Game 3 Review: A Big Step Forward

Auburn 24 Mississippi State 20.  I am not sure when I started saying it.  It might have started this summer or sometime during fall practice.  However this week I repeated it many times... This was the biggest game of the season for the 2013 Auburn Tiger football team.  You break down the schedule and there was no way around it.  There was no "New Day" without a win in this game.  The season could go completely off the tracks like last year without a win in this game.  Simple version: there was no way for Auburn to have any kind of good season without winning this game. 

The preseason was over, as important as it was.  This was the game and it was the first one I have been truly excited about in awhile.  Auburn started out on fire and took that early 11-0 lead.  Everyone including me started thinking that there was no way State was taking us down tonight.  Maybe all the sunshine pumpers who had already counted wins over the Mississippi schools plus Arkansas and Tennessee were right... or not.  State stormed back and showed a lot of mettle on the road down double-figures.  The rout quickly turned into an SEC slugfest with Auburn up 14-13 at halftime.  It should have been 14-14 but Dan Mullen's ego overcame his good sense when he tried to match Auburn's two-point conversion with one of his own.  Bad call coach.

State came out in the second half ready to go and drove down for a touchdown to give them a 20-14 lead.  Auburn then took it right down the field but had to settle for a field goal and State stayed on top 20-17.  The two teams then combined for nine consecutive possessions that ended with a punt, fumble or interception till the final drive of the game.  It was excruciating to watch especially for Auburn who had the fumble and the interception.  The hour was growing late and things were looking a lot like last year especially after State ran another four minutes off the clock and pinned us on our 12 yard line with less than two minutes left in the game.

I will admit it, I did not think these guys and especially Nick Marshall could do it.  I pretty much gave up earlier in the quarter after Marshall missed a wide open Sammie Coates for a sure touchdown off the fake reverse.  I thought maybe they could get in position for a field goal try but did not have a lot of confidence in that either.  The stage was set...  the "New Day" would truly dawn or last season would rear it's ugly head.  The Auburn offense led by Nick Marshall then went the length of the field and scored the winning touchdown with seconds left in the game.  Marshall was brilliant as was true freshman Marcus Davis and of course junior tight end C.J. Uzomah.  This one might not go up there with many of the famous game-winning drives in Auburn history but it might be as significant.

It was significant for Marshall who overcame his early mistakes to join the 300-yards-in-a-game passing club at Auburn and lead a big-time game winning drive.  Marshall has improved leaps and bounds from the season opener.  He still has a long way to go but again accomplished something significant last night.  It was big for true freshman Marcus Davis who out of nowhere has become Auburn's leader in receptions after three games.  It appears Marshall and Davis are developing a connection.  It was also nice to see the coaches get Quan Bray involved more this week.

Finally, it was great to see C.J. Uzomah back making plays.  It was especially satisfying after somebody wrote last week: "I am also hoping that Malzahn is waiting to spring C.J. Uzomah on one of these upcoming big game opponents.  Uzomah was another one of the only bright spots from last season.  He is a very good receiver and playmaker that has not been used at all.  Auburn was even throwing to Jay Prosch last night but Uzomah was nowhere to be seen.  The coaches need to get him involved."  I was hoping Malzahn would not let a playmaker like Uzomah go to waste and he did not.  Great pass by Marshall, great catch by Uzomah.  Touchdown Auburn.

This is a day to enjoy for Auburn fans but with a trip to LSU looming this week it is not a time for expectations to get out of hand.  Auburn still does not have a good defense.  Again, they are an improvement over the train wreck last year and 2011 but they have a long way to go to be a good defense.  Auburn gave up another 400+ yards and another 20 first downs (19 to be exact) last night.  Auburn could get no pass rush with four guys and let State shred them early with the read-option.  I said last week Chris Davis was the biggest positive on defense and that sure looked true because Auburn missed him badly last night.  I sure hope he will be back for LSU.  State picked on his backup Ryan White a lot last night.

Auburn hit more of those dry periods on offense as well and while Marshall ended up with good stats for the night the Auburn rushing attack did not.  The three-headed monster everyone including myself had been lauding got shut down.  Auburn did not have one running back with even 50 yards rushing.  State's big defensive line dominated the line-of-scrimmage much of the night.  That does not bode well for LSU.  There were also some crucial drops by Sammie Coates and Ricardo Louis that Auburn cannot afford in big games.

Auburn likely has little chance at LSU this coming weekend.  LSU is not quite as strong as recent seasons but they still appear to have more talent than Auburn and a more experienced quarterback.  Also Gus Malzahn's visits as an offensive coordinator to LSU in 2009 and 2011 were brutal beatdowns, 34-10 and 45-10.  This will be another test for this team.  Last year's team did fight in the few close games they had but absolutely quit as soon as a better team got rolling against them.  Auburn has to reverse that trend as well and compete for four quarters even when they are outmanned.  Hopefully this win has released Auburn to go down and play fast and loose in Baton Rouge.

Basically, anything outside a super-embarrassing blow out or crucial injuries happening next week should not ruin Auburn's season.  The Tigers then have an open week to get ready for a more important game with Ole Miss at home.  For now though, the streak is over and Auburn is 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC.  It has not been pretty but Gus Malzahn, his staff and the players finally proved it was a "New Day" in Auburn.  The worst season ever has been laid to rest.  It is a painful memory but not a relevant one anymore.  Auburn will hit some serious roadblocks during this season but will also now hopefully grab a few more big wins.

It reminds me of the start of the book this blog is dedicated to.  David Housel starts the book "Saturdays To Remember" with Shug Jordan's first game as head coach at Auburn against Vanderbilt in 1951.  Like last year, Auburn had gone winless in the SEC (and overall) the year before Jordan got there.  Like this game, Auburn's game against Vanderbilt was a tough but winnable game.  Like this year, Auburn desperately needed an SEC win to stop a vicious losing streak and restore confidence.  In very similar fashion Auburn won that game 24-14.  Housel wrote "The famine was over" and then quoted a reporter from the Birmingham News, Zipp Newman, who said "you can call them Tigers again - and mean it."

I think that sums it up after this game as well.  Auburn took a big step forward last night, the famine is over and now you can call them Tigers again - and mean it.

Game 2 Review: Wolf Hunt

Auburn Tigers 38 Arkansas State Red Wolves 9.  Auburn wore down the Red Wolves and then ran through them to put up some pretty good numbers but this game was a bit closer than it looked at the end.  Auburn's passing game put up some big plays and that was all the three-headed monster at running back needed.  The Tiger defense bent plenty allowing another night of 20+ first downs and 400+ yards but stiffened near the red zone and held Arkansas State to only three field goals.  Auburn did improve from their uneven week one performance but there are still some good reasons for concern heading into the SEC opener next week.

First here are two good commentaries on the game and specifically Nick Marshall to get the conversation started...

As Marshall improves, so will Auburn

Marshall makes enough plays 

Nick Marshall did improve this week to go 10 for 17 for 147 yards and two touchdowns.  He finally hit one of those bombs Auburn missed out on last week and hit the other touchdown on an actual real drop back and make-a-read pass.  Marshall added another 50 yards rushing on top of that.  Unfortunately he also missed on some easy throws and inexplicably fumbled the ball without anyone else touching it.  As Mr. Rankin points out in the second article above, that is what it is going to be like with Nick Marshall.  He won't be a high percentage passer and is the starter because he can make those explosive plays.  He is also right that with that inconsistency Auburn will hit several three-and-out dry periods during games when he gets off track.  We saw that last night as Auburn went three-and-out two times in a row in the first half.  The question is will the explosive plays more than make up for these dry periods?

The biggest positive Auburn has going at the moment is the three-headed monster of Grant, Mason and Payne.  I thought this would be a solid group but after two games they look a little better than I thought.  The coaches have done a great job so far of spreading the work load and getting them all involved.  On defense the biggest positive appears to be the overall more aggressive play and Chris Davis.  I hate it that Kris Frost will be out the first half against State but that is the biggest play I have seen an Auburn middle linebacker make since Josh Bynes in the Clemson game in 2010.  I know the coaches are going to crush the guy but I will take that any day over what we have seen the last two seasons.

Unfortunately while the defense has improved over the complete train wreck it has been the last two seasons it is still a below average SEC defense in my opinion.  These guys just cannot get off the field.  Arkansas State like Washington State converted on almost half of their third downs.  The time of possession difference before the fourth quarter was alarming.  Games can be lost when Auburn hits one of those dry spells on offense and the defense has to stay out on the field awhile.  Ellis Johnson is more aggressive than Auburn's last two horrible defenses but it sure seems like he needs to be even more aggressive.  Auburn has to take some chances to get some stops and give the offense more time.  Just like 2011, the worst thing is to let the other team take some long double-figure play drive down the field with our offense going to sleep on the bench.

Another cause for concern would be the nearly 100 yards in penalties last night including THREE holding calls against left tackle Greg Robinson.  Auburn is not going to win too many games in the SEC with almost 100 yards in penalties.  I am also hoping that Malzahn is waiting to spring C.J. Uzomah on one of these upcoming big game opponents.  Uzomah was another one of the only bright spots from last season.  He is a very good receiver and playmaker that has not been used at all.  Auburn was even throwing to Jay Prosch last night but Uzomah was nowhere to be seen.  The coaches need to get him involved.

I was also a little disturbed to see Auburn and Malzahn emulating 2011 in the passing game against overmatched opponents.  In 2011 Auburn was trying to rebuild it's passing game as well but would only throw the ball about 15 times and simply run over the few overmatched opponents they played.  Then, of course, Auburn was not able to pass the ball against the big boys.  I contend that games like last night are the place to get your young quarterback some extra reps in the passing game to get him ready.  However Marshall threw only 17 passes last night when the coaches could easily get him 5 to 10 more passes just for the practice.  All of Auburn's upcoming opponents are going to stack the box and dare Auburn to throw.  It is an absolute certainty. 

Well the preseason is over.  Auburn got two decent wins over teams that are better than your usual cupcakes and that is a good start.  Auburn's win last week looked a little better as Washington State won at Southern Cal last night.  Southern Cal is definitely overrated but that is still a big win.  Things get a bit tougher this week as Mississippi State comes to town.  This game is definitely one of the biggest games of the year and will go a long way toward showing what kind of season Auburn will have.  It is absolutely a must-win for Auburn with it being at home and looking at the rest of the schedule.  This is also the first real opportunity for Auburn to show things are different than last year as the train went off the tracks at State last season.  We will know a whole lot more about this team and this season around 10:00pm next Saturday night.

Game 1 Review: At least it was a win...

Auburn 31 Washington State 24.  The "new day" for Auburn football started out looking a lot like the old one.  The Auburn defense came out giving up yardage in huge chunks and the offense was out of sync.  However Auburn was opportunistic and rallied to nip Washington State to open the season.  It was not pretty and the question is how good is Washington State?  The Cougars looked strong at times but I do not think they are close top-to-bottom to any of the SEC teams Auburn will play this year.  They say that sometimes the biggest improvement a team makes is between game one and game two.  Let us hope that is true for the 2013 Auburn Tigers.  For now let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly from last night's game...

 

THE GOOD

Well first I guess it was the Auburn special teams and running game.  These guys came to play.  Cody Parkey kicked three big field goals.  Tre Mason had a 100 yard kick off return and added another 75 yards rushing.  He had a critical fumble late but fortunately it did not come back to haunt Auburn.  Corey Grant made the most of his opportunities and definitely shared offensive MVP honors with Mason on the strength of a 75 yard touchdown run and 146 total rushing yards for the game.  Cameron Artis-Payne added another 50 yards and some glimpses of his strength.  These guys are a solid stable of running backs and it appears that Auburn will go as these guys go.

 

With that said about the running backs, I guess you also have to give some kudos to the guys up front.  However I was disappointed at the lack of push the line got in some critical situations.  I expected a little more but when you rush for almost 300 yards you have to credit the offensive line.  The only receiver to make a real impact on the game was Sammie Coates.  His great catch on one of the only long completions of the night was a huge play and kept the Auburn passing game from being a total disaster in this game.

 

The defense was not in the good category most of the night but improved late to save the game for Auburn.  Washington State was in position to tie the game up three times in the second half but had to settle for a field goal, threw an interception and then gave up the ball on the downs.  Kudos have to go to the defense for that.  The heroes on defense were the emergency subs.  Robenson Therezie subbed in for Justin Garrett and had two picks while Montavius Adams subbed in for Jeffrey Whitaker and did more in one night than some of these older defensive linemen have done in their whole career at Auburn. 

 

THE BAD

The Auburn defense came on late but floundered early.  Washington State rolled down the field repeatedly slicing up the Auburn defense and putting up 21 points in the first half.  Auburn got no pass rush while Wazzou wide receivers were open all over the field.  The worst rushing team in the country last season also tacked on 100+ yards rushing against Auburn.  The Tigers also continued another disturbing trend from last year giving up an astounding 28 first downs to the Cougars.  Washington State also converted on 3rd and 4th down about half the time.  The Auburn defense rose up late and that is an improvement over last year but again how good is Washington State?  

 

The Auburn special teams were good and helped win the game but there was a missed field goal, a botched kick off and a muffed punt last night.  Also there was a blatant holding penalty that sprung Tre Mason on his kickoff return.  I am pretty surprised the refs missed that.  Auburn also appeared to commit a few obvious pass interference penalties that were not called.  I know Washington State got away with a few as well including an obvious late hit out of bounds but Auburn still has to clean it up.  Penalties like that will be called when Auburn goes on the road in the SEC and could cost the Tigers dearly.

 

THE UGLY

I am accused of being negative at times but even I expected Nick Marshall to come out and look pretty good.  I was shocked at how bad he was last night.  Auburn had 20 yards passing at halftime.  Marshall appeared to have absolutely no touch on his balls and overthrew many balls badly.  He did have a couple of drops and did not turn the ball over but it was still a pretty ugly night.  The coaches made it pretty obvious that they were scared to have him throw a regular mid-range pass.  This resulted in Auburn only putting up two field goals in the second half when they had a dominating running game.

 

Marshall showed some scrambling ability late and hit a few short passes but again he did not show the ability to be able to drop back in the pocket and hit a decent pass.  His inability to do this completely hamstrung the offense.  As good as Auburn was running the football, there should have been a touchdown in the second half.  Auburn should have pulled away in this game.  Instead Auburn had to score critical touchdowns off a turnover and a kickoff return.  That worked last night but it is not going to work in any of Auburn's SEC games this season.

 

THE FINAL WORD

Auburn beat a team from a BCS conference which is more than it did all of last season.  That is something to build on.  Auburn has one more week to get it together before the real season begins.  Nick Marshall has to improve a whole lot or nothing else is going to matter much.  He has to be able to pass good enough to at least keep teams honest so that Auburn can run the football. 

 

The biggest game of the season may be in two weeks.  Auburn must win against Mississippi State to have a chance at a good season.  After that a trip to Baton Rouge looms along with another huge game against Ole Miss.  I believe the measuring stick on how good this season is starts with Auburn winning against the Mississippi schools at home.

 

State did not look great yesterday but played a pretty good team.  Ole Miss has it's share of problems as well but they have a senior quarterback who is good at running their system and some talented freshmen already making big plays.  All of these teams are looking at taking that next step and having good seasons.  Auburn is going to have play a lot better than last night if they are going to take that next step.

Auburn 2013 Preview: Hard Work

"Therefore, I believe in work, hard work"

Those words from "The Auburn Creed" have echoed through the practice fields and football offices on the plains this offseason.  Many things change but that always stays the same, it takes a lot of hard work to compete at the highest levels of anything especially college football.  There is no substitute, there are no shortcuts.  The Bible as always says it the best: "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."  It is obvious now from the results and what has been said since the end of last season that the team was not putting in that hard work last year in the weight room, on the practice fields or on game day.  Now Auburn led by Gus Malzahn and his assistants will try to come back and earn some respect after the worst season ever.  Let us hope that this year Auburn has put in that hard work that will bring some profit.

I would like to write a post without mentioning "the worst season ever" however there is no escaping it.  The memories of last year and frankly the year before will haunt Auburn till several good seasons are put together.  Auburn has not been competitive against a good team (other than a fluky win against South Carolina in 2011) since winning the national championship in 2010.  Auburn and Gus Malzahn as OC were humiliated in 2011 by Clemson, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia and Bama.  Those were all big blowouts.  I do not have to review last year.  It has been a long time since 2010 and Auburn having a good football team. 

Once again as anyone knows who coaches any sport, it starts with good players.  Auburn has some good players, not near enough to win a championship but hopefully enough to give everyone on Auburn's schedule a tough game.  This season is really about earning respect back.  Auburn has been an easy out on everyone's schedule for two years and that has to change even against teams that are much better right now.  Did eight wins mean anything in 2011 after getting embarrassed by Clemson, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia and Bama?  In my opinion eight wins does not mean near as much if you are getting blown out by every good team on your schedule.  I am not worried about a repeat of last year but I am worried about a repeat of 2011.

I do think Gus Malzahn will be a decent head coach and I do think we have some good assistants.  No one knows exactly how good Malzahn and these assistants will be but all have proven themselves to some degree.  However I do not believe in many of these players.  I cannot say it any simpler than that.  I have seen this team as a whole lay down and quit in over a dozen games the last two years.  They quit.  Pat Dye always says that his 1981 team that went 5-6 may have been his favorite team.  I always kind of brushed all of his talk about that losing team off till watching the last two seasons.  That 1981 team was completely outmanned in many games but fought tooth-and-nail.  That certainly cannot be said about the last two Auburn football teams.

Let us start with the upper classmen on the Auburn defense which have been a part of two record setting defenses.  They turned in the worst defensive performance for a season in Auburn history in 2011 and then topped that last year.  They turned in the most embarrassing performances in Auburn history against Texas A&M, Georgia and Bama last year.  Yes coaching and the inertia of the worst season ever were big parts of those performances but it still boils down to the players.  I just do not believe in these guys, new coaches or not.  They have a long way to go to earn their respect back.  One good game will not do it, two games will not do it... it will take an entire season to do it. 

Let us start with the defensive line.  Tackles Jeffrey Whitaker and Kenneth Carter, two highly rated prospects that played as freshmen on the 2010 team are now seniors and have been a huge part of our last two defenses.  These guys just do not appear to be SEC caliber players from how Auburn has been pushed all over the field the last two years.  Gabe Wright and Angelo Blackson who started in 2011 were supposed to help but have not made much of a difference.  I am just describing what everyone has seen on the field the last two seasons.  Carter was moved to end this spring and JUCO Ben Bradley will back up Gabe Wright. 

At the ends Auburn has seniors Dee Ford and Nosa Egaue.  Ford has pretty much only been an oft-injured pass rusher and Egaue has been a mystery.  He is a bigger end who made some plays as a freshmen on the 2010 team but has made no impact since.  These guys will be backed up by the previously mentioned Kenneth Carter, LaDarius Owens (after a short stint returning to linebacker) and the latest young studs.  The problem with just about every good defensive end Auburn has had in the last decade has been they love to rush the passer but cannot stop the run.  It has been the same story over and over again.  Will it be any different with Carl Lawson and Elijah Daniel?

At linebacker, it appears that once again Jake Holland will start in the middle.  Somehow after the last two seasons of getting beaten badly over and over again, Holland is still starting.  Also once again, five star recruit Kris Frost is relegated to the bench.  Bust or not developed, Frost is turning into one of the biggest recruiting disappointments in recent years.  However it is hard to believe he would not be better than Holland after watching the last two seasons.  At the other linebacker Cassanova McKinzy gets the start and he is one of the few defensive players not tainted by the last two seasons that I am looking forward to watching play.  Auburn pretty much has nothing but freshmen behind these guys.

Spring practice star Justin Garrett will start at the "star" (linebacker/safety hybrid) position in Ellis Johnson's 4-2-5 defense.  Some Auburn fans act like we discovered plutonium or something with this "new" defense.  Auburn has run the 4-2-5 before in the last 15 years.  It was the defense that Tommy Tuberville's original defensive coordinator John Lovett ran on the plains before he was fired.  It boils down to the players and coaches not the formation.  Hopefully Garrett, formerly an undersized backup linebacker, has found his spot and will be able to make some plays.  Robenson Therezie looks like a good fit as his backup.

To the secondary...  this was one of the few places I thought the former regime really had recruited well but after a ton of attrition and non-performance it looks like we are as bad off here as anywhere else.  Cornerback Chris Davis appears to be a good player but between injuries and his schooling in "soft coverage" neither he nor anyone else has been effective at all the last two seasons.  The same can be said of Jonathan Mincy on the other side.  I guess there is some hope for these guys to improve and make an impact this year however there is not much depth especially with Jonathan Jones out.  In fact it appears to be mostly freshmen other than Jones and senior Ryan White.

There is less hope at safety where the dismissal of senior Demetruce McNeal has left Auburn about as thin as you can get.  That fact is apparent as former quarterback Kiehl Frazier might already be a backup.  Josh Holsey and Jermaine Whitehead look to be the starters.  Like Davis and Mincy they appear to have some potential but everyone has been saying that for years about Auburn's players in the secondary.  It is time to see it on the field.  The only other players at safety are Frazier, Trent Fisher and Ryan Smith.

The bottom line on defense is that pretty much none of these guys would start for any of the top teams in the conference this season.  There is some hope and potential but are there any All-SEC players?  Add to that Auburn has precious little depth at any position on defense and we will really be running the hurry-up-no-huddle as fast as we can this year and you can see trouble brewing.  Again these problems are very similar to 2011.  The hurry-up-no-huddle offense hurts a defense and it really hurts a defense without any depth.  The previous regime found this out quickly in 2011. 

Everyone dogged out the previous coach for slowing Malzahn in 2011 but everyone forgets where we were at after the Clemson game.  Let me refresh the memory... our season defensive totals after just THREE games: 

• 110 POINTS (to Utah State, Mississippi State and Clemson)
• OVER ONE THOUSAND AND SIX HUNDRED YARDS TOTAL OFFENSE
• ALMOST TWO HOURS OF TIME OF POSSESSION
• 273 plays which is an average of over 90 PLAYS A GAME
• 39 OF 59 THIRD AND FOURTH DOWN COVERSION FOR A RATE OF 66%
• RANKED #117 IN THE FBS (OUT OF 120 TEAMS)

That is what happens to a below average defense with little depth running the hurry-up-no-huddle.  I hope we can avoid that fate but something like that appears more likely than unlikely.  What would constitute a great year for this defense?  Finishing in the top 50 in total defense?  I think it has been since 2007 with Will Muschamp since we have done that.  It comes down to wins and losses but decent defensive play should still show up in the stats.  I guess anything better than 2009, 2011 or 2012 would be considered an improvement.

Things look a little brighter on offense.  First as I said earlier this year at least we finally have an offensive head coach.  It will be so nice to have a consistent philosophy on offense and not have the program turned upside down every time an offensive coordinator leaves.  I have been waiting years for that.  We also appear to have more firepower than Malzahn's last crew in 2011.  It all starts of course in the trenches.  I know I sound like a broken record but again Auburn has not had any semblance of decent offensive line play in a big game since the national championship game.  That has to change for this offense to good in the big games.

Greg Robinson returns at left tackle, the most important position on the line.  He is another one of those guys you keep hearing the "p-word" about as in potential.  The guy now has a season of starts under his belt and if he is going to be good then the time is now.  He is joined by second year guys Patrick Miller and Alex Kozan, plus juniors Chad Slade and Reese Dismukes.  Patrick Miller got completely destroyed last year getting thrown in as a true freshmen.  Hopefully he will be better for it this year although I still think Avery Young is the better player on that side.  Alex Kozan redshirted last year but pretty much held his spot solidly throughout the spring and fall.  Chad Slade after being ineffective all over the last two years has settled in at guard hopefully with better results.  Dismukes is the only player recruited by the previous regime that has won any kind of All-SEC honors (freshman All-SEC in 2011).

All these guys except for Slade were top recruits that everyone else wanted and none of them are true freshmen.  This is the spot to see one of those huge jumps in production I keep reading about on all the other Auburn sites.  This is also one of the only spots on the field that Auburn might have some decent depth with Avery Young, Shon Coleman, Jordan Diamond, DeVonte Danzey and Tunde Fariyike.  The better defensive lines in the conference have absolutely destroyed Auburn the last two seasons.  That has to stop completely to earn some respect back.  These guys have got to be able to compete with the big boys right now.

The tight end  and "H-back" positions are probably the strongest on the team.  Fullback Jay Prosch was one of the only players to distinguish himself last season.  He will be a huge asset to this offense.  Most people do not realize what a huge role H-back Eric Smith played for the national championship team.  That is the role Prosch will play and hopefully be even better.  Tight ends C.J. Uzomah and Brandon Fulse are proven commodities that I am sure will be put to good use like former tight end Phillip Lutzenkirchen was in 2010 and 2011.  Uzomah is the better receiver and Fulse the better blocker.  Auburn needs to lean on these guys as much as possible.

The wide receiver spot is a complete unknown.  There have been so many busts or badly coached guys at this position in the last decade it is hard to expect much.  Hopefully Dameyune Craig will change that.  He has, as always seems to be the case at Auburn, a bunch of highly rated recruits that have not done much of anything.  Right now the top five appear to be: Sammie Coates, Jaylon Denson, Ricardo Louis, Quan Bray and of course Trovon Reed.  Who will step up?  Will anyone be a star?  Coates, Denson and Louis have the size while Bray and Reed are the small speedsters.  You would figure someone would step up and benefit from this offense.  However who and how much this group steps up is a big question mark going into this season.

Running back is less of a question mark.  While I don't think this group will be great I do think they will be solid.  Tre Mason was another one of the few that showed something last year with an 1000 yard season.  He is a solid back.  Cameron Artis-Payne was the spring star and is said to resemble former Auburn running back Ben Tate.  He is wearing Tate's old #44 and has a similar build.  Corey Grant who has great straight-line speed might step into that Ontario McCalebb role on the jet sweep that Malzahn loves so much.  Peyton Barber is the star freshman.  Auburn should get some decent production out of these guys provided the blocking is decent.

Last but not least is quarterback.  It seems that Malzahn quickly saw he needed help at quarterback and brought in Jeremy Johnson for the future and JUCO star Nick Marshall to help now.  A few of the Auburn faithful are hoping for another Cam Newton but Marshall much more resembles co-offensive coordinator Dameyune Craig his junior year at Auburn.  I hope Dameyune is helping some with the quarterback coaching.  I do not have much doubt that Malzahn can make Marshall a star against Arkansas State.  The question is can he make him a star down in Baton Rouge?

Marshall appears to have the tools.  His only cons are his size and the number of interceptions he threw in junior college.  I am more concerned with the size.  We are one big hit away from Jonathan Wallace coming into the game and not having much against anybody any good.  Wallace is a gamer and nice to have as an emergency quarterback but he is not the solution.  I think they should go ahead and put Jeremy Johnson in if Marshall is out for any length of time. 

Auburn appears to have a lot of pieces in place and a good offensive coach to work with them.  I expect us to light it up in some of the easier games ala 2009 but still do not think we have the horses or the experience to win the big ones.  Most everybody outside of Auburn sees this season pretty clear.  It is almost certain Auburn will win its four non-conference games and will likely lose to LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia and Bama.  I actually think LSU will not be that good this year but Auburn and Gus Malzahn have not fared well down in Baton Rouge.  LSU ran Auburn out of the stadium in both 2009 and 2011.  I guess if Texas A&M loses Johnny Football Auburn might have a chance but otherwise the Aggies and him will simply outscore us.  Georgia and Bama return championship-caliber senior quarterbacks.  Unless one of those guys gets hurt or something strange happens Auburn is not going to win those games. 

However, it does matter a heck of a lot how Auburn plays in those four games.  Texas A&M came into Jordan Hare and maybe handed Auburn the most embarrassing half of football in its proud history last season.  Bama has won three out its last four games against Auburn and Auburn has not scored an offensive touchdown in the last two.  LSU has won five out of its last six games against Auburn.  Georgia has won six of its last seven games against Auburn.  Good night these schools are not even taking us serious anymore.  It has to stop... it has to stop NOW.  (Note: I am going to avoid getting on a rant at this time about our esteemed AD letting the SEC screw us over and put Bama and Georgia on the same home and away schedule and Bama's schedule staying the same and balanced.)

Finally it comes down to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Tennessee.  Many Auburn fans are chalking these up as easy wins.  How they can do that after last season is beyond me.  The Mississippi schools both return solid quarterbacks who both lit us up last year.  We will be on the road at Arkansas and Tennessee.  Each one of these will be tough games.  Tough games but winnable games.  The question is how many Auburn can get?  I will say Auburn splits them and finishes 6-6 and 2-6 in the SEC.  That puts Auburn in a bowl for whatever that is worth. 

Auburn could grab a couple they should not and turn that into eight wins but they could also lose Marshall and end up with four wins.  It is almost time to tee it up and see.  Washington State is a good opener.  It should not be a boring game with one team coached by Gus Malzahn and one coached my Mike Leach.  I guess I will end with my last paragraph from my preview from last year (yeh even a "realist" like me did not see that disaster coming), maybe this year it will come true...

"I think most Auburn fans are looking for improvement that sometimes is not seen in the win and loss record.  I think they are looking for Auburn to play much better in the big games and  "get mean" as I started this post saying.  We may be outmanned and inexperienced but we can show these teams that we are back and here to stay by making sure they remember the next day they played the Auburn Tigers.  It is "time to get mean, I mean plumb mad dog mean".  I just can't say it any better than that."

I still can't say it any better than that.  War Eagle.

More Of The Same

More of the same… in basketball, in the administration and from the media.  The latest this week is another attack on the 2010 football team by loving alumnus Selena Roberts and the beacon of journalistic integrity, ESPN.  The allegations include alleged payoffs, grade fixes and Auburn ignoring synthetic marijuana use.

The bulk of the allegations are from the “Trailer Park Four” who are all either already or about to be convicted felons looking at about a decade in the big house at least.  Selena Roberts has already written one hatchet job on Auburn trying to defame Chette Williams in 2005.  ESPN is already into double-digits on convicting Auburn on mere allegations.  While the rest of the world looks down on Auburn again and questions any of us who dare question any of these hatchet jobs, you really have to wonder what is going on here. 

Why is anyone still attacking a team from three years ago?  That is the question.  That is the key.  We are talking THREE YEARS AGO.  Add to that fact that Auburn athletics has completely crumbled to the worst in the conference and it is pretty clear.  There is just no reason other than the fact that there are people who continually perpetrate attacks on Auburn whether it is using psychopaths to destroy our landmarks or using their henchmen in the press.  They wait for any opportunity and then launch their attack.

This time you have indicted armed robbers Mike McNeil and Dakota Moseley desperate to save themselves or pay for their legal defense.  They pretty much have nothing else they can do other than selling out Auburn to these people always ready to attack Auburn.  The majority, if not all of the allegations, start with these soon-to-be convicted felons.  Like the HBO story that also turned up NOTHING you have no credible witnesses here.
 

Here are a few of the “stunning” allegations included in this hatchet job:

"* McNeil said he received $400 from former Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, now the head coach at Florida. Muschamp denied the allegation to AL.com through Florida officials Wednesday.

* McNeil said he had a letter grade changed from an F to a C.

* McNeil said players were provided more money than permitted under NCAA rules to spend on visiting recruits.

* Adams "confirmed he was offered financial incentives" to stay for his senior season.

* McNeil said coaches gave him $500 to entertain former Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. 

* McNeil said his grades were changed; and that the team was told as many as nine players would not be able to play in the 2010 national championship game due to academic ineligibility, but all played.”

Does ANYONE believe Will Muschamp paid a player while defensive coordinator at Auburn?  That one sounds pretty ludicrous.  Could a subjective grade have been changed to keep McNeil or other players eligible?  Absolutely.  Can you prove that?  Not likely.  There is no evidence it was done other than the word of an indicted armed felon.  Also you could pretty much level this allegation against any team that has won a national championship in the last 30 years.  Especially a program that has won three out of four and not lost one important player to grades in any of those national championship games.

Spending money on recruits that did not even sign with Auburn?  That certainly could have happened but again that is pretty small and you need this funny little thing called evidence.  Right now we just have the word of an indicted armed robber but that seems to be enough for ESPN to blast Auburn hundreds of times a day over their ticker.  This also shows the bias of the writers and their sponsors behind the scenes.  They are trying to rig up some recruiting allegations against Auburn from three years ago while another team has won or been in the top three in recruiting since 2008 and has been tied to some shady incidents but not one thing is written against them.

I would hate to see what would be written about Auburn if they...

§         Had a booster take two of their best players on an all-expenses
       paid fishing trip.

§         Had the same booster buy a laptop for another top recruit.

§         Had a top recruit commit to Bama on Signing Day on ESPN and then a few hours later that recruit suddenly decommit and then later sign with Auburn.

§         Had the top recruit in the state taken out of school and sequestered at an undisclosed location.

§         Had the next top recruit in the state that was committed to Bama all year long suddenly at the last minute before the dead period suddenly decommit and go to Auburn.

§         Had that same player tell the opposing coaches that he had to go to that school because of the pressure being applied to his parents.

Man could you imagine?  The masses would have burned Auburn to the ground if any of that had happened that way instead of against Auburn.  So while one school dominates every phase of college football for five years, we have people drum up allegations against Auburn from three years ago.  Fish out in the hot July sun for days do not stink that bad.  Oh I am sorry I guess they are just that clean.  It is not like virtually every prolonged college football dynasty is sooner or later plagued by NCAA allegations.  I guess that is just for schools who have not tied the NCAA up in prolonged litigation in the past.

We then have allegations wide receiver Darvin Adams was offered money to stay at Auburn his senior season?  It certainly could have happened but since Adams did NOT stay, who cares?  I mean talk about ridiculous.  Let’s crush Auburn on allegations about something that could have happened but in fact did not.

Finally, synthetic marijuana.  I do not know what else to say other than the fact that synthetic marijuana was LEGAL and sold in convenience stores in the fall of 2010.  Of course college students were using it.  It was in fact a big problem in the whole state and obviously a lot of people were doing it in this state (except I guess the angels playing football in Tuscaloosa).  However I do not think Jay Jacobs was lying in his released statement.  Does anyone really think the football coaches wanted the players doing it?  The problem was the stuff was legal and Auburn had no test for it and could do nothing about it.  I just do not understand this whole angle… oh wait it is the whole defense for our indicted armed robbers.  It could not be the fact that they were idiots and made a stupid mistake, no it was the synthetic marijuana’s fault and Auburn for not stopping them from using it.  They had to get this story going and had people willing to use it and probably pay them for it. 

So Auburn defends themselves and various Auburn players quoted in one of the articles deny the quotes attributed to them or say they were changed.  What do these writers say to defend their stories?  Ms. Roberts could simply play the conversations she had with these players but she has not?  I wonder why.  The ESPN guy says Auburn is lying based on the word of… you guessed it, soon-to-be convicted felon Dakota Mosley.  This guy even insinuates that some Auburn person gave Mosley, a complete nothing player, stacks of cash.  Wow how could anyone question this story.

But don’t worry, Ms. Roberts is already promising part 2!  I can’t wait.  Let me guess, the 2010 Auburn team was doping and using PEDs?  No wait, there has only been whispers about one team in this state using PEDs and it is not Auburn.  You know the one that appears to consistently be unbelievably big and strong.  But hey why lets the facts get in the way of a good story?  That is always the case when it is time for the media to slam Auburn again.

You really have to wonder why Auburn continues to be attacked?  We are ALREADY ON PROBATION as long as Jay Jacobs remains as athletic director.  The WORST SEASON EVER continues.  That was actually going to be what this post was about till these allegations were published this week.  I think I have covered my thoughts on them so let me quickly hit the other things that are "more of the same".  Before this weekend Auburn had finished tied for dead last in football at 0-8, then finished dead last in basketball at 3-15 and is now 1-8 in baseball losing a series at home to Bama this last weekend.  Auburn is about to put up the worst season in men's major sports EVER.  What in the world does it take to get fired as athletic director at Auburn?

 

We are not doing great in most of the other sports either.  It is simply mind-boggling to me that this guy is still employed at Auburn.  How can we ever fire an athletic director again if one cannot get fired for this abomination of a sports year?  I did not post one thing on basketball this year.  Nothing has changed since the post I wrote last year titled "Auburn basketball is at a dead end".  In fact things only got worse.  My gosh we lost our last 10 games in a row and 16 out of 17 games to end the season.  Coach Barbee even gave up during that span.  He completely lost his fire, never got off the bench and just doled out platitudes after games. 

 

Basketball is a complete and full blown disaster.  It is dead and it is the Auburn administration's fault for letting it die on the table over the last 20 years.  South Carolina remains three games ahead of Auburn, 221-218 in conference losses since 1992 (with nobody else even close) but I have no doubt Auburn will take them.  There just seems to be no hope for Auburn basketball.  Right now there seems to be precious little hope anywhere for Auburn athletics.  Man what would be the best way to start fixing that?

State of the Program - Rebuilding Again

It has become standard here at STR to do a "State of the Program" post following national signing day.  As I have posted previously "the national "state of the union" is always around this time as well and it just seems like the perfect time to do it for a college football team. It is the end of a complete cycle of college football starting with spring practice through the regular season and then the all important recruiting season. You really have a good pretty good feel as to where the program is since most big fans have been into it almost daily for six months. You have seen your team play an entire season and know the latest batch of recruits coming in."

The title of the post sums it up, Auburn is rebuilding again.  There is really no other way to say it.  There is a lot of positive energy coming from the plains now but there is no doubt that Auburn is rebuilding.  Simply put, every single thing since I wrote this post last year went wrong for Auburn.  The coaching changes made on both sides of the ball failed miserably and just about every player regressed.  It was as I pointed many times, the WORST SEASON EVER.  Auburn went 0-8 in the SEC getting blown out in just about every game.  It was the worst coaching job I have ever seen and subsequently Gene Chizik and his entire staff were all fired.

There we were days after ending this horrendous season with no coach and the architect of this failure, Jay Jacobs, still in charge.  It has to go down as one of the lowest points in Auburn athletics history.  There certainly was not much hope to go around and the state of the program was starting to look like it was the last time Auburn ended a season without an SEC win in 1980.  Somehow some way despite the handicap of Jay Jacobs Auburn was able to bring in Gus Malzahn, assemble a great coaching staff and pull in a top 15 recruiting class. 

That is an amazing feat and we cannot take it for granted.  For those tempted to think that Auburn would just automatically bounce back, just look at Tennessee.  Two bad coaching hires can set a program years back.  Auburn is extremely fortunate to be where they are at now.  However significant damage was done and rebuilding a champion will take some work. 

Gene Chizik's legacy at Auburn is obviously a complicated one and there are a thousand opinions on how he was able to lead a team to a national championship and then lead it to its worst season ever just two years later.  As stated before, many believe Malzahn was the driving force behind the national championship team and the same people believe Malzahn failed miserably in 2011 because Chizik interfered on offense.  We will find out very soon if that is true.  I hope it is.  In last year's post like this one I thought Malzahn was part of the problem and that his offense was not a long term solution.  Everyone forgets how bad 2011 was after this last season.

However after this last season it appears very likely that Chizik was the problem and that Malzahn was not.  It will be interesting to see if we run into any of the problems we faced in 2011.  Everyone crushes Chizik for slowing Malzahn down but forget that at that time Auburn's defense was literally dead last in all of college football with no depth and things were getting ugly.  The problem is that the hurry-up-no-huddle works against you if you have many 3-and-outs. 

But why did we have so many 3-and-outs?  After this last season it seems like Auburn just did not have the players especially at quarterback and the last two seasons would have happened no matter what offense we were running.  I think that is the final word on what happened.  How is that so when Chizik had so many high ranked recruiting classes?  First, as I have stated before, most of those recruiting classes were completely overrated due to impact players in each class never playing a down for Auburn.  Next, Curtis Luper admitted that Auburn recruited to try and win at recruiting rankings.  It is obvious there was huge gap between recruiting the players, targeting needs and integrating them into Auburn's system.

Finally, there was an extraordinary amount of busts or bad coaching.  As of this post Gene Chizik has still not recruited an All-SEC offensive lineman outside of center Reese Dismukes winning freshman honors.  The same is true at defensive tackle and linebacker (Nick Fairley was originally a Tuberville recruit).  In fact there is only a handful of players that have been very good at all the last two seasons especially in the trenches.  It will be interesting to see which ones Malzahn and his coaches can resurrect this year. 

The key for Auburn's turnaround will be this new coaching staff recruiting at a high level and it showing up on the field.  It certainly appears that is what Gus Malzahn was thinking with the hires he made for his coaching staff.  He started off with old school defensive hires in Ellis Johnson, Charlie Harbison and Melvin Smith.  I was not too impressed till he added super-recruiters Rodney Garner, Dameyune Craig and Tim Horton.  I have made my thoughts clear on Rodney Garner in previous posts.  He is the best and has kept Mark Richt going at Georgia for a decade.  He is a very good coach as well.

Dameyune Craig was following in his footsteps at Florida State while Horton served as Bobby Petrino's recruiting coordinator at Arkansas.  Grabbing all of these guys not only helps Auburn but weakens key recruiting rivals Georgia and Florida State.  While Chizik's staff came together the first two seasons, rumors of division and strife ran rampant over the last two seasons.  Malzahn who was part of that seems to be trying to avoid that on his staff.  Malzahn already had a cohesive offensive vision but he then brought in three veteran defensive coaches that had worked together before for a cohesive defensive vision.  He then finished off the staff with this trio of great recruiters who again also appear to be pretty good coaches themselves.

I also like that Malzahn has co-coordinators on both sides of the ball.  I know some of that is for giving titles for financial reasons but I am hoping it will help with transitions when somebody leaves the staff.  I am so tired of coordinator departures sinking seasons at Auburn.

Finally, we have the first recruiting class for Malzahn. It appears to be a very good class when you consider that Auburn went 3-9, endured a complete coaching transition and had a ton of previously committed recruits defect.  Add to that having to recruit against Bama, $aban and the red elephant mafia... er club and these guys had about the toughest job you could find.  However they targeted Auburn's needs and it appears they brought in some pretty good kids.  The question now is will we see some of these high-rated kids actually perform on the field.  That is THE QUESTION after watching four "top 15" or better recruiting classes go 3-9 this last season.

I like it that Malzahn went to the JUCO ranks for some immediate help.  You do not build teams with JUCO players but you definitely want to use them for help as Bama and $aban do.  I never understood Chizik's dislike for getting JUCO players.  Defensively Malzahn grabbed some of the best ends available and also brought in a couple of quality tackles.  He got some linebackers but I feel we needed more help there.   He did not do much recruiting in the secondary as Auburn is pretty stocked there.  Lets just hope these new coaches can coach those guys up.

Offensively Malzahn targeted quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers as Auburn needed help in those areas.  The common thread to each of the running back recruits I observed from watching their videos was speed.  Add those guys to Tre Mason and hopefully Auburn will have a pretty good running game.  I have a hard time getting excited about wide receivers as in my opinion Auburn has wasted way too many scholarships on them since going to the spread.  We get wide receiver after wide receiver and they do absolutely nothing.  So far Emory Blake is the only non-Tuberville recruit out of the dozen or more wide receivers Chizik signed to do anything.  Is this group going to be any different?  Now that we have an offensive head coach maybe things will change.  I sure hope so.

Overrated wide receivers are another key to the Chizik recruiting puzzle.  Five star recruits and complete busts like Trovon Reed and DeAngelo Benton artificially inflated their recruiting classes.  A five star wide receiver just does not have the impact that a five star left tackle like Cyrus Kouandjio has.  That is one of the big problems with recruiting rankings. 

Finally, we have quarterbacks and Malzahn brought in two good ones in Jeremy Johnson and Nic Marshall.  Add these guys to Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace and we have some real depth at quarterback.  Everyone hates Frazier but he was recruited for Malzahn's offense and if anyone can turn him around it is Malzahn.  I hated Wallace in Loeffler's offense but I think he will be a much better fit in Malzahn's offense.  Both of the new recruits look like good fits as well.  For the first time in a long time there is not a guy I completely dislike in the group like Clint Moseley and Chris Todd.  It ought to be a heck of a competition.  My money is on Marshall for next season but I think Johnson is the future. 

The state of the program appears much better now but until we see solid results on the field the jury is still out.  It always has to be factored in as well that Jay Jacobs and his henchmen remain at Auburn and will continue to mess things up they are involved in.  That cloud will continue to hang over the program for as long as Jacobs remains.  Let's just hope they will not be involved much in the day-to-day running of the football team or any future coaching hires Malzahn must make.

Personally I feel like I missed an entire football season.  Other than a few moments in the Clemson game there was not one moment to enjoy this last football season.  Again it was simply the WORST EVER.  I am not looking for championships this next season but I am looking for a good solid well-coached team that we can be proud of.  Is that too much to ask?

The Legend of Cam Newton Grows

All we heard after Cam Newton left Auburn was he would never be back and that he was just a mercenary blah blah blah...  However we learned a month ago that Cam was back in Auburn to get his degree though being a millionaire many times over.   He is actually in Auburn going to classes when I am sure they could have set something up for him to do his work remotely.  On top of that, Cam decided to take in an Auburn basketball game this week and amazed us all again...

We all know how bad Auburn's basketball program is.  It is pretty much the worst program in the SEC.  Yet another season has imploded and Auburn limped into last Wednesday's game against Alabama on a six-game losing streak while Bama had won five out of their last six games including beating vaunted Kentucky.  The game started pretty much like you would expect with Auburn once again stinking it up and losing 15-2 after 11 minutes.  The first half ended with Auburn down 23-13 and another horrible night of Auburn basketball appeared to be guaranteed.

Then in walked Cam Newton...  and once again the impossible happened.  The same Auburn basketball team that had stunk up the first half shooting a dreadful 13 percent suddenly caught fire and shot 57 percent and put up 36 second half points against one of the best defenses in the SEC.  Auburn was suddenly on fire completely shutting down the Tide and flying to the rim.  The crowd was in a frenzy and Cam even helped lead cheers.  In the end it was Auburn 49 Bama 37 and another chapter in the legend of Cam Newton was added...  WAR CAM EAGLE!!!