Expectations, They're A Sonuvabitch

Expectations are a tricky thing when it comes to college football fans. Coming into the season if you told anyone that we would be 4-0 (soon to be 5-0) to start the season they would be extatic. I can't decide if they would be more excited to know that we made multiple, usually game-costing, gaffs and still were able to prevail in tight games on three of those occasions.

But, what happened instead? We went into Starkville, Mississippi and beat a team who many of the "experts" picked to beat us despite being shut out in the second half. So, naturally, fans boosted their expectations.

"If it wasn't for the penalties we would have scored 34 points against one of the better defenses in the SEC. And now we have a great defense to match our great offense."

The following week against Clemson we see the offense continue to sputter in the first half before exploding in the third quarter. Again the expectations were raised.

"If we can put together four quarters just like the third quarter than we can beat anyone in the country! Clemson will probably win the ACC this year."

Now, after a win against #12 South Carolina we play the closest thing we've seen thus far to a complete game and instead of breathing easy that we are 4-0 the expectations have again been raised. The fans who had previously predicted an 8-4 season now are calling for a 10-2 season at worst. And those whose expectations were already calling for a 10-2 season now believe we are capable of going undefeated and playing for the National Championship.

There is nothing wrong with fans expecting nothing but the best from their team but the problem with expectations is that as soon as the team meets or excedes what the fans expected coming in, the fans adjust their expectations and raise the bar. It sets up a situation in which the fans can only be satisfied with an undefeated championship season.

So, since we've established that, despite what anyone might tell you, the expectations for this team are an undefeated national championship season, will they deliver?

If this team has shown us anything it is that we've seen nothing yet. Cam Newton, who, according to ESPN SEC Blogger Chris Low, is the runaway front runner for SEC Player of the Year so far, has been on campus for less then nine months. He has shown significant improvement in his knowledge of the offense, his decision making when throwing the ball, and his execution of the zone-read run. If what we saw against South Carolina is the best he gives us all year than we will be more than fine, but as anyone who has watched him knows, he is capable of much more, and that is a scary thought.

The inexperience doesn't end with Cam. Starting running back Mike Dyer is a true freshman and just emerged as the starter in week three against Clemson. He has seen his carries increase from 9 to 16 to 23 these past three weeks. Against South Carolina he eclipsed the century mark against a defense that allowed less than 60 yards rushing per game. It has to be believed that Dyer's best football is ahead of him as the game slows down for him and he becomes more comfortable in the offense.

On defense redshirt freshman Nosa Eguae was promoted ahead of senior Michael Goggans against South Carolina, a decision that immediately paid dividends. In addition to Eguae Auburn is playing five freshmen in the 2-deep on defense. As the season progresses the expectation (there's that word again) will be that those players will be playing less like freshmen and should show significant improvement.

In 2004 we were fortunate to see a team who found their stride by week three. That team was led by a senior quarterback in his third year as a starter, sharing a backfield with two running backs picked in the top 5 of the NFL draft. That team spoilled us. As a reminder, with the exception of the LSU game in week 3, no team had the ball in the 4th quarter with even a chance to take the lead. Most teams, even undefeated championship teams, don't have seasons like that.

In 2008 Florida won the national championship despite a week four loss to a mediocre Ole Miss team. The Alabama team from that same year completed an undefeated regular season that included home wins over Tulane, Kentucky and Ole Miss with a combined margin of victory of 20 points. Last year's Alabama team which completed a 14-0 national championship season snuck past a 7-6 Tennessee team by the grace of three missed Volunteer field goals, and let's not forget the come from behind 5 point victory in the Iron Bowl in Chizik's first season with a depleated team.

So when this 2010 Auburn team had to lean on its defense to win on the road against Mississippi State, had to explode for 21 points in the third quarter to steal a victory from Clemson, and had to overcome two first half fumbles and have an MVP performance from Newton to defeat South Carolina, just be thankful that we emerged victorious despite not playing our best game. Those are the types of wins that change seasons from a 9-3 Cotton Bowl trip into an 11-1 Sugar Bowl trip.

Over these next two weeks Auburn should have three goals:
1. Win. Against Louisiana-Monroe this shouldn't be an issue, but the trip to Lexington could be a devestating loss if we walk in there expecting them to lay down.
2. Get a lot of rest for our starters and reps for our second string. Heading into our home stretch of the season we need our starters as fresh as possible and our second team to be as seasoned as possible so they can be counted on when called upon.
3. Refine our fundamentals and execution. The issues that have tripped us up the first third of this season have been primarily self inflicted. We must clean up the penalties, become more comfortable within our offensive and defensive schemes and cut down on turnovers or we may not be lucky enough to escape with a victory in future weeks.

This team has what it takes to go undefeated, so go ahead and raise those expectations. Let's just be honest up front... We expect to win them all.

Game Review: South Carolina

Knee-Jerk Reaction
What can I say? The cardiac cats, tenacious tigers, whatever you want to call them, they got the job done again. We still have a tendancy to shoot ourselves in the foot too often but we have shown a remarkable ability to overcome those mistakes and still emerge victorious. It is a bit cliche but to win in this league you need to be able to run the football and stop the run. Coming into the game something had to give when Auburn's league leading rushing attack (259.3 ypg) matched up against USC's league leading rush defense (59.7 ypg). An emphatic 334 yards later it was clear, South Carolina's defense gave and Cam Newton & Co. tooketh away. The offensive line took a lot of heat last week after being tossed around by Clemson's defensive front and answered the challenge to be more physical at the point of attack. On the other side of the ball the defensive line continued their impressive play. The coaches must have read my film study article because they made the tough decision and moved senior Michael Goggans to second string and promoted redshirt Freshman Nosa Eguae. The decision paid off, more on this later. There was also the Lattimore vs. Dyer storyline. In the first head to head match up of the top running backs in the 2010 recruiting class Mike Dyer emerged victorious, eclipsing the 100 yard mark for the first time in his young career on 23 carries. Lattimore, who by all accounts was prepared to sign with Auburn before an 11th hour change of heart to stay close to Mama and play for his home town Gamecocks, had the most difficult night of his career. Averaging 111 yards per game coming into the game, Lattimore was held to a season low 33 yards on 14 carries. We still haven't seen a complete game from this team (scary thought), but last night was the closest we've seen.

Poitives
Cam Newton - 176 yards rushing, 158 yards passing, five total touchdowns and NO turnovers. Also, what can't be seen in a stat line is his leadership ability that has continued to give this offense the ability and resiliency to come from behind two weeks in a row. As long as he is taking the snaps this team believes anything is possible. His superman leap from the 7 yard line on his first touchdown run was just showing off.

Demetruce McNeal - It is always great when a true freshman truely embraces his role on special teams in stead of taking that role for granted because he isn't getting the snaps he wants on defense. Craig Sanders has been getting the headlines thus far on special teams but what McNeal did on Saturday was remarkable. On six kickoffs McNeal was the first man down there and made the solo tackle four times. Four tackles on six plays... not bad.

Nosa Eguae - In his first collegiate start Eguae showed the athleticism and play-making ability that has been missing from our strong side defensive end position. Through the first three weeks Goggans had only made .5 tackles for a loss; against South Carolina Eguae amassed 1.5 tackles for a loss as a part of his five tackles on the night. An already strong defensive line just got stronger with this addition.

Philip Lutzenkirchen - The "Swede Killa" finally made an appearence and he came through with one of the biggest catches of the game. His leaping, spinning, touchdown catch in the fourth quarter gave Auburn the lead and showed off his amazing hands and ball skills which may be the best on the team. It is nice when a player who has put in the dirty work blocking for three straight weeks without a pass even being thrown his way does what he is asked without complaining and makes the plays when his number is called.

Negatives
Wes Byrum - After last week's performance I hate to put him here. His first field goal miss from 52 yards wasn't really his fault; that was a tough kick to make and in my opinion we should have gone for it on fourth down. But, his miss from 18 yards could have cost us the game. I am sure he will bounce back well but this was disapointing to see from one of Auburn's best.

Looking Ahead: Louisiana-Monroe
This break comes at just the right time. If Louisiana-Monroe wasn't so bad I would worry about a let-down game but I don't see that being an issue against one of the worst teams in the FBS. After those last three weeks being so grueling mentally and phisically we need to focus on our execution early and get our starters some much needed rest in the second half.

Film Study: Clemson (Second Half)

3rd Quarter Clemson 17 Auburn 3

It is hard to happy with much of what has been done on offense thus far and the defense has been far from perfect but considering all of that, to be down by 14 points and getting the ball out of half time it is easy to tell this game is far from over with. Obviously dramatic improvements will need to be made along the offensive line and Newton will need to make some better decisions and passes but it is within reach.

15:00 - Washington fields the kickoff at the 8 yard line and returns it 21 yards to the 29. There was also a 15 yard facemask penalty tacked onto the end of the run.

14:50 - Newton carries up the middle for a gain of 3. Still not very good blocking as we use Isom and Greene to double team the play side tackle who ultimately still makes the tackle. Also Eric Smith whiffed on his block on Bowers which meant Berry who pulled into the gap had to pick him up. After Smith's whiff he failed to find anyone else to block which could have helped.

14:29 - Dyer carries up the middle for a gain of 4. Isom got beat to the inside by his man and is called for holding. Everyone else seemed to make pretty good blocks including Smith who made a great block on Bowers but it looked like Dyer picked the wrong hole. He had the right side of the line sealed off with Berry free to lead him off tackle with a good block on the outside by Burns. Isom's hold would have negated it either way but the play looked better on the outside.

14:07 - Pass complete to Adams for a gain of 35. You can't leave this guy in one on one coverage. Great protection by the O Line giving Newton plenty of time to pump fake and hit Adams down the side line. The pass was slightly under thrown which allowed the defender to catch up to Adams, if not that could be a touch down.

13:46 - Newton's pass intercepted by Brewer. We motioned McCalebb into the backfield and faked the hand off then took a shot at Kitchens down the sideline who was running a wheel route. If Newton throws the ball a couple seconds earlier he could have gotten him before the corner got over into coverage but once again he held the ball too long and stared down his receiver. Fortunately the ball was spotted at the 1 yard line.

13:39 - Harper carries up the middle for no gain. Great push by Fairley up the middle and Bynes was free to come up and make the tackle. If he attacked the hole a little harder he could have gotten the safety. Clayton also did a great job holding his ground and fighting off the block to get in on the tackle.

13:02 - Parker scrambles right for a gain of 2. Clemson called a play action bootleg pass to try and hit something down field but everything was covered. Good pursuit by Goggans and Clayton to force the play out of bounds after a short gain. However, while Goggans pulled up seeing Parker running out of bounds, Clayton seemed to forget that this was a quarterback and drove him out of bounds and slammed him down. A killer 15 yard penalty getting Clemson out of the shadow of their end zone.

12:40 - Harper takes the toss right and is dropped for a loss of 1. Great play by Carter who avoided Allen's block and blew up the pulling guard 3 yards behind the LOS. This left Harper with little room to run. Washington, Bynes and Clayton were all there to finish the play. Great defensive effort.

12:04 - Ellington carried off right tackle for a gain of 2. Goggans finally got some push against Allen and was able to force the play a little further outside which didn't allow Ellington to build up as much speed around the corner. Also it looks as if Roof now has our corners looking back at the play because they have been much faster to react to running plays so far this half. Bynes fought off the block of the center and combined with Washington to lay a big hit on Ellington.

11:22 - Parker pass falls incomplete. Antoine Carter burns the left tackle around the edge and has pressure on Parker within a second of him taking the snap. This forces Parker to roll out to the right and attempt a dump off to the fullback in the flats who isn't able to make the catch. If he does make the catch Bates and Washington are there to make the tackle.

11:16 - Clemson's punt travels 51 yards and is fielded by Carr. When Carr makes the catch his knee is on the ground and the play is whistled dead.

11:09 - Reed back in at wildcat carries up the middle for a gain of 2. Not much blocking again except Smith who laid a good block on the end. Berry looked slow on pulling around and sealing off that side.

10:37 - Newton carries for a gain of 7. This time Greene and Isom hold their blocks well one on one and Ziemba pulls into the hole. Newton makes a good cut to bounce it outside though probably shouldn't have made the second cut outside around Adams. Either way it was a nice gain, albeit against their second string D Line.

10:02 - Pass to Adams complete for 34 yards. Great protection from the offensive line giving Newton plenty of time to look down field. This pass looked slightly under thrown as well but in this case I believe it was on purpose. The defender was a step in front of Adams which allowed Adams to cut behind him and jump up to make the catch. Great play by a great receiver. Gutsy play call by Malzahn on 3rd and 1.

9:44 - Newton carries up the middle for a gain of 2. Again we line up with the unbalanced line with Ziemba outside of Greene. Newton keeps it on a zone read but once again no hole developed. The outside run seemed there once again but instead we opt for the rugby scrum.

9:13 - Newton scrambles for a gain of 4. He initially pump faked on a quick screen to Zachary which appeared to be setting up a pass down field but pressure on that side forced him to roll to his right. He didn't see anything and the camera angle doesn't allow me to see either but he does what he can to pick up decent yardage and set up a managable 3rd down.

8:32 - McCalebb carries for 12 yards and a touchdown. Newton faked the hand off to Dyer right and gave it to McCalebb on the end around. Ziemba and Berry simply collapse the left side of the line giving McCalebb one man to beat to turn the corner and Smith out there blocking for him. Smith fortunately gets away with a hold with gives McCalebb that corner but it is interesting that the Clemson player, Branch, decided to throw his hands up looking for the flag instead of diving for McCalebb who he easily could have shoved out of bounds. Once McCalebb got the edge he made one cut inside juking the corner and was into the end zone.

8:24 - Extra point good.

8:24 - Short kickoff fielded at the 20, returned 12 yards to the 32.

8:17 - Ellington carries to the right for a gain of 3. Goggans and Fairley get a good push on the left side and Blanc does a great job of getting off his block as Ellington is coming through. Carter also shows good speed in backside pursuit. Bates also stuffed the center who was trying to create the hold on the second level.

7:50 - Ellington carries up the middle for a loss of 2. The defensive line does a nice job occupying blockers but this play is all on Bynes who slips past the left guard who is supposed to pick him up and blows Ellington up behind the line. Great read by Bynes and a perfect tackle.

7:11 - Parker fumbles the snap, scrambles for a gain of 6. It is hard to say what would have happened on this play as Parker couldn't handle the shot gun snap. Goggans and Fairley were getting a good push on the left side while Carter, Bates and McNeil all converged quickly on Parker before he reached the first down. McNeil planted his helmet in the small of Parker's back on this play which left Parker writhing in pain.

6:32 - Clemson's punt carries 33 yards and is fair caught on the 27 yard line.

6:26 - McCalebb carries around right end for a gain of 15. This time Burns lines up in the wild cat and hands it off to McCalebb running towards the unbalanced line. Again Smith lays a good block to allow McCalebb to turn the corner but his speed does the rest. Newton and Blake are on that side laying good blocks out to the first down marker.

6:00 - Dyer carries around right end for a loss of 1. A.J. Greene is unable to hold his block on Bowers and Dyer gets stopped short of the LOS. If Dyer were able to turn the corner he would have had a chance to out run the safety down the sideline as he had a good block by Blake down field.

5:27 - Pass complete to Adams for a gain of 19. The play action fake to McCalebb didn't fool anyone but the line does a good job holding the four man rush. Newton gunned it on a rope right on target and Adams took a big hit from McDaniel but held on. Great completion for a big first down.

5:16 - Dyer carries off right tackle for a gain of 9. Finally he bounces it outside and picks up a decent gain. Lutzenkirchen helps Greene seal off the right side but Zachary missed his block on McDaniel who eventually made the tackle down field. Dyer made a great move to avoid the corner at the line of scrimmage and some how was able to cut it up field.

5:07 - Dyer carries up the middle for a gain of 23. Clemson's defensive play call worked played right into this inside run. The tackle lined up over center cut outside while the end was supposed to stunt inside. Ziemba neutralized the tackle while Pugh sealed off the end. Isom pancaked the other tackle with a little help from Greene who also got a hand on a linebacker (though I'm not sure it made a difference). Clemson's linebacker's and McDaniel were all reading Berry who pulled right and Dyer was past them by the time they realized he had the ball.

4:57 - Dyer carries up the middle for a gain of 5. It's official, Malzahn has reached ludicrous speed. Three straight plays snapped with 25 seconds remaining on the play clock. It appears as if this was the exact same play just with slightly less success due to Clemson's MLB recognising it sooner. Good blocks by Ziemba and Pugh and it looked as if Isom tried to reach the second level and block the MLB but couldn't get there fast enough.

4:29 - Dyer carries around right end for no gain. Smith is unable to hold the edge blocking Bowers one on one which doesn't allow Dyer to follow his blockers up field right away. This allows the corner time to get off Isom's block and the back side pursuit to catch up.

3:46 - Newton pass completed to Adams for a 8 yard gain and a touchdown. Absolutely beautiful catch by Adams in the end zone. Great focus to drag his right toe in bounds while making the catch. Great pass by Newton after he got more great protection from the O Line and for all the negatives I've had for Greene this game I need to mention that he has done a terrific job against Bowers in pass protection.

3:41 - Extra point good.

3:41 - Kickoff fielded three yards deep in the end zone and downed for a touch back.

3:41 - Parker pass falls incomplete. They tried to fake a toss left and then roll right to the slot receiver releasing after chipping on Carter. Problem is Carter was too fast. By the time Parker turned around Carter was in his face and he was forced to throw it in the dirt.

3:36 - Draw to Ellington for a gain of 21. Carter and Clayton do a good job of beating their man but Ellington slips past them. Goggans identifies the draw early enough it seems but was slow to fill the gap and made a weak effort to make the tackle when he got there. Bynes get blocked by the center who released up field and Bates gets screened by the umpire allowing Ellington to get into the secondary. Ethridge eventually makes the tackle.

3:15 - Harper carries for a gain of 1. The play was designed to go up the middle but the line does a great job of filling all of those holes, especially Goggans who beats the outside lineman (unbalanced to the left) and Bynes who blows up both lead blockers in the designed gap. Goggans misses the tackle on the cutback but Bell and Savage are there to finish the play.

2:32 - Harper carries up the middle for no gain. Clayton does a great job of beating his man to the inside and Fairley pushes his man 2 yards into the backfield which doesn't allow Harper to bounce it out to the left. When he tried to cut back right Carter is there on the backside pursuit to wrap him up.

1:57 - Parker pass falls incomplete. Ted Roof dialed up another blitz, this time bringing all 6 defenders who lined up in the box. With more blitzers than blockers Stevens was left with a free shot at Parker. Fairley also didn't take long to beat his man and create pressure up the middle. With the quick pressure Parker tried to roll right and hit a receiver cutting back but the pass sailed high.

1:51 - Clemson's punt travels 41 yards and is fielded by Carr who returns it 1 yard to the 17.

1:42 - McCalebb carries around right end for a gain of 5. It looked like Clemson's corner would stop this play for a loss but McCalebb makes an amazing cut up field and gets a great block by Smith on the line backer. McCalebb stiff arms McDaniel and picks up another 2 yards before being gang tackled at the 22.

1:16 - Newton Pass completed to Zachary for 78 yards and a touchdown. Great protection by the O Line, great pump fake by Newton, great route by Zachary and also Zachary showed amazing balance as his tight roped the side line after the catch. Right as Newton released the pass he was hit by a defender and the ball still traveled nearly 60 yards in the air and hit Zachary right in stride. Since the interception Newton is now 4 for 4 for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns.

1:03 - Extra point good.

1:03 - Kickoff fielded at the 2, returned 21 yards to the 23.

0:55 - Parker pass falls incomplete. Pass interference called on Washington. Upon replay it shows this is a horrible call. Washington never makes contact until the receiver makes the catch and the he swats the ball out of his hands. Not much pressure from the four man rush on that play.

0:46 - Harper carries up the middle for a gain of 5. Clayton demolished on this play opening up a big hole on the right side while Lemonier who is in for an injured Carter gets double teamed by the tackle and a tight end before the tackle releases to block Stevens. The center released up field and occupied Bynes. Blanc is able to shake loose of his blocker but can only get an arm on Harper and is carried for the remainder of the five yard gain before Thorpe and Clayton come in to help.

0:19 - Harper carries around right end for a gain of 6 and a first down. Unfortunately, after rebounding well so far in the second half, Goggans returned to getting demolished by Clemson's tight end Allen. Blanc gets taken out by a chop block which wasn't called (and fortunately didn't hurt Blanc) while Bates ate up the block of the fullback and Bynes took on the pulling guard, both of whom held their ground forcing the play to the outside. Washington perhaps left his feet a little early and wasn't able to hang on to Harper's ankles to make the tackle. Savage was late getting to the edge and Harper hurdled him to convert the first down.

4th Quarter Clemson 17 Auburn 24

24 unanswered points will do just fine, thank you very much. You can't ask for better half time adjustments. The defense gave up practically nothing all quarter while the offense gained 259 yards and scored 21 points and could easily have been more with Cam's interception on the goal line. Auburn clearly has the momentum but Clemson has the ball at midfield.

15:00 - Ellington carries up the middle for a gain of 22 yards. The D Line gets caught slanting right and Ellington cuts it back against them. Stevens is in perfect position to make the tackle but attempts a weak arm tackle after being juked. Blanc recognises the cutback well and gets in position to make the play but also only gets an arm on Ellington followed by Bynes doing the same. Bates gets off the block of a lineman who reached the second level only in time to see Ellingto accelerate past him. Washington had outside contain (which is even more reason that Stevens should have not fallen for the juke and made the tackle) and was caught up in traffic trying to chase the play down. Ethridge and Savage eventually make the tackle down field.

14:33 - Parker pass falls incomplete. The four man rush doesn't get much pressure and again Goggans is neutralized by Allen, freeing up the left tackle and guard to double team Fairley. The pass was intended for Harper who ran a wheel route but this time Stevens was running stride for stride with him.

14:26 - Pass complete to Jones for a gain of 3. Another slip screen this time Fairley, Eguae and Blanc all recognise it quickly and are able to stop it for a minimal gain.

13:48 - Pass complete to Dye for a gain of 9. Another six man blitz from Roof and Eguae and Stevens get through to provide pressure but Parker releases it in time. Dye catches the pass just as he turns around on a 10 yard hitch route. Thorpe has tight coverage, perhaps a little too tight as he is flagged for interference.

13:32 - Harper takes a toss right for a gain of 6. Allen gets away with a hold on this play otherwise Carter blows it up in the backfield for a loss of 5. Once Harper gets the corner Clemson uses a fullback to take out Bynes and Ethridge takes an agressive angle and allows Harper to turn the corner. Bates comes all the way from the opposite side to force him out of bounds.

13:10 - Screen pass to Ellington complete for a gain of 11 yards. Stevens is coming on a blitz around left tackle and Ellington chips on him before releasing for the pass which leaves the left side wide open. The defense is in man coverage which has the cornerbacks running with their backs to the ball already five yards past the first down marker. Bynes does a good job avoiding the lead blocker but severely underestimates Ellington's speed and watches him run right past him. Thorpe and McNeil combine to make the tackle at the 2.

12:40 - Ellington carries up the middle for a gain of 2 and a touchdown. Not a bad job by the D Line but against a goal line package from Clemson we kept our 4-3 personell on the field which was simply over powered. Clemson had two tight ends outside the tackles and motioned a third to the left side then led through that hole with a full back as well. To defend that left side we had one end, two LB's (one lined up on the LOS), 2 corners and a safety. Not enough beef. I'm not sure why we didn't but I would have liked to see us sub out one of the safeties for a third tackle which would have given us much more beef on the front line.

12:36 - Extra point is good.

12:36 - Kickoff fielded at the 4 by Washington, returned 32 yards to the 36 yard line. On the play Sanders is called for a 15 yard late hit and though the hit was made after Washington went down the wistle had yet to be blown. Bang-bang play, and tough call. It should be noted that Sanders pancacked 3 guys on that one return.

12:25 - McCalebb carries around right end for a gain of 11. Newton holds the read long enough to keep Bowers (unblocked again) at bay which gives McCalebb just enough space to use his speed to get around the corner. Clemson was in man coverage so both receivers on that side ran their corners out of the play.

12:09 - Newton carries up the middle for a gain of 3 yards. Ziemba and Berry were responsible for double teaming Jenkins on this play and he fought through both and dove at Newton's legs at the LOS forcing him to leave his feet and fall forward for a moderate gain. Other than that everyone else made decent blocks.

11:38 - Zachary takes the reverse for a loss of 7 yards. After having amazing success with this play last year, thus far this year on 3 attempts it has lost 11 yards total. This time McDaniel followed Zachary from the other side of the field, used his speed and cut right through the line to take him down for a loss. If someone is able to pick him up (Pugh's man was already down and he possibly could have cut him off) than Zachary had room to run around the corner.

10:50 - Newton sacked for a loss of 6. This is one of the first times that Clemson has brought a blitz and the do so with a six man pressure. I'm not sure who the protection call falss on to but Ziemba picked up all the wrong people. Auburn had seven blockers against a six man rush yet Clemson's linebacker ran in untouched and two more guys weren't far behind him. Branch finally got the best of Greene (and to add injury to insult Greene's leg was rolled up on during the play, breaking his ankle and likely ending his season) and Smith was left to block the other end, Branch one on one. After Jenkins stunted Ziemba went inside to double team the other tackle instead of picking up the blitzing linebacker.

10:27 - Shoemaker shanks this punt out of bounds after just 29 yards to the Clemson 48.

10:18 - Harper carries up the middle for a gain of 2. Fairley sucked up a double team by the left tackle and guard while Goggans occupied the outside lineman of an unbalanced line. Allen motioned to that side who picked up Ethridge who you could tell read run early. Bates blew up the full back at the line of scrimmage and Bynes dodged the pulling guard and stepped up to make the tackle.

9:42 - Draw to Harper for a gain of 1. This time Clayton draws the double team and he is neutralized while Carter runs up field leaving a huge hole for Harper to run through. However, our linebackers stayed at home and Bynes is there to force Harper to try to bounce it outside. Carter makes a terrifically athletic play to work his way back towards the LOS and make the tackle.

8:58 - Parker sacked for a loss of 8 yards. Clemson pays the price for leaving Fairley one on one as he burns past the right guard with ease and lays a lick on an already hurting Parker. Clayton was double teamed on this play by the center and left guard.

8:20 - Clemson's punt carries 41 yards and is fair caught at the 16.

8:12 - Newton carries it up the middle for a gain of 8. Good keeper on the read option. I think this play would have gone for a huge gain in Dyer's hands as the entire right side was collapsed but Berry got beat to the inside which would have blown the play up in the backfield. Newton fought through arm tackles for a solid gain.

7:51 - Dyer carries around left end for a gain of 15. Great run by Dyer. Lutzenkirchen laid a great block on Branch but after that it was all Dyer. He cut the run outside Lutz's block but when Clemson's LB was there to stop him he juked inside and was up field in a flash getting the LB completely turned around. He got in behind a great block by Burns before finally getting run out of bounds.

7:32 - Newton carries up the middle for a gain of 2. On this play there was a big hole but Greene's replacement, Sullen, got beat too quickly and his man was able to come around behind Newton and trip him up. If Sullen slows him down one step there was a lot of room for Newton to run.

6:56 - Pass complete to Smith for a gain of 8. Newton finally delivers one accurately to Smith and he shows what he can do with it. He dodged one tackler than was initially hit four yards before the first down marker by McDaniel but he just kept driving his legs and fighting for yardage and picked up just enough.

6:41 - Dyer carries for a loss of 1. Isom and Sullen double teamed one tackle while Lutzenkirchen demolished his end but Pugh was left one on one with Jenkins who was able to force his way into the backfield and grab hold of Dyer's shoulder pad and pull him down. If Dyer gets past him, a quick cut right and he would have been off to the races.

6:00 - Newton scrambles right for a gain of 8. Newton had good protection with no pressure getting through but he must not have seen anything open. We finally got a good shot of the receivers running down field and there was good coverage. It looked like he could have hit Zachary with a shart pass on a 10 yard post but it would have been a tough throw. He rolled right and also could have tried to hit Zachary deep who by now had cut upfield and had a step on his corner but Newton kept it and got a good block from Dyer which alloed him to get up field for a solid gain.

5:10 - Newton carries for a loss of 1. This appeared to be an option play with McCalebb running behind him. The line got terrific blocks with Ziemba demolishing the left side tackle, Smith picking up the end and Isom pulling to pick up the stunting tackle. Newton just didn't hit the right hole (TWSS) and missed an opportunity to pitch it to McCalebb. The linebackers were all looking in at Newton and if he pitched the ball to McCalebb he would have easily found the edge and had Burns and Blake out there blocking for him.

4:25 - Shoemaker punt carries 35 yards and is fair caught at the 9.

4:18 - Ellington carries up the middle for a gain of 12. Clemson lined up in a two tight end set and simply over powered our line. Carter beat the tight end (it was actually the full back lined up as a tight end) on his side but Ellington fought through his arm tackle. The right tackle went directly to the second level and actually blocked Stevens into Bynes, taking both out of the play. Savage was screened by the umpire and couldn't come up to make the tackle. He was eventually chased down by Thorpe and Blanc (I had to watch it twice, but yes Blanc was twelve yards down field and caught Ellington. Great effort!).

4:08 - Ellington carries up the middle for a gain of 7. Clemson gave Auburn a taste of ludicrous speed which didn't allow ESPN enough time to come back from replay to see the beginning of the play. Stevens did make the tackle.

3:41 - Harper carries up the middle for a gain of 2. Clemson used the left guard to crash down on Blanc and released the left tackle to the second level to occupy Stevens but Goggans was able to beat the full back (again lined up at tight end) and combine with Bynes to make the tackle. Once again Fairley ate up a double team.

3:04 - Harper carries around right tackle for a gain of 17. Again Clemson comes out in a jumbo set with no receivers, three tight ends, and a full back to block for Harper. Auburn lines up in the same formation as on the goal line but this time Clemson's tight end motions to the right side. The right tackle and guard double team Fairley and take him out of the play. The outside lineman crashes in on Goggans while the motioning tight end picks up Washington who is on outside contain. This leaves Bates to take on the full back and a pulling guard assigned to Bynes. The right side colapses and for some reason Ethridge is still 10 yards behind the LOS. Fortunately this wasn't Ellington or that is a touchdown. Savage ultimately makes the tackle.

2:43 - Ellington carries up the middle for 3 yards. The D Line slants right and Ellington again tries to cut back. This time Washington and Stevens have good contain. By the time Ellington cuts it back up the middle Carter has his man beat and Fairley has worked back towards the gap and they converge to make the tackle.

2:09 - My DVR cut off on this play but before it did you could tell Clemson was running a reverse and we were going to blow it up for a loss. The next recording picks up before their next play with it 3rd and 9 so it was dropped for a loss of 2.

1:40 - Pass falls incomplete. Clemson ran Allen on an out and up and Parker had him wide open but the ball was just out of his out stretched reach. Savage was converging quickly and got a good lick on him mid air. Again Roof called a six man blitz but this time Clemson had enough blockers, unfortunately for them, the right guard couldn't hold off Carter who provided pressure on the play and likely forced the errant pass.

1:34 - Clemson punt carries 45 yards and is returned by Carr for 5 yards to the 12.

1:23 - Dyer carries up the middle for no gain. Auburn lined up with only Berry and Lutzenkirchen left of center while Isom, Sullen, Ziemba and Smith were all on the right side. On top of that Berry pulled right leaving only Lutz on that side and it appeared as if thought the run was going to the right. Isom did get beat to the inside but instead of Dyer bouncing it left he should have and could have bounced it right and it likely would have gone for a solid gain.

0:49 - Dyer carries up the middle for 5 yards. Decent blocking by the line to create a hole but Pugh needed to hold his block a little bit longer. Also Ziemba crashed down and collapsed his side but needed to do a better job of knowing when to release onto the second level.

0:04 - Dyer carries up the middle for no gain. Clearly we were just playing for overtime. Dyer chose to bounce it outside hoping for a big gain but there was good blocking up the middle. It was obvious both sides were ready just to finish regulation.

Overtime Clemson 24 Auburn 24

Not overly happy with the decision not to try to score before the end of regulation with 83 seconds left and two time outs but being backed up inside your own 15 there is probably a greater chance of something bad happening than good. We tried to gash them with a quick run which if it got more yardage maybe we would have tried something but it was stopped short and here we are. A lot of credit goes to Clemson for surviving the onslaught of the 3rd quarter and rebounding with good defense in the 4th and coming up with a one more big scoring drive. Auburn's defense played great only allowing 7 second half points.

Clemson won the coin toss and chose to play defense first, Auburn chose to play on the side of the student section.

1st and 10: Newton carries up the middle for 2 yards. Newton made a wise decision to keep it on this zone read as McCalebb would have been blown up for a loss which could prove deadly in an overtime situation. Pugh got a good initial block but his man was able to spin back into the gap and take down Newton for a short gain. Otherwise Isom and Berry were already on the second level with at least room for a first down.

2nd and 8: McCalebb takes the jet sweep around right end for a gain of 2. Sullen got beat bad to the inside by Jenkins otherwise the play should have been for Burns to keep it in the wildcat. Clemson defenders far out numbered our blockers and only McCalebb's speed allowed us to gain the two yards, however McCalebb paid for it with a brutal hit that likely ended his night.

3rd and 6: Newton pass falls incomplete. It wasn't a bad decision to throw it to Adams but it would have required a perfect pass which he nearly delivered but it was just out of reach. At the snap he faked a hand off to Dyer then faked the end around to Zachary however after Zachary released the only person there to cover him was a linebacker nearly 10 yards away. If Newton went to his next progression Zachary easily would have picked up the first down, possibly scored a touchdown.

4th and 6: Byrum 39 yard field goal is good.

1st and 10: Parker pass completed to Brown for a gain of 4. Parker rolled right and found Brown on a quick out. Decent coverage by Bates and Washington but it was a perfect pass. Goggans once again had the tight end one on one on the side Parker rolled to but he couldn't create pressure.

2nd and 6: Ellington catches the screen for a gain of 8 and a first down. Stevens and Bates were in position to make the tackle on Ellington but they underestimated his acceleration and he blew past them. Bynes came over to make the tackle.

1st and 10: Ellington carries up the middle for a gain of 5. Again Ellington was able to find the cut back lane out of a two tight end set. Carter was forced towards the middle of the field and Stevens crashed into the pile giving Ellington the edge. Bynes fought off a block to combine with Washington to make the tackle.

2nd and 5: Ellington carries left for no gain. Again in the two tight end set with Allen motioning to the left side. The line does a good job clogging up the middle but Ethridge makes a terrific play fighting off the fullback and making a diving stop on Ellington before he can get outside.

3rd and 5: Parker pass falls incomplete. Auburn may have gotten away with an offsides on this play as Stevens jumped up to show blitz and stepped barely over the LOS but it wasn't called. Parker faked the hand off and the end around and rolled to his right finding Brown open in the end zone but throws it just out of his reach.

4th and 5: Clemson 26 yard field goal good. Initially there was a flag calling Auburn offsides on this play, however after discussing it the correct call was made in that the center double clutched the snap which was a 5 yard penalty on offense.

4th and 10: Clemson 31 yard field goal no good.

FINAL: Clemson 24 Auburn 27

Film Study: Clemson (First Half)

This feature is a product of me being between jobs and the wonderful benefits of having DVR. I will do my best to go play by play to identify who did well, who missed assignments and hopefully identify areas of opportunity for this team. Maybe if I do well enough Coach Chizik will hire me.

1st Quarter

15:00 - Craig Sanders was the first one down the field on the kickoff (again) and Chris Davis wasn't far behind him. Both guys blew up their man and clogged the running lane. Davis made the tackle. Sanders was taking some cheap shots after the whistle and the Clemson player had shoved him down so Craig, from his ass, grabbed the Clemson player and threw him to the ground with ease. Gotta love The Animal.

14:52 - Ellington run right, gain of 1. Great team effort by the defense in occupying the blockers and clogging the running lanes. Everyone played their assignment well.

14:23 - Ellington draw, gain of 9 for a first down. We rushed four here and our ends got really far up field. They had Fairley in one on one but ran the draw, wisely, to the other side. Clayton was double teamed. Our LB's were dropping into zone coverage and didn't react quick enough to the draw. Craig Stevens tried to run around the block by the tight end and ran himself out of the play and Josh Bynes was a step slow to get to him before he reached the marker.

13:46 - Toss sweep right to Ellington, gain of 11. They lined up in tight formation and motioned Ellington to the right. Darren Bates was in man coverage against Ellington and was assigned to follow him across the field. He was simply too slow to keep up. Also, Aairon Savage should have forced the play back inside and could have stopped it for a short gain but he took a horrible angle and allowed Ellington to turn the corner and took himself out of the play.

13:28 - Harper carried to the right for a loss of 4. Great play by Zach Clayton. Absolutely blew up his man and forced Harper to go further outside than he wanted. Carter had pushed his man up field giving Harper no where to go. Clayton made the tackle.

12:50 - Screen pass to Harper, gain of 15. Well executed play by Clemson. Clayton and Fairley both could have done a better job of recognising the screen earlier but I'm not sure either would have been fast enough to catch Harper either way. Stevens and Bynes were both a step slow getting to the edge and allowed Harper to get past them. Savage came up to make the tackle but it is concerning our safety had to come UP to make a tackle 18 yards from where the player caught the pass.

12:26 - Harper run right, gain of 1. Great effort by Nick Fairley. Fairley started out lined up over the left guard but got double teamed by the center. He immediately recognised the play going to the right and he tossed the center to the side, stunted into the gap and blew up the play. Good job by Antoine carter collapsing the right side as well not allowing Harper to bounce it outside.

11:48 - Zone read hand off to Ellington, gain of 6. Our D-Line got owned on this play. All of them had one on one match ups and the only one to beat their man was Nick Fairley who had a chance to blow the play up for a loss but was juked out of his shoes in the back field. Josh Bynes was way too slow in recognising who took the hand off and Darren Bates had an offensive guard on the second level blocking him. Good effort by Clayton to chase the play down from behind.

11:09 - Fake fullback dive, toss right to Ellington, gain of 3 for a first down. Very frustrating play. We had our second string D Line in on this play (probably because it has been a long drive to this point and Roof just saw the whole first team get owned) which included true freshman Corey Lemoneir at rush end. He had outside contain responsibility on this play and bit on the inside fake giving Ellington room to turn the corner. Despite that Aairon Savage had the play read and came up to make the hit at the line of scrimmage but was carried forward for 3 yards before Ellington went down.

10:45 - Dive left to Ellington, gain of 19. The right side of our D Line was absolutely demolished on this play giving Ellington a HUGE cutback lane. Clemson had an unbalanced line with an extra lineman outside the right tackle. Nosa Eguae was one on one with that lineman and was pushed three yards off the line of scrimmage and out of the play. Mike Blanc got double teamed by the right tackle and right guard and was also pushed out of the play. Demond Washington should have contained the outside cutback but overran the play to the inside and then made a very weak attempt at an arm tackle just grabbing at air as Ellington ran by. Savage overran the play as well and had to reverse field to force Ellington out of bounds after the huge gain.

10:23 - Harper off left tackle, gain of 8. First team D Line back in there but not much better results. Clemson double teamed Nick Fairley with the right tackle and right guard but Michael Goggans got demolished by their tight end. A strong side d-end needs to be able to beat a tight end one on one to make the tackle. Bates ate up the fullback and Bynes caught the pulling guard. Ethridge came down to seal off the bounce outside to the left so Harper cut it back through the original hole. Savage came up to make the tackle but was again pushed back three yards from the point of contact.

9:46 - Hand off to Harper, loss of 4. This play was absolutely blown up by Nick Fairley. When I first saw it I thought it was miscommunication between Harper and Parker but this was a designed stretch play but by the time Harper and Parker met for the hand off Fairley was already three yards deep in the backfield. Try to leave him one on one and this is what happens. Carter and Bynes were there to combine for the tackle after Harper tried to reverse field.

9:07 - Shovel pass to Harper, gain of 8 for a touchdown. Well designed play by Clemson. Parker rolled to his left and they left Goggans unblocked to chase him up field. The left tackle crashed down on fairley and the left guard went directly to the second level (Stevens). The key block on this play was the center one on one with Mike Blanc (I assume we had both our pass rushing DT's in because 3rd and 7 is a passing down) and Blanc just couldn't get off the block. The right guard pulled around to seal off Josh Bynes who did a good job of forcing the play back to the right. Stevens did a great job of fighting off the block of the left guard but looked bad trying to make an arm tackle on Harper. The guard who Stevens fought off went on to knock Savage on his ass and the right corner, T'Sharvan Bell, had chased the receiver too far towards the middle of the field to get back to make the tackle.

8:59 - Extra point good.

This was a painful drive to watch but it is obvious this was a very well scripted drive and Clemson's running backs are very talented. Ellington's speed allowed him to make a few plays that few other running backs are capable of making and the cut back Harper made on his touchdown run was very nice. Clemson's staff did a great job neutralizing our best lineman (and paid dearly when they didn't) and exploited our weakest one on multiple occasions. They picked on Savage's side of the field quite a bit as well with obvious success.

8:59 - Demond Washington kickoff return fielded at the five, taken to the 32. Good return, great blocking.

--The game clock stopped working here so I won't have the time stamp until the 2nd quarter begins--

1st and 10: Newton held the ball for about 3 seconds in the pocket which is adequate time. The camera angle doesn't let me see what receivers may have been open but he took it down and ran for a gain of three yards.

2nd and 7: Great job running the HUNH, we were lined up ready to snap it with 26 seconds on the play clock. The refs stop the game with more clock issues (this is crippling to Malzahn's offense and our offense's rhythm). Once play is resumed we run Dyer up the middle for a gain of four. Their linebackers did a great job of holding their ground against pulling guards and fullbacks and not allowing the linemen to get to the second level.

3rd and 3: A little slower getting lined up here but still snapping the ball with 17 seconds left on the play clock. We line up with an unbalanced line with Ziemba outside Greene on the right side. Zone read hand off to Dyer is blown up in the backfield because A.J. Greene is tossed to the ground at the snap by the tackle lined up over him. I'm not sure how well the play would have worked either way, though. Isom pulled to the right and was going to lead Dyer around the edge but Clemson ran a zone defense which meant no one followed Kodi Burns on the fake reverse leaving no one to block the corner on that side. Isom would have had to choose between the safety (McDaniel) or the corner (Maxwell) leaving the other completely unblocked. Despite pulling both our guards to the right it looked as if Newton kept the ball he would have had more space to get the first down. That being said, Greene needs to make a block.

4th and 6: Shoemaker booms a 50 yard punt returned seven yards to the 22. Tackle made by T'Sharvan Bell and Craig Stevens.

1st and 10: Ellington dive to the right, gain of 1. Same as the first play of the game, everyone held their ground and occupied their blockers filling all the running gaps. Team effort on the tackle.

2nd and 9: Parker's first non-screen pass of the night falls incomplete. Great coverage by Bynes on the receiver. Somewhat of a lazy route on his part but Bynes did a great job not to get there early and deflect the ball away. If Bates wasn't so focused on knocking the Clemson player's head off he probably could have gotten a pick on the deflected pass.

3rd and 9: Parker's pass falls incomplete. Gutsy call by Roof to go into a Dime look the way Clemson had been running the ball. Jessel Curry lined up as our dime 'backer with Chris Davis being the dime corner. We only rushed four with a delayed blitz by Curry when Ellington stayed in to block. He needs to be careful there though, because after Ellington chipped on Goggans he went up field and would have been wide open if Parker had one more second in the pocket. Luckily Carter and Fairley whooped their men (not sure why they double teamed Blanc instead of Fairley) and Parker's pass was ugly as he tried to avoid the rush.

4th and 9: Punt of 38 yards fair caught by Carr at the 39 yard line.

1st and 10: Jet sweep to McCalebb, loss of 6. Another blown up play falls on A.J. Greene. Note to A.J.: I'm not sure who you thought you were supposed to block but when there is an all-conference defensive end lined up over you and the play is coming to your side, I suggest you at least make an effort to slow him down. Bowers came in completely unblocked while A.J. wonders into the second level looking around for a linebacker to block with none in sight. Had Greene made that block McCalebb would have turned the corner with three blockers for three defenders.

2nd and 16: Newton pass to Adams incomplete. Great pass blocking by the offensive line as Newton had all day to throw. Adams ran an out and up but Newton slightly overthrew him and also could have made the pass a little sooner with less loft which would have allowed Adams to make the catch before the safety came over. Later in the game we run this play to Zachery for a TD and the difference is Newton also makes a better pump fake. Would have liked to see Darvin lay out for this ball too since its just off his finger tips. Also, I know Gus is gutsy and this is who he is but after our first series goes 3 and out, is this time and down and distance really the best time to call this play?

3rd and 16: Newton scrambled for a gain of 20 and a first down but there is a holding penalty called negating the run. Everyone on the OLine did well except Isom who got worked to the inside. He should have let go since Pugh was there to help him out but instead he grabbed onto the Clemson player's shoulder pad and pulled him down.

3rd and 26: Reach around draw to McCalebb, gain of 10. It is what it is.

4th and 16: Shoemaker punt for 38 yards, fair caught at the 29.

1st and 10: Parker rolls right, pass complete for a gain of 1. Clemson's receiver goes in motion but is blown up by Darren Bates right after he made the catch. Can't tell if anything was open down field but it looked like we called the perfect defense for that play.

2nd and 9: Parker throws a bubble screen complete for a gain of 3. Clemson motioned Harper out as a receiver making a trips left set against one corner and Eltoro Freeman spaced wide. Harper went up field to block the corner while the wide receiver was supposed to crash in on Freeman. Freeman, despite being held, beat his man and made the tackle with Ethridge and Bynes coming in at the same time. Well defended play. The holding penalty put them back 10 yards.

2nd and 19: Parker pass complete to Dwayne Allen for a gain of 16. Fairley and Carter got good pressure but allowed Parker to break contain and scramble to his right. It looked like we were in a zone defense and just lost Allen as he was wide open in the middle of the field. There was also a receiver open along the right sideline that Parker missed that would have also been close to a first down. It is hard to say whose zone he was in but Bynes was originally was covering him but was no where to be seen when the pass was thrown.

3rd and 3: Parker pass complete to Jones for a gain of 4 and a first down. We decide to bring pressure here and we have moderate success with it but Clemson had the right play call. Jones was lined up in the slot one on one with Savage in man coverage. He ran a quick out route just beyond the marker and Savage was a couple steps behind him. A better pass and he could have cut it up field. Not sure if this was by design but I'd imagine that when we are bringing a blitz and there is only 3 yards to the first down we shouldn't be giving the receiver a nine yard cushion.

1st and 10: Ellington run up the middle for a gain of 2. Second string DLine in there again and did a great job. Jeff Whitaker held his ground at the line of scrimmage and then shed the block in time to make the tackle on Ellington. No real hole to run through.

2nd and 8: Play action pass to Allen for a gain of 14. We bit hard on the play action here. Zac Ethridge was in man coverage on the tight end and followed him across the formation when he went in motion to the left side. Allen ran a great route taking two steps forward like he was going to lead block for Ellington on the hand off then cutting hard right against the flow of the play. Bynes AND Stevens bit on the run fake and blocked Ethridge's path to follow Allen across the play. Good play design and execution by Clemson. Mike McNeil was the deep safety who came up to make the tackle and perhaps he could have recognised the play a little sooner.

1st and 10: Ellington dive off right guard, gain of 2. Good push by Mike Blanc and the rest of the 2nd string DLine allowing Stevens and Bynes to come up and make the tackle. No where to run.

2nd and 8: Parker sacked for a loss of 1. First string D Line back in there and you can tell. Guess who? Nick Fairley blasts through the line right at the snap and actually tackles the running back (who Parker faked the hand off to) and was athletic enough to dive back at Parker who had scrambled forward and tackle him. In contrast Goggans came in unblocked and hesitated when he saw Parker fake the hand off then was juked when Parker cut it up field.

2nd Quarter - Clemson 7 Auburn 0

At this point in the game when I was watching it live I was ready to pull my hair out but looking back it wasn't nearly as bad as it appeared. We only had two possessions on offense and on both occasions one player missed a block which put us in difficult down and distances. The defense was on their heels on the first drive but forced a great three and out on Clemson's second possession and has a 3rd and 9 here to get the ball back again.

15:00 - Parker pass complete to McNeal for a gain of 8. Creative blitz call by Roof. We rush three lineman (Carter, Blanc and Fairley) while Goggans drops back into coverage. Curry who is in as the dime 'backer again shows blitz to occupy the center but drops back into a middle zone. Ethridge comes up on a delayed safety blitz and has an open lane to Parker but he unloads it just before Ethridge arrives. Bell had the coverage and tackled him just short of the marker.

14:20 - Harper carries to the right for no gain. Great stand by the defense as even when we have stuffed them before it seemed like the pile moved for a yard or two. It looked as if Fairley knew the snap count because he got a perfect jump on the ball stonewalling the gap Harper was looking for. Darren Bates did a great job blowing up the full back which blocked the pulling guard from getting into the hole to clear out Bynes. With Bynes filling the only hole available he stepped up and made a form tackle stuffing Harper at the point of contact.

14:15 - Trovon Reed carries up the middle for a gain of 6. Again running with the unbalanced line to the right, this time the QB (wildcat in this instance) kept it. Again Bowers was left practically unblocked which must be by design but he nearly made the tackle in the backfield again before Reed shook him. Good push by the rest of the line to move the pile for a solid gain.

13:49 - Dyer takes the zone read hand off for a gain of 2. The line didn't do a very good job of making a hole for Dyer to run through. Clemson's OLB did a good job on staying at home forcing Newton to hand it off. The line did get a decent push moving the LOS back two yards but all the gaps were filled with orange helmets.

13:17 - Newton pass falls incomplete. We rolled Newton to the right and he had two receivers open. Emory Blake had about a two yard cushion on a deep out for a gain of 12 and Eric Smith had the same space for a quick out right along the first down marker. Newton waited a little bit too long to throw it to Smith but decided to anyways and overthrew the pass. If Smith was going to be his choice he needed to release the ball a second earlier. He stared down Smith allowing the linebacker to close on him which would have made even an accurate pass difficult for Smith to hold on to. If Newton looked down field he would have seen Blake was open for the easy completion as well. However Ziemba got flagged for illegal receiver down field and I'm not sure what he was doing. He was 8 yards past the line of scrimmage blocking linebackers before the pass had even been released. Penalty was declined.

13:12 - Shoemaker's punt travels 42 yards, returned 6 yards to the 23. Tackle made by Emory Blake and T'Sharvan Bell.

13:03 - Parker pass complete to Ellington for 7 yards. Clemson faked the hand off to Ellington and our interior line bit hard. Carter couldn't beat his man one on one and Parker had all day to throw. Stevens got off a block from the full back to track Ellington but an accurate pass and good catch gave them a solid gain.

12:56 - Parker screen pass to Ellington complete for a gain of 21. Another well executed screen pass by Clemson. Carter did his best to recognise it quickly but Ellington was a step too quick and stepped out of his shoe string tackle at the line of scrimmage. Stevens was occupied on a block by their right tackle and tried to arm tackle Ellington as he passed to no avail. Bynes had dropped into a deep zone and was out of the play while the corner on that side, Washington, was being blocked by his wide receiver 18 yards down field. We've seen it three straight weeks, our corners can't get off blocks.

12:28 - Ellington sweep left for a gain of 9. The center and left tackle pull as lead blockers infront of Ellington. Goggans again is neutralized by a tight end one on one. Fairley gets a good push on their left guard but it isn't enough to make the play in the backfield. Darren Bates, who is the LB on the side of the run, takes a horrible first two steps towards the middle of the field despite the back and the entire line pulling to his side. However he makes an extremely athletic move hurdling the pulling tackle but it is too late as Ellington is already past him. The slot receiver crashed down and blocked Bynes while the outside receiver locked up Thorpe 8 yards down field. Thorpe did get off that block in time to force Ellington out of bounds but our defense got owned on that play.

12:01 - Playaction pass falls incomplete. Good play by Clayton to keep contain on Parker as he rolled to his right and Fairley and Carter showed good backside pursuit forcing the quick decision by Parker (and getting in a good lick right after he released it). Stevens ran stride for stride with the back and the pass was over thrown.

11:52 - Harper carries to the left for a gain of 3 and a first down. The play was designed to go the and the defensive line did a great job of freeing up the linebackers to make a play here. Clayton and Bynes blew up the play side and forced Harper to cut it back. Fairley was fighting through a double team and Bates came up to fill the hole but didn't wrap up and allowed Harper to spin left out of the tackle. Once again Goggans couldn't beat the tight end and missed an arm tackle that would have ended the drive. Thorpe and Ethridge combine to make the tackle.

11:25 - Parker play action pass falls incomplete. Good job by Eguae to not bite too hard on the run fake and force Parker to throw the pass before his receiver is wide open. The pass was almost perfectly placed over an outreached Bynes but he barely deflects it enough to cause the wide receiver to drop the pass.

11:18 - Parker pass complete to Hopkins for a gain of 12. Where on the last play Eguae contained the Parker rollout and didn't give him much time, on this play Lemonier is neutralized by Clemson's right tackle. He put his head down to bull rush inside but needs to be more aware of where the quarterback is going. It looked like good coverage by Bell but a good pass was tough to defend. There was a 5 yard penalty on the play against Clemson which negated the play but I couldn't tell what the penalty was for (possibly ineligable receiver down field).

10:46 - Pass complete to Allen for a gain of 14. Clemson lined up their tight end Allen out wide as a receiver covered by Thorpe. The line got a good push and put pressure on Parker but a quick, acurate pass was nearly impossible to defend with that size mismatch on the outside. Really a terrific pass by Parker.

10:02 - Harper carries up the middle for a gain of 2. The play was well defended but he fought for the first down. Fairley was flagged for a questionable off sides penalty which made the play's results moot. It appeared to me as if Fairley, once again, timed his jump perfectly.

9:38 - Parkers pass falls incomplete. Clemson was trying to set up a wide receiver screen that likely would have gone for huge yardage if Carter doesn't bat this ball down. When they are setting up a screen it is hard to give too much credit to the line for breaking through as they were likely let through but good job on getting his hands up to stop the play. After he batted the ball it seemed like it hung in the air forever and if Carter could have kept his balance it could have been intercepted.

9:33 - Quick screen to Allen complete for a gain of 6. Allen back lined up as a tight end once again man handled Goggans than tossed him asside to turn around to make the reception behind a lead blocker. Bates was the victim of the lead lineman but did a avoiding the block but couldn't bring the big guy down. The play was run to Thorpe's side who had to fight off a block by Harper, who had motioned out as a receiver, to make the tackle.

9:07 - Harper sweeps left for a loss of 7. Josh Bynes blitzed right through the middle of the line on this play and blew it up in the backfield. Good job by Clayton to hurdle the cut blocker and provide backup as Harper tried to shake loose of Bynes. Big defensive play to force the field goal attempt.

8:25 - 42 yard field goal is good.

8:19 - Kickoff returned from the goal line for 17 yards.

8:12 - Dyer takes the hand off and carries for a loss of 2. On this play Isom and Greene pulled leaving Bowers unblocked again. This meant Newton had to hand off on this zone read. Greene did a good job pulling through the hole but Isom hesitated before initiating his block which clogged up Dyer's running lane forcing him to hesitate. If Isom blows his man up Dyer may have shot through the hole but there was still a little traffic to navigate.

7:37 - Dyer carries up the middle for a gain of 3. Once again there was no hole for Dyer to run through. The line got a decent push but all the gaps were filled. It looked like Dyer possibly could have bounced it outside and tried to beat the linebacker to the corner but we need our line to open up the hole where the play is designed.

7:03 - Newton pass complete to Adams for a gain of 23. Great protection from the offensive line and a good job by Newton to go through his reads, look at the check down, than come back to Adams who broke open down field. The pass was on a rope right between the 8 and 9 on Adams' chest.

6:45 - McCalebb carries around left tackle for a gain of 17. Malzahn reaches into the bag of tricks and has Auburn huddle close to the spot of the ball then when they break huddle McCalebb is ducked down behind the right guard. A quick snap and Newton hands off to McCalebb who carries it for a big gain.

6:22 - Play action pass falls incomplete. Newton once again rolling right has Eric Smith open in the flats and over throws him. Would have been a gain of at least four or five yards.

6:14 - Dyer takes the option pitch off the right side for a gain of 8. Newton could have attacked Bowers a little more before pitching it and it would have been nice if Zachary held his block a bit longer on the outside but overall good execution for a solid gain. Lutzenkirchen had a great cut block on a linebacker as well.

5:47 - Newton keeps it up the middle for a gain of 16. Great run by Newton through the first bit of daylight this line has created but A.J. Greene is flagged for holding. It is unclear if Newton would have made it through the gap without the hold but Greene definitely could have let go sooner and we still would have gotten the first down. This is an absolutely killer penalty on our first successful drive of the night.

5:27 - Newton pass falls incomplete. It looked like Newton looked at Adams a second too long before releasing the pass giving McDaniel time to come over to make the play. It was a perfect pass that Adams would have caught but McDaniel was able to get there and knock it out of Adams' hands. It also looked as if he had Carr open along the left seem for a first down.

5:19 - Shoemaker's punt travels 47 yards for a touchback.

5:10 - Harper takes a toss sweep around left end for a gain of 4. This play run by Ellington earlier in the game for a gain of 11 but this time Thorpe was out there in zone coverage and held his own against a pulling guard forcing Harper out of bounds after a moderate gain.

4:48 - Brown carries around left end for a gain of 7 yards and a first down. Parker faked the hand off up the middle and handed it to the receiver on an end around. Freeman, Thorpe and Carter all crashed inside taking them out of possission to make the tackle. Bynes fought off a block and chased down the receiver but was a step slow in getting him before the first down marker.

4:22 - Play action pass to Allen for a gain of 16. Allen started on the left side of the formation and streaked against the grain behind a slanting line. This is another play they ran earlier except last time Ethridge got caught in traffic and couldn't make the play. This time Bynes has this responsibility and gets caught leaning to his right and can't keep up with Allen after he makes the catch. Washington makes the tackle.

4:04 - Ellington carries right for a gain of 2. The play was designed to go left but all the gaps were filled there. Blanc did a terrific job of fighting off his block and filling the cutback lane.

3:28 - Parker pass falls incomplete. Roof brings five guys on this play blitzing two linebackers and dropping Carter back into coverage. Parker reads this and delivers a quick pass but the receiver wasn't ready. Good coverage by Washington.

3:23 - Parker pass falls incomplete. Roof once again dialed up a blitz bringing Stevens in addition to the four down linemen but Clemson's line protects well. The had two hitch routes right at the first down marker. Allen was the inside receiver covered tight by Ethridge while he had an outside receiver with a big cushion from Bell. The pass appeared to go between both but Allen reached out for it and couldn't haul it in.

3:18 - Clemson's punt travels 52 yards for a touchback.

3:08 - Newton carries up middle for a gain of 8. Good read by Newton. He faked the hand off to McCalebb which froze the end long enough to open a gap just off the right guard. A.J. Greene did a great job getting to the second level and finding a linebacker to block.

2:43 - McCalebb carris around left end for a gain of 3 and a first down. Lutzenkirchen didn't get a good push on his block on this play and Clemson's defensive end showed impressive speed forcing the play far outside. McCalebb made an impressive cut back to avoid being tackled for a loss and picked up the first down.

2:31 - Zachery carries around left end for a gain of 2. It is hard to say whose responsibility it was to pick up McDaniel but he came flying in from his safety spot and forced Zachary to cut it further outside than the play was designed. It looked like Ziemba would have had the best shot at him but he didn't see him coming, while Adams saw him but was screened by Ziemba and couldn't get there. As a result niether player blocked him and the play was stopped for a short gain.

2:03 - Newton pass intercepted by McDaniel. Burns was the intended receiver on a wheel route which was wide open. But, Newton rolled right into the pressure and was forced to throw it off his back foot which lofted the pass way too much giving McDaniel time to come over to make the play. It was a bad throw but McDaniel made an awesome play on that ball being 10-15 yards away when it was released and timing his jump absolutely perfectly to catch the ball just above Burns' hands and come down with it.

1:54 - Pass complete to Jones for a gain of 10. Slip screen to the receiver out of a trips set to the right side. The linebackers are in soft zone coverage but good effort by Blanc to chase the play down from behind. Auburn got robbed on the spot as it should have been about half a yard short of the marker but they give them the first.

1:42 - Pass complete to Dye for a gain of 15. Auburn brings Stevens on a blitz giving Auburn five pass rushers but Clemson leaves seven in to block. No one gets a great push but Parker released the pass quickly on a five yard hitch. Bell had the coverage and both he and McNeil overpursue the play to the outside allowing Dye to cut it back inside for the big run after the catch. Bell recovers to make the tackle with Bynes.

1:34 - Parker pass incomplete. They were trying to set up another screen to Harper here but we did a great job of getting quick pressure and forcing Parker to throw it into the dirt. Blanc and Bates on a blitz had the pressure while Bynes and Stevens were converging on Harper.

1:29 - Parker pass complete to Dye for a gain of 12. Another quick wide receiver screen. Bell was neutralized by his receiver and Stevens was a step slow getting around the lead blocker. Savage forced the play out of bounds.

1:21 - Parker pass complete to Harper for a gain of 24 and a touchdown. Perhaps the catch of the night in college football by Jamie Harper. Perfect pass by Parker and an amazing catch by Harper in the end zone. Only Fairley was able to break through Clemson's line to provide pressure but it wasn't in time. Parker's initial pump fake to the screen gave Harper just enough space behind the safeties to make the play. Its hard to fault Ethridge who had the coverage after we have been burned all night on the screen pass. They had been setting this up.

1:14 - Extra point good.

1:14 - Kickoff fielded by Washington at the 6 and returned for 24 yards to the 30.

1:05 - Newton tackled for a loss of 1. It is hard to tell what happened on this play since they were showing the 17th replay of Harper's touch down catch but it didn't look pretty.

0:43 - Another play that was disrupted by ESPN's broadcast team. It flashed back to the game in time to see Newton throw a dart to Burns who was being molested by the Clemson defender. Pass interference called.

0:38 - Newton sacked for a loss of 4. Again the line got demolished and Pugh was called for holding. The penalty was declined.

0:27 - McCalebb tackes the reach around draw for a gain of 15 yards. Great blocks by Ziemba and Berry on this play setting up a huge hole for McCalebb to run through. McCalebb then used his speed to simply burn the Clemson linebacker and cut the ball upfield. He then makes a good juke move to freeze the corner and pick up another 5-6 yards and get out of bounds.

0:19 - Newton scrambles for a gain of 14. This is a play that makes Newton so valuable. He looked down field for a few seconds and when nothing was there he was able to use his speed to pick up big yardage.

0:09 - Newton draw for 16 yards. A designed draw play once again gets good blocks from Ziemba and Berry while Isom slips to the second level and picks up a linebacker. It is amazing how easy he made those two carries look and he just covered nearly a third of the field. Good awareness to dive down at the end of the run and not get caught fighting for extra yardage and running out the clock.

0:02 - Wes Byrum's 35 yard field goal is good.

Game Review: Clemson

Knee-Jerk Reaction
This team is not good for my health. The inconsistencies and weaknesses of this team were abundantly apparent Saturday night but so was the team unity and leadership that give them the potential for great things. The talk of achieving great things, though, needs to be put on hold for the time being. I think its safe to say Cam Newton isn't going to win the Heisman this year. It's also safe to say that until this team shows they can put together four quarters of solid play on both sides of the ball there are plenty of teams in this conference capable of beating them. After that extremely grueling game, both physically and mentally, there isn't much time to celebrate victory with the 'Cocks coming to town in just six more days. The most disturbing observation against Clemson was the lack of a push from the offensive line against a team who got gashed by North Texas in week one. Clemson getting Jarvis Jenkins back surely helped but with the veteran offensive line that we are fielding you'd expect a much better performance. The holding calls were crippling in the first half and are evidence that they are playing lazy, sloppy football up front. Despite the 24 points and over 400 yards yielded, the defense is a strong unit. They seemed to take a little while to get into a grove as they were on their heels through Clemson's entire opening drive but a lot of credit should be given to the ACC Tigers as their running backs are legit, their offensive line is tough and Kyle Parker is a gamer. My final note on this game, appropriately, is to give the utmost respect and credit to one of the best kickers in Auburn history, Wes Byrum. He has ice running through his veins and is as solid as any kicker in the country inside 45 yards. When he finishes this season he will be the all-time leading scorer in Auburn history and deserves to be recognised as one of the great players in our storied program.

Positives
Wes Byrum - He deserves the top spot here this week after his 39-yard game winning field goal in overtime. Though he nailed it through the center of the uprights with apparent ease, that kick from the right hash was anything but easy. He has also been handling the kick off duties this year and though few of his kicks reach the endzone, he is getting fantastic hangtime on those kicks allowing our coverage team to get downfield and make the tackle.

Onterio McCalebb - I have failed to give McCalebb much credit in the first two weeks and that is a disservice to the impact he has had on this offense. His ability to stretch the defense wide really loosens up the middle of defenses for Newton and Dyer to make plays between the tackles. His touchdown run Saturday night was a thing of beauty. His rare speed allowed him to turn the corner on a fast defense, he then turned on the jets burning past the linebackers, and when the safety thought he was closing in to drive him out of bounds McCalebb planted his foot, cut inside and bolted into the endzone. He carried the ball 10 times for 81 yards and that touchdown which made him Auburn's best offensive weapon.

Darvin Adams - If Lee Corso were here I'm pretty sure my last sentence would have drawn a quick "not so fast, my friend." Adams might have something to say about being the best offensive weapon after his five catch, 118 yard performance including a spectacular toe dragging touchdown that tied the game late in the third quarter. Adams is clearly Newton's favorite target as he was the only player who caught a pass until Terrell Zachery's 78-yard touchdown reception with 0:48 left in the third quarter.

Gene Chizik - The biggest positive of the game was the composure the team showed when getting down 17-0 and coming out in the third quarter with the right attitude. Even when the opening drive ended with an interception at the one yard line the team didn't hang their head or give up. When the defense had Clemson backed up and got called for a 15 yard personal foul they didn't get frustrated and let that play lead to more gaffs. The defense bucled down, forced three straight punts while the offense turned those three posessions into 21 points. This team always believes they can win, they believe in each other and they believe in their coaches and all of the credit for that should be given to Coach Chizik. He is always composed and his confidence in the players and his staff is what allows those people to believe in themselves and each other.

Negatives
Cameron Newton - In weeks one and two I called it nitpicking because his mistakes or imperfections were far overshadowed by his playmaking ability. This week his weaknesses were exposed and I believe we have legitimate issues at this position. Newton is a rare athlete that will always give us a chance to win. There are a lot of things he does better than any other quarterback in the country but there are simple things, things needed to be a successful quarterback, that he needs a lot of work on. He stares down his receivers and struggles with his touch and accuracy. He floated the pass to a wide open Kodi Burns that allowed the safety to come over to make a pick while gunning one two feet over the head of Eric Smith on a check down in the flats. He has a huge arm to get the ball down the field but he struggles with making quick decisions and often holds the ball too long which forces him into the decision to chuck it up or duck it and run. Against quality defenses (Clemson's is good but far from the best we will see) he will be forced into mistakes and we won't always be able to overcome them. Coach Malzahn says that one of Newton's best attributes is he never makes the same mistake twice. There are a lot of different ways to throw an interception but let's hope he spends a lot of time this week working on some of his fundamentals and decision making.

Offensive Line - For a veteran unit with two All-SEC players they were absolutely horrible on Saturday night. There were blown assignments, players getting blown backwards, and critical plays that were blown due to mindless pentalties. The offensive line blew. No one player was exempt from criticism after this game except for maybe John Sullen who came in after A.J. Greene went down with a knee injury. Sullen didn't get called for one penalty and we seemed to hear a lot less from DaQuan Bowers after his arrival.

Craig Stevens - I know it was his first game back and he surely had some rust but his performance was absolutely pitiful. He was constantly getting caught up in traffic and losing his man on screens. When he was in position to make a play he looked more like a scared freshman diving at the ball carrier trying to make an arm tackle instead of staying on his feet, planting his facemask into their sternum, wrapping up and driving his legs. Stevens is a veteran player who knows how to tackle but he didn't show it on Saturday night. I'd expect he's going to have an ugly film session and a tough week of practice ahead.

Looking Ahead: South Carolina
The mistakes and inconsistencies will eventually catch up with this team if they aren't corrected. I'm not sure if USC is as good as everyone is claiming right now but they appear more than capable of coming out of Jordan-Hare with the win if we insist on turning the ball over and commiting mindless penalties. As it has been said before, if this team finds a way to put it all together they are capable of beating any team in the country but we have yet to see that and are getting to the point where we shouldn't expect it to happen. Perhaps inconsistency is the identity of this offense. Perhaps undisciplined penalties are an attribute of this team. Until they prove otherwise, that is what I am going to expect to see and just hope that the big play ability and some timely defensive stops will continue to lead us to victory.

Time to Get the Gus Bus Rollin'

Many people, myself included, are wondering what has happened to Gus Malzahn's hurry-up no-huddle offense so far this fall. We haven't been huddling but we have been doing anything but hurrying. Last year we saw us run what most teams would call a "2 minute offense" pretty much non-stop. Last week Auburn got the ball with 2:18 left in the half and Malzahn calls five runs verse three passes and we take a timeout into the locker room as we let the final seconds tick off the clock from the MSU 39 yard line. In 2009 we averaged roughly 70 plays per game and Malzahn wasn't happy with that, setting a goal of getting to 80 plays per game for the 2010 season. Through two games the offense is average merely 66 plays per game. So, the question has to be asked, when will the Gus Bus quit riding the breaks and kick it into overdrive?

This week. Why not?

Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation for the pedestrian pace against Arkansas State and Mississippi State.

Against the Red Wolves Auburn's offense was trying to keep things fairly vanilla. There was no real reason to run everything at full tempo. The offense was picking up yardage in huge chunks with some very quick scoring drives (6 under 2 minutes) that didn't require a lot of plays to get it done. On the defensive side of the ball we were playing soft coverage giving up a lot of underneath passes and allowing Arkansas State to win the time of possession battle by nearly 10 minutes. That combined with Auburn running merely six plays in the final nine minutes while the second and third teamers picked up some garbage time reps further explains the low number of plays run by the offense in the season opener.

After putting up 52 points in week one few were concerned about the number of plays ran or the pace of the offense. All expectations were that against Mississippi State we would open up the offense full throttle to put Cam Newton and all of the weapons around him on display. A mere 348 yards and a second half shutout later and the questions began to pop up. The 65 offensive plays ran against the Bulldogs may not be as easily explained as the 67 against ASU but I'll give it a shot. Going into the game one of the biggest factors mentioned was the volume of the crowd and all of their cowbell glory. Frequently we saw the offense hurry to the line quickly only to look to the sidelines for an adjustment while the play clock ticked down. It reminded me more of Tony Franklin's no huddle offense than Gus Malzahn's. Likely the reasoning was that with the crowd noise and MSU DC Manny Diaz's blitz-happy reputation we wanted to get to the line and check off based on what the defense showed and we relied on signals from the sideline rather than having Newton try and make the call. In the second half we saw three consecutive drives move into MSU territory only to end with zero points due to penalties and a missed field goal. There is no doubt that with the defense playing well and the hostile environment we saw Malzahn call his most conservative game to date.

Looking towards the showdown on the Plains this Saturday it is hard to find an excuse not to see Malzahn's offense running full bore. The defense has proven to be able to come up with big stops and play well when placed in difficult situations. There is more depth on defense as well which should allow the offense to run full steam without worry from the coaching staff that the defense wont be able to keep up. The crowd will be on Auburn's side so unwanted crowd noise will not be an issue. The two veteran players who left last week's game with injuries, Mario Fannin and Lee Ziemba, have both already returned to practice and are expected to play on Saturday. Perhaps most notably, Malzahn and many of the offensive players have acknowledged the slower pace and vowed to ramp up the tempo this week, going as far to say "if we run 80 plays, we will win the game."

Also, freshman summer phenom Trovon Reed has been said to be ready to go since week one but has been held out of both games but should be good to go this week adding another element to what Malzahn is able to do. Add the development of Mike Dyer at running back, likely becoming the workhorse runner this offense has been missing and there is no reason we shouldn't see the full strength of the 2010 offense.

More plays and more weapons may not equal more points against a strong Clemson defense but I do expect Malzahn's offense to return to "warp speed" pace. No excuses this week, the Gus Bus is gassed up and ready to take off.

ACC Pride In Clemson's Hands

No conference took a bigger hit on "Monster Saturday" than the ACC. Heading into the season the ACC had four teams (#10 Virginia Tech, #12 Miami (FL), #15 Georgia Tech, #17 Florida State) with legitimate hopes at playing in BCS bowl games, possibly National Title Consideration. Those teams are a combined 3-5 after two weeks with the three wins coming against Florida A&M, South Carolina State and Samford. Miami and FSU had marquee match ups against other title contenders Ohio State and Oklahoma, respectively, and lost by a combined 42 points. Ouch! Georgia Tech who is the defending ACC Champion was playing a Kansas team riding a seven game losing streak including an opening week 6-3 loss to FCS North Dakota State. Kansas 28, Tech 25. Ouch!

Amazingly, none of those were the most embarrassing loss of the weekend of the ACC's title contenders. Virginia Tech, after an opening week loss to an allegedly strong Boise State team, bounced back with a stunning loss to FCS opponent James Madison 21-16.

The Hokies aren't the only BCS conference team with a loss to an FCS oppponent this season. Ole Miss? Below average team with QB issues. Minnesota? Bad Big Ten team with lots of issues. Kansas? Bad Big-12 team with a new head coach. Virginia Tech? Established coaching staff, veteran Heisman contender at QB, two All-ACC running backs, one of the best defensive coordinators in college football... HOW?

The rest of the conference did nothing to make up for their money-maker's ineptitude. The team everyone thought was ready to take a big step forward in 2010 was North Carolina who has now been dismantled by two NCAA investigations ridding Butch Davis' squad of many of their best players. Wake Forrest picked up the first conference win with a back and forth offensive scrimmage against perennial doormat Duke. Boston College is sitting at 2-0 after very uninspiring wins over Weber State and Kent State. Maryland nearly lost to Navy before beating up on Morgan State (Who??). Virginia picked up a win over Richmond before losing to a very pedestrian looking Southern Cal team. NC State blew past Western Carolina before pulling out a seven point win at UCF.

So, basically, NC State's seven point win against a mid-major is the best victory by any team in the conference this year. I hear people knock the SEC's out of conference schedules and we defend it by pointing to the slobber-knocking that goes on during in-conference play. I have never seen so many FCS opponents on team's schedule as the first two weeks of play in the ACC. And with the top of the conference looking pretty average, it is probably safe to say that the ACC is the worst BCS conference in America, and possibly worse than some of the mid-major conference.

Now, it all comes down to Clemson, and they will get their stage. Last year's Atlantic division champion didn't get much preseason hype with the loss of C.J. Spiller, Jacoby Ford and Ricky Sapp to the NFL and the expected departure of QB Kyle Parker to the Colorado Rockies. Parker passed on an $800,000 signing bonus to play football this fall and Clemson believes they have the pieces in place to make a run at a conference title (looking more feasible now). But, will they be able to do something no one else in their conference has been able to do thus far this season and beat a ranked opponent?

ESPN's College GameDay will be on hand in Auburn to watch the battle of the Tigers as Clemson tries to salvage whatever dignity might be left for the ACC. So far this year Clemson has done about as much as their other 2-0 conference members having picked up their wins over North Texas and FCS foe Presbyterian. Certainly there will be a lot of pride on the line for Clemson and also the opportunity to become the conference's top team. Fans of FSU, Miami or Georgia Tech likely don't often cheer for Clemson, but they better root hard for them next Saturday because they're the ACC's last hope.

Week 2: Bets to Make Your Money Back

After a dismal 2-8 opening week on the books I need to make some money back... I've got the picks to get it done this week.

Georgia Tech -14 at Kansas
This is the same Kansas team who lost 6-3 to North Dakota State, right? Thought so. This is the Georgia Tech who are the defending ACC champions, right? Thought so. Tech's triple option is always hard to prepare for and its even harder for an out of conference opponent to prepare for it since the game doesn't have the conference implications that cause a team to really circle the wagons for a must-win type game.

East Carolina -13.5 vs. Memphis
East Carolina likely isn't as strong as they were under Skip Holtz but their season opening win over Tulsa showed they still know how to put up points, something Memphis proved completely inept at doing for 46 minutes against Mississippi State. The Tigers are in major rebuilding mode and just aren't there yet while ECU should still have enough left from Holtz's success to win this one at home fairly easily.

South Florida +16 at Florida
Florida looked really bad last week. I'm sure they will make adjustments and improve but USF is a much better opponent than Miami (OH). Auburn fans know well how much USF likes to get up for these big out of conference games. Florida will need to tighten up fast just to win this game, which I think they will, just not enough to cover the spread.

Florida State +7 at Oklahoma
Oklahoma also had a very shaky opener, squeaking out a 7 point win against Utah State last week. Christian Ponder will light up the Sooner secondary and Greg Reid will make a big play in special teams. This is way too tight of a game for OU to give up a full touchdown.

Miami (FL) +8.5 at Ohio State
Too much Ohio State hype going into this game. Miami looked very impressive in their opener and have the athletes capable of containing Terrell Pryor. This is another game that is sure to come down to the wire and if The U doesn't win straight up they will surely cover the 8.5 points they're getting.

LSU at Vanderbilt +10
Vanderbilt looked impressive in their heart breaking loss to Northwestern to open the season and the nerds in Nashville are surely smart enough to know not to kick to Patrick Peterson. The wheels are coming off in Baton Rouge and while they may sneak out with another win this week they will continue to show coaching ineptitude and the biggest waste of talent in the country.

Oregon -12 at Tennessee
Maybe Derek Dooley fooled a lot of people with his 50-0 win over Tennessee-Martin in week one but he won't be able to hide his deficiencies this week against the Ducks. Oregon's 72-0 drubbing of New Mexico might have built up a heap of bad karma but it won't keep them from covering the spread in Knoxville.

Arkansas -34 vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Arkansas has a game under their belt to warm up while the schedulers at UL-Monroe decided their bye week would best be put to use in week 1. Good luck shaking off the rust against Ryan Mallet and Bobby Petrino's offense. Arkansas showed last week that against putrid competition their defense is capable at least slowing them down. The Hogs should have this one covered through three quarters.

Mississippi -20.5 at Tulane
First of all, why is Ole Miss playing AT Tulane? Way to be second class Rebels. Speaking of second class, how the hell did you blow a 20 point lead against FCS Jacksonville State and embarrass yourselves and our esteemed conference?? If Ole Miss was playing even an average opponent I would say that the mess that the Reverend has created down in Oxford could call for another upset but Tulane snuck past Southeastern Louisiana in week 1 and that score was more indicative of their talent level than Mississippi's loss to Jax State. The Rebels have serious issues but they will do enough to dominate Tulane this week.

Stanford -6.5 @ UCLA
The Stanford Cardinal should be contenders for the Pac-10 championship this year and UCLA is probably still a year away, especially after the injuries they have suffered. Their opening week loss to Kansas State did nothing to show me they will be able to stay within a touchdown of a better Stanford team. I really like what Jim Harbaugh has going on in Palo Alto.