Freeze but outside of lucking out in a few like last week I always see him ultimately coming up short.  It has now been six long years since Auburn ended a season with a win and four years since even having a winning season.  Auburn has never been this bad in my lifetime.  As I say in the title of this blog, I know it is just a game but it is getting to me.  I am so tired of watching games like today.  I am so tired of every good moment like last week being short lived.  I guess it is good the season is over because I do not think I can do another post on this team or about Hugh Freeze anytime soon.

I do have one more comment on football in general after watching a lot of it, college and professional, over this weekend.  These million dollar braniacs calling the plays today might want to go back to doing a few things like they did in the old days.  First, in college, stop making your offensive linemen stand set for so long while you overcoach and try to change the play.  I have never seen more procedure penalties in the red zone in my life as I have seen these past few weeks.  You can say what you want but they are killers and being able to change your play doesn't matter if it keeps happening.  Next, in both college and the pros these geniuses might want to go back to using the good old goal line heavy formation inside the five yard line.  Yes there were epic goal line stands back in the old days but not near as many as I saw just this weekend with teams lined up in spread formations.  I mean it is unbelievable how many teams came away with nothing after having first and goal around the three yard line.  Sometimes you cannot trick the other team, you simply have to line up and run it in.

2024 GAME 11 REVIEW: Just Auburn Being Auburn

I predicted twice this season that Auburn would lose this game on the way to one of the more disappointing seasons in Auburn history.  I am sure glad I was wrong. I believe that prediction contained emotion but it did also contain logic.  Auburn, as in the losses this season, tried really hard to lose this game and the refs certainly helped out in overtime.  As I was texted last night, nobody has ever seen a team that finds more ways to lose than this one.  It is mind blowing some of the dumb things this team does with victory literally in its grasp...  Last night they had the ball first and goal on the seven yard line with less than a minute left needing a touchdown to win... and then they get TWO procedure penalties and barely get the field goal to send it to overtime.  I do not think any of us felt confident going into overtime.  However I could still barely hear that little voice I heard after the Kentucky game and last week that even though I do not like this coach, this team was just due to have something good happen to them.

Regardless of the coaching, the officiating, the quarterback, etc...  regardless of all that, this team and this fan base was due to have something good happen to them.  I think the last truly good night at Jordan Hare was a long two years ago against Texas A&M with Cadillac Williams leading Auburn to the win.  There is just something special in the air at Jordan Hare Stadium in late October and November.  Some seasons the team is too bad for it to help and sometimes it does not pan out like the Iron Bowl last season but eventually something special happens on that hallowed ground when it gets to be real football weather.  Nick $aban said the place was "haunted" and while I am not sure I would put it that way, there is something special there.  I was lucky enough to be there for a bunch of those special moments and I am sure happy for everyone there last night who took one more chance on this team.

It is a cliché and one head coach Hugh Freeze has way overused but this team and this coaching staff have not quit in the face of overwhelming disappointment and I have to give them a lot of credit for that.  It is hard to keep getting back up and give great effort after watching your season go down in flames.  Head coach Pat Dye called it "wrestling with them angels" and every team goes through it.  There is always a reward for that kind of determination but it is special when that reward takes the form of a monumental win.  That is what happened on Pat Dye field at Jordan Hare Stadium last night.  After COVID, two years of disaster under Bryan Harsin, and almost two complete seasons of disappointment under Hugh Freeze the Auburn football Tigers won their biggest game of this decade.  The collective response was immediate with the students rushing the field and the rest of the stadium letting it all out while watching them.  

In this post I have been obviously concentrating on the context of this win and not analyzing the game itself.  I think that is what interests me the most thinking about this game but I do have to pause and look at a couple of things that happened last night.  Again I have obviously just lost it with Hugh Freeze over what I consider some ridiculously bad coaching this season and this game does not make up for all of that however some credit has to be given.  I have pointed out that a lot of Auburn's offensive stats that the coaching staff keeps crowing about were compiled in Auburn's three nothing games this season.  This was not the case last night.  Texas A&M came into the game tied for first in the SEC.  They are a very good team.  Quarterback Payton Thorne had 300 yards passing against them and for the second week in a row Auburn had two wide receivers over 100 yards.  I do not think that has ever happened in Auburn history, seriously.  Also the scrappy Auburn defense under coordinator D.J. Durkin continues to amaze.  There was plenty of mistakes made but Auburn went toe-to-toe with a good team and won.

You could almost hear everyone outside Auburn wondering why make such a big fuss over just beating a good Texas A&M team?  I understand why the question is being asked but again after everything this team and this fan base has gone through the last five years it was warranted and it was sorely needed.  We get so caught up in comparing teams and counting championships and such.  Auburn does not have double figure national titles but it has been and still is one of the top college football programs in this country (check the records) and it is a very special place.  There have been so many memorable wins throughout the years and a new one just got added to the list.  It could be just the only big win in a disappointing season and end up not meaning that much or...  it could mean a WHOLE LOT more.  It could help a struggling coach find his way and help a program keep a team and a recruiting class together...  It could mean maybe turning the head of more special recruits or transfers...  

It could maybe just maybe crack the door on having a chance at an even more improbable win next week?  No no no I won't go there, I still think it is a bridge too far but after an equally surprising game in Oklahoma last night I still hear that little voice...

2024 GAME 10 REVIEW: Operation "Keep Cam"

Auburn 48  Louisiana Monroe 14.  It is obvious that earlier this week the Auburn football coaching staff met and talked about what I talked about in my post last week, i.e. the sharks circling Auburn's current roster.  They figured out that obviously star receiver Cam Coleman would be at the top of many teams' wish lists.  This is the point where head coach Hugh Freeze finally showed some actual smarts when he must have told whoever was putting the game plan together and quarterback Payton Thorne to "GET CAM THE BALL".  He then cut off any response that was not "yes sir" with "GET CAM THE BALL".  Luckily for Freeze and Auburn Louisiana Monroe is terrible and the Auburn offense was pretty much able to do whatever it wanted.  Quarterback Payton Thorne threw for a career high five touchdowns, Auburn had two wide receivers over 100 yards (!!!) in Coleman and Keandre Lambert-Smith plus Jarquez Hunter got to 100 yards as well.  All in all as good a day as Auburn has had this season.

Coach Freeze can continue to brag about Auburn's offensive stats as this game will help inflate them as the Alabama A&M and New Mexico games did.  I mean you take those games away and Auburn's offensive stats especially the passing stats go down A LOT but hey that is what these games are for and at least Auburn took care of business in all the easy ones this season.  It is hard though to be real happy when you know that all those plays where Thorne got to stand back there forever and hit his receiver would never happen against anyone any good.  It is also hard to be real happy when everyone knows that with just a little good coaching Auburn would have a winning record and would already be in a bowl game regardless of these last two games.  Instead Auburn is 4-6 and looking at 4-8. 

I still think Auburn does have a small chance against Texas A&M at home.  Now the Aggies are tied at the top of the conference with their hated rival but even as bad as Hugh has coached, he and Auburn are just due to luck up at some point.  It will not be in Tuscaloosa so next week is it.  I have no doubt it will likely be a close game but Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has already proven to be a pretty good coach... which means Auburn will likely lose another close game on a turnover or a stupid coaching decision.  It has happened in every other close game this season.  I guess the hope is that Auburn showed enough yesterday and can show enough in the last two games to help the staff not lose too many players or recruits.  That is where Auburn is at.  There will not be a bowl game.  There is only keeping the roster intact and adding to it as the season ends for this team and staff.

I am having a hard time coming up with anything else to write...  A few weeks ago I thought that Auburn could beat Vandy and then have a great chance against Texas A&M... but then Auburn lost to Vandy. After that I have a hard time seeing this team knock off Texas A&M.  Again I think Auburn has a small chance next week but a very small one.  This has been a very close and competitive series since the Aggies joined the SEC and it is currently knotted at 6-6 during that time.  There have definitely been some big wins for both sides.  Johnny Manziel and company ran Auburn out of its own stadium in 2012 while the great 2013 Auburn team knocked him off the next season.  Auburn went to College Station and beat current NFL star Kyler Murray in 2015 but A&M and another huge NFL star in Myles Garrett returned the favor in Auburn the next season.  Auburn then won three in a row followed by two in a row by the Aggies.  The teams have split the last two seasons.  

The Aggies are the clear favorites and are playing for high stakes while this Auburn team has one last chance to show some magic in Jordan Hare this season.  One last chance.

2024 GAME 9 REVIEW: Historically Bad

Vanderbilt 17  Auburn 7.  I should have known better.  Last week I actually thought optimistically that Auburn could win this game and have a chance against Texas A&M.  I was wrong, dead wrong.  It hit me after Vandy scored to make it 7-0.  They have the better quarterback and the better coach, Auburn is not going to win this game.  The defense did the job but the offense led by supposed offensive head coach Hugh Freeze and HIS GUYS that he had to have failed miserably... again.  This time nobody can talk about the roster and Auburn's recruiting being a reason Auburn lost this game.  Vanderbilt went 2-10 last season and lost to Auburn.  They had the worst roster.  Auburn still has a better roster.  This game came down to coaching and quarterback play and it was like the rest of the season... no contest.

Hugh Freeze and his brain trust once again went away from the run game when it counted and put the game once again in quarterback Payton Thorne's inept hands.  Yes Vandy stacked the line of scrimmage but I have not seen Auburn yet this season go into a two tight end power set for an entire series.  A formation with two tight ends, two wide receivers, and one running back.  

This formation seems to fit Auburn's talent, i.e. getting tight ends Rivaldo Fairweather and Luke Deal in the game at the same time along with Cam Coleman and Keandre Lambert-Smith plus Jarquez Hunter.  You can also go out of shotgun with Hunter next to quarterback or stack receivers or tight ends to one side, whatever.  You have a running formation with more blocking and you have three dangerous receivers, four if you count Hunter.  You have Deal the extra blocker to help protect.

You pound Vanderbilt the whole day using more run-based formations like this after they had a hard game at Texas there is NO WAY they do not break!  The do not have the depth or the strength to stand up to that.  Instead Freeze chooses to run the majority of the time out of pass formations and shocker they get stuffed.  He simply will not commit to the running game even after last week.  Obviously we can say the strategy in the losses is the rule and last week was an exception.  Again Auburn is still bigger and stronger than Vanderbilt but Hugh Freeze is a purely finesse offensive football coach and he is never going to change.  You give him better players he will win a few more games but he will never in a million years come close to a championship.  

There is little else than can be said now other than this has now become an historically bad season. Auburn has now lost to Vanderbilt at home for the first time ever.  Auburn will finish the season with one conference win and NONE at home.  Auburn will finish the season as the WORST TEAM IN THE SEC.  The worst team in the new SIXTEEN TEAM SEC.  Auburn will have it's fourth losing season in a row, the first time that has happened since the last 1940s.  This is all started with the absolute brain-dead morons who gave Gus his fifty million dollar contract in 2017 and continued with the WORST EVER leadership that hired Bryan Harsin.  All of that along with horrifically bad coaching the whole time has DESTROYED this once proud program.  The inept presidents, the unqualified athletic directors, and the grifter coaches all have taken their money and left Auburn with nothing.

This was never going to be a great or even a very good team.  All Freeze had to do was recruit and then do a little, just a little good coaching to get a few wins and not let the train go off the track.  He has utterly FAILED.  This team is not very good but it is much better than a 4-8 and 1-7 team.  Freeze has gone on and on about his recruiting but Auburn will most likely be worse off when the smoke clears by spring practice in 2025.  How much of the recruiting class ESPECIALLY THE OFFENSIVE LINEMEN will be at Auburn?  How many of the good players on the current roster will leave?  Everything I write here is just simple logic and the players know these facts better than the fans do.  On top of that I guarantee hundreds of sharks are already circling Auburn's recruits and roster.  Blood is in the water.

I have been an Auburn fan my entire life.  My parents graduated from Auburn.  I graduated from Auburn.  My brother graduated from Auburn.  My oldest son graduated from Auburn.  I went to my first Auburn game in 1978.  I have been to so many more since then.  There have been so many great moments.  There have also been some gut wrenching losses and bad seasons but nothing like the last four years.  There just does not seem to be ANY HOPE of having a really good football team anytime soon.  Heck there is not much hope of even having an average football team anytime soon.  Hugh Freeze has showed us what he can do over twenty plus games now.  This is it.  HE... IS... NOT... GOING... TO... CHANGE.  There has not been ONE big win in two whole seasons.  He should have at least ONE!

I was completely wrong about him.  My post about him becoming head coach was complete garbage.  The one I wrote about Bryan Harsin was garbage.  I am sorry, the next time Auburn hires a new football coach I am going to just assume he is another complete fraud.  So many of these football coaches just seem to be con men who luck their way into these ridiculous contacts that pay them tens of millions of dollars even if they completely fail.  It has just been disappointment after disappointment for over a DECADE now.  In all that time you can count the big wins on ONE HAND.  Other than that it has just been a few scoops of minor wins and huge helpings of every kind of loss imaginable.  Even the "good" seasons have turned out bad.  Auburn has only won three minor bowl games since 2010 against Virginia, Memphis, and Purdue.  The Tigers have only had about the same number of winning conference records as well over that time.  

Auburn football is in big trouble.  It is facing it's worse crisis... ever.  It doesn't seem like Auburn can fire Freeze but continuing on down this road seems like a waste of time.  In fact I know it is a waste of time.  However the problem is why in the world would I think the leadership at Auburn is capable of hiring a good football coach?  We all know they cannot do it.  They will just hire another con man who will end up with another twenty mil and leave the program in worse shape than when they came.  Again at this moment I just do not see any hope.  I guess that is what four straight losing seasons and finally losing to Vanderbilt at home will do to you... 

2024 GAME 8 REVIEW: FINALLY

Auburn 24  Kentucky 10.  Finally.  The Auburn football Tigers have won their first conference game of the year and broke an eight game losing streak to Power Four teams.  I guess some time on the pot helped head coach Hugh Freeze figure some things out.  Evidently he missed the regular team flight because of a stomach bug and had to fly over on Saturday.  Freeze finally finally finally figured out to just keep giving the ball to running back Jarquez Hunter in the second half and shocker it worked.  I am glad after EIGHT GAMES he could finally figure that one out.  Again I want Auburn to be a balanced team that can throw the ball but if your offensive line is not that good at pass blocking and your quarterback is just not that good then uh...  well I think everyone gets it now.  

Hunter of course responded with an all-time Auburn performance rushing for 278 yards and two touchdowns on the road in the conference.  It sure would have been nice for the Auburn coaching "brain trust" to have figured this out a long time ago but I guess better late than never.  It is really hard though to let it go when you see edge rushers simply blow by every left tackle Auburn puts in there every time they try to pass.  It has been going on all season.  It is hard to let go when you see Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne open the game with another terrible interception.  Jarquez Hunter is Auburn's best offensive player and the offensive line is best at run blocking...  JUST RUN THE DAMN BALL.  It might not work this well every game but it is Auburn's best chance at winning.

I guess in light of Auburn finally pulling one out I will not spend time on the mind-numbingly stupid series to end the first half that cost Auburn a field goal they sorely needed at that point in the game.  The Auburn coaching staff needs to stop overthinking it and stop overcoaching SO MUCH.  Auburn coaches remember KISS (Keep It Simple STUPID)!  There were a few more dumb calls on offense in the first half but the call to just it give it to Hunter in the second half took care of that.  The defense played pretty good but Kentucky is really bad.  I sure hope this win will help Auburn keep it's recruiting class together and keep any good ones from transferring out.  Auburn at least has talent at the skill positions where teams like Kentucky and Oklahoma seemingly have NONE.  

There will not be time to celebrate this win after today.  Auburn will finally return home to open November with a big game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.  I am not sure I have ever written those words before.  The Commodores acquitted themselves quite well this weekend on the road at Texas but the good thing for Auburn is that game had to take a toll.  This game sets up well for Auburn as even though Vandy is a better team I do not think I would ever call them deep.  Also hopefully the Auburn coaches will remember what those New Mexico State coaches on Vandy's staff plus quarterback Diego Pavia did to them last year.  I would hope there will be quite a few Auburn coaches and players looking for some payback.  I know I am!  

Auburn can beat Vanderbilt at home.  It would sure help if the coaches keep giving the ball to Jarquez Hunter.  They have to beat Vandy at the time of possession game.  That is how New Mexico State beat Auburn so bad and how Vandy beat Bama earlier this year.  Auburn cannot let them do it again.  They should lean hard on the Commodores with the run game because again they have to be tired after that Texas game.  I will really be back to being upset if Hugh Freeze and this staff do not capitalize on this win.  As I said last week, this season is unrecoverable in some ways but every win will help.  Also somehow there is still a small chance at a bowl game.  The Tigers get another week off after Vandy and then get Louisiana Monroe and a huge game against Texas A&M at home.

Obviously this team cannot look past anyone but if Texas A&M beats South Carolina this next weekend they will come into Jordan Hare undefeated and #1 in the SEC and most likely looking ahead to maybe their biggest game ever against Texas.  I definitely think Texas A&M is a much better team than Auburn but they are not an offensive juggernaut and Auburn will be in their favored complete underdog role.  All of the pressure would be on the Aggies...  What if?...  I am not sure why I am bothering to write this after one win over a bad team especially considering all the terrible losses this season but...  I still remember all the times this program thrived in this situation.  I still BELIEVE something sometime has to go right for this team, this program, and this fan base.

Hugh Freeze and company could erase so much and gain so much if Auburn could some how some way win these next two games and give themselves a chance, just a chance, to win a BIG ONE.  Of course if Auburn does not beat Vanderbilt then the Tigers will just hope to beat Louisiana Monroe and will most likely lose both after that.  This one last chance to redeem this season starts with beating Vanderbilt this next Saturday...

2024 GAME 7 REVIEW: The Wheel Keeps On Turning...

Missouri 21  Auburn 17.  I have never seen anything quite like this Auburn football team.  I was wrong a few weeks ago, this team has not quit (at least not yet) like say the 1998, 2008, and 2012 teams they will inevitably be compared to.  You can honestly say they should have won every game except Georgia and be absolutely right and not a crazed biased fan.  You can honestly say they had to work HARD to lose to Oklahoma and Missouri (!!!).  I mean in both games they were up by double-digit points in the fourth quarter.  I mean it defies all logic that they are able to blow these last two games.  The turning point in the last game was very similar to the Oklahoma game in that it came when Auburn had a chance to put the game away and ended up giving the momentum back to the other team.

This time Auburn was up 17-6 and went on a seven minute plus drive and ended up 1st and goal at the Mizzou 10.  A touchdown pass was dropped and then quarterback Payton Thorne takes a 12 yard sack...  That was a huge turning point in the game.  Auburn threw incomplete on third down and Auburn kicker Town McGough missed another critical kick.  It was only a thirty-yard kick and he should have made it but the sack on 2nd down never should have happened.  Auburn threw on first down and missed it, they should have ran the ball on 2nd down.  It is not a huge missed call by the coaches but they continue to show they just do not have good feel for the game.  That is one of the biggest reasons Auburn continues to lose.  The coaches definitely tried harder to do a better job but there were still quite a few not-too-smart calls.

On top of that, I cannot defend quarterback Peyton Thorne anymore.  I have put most of the blame on the coaches and that is correct but you need your quarterback to step up and also make smart plays to help win the game.  He has just not done that.  He has taken some sacks that he could have thrown the ball away to avoid in my opinion and he just cannot make the play when needed under pressure.  Yesterday Auburn punted twice in the fourth quarter before Missouri made their winning touchdown drive.  On third down for one of those drives Mizzou sent the house and Auburn called a pretty good play that had now little-used tight end Rivaldo Fairweather WIDE OPEN.  I know Thorne was under a heavy rush but all he had to do was give Fairweather a chance and he sailed it far over him.  Thorne just never makes the big-time play to help win the game.

I will say that in spite of all that the Auburn coaches did not allow Thorne to throw the back breaking pick this time and made Missouri march the length of the field.  You have to give Missouri credit for a clutch drive because they looked worse than Auburn to me most of the day.  The over-the-shoulder pass Missouri quarterback Brady Cook threw to receiver Luther Burden on 4th down was impressive.  They made the plays and Auburn did not.  Auburn's season now lies in tatters and a cloud of hopelessness has descended over most Tiger fans.  I know that is how I feel.  I guess in one way things get a lot simpler at this point, you forget all the preseason goals and expectations and you just try to win a game.  You have Kentucky on the road and other than a win over Ole Miss they are as down as Auburn.  They are not a juggernaut and Auburn will probably be the underdog.  

There is nothing that can save this season from being a colossal disappointment BUT Auburn can get a win next week and at the very least enjoy a happy locker room for a few moments.  I have seen these type seasons in different sports and at younger levels and a win just makes everything better.  Again it does not fix the season or stop the landslide of criticism but again for a few moments those players that have worked so hard can sit down, smile, and have some relief.  That is where we are at.  The Auburn football players and coaches need to just focus on getting a win at Kentucky.  I think that may involve using a different quarterback although I do not believe Auburn's future has anything to do with Hank Brown either.  Whatever, the job is simple, beat Kentucky and hey it is a lot easier in football than it is in basketball!

2024 GAME 6 REVIEW: CLOSE?

Georgia 31  Auburn 13.  This was the first Power 4 game this season for Auburn that pretty much went as expected.  Georgia is just better than Auburn and head coach Kirby Smart showed Hugh Freeze the way to put away teams you are better than.  Smart has pretty much employed this approach since Georgia's current win streak in the series started in 2018.  He plays a conservative run heavy or high percentage short passing game plan and plays good defense.  He knows he has Auburn outmanned on the line of scrimmage and sooner or later he will win if they do not make a lot of mistakes.  Last season they made those mistakes but still managed to pull it out.  This season the game pretty much went according to plan and Georgia pulled away in the end.

I have read on the Auburn web sites how "close the game" was and how Auburn "stayed right with them"???  I just completely disagree.  My evidence is this is how just about every Auburn Georgia game has gone since 2018.  Again Smart and Georgia have started slow and conservative in every one.  Now in a few after they have gotten the lead they have loosened up and put some points on the board but they always start slow and either grind Auburn down or wait till Auburn implodes.  Again I did not plan to do much criticism of the coaches in this review.  This game is about the last four years of recruiting.  Georgia is miles ahead of Auburn ESPECIALLY ON THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE.  

The only thing I will say about the coaching this week is if the absolutely moronic Auburn coaches had used this game plan in their last three tough games they would have three more wins.  I mean I just shake my head, now they do it!  Auburn was just completely outmanned yesterday and that was the biggest thing that was evident.  Georgia has completely taken control of what used to be the greatest rivalry statistically in college football.  It is the second oldest around and just a few years ago the two teams were tied in wins and points!!!  Since then it has just been complete Georgia domination.  Auburn has not won in Athens in TWENTY YEARS now.  Auburn has only won three times period in those twenty years and all three of those wins took really good Auburn teams.  

I read on the Auburn sites how close we are but I just do not see it.  I am glad Auburn's recruiting is looking really good now but I still do not see the numbers of quality linemen that it is going to take to close the gap with teams like Georgia.  You can get in a great quarterback and more high rated wide receivers but the game is still won on the line of scrimmage as every game between Auburn and Georgia proves.  Also you need the coaching to make the most of these good players that are being brought in and I have not seen a lick of it at Auburn over the last two years.  Hugh Freeze's offense still appears to be almost completely a finesse offense.  He is always always trying to trick the other team and does not seem to recognize the times you just have to line up and run right at them.  You need a mix of both to be successful.

One play from yesterday proves every word I have written so far.  Auburn had the ball 4th and 1 close to midfield to start the 4th quarter down 21-10.  All of the Auburn homers I see writing about this play are acting like the game was closer.  It was not, Georgia was in complete control outside one Jarquez Hunter run.  Auburn did not score one touchdown in the red zone.  Anyway back to 4th and 1, Auburn lined up in the shotgun and it was not a "heavy" lineup while Georgia had absolutely stacked the line of scrimmage.  There is NO WAY Auburn is getting the first down running the ball the way both teams lined up.  It does not matter what running play is called.  Now of course Auburn ran an extra stupid no-chance-in-hell-it-would-work read option and of course Hugh Freeze yelled at quarterback Payton Thorne after the play and blamed him again in the presser for not running the called play???  

All that did was show the continued incompetence of the Auburn coaching staff in just trying to call a play THAT THEY HAD THE WHOLE QUARTER BREAK TO GET RIGHT.  It also showed by the formation that Freeze was once again just trying to trick Georgia and finally it showed the stark difference between the opposing lines.  Auburn left tackle Percy Lewis was completely exposed by Georgia all day.  Of course the few times this Auburn line has looked good is running the ball straight at the other team and again for the umpteenth time if Freeze and company had spent a lot more time running straight at Cal, Arkansas, and Oklahoma they would have three more wins.  That was the one thing that was again highlighted to me in the game against Georgia.

Auburn now has a bye week to try and salvage something from this season.  They have tougher games than most Auburn fans think with Missouri, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt coming up.  People still talk like Auburn is clearly better than those teams when only Mississippi State is actually worse than Auburn in the SEC.  Also those three teams now all have big wins over good SEC teams while Auburn does not.  I am sure there will be much written about how many changes Auburn is making and other such nonsense but I am just going to assume they will just keep running the same thing till they do not.  You can bet Auburn's upcoming opponents will be ready for the standard Hugh Freeze offense so my hope for a turnaround after the bye is low.  As always I hope I am wrong.

I guess the one positive from this week was Vanderbilt's monumental upset of Bama.  Auburn fans deserve to rub this one in as I am sure almost every Bama fan was laughing it up when New Mexico State was crushing Auburn last season.  Well they got a taste of that New Mexico brain trust at Vanderbilt yesterday as quarterback legend Diego Pavia and head coach Jerry Kill moved to Vanderbilt from New Mexico State and were major factors in the Commodores taking down the Tide.  I guess Bama fans would argue that a loss to New Mexico State is worse but is it?  Auburn was out of everything so it did not really matter where Bama's loss to Vanderbilt puts their error margin making it to even a twelve team playoff much smaller.  They lose again and they might be out and that would be a real shame.  

In conclusion, again I hope I am wrong and Hugh Freeze can get something going during this bye week and then finally win a game against an actual Power 4 team.  It would sure be a nice change of pace from this nightmarish first half of the season.

2024 GAME 5 REVIEW: DUMBFOUNDED

 Oklahoma 27  Auburn 21.  I was as the title to this post suggests literally dumbfounded.  Auburn dominated this game.  Auburn had much more talent at every offensive skill position than Oklahoma.  Auburn had almost 500 yards of offense while Oklahoma did not even have 300 yards.  Auburn, for the first time this season, dominated the time of possession.  Auburn was up 21-10 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.  Auburn had just stopped Oklahoma on downs and had the ball at midfield.  Jarquez Hunter then ripped off a 20 yard run and Auburn was in business at the Oklahoma thirty yard line.  Auburn had all of the momentum.  Auburn just had to score and the game would be officially over.  Once again like Bama last year the game was won if Auburn does not do something STUPID to screw it up...  And of course in typical Hugh Freeze fashion Auburn does something stupid and screws it up.

Hugh Freeze, unlike any one on this planet with a lick of sense, does not call three straight running plays even though they had just run for twenty yards, the tired Okie defense was reeling, and it would run clock that would help ice the game.  He does not do the obvious obvious obvious right thing, no he allows his self destructive quarterback to throw two straight incomplete passes which stop the clock, stop Auburn's momentum, and leave Auburn in third and long.  He then decides to run and of course gets nothing leaving Auburn with a long field goal for the suddenly snakebit Auburn kicker Town McGough who then misses the field goal and gives Oklahoma life.  The Sooners then hit their first and only long pass of the day and score to put them right back in the game with the momentum.

Auburn then gets the ball back and drives inside of Oklahoma territory where the Tigers face a 3rd and 4.  Hugh then calls one of his much talked about RPO plays!  RPO!  RPO!  RPO!  He has talked incessantly about these stupid run/pass option plays like he has discovered gold or something.  His whole offense is based on these magic plays!  Well Oklahoma showed why you should have just run the ball, punted if you had too, and made a true freshman quarterback who as done nothing but hit one pass all day drive the length of the field in crunch time.  Oklahoma faked their lineman or linebacker like he was going to rush and then he dropped back in coverage.  Thorne took the bait just like he did against Cal and Arkansas and opted for the pass...  and that Oklahoma player intercepted it and took it to the house for the winning score.  

Thorne NEVER EVER should have been allowed to throw a pass.  Any coach, any person with a tiny tiny tiny bit of common sense would not have let him throw a pass but not Hugh Freeze.  It is obvious now that the man has no sense.  I am simply dumbfounded someone could be that stupid.  I am dumbfounded Auburn lost this game that they absolutely dominated.  I am dumbfounded that a coach this dumb could have ever made it this far.  How did this guy win at Ole Miss???  He... just... has... no... sense.  I mean the biggest win of his career is there for the taking against Bama and he allows his defense to rush just two players.  He would have started this season 5-0 if he had just run the ball a lot more and played conservative.  You have to know your team's limitations and do what is best for the team to win the game.  That is COACHING!!!

This is Football 101 and he does not know this???  He is paid millions of dollars and he does not know this???  This guy will never be very successful at Auburn whether he gets better players or not.  He is just not a good coach.  I do not know how he achieved the little bit of success he has had.  We do know after 18 games at Auburn that other than one fluke win over Arkansas last season he has not coached one good game against a Power 4 team even in the few wins.  On top of that he was the guy in charge who let a minor league New Mexico State team crush Auburn in Jordan Hare.  It has just been one embarrassment after another AGAINST TEAMS AUBURN IS EQUAL TO OR BETTER THAN (!!!???!!!).  Auburn actually played Georgia close and should have beat Bama last season.  Of course I am sure that will change next week at Georgia.

Unfortunately next week doesn't matter anymore.  Next month does not matter anymore.  Next year does not matter anymore.  It is over.  OVER.  I knew after the 2021 collapse against Mississippi State and subsequent loss to lowly South Carolina that it was over for Harsin.  He had not quit recruiting yet at that point but it was the same as this, he could not even execute basic football strategy.  Neither Harsin then or Freeze now has learned or understood basic football strategy good enough to execute regardless of their game plan or system.  You just keep running the ball if you have a 21-10 lead in the most important game of your career, you have a mistake prone quarterback, you are going against a tired defense, you have the momentum, and you just had a big run (!!!) .  I like being balanced but if running the ball, i.e. being conservative, is the best way to win the game then I am going to do it!!!

Hugh Freeze did not and he lost his last chance at turning this season around.  This Auburn team will be fortunate to win another game the rest of the season even against Vandy and Louisiana Monroe.  He has lost this team.  They do not believe in him either.  He will soon start losing recruits and at the end of the season I expect a mass exodus through the transfer portal.  I do not believe Auburn will fire him no matter how bad this season ends and he will limp into 2025 with another less than stellar team.  He will then continue to make the same stupid mistakes he has made this season and at some point next season the administration will finally put him out of his misery.  Auburn will then start over AGAIN...  It is so depressing I have a hard time writing it but I believe that is what is going to happen. 

I just cannot believe even with Auburn's limited roster that it has come to this.  I am literally perplexed to the point of being stuck dumb by the fact that Auburn with it's history and resources has managed to hire two coaches in a row this bad.  It is all over but the shouting and there will be a lot of that.

2024 GAME 4 REVIEW: AVALANCHE

Arkansas 24  Auburn 14.  Wow.  Last week I wrote my review post immediately following the game and it was pretty dark and depressing.  I was very hard on the team and especially the coaches, where the ultimate blame always lies.  I then read the Auburn homer web sites and listened to head coach Hugh Freeze this past week.  After that, I thought again as I did after my posts ending last season that I was probably way too negative and that maybe I was just getting this wrong.  I know it is not enjoyable to read stuff that negative as well.  However I just try to write how I see it as honestly as I can.  Heck I want to be wrong!  I want Auburn to be good again.  Unfortunately for all of us I was seeing things accurately last week and after another avalanche of turnovers the 2024 Auburn football Tigers are in big trouble.  I mean really big trouble, I mean 2012-type trouble.

How has it come to this?  I do not need to spend any time on going over the massive decline in recruiting under the last two coaches.  We have hit that here ad nauseum.  We do not need to go over last season again either.  The question today is how did this season go off the rails so quickly?  I think everyone including head coach Hugh Freeze agrees that turnovers are the top reason Auburn lost to Cal and Arkansas.  However Hugh once again doubled down on his "scheme" after this game.  He said he thought it was "really good".  The obvious conclusion being it is all the quarterback's fault.  I think most of us would counter that a good coach would minimize putting his quarterbacks if they are not that good in those situations.  That is definitely what I think.

I just read an article this morning that really opened my eyes on this whole subject by Mr. Justin Lee of the Auburn-Opelika news.  Here is the link for as long as it remains valid:

https://oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/lee-auburn-football-needs-an-influx-of-common-sense/article_ee4a6454-7872-11ef-8116-bf04eaafa15b.html

The stat that I did not know that Mr. Lee brings to our attention is this:

"Freeze hates interceptions, says you can’t win with them, yet the offense he runs yielded an SEC-worst 13 interceptions thrown last season, it yielded a 118th-in-the-country 15 at Liberty in 2022, and it yielded a 116th-in-the-country 15 at Liberty in 2021. The common thread through all 41 of these interceptions is not a quarterback, not a school, but what Freeze is doing."

WOW.  I mean those are cold hard facts.  You might can lead the league in interceptions and still win at Liberty but you certainly can NOT in the SEC.  I guess somehow Freeze got lucky in his good seasons at Ole Miss with quarterbacks Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly?  He then had former Auburn quarterback and current NFL starting quarterback Malik Willis for his best season at Liberty.  The stats that Mr. Lee points out though for his more current teams tell the story of what happens without special quarterbacks.  With that said, it is also a fact that good coaches adapt to their personnel.  Why in the world do the "top level" football coaches that Auburn pays MILLIONS OF DOLLARS not understand this fact??????

I also have to say that I was wrong after reading these facts, if you do not have the quarterback and you do not have good pass protectors on the line you have the run the ball.  It is football 101.  It is the reason Gus Malzahn never had a losing record at Auburn.  It wins a lot of these type games.  The problem with Malzahn is you still have to develop your passing offense a little more and you cannot fail as badly as he did recruiting offensive linemen.  Really quick on that subject, I am also reading a lot of "we should never have fired Gus" posts on Auburn web sites.  That is not true and not the problem.  Gus had been at Auburn for a decade and his performance and recruiting were declining.  His time was definitely up.  However I will agree you do not fire him unless all parties are in complete agreement on the next hire.

Back to our current team...  The other prevailing question is why did Auburn not upgrade the quarterback position this offseason?  I have asked that question as well but it doesn't matter, it was not done.  Freeze coached the Alabama A&M game right, he got everyone involved and highlighted our wide receivers.  However he should have called for a much more run-heavy game against Cal and against Arkansas helping his quarterback, offensive line, and defense.  I thought in an earlier post he could throw a lot of short passes but it does not look like these quarterbacks are good enough to even do that.  I want to see Auburn have a good passing game so bad especially after getting all these new wide receivers but I was wrong.  However I am not a man making millions of dollars for my coaching expertise.  

Looking back now, any good football coach should know this.  Any good football coach should have known Auburn would have to run the ball and shorten the games to have a chance against anybody any good.  You then look to run up those passing stats in your few cupcake games.  Auburn had to win these games.  There are too many losses that everybody knows are coming.  The wide receivers will still be important for when you do have to pass but it is obvious now that the Auburn offense was nowhere near capable of having a good passing game.  Also Auburn's proud football history is pretty much based on these tenets.  Again I want to have a great passing game but Auburn football success has mostly been about running the ball and playing good defense.  I think head coach Hugh Freeze needs a history lesson.  Also his new super expensive running backs coach who we ran Cadillac Williams off for and who is also our offensive coordinator needs to fix the fumble problem RIGHT NOW.

Speaking of history, this loss pretty much guarantees another losing season which would push Auburn's current streak of losing seasons to FOUR.  I was looking back to see when was the last time that happened?  Auburn had five losing seasons in a row from 1946 to 1950 culminating in the hire of Shug Jordan.  Auburn went almost ten years in that same time period, 1944 to 1952, without a winning season.  I sure hope Auburn does not approach that kind of drought in the coming years.  Back to the present, Auburn has one more game at home against Oklahoma before hitting the road the entire month of October against a lot of good teams.  Head coach Hugh Freeze got one thing right in his post game press conference when he said that Auburn is facing a serious character test.  

This team, this program is in a tough spot.  Their backs are against the wall.  Hope is in very short supply.  The coaches are losing the fan base with awful performances like yesterday especially with 90,000 people suffering in the extreme heat and humidity to watch that game. Auburn will also be a big underdog in most of the remaining games... The answer though seems clear as I have been discussing in this post.  I do actually hate to say it as I was berating and making fun of these people in my earlier posts this season.  However again you just have to pick the best plan according to your talent to win games.  At this point it doesn't matter if Auburn loses many of these young wide receivers to the portal.  It is time to play Auburn football which is running the ball and playing the best defense you can.

On top of that, every member of the Auburn football program needs to go up to the press box and read a poster that hangs there (if it is still there).  The poster lists Coach Shug Jordan's seven "D's of Success".  I know it hung there in the late 80s and early 90s as my group of friends and I when we were students at Auburn would break into the stadium in the offseason and just sit up there.  Coach Jordan lists the following attributes: discipline, desire to excel, determination, dedication, and dependability to start which are pretty self explanatory.  Those five attributes are for all the time.  His last two though I think were for times like this...

Desperation. How we perform under stress is often the ultimate indicator of success or failure.

Damn It Anyway. If your back is to the wall, you must reach deep down inside and do something. 

As Coach Jordan said, “You’re not going to win by accepting overwhelming odds.”

https://www.thewareaglereader.com/2013/09/shug-jordan-elaborates-on-his-7-ds-of-success-damn-it/

WAR DAMN EAGLE IN SPITE OF IT ALL

2024 GAME 3 REVIEW: This team is just not very good...

Auburn 45  New Mexico 19.  Auburn pulled away in the end but what an awful game.  Blame Payton Thorne, blame Hugh Freeze, blame Bryan Harsin, blame Gus Malzahn, blame whoever you want but this team is just not very good.  They will be very fortunate to win many other games this season.  The defense is just plain bad, the offense is below average, and the coaching is flat out terrible at times.  I am not sure what these coaches do during fall and spring practice.  New Mexico is not a good team and the final tally again looked better than the game really was.  I am frankly starting to wonder if I will see another good Auburn team in my lifetime. 

In fact both teams and the refs were so bad that this game was extremely hard to watch.  The bottom line at Auburn is most of the recruiting news is propaganda to try and make everyone think that things are going better than they are.  I am sorry, I want Auburn to do well but it is kind of obvious now.  There are no highly ranked freshman linemen on the roster than can start a real resurgence of Auburn football.  I am wondering if I will ever see an All-SEC left tackle at Auburn ever again.  The same could be said at defensive tackle as well.  The latter is making the young talent recruited at linebacker and defensive back look pretty bad.  

I am honestly not sure what else to say.  Auburn will have a chance in a few SEC games as they will just luck up and play good one game like they did last year against Arkansas.  However things could also spiral quickly if they lose next week against Arkansas at home.  Right now I see Bobby Petrino carving up this bad Auburn defense up but a lot of these teams have their own issues as well.  I just wish Florida was on Auburn's schedule this year.  On the flip side, I also watched a good bit of the Bama game at Wisconsin today and the reality is bitterly painful.  Bama is better than Auburn at every position on the field except kicker by a pretty wide margin.  

On the great quarterback debate, Hank Brown had a good game but I personally think Payton Thorne would also have had a good game.  I will give credit and big props if Brown can lead a win over an SEC opponent.  I have referenced next week's Arkansas game several times now.  In my opinion it is looming large all things considered.  Arkansas is not a juggernaut and it is at home plus last week's loss to Cal makes it even bigger and more important.  Auburn and head coach Hugh Freeze can finally take one real positive step this season by winning next Saturday.  In fact, looking at the Auburn schedule coming up after I would call it an absolute must-win game.

2024 GAME 2 REVIEW: FROZEN

Cal 21  Auburn 14.  There is no doubt that Hugh Freeze inherited an unbelievable mess at Auburn after the years of decline under Gus Malzahn and the program-killing mistake of hiring Bryan Harsin.  Recruiting has been mediocre to bad for years before Freeze got there.  That is why Auburn is mediocre and will continue to struggle some.  There is no quick fix and much of what ails Auburn is not his fault HOWEVER with that said you cannot lose home games to New Mexico State and Cal.  You cannot lose those game while also blowing a 4th and 31 gift to lose what could have been the biggest win of your career and then not show up for the bowl game between those two hideous losses.  One big win over Alabama A&M does not even come close to making up for all of that.  

That is the bottom line.  We can talk about all the things still wrong with Auburn's football team and the mistakes that the coaches made but Auburn should have still beat Cal at home, period.  The defensive game plan to start the game was hideous and the offensive coaching was absolutely terrible the rest of the game.  It is just unacceptable especially when these men are paid millions of dollars.  I looked back at my last three posts of last year before writing last week's post and after reading six months of sunshine pumping on Auburn's homer web sites I thought wow maybe I was too hard on Freeze at the end of last season...  I no longer think that.  It is really starting to look like Auburn made another bad hire.  Yes he has done a little better recruiting but not as much as they want you to believe and it appears he cannot coach it when he gets it.

On top of all that, as predicted, the "we just have to run the ball" crowd is back.  In fact, I read the statement "Auburn would have won the game if they would have run the ball 70 percent of the time yesterday" from a famous Auburn columnist this morning.  Yes we would have won if we would have run that much but you will not beat anybody any good running like that and you won't be able to recruit offensive tackles or wide receivers.  I mean that is why Gus Malzahn never had a losing season but rarely beat anybody any good.  We have already watched that show for ten years.  I knew as soon as things went bad this would happen.  The decision to be more of a passing team was not the reason Auburn lost yesterday.  There are a lot of ways to throw the ball.

The problem is also not quarterback Payton Thorne in my opinion.  Thorne was bad yesterday and came completely unglued late but I think the coaches were putting him in a bad position throughout the game.  The majority of teams across the country do not have the quarterback they want.  You recruit the best you can and then you have to make do with what you got.  Thorne unfortunately is the best Auburn has got.  You also have to factor in that Auburn, as I said last week, is still not even close to the top teams on the line of scrimmage.  The offensive line is just not that good.  The Auburn coaches did not improve the quarterback position OR the offensive line much this past recruiting season and they brought in a bunch of highly rated wide receivers.  It is obvious after this game that that is probably not the best recipe for success.  So with all that said, what should the Auburn offensive coaches have done yesterday???

THEY SHOULD HAVE COME OUT WITH A GAME PLAN OF SHORT PASSES.  I mean this is not rocket science.  You throw high percentage passes and get the ball in the hands of these hot shot wide receivers and soon or later they will break one!  YES it is that simple.  Would Cal have stopped us a few times?  Sure but do you think Cal was such a good tackling team that if we got the ball to each of the "Freeze Four", Coleman-Thompson-Simmons-Cain, several times they would stop them every time?  Do you really believe these guys would not pile up the "YAC" yards and eventually break one?  Did the coaches really see the Malcolm Simmons short catch and unbelievable move last week???  Did they not see Coleman's stop-and-go moves in the first quarter of this game and last game???  Did they not see Perry Thompson's speed last game?  Did they put Bryce Cain at backup returner for this slowness?

I am not talking the Malzahn bubble screens although you could run some of those too.  Malzahn could not get any wide receivers like this to come to Auburn!  You have them, USE THEM.  This accomplishes so many things...  1. The quarterback throws a lot more short high-percentage passes which makes him more successful and gets his confidence up.  2. This also helps your offensive line as they do not have to hold them out so long... and gets their confidence up.  3. This USES THESE HIGHLY RECRUITED WIDE RECEIVERS AND GETS THEM THE BALL.  This is basically running the ball! It works!  Again they will stop us some but these wide receivers ARE GOING TO BREAK SOME!  You know it.  I think it is more effective than a handoff and it spreads the work load.  

Instead while Cam Coleman got a few catches, the rest of the "Freeze Four" basically sat the bench and did not contribute.  I do not know how many times I have to say it, you have many more games like this and they are GOING TO LEAVE.  We will then be back to square one and have no wide receivers like last year and like during the Malzahn years.  YES IT IS THIS EASY YET DUMB FOOTBALL COACHES PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS CANNOT FIGURE THIS OUT.  It is simply baffling to me.  It literally drive me insane watching it.  I mean most football coaches seem to be just con men, they are not smart enough to get in out of the rain and yet they somehow get these million dollar jobs.  I mean I do not know how to lay it out any simpler than I did above.  Auburn will still lose some games due to their roster deficiencies but they would NOT have lost yesterday with this strategy.  

These moronic coaches can either figure this out or it is going to be a very long painful season...

2024 GAME 1 REVIEW: Video Game Night

Auburn 73  Alabama A&M 3.  After a decade away, EA Sports finally brought back their college football video game.  Chalk one thing up on the positive side of the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) board.  I did the same thing with this new one that I did with the previous games starting back in 1999, I put it on easy mode and got to live my dream of watching Auburn actually pass the ball.  Auburn has pretty much never actually had a wide receiver really accrue any meaningful stats outside of Terry Beasley in 1971.  He and largely unknown wide receiver Ronney Daniels in 1999 have the only 1000 yard receiving seasons in Auburn history.  That is it.  Most big time football schools have many but not Auburn.  That is a pretty big fact when the most visible part of your best recruiting class in years is a group of wide receivers.

The "Freeze Four" quartet of freshman wide receivers have been the talk of the preseason in Auburn.  The group includes five stars Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson plus four stars Malcom Simmons and Bryce Cain.  I have wondered how this whole thing would turn out when again no wide receiver has had a thousand yards in a season this millennium at Auburn.  Auburn has had good passing attacks but all of them were still run-first teams, i.e. Pat Sullivan, the late 80s, 1993-94, 2004-05, 2010, and 2013.  The question I had for this season was could Auburn change and do something they have simply never done?  Could Auburn be an even slightly pass-first team?  Since it has NEVER been done I did and still do not think so but for one night Auburn was that team with the stats to back it up.  

For one night, Auburn played just like I did when I started off my season on the video game.  First, a long touchdown run by Jarquez Hunter, I mean come on it is still Auburn.  Next though came a barrage of scoring passes from quarterback Payton Thorne to KeAndre Lambert-Smith (another big wide receiver acquisition during the offseason), Cam Colman, Lambert-Smith again, and then to Perry Thompson.  It was just like playing the video game!  The Tigers added a couple of running touchdowns and then got the third member of the "Freeze Four" Malcolm Simmons involved with two touchdowns, one off a recovered block punt and one making a nasty move off a short pass from Thorne.  Auburn then ended the night with backup quarterback Hank Brown throwing one up for grabs in the end zone and another new wide receiver in Cal transfer Sam Jackson coming down with it. 

I guess the only sad part of the night was that Bryce Cain only had two catches for thirty plus yards and no touchdowns.  Obviously if that is the worst thing that happened it was a pretty good night.  It was about the best start Auburn could have hoped for.  There was a big crowd, a bunch of excitement, and plenty of passing offense featuring Auburn's new found talent at wide receiver.  Every game going forward will be harder but after the bitter end to last season this type of win was sorely needed.  Also everything I have described passing-wise about this night cannot be overstated.  Gus Malzahn did not call a game like this against an out-matched opponent ONE TIME IN A DECADE.  I said over and over and over during that time that you have to practice passing in these games even if you are a running team.  He would never do it.  That is one reason that regardless of the opponent this game and the way it was played was huge.

The question going forward will be does Freeze have the stones to keep throwing the ball when things get tight, Thorne misses a few, the offense has a few three-and-outs, and Auburn loses a game where the coaches tried to pass the ball and were not very successful. Will he stick with it when the same old tired group of fans pounce and start going on about Auburn having to always run the ball to be successful?  These people do not understand that the answer to these questions will, in my opinion, determine Auburn's short-term future and maybe Freeze's career at Auburn.  The facts are that many of these playmakers at wide receiver will transfer out if they do not get the ball enough.  It doesn't matter if fans think they are prima donnas and call them names, it is a fact.  Auburn cannot just "malzahn" a few wins playing conservative and keep the momentum going.

This was my biggest overall concern coming into the season and it remains my biggest concern.  I had a few others after last night as well.  First, the Auburn play callers really need to stop running quarterback Payton Thorne.  The season pretty much goes down the tubes if he gets hurt.  If you doubt that then ask Senator Tommy Tuberville why he had a losing season his first year...  Tuberville's first quarterback coach and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone resurrected quarterback Ben Leard's career and Auburn slaughtered LSU and Georgia that year but made the HUGE MISTAKE of running Leard on the option early in the season and got his shoulder separated.  Auburn then lost just about every game between those two big wins.  All this momentum also goes down the drain if Thorne gets hurt running the ball before the Tigers at least get to the Oklahoma game.

My final concern is the Auburn defense.  After all the sunshine pumping on the homer web sites, this unit looks small and frankly not very good to me.  I hope I am wrong and they certainly crushed Alabama A&M but I just got a bad vibe all night.  I do not see hardly an All-SEC type players especially on the line.  I think Auburn may have to pass the ball in many games because this group looks to me like it will give up plenty of points.  Also, if you sift through all the propaganda on the recruiting sites, the truth is Auburn is still not even close to the top teams on either side of the line of scrimmage.  Auburn has improved recruiting dramatically but still has not been able to bring in the five star offensive or defensive tackles.  Auburn will not be able to challenge for a championship until that changes.  I hate to bring that up after such an awesome night but I think it has to be said.

I am infuriated that Auburn does not play at home in the month of October.  It is obvious the SEC schedule makers took care of Bama's schedule and then made up everyone else's, even Georgia.  Auburn was obviously way down the line.  However Auburn does need to take advantage of it's home "preseason" in September.  The Tigers get Cal, New Mexico (not State (-: ), and a rebuilding Arkansas team to open up the SEC schedule in the coming weeks.  Hugh Freeze needs to stick with the game plan that was used last night and get all these young playmaking wide receivers as many touches as possible.  Auburn needs to establish this style of play and lay the foundation for what kind of offensive team it will be.  On the season checklist though, a near perfect start can be checked off...