Alabama vs Auburn: Talking Big Meets Playing Big—or attempts to…
November 26, 2009
By Terry Pellman
I could sum this up with one sentence.
“It’s been a month of some interesting talking points with little to back them up.” Well…on one end.
There’s one more exception, Ben Tate. His proclamation that “he thinks he’s the best back in the state” is probably true. You can’t say what a person thinks is not true, all you can do is say “reality doesn’t say the same thing.”
Take what Michael Goggans had to say this week about stopping Alabama running back Mark Ingram.
“The defensive line as a whole, we said he’s not going to win the Heisman on us, so we’re going to definitely stop him and stop that run…it shouldn’t be a problem.”
I don’t have a problem with that thought. However, reality does.
Ole Miss, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State, LSU, and Kentucky—teams that have a better rushing defense this season than Auburn have all allowed Ingram to rush 140 yards, at least.
Craig Stevens, Auburn linebacker, took it a step further making a comparison to Florida’s Tim Tebow numbers back in 2007.
“We’ve done it before. “It’s able to be done.”
I don’t have a problem with that statement. However, reality does.
The 2007 Auburn defense ranked as the best defense in the SEC. This 2009 unit? The worst—yes, as in 12th.
Let’s flip the coin and take a minute for some serious introspection.
Tide linebacker Rolando McClain had a statement of his own this week about the offensive scheme that the Tigers present.
I mean, they do a lot of motions. And that’s what they try to get people with, the motions. But we’ve broken it down to simple stuff. And when they get into certain formation they run certain plays and if you take away all the motions and you look at that final formation, it’s pretty easy actually. You just look at their final formation and you know what they’re going to run.
I don’t have a problem with that statement. Neither does reality.
When the Tigers played LSU this season they limited their running game to a total of 112 yards cutting their season’s average by more than half.
Arkansas, a team that is far from being known as a defensive juggernaut, did allow Auburn to rush for 242 yards in their contest. However, over 200 yards came in the 3rd quarter on three big plays.
The Alabama defense is better than both of those examples.
I don’t have a problem with that statement (setting aside the fact I said it.) Neither does reality.
At this point I’d be be amiss not to mention Florida has the best scoring defense in the SEC. They allow an average of 9.8 points a game.
Alabama? 9.9.
The number one rushing defense in the SEC? Alabama.
The number one team in total defense in the SEC? Do I even need to bother answering that question? Trust me, it’s rhetorical.
This game is easily broken down in one sentence.
It’s a match-up between a dream-team and a team still dreaming.
Do you have a problem with that statement?
Reality doesn’t.
Bama- 34
Auburn-6
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