POSTGAME: Kentucky 21, Auburn 14
Hey peeps. I gotta boogie. Let's take a quick glance.
STATISTICS AND STUFF
QUOTIN'
STATISTICS AND STUFF
- Auburn gained only 315 yards, which I believe is the lowest tally in Gus Malzahn's career as a college coordinator. I'll have to research that more carefully tomorrow.
- Kentucky's Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke registered the first 100-yard games of their careers Saturday night.
- Chris Todd was 10-of-24 for 80 yards. No touchdowns. One pick.
- Auburn had 10 penalties for 76 yards. Kentucky had zero for zero yards.
- Kentucky converted both of its fourth-down situations.
- Kentucky was 3-for-14 on third down. Auburn was 6 of 18.
QUOTIN'
- Gus Malzahn on the current situation: ``We’re a work in progress. This is our first year here. We're going through some growing pains. We've got to suck it up and eliminate those penalties and eliminate those mistakes."
- Ben Tate: ``We just came out and didn't play hard," Tate said. `We had too many mental mistakes. When a team does that, it's hard to defeat any other SEC team. We need to work on our fundamentals. It's all about getting better."
- Tate on what he told Chris Todd: ``I just told him to keep his head up and keep fighting. He’s a senior. We’ve been through this before. He’s just got to stay confident. He’s got to come out with confidence no matter what."
- Chris Todd, who said his shoulder is "fine," on the situation: ``We’re a good football team. We’ve done some good things this season. To start off we did some things really well. We’ve got a lot of guys that have made plays. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t hang your head and learn from your mistakes. A lot of times when you have a loss like this you tend to look a little deeper to find what’s going on."
posted by Jay G. Tate at
11:30 PM
107 Comments:
Substance
YOU ARE!
Kristina, to answer your question in last thread: Todd lost the magic feather. Someone tell him it wasn't the feather, the shoulder strength was actually always in his heart!
When Todd threw the pass with the wind at his back, with his feet set, to Fannin, and left it short, I saw what I needed to see. Or didn't want to see.
His arm is nowhere near where it was at beginning of year.
Seriously, what was the deal with the fans leaving like they did when we were still in the game. That was embarassoing.
Initial impressions. Sorry I did not read the other posts:
This defense is officially a disaster now. Out of position and can not wrap up a player if their life depended on it.
Etheridge needs a geometry class to show him what an angle is.
I thought Todd's arm was WAY off. It could be downhill from here. He put al he had into a couple of throws and they did not go very far.
Punter stunk it up big time. Was tempted to scream at right in front of me, but resisted.
6 penalties in a row. Are you kidding me.
LONG way to go now for 7 wins if they do not get it back together
I haven't abandoned ship, but it looks like AU has very few players out there.
depth is not an issue on the 1st series and you can not tackle the runner. Nor on the 2nd series.
Any team the plays AU needs to just run it up the gut because the D will nto be able to stop them.
I ain't hatin' just telling you what I saw tonight.
Though the defense was awful at the end, they allowed 21 points with the offense doing absolutely nothing in the second half. This one is more on the O in my opinion. You have to put up more than 7 points against Kentucky.
Each game this season has gone as Chris Todd has gone. If he hits the easy throws tonight, we win by at least two scores. Judging from the last couple of weeks, I too am beginning to think his shoulder is failing him again. Maybe not though, because if it is gone, you would think Malzahn would see it in practice and stop dialing up the long throws. Maybe Todd has just lost his mindset mojo, which means he could get better in the coming weeks. But just as Tony Franklin found, it is very hard to be good on offense when you can't complete passes.
Luckily, last year beat me down so badly that I am actually not just incredibly depressed with this loss. So that is a positive thing, right? I still think we steal one somewhere along the way to get 7 wins, but vegas will have us 6-6 at this point. We will not be favored in any games from here on out that don't involve Furman. Doh well.
Todd was bad, but like wtc said, the penalties...
I've said it already, I don't remember ever seeing anything like that in my life.
At least we're still able to run the ball (for now). That wasn't even the case last year. If we just stick to running the ball tonight exclusively we have a good chance of winning this game.
Certainly. Turning a third and one into a third and eleven was pretty unwise on that last drive. I thought the refs missed plenty of holding calls on kentucky tonight, and on their last touchdown drive, that was an illegal formation they were in, so I think we can blame the refs, right?
I do always love it when that crazy eyed head official is calling our games. He looks like he is always freaking out.
McIrishman is still limping after every run. I would almost have him sit out a couple of weeks to get him 100% rather than have him at 80% each week. We need our homerun hitter back.
Of course with nagging ankle injuries, it can be more like sitting out a couple of months to get 100%.
I was really disappointed in the stands emptying tonight. What the heck was up with that?
Man, he does have crazy eyes. He only has one look: deer in the headlights.
E-Bro:
I was reading some of the other posts on the last entry. THT said the same things I said at the game. This felt like the UT game last year.
Almost everytime AU took the field it felt like they were going to go 3 and out. The imagination has gone. FAH has disappeared. WR's were knocked to the ground by the CB's when the all was run outside. Watch the replay Sunday. Carr, Wisener, Adams were litearlly thrown to the ground by the DB and then the DB made the play.
Does anyone else think Kentucky's mascot look like it was made from discarded carpet remnants?
At McCalleb's size, he just strikes me as a guy who will be battling niggling injuries his whole career at Auburn. Hopefully I'm wrong.
I think the fans leaving early , though I am not liking it, is a reflection that they gave up on thinking the D was going to stop KY. Their offene gashed our D bad. Avg 6.1 yards per carry.
AU surely will be listed as the last place D in the conference after tonight.
Yet as ineffective as our offense was, am I right in thinking that the only 3 and out we had was rigth after Kentucky scored to make it 14-14 and Todd may that odd pass to nobody but the sideline on 3rd and four? That was the only 3 and out in the second half wasn't it? Otherwise we moved it every other time.
We had 107 yards at halftime and ended up with 315 or so. So we got over 200 yards in the second half...and still scored no points.
The fans leaving early was pretty upsetting to me. I understand not having much confidence in your team down 7, and I understand it's kind of cold, but Auburn fans losing hope when only down 7 and still having the bowl just absolutely shocked me. I mean...wow.
Ben Tate deserves better. He's a man. Smith, McCalebb, Dyer, or Seastrunk will have big shoes to fill next year.
E-bro: Unfortunately I think the fans realize the D is not going to get up to stop anyone anymore. I stayed for the whole game and when the fans started yelling on 3rd nd long or 3rd and short to myself I thought 'suckers'.
Have we stopped anyone of a 4th down conversion this year.
Tigerfan: You asked about the hurry up run after a big play. Last week the ARK DC said he noticed on game film that 100% of the time when Au runs the hurry up play after a big gainer it is a dive play up the middle. They were ready last week and KY was ready, for the most part this week.
I understand not having much confidence in the defense, but dang. I was thinking the same thing, but I'm optimistic to at least think that hey, if we score a touchdown and make it 21-20, maybe we'll go for two.
With regard to the hurry up, running the dive doesn't seem to be an Auburn trait. Watching Texas-OU today, it seemed like when both did the same thing today (running a play quick at the line), all they did was basically run a dive or simple run play. Offensive coaches just need to get more creative.
Ebro-I was sitting thinking, if we do score and go to OT, AU loses. I have ZERO confidence in us stopping anyone. And at trate we were going, I could see us getting close and then having a penalty to drop us 10 yards back.
Todd had all the time in the world tonight to throw the ball. He missed Trott down the middle, no one within 15 yards, when he threw to Adams in the end zone, double covered.
Honestly, I hate to say it but I can see fan support falling off alot. Especially if we lose ugly to LSU. and who doesn't think LSU will just pound the ball on us.
There were a lot of empty seats tonight before the game got going. AU stil has not sold all their tickets for the other home games. Shameful.
I do think coaching could be better these last two weeks...definitely. But like you said earlier this week, wtc (at least I think it was you), Tubs was asleep at the wheel with regard to recruiting.
I still feel that the secondary does have some talent, even if they were lucky UK's QB overthrew some open throws, but the front seven...wow. That's the worst I've ever seen from Auburn. They just look so outmatched.
I made a point to watch the KO return team front line tonight. We=hen KY kicked off, they turned to run toward the ball, and the KY players ran past them. On 2 KOs the front 4 did not hit a single person. The KY guys ran right past them and the Au guys never saw them 'cause they had their backs to them.
At times Au put 9 men in the box and they all got blocked by the 5 Ky linemen. How does that happen. bynes and Herring got laid out by the RB several times. Neither can shed a blocker. Herring takes him head on and then gets pancaked. bynes side steps him. He should be called El toro. Etheridge dives at each player and takes bad angles. Not sure what you can do at this point.
It's late and I am tired. Time to try to sleep this one off.
10-2 is looking like 7-5 now. sorry that I had to change my mind on that, but this team may be able to win 1 out of LSU,OM,UGA,UAT.
"Not sure what you can do at this point."
Start looking forward to recruiting and 2011 and 2012. Not sure how much better things will get next year, on defense anyway. Bates and Thorpe should begin to be SEC studs at some point, but not sure past that.
I'd take 7-5 in a heartbeat now. Night wtc. Sleep it off, let's come back tomorrow and get ready for Tiger Stadium and hope for the best.
I'm still an Auburn Tiger and proud of it. WDE!!
At this point, we're toast. The wheels have come off and the wagon is on fire.
Where in the world did our offense go?
I think we averaged 5 yards per kick off return tonight.
Chris Todd throwing a one hopper to Fannin with the wind at his back and Fannin wide open was really bad. I hope the kids shoulder isn't hurt again.
Anyway, good night everyone.
Man this sucks
This comment has been removed by the author.
Morning all...
We should have won, we did not,, but the sun is up and a new week has begun.. heck if I won everytime I would be typing from some exotic location....
On the bright side, we actually blitzed..
Does the SEC have a customer service number we can call and bitch about the officials? I do nt think they caused us to lose but it sure was one sided.
It also goes to show why we play the games... on any night anyone can win...
Lets go get LSU..
It also looks like we are doing well on Michael Dyer. If we can land him and Lache Seastrunk we will be doing well. We can promise immediate playing time to both...
Last night also makes you think about how dynamic this O would be with a mobile QB.
If I don't start reading some sunshine pumping, kool-aid swigging, we-are-still-the-team-to-beat-this-year kind of posts from you all, I'm going to go all Hoopie on you and question your fanhood, man/womanhood, and call you all closet Bammers.
OK Long time reader first time poster/blog. Was at the game last night. Noticed some things:
1. Defensive depth is killing us now. Def actually did ok first 3 quarters but fatigue bit us in the 4th (poor tackling, missed assignment, etc.)
2. Todd has no confidence. This offense will not work even if the run game is kicking. Malzhan needs a QB who can make the throws. Watching Todd last night on some plays was like watching last year all over.
3. Sat in front of the recruiting section last night. Didn't recognize anybody major but I am not a recruiting geek. Couple of them made the comment/excitement that they could come in and contribute right away; especially on D
4. I hope the coaches can put confidence back in Todd and the offense b/c the Def in my opinion will have their hands full with Scott next week. In AU I trust go for the upset! War Eagle
I know there is a lot of heat on the D, and these games are team losses, but if the offense had clicked either weak we would be undefeated.
We knew early this year we would have to rely on the offense all year to win games and they aren't getting the job done, what happened?
Rk- Not making the easy throws...Last night not making 3rd and shorts..I think there were 4 drives last night in the first half when we couldn't make 3rd and 4 or less...Penalties killing the offense=no rhythm...First 5 games of the season offense did not have many penalties...
I will speak up on the ticket issue.
Auburn isn't the only program struggling to sell its ticket allotment. I don't think it's "shameful"; I think it's a function of the economy.
Most of us are really feeling a pinch right now. Right?
Why are we heck-bent on Kodi in the wildcat?
I was at the game and he was involved in everything offense - huddles on the sidelines (I even saw him talking to Todd about what looked like routes at one point), and nearly every second down in the first half was a Kodi-cat play.
Chris Todd, in my opinion, was not playable in his state last night. If he can't make easy throws, he needs to sit down.
If Malzahn is being honest about having never considered a change, he may need to step back and re-assess his stance on guys like Caudle and Trotter.
Are they flawed? You bet. Are the more flawed than Chris Todd right now?
Jay - I agree totally. This is an economic thing. Plus, with almost every game on a major cable outlet, there are options to catch your Auburn football.
I understand why folks can't make the trip week in-out with the cost of such travel. Couple it with the local hotel 2/3 night minimum and it's no surprise at all.
So is Todd's issue just a mental block of not getting his mechanics right or is his shoulder issue returning?
I also don't understand the Burns-Wildcat thing, but that's not why Auburn lost. Burns actually was more effective than usual last night.
The bottom line is: Chris Todd cannot win games playing like he played last night and against Arkansas.
If he lays an egg in the first half at LSU next week, Malzahn has to make a change. Ten quarters of struggles does a slump make.
I used to be a season ticket holder, so I'm sure I can be blamed as well.
Jay I hate to ask but I am. Do you think we could end up with another situation like last year..Division among the team especially when the QB is playing so poorly like last night....
When Todd leaves everything short, as he did last night, I have to think his shoulder is to blame.
He said it's not.
Malzahn said it's not.
I don't think I believe them fully. I mean, they're not contractually obligated to tell the truth on this issue. And ... we saw what happened. Todd now looks like he did last season.
In your opinion, what percentage do you give these guys to get a shot in the LSU game as starter in regular packages?
Kodi?
Neil?
Barrett?
Tyrik?
What's frustrating, I didn't think for a second we could lose to KY.
UT, yes, but we won. Ark, yes. However didn't see last night coming.
That's one of the games I'm glad I didn't have tickets anymore because that would be a long drive back.
I eliminated Mosley and Poole.
I don't see the same kind of division.
Here's why: Both sides of the ball are struggling right now. The players know depth is an issue. They know why they're in this position. They know Auburn has a first-year coaching staff.
Knowing all that dissuades division, but it won't make Auburn a better team. I'm not sure what the remedy will be.
As a starter? Zero percent.
If Todd is hurt, and if Tyrik is the future, who cares about redshirts? You are supposed to recruit players who are ready to play. If he is the real deal, then in 3 years we'll have someone else in for him.
Unfortunately we all know that you can go on the road after you pull a redshirt on a QB and win a game.
We are very poor at tackling.
Why must we direct attention to fundamentals midway through a season?
I'll leave Tyrik at 0% from here on out. There is no reason to remove the redshirt. What's at stake? Auburn might go 7-5 instead of 6-6? Or maybe 8-4 instead of 7-5?
Tyrik Rollison is Auburn's future (at least at this point) and I can't imagine a scenario where he plays this season.
Caudle may not look off defenders, but he does have wheels.
If Todd struggles at Baton Rouge, may we see the Caudle show?
I'm not a big believer in a mid-season push for fundamentals.
Are you telling me Josh Bynes needs to learn how to tackle? Maybe he does. He's not going to improve substantially during a two-week period of practice during his junior season. He is what he is. Same for Adam Herring. Same for Zac Etheridge.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the point of keeping the redshirt.
To me if he can help now, why not?
If this staff recruits like it should then in 2013 we'll have another stud QB lined up to play.
I'd have to think Caudle and/or Trotter get serious looks this week.
I miss complaining that Muschamp's DB's didn't look back for the ball...at least we tackled well then.
Thanks for the informal campfire/q & a this morning.
Is Trotter's knee healthy?
Everyone knows I'm not a Kodi fan, but I would have taken Kodi at QB last night over Todd.
RK: I'm not convinced Rollison is ready to help. In fact, I don't think he is.
I believe he has a broader base of skills than, say, Caudle or Trotter. At the same time, those guys have been playing college ball longer and have a much more keen understanding of what is required of the quarterback in this offense.
Logic generally applies to this coaching staff ... and logic tells me Rollison stays on the bench.
I am no medical person but can you really regress so much after you were doing so well the first 5 weeks?
Fatigue?
Mental?
Confidence?
Last night Tood's arm was an issue but penalties killed the offense just as much?
Maybe we should go with an offensive plan that doesn't need a feature QB to run it?
We seem to have talent at RB.
Let's use it.
I think Trotter is healthy.
100%? I don't know. Auburn is more interested in his arm than his acceleration.
This is Ethridge's 3rd year as a starter, he's not going to learn angles this late in the year or this late in his career.
Almost the only time he squares up to tackle someone is when he's blindsiding them, he they are face to face he dives and flail's away at their legs.
If we were going to use our talent at RB then on 3rd and 6 last night on the final drive we wouldn't have lined up with a goofy play we would have just hammered Ben Tate at them once or twice for the 1st down.
dragon: I'm still trying to understand the defensive problems. My best guess is depth.
As for offense, I think defenses are adjusting to Malzahn. It's harder for Auburn to gash opponents. And Malzahn is relying on a (based on last night) severely flawed quarterback who cannot make routine throws.
Three things that were obvious last night.
We barely pass on 1st down.
When we hurry up on the line to get the ball snapped it's a run up the gut.
We use all the motion and movement early in the game then almost abandon it at halftime.
We didn't fumble any kickoffs or punt returns. There's a positive.
Special teams were solid...except the 5 yards per return we averaged on 3 kickoff returns.
Positives: I thought Ben Tate ran very aggressively again. He's a really good player.
I thought the offensive line did a nice job overall. Todd wasn't pressured all that much. There were enough running lanes for Tate and McCalebb.
Clinton Durst was good.
Something tells me these guys are getting spent, and with the lack of depth that issue is now becoming more and more apparent. The scary part is that they have four more weeks of this before they get a break. I just hope they can hang in without getting too discouraged.
Oh yeah, and that SEC crew last night sux.
Another point of frustration: opposing punters (for the past two weeks) seem to have a knack for pinning us inside the five yard line.
Meanwhile, Durst (usually when we need him most) isn't sending the ball into the stratosphere...
I agree with those positives and I also thought we did well on kickoff and punt coverage.
I thought Neiko bounced back and played a good game after struggling last week.
Agreed--I don't think Durst was the "wurst", but he isn't the Saturn V he's capable of being...
I may be mistaken here, but I think UK only converted on three first downs. Not bad for our defense, if true..
The thing that concerns me is that our offense, all year, has not really been able to get off to a fast start. With the depth problems in the Defense, they can even less afford to really on the 40 minutes of play time from the defense.
I thought the Kentucky punter was better than ours last night (good hang time) Really wanted to see Frenchy do something. Oh well.
Tate is the man...He wanted the ball and would have run over a brick wall for that 4th down TD (Especially when FAH 175lbs? got stuffed on 3rd)
Reynolds from what I recall they didn't convert a 3rd down until late into the 3rd quarter.
I couldn't agree more regarding Jay's comments about Todd's shoulder. He and the coaches have no reason to confirm suspicions about his shoulder, but you can't watch Todd throw now as compared to earlier in the season and not see a problem.
Todd has been a gamer and I admire his attitude, but I would like to see what Caudle and/or Trotter can do.
Jay,
Do you think they'd actually choose Trotter over Caudle at this point?
And isn't Trotter coming back from an injury?
Trotter looks like one of the Jonas Brothers..
I don't know what Trotter has been accomplishing in practice.
Every single flag went against Auburn
I hate to blame refs because Auburn did not play well enough to win...
But 10 - 0?
I find that statistacally anomalous
We shouldn't be surprised. The blueprint takes time, I suppose. We should adjust our expectations for a few years.
What the heck was the play where Todd lined up alone and snapped the ball sideways?
(Other than a creative way to get a penalty)
Seriously, we all expect too much. We can't expect to win the division, compete against the top teams of the conference, and rebuild depth and install new systems all at the same time. I suppose it's a marathon and not a sprint for Auburn to get back near the top.
Sensi is the voice of reason
thanks Sensi!
I admit I was quick to say YES 5-0 and all is good but your right most of us would have said at the beginning of the year 7 wins would be great...For me its the way we have been losing for the past 2 games...The team is killing themselves....Arky 1st half....Last night back up of a back up QB came into our home and beat us ( a team that last beat us at home in the 60s)...Penalties (1 drive alone was like 5 flags in a row)
Of course, one has to wonder if this staff will still be the ones "running" the program at the end of the marathon.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jay's comments, appreciate that
I know I've seen it in the NFL. Has there ever been a one year and done coaching staff in college football?
I'm not calling for anything - just wondering.
I agree with Quinton Riggins - we forgot about misdirection and what it can do to break McCalebb.
Now my 0beservations - The penalties were because of confustion among our offense. On one Adams was still looking at the sidelines when the ball was snapped - he then blocked in the back, probably not knowing what play was being run. No defense plays well when exhausted - can't blame Roof for that. This loss goes on the broad shoulders of Gus Malzone. Todd wasn't very good and I'm afraid he may have shoulder problems despite what he said - like all good players he wants to play.
I agree it's not that we lost, it's how we lost.
KY was running almost a base HS offense against us that we couldn't stop.
We gave two players their 1st ever 100 yard rushing games in a game where with a rookie starter at QB we knew they were going pass very little and spend most of the game running.
Our offense only scored 7 points at home vs Kentucky...that's just insane.
Could the cold weather have had something to do with Todd's lack of arm strength? Maybe he couldn't ever get the shoulder loose.
Even with the shoulder problems, he was locking on the target and rarely going to the 2nd or 3rd option, even with all day to throw.
Todd's throw with the wind at his back that bounced to a wide open Fannin was amazing. How does that happen?
How do you lose to Kentucky with Scout team Quarterbacks.
You take too many penalties. Your QB cannot hit simple passes and your thin defense gets worn out.
Other than that you could have should have won.
We have a lot further to go than I had ever thought possible.
Circle the wagons boys we have a real fight on our hands.
Getting 10 penalties really helped. Tate mentioned the getting back to fundamentals thing, which bothers me. This is a field. This is a ball. Hold onto ball. Move ball on field. Hopefully we can get those fundamentals down soon.
Last post for me today because I have got to do my second job (young kids:))
It wasn't that Todd just couldn't throw it was his reads. Locked on to a receiver all night. Inability to make a decision. there was one play when Trott was wide open and I think Zachary on the side. Yet he stared at Adams and threw it away. His confidence is gone...Gus is going to have to earn the paycheck this week...Go tigers beat the Cajuns and WDE
Ed Christian is ours.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/auburn/football/recruiting/player-Ed-Christian-87045
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