Auburn football: Penn State’s sixth-year stud could be Tigers’ undoing
Auburn football is now 2-0 following a fourth-quarter nail-biter against the Mountain West’s San Jose State, but it’s an undefeated record that comes with a slew of question marks and two straight non-spread covers.
The latter point is relevant to only a handful of the public, but the former means something to anyone identifying as a member of the orange and blue brigade. While penalties were the primary problem Saturday night–86 penalty yards on nine flags is not conducive to any sort of sustainable success–there was also a troubling trend that continued from Week 1.
Like Week 1 against Mercer, the Auburn football secondary stuck out like a sore thumb as a possible weakness. While Bears QB Fred Payton was expected to put up big numbers in defeat after going for 248 yards in the passing game, punctuated with four touchdowns in a 50-point blowout over Morehead State, Chevan Cordeiro going for nearly 300 all-purpose yards after struggling to get anything going against Portland State indicates was a disturbing sight.
With the increase in competition from the SoCon to the Mountain West nearly leading to defeat, hosting a likely ranked Penn State in the return game from last year’s 28-20 heartbreaker in Happy Valley is a daunting thought right now.
Penn State QB Sean Clifford could be the Auburn football secondary’s undoing
Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin has not yet lost hope in his secondary, but things are certainly looking gloomy as they welcome one of the biggest arms in the country, Sean Clifford, to the Plains in Week 3.
Clifford lit up a sturdy Purdue defense to the tune of four touchdown passes and 282 yards during a stunning Week 1 come-from-behind victory in one of this season’s early game of the year candidates before putting up 213 yards and a score in ten less passing attempts during the Nittany Lions’ 36-point destruction of the MAC’s Ohio.
Given the penalties committed by the DBs and the man-coverage gaffes from the CB1s, there could be a reckoning Week 3 — and it could be made 100x worse should the Tigers offense continue to commit turnovers at the rate they’ve been their first two games.
Suspect offensive line play is the offense’s biggest issue, causing NFL hopeful Tank Bigsby to run for negative yardage on almost a third of his plays (h/t On3’s Justin Hokanson). The secondary’s struggles are what makes the Penn State matchup one to worry about.
The Jordan-Hare curse would be very much welcomed next Saturday afternoon.