The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has come and gone in the 2022 season, and it was just as ugly as many Auburn football fans expected it to be. The Tigers lost 42-10 between the hedges, and the game was littered with mistakes and penalties that cost Auburn 60 yards.
It seemed like the game started off surprisingly well, mostly thanks to the lockdown defense. Of course, Auburn football’s offense looked chaotic and confused. Robby Ashford was never supposed to be in this situation as a young guy who didn’t play his first snap of collegiate football until this year.
Combine Ashford’s lack of experience with the disaster of an offensive line, and it pretty quickly became clear that the defense was going to be the reason that the Tigers had a fighting chance. And then Auburn football fake punted from their own 34-yard line and–it didn’t work. That seemed to be the turning point for the game, and fans and members of the media were outraged.
However, following the game, team leaders John Samuel Shenker and Derick Hall defended the decision to run the play, explaining that the issue all came down to execution (which seems to be a recurring theme in post-game press conferences for the Tigers this season). Turns out, if Jalil Irvin didn’t miss his block, Shenker would have gotten through to get the first down, per AL.com:
"“We got the look we wanted,” Shenker said. “There were a few errors in the blocking scheme, and I wasn’t able to get through. It was a good play call, and they had the right defense out. We just weren’t able to execute it.”"
Derick Hall went on to say that there were no hard feelings from the defense and they plan to protect the end zone at all costs, no matter where the other team gets field position:
"“That’s just the operation of the game,” edge Derick Hall said. “We really don’t care where they start with the ball. We just try to defend every blade of grass. It doesn’t matter what kind of field position we’ve got. We just try to defend every blade of grass.”"
It was certainly a tough game for all parties involved, but here’s hoping that the Tigers are able to turn things around and focus on beating Ole Miss next week.