Game Review: Mississippi State

Knee-Jerk Reaction
Phew. I can't remember the last time I was this nervous before an Auburn football game. And thinking more about why that is I realized the true implications of winning or losing last night. If we lose that game we would be immediately behind the 8-ball in the SEC West having lost to a team that should be no better than 4th best in the division and to make matters worse the public perception of losing to Mississippi State, no matter how improved they may be, would severely limit our ability to claim we are on our way back to elite status. In addition, it could hurt the mental psyche of this team. They have spent all summer talking about "Good to Great" and playing for championships; it is hard to convince yourself you are "great" or ready to compete with the big dogs in this conference if you can't beat Mississippi State. So what did the win mean? Chizik's road record as a head coach hasn't been pretty and to go on the road in a hostile environment and beat a team who circled this game as a must-win is huge for building confidence for this team. And what may be more beneficial is the way we won it. Ted Roof had been under a little heat after fielding the worst statistical defense in school history in 2009 and getting off to a shaky start allowing 366 yards in the opener to Arkansas State. For Auburn's defense to hold Dan Mullen's offense under 250 yards of total offense, only 14 points, and come up with big stops at critical moments was just what this team couldn't do last year against Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. Nick Fairley was an absolute beast in the first half and if he can maintain that level of play this defense should continue to be strong.

Positives
Cam Newton - Making his second consecutive appearance in this slot, Newton showed that he is capable of getting it done against a quality SEC defense. He didn't break any big runs but he converted multiple critical 3rd downs and showed he isn't afraid to lower his shoulder and plow through a defender. If he gets the slightest bit of daylight he will pick up at least five yards simply by falling forward.

Nick Fairley - Already mentioned above Fairley dominated in the middle of this defense and was the absolute difference maker Thursday night. His 3 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, fumble recovery and interception are sure to earn him SEC Defensive Player of the Week. What's scary is when he was making most of those plays he was fighting through double teams and still making the play.

Brandon Mosley - When Lee Ziemba went down I was absolutely terrified. Mosley has never played a live snap at tackle at any level and was called upon unexpectedly to stop All-SEC defensive end Pernell McPhee, and he did. Reports from Twitter claim Ziemba's injury was just a bruised knee and he should be back next week but it sure is nice to know someone like Mosley is capable of filling in admirably.

Negatives
Mario Fannin - I hate to put him here two weeks in a row since I was very confident this off season in Super Mario's ability to step in where Ben Tate left off and become another in a long line of great running backs at Auburn. Though it has only been two weeks I think it is safe to say that isn't going to happen. Not only because of his second consecutive poor performance but also because the coaches clearly don't call his number on running plays as frequently as they do McCalebb and Dyer. Further hindering his future at running back was the late game shoulder injury he suffered on the same shoulder he hurt prior to his sophomore season forcing him to move to the less physical slot receiver position. If he is healthy I do expect Fannin to continue to be used at running back because of what he brings to the passing game, both in protection and as a versatile receiver, but it is probably safe to assume that Mike Dyer will see his carries increase against Clemson.

Gus Malzahn - Dr. Gustav? What is he doing here? Let's see, when we were backed up inside of our own 10 yard line Gus called three straight run plays with Onterio McCalebb right up the gut for gains of one, two and two. If we're scared to let Cam drop back and throw from our own endzone, than why not run a QB draw which had consistently picked up 4-5 yards or more? If we want to run dive plays up the middle why not put in Mike Dyer, our best between the tackles runner? At 3rd and 7 why not run a bubble screen or try to get McCalebb on the outside with a sprint option? The play calling just didn't seem like we even cared to pick up the first down there. Also at the end of the 2nd quarter we take over with 2:18 on the clock and the ball on our own 14. We proceed to call four straight running plays, picking up decent yardage and moving the ball to near mid-field, but none of the run plays got the players on the edge where they could get out of bounds and we left ourselves with 0:41 left to try and salvage some points. After one incomplete pass we run the ball again, McCalebb picks up 12 yards but again doesn't get out of bounds, and we call a time out. From the Mississippi State 42 we take two shots down field, both incomplete, setting up a 3rd and 10. At this point we know we are just out of field goal range and will need another 10 yards or so to get into range. So, we run McCalebb up the middle for three yards and watch the last 0:10 tick off the clock without using our final time out and jog into the locker room. Why not call a play that could get us into field goal range? If we are out of range, why not take a shot into the endzone or run one of Gus' famed trick plays? I just don't get why we had no sense of urgency on offense last night. Maybe Gus knew 17 would be all we need. Those two very questionable posessions both occured in the first half in which we scored all 17 of our points. The second half lacked any sort of consistency or big plays despite having the best player on either side of the ball under center for Auburn. In addition, Malzahn's Hurry-Up No-Huddle offense puttered along at a very pedestrian pace running under 70 plays for the second consecutive week after claiming all summer that he wanted to ramp up the tempo this year. Let's hope he is just holding back because his offenses' success is predicated on keeping defenses on their heels and having them gassed in the forth quarter where we proceed to impose our will. Next week will be interesting to see how his play calling and tempo progress.

Quindarius Carr - Chizik said last week he still hadn't bought stock in Carr yet and now we see why. He bounced back after the 1st quarter fumble but his confidence was clearly shaken as he called more fair catches and let a couple punts bounce in front of him to avoid muffing another one. I think he will keep the job next week but watch out for Trovon Reed when he gets healthy.

Cam Newton - Yeah, nitpicking again. If Newton is going to claim he wants to be the greatest player to ever put on an Auburn uniform he better expect to be critiqued like a player with those expectations. He needs to get more done through the air. He picked up the large majority of his passing yards on bubble screens save two passes to Darvin Adams. His intermediate passing game is still not where it needs to be and the bulldogs were ready for the deep shots and picked off his first attempt down field. Defenses are running man 2-deep and sending the linebackers in the flats and on contain assignment to limit his scrambling. If he can find his tight end up the seam or hit a few more 15-yard ins then it will really loosen up the flats and bring the safeties down a little bit closer opening up the deep passes.