Make or Break?
by WarDamnZach on Oct 20, 2009 9:01 PM CDT
in Football
23 comments
Leading up to the huge game against LSU, I was hoping to be playing a chance to have the Alabama/Auburn game be for the SEC West. We all know that is out of the question barring a meltdown by everyone except Auburn.
Now what we have is an overrated LSU squad, and an Auburn team that has no idea where it stands. LSU is still in the top ten which amazes me. They are not that good. The Purple Tigers are as weak up front as anyone in the league. Charles Scott is a man to reckon with, Jordan Jefferson is not quite ready to be the elite player that I think he can be, and the WRs are just average. With that said, who knows what Auburn team will show up in Baton Rouge.
The defense is thin… but I hate using that as an excuse. Even when the Tigers are healthy and it is early in the game, they are still out of position. The LBs and secondary are still missing tackles. So while Auburn is thin for sure, that is not the biggest reason they are not able to stop opposing offenses.
Offensively Auburn is going to be fine. Todd has lost some zip, I am positive of that, but he is still capable of leading this team. Ben Tate is still one of the best backs in the SEC, now if only Auburn can complete a pass or two to get eight men out of the box. Onterio McCalebb has been hurt since his tweaked ankle in the Ball State game. He is still not 100% but he can still make a man miss, albeit not as quickly as before. I do think that the Tigers running game should use Eric Smith as a decoy a bit though. If Eric is in the game there is little doubt that Auburn is going to run behind him. And where are the Tight Ends? Tommy Trott has not caught a pass in weeks. Well, that is not true but we should use him more. What happened to Gabe Mackenzie? Philip Lutzenkirchen? He has not played since his TD catch against Mississippi State. Seems like a waste of a redshirt to have him play less than 15 minutes.
On a high note it looks like Philip Pierre-Louis is going to be out punt return man. While he has not done anything fantastic, he gets an A from me for not getting noticed by fumbling. I always thought he could make a good return man, speedy and good hands. Also Wes Byrum is still able to bang home a game winner… Gene’s boys just might need him down the road.
What do you think? Am I crazy or does Auburn have a shot.
War Damn Eagle
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The Purple Tigers are as weak up front as anyone in the league.
Agree
Charles Scott is a man to reckon with,
Agree
Jordan Jefferson is not quite ready to be the elite player that I think he can be
Agree
With that said, who knows what Auburn team will show up in Baton Rouge.
Agree
something tells me this game will closer than the experts think. Auburn is not finished yet.
Agree
and the WRs are just average.
You were doing so well too. LSU has the best WR corp in the league. We don’t have AJ Green or Julio, but UGA and Bama don’t have 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s as good as Tolliver, Mitchell, Jackson, and Randle. I’m also not ready to concede that Julio is better than Lafell. AJ is the best WR in the SEC, but I’d put Lafell at 2a and Julio at 2b.
I’m sure it will be a close game, but it will end like this:
LSU down 10-7 with 52 secs to play, LSU fakes the field goal and the holder drops back to pass, pump fakes, then fakes a second field goal attemp, pops back up, pump fakes and passes to Tolliver for the TD with 5 seconds left on the clock. Auburn fans claim there was only 1 second left on the clock for the next 10 years, like it matters. 13-10 LSU.
hey jonno you forgot to add ...
… some drunk Cajun blows a whistle from the cheap seats and the auburn defense shuts it down … thinking that the play is stopped by an official. :-)
yeah, you can't make this stuff up
the whistle blowing thing from the end zone seats actually happened at the end of the 1995 game … but that time Auburn had the ball late with a chance to win it … but no cigar
Also worth mentioning about this game are the huge recruiting implications.
Lache Seastrunk and Trovon Reed are both top notch players who are deciding between LSU and Auburn.
I think we get Lache and AU gets Reed.
Exact opposite in my view
Seastrunk will come to Auburn and Reed will go to LSU, but you could be right. Or, both may go to one school or the other one. You never know what might happen.
Whoever wins this game..
Will likely receive their commitments. I think both are favoring us and going to school together, I don’t think Trovon is as high on Auburn as Lache is and actually I think Trovon favors the Gators about what and what with us. If they split though I would guess Lache would go to AU and Trovon would commit to us or UF, but I think their dead-set on going to school together.
Righto, Jonno.
…..That receiving corps worries me. And the change-up when Charles Scott goes out. We don’t handle the shifty, smaller backs well.
…..figure the game will muck around for a half or so. Then Les will get fed up, and start going deep. If he’s healthy, Auburn’s Walt McFadden may be able to neutralize one guy. Thorpe will look like he’s neutralizing another, but if LSU will just go ahead and throw it in there anyway, it will be caught. 3rd receivers against Zach Etheridge, Demond Washington, Harry Adams, or worse yet, a linebacker…. Shudder.
…..Mostly I’m looking for Auburn to hang in there and fight. I’ll be ticked if we get steam-rolled from the get-go.
Harry Adams
was dismissed from the team. I don’t know why.
"We're at AUBURN. I think that says it all. We're going after the best in the country -- no matter when, what, where, how. That's how we're going to do it. We're going to work really hard to try to get that done every year -- including this one." -- Auburn University Head Football Coach Gene Chizik
Jonno
I knew that you would chime in on that one. While your guys WRs look great on paper… they have not really shown me much in the my limited viewing. Most of that might have to do with Jefferson more so than the WRs but come on. I am an Auburn guy not an LSU one. Nice to know that I can get 5-6. I will take that. :)
If you are a War Damn Eagle, you can War Damn anything.
Fair enough, but these guys aren't freshman, you've seen them before.
Their lack of production this year definitely has more to do with playcalling and Jefferson.
Do you remember last year on our last drive when we ran those two bubble screens back to back on opposite sides of the field? If you saw the game on TV you may not have noticed, because our WRs were blocking your entire team off of the TV screan, but our WRs are big, and good.
I can’t rememember the last time a starting LSU reciever wasn’t a top 3 round draft pick, and Lafell, Tolliver and Randle will keep that streak alive.
Of course we have a chance.
It just really depends ont he Auburn team that shows up to the game.
Really looking forward to this one. It will be my first time in Baton Rouge and LSU’s stadium. Hopefully we can pull out a win so the ride won’t be so long back home on sunday.
I've seen Auburn play
at all 12 SEC stadiums, yet there are 2 stadiums I’ve never seen us win at: Tiger and Vanderbilt. While I won’t get a chance to see us win at the latter until 2013, I would LOVE to see us knock off the faux tigers at their place. But my motto right now is this: Auburn, if you only have 1 miracle in you, save it for November 27.
WDE
"We're at AUBURN. I think that says it all. We're going after the best in the country -- no matter when, what, where, how. That's how we're going to do it. We're going to work really hard to try to get that done every year -- including this one." -- Auburn University Head Football Coach Gene Chizik
how so?
"We're at AUBURN. I think that says it all. We're going after the best in the country -- no matter when, what, where, how. That's how we're going to do it. We're going to work really hard to try to get that done every year -- including this one." -- Auburn University Head Football Coach Gene Chizik
We do have a shot, but it is a long one.
On defense, if we can get solid play from the front 7 to slow down the LSU backs and get some pressure on Jefferson, then our chances go way up. On offense, Todd has to find the consistency he had in the first 5 games for us to have a chance to move the ball and put points on the board. We will have to play a mistake free game to even have a shot.
I think we keep it close in the first half (I can even see us leading at the half), but I think our defense wears down in 2nd half and we start getting gashed by the run which will ultimately be the difference.
But who knows. Maybe Baton Rouge is affected by a massive flu outbreak this week which affects the entire LSU roster, causing all the LSU starters to be puking and running 104 degree fevers at kick off.
by Jumpn_JackFlash on Oct 21, 2009 5:24 PM CDT reply actions
Hate it, but LSU will wear our D down
AU is tired. LSU is coming off of an off week. Unless we jump ahead early, LSU will slowly wear us down and win going away. My deepest fear is that we have injuries and fatique that cost us the Ole Miss game also.
Agreed
I am worried about the ramifications of this game. We are as good as or better than Ole Miss. I hope we are able to suit up enough guys for that game. The LSU game is always so physical.
If you are a War Damn Eagle, you can War Damn anything.
The LSU WR's......
are the best that we will have faced to this point in the season. And if they start utilizing them we are in trouble…….fortunately to this point Crowton has been reluctant to let Jefferson throw down the field and especially not long down the middle and hopefully he will continue to be afraid of his QB making mistakes. The loss of Harry Adams today is huge this will put more pressure on Thorpe and Mcfadden to play more minutes and fatigue will be a factor in the defensive backfield. Look for Bates to go back to playing deep center field much like he did for the first 3 games or so.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
Make or Break, does AU have a shot?
AU definitely has a shot.
The key to winning at Baton Rouge centers around AU getting away from their run-first tendencies on offense. The inability to score early and often against Arkansas and Kentucky led to a demoralized and worn out defense. Arkansas dared AU to throw and Malzahn dialed up only one go route that should have been six. They never went back to it, the post or put Fanin out behind the WR clearing on a post.
For the first half they allowed one defender to walk up and stop the run and quick screen without being contested. Basic stuff folks. Executing any of those plays would have opened up the run. Earlier games in which the offense put up points early provided a heartier defense throughout the game.
Bottom line: don’t just do what we do, actually take what the defense is giving away and you can bet LSU will be taking away the run right out of the gate.
Of course we have a shot.
Whether we take the shot or not…that is the question. I am worried about amassing a bunch of injuries (as discussed above). Hopefully our D will be ready to hit-hit hard and often and hopefully we won’t accumulate too many new injuries on offense and/or defense. If Todd starts running our offense like we know that he is capable of doing, it might not be the long night that we are fearing.
by Tiger on the mountain on Oct 22, 2009 7:45 PM CDT reply actions
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