AUsome article by Missouri writer

[jmcrosson 203]

Missouri defense run over by the Gus Bus

By JOE WALLJASPER

Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 10:33 pm

ATLANTA — The Missouri defense was winning games for the Tigers as recently as last week against some hack we’d barely heard of named Johnny Manziel. Missouri entered the SEC Championship Game ranked 14th nationally in rushing defense. Missouri had defenders who had piled up sacks and put themselves in position for postseason honors.

But Missouri hadn’t seen anything like Auburn.

Gus Malzahn’s creation is so good it ties quarterback Nick Marshall’s right arm behind his back. He doesn’t need it. Not often anyway. Auburn runs the ball over and over without pause until such time as Tre Mason or Marshall or whoever else trots into the end zone. The secret is in the deception, the pace and the speed of the guys doing the running.

Not many Auburn opponents have had an answer this season. I’m not sure Missouri even understood the question.

Auburn beat Missouri 59-42 Saturday at the Georgia Dome. If the game were played again today, tomorrow, next week, the outcome would be about the same. Auburn needed a bunch of miracles to get here, but it belonged.

Missouri’s 11-2 season has been better than anyone outside the locker room could have imagined, but MU isn’t as good as Auburn (12-1), whose turnaround has been even more stunning. In Malzahn’s first season, a team that went winless in the SEC last year is now the league’s champion, much to the delight of an overwhelmingly pro-Auburn crowd that made this sound like an Auburn home game.

The statistics will burn MU defensive coordinator Dave Steckel’s retinas. Auburn piled up 677 yards of offense, with 545 of them coming on the ground. Mason carried the ball 46 times — about a half-season’s worth for some backs — for 304 yards and four touchdowns.

For long-time Missouri fans, it was a helpless feeling reminiscent of when Kansas’ Tony Sands rushed for 396 yards against the Tigers in 1991 or when Iowa State’s Troy Davis gashed MU for 378 yards in 1996. But those were bad Missouri defenses and losing teams, and this was a respectable unit on the SEC East champion.

When asked about the difficulty of stopping Auburn, Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said, “I’m the wrong guy to ask.”

Pinkel said Auburn didn’t do anything unexpected — indeed they were the same few plays Malzahn always calls — but Missouri had interior linemen shoved out of their gaps on dive plays and rarely set the edge to force the sweeps back inside. At times Missouri ran its base 4-3 defense, at times its 3-3-5 scheme that gets more speed on the field, but other than a pair of Kony Ealy forced fumbles, nothing went right.

Afterward, MU players put the onus on themselves for missed assignments and missed tackles, but at some point you just have admire greatness. Most teams run hurry-up offense at least some of the time, but I’m not sure any team does it with such devastating effect as Auburn. It’s hard enough for a rested defense to figure out who is getting the ball and where they’re going — jet sweep, tailback dive, quarterback keeper — but a weary defense has no chance. It’s almost a waste that Auburn has a brilliant punter, Steven Clark, who is dusted off only for special occasions.

It’s hard to imagine that for 14 years, high school coaches in Arkansas were trying to come up with a solution to that.

With all that said, for three quarters Missouri was matching Auburn score for score in a game that took a flamethrower to the notion — which was current as of two years ago — that the SEC is the home of slug-it-out defensive trench wars. Old-man football, this was not. Mason would run it down Missouri’s gullet, then James Franklin would toss it over Auburn’s head to Dorial Green-Beckham. Back and forth, with barely a moment to catch a breather before the next score.

Other than the 680 yards of offense, Auburn’s successful onside kick and E.J. Gaines’ fumble return for a touchdown, the first half was a total snooze. Missouri entered the locker room feeling quite fortunate to be trailing by a point because a few minutes before Auburn had the ball in MU territory with an eight-point lead and was due to receive the kickoff to start the second half, too. I thought it was foolish of Pinkel to punt on a fourth-and-1 from his own 23 because Missouri was so helpless to stop Auburn.

But Malzahn picked that moment to try to throw the ball, and Missouri stuffed two wide-receiver screens to Sammie Coates. Pinkel certainly didn’t take a conservative approach when Missouri took over on its own 8 with 1:16 left in the half. Franklin came out throwing, and when he connected with Green-Beckham on a 55-yard strike — DGB’s second long touchdown catch of the game — the Tigers had cut the lead to 28-27.

That allowed everyone a 20-minute break to take their heart medication and watch people try to throw footballs into big cans of Dr. Pepper.

Then the offenses went back to work. Missouri took its last lead at 34-31 with 5:35 left in the third quarter when Franklin lobbed a touchdown pass to Marcus Murphy. And it drew as close as 45-42 at the end of the third quarter when Franklin scored on a 5-yard run and rushed for the 2-point conversion.

But in the end, Auburn’s offense was more fool-proof and its defense made big plays to get off the field. Auburn obviously didn’t put on a defensive clinic, but it did pressure Franklin enough in the passing game to cause some problems. Missouri converted only 2 of 12 third downs, an incredible stat for a team that scored 42 points. It would have been wise to lean a little more heavily on the tailback run game. Henry Josey and Russell Hansbrough were both effective but got just nine and six carries, respectively, in a game MU needed to shorten so it could take the ball out of the hands of Marshall and Mason.

A day that began with visions of Sugar Bowls dancing in Missourians’ heads — or even BCS National Championship Games for those who dared to dream big — ended with the realization that the Cotton Bowl or Outback Bowl are more likely destinations. Not bad fall-back plans. The Gus Bus will be rolling on to New Orleans or Pasadena while Missouri can at least take comfort in the knowledge that Auburn’s offense is somebody else’s problem.

[AUTigressLovesAuburn 0]

Love this article from a Missouri guy. It's nice to be noticed and appreciated. War Eagle!

[bikeriderga 134]

Missouri's team and fans are a class act. Glad they are part of the SEC.

The last thing I left with their hospitable fans was, when you get a chance to play Bama, do us a favor and beat the h*ll out of them!!

[JDUBB4AU 5,138]

Mizzou is a top school with class and integrity. Franklin is a great qb and seems like a better person. Mizzou had an awesome year.

[kd4au 1,145]

It seems we get more respect from other states than we do our own.

[sogaaufan 27]

It really burns my chops that these guys got shut out of the BCS while "mighty Bama" sits on their butts at home and flops in without winning their division. They back into everything they do.

Oh well, I thought Mizzou was a class bunch with a great team. I'm glad they are in our conference.

[gilstein21 1]

i've liked Mizzou for several years. Pinkel is a good coach, and they've had some great team players over the years. They're the East team I want to win every year now.

[BeasFan 3]

Nothing but respect for Mizzou! They're now in the group I will pull for as long as they're not playing AU.

That write-up is topnotch. And fun!

[Earthcat 4]

Excellent article. "Missouri can at least take comfort in the knowledge that Auburn’s offense is somebody else’s problem." Hahaha. I love that.

[AU64 10,122]

Nice to see a team that respects its opponent and accepts the outcome gracefully. A far cry from last week about this time.

[AUbritt 611]

I liked the Mizzou team and fans, too. We were flanked by an Ole Miss and UGA fan to our left, two USCe fans to our right, and 4 Mizzou fans in front of us. The USCe fans were cheering for Mizzou, while the Ole Miss and UGA fans were cheering for Auburn. Very fun experience.

The article is very well written and pretty much right on. My favorite line: "Not many Auburn opponents have had an answer this season. I’m not sure Missouri even understood the question."