GAME DAY, Auburn vs. Clemson
Hey everyone. I'm here at the Georgia Dome. I love covering games here because I know exactly how to get in and out without much trouble. The secret, in my opinion, is to get here via the Vine St. MARTA station -- not the official Ga. Dome stop. You walk right in.Let's get to business.
Thanks as always for making this the Auburn blog on the 'net. The National Institute for Hypertext Hotness recently designated us such.
Today's stories from the Advertiser:
Cox approaching the end of a long journey
AU notebook
Recent stories from the Advertiser:
12/30: Auburn being evasive about new offense
12/29: Chris Evans made himself a valuable commodity
12/29: AU notebook
12/28: Auburn giving mixed offensive signals
12/28: AU notebook
12/27: OL working OT on new offense
--------GAME COVERAGE--------
Clemson LB Courtney Vincent, he of the recent DUI arrest, wasn't suspended for the Chick-fil-A Bowl.CURRENT SCORE:
AUBURN -- 23
CLEMSON -- 20
FINAL
AU (1st, 8:54) -- Wes Byrum 36 FG
CU (2nd, 13:14) -- C.J. Spiller 83 run (Mike Buchholz kick)
AU (3rd, 11:33) -- Mario Fannin 22 pass (Byrum kick)
CU (4th, 14:58) -- Buchholz 23 FG
AU (4th, 11:24) -- James Davis 1 run (Buchholz kick)
CU (4th, 8:27) -- Ben Tate 1 run (Byrum kick)
---
CU (1OT) -- Buchholz 25 FG
AU (1OT) -- Kodi Burns 7 run
First quarter tidbitsThey're running the new offense. Four wides is common. There always are three receivers in the game. Plenty of read options. Brandon Cox and Kodi Burns are shuttling in and out. The first drive was a good one, ended with a field goal.
*Mario Fannin is a focal point. He started, has two carries and is on the field often. I haven't seen much of Ben Tate yet. That's interesting because I think he is Auburn's best back.
UPDATE: Tate played more as the quarter progressed.
*Ryan Pugh was called for a chop block on Dorell Scott, who was injured on the play. I won't say it was "dirty," but there was no doubt Pugh was trying to hit Dorell below the waist while he was engaged with Tyronne Green.
*Tight ends are going to be a bigger part of this new offense. Bennett already has two catches. Tommy Trott isn't playing as much, though. It's mostly Bennett and Gabe McKenzie.
Second quarter tidbitsThe offense is playing OK now. Not great. I see some awkward stuff. On a recent screen play to Ben Tate, Brad Lester was dropping a cut block. Seemed like a miscommunication to me.
*Auburn's defense totally busted on Clemson's touchdown. Quentin Groves had C.J. Spiller locked down at the line of scrimmage, but he popped out and scored on an 83-yard run. Awful tackling. Can't do that against this team.
*Auburn's defensive line is getting beat right now. Clemson has settled into a power-run paradigm and those offensive linemen are providing a meaningful push up front.
*Clemson's receivers are getting open deep. Cullen Harper is simply overthrowing them right now. We're talking about 2- or 3-yard cushions on deep routes. That will be a problem for Auburn because I'm certain Cullen, an accurate guy, will regain his touch at some point.
Final thoughts*It's amazing how effective that offense was after only 10 practices. It's clear that Clemson was taken by surprise in terms of the depth of Auburn's attack. This wasn't two plays. This was a system, albeit an abbreviated one, that was pretty dynamic.
*I'm still not sold on Kodi Burns. He played well. He was the difference in the game. Four pass attempts is weird. That's two coordinators now who don't call plays requiring Burns to throw the ball. I'm not sure what's behind those decisions. He was known as a passing guy in high school, so maybe those skills will develop over time.
*Outstanding effort from the defense. Pat Sims was awesome. I think that may have been enough to make him leave early for the NFL. We'll deal with that in the coming weeks. Will Muschamp's system works. He's worth every penny -- and there will be plenty coming his way in 2008.
*It's clear that Mario Fannin is going to be a Franklin fave. He was all over the place tonight.
*Auburn's offensive line has a chance to be really gross during the next few years. The best guy is a guy you never hear anything about: Guard Tyronne Green.
*Walt McFadden really showed out tonight. He made several shrewd plays in pass defense that caught my eye. Maybe he can handle an expanded role in 2008.
Questions? Comments? You can email me at jgtate@gannett.com or post a comment directly to the blog.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
5:52 PM
24 Comments:
Pimp our Coach: Look at that $30,000 Rolex on Tuberville... 4 losses gets you a rolex....Hope AUburn wins and wins big... but Tuberville .ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Looking over to the sideline is not only respect for Franklin but also allll better know about the changes
He makes a lot of money. I'd wear a Rolex, too.
As it stands, I wear a 14-year-old Swiss Army watch. Fits me properly.
oh oh.. 7-3 almost at half. Bowden hasnt won 10 games yet. I want Auburn to lose but as I put in MY blog... if TT loses, he returns $200,000 and maybe that Rolex to an Auburn Charity. But come onnnnnnn AUburn, geee
It's much easier to see now that attrition will work in Auburn's favor in '08. My boy Q just wasn't what he was supposed to be in his senior season. Too much talent around him. Wilhite is too short range, and not quite fast enough for big time ball. Cox is Cox. Pat Lee is the one and only black eye. He's ended up being one of the better corners we've seen at Auburn. He could have helped his INT #s a great deal more this year. But he's always done his job of shutting down his side of the field.
Come on AUBURN... !!!!!!!!!! 1:06 left
Find a way to give it to Fannin or Lester. All I gotta say.
Always go for the WIN.. !!! yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Do we think Burns can become a real life QB by next fall? He's got a long ways to go. He's got better feet than any of our stud tailbacks. And this could be his role throughout his career at Auburn. Here's to hoping he experiences some major milestones between now and fall. If he became a legit passing threat Auburn actually could do something with all their talent.
I still believe Chris Todd will be a frequently seen player next season.
I mean, four passes from Kodi? In a passing offense? Wow.
Kodi really stepped up tonight for Auburn tonight. I think having Brandon in the shotgun really helped him out too even though it wasn't one of his better games. Gotta give it to the OLine, they really did a great job.
The defense really played well for the exception of a couple of big plays. I think had it been a Borges offense, Auburn would have had a field goal in OT. Even though the offense struggled at times, I really enjoyed watching them do different things for a change.
War Damn Tony,
War Damn Eagle!!!
"Really gross"? Did you mean" really great?"
I meant "gross" in a good way. Dominating.
You're so hip. ;)
Jay, I'm afraid I agree about Sims. That was an old school, dominating performance. It's hard to understand just how good this guy became this season after the issues he's had since coming to AU. He's just a different guy out there- a mature guy. I'd say AU's best recruiting efforts should be spent on him.
Auburn will always play 2 and maybe 3 QBs in this system. Chris Todd will play next season and Burns will be in the same role as he develops more of what's needed to be a big time college QB. Kodi's a mature person for his age and really intelligent. He carried the GPA for his high school team. He can't throw a screen pass yet but he sure can thread the needle with about a 102 mile per hour fastball. Not sure how Fannin handled that one. You can see that Kodi was seeing the field better- the game's starting to slow down a bit for him.
Speaking of Fannin, not only did he handle the fastball but he caught it with his hands- textbook. He looked like the hybrid Ronnie Brown/Reggie Bush guy I thought he would be. He's a real football player. His speed really was in display last night. The game has started slowing down for him as well.
Did anybody think Tate would end up being this good? I wasn't the biggest Tate fan, as a tailback, at the start of the season. He's not surprised. He's said all along he just needed his carries to showcase what he already knew he could do.
Lester. Speed. Power. Elusiveness. Spread. 'Nuff said.
In summary it appears as if TF is the man. I was watching him early and often last night. He was not at all satisfied with how AU was somewhat butchering his system. This is a great, great sign. He was quoted last night saying this wouldn't happen again, meaning next time AU's on the field the players will be lined up correctly, etc.
All in all this was a fell good win. This bowl game actually mattered in my opinion. Think it mattered to Tubs this time around since we won? I think so, too.
I agree with most of that.
As I have said 1,000,000 times, I don't yet see hints of quarterback greatness from Kodi Burns. He has excellent running awareness considering his age, but it's clear that his passing is almost unplayable right now.
I'll be very interested to see what Chris Todd does in spring ball.
Go to My blog.. Jay and see the Videos done by the best Auburn Video guy... au.tiger.96.... I put the last two on my blog...
Go to Youtube.com (he is 'autiger96')and you can see all of his... dont know his name, but he mixes the best music and video.. WOW.
Not advertising.. just wanted to share those videos... if you havent seen his Alabama video of a couple years ago you will tear up if you watch.. the one with the sacks.
I promise it won't make me tear up.
Still, those videos are entertaining.
Jay, I wouldn't say its too far off-base to assume that Franklin felt obligated to let Cox throw most of the passes in his final game. I believe he said as much himself after the game.
That would be why Burns threw it only 4 times.
I don't think you can argue that Kodi shows a certain moxey on the field that is rare for an 18 year old quarterback. I've seen video of him slinging the football around, I know he didn't forget how to do it.
So, how do the offensive players know when - exactly - to stand up and look to the sideline for the play? They seem to all turn at once, as if it's at a predetermined time. It doesn't look like it's an audible call from someone on the field just because everyone moves at exactly the same time.
What say you, HABOTN?
what has led to the disappearance of Chris Slaughter?
Can you take some time and talk about 2008 opponents... reason I ask is in West Virginia, for example, do they return anyone? Ditto with LSU, etc. We dont play Florida thank goodness... 3 in a row might be pushing it.
What do you guys have against Burns? He leads us on our first TD drive, throws for a TD and runs for the winning TD. What more can you ask of a college player? Take him away and we don't win this game. Does he rub you the wrong way Jay in interviews? As I said before, running and throwing for TD's in college football is easy right? Everyone can do it.
AUFootballStuff, I believe last night that the commentators said Pat White will be back next year. Slaton, with the type of year he had probably will be back also. Expect them to be stacked next year. Don't no what effect moving the game back will have but hopefully it'll favor us. WDE
How could you rank Florida ahead of Auburn? We beat them at their place and we have the same record.
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