Late last night on SportsCenter, Scott Van Pelt said “It’s like they (Auburn) have forgotten how to lose.” I’d like to think they only know how win. For all of Auburn’s freshmen and sophmores, they don’t know what it is to lose at the collegiate level. I hope they can keep experiencing that joy for a while longer.
Football is a game of inches and today was a great reminder of that. Dan Mullen made comments in his post game remarks that they missed three possible passing touchdowns and the game equalizer by a matter of inches. But it’s like my cousin Chuck says, “If if’s and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas.” or “Should of, could of, would of.” In the end, Mississippi State or “Mississipi State” for some of you came up short thanks to a little used safety named Ryan Smith who came into the game with four career tackles. Lou Bega always talks about Mambo number five. I’ll be talking about Smith’s tackle number five for awhile.
The seventeenth straight win reminded me very much of the first win of this streak that started on New Year’s Day almost two years ago in Tampa, Florida. Auburn seemed to have the game in hand that day, up two scores and under eight minutes. But Northwestern came back and forced overtime. After Auburn was forced to kick a field goal on their possession, Northwestern lined up for a field goal attempt to send it to another overtime. But they ran a fake and a tired, but alert Neiko Thorpe forced the ball carrier out just short of the goal line to win the game for Auburn. Auburn’s defense faced over a hundred snaps that game. Yesterday, they faced ninety-seven. That win created momentum into the next season which led to the National Championship. The question I keep asking myself is how will this team feed of the momentum of this big win? I think we will get that answer next week against a Clemson team that runs the same offense as Auburn.
Coaches, Analysts, and Barcalounger Quarterbacks everywhere will tell you that the biggest improvement that you will see for a team is from week 1 to week 2. I think for this Auburn team it is different due to youth. Auburn will continually get better throughout the season as freshmen and sophomores are forced to grow up on the field. It will pay dividends in 2012 and 2013, but may result in some heartbreaking losses this year. I saw vast improvements from my seats yesterday all across the board that might have been missed by others. Mississippi State was a much bigger, more talented opponent so it looked like some of the same mistakes or miscues were taking place when they were not.
Auburn’s defensive line is still playing too soft and will only get better with time. They need to get lower and more physical and the point of attack instead of being stood up. State was able to drive the length of the field twice at the end because they were absolutely dominating the line of scrimmage while running three and four wide receiver sets. This spread out the linebackers and allowed Chris Relf and Vic Ballard to absolutely slash Auburn’s defense right up the middle. But when push came to shove at the end of the game, Auburn manned up for two plays and stopped State dead in their tracks. This week I noticed much better alignment on defense, but execution is still lacking. The option and QB read gave Auburn problems all day. Even on the last play, Auburn had a chance to put Relf down well short of the end zone except for the fact another Auburn safety ran right past the play in the backfield prior to Ryan Smith’s game ending tackle.
The biggest thing on offense I noticed was that the offensive line was productive. They were holding their blocks, creating holes, and getting a good bit more push against a more talented and experienced defensive line then they saw last week against Utah State. The problem last week wasn’t Michael Dyer or Onterrio McCalleb, but the offensive line executing. Last week they were getting almost no push or moving onto the second level allowing the linebackers to come in clean and blow up plays. What a difference a week of physical practice and shaking up the rotation makes. Pass blocking was still superb and except for one pass, Barrett Trotter had a great game. The wide receivers continue to be a strength.
Special teams were once again great and is the best thing Auburn has going for it. Auburn had excellent field position after most kick offs and Trovon Reed did no harm fielding punts. Cody Parkey is still consistently putting it in the end zone or kicking it high enough where returners are having a problem getting to the twenty yard line.
Overall, I was impressed with how Auburn came out this week and fought to the end and conceded nothing. The goal line stand reminded me of the one LSU had against State two years ago. Bad play calling and even worse execution cost Mullen a signature win in his first season. Bad play calling and poor clock management within a minute cost him a chance at his first signature against an SEC West opponent. He’s now 0-9 against SEC West schools not named Ole Miss. After Thursday he will be 0-10. That’s not too impressive for someone they call an up and coming coach or a prodigy. There is a reason that Florida hired a defensive coordinator from Texas over an experienced head coach and someone who was their offensive coordinator for two national championships. Let that sink in for a minute.
As for the rest of the day, I had a great time in Auburn and have some funny stories to tell about our ride in the van this week. I’ll try and get to it in the next couple of days. In the mean time, if you missed the Michigan - Notre Dame game due yourself a favor and watch the last fifteen minutes of that game. Hands down one of the most entertaining games I’ve watched on television in awhile. Until next time, War Eagle!
good writing......
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