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Week 10

Opponent:  Auburn Tigers

Kickoff:  7:00 PM

TV: ESPN2

Alright, that went about the way you’d expect.  Nice to watch a game and not be a bundle of complete nerves just knowing it was going wrong at some point.  Now we get a team that’s struggling for consistency about as much as we are.  Should be interesting to say the least.

About the Tenn Tech game…­­­­­­

The Good: The defense completely dominated an opponent despite emptying the bench.  That was nice to see.  They had less than 100 yards of total offense.  Offensively we played about like I would’ve expected.  We ran the ball and passed the ball at will and substituted liberally.  It was pretty much an ideal game.

The Bad: Logan Gray threw an INT so we ended up losing the turnover battle…again.  That and the fact we couldn’t force a turnover were a bit disappointing.  Given the way we’ve played at times this year, that’s really nitpicky.

The Key: The interior of our DL played like I had imagined it would all year.  TT couldn’t run the ball and it had no time at all to throw it.  Their offense was never a threat because of the play of the DL.  I’d love to see that effort carried through the rest of the season.

AU Offense

• For the 2^nd consecutive year the Tigers are breaking out an innovative offense in order to shock the world.  This year it’s worked decidedly better than last.  Last year’s debacle of an offense under Tony Franklin which lasted barely half the season was a disaster early and often.  This year’s unit under Gus Malzahn has been much, much better.  While still not the most consistent group, they took the same personnel and developed a productive offense.  The “it” phrase nowadays is spread and while they do spread you out, they actually run the ball a lot more.  Look for lots of misdirection and cutbacks.
• After suffering through a miserable, injury-riddled season last year, Chris Todd has bounced back in a big way.  Completing nearly 60% of his passes, he’s got a very tidy 17 TD to 3 INT ratio.  3 INTs all year?  We’ll drop that in a half if Cox is on.  Anyway, Todd isn’t a threat to run and he doesn’t have the raw arm strength of a Mallett to burn you deep.  Skills-wise he’s very similar to Cox, just without the INTs.  Not surprisingly, his 3 lowest passing games (by more than 50 yards) were in AU’s 3 losses.  I’d be remiss not to mention the “wildcat” since Malzahn was instrumental in its development while at Arkansas with Nutt and McFadden.  Last year’s QB Kodi Burns plays some WR now but will do some wildcat stuff.  Given their considerable misdirection stuff, Burns could be effective given his passing ability but he’s been largely held in check in that role this year.
• The AU running attack always has talent.  This year is no different where Sr. Ben Tate has emerged as a real threat, rushing for over 1,100 yards already on the season.  He’s averaging over 5.5 ypc and better than 1 catch per game too.  Freshman Onterio McCalebb has added a spark as more of slasher but the infamous high ankle sprain has held him out of the last two games and he’s questionable.  Mario Fannin is a do-everything back that’s lethal out of the backfield in the passing game.  Seriously.  That guy always makes a big play when I’m watching them.  He’s also 2^nd on the team in catches and 3^rd in rush yardage so that supports my theory.
• Lanky Ga native Darvin Adams has emerged as the biggest passing game threat, with 38 catches on the season for over 600 yards and 9 TDs through 10 games.  Jr. Terrell Zachary has been the definition of a big play threat, with 4 catches of 40 or more yards, but he’s been held to 2 or fewer catches in 7 of 10 games.  Sr. Tommy Trott is a weapon who’s only caught 10 passes on the year (he pulled in 20 last year).  Again, the RBs factor into the passing game a good bit.
• The AU OL was young a few years ago and they‘re now reaping the rewards of that a bit.  With the exception of RT Andrew McCain, every OL had started multiple games entering this season.  Don’t feel bad for McCain, he’s played in 37 games so he’s no newbie.  LT Lee Ziemba is probably the best of the bunch although OC Ryan Pugh isn’t far behind.
• Bottom Line: As you’d expect of every offense ever, Auburn has been more successful against weaker defenses.  Auburn’s just got a more stark difference than most.  They’re averaging 450 yards of offense per game, but in 6 games against teams with winning records that number falls below 360 ypg.  They’ve beaten up the bad teams they’ve played, averaging 590 yards of offense per game.  We’re barely a winning record team, but we’ve certainly got a stronger pulse than Ball State or La Tech, right?  LSU’s active D held AU to 10 points.  That bad Arkansas D only gave up 23 to AU, with 20 of those coming after Arkansas carried a 34-3 lead well into the 3^rd quarter.  Their offense has had some gaudy outings, but they’ve had some eggs too.  Look for Malzahn to put pressure on our DBs (safeties in particular) with the play action passing.
• Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: Todd hasn’t turned the ball over much this year.  Well Brandon Cox hadn’t turned the ball over a whole heckuva lot his last two years coming into this game either and I think he averaged 5 INTs a game over those last two years against UGA.  I want to see Justin Houston really, really emerge.  I want to see the DTs play like they did last week, just disrupting stuff.  If our DL can control the LOS (not out of the question) like LSU did, we can have success against this team.

AU Defense

• We’ve played a considerably tougher schedule than AU has to this point.  Despite that, and despite the considerable defensive struggles we’ve had this year, I was shocked to see that our defense has put up better statistics than AU virtually across the board.  You thought our D was bad?  Auburn is 11^th in the SEC in total defense (we’re 7^th) and last in the SEC in scoring defense (we’re 10^th).  They’ve been particularly bad against the run (10^th in the SEC), which should be interesting to watch considering we can’t run the ball, which begs the question, if we do run the ball well against Auburn, does that mean we can run the ball or not?  The lack of a strong D is a bit surprising considering Chizik built his rep as a defensive coordinator.
• The star of the Tiger DL is Sr. DE Antonio Coleman, who is currently 3^rd all-time in sacks for the Tigers, a considerable feat.  His 12.5 TFLs and 6.5 sacks on the season easily pace the team.  They’ve yet to develop a bookend at the other side to match his production.  The interior is manned by guys that are solid but aren’t going to be guys you have to gameplan for.
• The Tiger LB corps has been paced by a pair of juniors from Florida in Craig Stevens and Josh Byrnes.  They are currently 1-2 in tackles on the team.  Rounding out the unit is a guy with one of the better names in the conference, Eltoro Freeman.  Eltoro.  That’s great.  The bull, or maybe it’s just the toro.  I don’t speak Spanish any gooder than English.  Sorry, any more gooder.
• This is where it gets weird.  Auburn has been significantly better against the pass than the run.  That’s not the crazy part.  The crazy part is they’ve taken as many injuries at one spot (safety) as you’ll see any team take and still been prodcutive agains the pass.  It’s gotten so bad that they started a 5-9 JUCO transfer CB at safety against Furman last week that had never played safety prior to that game.  Opposite him is a true freshman, granted, one that’s started every game this year, but still, that’s how beat up they are there.  Granted, the questionable safety position is shored up considerably by a pair of fine CBs in Sr. Walter McFadden (leads the team in INTs with 4) and Neiko Thorpe (3^rd on the team in tackles), but this unit is playing well above itself given their issues and results.
• Bottom Line: If we can avoid shooting ourselves in the foot, i.e. turning the ball over deep in our own territory, we should be able to move the ball.  No one all year has shut AJ down and Auburn has yet to shut a running game down.  If we suddenly are able to run the ball then our play action becomes that much more dangerous.  Right now no one respects it.  With the major question marks AU has at safety right now I’d imagine we use our athletic TEs to stretch the seams and couple them with AJ flooding some zones to put pressure on those guys.  Heck, I don’t care if we cut Chapas loose on the FB screen play 15 times per drive, I just want to score some points and move the ball consistently.
• Key matchup to watch when we have the ball: Watch AJ.  You know we’ll throw to him several times and you know if it’s close he’s going to come down with it.  He’s so vital to our attack it’s not very fun to think about him getting hurt and missing time but missing last week might have gotten him recharged and ready to produce against an AU defense that has played for 10 straight weeks.

The AU Game Overall

This is labeled the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.  That name conjures up old black and white footage and legendary coaches roaming the sidelines.  The rivalry is close, with AU holding a 2-game advantage.  The total margin of points over the 112 meetings is less than 50 points.  By all accounts this should be a close, old fashioned slugfest.  There’s an odd underbelly to this rivalry though.  Lopsided games are more common in recent years than closely fought ones.  You’d be better served coming into this game as the underdog, playing on the road based on history.  The rivalry just doesn’t make sense.  How else can you explain UGA being a 5-pt favorite?  Seriously?  Has Vegas watched us recently?

At the end of the day though, I think this game boils down to Joe Cox.  Sure, recent years would tell us that QBs by the name of Cox (see Cox, Brandon) tend to implode in this game but you could also say that QBs by the name of Cox tend to spur on UGA wins.  Whatever, Joe Cox playing like he did in Arkansas, or even against SC, can have some success.  Joe Cox playing like he did against UT, UF, etc. could get ugly against anyone.  Getting back AJ should open the running game up even more and I think we all know how much Bobo wants to make that work.  Maybe the OL is finally gelling after early season injuries, maybe it’s the emergence of Washaun, maybe it’s all smoke and mirrors, but I saw a running game start to emerge against Florida and last week it was there in the brief moments where we were trying offensively.

After this game Saturday, one fanbase is going to feel relieved and one is going to be depressed.  Yes, that’s true of most games in the SEC but this one is different.  UGA and AU don’t usually play with this little on the line.  True, AU’s in a transition year, but they came out of the gate too fast, got expectations up, and now they’ve proceeded (with a loss to the worst UGA team of the Richt era) to come crashing back down again heading into their nightmare matchup against a resurgent, undefeated Alabama team on the prowl for a national title…again.  On the flip side, a UGA loss to another first-year SEC coach at a traditional rival would just be too bitter to take.  With the way this season’s gone for us, I’m really hoping we come out on the good side of this one.  Lord knows we need it.

Positional Notes

• Washaun just looks better and better out there.  Very decisive on his cuts and just seems to naturally find space.  His development seems to have allowed Caleb to slide into a more specific role as pass catcher, slash-type guy, which he seems perfectly suited for.
• Josh Davis’ development at OT is only going to help our depth next year.  We should be loaded at OL next year.  Of course, I thought that about this year too prior to some of the injuries.
• Montez Robinson looks like he’s coming on at rush end.  After originally being an Auburn commitment, I imagine he’d love to bust out this week.
• Charles and White at TE are going to be a fun duo to watch over the next few years.  Both of those guys are so athletic and versatile.
• Joe Cox has thrown some questionable passes this year.  I don’t know that any were as questionable as the INT Logan Gray threw against Tenn Tech.  Straight into double coverage.  Ouch.
• Branden Smith is really fast.  I mean really fast.  He’s going to be a great CB once he’s in the system for a year too.  It’s easy to forget he’s just a true freshman.  He and Boykin are going to be a great tandem next year.

Random Thoughts

• UGA-Auburn in Athens will always make me think of the blackout two years ago.  Yes I know it’s been tainted somewhat after the debacle of the Bama blackout last year, but that night was just special.  It was really, really something to watch.
• With that being said, I think this whole trend in college football is getting a little crazy.  The trend of all these uniform combinations.  They’re basically just a shill for uniform manufacturers to make money by selling yet another jersey.  Black is one of our colors so I don’t mind it too terribly much but it’s one of those things where our uniforms looked so danged good already, why mess with them, especially when you know it’s going to get labeled a gimmick.  Look, I don’t blame a school like Clemson trying out a few different uniform combinations.  They wear purple and orange.  They owe it to themselves to try and find something tolerable out of the union of those two atrocities.  At UGA we don’t.  I don’t want to turn around in 5 years and be like FSU, more recently Oregon, where you never know what the team is going to look like week to week.
• Maybe it’s just because UGA is out of it completely since oh, week 1 or thereabouts, but this year’s national title hunt is pretty boring.  At this point you know the winner of Florida-Alabama is getting in, likely even if they take a regular season loss unless it’s really ugly.  Texas is likely in barring a meltdown.  I don’t even know what happens if Texas loses one.  TCU?  Boise State?  Gulp…Georgia Tech?  I mean, I don’t know who to pull for there.  I can’t pull for Florida anymore, I just can’t.  Bama, well…
• I don’t like Florida fans because they’re generally tacky.  UT fans often come across ignorant of anything not UT.  LSU fans are just weird.  SC fans are just fun to laugh at.  AU fans are obsessed (with Bama), but one thing this Bama resurgence has shown me is that it’s really, really easy to hate Alabama.  Good grief they are an annoying lot.  I had an Auburn fan tell me once that the Alabama fanbase was by far the most obese in college football. True or not, they certainly carry around massive amounts of inflated egos, which works great with Saban.  Where did these folks crawl out from?  I haven’t seen Bama fans en masse since Gene Stallings was there yet now it seems like you can’t go to a restaurant with a game on and NOT hear “ROLL TIDE” in that oh-so-Bama drawl.  Aren’t they about due for probation so those folks can go away again?

As always,

Have a safe weekend,

Jody

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