2012 Bye Week Thoughts

Some thoughts during the 2012 Auburn football team's bye week...

• This bye week comes at exactly the right time this year.  Finally Auburn has moved it from the end of the season to a place where it can do a lot more good.  It is at an extra good time this year as Auburn is fixing to hit a stretch of four games that will either turn this season around or turn it upside down.  Auburn has four games that are tough but winnable.  Two home games and two road games.  Auburn goes 4-0 and a winning season is guaranteed.  It certainly will not change the fact that Gene Chizik will most likely be 0-9 against Auburn's main rivals (Bama, LSU and Georgia) without Cam Newton but it would stop the bleeding for this season.

• Things look a little tougher in the next four games than they did last week.  Well not in all cases, as I said in my last post, Auburn must win next week against Arkansas no matter what.  Arkansas has absolutely quit and is easily the most embarrassing program in the country as they went down 58-10 to Texas A&M yesterday.  The rest of the games look a bit tougher though.  Ole Miss played a competitive game against Bama and Texas A&M showed again that they have a pretty good offense.  Auburn's offense is so bad that it will keep any half decent team in the game.  It could even breathe some life into the almost dead Razorbacks. 

• The hits continued as Quan Bray was arrested for "driving with a limited permit" and having an open alcoholic beverage in the vehicle.  It was bad enough that he spent the night in jail.  That hurts a bit as he is actually Auburn's leading receiver although that is not saying much.  He is also our starting punt returner that learned a valuable lesson last week.  This team appears to lack any semblence of leadership on the player side.  There are no strong team leaders and it shows on the field and off of it.  The longer I watch sports and coach myself the stronger I believe that veteran leadership is an absolute must on a good team.

• I continue to be amused when people try to "grade" Auburn's offense by individual units and say this guy is good and this unit is doing OK...  blah blah blah.  The Auburn offense is ranked #113 in total offense and #112 in scoring offense.  There are only 120 teams in all of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.  That means Auburn literally has just about the worst offense in all of college football.  We may have some good players but right now it does not mean anything when the unit as a whole is this bad.  There is absolutely no excuse for Auburn being this bad on offense.  Gene Chizik and Scott Loeffler have done an absolutely horrendous job coaching this offense.  There is nothing else that can be said.  Auburn must improve on offense to have a chance to turn this season around and it begins with the coaching.

• The Auburn defense played good against LSU, that is well documented.  However I am anxious to see if that will translate to improvement against spread teams.  Ole Miss, Vandy and Texas A&M will all run the spread almost as good or better than Mississippi State.  Will Auburn allow these teams to dink the ball all the way down the field as it has the last two seasons?  Or will the coaches allow the Auburn defense to bring the aggressive mindset from the LSU game against spread teams?  That is probably the second biggest question behind the offense that will decide the fate of this season.

• Leadership, sound coaching on offense and more aggressive defense are the keys to Auburn turning this season around.  Auburn lost a game that we knew was a toss-up against Clemson, they lost a game everyone thought they would lose against LSU and they lost one that people thought they could win against Mississippi State.  Auburn and Gene Chizik are getting a gift though from Arkansas as many thought that game was a loss before the season started.  It now appears to be just what the doctor ordered for Auburn.  Auburn has a bye and Arkansas is on the road for the second straight week and on a three game losing streak.  This is a big win there for the taking.  Lets come out strong and get it done Auburn.

WAR EAGLE.