Here's one from Phillip ...
The hard truth is that Auburn’s football team should be 7-0 today. It has more talent than Mississippi State and much more talent than Tennessee. It had LSU beat at home. Coming up empty against those three teams is difficult to grasp for a team that started the season in the Top 10 and beat another Top 10 team in the season-opener.
Saturday’s 30-24 loss to Tennessee was, in my opinion, the worst and most deflating in Gus Malzahn’s tenure at Auburn, now in its sixth season. I don’t believe Malzahn would dispute that. You could hear it in his voice after the game.
Auburn football – the team and the program - are left in a perilous place. Where does it go from here? That’s what people who run the show have to figure out. They’ll, no doubt, hear some strong opinions from those who donate the big money.
The rest of this season doesn’t look promising with games at Ole Miss, against Texas A&M and Liberty at home and at Georgia and Alabama. That is not what matters most at this point. What matters is where Auburn football is going as a program.
I’ve written many times here that I don’t call for people to lose their jobs, and I’m not doing that now. I’m also not going to ignore the gorilla in the room. From the wealthy folks in the suites high above Jordan-Hare Stadium to those at home watching on TV, there is great angst among Auburn people. And most of it is directed at head coach Gus Malzahn.
Yet, this is no ordinary decision about a coach’s future. It would cost $31 million to fire Malzahn, half of it payable in 30 days and half of it over four years. That doesn’t include what it would cost to buy out his staff.
Would it be worth it to make a change? Malzahn’s body of work is filled with great moments and awful ones. Do an SEC championship, another division championships and wins over No. 1 teams predict the future or do inconsistency and games like Saturday night and too many others like it predict the future?
Malzahn will, no doubt, be asked at the end of the season if not sooner about his plan to fix what ails his program. It certainly would give a lot of people serious heartburn to pay someone $31 million to leave. It’s a tough spot for Auburn and president Steven Leath, who negotiated the contract last December.
That Auburn is sitting between Alabama and Georgia has been oft-discussed. But it’s more than that. The other SEC programs with resources to excel – Florida, LSU, Texas A&M and maybe even Tennessee and South Carolina – are committed and on an upward track. Auburn seemed to be on that track last season, but it has reversed course.
Whatever decision is made, it had best be made with some serious insight and based only on what is best for Auburn football’s future. To fail to do that would be the most expensive mistake of all and could leave Auburn wandering in the college football wilderness for years to come.
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How can a team run 80 plays to the opponent’s 68, give up just 68 yards rushing, have 10 tackles for loss, gain 448 yards on offense and still lose?
Turn the ball over three times with two leading to touchdowns, force no turnovers, give up 10-of-19 third-down conversions and give up six pass completions of 25 yards or more. That’s how Auburn did it on Saturday.
One of the stranger stats in the game was that, despite running 12 fewer plays, Tennessee dominated the time of possession 34:01 to 25:59.
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It has to be of great concern that this Auburn football team, instead of improving over the course of the season, has gone in the other direction. The outfit that lost to Tennessee bore little resemblance to the one that beat Washington or even the one that lost to LSU on a walkoff field goal.
It’s been a very puzzling season, to be sure.
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Tennessee has some good players, but not enough. It made some good plays, but they shouldn’t have been enough. The Vols have a long way to go to be a good team, but they deserve credit. They came to play and they gave head coach Jeremy Pruitt his first SEC win.
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For all the other questions about Auburn’s offense, the line remains the biggest issue. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham doesn’t get a pass for two interceptions and a fumble, but he was under serious duress on all three plays.
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Freshman receiver Anthony Schwartz looks like one of the more explosive players to show up at Auburn in a long time. Why did he get just one pass thrown to him after his 76-yarder for a touchdown? I don’t know, but it sure seems like he ought to be touching the ball more often in every game.
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Isn’t it time for people to stop laughing at Coach O? And at offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, for that matter. LSU dominated Georgia from start to finish Saturday in Baton Rouge. The 36-16 romp was reminiscent of Auburn’s 40-17 victory over the Bulldogs last season.
Alabama also must go to Tiger Stadium. It will be interesting to see if LSU can mount a challenge to the Tide.
Until next time …