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| GAME THREAD WEEK THREE: NCAA/SEC games ...
- Thread starter TerryP
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rocknthefreeworld
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Interesting week so far. Two top 5 teams had to come back from 14 or more against lower ranked or unranked opponents (Michigan, Bama). Number 9 Wisconsin squeaked by a terrible Georgia State team and Number 15 Tennessee had fits with Ohio (not Ohio State, OHIO). Number 22 Oregon loses to an unranked but undefeated Nebraska. Number 13 Iowa lost to an FCS team (albeit North Dakota State but still) but I think that number 2 FSU losing to number 10 Louisville badly is worse.
How the game? Not watching, watching the OS vs OK, and USCw vs Stanford game some.
You I have lost half my Bama Bucks tonight!
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This guy just ripped a new one into the barn!
These barners seem to forget that we had Shula, and we were languishing, too. Now it's their turn to suffer and they are suffering.
Oh, to be Auburn in the time of Nick Saban
Oh, to be Auburn in the time of Nick Saban
Auburn coach Guz Malzahn gets a hug from his wife, Kristi, after Auburn's 29-16 loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 17, 2016. (Julie Bennett)
By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com Follow on Twitter
on September 17, 2016 at 11:08 PM
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The enormous videoboard inside Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium is 190-feet long and 57-feet high. Apparently, according to Auburn, it's the largest TV in college football. That's what they like to say. Like most big toys, the videoboard might be overcompensating for something.
Everyone who watches a football game in Auburn loves it, of course, and especially when they show pictures of Bo Jackson, or Cam Newton, or Alabama losing.
Obviously, that last one hasn't happened much since the big TV went up before last season, but it happened on Saturday.
Alabama was losing to Ole Miss by a great margin when the operators of Auburn's big TV decided to flip on the game inside the stadium. This was more than an hour before Auburn's kickoff, but already there were thousands of students and fans in their seats. Everyone cheered when Ole Miss scored a touchdown, and it was such a fun moment that one of Auburn's in-house reporters pulled out his camera inside the press box and snapped a picture.
Remember that time Ole Miss led Alabama 24-10?
Oh, the memories.
To be Auburn in the time of Nick Saban is to appreciate the smaller joys of life. Or, put another way, it's a time to waste money on the bigger distractions.
Auburn's 29-16 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium was Auburn's first SEC loss of the season, and there is absolutely no shame in losing to a decent SEC opponent. Texas A&M might be the third-, or fourth-, or fifth-best team in the SEC West. It's too early to know just how average they are.
But Auburn, man. There's just no doubt about it after Saturday night. Not fun to watch. That big TV might need to be returned to Best Buy in Opelika, or maybe the 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter down on College Street. With this offense that Gus Malzahn has put together, anything that exists to show in-game highlights is worthless.
Maybe Malzahn can pawn it, or trade it straight up with Louisville for quarterback Lamar Jackson's backup. Would Bobby Petrino let his backup quarterback transfer to Auburn for Auburn's 190-foot videoboard? This is the stuff you think about when you're a sportswriter during an Auburn offensive possession. Not Lamar, obviously, because he's worth way more than the $3.5 million Auburn paid for its big TV.
Anyway, no amount of digital television pixels in the south end zone are going to make Auburn's current quarterbacks any better — even if they used it to break down film of their opponents for 10 hours a day after every practice.
For much of the second half, Auburn's biggest offensive play was a pass interference penalty by Texas A&M's defense. Auburn rushed for four yards in the third quarter.
"I really thought the third quarter was the key to the game," Malzahn said. "The offense just couldn't seize the moment."
It was so frustrating to watch, and so thoroughly unproductive and pointless in its existence, that Malzahn threw his hands up in the air and put his junior college transfer quarterback into the game. Keep in mind, the kid had never completed a forward pass in Division I.
But, hey, say what you want about John Franklin III, at least he was moving the ball late in the game. Not that it mattered. By that point, the game was unwinnable.
"The thing about this offense, we'll improve," Malzahn said.
That's a good perspective to have. Also, Auburn is 2-10 in its last 12 SEC games.
Auburn has LSU at Jordan-Hare next week, and the Tigers need a conference win at home badly. Malzahn hasn't defeated an SEC opponent in Auburn since Oct. 25, 2014. That was before the big TV, of course.
The Tigers, at the time ranked No.5 in the country, outgunned South Carolina 42-35. Gone are the days, right? Since that victory, it was five consecutive losses at home to conference teams before Texas A&M. Auburn's first loss of the streak was to the Aggies. This second home loss in a row to Texas A&M is now the sixth overall at home against SEC opponents.
Most importantly, for reasons that should be obvious to everyone by now, Auburn hasn't won a home game against an SEC opponent since that big videoboard was erected. Maybe it's cursed. No, just really difficult to watch.
"We got to have explosive plays," Malzahn said. "We've got to figure out how to have explosive plays."
Joseph Goodman is a senior reporter and columnist for Alabama Media Group. He's on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
SMDH...
Gus gonna be coaching HS ball next year while making a 5mill buyout from the barn.. lmao
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