Special Season For Auburn?

[AUChizad]

A few teams that held Arkansas St to less than 366 yards on offense in 2009 (4-8 season):

Louisiana-Lafayette (beat Arky St)
Louisiana Monroe (beat Arky St)
Troy (beat Arky St)
Middle Tennessee (beat Arky St)
Western Kentucky (lost to Arky St)

Alabama held them under 200 yards in 2008, a season that they went 6-6. Look, San Jose St is a cupcake. No doubt. You won't find an Alabama fan that will tell you different. But really, the only difference between those two teams over the past few years is Arkansas St had 2 more wins in 2009. They are both horribly shitty teams. Arkansas St is the definition of a full blown cupcake.

I somehow knew I'd be hearing this type of argument from you.

The season before last, they beat Texas A&M in their season opener 18-14. Last year they lost to #13 Iowa by a field goal 21-24, and won their season opener 61-0. Yes, their opponent in that game was Mississippi Valley State. That's the "definition of a full blown cupcake". Not the team that takes them to a 61-0 woodshedding.

Don't spin this as me trying to say that Arkansas State are worldbeaters. I think this new starting QB they have is very talented, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the Sunbelt.

They would beat the tires off of San Jose State.

We will both have to wait until next week to make any real comparisons, and I still feel like (despite the rankings showing favoritism to certain traditionally and historically "big name" teams), I think we will have the tougher opponent this weekend as well.

[AUChizad]

Seriously though, it is amusing that some are touting Arkansas St as anything more than a cupcake. It's just like last season with Prowler touting La Tech as a real threat, and talking about how talented they actually are. Then the usual suspects picking up the party line right with him.

Louisiana Tech beat San Jose State 55-20 the last game of last year.

Just sayin.

[RWS]

They would beat the tires off of San Jose State.

The fact that you feel the need to say this nearly proves my point. I mean, are we really sitting here comparing two totally shitty teams so you can feel justified as to which one is less shitty? "Our cupcake opponent was tougher than your cupcake opponent!"

If Alabama can hold a shit-tastic WAC team to under 200 yards with a defense playing 10 new starters and playing 2nd and 3rd teamers halfway through the 2nd quarter, Auburn should be able to hold a shit-tastic Sunbelt team to 300 yards or under. Just sayin'.

I can understand the argument since it's only the first game, but my position is simply that the AU defense will be medicore again in 2010. Whether that position is premature or not, we shall see. If I'm wrong, so be it. It's just my opinion. I have a feeling that MSU is going to torch AU's secondary on Thursday night, though.

[War Eagle!!!]

I watched every play and I wasn't that drunk...so this is my take and it is in the middle of sunshine pumper and jump off the ledge:

Arkansas State is a weak ass team. Auburn played Arkansas State like they were a weak ass team. In the first half, defensively, Auburn played EXTREMELY vanilla. Extremely. We didn't blitz and we played very soft in the secondary. We did that throughout the first half and up until Arkansas State score a TD to make it 35-24. After the Mario fumble, Auburn decided enough is enough and they started bringing pressure. Arkansas started that drive on about the 25 going in, and they finished that drive about 20 yards the wrong way. From that point on, they didn't get much else.

Now, I still think our defense isn't going to be great. But I don't think that the first half of the Arkansas State game is the reason for that. I just don't think we showed anything at all on defense. Our LB's are bad. Bynes is bad. Freeman is bad. And Bates will not wrap up to save his life. Our front 4 is good, not great, and our secondary has improved a ton since last year. Over all, we need Stevens back, and a few young LB's to step up, and I think we can be better defensively than we were last year.

We shall see...

[War Eagle!!!]

I have a feeling that MSU is going to torch AU's secondary on Thursday night, though.

The secondary is not the problem...

[Saniflush]

The fact that you feel the need to say this nearly proves my point. I mean, are we really sitting here comparing two totally shitty teams so you can feel justified as to which one is less shitty? "Our cupcake opponent was tougher than your cupcake opponent!"

If Alabama can hold a shit-tastic WAC team to under 200 yards with a defense playing 10 new starters and playing 2nd and 3rd teamers halfway through the 2nd quarter, Auburn should be able to hold a shit-tastic Sunbelt team to 300 yards or under. Just sayin'.

I can understand the argument since it's only the first game, but my position is simply that the AU defense will be medicore again in 2010. Whether that position is premature or not, we shall see. If I'm wrong, so be it. It's just my opinion. I have a feeling that MSU is going to torch AU's secondary on Thursday night, though.

Fixed that. 
We were not mediocre last year so this would be improvement.

[AUChizad]

Fixed that. 
We were not mediocre last year so this would be improvement.

THIS!

[GH2001]

Actually we were mediocre last year per the national rankings. We were in the 60-70th range out of 120 teams.  It just seemed a lot worse being in the SEC and at Auburn.

[Saniflush]

Actually we were mediocre last year per the national rankings. We were in the 60-70th range out of 120 teams.  It just seemed a lot worse being in the SEC and at Auburn.

I thought we were lower than that.   What were we in the SEC?

[War Eagle!!!]

I thought we were lower than that.   What were we in the SEC?

I think 11th...

[Saniflush]

I think 11th...

That is what I was thinking.  I guess I just assumed anything that low would be lower nationally as well.

[GH2001]

I think 11th...

Yep, this man is correct. If you are not top 50 nationally, you are in the bottom 2-3 in the SEC. Just sick.

[Snaggletiger]

So far, nothing to take from this other than the offense should be very, very good this year.  Defensively, I'll wait until Thursday night to either hold out hope for a great season or go ahead and make the jump off the proverbial ledge.  This looked like nothing more than a continuation of 2009.  I do however, disagree on the secondary not being a problem.  That may be the case for most of the DB's but Neiko Torched still has not covered a WR since he's been at Auburn.  It's sad when Arkansas State starts picking on you. 

As was said earlier, they did play very vanilla.  On the post game show, both Rocker and The Chin openly stated they had no defensive game plan due to the new coordinator.  As The Chin said, "We played a guessing game the entire first half".  That's the last excuse I'm going to hold on to.  There are none from here on out.  If this defense is really improved, then Thursday night better be the night they prove it.  If they lay an egg in Starkville, this season could get ugly real early because the following two weeks have much better teams coming to JHS.

And War Damn Cam.  This guy is a beast.  And I'm hoping that Malzahn is smart enough to know that when the games get tight this season, he'd better have Cam go all Vince Young and say, "It's your game baby. You're the best athlete on the field". 

[War Eagle!!!]

And War Damn Cam.  This guy is a beast.  And I'm hoping that Malzahn is smart enough to know that when the games get tight this season, he'd better have Cam go all Vince Young and say, "It's your game baby. You're the best athlete on the field".

If they continue to bring Kodi in for the mild cat on 2nd and 3rd and short...I am going to be fucking pissed. Hopefully they just did this to give Kodi a TD in a game that was going to be won soundly. If this is the game plan going forward, I may drink myself into a coma...

[djsimp]

If they continue to bring Kodi in for the mild cat on 2nd and 3rd and short...I am going to be fucking pissed. Hopefully they just did this to give Kodi a TD in a game that was going to be won soundly. If this is the game plan going forward, I may drink myself into a coma...

If they quite doing so then Auburn loses an element of surprise. Everybody knows you can't predict what play is in the making when Kodi comes in the game.

[Buzz Killington]

I think truthfully, the offense will not be as good as it appeared on Saturday night; nor will the defense be as bad.

Cam's not going to be able to run around and "make plays" against an SEC defense, so his accuracy with the deep ball will be of utmost importance from here on out.  If he can get the ball to Adams, Carr, Reed and Zachary in stride every once in a while, the underneath routes will open up, as will his escape route lanes if the pocket collapses.  If he struggles throwing it up top, the entire offense will struggle mightily against USCe, LSU and bammer especially.

On the other hand, as the young guys on D get more comfortable in the schemes, and Stephens gets back on the field, the D will probably actually be pretty good.  No...they won't be a top 10, probably not even a top 20 unit overall.  They will be steady against the run and decent against the pass.  I have a feeling that Mallett is going for 400+ against this unit though.  Hopefully most of that will be between the 20's.

[Snaggletiger]

If they continue to bring Kodi in for the mild cat on 2nd and 3rd and short...I am going to be fucking pissed. Hopefully they just did this to give Kodi a TD in a game that was going to be won soundly. If this is the game plan going forward, I may drink myself into a coma...

I did my best to block that from my entire psyche.  You had to bring it up. 

What exactly are you accomplishing by taking one of the biggest and best running QB's in the nation out of the shotgun...and replacing him with Kodi Burns...in the shotgun?  No knock on Kodi but come on.  As long as Cam is in there, shouldn't the Mildcat be a thing of the past?  You're already running it with Newtons running ability.

Q. Carr looked goooood.  At first glance, I thought he was going to get called for a push off on his TD.  However, the replays showed a little chicken fighting and Carr really didn't extend his arm.  He did a good job of getting the DB to slow up for that split second needed to get separation.  Plus, I'd just go ahead and name Dyer the starter and let him tote the rock all night.  When I got back to my car Saturday night, I slammed the door.  Untayreo fell down and Mario dropped his helmet. 

[Saniflush]

I did my best to block that from my entire psyche.  You had to bring it up. 

What exactly are you accomplishing by taking one of the biggest and best running QB's in the nation out of the shotgun...and replacing him with Kodi Burns...in the shotgun?  No knock on Kodi but come on.  As long as Cam is in there, shouldn't the Mildcat be a thing of the past?  You're already running it with Newtons running ability.

Q. Carr looked goooood.  At first glance, I thought he was going to get called for a push off on his TD.  However, the replays showed a little chicken fighting and Carr really didn't extend his arm.  He did a good job of getting the DB to slow up for that split second needed to get separation.  Plus, I'd just go ahead and name Dyer the starter and let him tote the rock all night.  When I got back to my car Saturday night, I slammed the door.  Untayreo fell down and Mario dropped his helmet.

They are just kids.

[AUChizad]

What exactly are you accomplishing by taking one of the biggest and best running QB's in the nation out of the shotgun...and replacing him with Kodi Burns...in the shotgun?  No knock on Kodi but come on.  As long as Cam is in there, shouldn't the Mildcat be a thing of the past?  You're already running it with Newtons running ability.

In regards to the play in particular that is being referenced here, we saw version A. That was what we want defenses to study. Newton handing off to Burns to run is probably the worst of the many options for that play (which still resulted in a touchdown). Burns could have passed from there, or Cam could have held the ball and either ran or passed himself.

I like the misdirection.

[War Eagle!!!]

In regards to the play in particular that is being referenced here, we saw version A. That was what we want defenses to study. Newton handing off to Burns to run is probably the worst of the many options for that play (which still resulted in a touchdown). Burns could have passed from there, or Cam could have held the ball and either ran or passed himself.

I like the misdirection.

I am talking about the first TD. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that was just Kodi running it up the middle.