Game Review: Kentucky

Knee-Jerk Reaction
Despite the final score of this game, I never did feel it was in jeopardy. Maybe it was Cam's remarkable ability to make accumulating yardage and touchdowns look so easy, maybe it was because I was in the Highlands where the beer flows like wine. Either way, this Auburn team knows how to win close games; and that is quality of a championship team. The first half solidified Cam Newton's Heisman Trophy bid with 129 passing yards and 134 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He showed his poise and leadership on that final 19 play 86 yard game winning drive (in which he accounted for 74 yards) setting up Wes Byrum for a chip shot 24 yard field goal as time expired. The third quarter was one to forget (once again, we struggle to put together four complete quarters of solid play) and Cam deserves as much blame for the poor play as anyone. On his interception to open the half he had plenty of time in the pocket but decided to throw it to a player who was well covered. It seems that this is when nearly all of Cam's interceptions occur. They aren't because he is pressured and he makes a bad decision, and they aren't usually because he makes a horrible throw, they happen because Cam seems to get cocky. Every once in a while someone needs to tell him he isn't the Man of Steel and he can be stopped if he doesn't make the right decision. The first three drives of the 3rd quarter Cam went 0-4 with an interception. Whatever someone said to him or whatever changed in his mindset before taking over with four minutes left in the third, it worked. His first two passes of that drive were completed for 56 yards and he led us all the way down the field before his last completion was stopped short of the goal line and we settled for a 19 yard field goal. As for the running backs, it was very disappointing to see Dyer fumble again (on an almost identical hit) because if he wants to be our workhorse down the stretch than we need to be confident that he will be able to hold on to the ball. On the flip side Super Mario has had two successive weeks with out a fumble which is encouraging. He can help this offense in so many different ways so getting him on track is critical. Saturday night was McCalebb's first bad outing of the season. Kentucky seemed set on not letting any of our plays get to the outside (which is probably why the middle was so wide open for Cam). So if McCalebb's job is to stretch the defense to open up the middle, mission accomplished despite his lack of yardage. The defense... Oh, the defense. If you read my previous article, you know this game didn't surprise me. It played out nearly exactly as I expected it to so it is hard to criticise a unit for performing as expected. I see two ways of looking at it: The optimist in me says we held Kentucky to their lowest passing totals of the season, second lowest rushing totals of the season and held them to fewer total yards than Florida did (336 vs 352). Kentucky has a great offense and we have performed as well as anyone against them. The pessimist in me says that most of Kentucky's yardage in the Florida game came in the fourth quarter when the game was already in hand. Florida played the "bend don't break" style that we claim but our defense "broke" far too often while their defense held Kentucky to 20 fewer points. While the offense can claim one bad quarter, the defense was consistently porous, giving up 17 points in each half. We had become accustomed to great half time adjustments after shaky starts but we didn't get that this week. Plain and simple, our secondary is a liability. In the end we are 6-0, off to our best start since 2004 and have the top Heisman contender leading our team. Things could be worse.

Positives
Cam Newton - Career best 408 total yards is the top figure in the SEC this year. His first half explosion of 263 total yards and four touchdowns was one of the most dominant halves of football I have ever witnessed.

Offensive Line - Cam had time to throw and room to run all night, also Dyer and Fannin both averaged over six yards per carry. 311 yards on the ground and the line is doing something right and according to Cam, it was Lee Ziemba who gave the motivating speech prior to the game winning drive.

Wes Byrum - He nailed all three of his field goals and we needed every one of them. The 24 yard game winner was as easy as they come, but just ask Garrett Hartley how easy it is to shank one when the game is on your shoulders.

Negatives
Secondary - It is scheming that gives opponent wide receivers the big cushion at the line of scrimmage and whether or not that is the right approach is debatable, but being able to come up and make the tackle after the reception falls on our players. Far too often our corners can't get off blocks and our safeties are a step slow getting there or have their arm tackle shrugged off. Six games in it is hard to see much improvement but tackling needs to be an emphasis in practice the rest of the season.

The officials - Two horrendous personal foul calls on Zac Ethridge gave Kentucky one of their scores and a bad pass interference call on T'Sharvan Bell led to another. Penalties have been an issue for this team all year but a few of the flags Saturday night were simply incomprehensible.

Looking Ahead: Arkansas
This is a match up I have been dreading all season. When asked at the beginning of the season what two games scare me the most they would have been, and still are, Arkansas and Alabama. Our secondary has been torched all season and Ryan Mallet & Co are by far the best passing attack we will see all season. The Hawg's defense has improved enough to where we won't be able to drive the field with ease as we did against Kentucky. The defense will need to come up with stops. If Mallet has a weakness it is that, when rattled, he makes poor decisions which turn into interceptions. We need pressure from our front four and we need our secondary on its toes waiting for the first errant pass. Turnovers, as always, will be key in this game, particularly from the quarterback position on both teams. Home field advantage will be huge and hopefully be enough to push us to the win.