Game Review: LSU

Knee-Jerk Reaction
That was one of the most physically dominating performances I have ever seen against an SEC opponent, and for it to be LSU makes it even more impressive. The LSU defense was allowing 83 yards rushing per game and this offense racked up a staggering 440 yards rushing. Even if you take away Cam's 217 yards on the ground the rest of the rushing attack had nearly triple LSU's per game average. As for Cam... what can I say? What ever can be said has been said. He is amazing. I will go on record right now as saying he is the greatest running quarterback in college football history. I am going to take the next paragraph to give you some insight into exactly how dominating and rare a season Cam Newton is having.

Through eight games he already has the most rushing yards from the quarterback position in SEC history and with the addition of an SEC Championship game he will be well within reach of the NCAA single season rushing record by a quarterback (1,649), and possibly could eclipse Bo Jackson's 1,786 yards which would then be the greatest rushing season by any player in Auburn history regardless of position. He already has the Auburn record for most total touchdowns (27) in a single season with four, maybe five regular season games left. He is three touchdowns shy of tying Cadillac Williams and Bo Jackson's record of 17 rushing touchdowns in a season. With all of those amazing, long standing rushing records he is rewriting, you would think he isn't passing the ball at all. If Newton maintains his current pace and we make it to the SEC Championship game he would finish with the 10th most passing yards in Auburn history and would finish one touchdown pass shy of tying the school record set by Chris Todd last year (22). His current 2,441 yards of total offense already would rank 7th all-time in school history and if he maintains his current pace he would finish with 3,966 yards which would shatter Dameyune Craig's previous record of 3,277 yards. So, in summary, he is within striking distance of the single season records for rushing yards (at Running Back U!), rushing touchdowns (ditto), passing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and total offense. Uhh, wow.

Back to the game. As great as Cam has been the forgotten heroes of this undefeated team are the offensive linemen who completely dominated a LSU D-Line loaded with NFL talent. Coming into the game LSU DT Drake Nevis was neck and neck with Nick Fairly for Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC. He recorded two tackles. That's it. Speaking of Fairley, he was remarkable. I read over the weekend that one ESPN writer considered putting Fairley on his Heisman ballot. He's been that dominating. His 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss against LSU all but solidified his post season honors and put him firmly in the discussion for the Outland and Lombardi trophies. The last Auburn player to win those national awards was current D-Line coach Tracy Rocker.

Overall it was a great effort by the defense to keep pressure on the LSU quarterbacks all afternoon, keep the running game from breaking anything big and eliminate any big plays through the air (the one lapse there was the halfback pass for a 39 yard touchdown). Great game plan by Ted Roof and wonderfully executed by the team. Malzahn's game plan was fairly vanilla. He called a few deep passes to keep their safeties deep but otherwise kept the linebackers and ends on their heels with misdirection and zone reads giving this great offensive line all the advantage they needed to plow the way for all those rushing yards. Honestly the game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Auburn out gained LSU 526-243 and averaged 7.7 yards per play verse 3.6 for LSU.

Positives
Offensive Line - They get the top spot this week. Not only did Ziemba, Berry, Pugh and Isom rock out but, once again, Brandon Mosley held his own and continues to impress in his first year playing the position.

Cam Newton - Everything that needed to be said was said above.

Mike Dyer - Dyer quietly hit the 100 yard mark on just 15 carries. That alone would have been better than any rushing attack against LSU all year. He is hitting his stride at the right time and it is obvious he is developing into a special runner right before our eyes.

Onterio McCalebb - Squirrel did what he does best. Once he hits the corner not many players in the country are fast enough to catch him. What he does for this offense is so under valued by most fans. His 70 yard run was a perfect call by Malzahn because as soon as a defense stops respecting his outside run and tries to crash down inside on Dyer and Cam that is when McCalebb hits them for the home run.

Wide Receiver Blocking - Those kind of long runs don't happen without great blocking on the outside. On a night when we only threw for 86 yards a lot of credit needs to go to the guys on the outside who didn't get discouraged by the low number of passes and kept giving 100% in the other facets of their game.

Negatives
I got nothin'.

Looking Ahead: Ole Miss
As The Diesel (the bar in the Highlands, not Shaq) has been warning us all year, "It's A Trap!" After two huge home wins against nationally ranked opponents it would be easy for us to want to take a breather against a seemingly down Ole Miss squad. Now we have the #1 BCS ranking to defend and a streak of three straight road losses by the #1 team to break. Masoli had success through the air against Arkansas and also will prove dangerous on the ground as well. Their defense has talent but has struggled all year with a lack of focus and execution. The Rebel Black Bears are more than capable of pulling off the upset if we do not bring our 'A' game.