So what does the anatomy of a 3-2 football game look like?
Auburn’s one-point win over Mississippi St on Saturday night should have actually been a much easier win for the Tigers based on the box score. Despite the lone field goal, Auburn put-up okay offensive numbers; 315 total yards with 161 of those coming on the ground. The 315 yards is low for college football, but with half of those being rushing yards, Auburn actually did enough to generate more than just 3 points.
So what happened?
Auburn’s kicker missed two chip-shot field goals, they turned the ball over three times, and they handed Miss St their only 2 points of the game with a safety. And in fact, Auburn fumbled late in the game when they were trying to run out the clock which gave the Bulldogs hope. But if you watched any part of the game, that hope was like a million to one shot at best. Sly Croom’s offense was totally inept all game long. They gained a little more than the length of the field (116 yards) for the whole game, with 38 yards coming on the ground and 78 through the air.
Numbers like that are pathetic, especially in a major conference like the SEC. Now one could argue that SEC games are typically like this, hard hitting defensive battles with more yardage and more scoring, but c’mon. Had I paid for a ticket to this game, I’d be looking for a refund. It’s not the same as watching a pitcher’s duel in baseball, or a defensive hockey playoff game, or a World Cup soccer match. A football game is supposed to have big plays, long touchdown passes or even short ones, or just a plain old touchdown for cripes sake. A little excitement you know. Under bettors had no sweat in this game, that’s for sure.
For the past 4 years, I’ve been the featured handicapper on a prominent radio show in Alabama. And over that time, I’ve made a few really good contacts that are either tied to the Alabama or Auburn football teams. I’ve been on the receiving end of some good info (and some that never panned out), and heading into this season I was told about the Auburn quarterback situation. There was a clear cut starter despite all of the clichéd “quarterback controversy brewing” talk going on; Kodi Burns was said to be the better QB than Chris Todd, not only from the guys watching practice, but also from some of the player’s mouths…off the record of course. And when head coach Tommy Tuberville named Todd the starter, he had some explaining to do.
And yesterday, as I was researching Auburn’s upcoming game against LSU on Saturday, this blogger’s opinion agreed with what I was told in August. As you know, Tommy Tuberville brought in spread guru Tony Franklin to replace former offensive coordinator Al Borges and try and rejuvenate Auburn’s offense. Well with a new system in place, it is certainly understandable that the Tigers would experience some growing pains. But to suffer these setbacks because of a biased relationship is unheard of in the new college football world of big salary coaches. We’ll just have to wait and see how all of this pans out, but at 3-0, don’t expect much to change in the near future. By the way, LSU has some inexperienced quarterbacks of their own making their first collegiate road start. May we see a 6-5 game this week?
Comments