Please stop referencing or basing anything we've done, will do, might do...off the Samford game. Defensively, we held them to 7 points and 238 total yards. Offensively, we were without 2 of our best weapons and played as conservative a game as I've ever seen....in a pouring rain. And yes, it rained from the opening kickoff to the 4th quarter. It was a let's just get through it, senior night win.
Everything that's been going wrong for this team the past few weeks is simply a matter of focus. Concentration. Fumbles, dropped passes and penalties have nothing to do with talent. It's all about focus on every play. Granted, we don't match up well with the wide open, spread clubs that fling it around. We're not playing that type of team Saturday night. I've seen people say Georgia ran roughshod over Auburn. Yeah, they got theirs. But not like USCe or A&M. They got theirs because all those lapses in concentration....dropped passes, roughing penalties, muffed punts...meant our offense never got in sync.
The bottom line for me is I'm not going into this game feeling like we're going to automatically continue that trend. I'm going to expect every player on this team to pop a 5 hour energy every single play. I'm expecting Gus to come in with a nothing-to-lose attitude and open up everything he's got. I'm expecting Nick Marshall to give a big fuck you to all the naysayers and put this team on his back. Whether he's pro QB material or not, I'm expecting him to believe he is and want to make a statement Saturday night.
I'm expecting 35-30 no matter who wins. I'm expecting jmar to call his friend back and tell him to shove it up his bammer ass.
To the Samford comment I say the elements were the same for both teams and borrowing from your old coach "you practice like you play" still holds true if for only looking sharp and playing crisply blah, blah, blah.
To the lack of focus/concentration comment I say we must be attention deficit as a team or some of our afflictions haven't been addressed efficiently enough-"ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
We were bludgeoned by a more physical tougher-minded team in Georgia, regardless of the number of errors or the final score. Auburn has been and is now a finesse team since the opener. We now look for match-up advantages instead of running at a brutal pace until a defense gets gassed. Team's now use more defensive linemen against us making that option less effective.
But don't confuse my observation of how I have seen the team trending since we let the Criminoles off the hook and write it off as just an Xer being a downer. I agree we have a puncher's chance in a game that plays in the 30's, last team with the ball type of scenario. And be it a FG drive or a tipped-ball interception to end it I still think we can win...but it's going to take our best effort from the players and a damn sight better play calling than we have seen recently from Lashlee and Gus. I even have enough faith in Johnson to think he can stop them for almost a half. Now let's go fuck up some Germans.
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