The season's almost over. Sad yet?
Auburn...
- Which is it? Is it a positive performance because we won and the defense played lights out? Or is it a negative performance because we won and the offense stunk it up to high heavens?
- Moseley is THE man. He has to be right now. He threw for 90 yards, which is more than Trotter's thrown since the South Carolina game. Not even that, he threw it down field. And it was on target a few times!
- Don't get too worried, yet. His bad throws came when he was first thrown into the game. He was probably nervous, excited, and going through a lot of "I told you so's" in his head.
- He's not the answer. He's just the new guy. The new boss. I don't think he'll be the same as the old boss.
- Both defenses had the same gameplan - load up and stop the run. Florida was held for 66 yards and 2.2 yards per carry. Auburn was held for 155 yards and 3.6 yards per carry.
Dyer was keyed on all night, and he was able to churn out 73 yards on 23 carries. Frazier and OMac each had 40+ yards, and all three had a run of at least 15 yards.
It's not a stellar performance, but it's admirable especially when you consider that we had injuries on the offensive line.
- I'm going to say something really stupid right now. If we don't make stupid mistakes (bad interceptions, fumbles, or give up a lot on special teams coverage), we challenge LSU for the W.
- How can that be, Townhallsavoy? How could woe-is-me Auburn go into the castle of an superpower like LSU and compete?
- Because it's what we do, damnit. It's going into Tennessee's house in 2004 and being up 31-3 at halftime. It's being an underdog to Florida in 2006 and providing fireworks for the crowd to enjoy when people least expected it. It's going to Florida and to LSU in 2007 being told we had zero chance at winning because of our specific team problems and winning one thriller and pushing the eventual-national champs to the last second. It's going to Tennessee in 2009 as the underdog and out-physical-ing the opponent. It's getting the almighty Tide at home in 2009 and pushing them to the final drive. It's being told we had no chance against South Carolina @South Carolina this year and coming away with a victory.
Go back even further. We play top ten ranked Tennessee at home and top ten ranked Arkansas away in back to back weeks after starting the 2003 season 0-2, and we win both. Go back to 2002 when we play 6-1 LSU and win 31-7. Or in 2002 when Penn St's Larry Brown is the best running back of all time, and we clown him. And Ronnie Brown leaves a cleat mark on Paterno's already-wrinkled face.
Or 2001. We lost to Syracuse 31-14. We then a few weeks later beat the #1 team in the nation 23-20.
Even further down the pipe?
How about 1999 when we had an embarrassing 5 game losing streak? We go to Athens against a bowl-eligible Georgia team and win 38-21.
What about '93 and '94? Anyone really expect us to be that great? Undefeated in 93. Beat two Spurrier-led Florida teams. Only one loss in 94. Backs against the wall? We came out throwing KOs.
I was five years old in 1989. Alabama was #1 and came to Auburn. And lost.
- Forget history though. History doesn't mean anything other than giving you a bit of excitement. How could we actually beat LSU?
- Tennessee had success running the ball early against LSU. Their defense (much like every other team in college football this year) is not invincible. They aren't an iron curtain. They aren't NFL players yet. They're still college kids.
And they're college kids who talk a LOT of trash.
And people who talk a lot of trash are usually exposed at some point in their career. Very few (Cam Newton) can flaunt their football prowess all year and get away with it.
- We have the horses to run. We just have to establish it. And we can't make any stupid mistakes. No interceptions. No fumbles. I think playing the special teams game and the grind-it-on-the-ground game gives us a chance to win.
Need more than that, Townhall. This is the #1 team in the country. This is at LSU. This is one of the more dominating teams in the last few years.
- Is it though? Quick! Name the top five scariest quarterbacks in the SEC. You really put Jarrett Lee up there? Maybe by default. The other 7 suck so bad that you have to Lee there just because. Just because he's on a really good team.
- 2009 Ingram. 2010 Lattimore (twice). 2010 Ingram/Richardson. 2010 LaMichael James. 2011 Lattimore.
- When we know to key on the run, we seem to shut it down. Take the Florida game from yesterday. We knew we had to put the ball in their quarterback's hand, and we shut down their running game.
- Roof may be an undesirable coordinator, but he's always had a knack for shutting a good running back down. After three years with this guy, I have no doubt that if we decide to take away the bruising running backs of LSU, we'll be successful.
- And I don't have very much confidence in Lee. He seems to benefit from the running game grinding out yards, which I think we can stop.
- Whether we will or not is a different story. We'll probably lose. Maybe get blown out. But I think we have a chance. A good chance if we don't give them easy touchdowns. A really good chance if we actually make their offense work for it.
Florida...
- Muschamp needs three-five years to get this team turned around. Florida fans and their administration are not exactly known for patience. I don't know if they'll give him the time he needs, but he definitely needs it.
- Muschamp obviously wants to go the pro-style, West Coast offense. Good running backs who are strong and hit the hole hard. A quarterback that can run the play action and stretch the field. Receivers that are big and physical. Guys that can run the out routes and the curls. Good tight end play with a guy who can both block and catch.
And they don't have any of that on their team right now. Meyer recruited for the spread, which works well with an athletic quarterback. Weiss is running an entirely different system, and until he gets a few recruits, this offense will continue to spudder.
Alabama...
- You played Ole Miss. A team that has quit. A coach who is finished. A program that has embarrassed itself. A team depleted by suspensions.
- I give Alabama all the credit in the world, but they just have to take all the credit in the universe, heavens, and beyond.
- Trent Richardson is NOT Bo Jackson. Stop using that comparison on my Facebook. Stop tweeting "14 championships, 2 Heisman winners, and the best coach since Bear Bryant!" Stop claiming that your team can compete with an NFL team. It'd be a 35-0 blowout. You would lose. Your players would be injured. Stop saying things like, "Can't wait to eat my dinners in the French Quarter in January! Roll Tide Roll!"
Just stop it.
- It's not that I think you'll lose. That someone on your schedule is better. It's just the arrogant gloating that makes you the most hated fanbase in the country. It's the fact that you aren't excited about beating Ole Miss. You're excited about what people will say 10 years from now about this team.
You could always just rephrase it. Just be honest.
"Can you believe how much respect people will have for us about this football team?! They don't respect us for anything else, but Roll Tide! They'll know we're the kings of college football!"
- With that said, Trent Richardson is the new #1 back in the SEC. Lattimore has stunk it up and is now injured. Dyer is running against a depleted, young o-line with zero threat from the passing game. Ware is physical, but he doesn't do as much as Richardson does.
- What's most surprising about Richardson is that he hasn't gone down with an injury yet.
Arizona St....
- From what I saw, you have the most thug team in the country. Four personal foul penalties in the first 20 minutes? Two egregious late hits by Burfict and a knee to the face from one of your receivers for no reason. He jumped up yelling about the DB doing something dirty, but I watched the replay. He just tackled you.
- I was rooting for Arizona St to win, but after seeing the way they acted, I'm glad Oregon won.
Final Thought...
- This is still the lamest college football season I can remember. Something excited needs to happen.
The scores from the top ten teams are similar to weeks 1 and 2. Total blowouts. And most of those teams won't play each other.
The way this season is going, we'll have five undefeated teams who all dominated their opponents. We'll have five teams with legit arguments for the BCS championship game, and only two will play each other.
Which will be lame.
It will be lame for Wisconsin to literally demolish every team on their schedule and then watch Oklahoma and Alabama play in New Orleans. For Boise State to go through their fourth straight year of dominating and get zero sniff of the championship. For Stanford to have an automatic #1 overall NFL draft pick at quarterback, blow out everyone on their roster, and not even be an afterthought for the championship game. For Clemson to beat an SEC team and then run their ACC schedule and get nothing for it because they didn't start out ranked high enough.
The 2004 Auburn treatment for most of these teams - at least for right now. "Well, you weren't good last year, so we aren't going to consider you all that good this year. Kudos, though."
What a joke.
And for the rest of the field? The level of play is so low that I'm not sure anyone is playing good football. I'd like to continue talking of massive upsets @LSU. Bama getting beat at some point. Wisconsin going down. Oklahoma maybe getting caught.
It's just not going to happen.
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