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A spirit that is not afraid

OPINION: Auburn must turn it around now to avoid disastrous season

Coach Malzahn during the first half of Texas A&M vs Auburn at Auburn, AL on Nov 8, 2014. (Emily Enfinger | Assistant Photo Editor)
Coach Malzahn during the first half of Texas A&M vs Auburn at Auburn, AL on Nov 8, 2014. (Emily Enfinger | Assistant Photo Editor)

Auburn fans have held out hope of their Tigers eventually snapping out of their early-season funk and going on to become the great team they were made out to be in the preseason.

But it’s time to stop hoping and start accepting what has become fact: Auburn is not going to become a great team any time this season.

Auburn certainly isn’t great, and right now they’re not good.

Mediocre would be a kind word for the team that eked out two wins before getting thrashed in its first conference game.

At this point, there’s no way to shed a positive light on the Tigers.

Auburn’s season opener against Louisville looked like a good win at the time, even though the Cardinals charged back in the second half behind the play of true freshman quarterback Lamar Jackson. The overall offensive struggles and the three interceptions thrown by junior quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who was heralded as the future of the program, were written off as first-game jitters.

Since then, however, the Cardinals have dropped games to Houston and Clemson at home, giving them their first 0-3 start since 1984.

Jackson, who rushed for 106 yards in the second half against Auburn, rushed for only 16 yards on 12 carries against Houston and lost his starting job against Clemson.

Auburn returned home to get on track against lowly Jacksonville State, but the cupcake game did not go as planned for the Tigers.

Auburn struggled mightily, scratching out an ugly 27-20 win in overtime against the Gamecocks. Johnson tossed another two interceptions, while the defense again surrendered over 400 yards.

Though players and coaches vehemently denied looking past Jacksonville State, some believed the Tigers already had their eyes set on their SEC opener versus LSU.

If so, the two weeks they spent looking at the Bayou Bengals didn’t do them much good.

The visitors didn’t belong on the same field as the team from Baton Rouge. From the first play, the game looked like men playing against children, as sophomore running back Leonard Fournette burst up the middle for a 71-yard gain, recording several of his 14 broken tackles along the way.

The missed tackles, something that haunted Auburn a year ago, became a theme of the game, along with long gains by the vaunted tailback. Fournette finished the game with three touchdowns and 12 yards per carry, an LSU single-game record.

LSU had only 74 yards passing, which was more than enough considering Auburn gave up 411 yards rushing to Fournette and Co.

As bad as the defense was, the offense was no better.

Auburn gained only 260 total yards, 190 of which came in the second half, when LSU was allowing the substitutes to enter the game. Johnson tossed yet another interception, his FBS-leading 6th of the season, and the running game was non-existent.

Johnson has been the scapegoat for the fan base and will continue to be until his play improves and the team starts winning, if either of those happens this season. However, the blame for the pitiful performances should go to all players and coaches on both sides of the ball, as no position group has been any better than the next.

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Auburn returns home this week to face Mississippi State, who is fresh after a blowout win versus New Mexico State. If the Tigers are going to improve, it needs to happen now.

Since the SEC Championship Game was created in 1992, only two teams (2000 Alabama and 2005 Tennessee) have missed a bowl game after being the media’s pick to win the conference.

Auburn was picked to win the conference in 2015, and the Tigers need to improve vastly, and quickly, in all areas if they want to avoid becoming a member of the dubious club.


Evan McCullers can be reached at Sports@ThePlainsman.com.


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