This game sucked pretty bad for 54 minutes and then Auburn finally showed up to the game with 6 minutes left. All sorts of thoughts raced through my head during this game, like how much it felt like when Georgia came to Auburn and handed our butts to us while it was raining, but I’ve given myself a couple of days to collect myself and put together a rational string of comments about Auburn’s season opener against Kansas State, but first I HAVE to tell you a funny story;

I showed up at the gates about three hours earlier than I needed to, and I knew that, but it’s fun for me and I didn’t mind. But this entailed that I had no decent system for seeing what’s going on with the rest of the college football world. Nature called and I told my fellow friends to hold my place in line (which was supposed to be a crafty joke, since there were only 8 people at the gate at that point) and I went to the bathroom. That’s when part-time Auburner writer Wilson gave me a call and told me that Michigan was down, but was about to attempt a field goal to win the game. At this point I was in the act of going to the bathroom and I was holstering the phone between my shoulder and cheek (of my face). Upon hearing that Appalachian State had blocked the kick, I yelled “No Way!” To which the guy at the urinal next to me, who didn’t see the phone responded “Yes way! We just took a piss!”

Game Review:

Pros:

1) This game felt a whole lot like the games against Arkansas and Georgia. We knew both teams were a threat but we also didn’t show up to the game like a national title was on the line, which inevitably lead to getting knocked on our butts. Kansas State came into this game pumped and we weren’t ready. The good thing about this game is that last year, we were never able to turn the momentum around when we came out of the gates dead. This year , we did what we needed to do to win, and was actually able to turn the game around.

2) Auburn has been underwhelming in season openers during the past five years: losing three out of the last five (only wins were against Louisiana-Monroe and Washington State). Well, I suppose that means that our first game dictated how well we played the rest of the season right? Wrong. Auburn is somewhere in the top 10 in the nation in winningest records in the nation in that same span of time. What we saw Saturday is NOT much of an indication of what we are going to be seeing for the rest of the season. So quit hating.

3) Kansas State is GOOD! They’re in the top 15 in the nation when it came to dealing out sacks AND tackles for loss last season and they returned six starters on defense and seven on offense. The lesser informed are pooling Kansas State in with actually bad teams like Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky and Notre Dame (ZING!). Kansas State is just a hair away from being ranked - which is what made them so dangerous. We beat a good team.

4) I was concerned that we weren’t just playing bad on Saturday. We were showing so little signs of life that I thought we actually were as bad as we looked for 7/8 of the game. The game couldn’t have ended on a better note: Brandon Cox showed that he is still able to make things happen when he needs to, and he pulled together a terrific final drive to win the game, our defense on the other hand, played well pretty much all game, but actually showed what an Auburn defense is supposed to look like in the final few minutes of the game. It’s comforting to know that we are at least capable of playing up to Auburn’s high standards.

5) Kansas State’s only touchdown was off of a series of trick plays. It’s not like KSU was able to overpower us all the way into the endzone, they had to use some trickery to break through the red zone against our defense. It saves some merit for our defense knowing that Kansas State couldn’t keep this game as close through ordinary means, they had to sneak their way into the end zone.

Cons:

1) Let’s try to keep this brief. Auburn still has issues for getting pumped for every single game. Auburn showed at the end of the game that they are in fact capable of making big plays, it would be nice if we could make a few without first having our backs against the wall.

2) Kansas State did everything in their power to help out our offense. The Wildcats gave up 16 penalties for 141 yards. That’s half our offensive production. The reason we stayed in this game is because Kansas State was sloppy. If KSU were just a little better tuned, this game might have had a different outcome.

3) Our O-Line, as expected, needs some work. They are a group of players with terrific talent, but not much at execution at this point. The only way to get better at that is experience and time. Sadly, we don’t have much time. We play an even better team next week in South Florida, and only have four weeks before we have to fend off Florida’s D-Line, which is never a cake-walk, and yes, I’m looking past Mississippi State, whose defense showed a good bit of promise against LSU.

Report Card

Quarterback: Brandon Cox didn’t look as good as we thought he would. But then again, people were chanting for Brandon Cox to replace Jason Campbell his senior year at the season opener (how many times have we mentioned this in the past 6 months?). Brandon just needs to shake out the cobwebs. Another area of concern is how he got another lingering injury, only this time on his shoulder. I’m not questioning Cox’s durability, because we know he can play through pain, but his overall fragileness is becoming an issue. Throughout the game Brandon put in a C- performance, which was saved by a brilliant and clutch final drive that reminded us of how Brandon Cox is truly, a robot. Score: C+.

Runningback: Ben Tate did a pretty good job. He’s a young back and he held onto the ball perfectly in a wet environment and even made a couple of plays when the team needed him to. Carl Stewart showed his running and catching skills with a few key receptions. I don’t know if it was just me, or if he didn’t ever really lower his shoulder and bowl over someone like he usually does. It seemed like he was standing up more and trying to go for a bit more finesse. Overall a good performance by the runningbacks, the highlight of our offense. Score: B+.

Tight Ends: Auburn has some of the best TE’s in the SEC, which is why it was so disappointing to see us use them so little. Gabe McKenzie made the offensive play of the day on the brilliant play-action touchdown pass to take the lead. Tommy Trott was only thrown to twice, I think, and he uncharacteristically dropped one of them. Score: B.

Receivers: Prechae Rodgriguez proved that he can handle being the number one receiver. As far as I’m concerned, he gets the game ball on offense. There were several important dropped passes that were catchable across the board, as well as some clutch catches at opportune times. Score: B-.

O-Line: Even considering the general youth of our offensive line and the potency of the Kansas State D-Line, the O-Line still fell a bit short of expectations. Brandon Cox was under way too much pressure all game. But when looking at this offensive line, it’s all potential, no kinetic (who doesn’t like a little physics thrown into their football reviews?). These guys should be stars by the end of the season, and it was a bit unfair to ask a stellar performance against a D-Line like Kansas State’s, but the growing pains were a bit more painful that I expected. That just means we are going to grow more, right? There won’t be a single game this season where the O-Line doesn’t perform better than the previous game. Sadly, we set the initial bar a little low on our first outing. Score: D.

D-Line: Auburn essentially plugged up the Kansas State running game, which isn’t saying too much since they threw the ball almost 60 times. The pressure on the QB was decent, and it’s tough to get to a mobile quarterback who only throws short routes, but the D-Line overall put in a good performance. Quentin Groves came through again and delivered another backbreaking sack causing a critical turnover. Score: A-.

Defensive Backs: We should have had 3 more interceptions. Our defensive backs made some great aggressive jumps at the ball, but didn’t have the hands to pull in the interceptions that Auburn desperately could have used (and could have masked our inconsistent offense the way LSU did). The main name of the game for our DBs was open-field tackling, which to an extent, they did very well. Over and over again KSU would dump a short pass and depend on gaining most yards after the catch for big gains. Our DBs never let anything break loose, and the only big pass play allowed was off a freakish double pass. Score: A-.

Linebackers: The pass coverage by the linebackers was the downfall of our defense. I’d say about 3 out of every 4 passes were less than 7 yards deep, which falls under the jurisdiction of the linebackers. At times it seemed like KSU quarterback Josh Freeman completed 95% of his passes, because none of our linebackers were able to cover the short pass. On the bright side, Tray Blackmon did intercept a pass and returned it for about 50 yards to end the first half, which was the only exciting thing that happened in the first 55 minutes of the game. Score: C+.

Special Teams: Our special teams were amazing considering they are made completely from scratch. Our punt returns were consistent and threatening, our kickoffs (save the one that skipped out of bounds and resulted in a penalty) were always within the 10 yard line, and we were 3 out of 4 field goals. Our special teams haven’t taken as much of a hit as expected as we have simply reloaded with more talented kickers. Score: A.

Overall: Considering we traditionally suck at season openers, we are a young team, and we played an underrated Kansas State team, things aren’t as hopeless as some people (the same people who always seem to jump off the boat as soon as it starts to rock) think they are. Auburn should match up better against USF next week who is softer on defense and heavier on the pass attack. Score: C.


E-mail ryan at ryan@theauburner.com

LSU and Georgia tickets here.