On paper Ole Miss should have easily won this game. They have a superstar tailback in Dexter McClusters, a pre-season Heisman hopeful in Jevan Snead and one of the best defenses in the country giving up a miserly 13.6 points per game. Auburn on the other hand has a sore shouldered QB in Chris Todd, no playmakers on offense and a depleted and porous defense.  Ole Miss had all the talent and Auburn didn't, ...right? Wrong!!! Yesterday showed....I think once and for all...that we DO have the talent to compete and win in the SEC. All the talk recently bemoaning our lack of talent really makes me upset because these are the same guys that went 5-0 and were beating the tar out of folks. That isn't exactly salve to souls of the players out on the field when they are losing. When I played, I could take criticism of the mistakes I made...just don't tell me I'm not good enough to be on the field.  If you want to be supportive, be constructively critical, demand performance and elimination of mental mistakes....don't tell our boys they should't be able to compete.  Remember, the trepidation going into the Arkansas game from the Auburn faithful, was not lack of talent, but because we would be on the road for a second straight week and going up against a hot Ryan Mallet. Everybody expected a shootout not a blowout of an overmatched Auburn squad. What happened in Arkansas and the ensuing three game losing streak was lack of preperation by the coaching staff, poor execution, and mistakes. Plenty of mistakes.

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Normally I watch the game two or three times again before I make a commentary so I am fairly confident that my opinion is loosely backed in some kind of fact. Tonight I'm not going to waste my time.  Unlike last week where I saw where it was possible that if  a play or two had been made or transpired differently the outcome MIGHT have been different, tonight there was NO doubt. It was evident from the kickoff that we didn't have it, The mood, fervor, the execution, it was like it was just another game.....not like we got our heiney handed to us by Arkansas 7 days earlier.  We were fortunate to be headed into the 2nd Qtr, still in the game (this time leading) for the 2nd game in a row, despite looking absolutely miserable, disjointed and out of sync. After another up and down quarter we found a way to score an offensive TD after somehow figuring out you don't run a 175 pound running back into the line on a 3rd and goal at the one.....instead of the 225 pound runing back. Wait I'm getting another headache......hold on.

In the 2nd half......well......blaaaarrrrrppppphhhhh......that  pretty much makes up what happened. We sucked. We didn't think, we didn't execute, we didn't do anything but give everyone an hour and a half preview of despair for the rest of the season. Last week, in my post game post, I said we'll find out what Gene Chizik and his team is made of  now that we got humbled by a supposedly inferior opponent. Turns out they apparently weren't made of much. Is that how you respond to a beat down? By getting manhandled by Kentucky???? Not LSU, Not UGA, Not Dear God in Heaven,  F"N ALABAMA....IT WAS KENTUCKY!!!! They controlled both lines of scrimmage, they ran pretty much at will and we couldn't move the chains against them other than for spurts at a time....that was against Kentucky. Now I know Kentucky isn't THAT bad, they are the only team to really give Bama a run for their money so far, but should they dominate us? I'm going to say no. So the question begs the answer......are we a bad team....and if so is it because of the coaching or the players?

As good as we were the first five games of the season, their were glimpses of ineptitude for stretches at a time, mainly when the offense sputtered and the defense was forced to spend a lot of time on the field. It was something I thought we were growing out of but instead of getting further away from it, it had burrowed deep inside, grown stronger and more prevalent and like a cancer now seemingly consumes us. Chris Todd went from being on the short list of college footballs best QBs to being a stumbling, bumbling mess. Gus Malzhan went from Junior evil genious to a schitzophrenic psycho running sandlot plays in th final minutes of an SEC game down by 7 points. Ted Roof went from....wow he's doing pretty good with what he's got....to being measured for a nice sturdy rail while someone checks their GPS for easiest route out of Auburn.

What the hell happenend?

This is VERY disconcerting. Gene really needed this game because the sledding REALLY gets tough now. Unless something miraculous happens next week, we get totally eviscerated by LSU. And for those of you without a thesaurus. that means we get our guts spread out on the football field. Right now we show no way of being able to compete. Arkansas and Kentucky have dominated our lines on both sides of the ball.  If we have 5 starters healthy on defense, I'd love to know who they are. We don't attempt to pressure the QB even when the situation absolutely demands it. And we can't stop the run....at all.  Offense???? Onterrio McCalebb is hurt. Fannin and Smith?? Not being used. Darvin Adams has been taken away by opposing defenses. There isn't another WR that can get open more than 5 yards down the field. And most importantly Brandon Cox's torn rotator cuff is back in his old #12. Chris Todd went away, I don't know where, but he's not in his body anymore. Its like the 1st five games never happened and we are playing Vanderbilt '08 again. Poor decisions, bad throws, and worst of all....no confidence....none. I n fact its all over the team, you can see it and worse ....smell it .... even through the TV .... indecision .... hesitation ..... panic ..... FEAR!!!! You know it as well as I do, you saw it, the only thing to do is confront it, face it and defeat it. There is no dishonor in losing...none. If the better team wins so be it. But we didn't own up to our faults and try and win with our strengths. We played scared, pulling out trick plays and refusing to smash Kentucky with our only real weapon....Ben Tate. Yes Kentucky would expect Ben Tate was going to get the ball but they also seemed to be shutting down every other option that we might use....so I that event , I say go with Tate.Simplistic, yes, but you and I both know that at the end of that game Chris Todd wouldn't have hit  an open target with Julio Jones and AJ Green running routes for him. All he was doing was making divots in the turf and giving Adolphs meat tenderizer a run for their money with all the ribs he was crushing by hanging his receivers out to dry on his throws. 

So we lost. What now? 6-6? It sure looks that way. I can't imagine us beating another SEC team at this point. So where do we go from here? Ride it out and hope for the best or throw some redshirts in the trash and see what the new blood brings to the table? Any other options? One thing I lnow for sure is that Gene Chizik needs to hold  staff meeting tomorrow morning and grab some folks by the throat and DEMAND performance. This is not going to be  friggin repeat performance of '08!!!  And by that I mean, no more procedure penalties, no more ilegal formations, ie, no more stupid mistakes. No more Chinese firedrill plays with the game in the balance, be it the 1st Qtr  or 4th!!!  No more sweeps after the opposing defense has shown it  can stop it after the 5th, 6 th ot 11th time. No more opposing RB's waltzing through the middle of the line for 9 yards a carry when the opposing QB isn't Snead or McElroy. No more contact free practices to save on injuries. We need to learn to shed a block and tackle somebody!!! It ain't  gonna happen with walk throughs!! We're injured. We're going to be injured and it isn't going to get any better after LSU puts another 5 or 6 guys on the shelf.  We might as well get used to it , get tough and make some tackles ......and hope to god we get some recruiting reinforcements next year.  

If Chris Todd is hurt and Gene and Gus are playing him, then they aren't any smarter than Tuberville and Franklin were, and they were responsible for the worst ,most agonizingly frustraiting Auburn  football I've ever seen. If they are going down that road...well.....thats just not a good thing. There is no reason for this. Nobody expected us to go 10-2 or 9-3 before the season started. The hope was that we could go 7-5 or maybe 8-4 if we got lucky. Probably not going to happen but its not over yet. Its time to make some serious decisions and get down to some serious gut checking. I don't  think Tuberville left the cupboard as bare as it appears.  He was able to patch together a respectable defense for most of the games last season and I think we know we have plenty of playmakers on offense if we have somebody to get the ball to them. So I think the coaches better get it together and do so quickly because there is more bad on the way. Winning was helping us with recruiting, what is losing miserably going to do to it.

Gene miserably failed his first gut check of the season, now he has LSU....on the road....at night.. 

God help him.

WarEagle and GodSpeed, its going to be a bumpy ride the rest of the way it looks like

In my opinion nowhere in sports is momentum a bigger factor than in college football. Young men can do exrtaordinary things when they are excited and think they are pre-ordained to succeed. Conversely, young men also become unhinged when things go wrong and they think whatever can go wrong, will. Well if there was ever a daythat big Mo played a huge factor in a win, yesterday was it.

After watching the game again, it was astonishing to see how close things were going into the second qtr. We looked disjointed and ill-prepared in the 1st QTR but we were still only down 6-0 at that point. A poster earlier this week worried about our depth and the potential for injuries with the early start time, given that the players haven't had the natural warm-up that a mid-day or evening game provides. That was a very  profound observation because I think it REALLY hurt Chris Todd. Having come off shoulder surgery, it most likely takes Chris a little longer to get loose and get that free and easy motion you need to have to throw the ball with accuracy. Chris clearly didn't have that yesterday, frequently missing his target when they got open. The most damaging miss came on our second series after Arkansas picked its way down the field on the way to a TD and a 6-0 lead. On the ensuing series from deep in Tiger territory, Terrell Zachery deked his defender and found himself wide open streaking towards the 50 yard line. Chris found him immediately but air mailed it 5 yards past Zachery, where if he catches it he easily scores and we most likely take the lead. Virtually nothing is more demoralizing than a quick strike TD from 70 or more yards, it literally will suck the air out of a stadium and induce the fear of it happening again the rest of the day, both in the players and the fans. We had a golden opportunity to seize big Mo and give a tremendous lift to our defense but instead of being up 7-6, we were still down 6-0 and 2 plays later, the Hogs were driving back the other way.

What happens the rest of the day if Todd hits that home run to Zahery? We'll never know, but my guess is that it totally loosens up the Arkansas D and allows Tate to begin his big day (184 yds!!) a Qtr and a half earlier. Arkansas was not as good as they looked yesterday but Chris just couldn't get things going yesterday the way he had earlier in every other game. Once the 2nd Qtr started, big Mo chose to side with the home team, and with some help from the officials on some questonable interference penalties, and Mario Fannins kidney punch fumble, the rout was on.  By the end of the half Arkansas had an insurmountable lead but to Coach Chizik's credit, the boys came out ready to play and got close enough to make those in attendance start squirming in their seats. After 2 long range quick strike TDs, big Mo was decidedly on our side and ready to put a rear naked choke hold on the Hogs and Petrino, alas it was not to be. Poor Chris got asked to do something he never does, take a snap from under center on a 4th and inches. Not overly surprising, Chris fumbled the snap ending our coemeback and Big Mo's temporary affair with us. Like any jilted lover, Big Mo decided to make us pay for our indescretion by jumping back in bed with the Hogs and help them finish us off.

Yesterday I was hyper critical of Todd's play, saying that he was killing us by holding onto the ball too long on passing plays, missing open receivers, and later fumbling at critical junctures of the game. All of which were true. Chris routinely held the ball for 4 or 5 seconds, which is an eternity when the defense is rushing 5 or 6 defenders. When Chris did find an open receiver he often double clutched and loaded up his pass, which usually led to an overthrow. But Chris Todd  wasn't the reason we lost. His play simply underscored how critical he is to the success of our team. Earlier in the season I opined that I knew Chris Todd could not carry this team. What I should say, is that Ben Tate can't carry this team. Ben had 184 yards yesterday and we got humbled. Chris is the lynchpin to the success of this team. Every defense we play is going to put a minimum of 7-8 defenders in the box against us to stop Tate and McCalebb and dare Chris Todd to beat them. When Chris is on and hitting the open receiver, he is one of the most dangerous QB's in all of college football. That being said, Chris has to make our opponents pay for playing the run. If he doesn't , what happened yesterday is the result. Most importantly, when our passing game is ineffective our defense spends an inordinate amount of time on the field which, with our depth issues, is fatal. Arkansas had a 17 minute(!!!)  time of pessesion advantage, holding the ball almost two thirds of the game. That killed us last year and doomed us again yesterday.  While Chris' inability to drive the team really hurt us, it was incumbent on Coach Roof and Coach Chizik to make something happen on the defensive side of the ball, to pressure Mallet or force a turnover.  We did neither, and what I was afraid would happen before the game, came to fruition. Mallet and Smith picked their way down the field on several long drives, keeping our offense off the field and wearing out our wafer thin defense. We couldn't afford for either to happen. Throw in the critical fumbles and you have a big win for the Razorbacks and return to reality for the Tiger faithful.

The good thing is that I see what happened yesterday as something totally correctable and a result of a few missed opportunites that snowballed on us. To our credit, we didn't quit and had we finished the drive on the 4th and inches fumble we very likely could have comeback to win the game, as we would have only been down by 3 or 4 points. We still have an explosvie offense and we still have a porous and thin defense. Woe unto Kentucky next week, as its a night game and I expect Chris will be nice and loose and hopefully a litle tighter on his timing and his throws. I'm betting he will be fine and we will get back on the winning track. What we don't know at this point is how will Coach Chizik respond to the loss and what adjustments will he make? I must admit I am very dissappointed at the defensive scheme they chose to employ, especially after Alabama showed us how ineffective Mallet was when pressured. Granted our defense doesn't hold a candle to Bama's but Mallet did show he wasn't very sharp throwing the ball at times and that was without any pressure. What would have happened if we had actually gotten some guys in his face? I know the concern is that blitzing forces opposing linemen to chop block and cut legs out from under oncoming linebackers but you can't play scared. Besides, having your defense on the field for 38 minutes is just as likely to lead to injuries as you obviously are playng more and fatigue late in the game leads to poor technique which makes it even easier to get injured. That is what killed our defense last year and will kill us again if we don't control the ball for at lest half the game.

At the end of the day, its just one game where Big Mo whooped up on us and reminded us of what we already knew. If we don't take measures to keep our defense off the field ,we are going to pay for it with a loss. We're not a great team, but outside of Alabama I think we have the ability to win every game we play. LSU showed it'smettle last night, stagnating FLorida's offense, but they are definitely beatable. Ole Miss is showing they aren't as strong as many thought ,and UGA may be in complete meltdown mode by the time we play them. Hopefully this is a good learing experience for us and we can rebound to put some rather impressive wins together on the way to the Iron Bowl showdown, where even and 0-11 team can win. What is important is that we rebound quickly and take the fight to Kentucky in a raucous Jordan Hare stadium.

WarEagle and have a great week.

I'm borrowing a line from Swingers, not a Tennessee fan....but last night our boys showed they were "all groweds up"....they showed a little hesitation, a little nervousness, and while it wasn't their best effort they closed on their 1st time!!! Winning on the road in the SEC that is. I don't care who you are or what you're talent level, winning on the road in the SEC is a feat....ANYTHING and I repeat, A..N..Y..T..H..I..N..G can happen. Tennessee has talent, a lot of talent, on both sides of the ball and we went into Neyland stadium and dominated the game. Sure the score was closer than it should have been and we did not close the deal when we should have...but hey, if you thought the Vols were gonna roll over for us because we won 3 qtrs, then you're smoking whatever Lane Kiffin has in his sock drawer.

When you play in front of 102,000 rabid Zombieland rejects, its news when something DOESN'T go wrong. With Eric Berry prowling in the secondary, Chris Todd did not throw an interception. With a true freshman taking major carries and kick returns in STOMACH CHURNING situations, Onterio McCalebb not only didn't put the ball on the turf, he played like a seasoned playmaker. With a history of shanks, danks, dunks and funks, Wes Byrum survived missing his first field goal of the season, and responded with steely resolve to drive 4 through the uprights. And of course the penultimate of preparation and laser eyed focus.....Lee Ziemba did not...I repeat DID NOT....jump off-sides. That alone is a miracle. Did I mention that there were 102,000 folks screaming like their local Denny's went out of business? 

Yes we did some dumb things and were lucky on a couple bad decisions that ended up with us chasing the ball between orange poly lycra covered legs like kids on an inflatable moonwalk....but we didn't get fazed by it or lose our cool. Even Gus Malzhan even forgot that when Ben Tate is gashing a defense like Jason Voorhees at an Orlando cheerleader competition....when its time to deliver the knockout blow to a winded and beaten defense....you don't have to keep showing everybody how many more wrinkles there are to your intiricate offensive playbook. Sometimes simple and direct is much more devastating. Even though that temporary lapse in judgement at the close of the 1st half allowed Tennessee a chance to believe that they could win the game, we came out in the 2nd half and showed them that the 1st half wasn't a fluke.

Give the Vols credit. They didn't quit. Jonathan Crompton showed why he was the QB, with a frenzied fourth quarter effort that...much to the chagrin of Vols fans...probably cemented him as the starter for at least another week or two. Crompton, Hardesty and co. shredded a tired  Tiger D that was on their heels at the end of the game to keep things a little too interesting. But that can be forgiven, they took care of business when it mattered most, which is to say most of the game. Even at the end of that grueling 18 play, 7+ minute drive that he Vols had to have a touchdown on., the D stuffed Hardesty and frustrated Crompton on his passes so that Kiffen had no choice but to kick a field goal. That defensive hold could hae been the key to our season and certainly rendered the rest of the Vol offensive effort essentially meaningless because it took the pressure of scoring a TD off of our offense.

Most importantly, its the plays that showed discipline, execution and playing hard until the whistle blows that told me our guys are ready for the rest of what the SEC has to offer. Whether it was Chris Todd, escaping the rush and avoiding the urge to throw the ball hurriedly into coverage, Onterio McCalebb breaking off two big kick returns, or our offensive line keeping Chris Todd ambulatory. It was Walter McFadden defensing passes, Josh Bynes containing and blowing through on tackles, but more than anything else its my season-to-date MVP Darvin Adams making at least 2 drive saving blocks on third down runs that he sprung for big gains. Those are the things winning teams do. They don't wait for Ben Tate to break a 40 yarder for a score to win the game, they do the little things that help keep the drive going or keep the opposing team out of the end zone for another 2 minutes. Its the little things that show you're " all groweds up"

WAREAGLE everybody and lets give them another Sunday hangover in Fayetteville next week.

Or do we???? Last night at Jordan-Hare had to be the most  riveting, emotionally wrenching, gut-knotting game I've seen in years. West Virginia had us overmatched in every facet of the game except kicking....but we still won. That says a lot about the coaches and more importantly it says a great deal about the team's character and desire. 

We should not have won that game last night but we hung in and continued to play for 60 minutes and were ready to capitalize when WVU decided to give the game away.  Every team has a bad game, (USC and BYU anyone??) but can you win that game? Auburn didn't deserve that win last night from an X's and O's standpoint but boy did they deserve to win based on effort and making their opponent pay for making mistakes. Thats called making your own luck and there isn't another attribute more necessary to win in the SEC than that.

Based on last nights game, here is what I know about these Tigers. Ted Roof needs to make anybody trying to tackle a shoulder pad, run until they puke. We were horrible last night trying to tackle big guys, Jarrett Brown and Jock Sanders up around their shoulder pads and were consequently thrown off or pushed down he field an extra 5-10 by them. Thats got to stop. It was clear from early in the game that we needed to contain Jarrett Brown but didn't  have the ability to do so.

The line did a good job of bullrushing up the middle but that just pushed Brown to the perimeter where he made plays with his arm and his feet all night. Unfortunatley Josh Bynes, Craig Stevens and Eltoro Freeman (yes, he was on the field most of the night, not that you could tell) mostly came into the picture 10 yards down field. We've got to find a scheme to minimize our LB's ineffectiveness....that scheme may unfortunately require us scoring 40+ pts a game.

This is going to catch up with us eventually because when your LB's are ineffective, the defense spends all night on the field watching the opposing offense march down the field...and Gus isn't going to help them in that regard either. On the plus side, when we kept Brown in the pocket, we made him make mistakes and our secondary did a good job of making him pay when he made an ill-advised throw.

Unlike UGA's DB's, our DB's catch the ball when they get their hands on it. If we had been able to contain Brown most of the night, I think the game would have been much different...and low scoring. The defensive line played very well again and was the difference in the game for us. Colemen, Fairley and RIcks has outstanding games and were pushing into the backfield all night. I expected Devine to get his yards but was really disappointed he was able to break off that 70 yarder so early in the game.

Amazingly we seemed surprised by Brown and Devine's speed and elusiveness. I guess thats the difference between practice and game speed. Game ball goes to the defense for their inspired play, most notably Craig Stevens and Jake Ricks for those Mountaineer slaying int's that won the game for us. Roof should have the LB's doing Oklahoma drills during practice all next week.

On the offense here is what I know:

Chris Todd can not carry this team. I knew this before, but last night really drove that home. Now I'm not going to give Chris a hard time, in fact I think he played very well considering we were unable to esablish our running game.  Chris made several plays on third and long and continues to find Darvin Adams open in the red zone, which amazingly nobody has taken away from us...yet. 

He is able to read the field and make the throws he needs to....when he has time. When Chris is blitzed or has pressure in his face, he is a different QB. He gets Riverdancy when the rush is closing in on him and focuses on one area of the field hoping someone will get open. Too often last night he held on to the ball too long, when he knew the rush was behind him and closing and took drive killing sacks.

That being said, I was impressed with how he managed the game and handled the rush in the second half, stepping up  in the pocket to buy himself some more time. He made some bad rows but not bad throws into coverage, except for the int. in the second qtr. If anything Chris showed last night, he can be the difference maker on this team IF we can keep the running game going.

Wes Byrum was exceptional again, making all the kicks we needed him to make, which is impressive on a soggy and slippery turf. I don't care how well the field drains, being able to plant your foot and drive a 46 yd field goal through the dead middle of the uprights was impressive last night. He looks like a totally different kicker from a year ago and I think he was the key in keeping the game from getting out of hand last night. If Wes misses either of those kicks in the first half last night, it would have been a complete momentum and confidence killer for the team.  Wes' ability to make those kicks made us believe we were still in it....if we could just hold them. And we did. Great Job Wes!!!

Here is what I still don't know:

Can our DB's really defend against a poised pocket passer? While our guys did a good job against Jarrett Brown ,when he was forced to stay in the pocket, Brown made poor decisions and even worse throws time and again. Brown only made his hay on the perimeter of the pocket or throwing in the middle of the field, where our invisible linebackers play. Fortunately we may not have to learn the answer to this question until we travel to Fayetteville.

Is Mario Fannin a vital cog of our offense or not? I thought going into the year that we needed to get Mario Fannin more involved with the offense for it to be successful. Last night showed again that he can be a difference maker in game, and that play seemed to really throw the Mountaineers into the pit of despair. They never really recovered.  We traded haymakers last night, but ours in the 10th round seemed to be the one that won the fight. The problem is, I just don't see us trying to get Fannin the ball enough.

Onterrio McCalebb had a great couple of games to start the season, but he was not the same back last night. Is McCalebb the lightning to Ben Tate's thunder or is he not going to be effective against the faster SEC defenses? Onterrio was bottled up last night and was never able to get into the open and show his speed.  Was that an aberration or a sign he isn't really ready for the SEC?

Can we really establish the pass with the run? I was shocked that we were so ineffective running the ball last night. The mountaineers were not confused by the machinations and fakes taking place in the backfield and just used those delays to swarm into the backfield. I think they have an advantage practicing against the spread everyday but it was clear they were going to make us beat them with Chris Todd. Can we win against our rivals that employ that same strategy? The long standing criticism of the spread offense is that it's fakes, misdirections, and east/west movement can't excell against the speed of SEC defenses. It did well against Miss St, not so good against WVU. How well will it do against, Tenn, Arky, and LSU???

Overall I like the spirit and desire of our team. In the college game thats almost as important as a sound gameplan. Last year we lose this game 49-10, guaranteed. We were so divided, and waiting for the next bad thing to happen that we could not, and would not respond to a challenge.

Last night, not only did we respond, we overcame, turned the pressure back on our opponent, challenged them to respond and defeated them. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, Coach Chizik and his staff have established an attitude that will pay dividends in the long run. I don't know yet if this is a 10-2, 9-3 or 8-4 team, but we are going to beat the folks we should beat and probably a couple we shouldn't. Coach Chizik, you and your staff are off to a great start.....LETS KEEP IT UP!!! 

WAR EAGLE!!! 

I have read and heard the projections and predictions. I have heard the snickering and the laughter. I have heard why Chris Todd isn't the guy to lead Auburn. I have heard why Auburn football will be a laughing stock this year and next. And they all have merit...based on last years performance. Why anyone would look at what happened last year...because of what was going on in the program....and base this years performance on that I don't know. That would be like, removing a cancerous tumor from a person and giving them the same prognosis as they had before the surgery. Sure, Auburn has a lot of "healing" to do but the cancer that had developed in the program has been removed and we have put together a strong treatment regimen of solid coaching to hopefully bring the program back to health. There is plenty of reason to think that Auburn won't do well this season, but there are also plenty of reasons to believe we CAN rebuild. To understand why we can rebound you have to look at why we failed last year. If you want answers as to why we were so horrible and why Todd looked so bad, here they are.

The Offense:

1) Came into the season highly regarded and expected to put up a lot of points with the new spread offense. They had 4 returners on the offensive line that had done exceptionally well the season before as freshman. They had a prototypical spread QB in Kodi Burns who flashed brilliance in the Peach Bowl, and a backup in Chris Todd who was versed in running Tony Franklins offense. They had a stable of high quality running backs to cycle in and out. They were ranked in the top 10 for cripes sake!!!

2) 1st hint of trouble: Closed practices. Nobody knew anything about how the team was progressing, installing the new offense. Rumors swirled that Auburn was developing the most devastating offense in the SEC......then Chris Todd was named the starter. What happened to Kodi?

3) The season opened against La -Monroe and the offense looked totally out of sync.  and was shut out in the 1st half. They recovered to win going away but it was late in the 4th Qtr before anyone could relax. The running game was not being utilized effectively, Todd and the WR's were't even in the same book much less the same page and the offensive line looked confused and weak trying to block from a ready stance all game. Everybody chalked it up to new offense, 1st game kinks....but they also were VERY worried.

4) Somehow by the LSU game, Auburn was still ranked in the top 10 despite the fact that everyones worst fears were realized. Our offense was horrible and ineffective. Chris Todd could barely throw the ball because of a dead arm and was taking a pounding in the pocket.  Kodi Burns looked totally lost when he played. The offensive line never even looked like they had been coached in the spread offense. The "running lanes" the spread was supposed to create, just became  massive holes in the line that the defense used to stream into the backfield to disrupt the entire offense. An offense built around exploiting weakeness' in the defense, quick reads and a hurry up play style, instead created massive confusion and highlighted our weakeness.  The WR's might as well have stayed home last year they were so ineffective.

5)After the Vanderbilt game it was apparent that the fissures in the foundation of Auburn football were now  sinkholes of dysfunction. Tuberville and his long time assistants were in CYA mode, Franklin was fired and Kodi Burns was installed as the starting QB. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Tuberville insisted on continuing with the spead expriment to disasterous results. And save a too close for comfort win against Tenn-Martin, we lost the rest of games.

6) At the end of the year it was clear that Tuberville had lost control of the program. His coaches had never accepted Franklin and apparently had scorned him and his offense, deciding to pursue personal agendas instead of trying to win football games. Tuberville knew this and apparently approved of his coach's insubordination, was so out of touch that he didn't realize the scope and damage being done or chose to ignore what was going on. Any way you look at it....Tuberville and Auburn needed to either change or part ways. Depending on your view of what happened next, Tuberville was asked to make the changes necessary to right the ship and he was unwilling to do so and he subsequently resigned or was fired.

The Defense:

1) Again, the defense came into the season highly touted and for the most part was suffocated opposing offenses. Not allowing a touchdown to an opposing offense in the 1st half until the LSU game. A trend that continued through most of the season. As bad as we were last season, we led or were tied in EVERY game at halftime until the Alabama game. (UGA led 7-6 at half)

2) The defense wore down as the season progressed, suffering multiple injuries because they were on the field for 2/3 of just about every game.  They also played huge portions of the second half in every game because our inept offense could not put together drives and could not take any time off the clock. Injuries are much more apt to occur late in the game when players are exhausted and dehydrated, and that is exactly what happened to Auburn.

3) Once injuries began to mount for the defense, our depth was exposed and opposing offenses were able to wear down our defense in the second half of most of our games. The LSU and WVU games were glaring examples of this. Our rushing defense, once highly regarded, had been decimated and was a liability at the end the year. Alabama totally exploited our depleted line and ran the ball down our throats all day long for the most lopsided Iron Bowl victory ever.

Here is where things can turnaround for Auburn in a hurry.

1) We return 7 starters on both offense and defense. Some would say thats a negative because its the same crew that went 5-7. Its a potential positive because this same group was expected to do well last year and the defense was actually spectacular until offensive ineptitude decimated their ranks. If  we can turn the time of possession arrow in our favor, our defense WILL respond and give us a chance in every game.

2) Gus Malzhan is a widely respected offensive mind that knows how to run the spread to explosive results. More importantly he has coaches onboard  that support him and his offensive philosophy. Malzahn also runs a version of the spread more tailored to our strengths in the running attack, playing the pass off the run. Malzahn's spread is balanced and ran up huge numbers against good competition. To counter, Franklins offense was predicated on passing first to set up the run, which was not our strength....at all.

3) Chris Todd knows the spread, he knows how its supposed to work. If his arm is healthy and if Trooper Taylor does his job with the WR's, there is no reason to think he can't turn be successful.
Thats a big if, but its amazing how much better a team is when everyone is pushing in the same direction.

4) We still have dangerous weapons in the backfield. Ben Tate is a workhorse and McCalebb looks like a contributor. Mario Fannin has shown he is a game changer and has the potential to have a Knowshon Moreno like season. Fannin is that good...and I think his performance will be the key to the season. My bet is Malzhan won't have him on the sideline watching when the game is on the line like Ensminger did in the Georgia game last year. Eric Smith would add some needed depth, if he can get out of the doghouse.

The Bottom Line is that football, more than most sports, is a true TEAM game where the virtuous cycle comes into play. That is to say, when good things happen in one area, it enhances the chances of good things happening in another area. When you run the ball well, it loosens up the defense for the passing attack. If the passing attack is clicking it opens opportunities for the running attack. When the offense is clicking and moving the ball, it give the defense an opportunity to rest and keeps them fresh and healthy.

If the defense is fresh they have more energy to chase the ball and it cuts down on  make mental mistakes due to fatigue. A fresh and vital defense keeps the opposing offense off the field, minimizing their opportunity to score and maxmizing our opportunities to score.

If our coaches have the players working in the right direction, there is no reason to believe that we can't reverse the downward spiral that Tuberville and his coaches inexplicably embraced last year to start a virtuous cylce back towards success and winning football. I believe we have the talent to make the turnaround, its up to Coach Chizik to make it work.

WDE!!!

People, for Gods sake stop the self flagellation. I understnd the hurt, the grief, the anger and the disappointment, but I have heard more Auburn fans say they are embarrassed to be associated with the University than I can ever remember... and I'm old enough to have lived through the probation/ Barfield days. All I hear is our University sucks and we have no leadership and the President and the AD are buffoons and no one in their right mind would want to coach here. All of which is being parroted by the media making the Univeristy that I love look horrible. Do all of you want to tarnish the reputation of our University across the country just because you disagree with the decision to replace the Head Coach? Because that is what you are doing. DEFEND YOUR ALMA MATER!!!  I know a lot of you are unhappy but you are doing far worse damage to the university by openly railing against it and pointing out how inept the President and AD are. We are being portrayed in the media as spoiled ignorant rednecks with no concept of how lucky we were to have Tommy Tuberville roam the sidelines....and the rest of the SEC loves how we are cutting our own throats. They are laughing and loving it while we implode. Are you worried about losing recruits? Well we aren't helping ourselves by telling the world what a terrible place Auburn is to be and how we have no hope of fielding a competetive team with Tuberville gone and Jacobs/Gogue and Lowder in charge of the University.

I don't understand where this misplaced sense of piety and loyalty to a coach comes from. We aren't Duke or Staford where a 7-5 season is reason to celebrate and you can't expect much more. So many fans act like we are "better" than that to fire a coach after one awful season. Are you kidding me? Auburn is a football school, one of the top 10 revenue producing programs in the country, and we should expect excellence from our program. Tuberville gave us one SEC championship over ten seasons and a slew of good but unremarkable seasons as well. Outside of 2004, his record is decidedly average and in line with a top 20 team but not one that contends for championships. And isn't that what you play for? Listen I didn't agree with Tuberville being replaced either, I thought he should be given at least another year, but he did go an ugly, and awful to watch 5-7 where he could have easily gone 3-9 (Miss St, UT). On the flip side he could have easily gone 9-3 or 10-2. The difference in those games? Coaching, making adjustments and getting your team into position to win. All Tuberville's fault? Of course not, but he was the head coach, and it was his team. This year was bound to happen with the QB situation unsettled and to make matters worse Tubs decided to implement an offense that REQUIRES the QB to excell for it to work. Tuberville had earned to right  to make such a disasterous decision, but I also can't blame the administration for wanting to stop the slide.  The question you need to ask yourself is where does your allegience to Tuberville end and your allegience to your University begin? Tuberville has flirted with every big name school to come down the pike looking for a new coach, either to get a raise or a contract extension, so how would you feel about him if he had left for Texas A&M, Arkansas, Clemson or any of the other rumored suitors over the years? Something tells me we wouldn't be so fond of him. Would you still rather have Tuberville here if we were to land a Spurrier or a Brian Billick to replace him? Again, I bet not.

Well none of those things have happened or are going to happen, but that doesn't mean the right decision wasn't made or that things might be better without Tuberville because what we are looking at is where is our program going forward, not where it was in 2004. We all want to get back to that level of success of 2004 and it is was going to be extremely difficult for Tuberville to do that given his performance on the field the last 2 years. We need someone fresh, enthusiastic and capable of closing the recruiting gap between us and the rest of the SEC big dogs. Is the next guy going to come in and replicate 2004? Probably not, but the last 2 guys we brought in --- when nobody would want to coach here ---- did pretty damn good for a while.

 Here's the deal, coaches will come and go but your Alma Mater will always be there. We need to support Auburn, stop trashing her and the administration. If they make a mistake with the next hire they will be held accountable, but lets not do the dirty work of our enemies for them and trash our university. Lets be proud to be Auburn Tigers, defend the university and support whoever the new coach s but most importantly stop giving the media ammo to bludgeon us with. We face  a hard enough road as it is, we can not do it as a house divided. Like it or not, the Tuberville era is over, long live the new coach. 

I am somewhat surprised by the number of people questioning  Coach Tubervilles decision to fire Tony Frankln and that are now defending him and his system. I read the Smart Football article about Franklin and his offense and all I can say is that made me MORE certain that he was not the man to be our OC. Listen, Aug. 30th was not the 1st day that Auburn hit the gridiron trying to run Franklins offense. As impressed as I was looking at the Airraid system when he came aboard and as impressive as we played against Clemson three weeks into the change, I am absolutely DISMAYED at how totally ineffective the offense is after having 9 months to work on it. He had NINE MONTHS to coach his co-ordinators and his players on how to run the offense and failed MISERABLY. Nine months is a long time folks when all you have to do is talk football. Franklin obviously could not make his system work in practice, so he did not win the respect of the coaches to get them to buy into his system. I say this is obvious because Auburn's preseason practices were kept under wraps and they obviously worked on other formations than the spread. When the 1st game came around we were expecting lightning and fireworks and what we got was chaos and mistakes and confusion and a scoreless half against ULM. I'm sorry but I don't see how that is an acceptable outcome after nine months of preparation. The fact that things only seem to have gotten worse only backs up my position. The offense was not working and we were not going to be successful running the spread the way Franklin had it installed. If Franklin was not being allowed to run his system to his liking, again that is HIS FAULT!!! He had nine months to get buy in from Tubs and gain his confidence and obviously never got it. If he didn't have the guts to stand up to Tubs and tell him either he runs the system his way or he quits, then how do you think he looks to his players? Impotent is how he looks. I don't blame Tubs if he reigned in Franklin if what he was seeing in practice was what we were seeing in games, which is total ineptitude.

The bottom line is things were only going to get worse if Franklin stayed. Coach Tuberville had no confidence in him, his players think the offense stinks and is inept, the fans of course are frothing at the mouth, and we were likely going to lose the rest of games running the spread, aside from UTM. Now as much as firing Frankin may hurt our recruiting I don't think it could be hurt nearly as bad as going 5-7 or 6-6, with a totally moribund offense incapable of scoring in its featured offensive formation and getting anihlated by Georgia and Alabama.  Tuberville can not afford for it to look like he has lost control of his program, not with Saban enjoying a breakout season with the Tide. Trust me we were going to lose plenty of recruits anyway. The good news is we will still get plenty of recruits who want to play for Auburn and Coach Tuberville, because if things don't change and the players don't tighten it up, there will be plenty of positions open for incoming freshmen to compete for.

I am convinced we have enough talent on this team to score 20+ points on anybody and if we utilize that talent properly enough to keep oposing defenses on the field as opposed to ours, we can beat anybody. Line up our guys on the line, let them fire out at the defense from a 3 pt stance and we will see some big improvements. That change alone may be worth an extra touchdown per game.  When we get the running game going well, it will be much easier for Todd or Burns to pass.  The key to our succes going forward will be executing and not making mistakes, getting rid of the chaos surrounding Franklin and his system I think will help acheive that.

Well I really wish the shoe were on the other foot and the Sabanites were the ones being tharshed but I can't say I don't take some satisfaction from  watcing the pompous Georgia fans get their black shirts shoved up their black holes.

Last year I was at the Auburn blackout and those egotistical UGA fans ACTUALLY thought the reason they won because their stupid black shirts intimidated the Auburn players. How stupid can you be? Well at least the "mystique" of the black jersey will be buried for all time after this game.

Whats funny is how much the comentators are slathering the Sabanites with platitudes and praise. Yes, Alabama is playing very inspired and efficient fottball, but they aren't doing anything special. They are taking advantage of a Georgia's mistakes (and boy aren't they making a bunch!!!) and making those stupid thugs that make up Georgias team look like just that.

Now Coach Franklin, take a seat and review the film of the 1st half of the UGA/AL game and see how you play offense in the SEC. You line up against your opponent with two running backs and two wide outs, you fire off the line and punch you opponent in the mouth, while  your running back plows into the secondary for 6- 8 yards. THEN when your opponent comes up to play the run, you fake the run on play action and then you throw the ball down field. Its not hard but you have to be creative and keep your opponent off balance and of course YOU MUST EXECUTE. This is exactly what Alabama is doing tonight and they are decimating UGA. UGA probably thought they could throw their jerseys on the field and still win but now they are being shown the folly of their arrogance and they're poor preparation. Its almost like I'm watching a video game I'm playing, Alabama is making the play calls I would have, like the RB draw from the shotgun on 3rd and Goal from the 7 that put them up 24-0. Georgia played a nickel package and left the middle of the defense wide open for the handoff and Coffey walked into the end zone. YOU HAVE TO CALL PLAYS THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR OPPONENTS DEFENSIVE ALIGNMENT!!!! I am sick of seeing us play INTO our opponents defensive alignment. Our play calling is so predictable and even more so when we line up at the line of scrimmage. It is a tribute to our players that they have been able to move the ball at all running that farce of an offense the Franklin has sold Tuberville. Coach Franklin I don't like the spread offense because its a cheap gimmick like the run and shoot, its great for high schools and flag football but if you want to beat the MEN who play in the SEC you have to play a MAN'S OFFENSIVE SCHEME AND BEAT YOUR OPPONENT!! Is it that hard to admit you are wrong? Surely it can't be any harder than watching your prolific offense be ground into hamburger week in and week out. If you can turn this around I will be the first to congratulate you and say I should have been patient, nothing would make me happier. But I have seen a lot of football in my life and I know what wins at every level, strong defense, a strong running attack and a passing attack that is just good enough to take advantage of a defense playing the run. Its tried and true and every winning team does it. Can anybody name me a team that won a National Title or a Super Bowl with a gimmick offense? Florida? Chris Leak was NOT running the spread offense my friends. Maybe the St Louis Rams? But they had a great ground game in Marshall Faulk. I just don't believe it can be done. There is no shame in trying but when the day is done, football is about who wins in the trenches. Even a slow running back looks good when the defensive line is blown five yards off the ball.

Of course now Alabama is showing they aren''t world beaters either. Here comes UGA!

What do you say we just punt when we get the ball and let the defense try and win the game.....oh wait... that is what we're doing.

Tate is down now....one less bullet in the Derringer

Really, wouldn't you be embarrassed to call yourself an offensive co-ordinator or a head coach if you were running this game plan? I mean we are playing in the SEC, correct? I am sick of playing NOT TO LOSE, if CTT doesn't want to win the game then let somebody else take the reigns. I understand playing it conservatively but WE HAVE TO GET A FIRST DOWN!!