The Sky is Blue, The Earth is Yellow

photo courtesy of @SEC_Lauren

The ground that we play this game on is usually covered in a beAUtiful green grass. Unless of course, you play in Boise, Idaho. The field Auburn and Ole Miss played on was yellow most of the night.

I can honestly say that I have never witnessed that many penalties in an Auburn game. On one hand, I am absolutely sick of the refs interjecting their way into games, and yet are unable to call a game the same for both teams. The other side to that is, Auburn was favored properly on both of the review calls. Not to mention the needless late hits that occurred out of bounds that the Tigers were guilty of.

Stats are courtesy of the official Auburn Athletics site.

Quick Stats	AU	Miss
Total Plays	68	72
1st Downs	23	25
3rd down efficiency	6-13	5-13
4th down efficiency	0-0	1-2
Total Yards	507	492
Passing Yards	254	341
Comp-Att	15-22	30-42
Yards per pass	5.5	8.1
Rushing Yards	253	151
Rushing attempts	46	30
Yards per rush	5.5	5.0
Penalties-Yards	13-145	6-48
Turnovers	1	2
Fumbles lost	0	2
Interceptions thrown	1	0
Time of Possession	32:11	27:33

There was so much about the way the Auburn defense played that was undisciplined, and yet, it came up with two huge stops twice, in the 4th quarter. Some of the same problems that Auburn has had since Ted Roof was hired as Defensive Coordinator are still problems today. In Ellis Johnson's second season, we are still missing tackles, and not covering obvious pass routes properly. 

Much to the chagrin of our Defensive coaching staff, the players are not taking to the game, what they are being taught at practice. I don't know how to fix that, but if it doesn't get fixed soon, there will be more frustration ahead for the Auburn family. 

The offense, for all it's first half woes, kept showing signs that it can score at will when the cylinders are all firing on time.  When it is firing, oh boy what a sight to see. Deep passes, long runs, and terrific blocking all around make this offense run like a NASCAR Champion. However, keeping that engine in tune on a consistent basis has eluded the coaches and players.

Our toughest foes are ahead of us, and we are in no position to feel we can beat anybody. Why would we? We've only played one game all season where the defense and the offense both clicked, and that was against a young LSU. Georgia and Alabama won't be pushovers. When they have opportunities to put you away, they will. 

First though, we must ready ourselves for a visit from Texas A & M. The Aggies will come to JHS expecting to upset the home standing Tigers. Lets learn from our mistakes this week at practice, and come out firing on all cylinders. Our offense needs to run like a Ferrari and the defense needs to be a stout as a Bulldozer. 

WAR EAGLE!