That was an excellent set of grades, Commissioner. Like the team, you saved one of your better
efforts for the final regular season game, and that is as it should be.
With the long weekend, we had a lot of time to read what
a lot of writers thought of the game. We
were struck by that fact that so many of them were looking so desperately for a
new way to describe this game -- woodshedding, curb stomping, humbling,
etc. The best thought of all that we
came across, and it was noted by more than a few writers, was how hard it must
have been for the Auburn University faithful (at least those who bothered to
watch) to see Alabama take pity on their team.
Make no mistake, if it had wanted to, Alabama could have scored six or
seven more touchdowns. Alabama had the
luxury of resting most of its key players for the second half because it has
bigger things to play for next month.
Auburn had no such incentive; all they have next month is final
exams. And job searches.
As to the grades themselves:
Offense: Even
against such inferior competition, the offense may have played its best game,
at least since Michigan way back on September 1. It is hard to score seven consecutive
touchdowns against the scout team, much less a talented opponent. I believe that whatever injury AJ McCarron
suffered against MSU (and I think it was worse than we were told) is
improving. His throws on Saturday looked
as smooth and accurate as they have been in weeks. He got us into the correct plays at the right
times. Lacy also seems to be healing, or
at least has learned how to play through his various issues. Yeldon should be
well-rested after only 8 carries. Our
pass protection was better Saturday than it has been in a long time, and Auburn
has two high quality pass rushers that did little to affect the game. Losing Bell was not good. I cannot remember a time when any team has
lost as many wide receivers as we have this year. Black, White and now Bell. If Auburn had open the game in a four wide
receiver set, those three would have been in their starting line up.
Defense: We gave
up a few pass completions that were a little unsettling, but on the whole, I
think this group played exactly to the game plan. You cannot make mistakes against them. Even the second unit seemed to be dominating
the Auburn starters. Strength of
opponent notwithstanding, shutting out your arch rival and never letting them
inside your 40 yard line, can only earn an A+.
Would that scheme and effort have beaten UGA? I’m not sure, but we weren’t playing
bulldogs, we were playing tigers.
Special Teams: The
rough patch that the special teams went through for a few weeks there seem to
have smoothed out. We don’t know much
about our kick off return unit after Saturday, but those days make me happy. We, apparently purposely, did not kick off
into the end zone and as you point out, we came out net ahead on that decision
even though it was a lot of kickoffs.
Coaching: The coaches had the team focused and ready to
play. Concerns about looking past Auburn to the SEC Championship or a slow
start or a let down in the third quarter were unfounded. The plan was very good. Our offensive play calling, in particular,
seemed tailored more to what we do well instead of what we wish we did well.
Officiating: C-
They have got to get a handle on this above the shoulder contact
penalty. It is not being called
consistently, which is not fair to the players and coaches and also not achieving
the worthy goal of protecting players.
Also, when a runner’s forward progress is stopped, the whistle needs to
blow before 5 or 6 players from the other team push the runner back 8 or 10
yards and throw him to the ground.
That’s a lot easier call than deciding who hit whom with a helmet. The decision to not run off the last 11
seconds and force the players to risk injury in a game like this was
stupid. It gives the team winning a
blowout an incentive to run more time consuming plays (and thus embarrass the
other team by scoring more points) when there is no need for it. It also risks injuries in a fruitless
pursuit. Worst of all, it almost caused
our head coach to have a stroke.
Broadcasters: Even
Verne and Gary are now making fun of Verne’s inability to get players’ names
right. The most telling remark of the
night was as halftime started. I suspect
that the producer had just told Verne and Gary, off air, that they needed to
announce that they would be going down to the field where Tracy would get
comments from the Auburn coach. Verne
dutifully did so. Gary, apparently not
realizing his mike was open said, “that’s just cruel”. I think it was the only time I agreed with
him all night.
So, a word about Auburn.
I’m going with “fiasco”. The word
comes from the Venetian glass-making industry.
Fiasco really just means a small bottle.
But the idea was that a glass-maker had started out with the design to
create a vase or similar valuable work of art and so botched the job that it
was only fit as a nearly-worthless container -- it wasn’t completely useless,
it was just so far from the intended purpose as to be unrecognizable. That, I think, is the state of the “program”
in Lee County. The Athletic Department
is in some financial difficulty, there is now an entire coaching staff to be
paid off, a new coaching staff to be hired, the NCAA prowling around, recruits
being wooed by every program with access to telephone service, the worst season
not just in recent memory but getting close to in living memory…. This was a head coach that two years ago was
hoisting the national championship trophy and landing a top ten recruiting
class. Any inclination I have to feel
sorry for him is tempered by my memory of him taunting the Alabama student
section two years ago. How can that big
a disaster happen so quickly? I’m not
just sure, actually. It is a great case
study. I do know that today it is not
great to be an Auburn Tiger.
A word about Georgia.
I look forward to playing them. I
expect there to be much handwringing on the Alabama side this week about the
perceived weaknesses in the Alabama pass defense. I agree that it is not on par with last year,
but I’ve gotten myself comfortable that last year may have been a
once-in-a-lifetime group. Georgia has
played more consistently of late, though admittedly some of that may be
attributable to the quality of opponent (their November opponents were
Mississippi, Auburn, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech of whom only Georgia
Southern is above .500). It should be an
interesting game.
A word about Alabama:
Roll Tide. Beat the Bulldogs. Win #23.
A victory means not only the SEC title, but a trip to the BCS
Championship game in Miami. A loss means
most of the season’s goals unfulfilled and a trip to Orlando on New Year’s Day,
probably for a rematch with Michigan.
There is something poetic about starting the season with Michigan and
ending it with Notre Dame. Starting and
ending it by beating the stuffing out of Michigan? Not so much.
The Correspondent From The Tire Store
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