montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser | Montgomery news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Montgomery, AL

10.03.2009

AU @ Tennessee: AUBURN WINS, 26-22

We're watching and discussing the Tigers game at Tennessee.

Auburn's first possession: PUNT.
Tennessee's first possession: PUNT.
Auburn's second possession: FIELD GOAL. Byrum 19 FG. Drive covered 54 yards in 6 plays.
Tennessee's second possession: PUNT.
Auburn's third possession: PUNT.
Tennessee's third possession: PUNT.
Auburn's fourth possession: TOUCHDOWN. Terrell Zachery 10 pass from Chris Todd. PAT good. Drive covered 70 yards in 8 plays.
Tennessee's fourth possession: TOUCHDOWN. Montario Hardesty 31 pass from Jonathan Crompton. PAT good. Drive covered 62 yards in 7 plays.
Tennessee's fifth possession: FIELD GOAL. 26 FG. Drive covers 72 yards in 18 plays.
Auburn's sixth possession: FIELD GOAL. Wes Byrum 22 FG.
Tennessee's sixth possession: TOUCHDOWN. Pass from some guy to some guy as time expired.

557 Comments:

missinit said...: I couldn't pick my way out of a paper bag!

Good job on your pick'em Jet!; 10:33 PM
Miller said...: I don't want to be ranked next week.

If our defense plays like it did tonight we will get slaughtered by Arky.

Our defense is maddening. Unless it improves drastically, being ranked won't last long...; 10:34 PM
Unknown said...: Okrahoma going down is a big deal:); 10:35 PM
No One said...: Phew! Glad that one is in the books. We got a good team, but need to work on becoming a great team. Meanwhile, It's Great To Be An Auburn Tiger!!! War Eagle!; 10:35 PM
chip chip said...: war eagle ya'll!!!!

5-0

can chiz even his coaching record at 19-19 in just one year?; 10:35 PM
Frame said...: But respect doesn't matter when the people who are giving respect have no respect themselves. The system is broken. The only thing we can do is keep winning and try to get to Atlanta.; 10:35 PM
Unknown said...: I think we put up more than ARK. And yes, we should be ranked now. Not high, but ranked.; 10:36 PM
Jet said...: DMiller ...

Breathe, man. We just beat Tennessee to go 5-0.; 10:36 PM
Unknown said...: Holy cow, UTEP is whipping Houston.; 10:36 PM
IV said...: I think we played well on defense in the first half right up until they scored just before the break. I think they saw some things we were doing on defense and they exploited it in the second half. Thank goodness McFadden was able to come back in or it may have been worse.; 10:37 PM
Unknown said...: We should probably end up around 20th, but we will just have to wait and see.; 10:37 PM
cincytiger said...: I think for these guys to play their first road game at TN and win, we're doing pretty good.; 10:37 PM
IV said...: Hey Gainser,

I was wondering if you were here tonight.; 10:38 PM
BigEZ said...: I'm tired of Auburn fan LOSER mentality, quit griping and being critical all of the time and worrying whether or not Malzahn will leave and just enjoy football and enjoy being good and if AU is ranked, ENJOY IT! At least for a couple of hours. Quit waiting for a loss. That is all. GO TIGERS!; 10:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Cincy, I agree.; 10:39 PM
Kathy said...: Herbstreit makeup is terrible.; 10:39 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: we'll probably be ranked right behind the Children of the Maize.

btw, Colorado State at Idaho on ESPNU; midway through 2nd qtr CSU up 14-7; 10:39 PM
No One said...: Hey IV! Been here off and on. Putting more of my concentration on the game, but checking out the hotties too!; 10:40 PM
Unknown said...: I think we finally have a punt returner. I know PPL didn't have any big returns, but he looked solid. In general our special teams looked improved tonight.; 10:40 PM
Kathy said...: How exciting is this offense! And I think we found a kickoff and punt returner!; 10:41 PM
IV said...: Gainser,

Did you enjoy that one?; 10:41 PM
missinit said...: My legs hurt so badly.....

I have this thing about beating myself to death during a game. I slap my thighs quickly when we do good and I hit 'em real hard when we screw up.

Am I totally crazy????

I could be like the Alabama Cowboy and throw stuff and cuss. Well I do cuss, just a little.

I guess that is better than hitting somebody!!!!; 10:41 PM
wartiger said...: WAR EAGLE!! BIG WIN TONIGHT!! That's all I got....; 10:41 PM
Anonymous said...: That's not makeup. That's tan in a can.; 10:41 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: AU Women Soccer vs #23 LSU tomorrow on ESPNU at 3 pm EDT; 10:41 PM
Kathy said...: Any body hear anything about injuries?; 10:42 PM
Kathy said...: GulfShores, his hands don't match his head!; 10:42 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: Kathy - day to day; 10:43 PM
Jet said...: Quit worrying about the poll. We're not a BCS team, but we can have a heck of a season.

Enjoy the ride.; 10:43 PM
Unknown said...: Yes, missinit, you are totally crazy, but it is a good kind of crazy.; 10:43 PM
No One said...: Loved every minute of it!; 10:44 PM
Unknown said...: I don't think we had any significant injuries, although FAH was limping around a bit.; 10:44 PM
cincytiger said...: missinit,
I totally understand. My husband keeps reminding me they can't hear me when I scream at them. I am exhausted, too.; 10:44 PM
IV said...: Did Gunter and Zerra like it as well?; 10:44 PM
Miller said...: Nobody is waiting for a loss...
We're 5-0... I am happy about that. I'm ecstatic! But, I also expected it. I'm not one of those that hoped and wished we could be 5-0... I am one of those that expected to be 5-0. I don't get crazy celebrating something that should be expected.

I'm not happy with our porous defense. Watching our defense repeatedly shoot itself in the foot, not be able to get off the field on 3rd downs, allowing multiple 4th down conversions (long ones)... it is maddening.

Jonathon Crompton just threw the ball all over the field on our defense. Crompton is one of the worst QB's in college football.; 10:44 PM
Unknown said...: We just need to keep winning. Everything else will sort itself out.; 10:45 PM
missinit said...: Preach on Brother...tell 'em BigEZ

And War Eagle Forever!; 10:45 PM
cincytiger said...: I love winning :); 10:45 PM
Unknown said...: I was very impressed with our defense this game. Crompton made some clutch throws at times, but in general we were solid.; 10:46 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: Winning is sweet; 10:46 PM
No One said...: Gunter came in towards the end to cheer on his Tigers. Zera hasn't been feeling well, so she took the night off. And of course, Deanna was sad about her Dawgs.; 10:47 PM
Unknown said...: We do have a tendency to give a big play defensively now and then because of the more aggressive style. Roof is a bit more like Boom than like Chiz or Rhoads.; 10:48 PM
IV said...: Gainser,

I can't believe it, your mom went to bed in the 3rd quarter. We have got to have a serious talk with that woman.; 10:48 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: Huh, Steve? Did we blitz even once? We lined up the same on every play.; 10:50 PM
No One said...: Can't believe that either! Maybe she just knew we were going to win!; 10:50 PM
missinit said...: By the way, we won the uni contest too...not even close.

Those were some totally ugly all orange unis!

Our white uniforms were really nice looking out on that field.; 10:50 PM
IV said...: For the first time in quite a while, I am truly excited about Auburn football, no matter how things finish up this season. I think that the Tigers can be just as good as they want to be because they have the coaching staff behind them that can help them be that good.; 10:51 PM
Miller said...: Aggressive? Our DB's play with a 15 yard cusion...; 10:51 PM
Unknown said...: It is the tackling that is different. We did blitz at times, although we were pretty conservative late, which is why they moved the ball.; 10:51 PM
Unknown said...: Aggressive doesn't necessarily equal blitzing.; 10:52 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: D Miller they were playing a yard of the man in the 4th; 10:52 PM
No One said...: I think that we hired the right coach, and he also brought in the right coaching staff. Not to mention the excitement Coach Chizik brings too.; 10:52 PM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: Quit saying that, Jet. I'm hoping that we get to switch our honeymoon plans towards Pasedena! :-); 10:53 PM
Unknown said...: I would consider it the excitement Chiz brings. Malzahn and Troop bring the excitement. Chiz brings a level headed coach, the anti-Kiffikin.; 10:53 PM
IV said...: Missinit,

I agree totally with your uni assessment. I am not usually a big fan of white unis, but tonight, they did look so much better than that all orange crap. And it is the wrong shade of orange at that.; 10:53 PM
missinit said...: What were the rushing/passing stats?

What did Tate and FAH end up with???; 10:54 PM
coosa said...: War Eagle to all the Hotties! Game was closer than I expected; we had so many chances to blow them out and just never could quite do it.

I expected us to pull away from TN in the 2nd half and beat them pretty good; got no such expectations for next week. But still think we have a chance against anybody with our offense.; 10:54 PM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: D. Miller, you only need a mediocre D and really good offense to beat Arky.; 10:55 PM
Unknown said...: Tate had 129, FAH had 52, Fannin had 32; 10:55 PM
Unknown said...: Todd passed for 219.; 10:56 PM
Unknown said...: It is impressive that we kept up with Tennessee in terms of yards per carry.

As for passing yards, Crompton had a decent game, but a lot of that had to do with having to go on 4th down several times to keep drives alive.

I kept thinking Crompton would throw a pick and he came close a couple of times. UT did a good job late of throwing when they had to.; 10:58 PM
IV said...: I do think that there was a time or two when Todd could have pulled the ball down turned up the field and got what he could instead of just throwing the ball away. I will take his effort tonight though and I am not going to be critical of his decisions. I have never been in those situations before.; 10:58 PM
chip chip said...: crompton played his best game against decent competition tonight and it wasn't near enough.; 11:00 PM
Dear Leader said...: so Byron Isom did not play at all? Was he even with the team?; 11:00 PM
Unknown said...: IV, I was thinking the same thing, but I am not sure if I want him running. If it had been do or die, go for it. I am paranoid about him getting hurt, because I don't think we have a QB that is close to performing like he is.; 11:00 PM
IV said...: I don't know about Isom, but it looked like Eddins did a pretty fair job as his replacement.; 11:01 PM
Miller said...: Look...
I'm an Auburn fan. I have grown accustomed to, and fully expect a dominating defense. I'm not happy with anything less. I don't like to 'just settle' for mediocre.

You can get all giddy about a mediocre at best defense if you wish...

I don't rush the field when we win a game, because I expect to win. You can feel good about a mediocre defense if you want... I can't and won't.; 11:02 PM
BigEZ said...: I've watched my Steelers lose two of these games in two weeks so AU will practice get better and move on. When you play bad and still win, that means you're pretty good. We still held them to the same as FLA and they have the best defense "EVER" so maybe that makes people feel better.; 11:02 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: I think we found our kick and punt returners today; 11:02 PM
Unknown said...: I was impressed with the way our offensive line played. They concerned me a bit early on against Ball State.

In the end, getting Eddins the playing time will probably end up being a good thing.; 11:02 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: Third Down Efficiency 5-16 4-17
Fourth Down Efficiency 0-0 3-3
TOTAL NET YARDS 462 412
Total Plays 83 73
Average Gain Per Play 5.6 5.6
NET YARDS RUSHING 229 152
Rushes 48 29
Average Per Rush 4.8 5.2
NET YARDS PASSING 233 260; 11:03 PM
IV said...: D. Miller,

Wow man, who said they were all giddy about a mediocre defense? I must have missed that.; 11:03 PM
Kathy said...: I was happy with the OL play too. Eddins seemed to hold his own out there.; 11:04 PM
cincytiger said...: I am totally wrung out. Off to bed to dream about being 5-0. Good night, hotties and WAR EAGLE!!!!; 11:04 PM
Miller said...: Eddins played very well on the OL tonight.; 11:05 PM
Kathy said...: Goodnight Cincy and congrats again on your condo purchase and your Tiger win!; 11:05 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: I think Dyer commits sometime this week if not tomorrow; 11:05 PM
Kathy said...: I was thinking the same thing jhag!; 11:06 PM
Kathy said...: Maybe he will wait until the Arkansas game!; 11:06 PM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: 83 plays is a lot. Malzahn will want more, though.

3rd down efficiency was bad bad bad. Gotta get better at that.; 11:06 PM
BigEZ said...: By the way D MIller, I'm not pickin on you Im just blowin off some steam and just so happened my posts fell after yours.; 11:07 PM
Kathy said...: Where are they playing this game on ESPNU? Looks like an inside arena.; 11:07 PM
Jet said...: Texas A&M ran 96 plays tonight ... and lost 47-19.; 11:07 PM
IV said...: We sure had their defense sucking wind a time or two, so I see where Gus is coming from with the hurry up offense.; 11:08 PM
Jet said...: My sense was that we had problems on 2nd down, and that led to 3rd down issues.

I didn't like the pass into the end zone on 2nd and 5 that led to the bad pitch on 3rd down and the missed FG on 4th.

We were gashing away, and we got greedy.; 11:09 PM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: They ran how many? To suck it up on the scoreboard like that. Are we talking 10 turnovers in Arkansas territory or something?; 11:10 PM
Miller said...: EZ,
I'm doing the same...

I expect a lot from an AU defense. Right now, it isn't approaching my expectations. I don't like to settle.; 11:10 PM
Fearless Freep said...: The positives: we won, our special teams looked improved, we are playing exciting, entertaining football, our players seem to really enjoy themselves, and our coaches actually coach during the games.

The negatives: couple of insanely stupid penalties, occasional failure to capitalize on good field position, and that dreadful 4th quarter defense (I mean, I expect us to be inconsistent, but they racked up 200 yards and 16 points in the last 12 minutes of the game - with Jonathon Crompton at QB!)

Bottom line: 5-0. Didn't think it possible a month ago.

WAR EAGLE!; 11:10 PM
Kathy said...: I don't think the score or yardage reflects how Auburn outplayed TN tonight. Auburn was never behind in this game.; 11:10 PM
Anonymous said...: We have a new coaching staff and a team that has had a lot of attrition. "Expecting" to win is unreasonable and very "Bammeresque". Winning is not a birthright and therefore should not be expected...it is to be earned.; 11:11 PM
Jet said...: Correction ...

93 plays for Texas A&M ... 2 turnovers, 0 for 3 on fourth down.; 11:13 PM
No One said...: By the way, big kudos to Renny Curran of UGA for wearing "94" on his helmet today in honor of Boston College's Mark Herzlich and his battle with cancer.; 11:13 PM
IV said...: I am not satisfied with the defense as well since I like to shut out everybody. But I thought, even with all of the breakdowns tonight, they played better than they did last week. So, maybe they are getting better little by little and will be near perfect by the last game of the season.; 11:14 PM
Jet said...: Would Rennie Curran just go ahead and graduate? Eric Berry, too.; 11:14 PM
Tar Heel Tiger said...: CSU and Idaho just went to halftime, so I'll just go to bed. Good night, Hotties!!!

WARRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!; 11:15 PM
BigEZ said...: Miller, I have no problem winning 50-37. To me it's the same as winning 20-7. Right now I 'm just glad our O is as good as it is in the short time Gus has been here. Just imagine how it would be if the O was mediocre at best, 2-3? I don't know but IN GUS WE TRUST. Our offense is our best defense as of now.; 11:17 PM
Miller said...: Our defense did tackle better. But, they have a tendency to get caught out of position.; 11:17 PM
AUfan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11:18 PM
Aeronaut said...: 500; 11:19 PM
Fearless Freep said...: I don't understand why everyone thinks we will end up as high as #20 in the polls. Only 2 of the bottom 15 teams lost - #22 Michigan and #24 Cal.

We will likely be #24 at best.; 11:19 PM
No One said...: Alright hotties, y'all have a good night, and a great upcoming week! IV, love you and mom much! See you all on here next week for the Hog slaughter!!!; 11:20 PM
Fearless Freep said...: Oops, forgot #18 UGa. But I doubt they fall completely out.; 11:21 PM
Jet said...: It's been a long, long two days.

We're 5-0.

I'm achin' for some bacon!; 11:21 PM
IV said...: 'Night Gainser, I miss you. and love you mucho.; 11:21 PM
Miller said...: My problem with winning with a porous defense, EZ... is that you will run across games in which your offense isn't clicking, and you need your defense to win it for you. A porous defense can't do that. It puts more pressure on the offense to carry more of the load.

I want an offense that can win games (which we have) AND a defense that won't lose them (not there yet).; 11:21 PM
Jet said...: To the HOTTIES ...

I bid you good night.; 11:22 PM
IV said...: It's time for the old man to pack it in as well. I am very, very proud of our football team. They make me proud to be an Auburn man. I wish you all a good night and a bright day tomorrow with the least of worries coming your way.; 11:25 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: This dip taste better after a victory; 11:31 PM
Jay G. Tate said...: Well done, HOTTIES.

Five hundred comments, all of them good. Nice.; 11:33 PM
Kathy said...: Great work Jay. Were the Auburn fans loud tonight?; 11:41 PM
Miller said...: For those who have watched Arky play....
How do you expect our D to matchup with their passing game?; 11:43 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: Jay G, thank you; 11:43 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: D. Mills...oh boy making me fret already; 11:43 PM
Unknown said...: Jay, while you are up there if you happen to run into Kiffikin, tell him Steve has some advice. He should make sure the fans stay pissed at Crompton. The next couple of games for them are going to be pretty ugly. Passing the buck seems to be his best option.; 11:45 PM
Kathy said...: D. Miller, how do you think their D matches up to our O?; 11:45 PM
Kathy said...: TN dropped several passes that hit their hands. I think if you get two hands on the ball, you should catch it. That wasn't Crompton's fault.; 11:46 PM
Unknown said...: Tennessee had some passes dropped, but Crompton had a lot of terrible throws along with a botched hand of and a belly flop that still amazes me. He would be 6th sting if he were at Auburn.; 11:49 PM
JgobravesHAG said...: Very true Kathy, UT receivers dropped balls and were often open...which could be bad with Mallet slinging the ball next weekend; 11:51 PM
Miller said...: Kathy,
I think their defense is pretty bad... however, I don't want to put all the pressure of our offense to have to pull it out in a high scoring shootout.; 11:51 PM
Unknown said...: As for Arkansas, I like our corners a lot. Our safeties are a little more of a concern, but I think we will be okay. We will need to get more pressure on Malett than we got on Crompton.; 11:52 PM
Unknown said...: Part of my reason for concern with Arkansas is when we play them. This was an emotional game and I was afraid we would get pretty beat up in it. So far, it looks like we were lucky and picked up no major new injuries.

I do believe we have a better offense than Arkansas and obviously a much better defense, but playing them after Tennessee at Arkansas is reason enough for concern. The hogs are tough at home.; 11:55 PM
HamTiger said...: WAR EAGLE! No time to read the previous posts but a good win tonight. Glad to see our boys having fun with the game. Go Tigers!; 11:56 PM
Kathy said...: Mallet didn't look too impressive against Alabama. They pressured him often. We need to do the same thing.; 11:57 PM
Unknown said...: I do need to spend some time watching the Arkansas game. I do think they will be tougher than Tennessee, but Tennessee surprised me a bit with how Crompton was able to pass against us late.; 11:59 PM
Kathy said...: I thought the DLine played well too.; 12:00 AM
Unknown said...: I like our defensive line. They aren't as good as the last couple of years, but they are pretty solid.

I also am getting a bit more comfortable with our linebackers. I heard Freeman's name called a few times and that is a plus. They are developing a little bit of depth there.; 12:03 AM
Unknown said...: Probably the most disappointing part of this victory was us stalling in the red zone. We kicked too many field goals, which allowed the vols to stay in the game.; 12:08 AM
JgobravesHAG said...: Kathy, Alabama''s defense>then ours

by a mile; 12:14 AM
Unknown said...: I wouldn't say by a mile, but Bama's defense is very good. So is ours in terms of starters, but we don't have the depth.; 12:16 AM
Kathy said...: Agree jhag, but I think we just follow their game plan and put pressure on Mallett.; 12:19 AM
Miller said...: Haha; 12:19 AM
Miller said...: If we'd have gotten pressure on Crompton at any point tonight, I would feel better about expecting to pressure Mallet next week.

We shall see...; 12:21 AM
JgobravesHAG said...: Okay, Bama held Arky to 7 points, do you think in a million years our defense could do this?; 12:21 AM
JgobravesHAG said...: We got 0 pressure on Crompton tonight, they dropped a lot of balls, had a lot of WR's open...against a slinger like Mallet this could get dangerous; 12:22 AM
Kathy said...: I don't remember seeing a false start by Ziemba. Did I miss it?; 12:32 AM
ehyou said...: All that really matters is the good guys win and the enemy loses.

War Eagle baby!!!!!!!; 12:54 AM
WarEagleRK said...: I'm tired...but big win tonight.

Our D played really well for 3 quarters then fell apart in the 4th.

Couple of observations from the game...

We finally got a kick return game, but our kick coverage is horrible. We gave up almost 200 yards in kick returns.

Eddins and whoever else played for Isom did a good job.

Todd got beat up, he's going to be sore tomorrow.

This team finds a way to win, nothing like a good road SEC win.

5-0; 1:04 AM
WarEagleRK said...: Some observations from reading a lot of what was posted tonight.

Some people aren't happy with anything. We win a SEC road game and it's constant complaining about something.

A lot of ragging on UT's D during the game. They did a lot of bending, but rarely broke. Yes they gave up over 400 yards, but they held us to 5 FG attempts, which is something other teams haven't been able to do. That's a really good D out there that UT has and my hats off to them.

Our D has to learn to get off the field on 3rd and 4th down...we were gassed in the 4th quarter and UT went to a no-huddle and took advantage of it.

Bad kick coverage set UT up with a good field a lot of the night and the late hit by Blanc pretty much gave them their last TD.

We'll be ready for Arkansas.; 1:07 AM
Jay G. Tate said...: Had to get my poll in tonight.

Here it is:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. LSU
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Ohio State
8. Cincinnati
9. TCU
10. Miami Florida
11. Southern Cal
12. Penn State
13. Oklahoma State
14. BYU
15. Oklahoma
16. Mississippi
17. Iowa
18. Kansas
19. Auburn
20. Georgia Tech
21. Oregon
22. Georgia
23. South Florida
24. Wisconsin
25. South Carolina; 1:10 AM
Jay G. Tate said...: Yes, I moved Iowa up.

It's not a function of beating Arkansas State by three points. It's that Iowa is 5-0 and they won at Penn State, which I had ranked pretty highly.

That's a signature win that other 5-0, similarly ranked teams don't have ... so that's where they go.; 1:16 AM
WarEagleRK said...: Not a bad ranking, but 3-2 Oklahoma still at 15 is the only one that jumps out at me.; 1:16 AM
ehyou said...: Hope you had a blast at Knoxville JGT.

I had a blast watching the game.; 1:21 AM
Aeronaut said...: I'm really glad we got the win. The offense was playing against one of the best defenses of the country. It was the first road game, in exceptionally harsh environment.

Yes the offense sputtered at times but man, I'm glad we scored as much as we did against them.

As the commentators said, the score was no indicator of the dominant performance.

UT's season is shot. They played with their backs against the wall. We performed against them better than UF did.; 1:24 AM
Jay G. Tate said...: I hear you, RK, but I had Oklahoma at #4 last week.

Losing by 1 point at Miami, which is a very good team, isn't exactly disgraceful.; 1:26 AM
WDCWE said...: I hope voters follow your suit, Jay G. We still aren't getting much love on ESPN.; 1:38 AM
JgobravesHAG said...: I laughed at Jay saying...

Pass from some guy to some guy; 1:41 AM
Unknown said...: Your rankings look pretty good to me, alhtough I still think LSU is ranked too high.

I would actually not have Florida at number 1 either. They looked very one dimensional against Tennessee.

Alabama and Texas look like more complete teams and Boise deserves to be up there.

It is really hard to tell because there are upsets every week. Things will settle down a bit more in the next couple of weeks.; 1:55 AM
API said...: Just got back to ATL from the game. Had a wonderful time. We may not be flawless, but we are puuurrfectly 5 - 0 ! PPL can catch punts, and kickoff coverage still has issues. Good night Hotties, time to sleep now.; 3:19 AM
Unknown said...: The Good: WE WON!!! The offense moved the ball consistently against a very good defense in a hostile environment. We dominated for three quarters. PPL can catch punts and FAH can return kickoffs (Tate didn't do bad either).

The Bad: An inability to finish drives. I credit the UT defense here but we should have put UT away early in the 3rd quarter.

The Ugly: The 4th quarter. UT gained far too much and scored too much when they should have been out of the game. UT was playing for much more than we were. Their season is pretty much shot before it's half through and they probably won't make a bowl game without a win last night. They wouldn't quit.; 5:30 AM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: Hey. It's Sunday. That's my fun day.; 7:42 AM
AUfan said...: I don't hear the Ben Tate critics talking about how "slow" he is any more. Amazing what a good offensive plan that puts players in position to play to their strengths can do.

I don't think Tate has ever looked as quick as he did last night.

The defense had the now normal tackling issues, along with a pass-rush that was nowhere to be found in the 4th quarter. Still, Auburn is 5-0, and I couldn't be more excited for the players after last year's implosion. It is great to see them having fun playing for AU again.; 7:45 AM
AllenD said...: Seems like everyone is running a version of the wildcat these days. I wonder if running every time you're in close is seeing the same "uh-oh" factor as it initially did.; 7:47 AM
AllenD said...: AU fan, I agree there are times Ben's step is good. However, sometimes when he's being patient waiting on a block, I wish he'd just practice a little more field awareness - ie: it's 3rd and 2 - hit it and get the two, worry about breaking one the next time.

I have this same thought about Todd. Couple of times last night when he broke the pocket and could have put it in FAH speed to get the three yards for the first down he essientially threw it away.

But hey, the good guys won... it's some little things to work on.; 7:54 AM
Peter Frankenschmidt said...: Sweet. Turner Gill on OTL on ESPN today...and his AD still spinning the story of Auburn being racist. Ugh!; 8:02 AM
mytommyd said...: My hopes coming into this season was that our team would look like they knew what was going on, and had some sort of clue. They work hard. They play together. I didn't feel this way after any game we played last year. I'm very happy that those guys get to feel this, and slightly upset that the fellas that left and/or graduated didn't. They are doing a whale of a job, and I am incredibly proud of their efforts.

We win, we're 5-0, they've made it over every hurdle, I love us.

War Eagle! Let's go skin some Hawgs; 8:21 AM
mytommyd said...: BTW new prototype helmet avatar is 5-0; 8:23 AM
auforme said...: It's nice to wake up 5-0. That was a fun game to watch last night. Todd's going to be hurting this morning. The defense is going to be tired. They are all waking up ecstatic this morning. Good for them. Ziemba's waking up with a sly grin- no offsides for him last night.; 8:47 AM