Game Review: Alabama

Knee-Jerk Reaction
Sweet eight pound six ounce new born baby Jesus! Why this team insists on playing with my emotions I will never know but, one thing is for sure, I have yet to have a reason to complain about the outcome. Giving credit where it is due, Saban and his gang came out with an amazing game plan on both sides of the ball and their team executed it to perfection for about a quarter and a half. When Trent Richardson dropped an easy touchdown pass that resulted in them settling for a field goal seemed insignificant when it extended their lead to 24-0, little did they know it was the beginning of the end. Coach Chizik and the leaders on this team deserve indescribable credit for being able to keep their cool and never lose faith in the face of adversity and a deficit no Auburn team in their great football history had ever been able to overcome. Knowing we would get the ball first out of the half was critical for me continuing to believe there was hope. Hitting the long touchdown before the half was affirmation that this game was far from over. Most teams down 24-7 at the half would come out of the locker room hoping to play for pride though few usually do. This Auburn team is different if you hadn't noticed yet. Trailing by 17 at the break is nothing to fear. I said at halftime if we come out and get a score than it is a 10 point game and Alabama will tighten up. They know we have been coming back all year and as soon as we are within striking distance they will be playing not to lose which usually results in a loss ironically. Not only did Auburn overcome the early deficit but they did so in a flash. Auburn scored their third touchdown of the night with over four minutes left in the third quarter. What was thought by many to be an insurmountable deficit was brought to a three point game less than eight minutes out of the break. The only gaff of the second half was Quindarious Carr's fumble on an ill advised no fair catch decision. The previous punt he fair caught was well blocked and he had room to run and clearly that was in his mind. Alabama's gunners were running free right at him and he was hit in succession by two players moments after he fielded the punt. The second hit jarred the ball loose which led directly to the only points Alabama would score in the second half. A defense that had been shredded in the first half was lights out in the second half. Nick Fairley did his thing along the line, Eltoro Freeman had his best game as an Auburn Tiger and T'Sharvan Bell was the best defensive back on either team Friday afternoon. The game winning drive had a little bit of everything from this offense. There was balance in the running game with Cam, Dyer and McCalebb all getting carries. There were creative play calls hitting McCalebb in the flats after the fake to the jet sweep. There were gutsy play calls with the decision to go for it on fourth and three from mid-field. Best of all, it culminated with the best touchdown dance of the 2010 season when Philip Lutzenkirchen jigged his way into the end zone with the game winning score.

Positives
T'Sharvan Bell - No player on defense stood out to me as much as Bell did on Friday. With all the struggles we have had in the secondary it was nice to finally see a corner who can come up and lay a lick on a wide receiver (or quarterback) and even break up a couple passes along the way.

Nick Fairley - Another great game from possibly the best defensive player in the country. His poise to overcome the worst unsportsman like celebration penalty I've ever seen was as impressive as the two sacks he had on the afternoon. On the second sack he drove their guard four yards deep into the pocket and bulldozing McElroy, forcing a fumble and having the awareness to realize no one was there to recover it, crawling around the pile of crimson he created and jumping on the loose ball.

Cam Newton - With all of the hype about Cam's scrambling ability it is hard to fathom that in the same season that he set the SEC rushing record for quarterbacks he also broke Auburn's single season passing touchdown record. Never in our lifetime will we again see a player who breaks the single season rushing touchdown record and passing touchdown record in the same game. Remarkable statistic. Anytime you break a record currently held by Bo Jackson and Cadillac Williams you know you've done something special. Four total touchdowns while leading your team to a come from behind win in the 75th Iron Bowl on enemy turf just made it all the sweeter.

The team - Congratulations. You've just completed an undefeated regular season in the SEC. You are the #1 ranked team in the BCS. You have earned your spot among all the great teams in Auburn history. This is a special group of individuals who appear to trust and love each other as much if not more than the 2004 team which is saying A LOT. War Eagle!

Here We Are...

What a wild ride it has been. Looking back through some of my ramblings from earlier this year remind me of just how far we have come. The word I used to describe our win over Arkansas State was "ugly" and Cam Newton was listed in my "Negatives" section for the first three weeks of the season. I went as far in the Clemson Game Review to say "I think its safe to say Cam Newton isn't going to win the Heisman this year."

HAHAHAHA

Ok... that's enough.

The South Carolina game was the game that turned my attitude about this team. Seeing Newton completely take that game over and lead the team with a Tebow-esque attitude really proved that every time this team took the field they would have a great chance to win. I concluded the month of September with an article titled Expectations, They're A Sonuvabitch which laid out my belief that this team had what it took to go undefeated this year.

By the time Arkansas and LSU had been dismissed Cam Newton had reached superstar status. Alabama already had one loss on their record and we merely needed to survive the Rebels on the road and a struggling Georgia team at home (oh yeah, there was a scrimmage with Chattanooga in between there).

Unfortunately I can't talk about the roller coaster of this season without discussing the media onslaught we were bombarded with in the beginning of November and still lingers today. No sooner than we were celebrating being 9-0 there were stories beginning to break of potential NCAA violations during the recruitment of Cam Newton. Stories have been written, stories have changed, changed back and changed again. Sources have been quoted and other anonymous sources continued to leak "information" for weeks while Auburn stayed quiet and Cam continued to play. I have maintained my faith but it seems the rumor and innuendo have left few outside the Auburn family believing that we will come out of this situation clean. The fact that the story has died down (outside the obtuse local Alabama shock jocks) during our off week leading up to the Iron Bowl tells me that the unnamed sources and breaking news should be finished and all that remains is an official decision from the NCAA.

So in the end we are 11-0, have secured a birth in the SEC Championship game and if we win out we are in the BCS National Championship game. Perhaps the past month has soured an otherwise magical season but there is still plenty of football left to make this season possibly the best in school history.

Can we beat Alabama? Of course. Looking at our five common opponents this year there is no doubt which team has performed better. Auburn's point differential in those five games is +14, Alabama's is +4. Auburn's yardage differential is +112.4, Alabama's is +32.2. On a per play basis Auburn's offense is averaging nearly a full yard more than Alabama's in those five games while, surprisingly, Alabama's defense is holding teams to a mere tenth of a yard less than Auburn's defense. Perhaps most importantly Auburn went 5-0, Alabama went 3-2.

Here's the catch: Alabama has played much better at home this year. They have gotten off to fast starts in the first half and then lean on solid defense and grind it out offense to take home easy victories. The closest game they have had at home all year was a 23-10 victory over Ole Miss. In Auburn's three road games thus far we have avoided falling into the same first half holes we have tended to stumble into at home. That is likely attributed to the fact that our road competition hasn't been nearly as stiff as those who have visited the Plains. If Auburn gets down two touchdowns early again, climbing out of that hole in front of 102,000 fans cheering against them against a Nick Saban coached defense may be too tall of a task.

Alabama's offense is far more balanced this year than last. In their 2009 championship season they leaned heavily on Heisman trophy winner Mark Ingram with a fair amount of Trent Richardson mixed in. Greg McElroy has evolved from game manager to a quarterback capable of carrying his team when the running game runs dry. Auburn's defensive line is capable of containing Alabama's rushing attack much like they did last year. What Ted Roof's crew may struggle with is preventing McElroy and Julio Jones from playing catch up and down the field against our porous secondary.

No one has been able to stop Cam Newton and this offense all year and I don't believe that will change on Friday. This offense has progressed all year long and with a bye week to rest and perfect our game plan there is no reason it shouldn't come out firing on all cylinders.

This is a match up for the ages and no outcome would shock me. It is possible that Auburn could lose this game and still make it into the BCS Championship game but I doubt that thought has even crossed the mind of a single player or coach.

We're coming to win and Cam is coming with us.

Game Review: Georgia

Knee-Jerk Reaction
11-0, SEC West Champs. What else needs to be said? The Iron Bowl still looms large with national championship hopes on the line but this team's goal was to get to Atlanta and bring home an SEC Championship. They had to fight through the most difficult division in college football to get there but were able to lock it up before even traveling to play the pre-season favorite.

As for the game... this team has done it to us all year, why would we have thought this game would be any different? Cam did his thing and the defense did theirs. I was unfortunately tied up at a wedding (blasted fall weddings!!!) and the service began just as we went down 21-7 (I was streaming it live on slingbox on my iPhone in the church - Sorry God, I hope you understand). Seeing that we tied it by halftime was a relief and obviously the second half was what we've come to expect from this team. I did record the game and was able to watch it last night. The first quarter was almost worse than I remember. This team had everything going against it from penalties that were our fault (Isom head butting a UGA player uncharacteristically) to penalties that were bad calls (Mosley's holding call on McCalebb's 40 yard statue of liberty run), combined with dropped passes that became interceptions returned inside our ten (Emory Blake) in addition to dropped passes that would have been easy touchdowns (Mario Fannin). Considering those were two of Cam's three incompletions on the night give a little insight into the greatness he had on display Saturday. Multiple passes that Newton through were absolute laser beams put right on target, sometimes 30 yards down field, sometimes between three defenders. This was perhaps the first game that I believe Newton's passing ability showed legitimate NFL potential sooner than later which is an unfortunate thought for our chances of retaining his services through 2011. Another junior who is unlikely to stick around for his senior year is Nick Fairley. He was an absolute beast yet again and I don't give a rats ass about anyone calling him dirty. Was Lawrence Taylor dirty? Was Mean Joe Greene dirty? Was Warren Sapp dirty? Play hard. Play with aggression. Go after the quarterback with bad intentions. This is football and the best players know how to harness their ferocity and take it out on their opponent during every play. Yeah, maybe he shouldn't have planted his helmet in Murray's back a couple seconds after he released the ball but that is honestly the first late hit I've seen him commit all year and is not indicative of the type of player he is. I am glad he is on our team and everyone else wishes he was on theirs. Seeing Dyer embraced by Bo Jackson after he broke his freshman rushing record was one of the more special moments of a season filled with special moments. As Jackson lifted his arm in the air it was hard not to think of that as a figurative passing of the torch from Auburn's greatest running back of all time to the most highly rated running back ever signed by Auburn. To hear Zac Ethridge recount circling the stadium four times to celebrate with the fans one last time nearly brought tears to my eyes. This group of seniors have been through the gauntlet and they deserve this season as much as they all deserved to get the feeling of beating UGA for the first time in their careers.

Positives
Cam Newton - I mentioned his passing efficiency earlier but as usual he was an all-star running the ball as well. He was there to grind out the tough yards whenever they were needed and broke his share of big runs on his way to over 150 yards rushing and two TD's on the ground.

Onterio McCalebb - Easily the unsung hero of this offense this year. Cam gets the headlines, Dyer gets the hype, even the offensive line have been given as much credit as any offensive line can expect to get. But, McCalebb, who is averaging 8.8 yards per carry and has scored nine touchdowns on the year has not been mentioned at all. His speed to the outside stretches defenses wide and much of the space Cam is given in the middle is due to defenders chasing McCalebb to the outside on the fakes. His speed is elite and the other attributes of his running game are catching up. His 71 yard, three touchdown performance on Saturday was one of his best outings of the year despite having a 40 yard run negated by a penalty. He got it done blocking on the outside on some of Cam's long runs and he also showed the ability to cut it inside on a few occasions which hasn't been his forte this season.

Gus Malzahn - All the credit needs to go to Malzahn for keeping this offense moving all year. Obviously having Cam helps but too many times you hear about how a coordinator isn't using his team's talents to the best of their abilities. That maybe so and so should be getting the ball more or that so and so shouldn't be getting the ball so much. He has kept it balanced, kept Dyer fresh all year, kept McCalebb healthy all year, and kept defenses off balanced despite what the media tells you about this being a one man team. The offense clearly has evolved as the year progressed and Malzahn deserves all the credit for that.

Say It Ain't So, Cam

I am not going to rehash all the allegations and stories written over this past week but I will make one thing very clear: I am not worried about Auburn.

I believe in my University.

I believe in our coaching staff.

What I can not believe is that our athletic department would be so dumb as to commit career suicide by playing Cameron Newton when there is a looming investigation that could compromise his eligibility.

The most telling sign in this entire story is that Cameron Newton is still playing. Mississippi State reported potential violations to the SEC/NCAA in January and also submitted additional information in July. Auburn's compliance department has been aware of this situation since it began recruiting Newton. Auburn has done their due diligence, the SEC and the NCAA have had ample time to do preliminary investigations and plenty of time to tell Auburn that there could be issues with Newton's eligibility (remember that the NCAA was able to declare the UNC players, Alabama's Marcel Dareus, and Georgia's A.J. Green ineligible for actions over the summer). The only quote to come from the Auburn camp in relation to his potential recruiting violations: "Cameron Newton is eligible to play at Auburn University."

On the surface that is a bland statement, but when you consider everything else surrounding the situation that statement is fairly bold and very telling.

The only school which has been named or implicated by any of these reports is Mississippi State. Perhaps Cam took the advice of his father to choose Auburn due to potential recruiting violations at Mississippi State that could potentially hinder his eligibility at THAT school. I am not sure if that is the case but it certainly would explain a lot of the quotes that have been produced by both sides of the story.

I believe you will see over the next few weeks (or hopefully sooner) that the investigation in fact centers around Mississippi State, not Auburn.

Kenny Rogers said he never contacted Auburn and has no idea about the circumstances of Cam's recruitment with Auburn.

John Bond was quoted saying "this has nothing to do with Auburn."

If you believe in Auburn, than you aren't worrying.

I believe in Auburn and love it.

War Damn Eagle!

Cam Newton vs. LaMichael Moore

These statistics were made aware to me the other day and I thought they were blog worthy. Since Cam Newton's closest competition for the Heisman trophy is Oregon's LaMichael James and Boise State's Kellen Moore it would only be logical to look at their stats compared to Cam's on the season so far. No, no, no... not individually; that wouldn't be fair. Here are their COMBINED statistics compared to what Newton has accomplished on his own thusfar this season.

LaMichael James & Kellen Moore COMBINED:
Passing: 1865 YARDS, 18 TDS
Rushing: 1186 YARDS, 14 TDS
Receiving: 6 CATCHES, 126 YARDS, 2 TDS
TOTAL: 3177 YARDS, 34 TDS

Cam Newton:
Passing: 1573 YARDS, 15 TDS
Rushing: 1122 YARDS, 14 TDS
Receiving: 2 CATCH, 42 YARDS, 1TD
TOTAL: 2737 YARDS, 30 TDS

I think it is fair to say he is dominating the competition.

Game Review: Ole Miss

Knee-Jerk Reaction
Ok, since it's Tuesday evening this isn't much of a knee-jerk reaction but I'm keeping the title for the sake of continuity. The reason for the delay in this post is because I have entered into the world of the iPhone and have spent nearly every free moment I've had browsing apps and playing numerous addicting games. As for Saturday's game - IMPRESSIVE. So it started out a little shaky with the big run by Jeff Scott to give the Rebel Black Bears the 7-0 lead but the offense continued its domination of the SEC with another 500+ yards of total offense, 300+ yards rushing and 50+ points. Those are plateaus only Auburn's historically best offenses would reach against Sun Belt also-rans and D1-AA check collectors. The best part of Dr. Malzahn's latest creation was the number of players who got involved. We saw Mike Dyer have rush for 180 yards, McCalebb fall a yard shy of the century mark, and Darvin Adams, Terrell Zachery and Emory Blake each had at least five receptions and 50 yards. Noticeably absent from that list is our Heisman front runner Cam Newton. Ole Miss sold out to prevent Cam from getting his yards on the ground and they did a decent job. When Auburn designed running plays for Cam he still had success but where the difference was most noticeable was when plays broke down the Ole Miss defensive line did a great job of closing running lanes, keeping contain, and collapsing the pocket. Malzahn didn't call many run plays for Newton because he saw, both on film and in the game, that in selling out to stop Newton's running game Ole Miss exposed themselves to the pass and to the other play makers on our team. On the defensive side of the ball the lone big play was a huge one and that was Demond Washington's interception at the two yard line. After Auburn turned it over deep in our own territory Ole Miss had an opportunity to take the lead. Instead, Washington breaks up a pass in the end zone then follows that play up with an interception at the two yard line. 12 plays and 98 yards later Auburn scores the touchdown and extended their lead to 24-14. The next time Washington touched the ball was on a kick off return just before the half and he took it 95 yards to the house. Nick Fairley was pretty quiet due to being double teamed all night but Zach Clayton took advantage of that opportunity and had a huge game. A lot of backups got time in this game which is just what the doctor ordered and was an unexpected positive in an SEC road game. This was a survival game and Auburn did more than survive, they dominated.

Positives
Demond Washington - The interception was a game changer. Had Ole Miss scored there they would have taken a 21-17 lead. Instead the interception sparked a 98 yard drive and Ole Miss never got within 10 points again. His 95 yard kick off return for a touchdown showed excellent vision, explosion through the hole and break away speed. Now Auburn's all-time leading returner Washington deserves special recognition.

Mike Dyer - Dyer exploded for the best game of his brief career. He appears to really be hitting his stride at the right time and could be a force through Amen Corner. All the attributes that made him the number one back in the country last year were on display Saturday night. He showed great vision, an explosive burst, a great ability to break through arm tackles, break away speed and perhaps most impressive was the fight that he displayed every time he got the ball.

Zach Clayton - He didn't stuff the stat sheet like Fairly has the ability to do but the effort and tenacity that Clayton plays with in the middle of this defense is one of the main reasons Auburn has been so stout against the run. He wasn't blessed with exceptional talent but he more than makes up for it with his non-stop motor and pure strength to occupy blockers.

Wes Byrum - Wes had a big night and though this game didn't end up being very close, the main reason we were able to consistently pull away was because Byrum never let our drives end without points. He finished the night three for three with a long of 48 yards.

Negatives
Starting Defensive Ends - Antoine Carter and Nosa Eguae had very quiet nights and were unable to contain the outside runs nor were they able to get to Masoli for a sack. Carter had two tackles, one for a loss while Eguae did not record a tackle. Backups Mike Goggans and Corey Lemonier combined for five tackles and one and a half tackles for a loss. Defensive end production is one of the biggest areas in need of improvement to become a more complete team. Additional pass rush around the ends will also make the secondary look much better.

Looking Ahead: Chattanooga
Pfffffft. Get ready for a lot of backups, which is exactly what this team needs at this point.