First one of these in 30 years, and it's still not enough. Sigh.
It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you. Those of you looking for confirmation the media powers-that-be needed just one flimsy excuse to shaft Auburn with a mighty shafting, look no further than this week’s TV announcements: the LSU game will be aired on ESPN2 while those noted media darlings Mississippi St. get the plum ESPN slot with Nessler and Blackledge. (OK, so Florida being in Starkville maaaaaaybe has something to do with that.) The following week, it’s our long-awaited return to early kickoffs with an 11:21 date against Ole Miss. (At least it’s at 11:21 as opposed to 11 sharp, and, oh yeah, Auburn will be at home.) Is one 5-7 season topped by one silly loss to Kentucky really enough to lower Auburn’s Q factor to these kind of levels?
It is? Especially in a league featuring the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 teams and a boatload of other hyper-telegenic coaches and programs? OK, so it is. All the more reason for Auburn to finish this year on the highest note possible: with CBS’s dominion over the late afternoon slot, if you’re not playing the biggest game of the week, you’re playing at night or at 11.
The Toro. Chizik says his understanding of the defense just isn’t strong enough yet:
“We’ve got to work toward getting him a better grasp of what’s happening,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “And you’ve got to remember, he missed a lot of football through two-a-days and through the beginning of the season, so he’s just got to get caught up, and really that’s it.”
All that’s true, I’m sure … but didn’t Herring come back from his heel surgery right before the start of the season? Why was he able to grasp things so much more quickly? (Two years of being at Auburn as opposed to two years at JUCO, duh.)
There wasn’t much else to report from Chizik’s Sunday presser–he says the offense’s struggles are about “execution” rather than scheme and that Todd is still the unquestioned starter, but I don’t think anybody was expecting him to come out and say “Yeah, I think Kentucky’s DC might have just figured Gus out, that’s an issue” or “The possibility of replacing our starting quarterback has been discussed, sure, what’s the big deal?”
Oh, one more thing: McCalebb, as you might have guessed from watching him on Saturday, still isn’t 100 percent.
We talking about practice. Twice in that late Sunday Andy Bitter post, we hear that Sunday was a good practice. Roof said “You can tell it ripped the [defense]‘s guts out” and Trott says that Todd rebounded and reasserted himself. The reports that last week was a good week of practice ended up not going anywhere, I suppose, but it’s still better than the alternative.
Yes, I think that’s an issue. From a Charles Goldberg “what’s wrong?” kind of story:
It doesn’t take a coach to see where Todd wants to go with his passes. Of the wide receivers, Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery have 47 of the 55 catches, or a staggering 85.5 percent of the wideout catches. They had the seven wide receiver catches against Kentucky.
It’s pretty simple, I think: if Auburn’s not going to substitute in mid-drive, Fannin, Smith, and Burns–who are on the field–have to make plays downfield as well as close to the line of scrimmage.
Etc. Gabe McKenzie is contributing again, which is nice to see … Neiko Thorpe thinks he should have scored a week earlier … Chizik’s not sure if there’s a connection between playing the same three linebackers and two safeties every snap of the game opposite an offense that ignores time-of-possession and missed tackles in the fourth quarter. It’s quite the mystery, I tell you.
Photo by Van Emst.
Time for a reality check: Chizik’s successor at Iowa State, Paul Rhodes, is on the verge of winning as many games in half a season as Chizik won in two years. Everyone says “it’s tough to win at Ames” which is true…but Chizik was the _worst in ISU history!!!_ (look it up – his win percent was about 20% – laughable even by Cyclone standards)
His quotes are sounding eerily familiar: “execution, not scheme,” “I hate to blame it on the past, but…” “I never fail…”
The dude hasn’t changed. His Tubervillians were his guys when he was winning, and now they are a legacy albatross.
“Depth” is no excuse when Kentucky is playing even thinner.
Auburn Fan will know that they are in store for a HC upgrade the minute the words “we are firmly entrenched at Auburn” slip past his lying, pursed lips.
He’s a job-hopper with a losing record. 10-26 isn’t an improvement over 5-19. And that’s where he’s heading, unless he can slip past Furman by some miracle.
Maybe, like Ames, it is just tough to win at Auburn, too.
Dan- What did you expect? There IS no depth. We have 3 LBers and 2 safetys playing the ENTIRE game. Plus Chris Todd is starting to regress. The coaches are not the one’s* playing the game on the feild, they simply put the in what should be the best position to make a play. Chizik and Roof cannot make the tackles for them. Gus cannot make te reads and throw the ball for Todd. Chizik did not recruit many of the players we have now, but at least he knows that recruiting is the lifeblood of any program. That is why the entire staff going hard at it. We wont see any duck hunting trips to Arkansas this year. Chizik and Co. will finish with at least a top 10 probably top 5 recruiting class. And when we get a QB next year (please be Tyrik) that can actually RUN the option, you will see a completely different O. And when we get some safties and LBers that will HIT you will see a different D also.
* one’s or ones? ones did not look correct.
Ones. One’s is possessive (as in “one’s own”).
As for Chizik, I can’t fault the man overly much for losing two games. I wasn’t a fan of his hiring either,… until he started making decisions. Say what you want about losses, but I don’t know what he could have done more to improve the situation he found when he walked in the door. From staff selection to recruiting, he’s blown away every expectation (save for the “immediate-undefeated-season-or-can-him” crowd) of even the most skeptical critic.
The current angst among Auburn fans is BECAUSE he gave us reason to hope. Had we lost earlier it would have matched our pre-season expectations entirely. Witness the first year that Saban coached across the state for an example of a good coach with an initial rebuilding year (7-6). For Christsakes, we’re playing SEVEN Walk-ons on special teams and NINE freshmen are listed as backups on the depth chart.
I think Gene’s done alright for the first year.
Sullivan013
Sully, WDR: Word.