But....the comment from Slade confirms what I thought about giving up last year. More than just the LSU game. copypasta al.com
AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn knows what happened last year when things went bad — things like LSU 45-10 happened and other lopsided losses followed suit.
"Kind of a clown show," said Demetruce McNeal of last season’s defense.
"We were like, ‘we just gave up,’" offensive lineman Chad Slade said.
But Auburn players said there’s a different feel this season, and they said they showed it by taking LSU to the wire before falling 12-10 Saturday night. The difference?
"I feel like it’s in our emotion, an improvement in our passion," running back Tre Mason said Sunday. "A lot of people play with a lot of emotion and a lot of edge, and I feel like that’s what we improved at the most.
"That can take us a long way, it can even take us to the next year, because we know what it feels like to actually play with that passion and that emotion."
Despite their best efforts, the Tigers fell to 1-3 and now have an off week to review the first month of the season and where they may go next. Their off-week adventure may include a search for more offense.
They’ve scored just one offensive touchdown in two SEC games this season, and have only three offensive touchdowns in their last five SEC losses. Auburn is 103rd in the nation in total offense.
The search may include some more defense, though LSU mustered only a touchdown and field goal against this season’s version.
Still, the combination of too little offense and a defense that sometimes can’t get off the field quick enough has led to this disparity: The opposition has run 74 more plays than Auburn in just the first four weeks. LSU ran 19 more plays than Auburn, but was holding on at the end.
That was different. Last year, LSU built such a big lead that it scored just three points over the last 23 minutes and still won by 35. This year, Auburn was throwing for the win on the last play of the game.
"We rallied together," Slade said. "We knew that nobody is going to believe in us, we knew people thought we’d lose by 50, by 30, but we knew we had to grow up and be men, and we did that."
"It just shows us we can play with any team no matter who it is."
"This game," said McNeal, "shows us what we can do when we all do our job."
The defense held its own against LSU.
"That offense," said coach Gene Chizik, "scored a lot of points in the previous three games, and defensively we held them to 10 points, and we played physical, so there’s a lot of things to build on there.
"Obviously, some things we can build on that we didn’t do well, too, but overall, we played fast, played aggressive."
What next on the agenda?
"Learn how to finish the game," Slade said. "That’s the word of the week, is ‘finish.’ We’re in big-time games, and we have them on the ropes, we have to finish them out."
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