What can you say about a game that ends with a final score of 3-2? I've been dreading writing this since last night after the final ticks ran off the clock. The best I can come up with is "I guess it's good that we didn't lose."
Did I ever think we were going to lose Saturday night? Not a chance. Our defense was playing so well, and I have more faith in Paul Rhoads calling our defensive schemes on third down than Will Muschamp. Mississippi State did absolutely nothing to lose this game, and the offense did as much as it could to give the game away. Andy Shores and Andrew Monroe were in agreement with me last night at the tailgate when I stated Muschamp would have lost that game for us if it were his calls and not Rhoads'. No way we don't give up a big play at least once on third-and-forever (which is what sealed the loss against MSU last season).
Last night, I would not have been able to say very much positive about the offense. Defense, well that's a different story. What can you say about a unit that allows 116 total yards and pitched a shutout...on the road...in the Southeastern Conference? State only crossed midfield when we turned the ball over and when we kicked the squib out-of-bounds on the free kick following the safety. Almost on call with the need for a turnover, Walt McFadden mirrored Jerraud Powers' big play against DJ Hall in the 2007 Iron Bowl by separating the ball from the intended receiver into his arms and tip-toeing on the sideline to avoid stepping out before retaining possession. All it took then was a first down, which Ben Tate delivered in the fashion of a 39-yard run to ice the one-run victory.
A little over 24 hours after the game, I can finally sit back and say, "Our mistakes are 100 percent correctable." Whether it be by personnel changes/lineup tweaks, better concentration or just heavier practice drills on holding onto the freaking football, it's not a set of circumstances that we cannot improve upon. The lack of execution of whatever the game plan consisted of was not all Chris Todd's fault, but I have a little bit of a deeper issue than just Todd vs. Kodi Burns.
Something that our offense has been missing since 2004 is the overwhelming leadership that Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell (plus Jeremy Ingle, Danny Lindsey and Marcus McNeil) provided. That trio went in the first round of the NFL draft for a reason, but their leadership was inherent and off the charts. Brandon Cox captured that leadership role in moments during his career, mostly during the big games against top-10 and top-5 opponents. When a game was close and we needed the drive to get either a first down, field goal or touchdown, Cox sacked up and put the team on his back and marched the offense down the field.
When Todd needed to drive the ball down the field and put us in the end zone last night, these were the results: fumble, missed field goal, fumble. In other words, zero points. Can you blame Todd for the two fumbles by running backs, normally sure-handed running backs? No, not at all. Cox prevailed through those miscues, though, and we would have scored a lot more points against State with Cox calling the shots instead of Todd (see, Katy - I told you we would miss Brandon at some point).
That's not so much a knock on Chris as it is praise for one of our most underrated signal callers in school history. The fact of the matter is, though, you have to let those offensive linemen and running backs and wide receivers know that you mean business when you have first-and-goal from the 4-yard-line. That is his legacy for the night as far as I am concerned. He missed a golden opportunity to distinguish his "vocal leadership" we have been hearing about from the coaching staff the past week.
I don't doubt Tommy Tuberville when he says that Todd did a good job of reading through his progressions with the receivers (heck, that had to be what was going on with holding onto the ball for so long). Those receivers have to do a better job of helping the guy out, though. When you see that he can't hit a pass over 25 yards with accuracy thanks to the swirling wind, what's the point of running a 40-yard route? Get over the frustrations quick, though, because we all know what's next.
The offensive line had about the worst half I've ever seen from that corps since Tuberville has coached at Auburn. The penalties, whether fairly called or not, were pointless in most instances - especially the false starts. I am sure Ryan Pugh is the center of our future, and he has more experience than Jason Bosley in the shotgun snaps by running the Tony Franklin System in high school. However, he's too mean for center and Bosley's too soft for tackle. We experimented, and it didn't work out like we hoped. If Bosley's too hurt for center, bring out Andrew McCain.
I have a feeling that people will see a much more efficient version of the offense Saturday night at home, and I think we will cut down on the penalties by half - if not more. If it is Todd back there receiving the snaps, the judgment has to be faster. The defense we see from LSU is by far the best we will face in the regular season, second possibly only to the one they faced every day in the preseason.
So, here we are, 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC. Nothing can change that fact. We played the worst game I've seen us put together since the Georgia Tech debacle in 2003, but we were able to come away with the W (aka - "we didn't lose"). Am I worried? You bet, and Saturday's game heightened that worry. I don't know if there's an offensive line out there that can keep our defensive line out of the backfield for an entire game, and I stand by my prior statement of 21 points will win us 10 games.
Some fun stats:
- State has now scored 32 of 35 points against us via drives started by turnovers or by safety in the Sylvester Croom Era.
- Andrew and I have discussed submitted a request for a rules change to the NCAA to change safeties from counting as two points for the opponent and as a negative balance towards your offense's output. If that rule were in place for this game, Auburn would have won 1-0.
- The defense has limited opponents to 3-for-46 on third downs this season, including Saturday's 0-for-13 performance for State. Un-freaking-real.
- While sitting together, Carl Monroe, John Monroe, Kaitlin Monroe, Marisa Dycus and I have seen Auburn go 2-0 by outscoring its opponents 12-9.
I'm going to be optimistic and look at Saturday night as an aberration of so many miscues coming together for a perfect storm on offense and not a harbinger of worse times ahead. A 3-2 win over Mississippi State should only be a blip in the radar when this spread offense experiment is said and done. I'm ready for that amount of time to distance myself from the feeling that I had leaving Scott Field.
As always, thanks for reading. War Eagle!
-6-
Later on this week, we'll look at the plan for LSU and review for the State weekend. Thankfully, all travelers to/from our house made it home without excitement. I hope the Boullys are with power when I hear from them next down in the Bayou.
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2 comments:
tailgater awards???
if you people had come to my tailgate, i would give a tailgater award. wait matthew shores came and by the way, matthew, there was a highschooler telling me how cute you were. :-) ha.
and i have to say, chris. i agree with you that brandon stepped up to the plate on big games, but i do not think he would have been the leader we needed this week, next week yes, but not this week. we need leadership every game- like 2004.
i am interested to see if kodi gets to play more and if he is that leadership.
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