I have mixed emotions. I never, ever want to lose but...
1) I have a nagging fear that Gusettlee will see this game as vindication of their plan. We did move the ball better. We didn't settle for field goals. But this was Mem-fucking-phis. They give up points. Only three teams failed to post 20 or more against their defense. Six scored at least 30. What I saw on offense was far too dysfunctional, way too confused, entirely lacking in identity and confidence. An "improvement" won't cut it.
Unless....
2) We played so much better on defense that there was no real comparison to anything we did all season. This was a team that averaged 43 points per game, put up 37 on Ole Miss, broke 50 against Tuberville. Th only time they were held to under 20 points was in a 12-point effort against a Top 25 Temple team.
Their quarterback averaged 14-yards per completion, hit 70% of his passes. They averaged 324 yards passing and 185 yards rushing per game. Auburn shut them completely down. Rattled the first rounder. Intimidated the receivers. Hammered running lanes closed. We challenged them from the jump, something we haven't done in years. We conceded nothing, something we haven't done in years. It was, honestly, something I haven't seen an Auburn defense do in.... well.... since 2008. I kept expecting it to break down, fall apart, come unglued. Like it does. But it didn't.
So that leaves a question. If that was an audition for Lance Thompson, he aced it. He did so while speculation swirled about another guy coming in. How do you keep a guy who showed that much one-game promise happy? Do you swallow your "win the press conference AD smarm" and promote the guy or do you keep looking for the splash?
I keep thinking about where we've been. Pat Dye was hardly a press conference smash when we hired him. Nobody was shitting their pants when we hired Wayne Hall. I don't recall a splash when Chizik was brought in.
It puts us in a quandry in my mind. Is what we have good enough? Could we, instead, look for an energetic promising LB or DB coach and let Thompson call the shots?
On another note:
3) Damn Legion Field was pretty full. There is NOBODY at the Belk Bowl. You could take your entire family and have a whole section to yourself. The Bulldogs do not travel and just don't have a big enough fanbase to entice bowls. It's sort of shameful really. They just need to stay home.
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