Dollar said:
35 seconds and a timeout left, 35 yards or so away from field goal range, and you run out the clock? Is John Madden their offensive coordinator?
Their FG kicker sucks, and missed two makeable (one easy, one reasonable for a college kicker to miss) in the 1st half. Of course, that's more of an argument for playing for the TD instead of playing for OT, Auburn would have won a battle of FG kickers anyway. It was doubly stupid in that an Auburn defense that was absolutely gassed midway through the 4th quarter had Auburn's last drive, JSU kneeling, the break before OT, and Auburn's first OT drive to rest. That gave them just enough energy to make a stand on that last drive, IMO, so JSU should have gone for the throat.
Kremlin Watcher said:
So Auburn moves up to number five for such a gutty, gritty performance?
That depends, is there some kind of NIT-equivalent ranking system? Auburn might deserve to be #6 in that one. I had already suspected that people were giving Muschamp too much credit for being able to turn around a defense with some severe talent deficiencies in the secondary, but Jeremy Johnson being absolutely terrible in his reads has been an unpleasant shock. I figured Auburn was in for another "in every game due to offense, no game is secure due to defense" year, but unless Johnson suddenly engages his grey matter when he goes through a progression, it's looking more like a 7-8 win season at best.
I'm actually pretty impressed with Auburn's D, given how often they were hung out to dry yesterday. Most of JSU's big gains in the 1st half were just amazing plays by their WRs and QB (the TD pass and catch was NFL-level excellence), then the running game in the 2nd half looked like a function of Auburn having some banged-up players in the front seven (#1 LB, #1 DE out for some of the 2nd half and the entire game respectively) and spending too much time out on the field. The CBs were actually in pretty good position on most of JSU's big gains, but didn't turn around to look for the ball (I think of that as Wilhite-itis, as a scarred Auburn and Pats fan) while the WRs made great catches. Auburn was also down 2 of their top 3 corners due to the ejection and injuries (nagging stuff, most likely would have played against a SEC opponent).
The offense, on the other hand, looked horrific. This team can't win games against tough opponents, or even mediocre opponents without a passing game. Johnson didn't completely psychologically collapse at the end of the game, thankfully, as the game-tying TD pass was a pretty nice throw in a pressure situation. So, it appears to be more of a brains than a guts problem, which hopefully can be repaired with more reps. The offensive line also lost way too many battles in the interior running game, and only asserted themselves in the last 3 minutes of regulation. That's inexcusable against even a FCS opponent, LSU is going to have a field day if that doesn't improve.