šŸˆ Florida beat Auburn — Bo pix and the barn

What does that say about Auburn?

There is more of the story to be written about AU...and FLORIDA
Really screwy game....Florida couldnt block #5.... better put 2 on him...
Florida had 2 fumbles on good drives...in scoring position position...
Made some good D plays... on poor AU offensive plays...AU QB made one good throw...
About all..
AU still had plenty of chances to come back...
October is going to shake out these 2....to earth..
 
I still can’t fathom why Gus didn’t try Gatewood for at least a series or two. Is he so infatuated with Nix that he ignores his deficiencies or is he so protecting of his job to keep the boosters/alumni happy by playing the homegrown boy?

Because he's Gus. And worth every bit of that $7M/year contract.
 
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I still can’t fathom why Gus didn’t try Gatewood for at least a series or two. Is he so infatuated with Nix that he ignores his deficiencies or is he so protecting of his job to keep the boosters/alumni happy by playing the homegrown boy?

Gus probably knows...9-3.....8-4....10-2....is great year and BN....is the future...
Like my dad always said....every experience....good or bad..is experience
 
Gus probably knows... BN....is the future...
If he's not shown he can develop a quarterback, much less evaluate and recruit one, why should we assume he knows what Bo will/can bring?

Seriously, this is the same guy that said Jeremy Johnson was Heisman type of guy.
 
Congrats to the Gators for beating YellaFella U. Bo threw the ball to his primary receiver and he had made up his mind when they broke huddle that is where he was going regardless to coverage. The QB has allowed some arrogance to drift into his confidence and that hurt his team on Saturday. I am surprised the Gators were able to pretty much shutdown the barn running game while not selling out for the run. If Dan every does get a really good QB then the East does become more than just the Fighting Kirby's. Trask ain't it.
 
YellerTeeth speak:

Like it or not, it was predictable that, sooner or later, freshman Auburn quarterback Bo Nix was going to have a day like he had in last Saturday’s 24-13 loss at Florida. I predicted as much before he played his first game, and I’m not the greatest ā€œpredictionist,ā€ a favorite word of a fomer coach.

After helping Auburn to a 5-0 record and, remarkably, throwing 118 consecutive passes without an interception, Nix threw three of them against the Gators’ outstanding secondary. He looked unsure of himself at times in the din that was Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It was a day that he’ll long remember, and not fondly.

Nix will remember it like Pat Sullivan remembers throwing five interceptions at Tennessee in his first Auburn road game. He will remember it like Stan White remembers when he was a redshirt freshman in 1990 and suffered through a 48-7 blowout in the Swamp. He’ll remember it like Jason Campbell remembers his first road game, a 31-14 loss at Syracuse in which he was sacked four times and completed 11-of-20 passes in 2001. He’ll remember it like Dameyune Craig remembers being sacked nine times by Florida at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1997 for 81 yards in losses as an unbeaten Auburn team was beaten 24-10. That was a year after he suffered through a 51-10 loss in the Swamp.

It happens. It just does. And it’s not enjoyable.

The guess from this predictionist is that Nix is the kind of young man who will grow stronger from the experience and be a better player and better man as a result.

***

Questions that make sense to me:

--Asking why Anthony Schwartz didn’t touch the ball but once in Auburn’s 24-13 loss at Florida.

--Asking why Joey Gatewood wasn’t used in some short-yardage situations.

--Asking why Auburn seemed to return to earlier in the season, not able to run the ball in the first half and finding a way in the second half. Why not find a way in the first half?

--Asking how K.J. Britt was, on the second play of the game, stuck trying to cover a receiver he had no chance to cover.

Things that don’t make sense to me:

--Acting like all is lost because of a loss in one of the toughest venues in the game to a top-10 team that has won 10 consecutive games.

--Believing, apparently, that a team that doesn’t play as well as its fans want in one game is therefore incapable of playing better in any other game.

--Instead of letting the season play out, calling for a coach to be fired because he lost a game to fall to 5-1.

--Grown men ranting about a 19-year-old freshman quarterback who has had a really good season and who wanted to win far more than any fan wanted him to win.

***

At halftime Saturday, my mind flashed back almost 33 years to Nov. 1, 1986. On that day, No. 5 Auburn went to what was then called Florida Field with an 8-0 record and No. 5 national ranking. Florida had four losses. Florida had five turnovers in the first half, but Auburn led just 14-0. In the end, the Gators rallied from a 17-0 fourth-quarter deficit to win 18-17, one of Pat Dye’s five losses in six trips to Gainesville.

Florida, like then, gave Auburn every chance to blow the game open in the first quarter by turning the ball over three times in four possessions. Auburn couldn’t do it and paid the price in the end with a 24-13 loss.

***

Unless the SEC changes its scheduling process, the players who were on the field on Saturday will be in their 30s when Auburn makes its next football trip to Gainesville in 2031. Lord willing, I’ll be 81 years old.

***

Auburn is 5-1 at the halfway point of this season. That’s better than most would have predicted in August. The Tigers still control their own destiny in the SEC West. If they can win, they need no help. The schedule is brutal, but it was going to be brutal if they had beaten Florida on Saturday.

How will the story end? Nobody knows. But it makes no sense to say Auburn must get to the SEC Championship Game for this to be a successful season.

Going 10-2 would be a remarkable accomplishment, because it would mean winning two of three over LSU, Georgia and Alabama. Going 9-3 would be quite an accomplishment, too. In the short term, Auburn players’ immediate mission is to pick themselves up and take care of business at Arkansas in two weeks. A loss there or to Ole Miss two weeks later would be season-destroying and would put forces into motion that could result in bad times for lots of people.

***

It was unfortunate for Auburn that defensive tackle Derrick Brown inexplicably fell down at the Florida 35 while running with a recovered fumble for what seemed a sure touchdown in the first quarter. But watching Brown, at 325 pounds, running off and leaving Florida defenders was an amazing sight. He was the best player on the field.

***

Nix wasn’t the only struggling quarterback in the Swamp. Florida’s Kyle Trask got 74 of his passing yards on a simple slant that turned into a touchdown on the second play of the game and threw a nice touchdown pass for a 17-yard touchdown after Florida took over at the 18 after an interception. Otherwise, he really didn’t do much. He turned the ball over twice. He was sacked four times.

You can’t take any plays away, but Auburn coaches thought the defense’s performance, other than the early pass and LaMichael Perine’s stunning 88-yard run in the fourth quarter, was outstanding. But you have to give Florida’s defense credit, too, and those two plays were the difference in the game.

Until next time …
 

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