Most of the time, when I write these keys to the game articles, I try to get somewhat technical and take an in-depth look at Auburn and whoever their opponent is that week. I try to be specific and unique and avoid making what I say sound too basic. However, if Auburn hopes to find any success against the Bulldogs, or at all for the rest of the season, they need to get back to basics.
1. Tackle
It seems pretty simple. If you don't tackle the opposing player, you aren't going to win a football game. Against Texas A&M, Auburn's tackling was atrocious. The Aggies racked up 453 total yards with a true freshman starting quarterback. Against Louisiana-Monroe, TAMU only gained 243 total yards. That game was in College Station, Texas. In Jordan-Hare Stadium, Kyle Allen and the Aggies offense screened and slanted the Auburn defense to death, and there were very few times when an Aggie player went down after the first defensive contact. Somewhere in Athens, Georgia, a guy named Todd Gurley was watching this game, chomping at the bit to get back on the field against a defense that got gashed all night by an inferior offense. If the Tigers play to the same level defensively as they did against the Aggies, Gurley is going to have a field day between the hedges Saturday.
2. Get to the quarterback
Part of the reason a true freshman was able to come into Jordan-Hare Stadium and embarrass this defense in the first half was because he had roughly an hour to throw every pass. Save for the Ole Miss game, when Bo Wallace went down four times, the Auburn pass rush has been essentially nonexistent in 2014. With a secondary that struggles to get the ball carrier down, the defensive line is going to have to step up and pressure Hutson Mason. Mason may not be the best quarterback in the league, but then again, neither is Kyle Allen.
3. Play a complete game
The first half against Texas A&M couldn't have gone much worse for the Tigers. Kyle Allen and the Aggies shredded the Auburn defense for four touchdowns, and the offense, fast as it is, just couldn't keep up. In the second half, the defense held the Aggies to only six points, and the offense came within three points of tying the game. Then the offense fumbled twice inside its own 30-yard line in the last three minutes of the game. If Auburn wants to beat Georgia, the offense and the defense are going to have to play well at the same time, and, save for the LSU game and the second half of the Arkansas game, they haven't done that much this season in conference play.
4. Be smart
Ninety-nine percent of the time, if you give your running back the ball on the 2-yard line twice in a row, he'll get the ball into the end zone. I know there have plenty of times near the goal line when Nick Marshall has kept the ball and ran around the corner to the pylon, but that close to the end zone, there isn't really much of a decision to be made. In my opinion, that just wasn't a smart play call. Georgia is a confusing team. One week, they go out and pound Arkansas, and a few weeks later they get embarrassed by Florida. Auburn doesn't yet know which Georgia is going to show up, but that doesn't matter. They have to clean up their own sloppy play first.
5. Get Over It
"What just happened?" "No way that just happened!" Those were the most common things I heard said around me in the student section after Reese Dismukes fumbled the snap with less than a minute to go. The way the Tigers lost to A&M was absolutely heartbreaking, but they have to forget about it. They can't afford a hangover from a loss heading into Athens, Georgia. It happened, it's over, and the Tigers need to wipe it from their memories. There's one person Auburn needs to be focus on right now, and he wears a big No. 3 on his chest.
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