Auburn Wins but Questions Remain
By Matt Hand
Mandatory Credit: John Reed-US PRESSWIRE
There is no such thing as a bad win.
I keep saying this but I can’t seem to believe it. Auburn had a comfortable 28-14 lead in the 3rd quarter and the offense was driving, mostly behind a great running game when it all seemed to go wrong. Mike Blakely was making a great run and was fighting for the endzone when a ULM defender came over and put his helmet on the ball and Blakely fumbled away a knockout blow that would have put Auburn up by three scores.
After two ULM touchdowns and an OT field goal by Cody Parkey, Auburn escaped with a less-than-impressive win against a Sun Belt Conference team in which our own head coach coined a great win against a good team.
No offense to ULM, which actually does have a good team with a great quarterback, but this was not a good win. I know ULM beat Arkansas last week. I know ULM beat Alabama and Nick Saban in 2007. None of those facts make me feel any better. Alabama was simply a different team and program back then. Arkansas is a reeling program at the moment, especially after Bobby Petrino’s surprising departure in the offseason. I hate the fact we have become a program who has close games with Sun Belt Conference teams. This is year four for Gene Chizik and wins like this should not be treated warmly.
Auburn’s offense looked more fluent Saturday but it still has a long way to go before they can compete and score against some of the elite teams in the SEC. Kiehl Frazier looked a lot more comfortable making throws in the first half. He was hitting a lot of short to intermediate routes and looked confident doing so which is a big step forward. Play calling in the 2nd half was questionable at best and really put Frazier out of rhythm. The running game looked as solid as ever as Tre Mason showed some power and Onterio McCalebb proved he could run up the middle with success. The offensive line seemed to pass and run block effectively all day. The line seems to be getting comfortable with each other and this is definitely something that needs to happen before LSU comes to town on Saturday night. LSU boasts one of the best defensive lines in college football.
Auburn’s defense showed the ability to make stops on Saturday but was still playing a lot of soft zone coverage that allowed ULM to move the ball up and down the field. The defense really stepped up after the first drive and was really solid until late in the 2nd half of the game. I think this was the defensive line’s best performance of the year, but they still allowed some big gains on rushing plays. We were able to pressure ULM’s QB and put some solid hits on him, however we couldn’t force any turnovers. We are simply not a good enough team, especially on offense, to be able to win games without our defense forcing some turnovers. This offense needs to start with short fields as much as possible.
If Auburn has any chance of making a bowl game and salvaging anything out of this season, we need to put up a good fight against one of the best teams in the country this Saturday night. This will be an extremely tough game to win but keeping it close and having a chance in the 4th quarter would be a huge boost of confidence for this team. LSU right now is a well-oiled machine that doesn’t have a lot or any weak spots. If you looked at the matchup with Auburn, LSU would probably win every possible matchup. Auburn will have the luxury of playing in the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium and they will have to take advantage of this. A night game at JHS is really special and the crowd should really be alive and ready.
Hopefully this team has gelled some more after the disastrous start to the season. We will not only have to play our best offensive game, but we will need a disciplined defensive attack as well. Our special teams unit should be solid once again and they will need to perform flawlessly to help our defensive and offensive units out. LSU has great special teams play as well so will have to be on our toes against the Mad Hatter. It’s going to take special plays, trick plays, luck and some turnovers to win this game but it has been done before. Miracles have happened in sports. That’s why sports are the ultimate reality show. Reality tells me LSU big. My heart says AU can do something special. We’ll see Saturday. Do you believe in miracles?