15 points?

[TigerMom 0]

Why oh why do we have to miss 5 field goals TONIGHT? That is 15 points down the drain. We need a reliable field goal kicker. I have a student who is the number 1 field goal kicker in the state of South Carolina. They should recruit him! He is only a sophomore - but he is a very talented kid, and very bright. I believe his longest was 54 yards. I am SICK that THAT cost us the game!

[SCWarEagle 4]

Tigermom, send the kicker and every other player from Summerville. Send Coach McKissick, too.

[cody101786 0]

Sorry AU fan, but the Tigers could say the same thing. Both teams missed opportunities. We missed FG's and dropped a TD as well. As far as I'm concerned the game should have never came to OT.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

Sorry AU fan, but the    Tigers could say the same thing. Both teams missed opportunities. We missed FG's and dropped a TD as well. As far as I'm concerned the game should have never came to OT.

191598[/snapback]

Ya, but football is a game of capitalizing and executing when given the chance by your opponents miscues. So we can complain about our players miscues if we like and not taking advantage of what we should have.

Even you have to admit that 5 missed field goals should allow us to have some concern about our kicking game. A kicking game that also failed on the punting side also. Hit the first field goal, don't kick a line drive punt to Green.... your right game should have never seen OT. Aromashadu had a TD pass go off his fingers also that should have been caught. Both teams can easily find the could of and should of's in this game.

[JacksonJ 0]

Sorry AU fan, but the    Tigers could say the same thing. Both teams missed opportunities. We missed FG's and dropped a TD as well. As far as I'm concerned the game should have never came to OT.

191598[/snapback]

Cody, you might be right. Give LSU the the TD passes that they dropped, take away the punt return TD because of the blatant clip that wasn't called. Can't give you the 1 FG you missed because it was on one of the drives that you had a dropped td pass and you already have it. LSU = 24

Now, give a the 3 FGs they missed (not counting the 54 yarder) and AU = 26.

So, you are right!

Of course this doesn't take into account the dozen dropped balls that AU had or the other half dozen dropped balls that LSU had.

What I saw was 2 teams that are so close in overall talent that it has taken OT and a last minute TD that last two years, plus home field advantage to win the game.

[GoAU 1,600]

Sorry AU fan, but the    Tigers could say the same thing. Both teams missed opportunities. We missed FG's and dropped a TD as well. As far as I'm concerned the game should have never came to OT.

191598[/snapback]

We dropped a TD pass in the first half too.

[Ranger12 46]

Dropped passes hurt us more because if we catch those passes, well maybe we don't need to attempt all of those FGs or some of them may have at least been closer attempts. How many of those attempts were out of his normal range?

[Shug2003 1]

ranger12 is right.. There were a hell of a lot of dropped passes and Cox had no ints. ALso our DB's could have cost us the game anyway when they dropped the pass in the end zone. Hey, this game is always full of "ifs" and this one had it's share. Imagine how they felt last year when the seldom called penalty of "falling on the other team" was called and cost them the game... We'll be back....

[quietfan 233]

Seems to me like everyone is overlooking a big fact:

If we missed five field goals, that also means we were that close to the endzone five times and failed to punch it in for a touchdown!

I hate that we didn't make any of those 3-pointers, but I also hate that our usually solid red zone production took a big hit last night. I'd love to have a placekicker that hit everything inside of 60 yards every time. But I'd rather have an offense that doesn't stall out in field goal range but drives on in for a TD.

Let's not come down too hard on the kicking team without holding the rest of the offense to equally standards!!

I'm still proud of my Tigers and behind them 100%. War Eagle!

[CCTAU 3,342]

Walk-on kickers perfom better. I find it hard to believe that there are NO soccer players that could kick field goals, just hanging out at AU. Why is there not an open invitation to anyone who can kick. Anybody remember Win Lyle?

WALK-ON.

Might as well. Tubby's record with scholly kickers absolutely sucks. With exceptionto Duvall's first 2 years. Then even he flaked out. AU is too good a program to not have a reliable kicker.

[WarDlowe 39]

The reason you have a kicking game is to get points out of a situation where your offense gets you in range and you can still come away with points. Our offense got us close enough 6 times and we only capitalized once. To me that's inexcusable and we need to find a kicker that is more reliable.

But while it's easy to point the finger totally at Vaughn, you have to remember that football is a team sport, and that there are so many other factors that contributed to this loss even though I would say kicking was a main culprit. You win and lose as a team, and TEAM is something that the AU program always has going for it. We'll be just fine, as much as this one stung to lose.

[keoson7 28]

I think IF tubs gambles after 2 missed fg's, goes for it and converts..... Oh well, you win some, ya lose some, WAR EAGLE our future is looking bright though.

[SouthLink02 8]

For years, Richt said he would never give a scholly to a kicker and then he gave one to Andy Bailey 2-3 years ago.

Bailey isnt even starting or dressing out anymore.

Go with walk-ons

[NoGeaux 0]

Sorry to jump in here and post. I read the stuff about 5 missed FG's and it is true. There were 7 missed FG's all told AU 5 and LSU 2.

However and please correct me if I am incorrect. Vaughn's career long made FG is 43yds coming into 2005 and long for this year was 39 before the game Sat night. Is it realistic to expect him to make from 54 and 49?

With the wind swirling LSU missed FG's of 28 and 38 yards and Vaughn missed from 54 and 49 with his longest career make of 43 it seems to me the odds were not very good that he would make those 2. The other 3 from 41, 39 and 37 were certainly more makeable but again I think the wind did affect David and Jackson's attempts for LSU of 28 and 38 as well as Vaughn's.

I am not making excuses for AU's or LSU's kicking game but it did seem like a difficult night to make a kick and the 54 yard attempt in hindsight probably should never have been attempted. Better to have punted (away from Green) and given LSU a long field.

Having said all that, I think it was a hard fought game and either team could have won. There were a ton of mistakes, missed FGs, dropped passes, blown assignments and some poor tackling on both sides but both teams played hard. I can tell you we never expected Irons to be as good as he was nor Cox. We got to Cox a few times and hit him a few more. Most of us LSU fans figured he would not stand up to the pressure and/or the noise but he performed well.

In any case Good Luck the rest of the season.

[tgr4lfe 220]

Sorry to jump in here and post.  I read the stuff about 5 missed FG's and it is true.  There were 7 missed FG's all told AU 5 and LSU 2.

However and please correct me if I am incorrect.  Vaughn's career long made FG is 43yds coming into 2005 and long for this year was 39 before the game Sat night.  Is it realistic to expect him to make from 54 and 49?

With the wind swirling LSU missed FG's of 28 and 38 yards and Vaughn missed from 54 and 49 with his longest career make of 43 it seems to me the odds were not very good that he would make those 2.  The other 3 from 41, 39 and 37 were certainly more makeable but again I think the wind did affect David and Jackson's attempts for LSU of 28 and 38 as well as Vaughn's.

I am not making excuses for AU's or LSU's kicking game but it did seem like a difficult night to make a kick and the 54 yard attempt in hindsight probably should never have been attempted.  Better to have punted (away from Green) and given LSU a long field.

Having said all that, I think it was a hard fought game and either team could have won.  There were a ton of mistakes, missed FGs, dropped passes, blown assignments and some poor tackling on both sides but both teams played hard.  I can tell you we never expected Irons to be as good as he was nor Cox.  We got to Cox a few times and hit him a few more.  Most of us LSU fans figured he would not stand up to the pressure and/or the noise but he performed well.

In any case Good Luck the rest of the season.

191870[/snapback]

Nice post...I wasn't there, but the commentators made repeated comments about the wind, was it that bad? I know Vaughn had been pretty good prior to this game I think almost perfect for 40 yards or less. With both kickers missing it seems the wind was a bigger factor than we think???

We tried to tell your comrades last week about Irons and Cox, but they didn't want to believe. Cox has been knocked around in the Tech and Arky games. He just hops right up. Kenny suprised everyone. We all knew he could run, but DANG he took it to a new level. I foresee LSU and Auburn being in the NC race next year. Both will have a lot of talent returning. We will have big holes to fill on the OL and at WR, but we got some good talent waiting in the wings. Defensively is the same. Of those that played Saturday, David Irons,Williams, Jackson, will be gone. Will probably be an even better game next year.

[DaddyBoyAU 119]

I think there may have been other factors involved. The team traveled the day of the game, and traveling affects some people poorly. I know that after I travel I don't feel like doing squat the rest of the day - after flying, it usually takes a few hours to relieve the pressure in my head. Maybe Vaughn was unable to loosen up - or just didn't have focus. I also think the travel might have affected the receiver's play. Usually on game day the players get up and all they do is focus on the game. This past Saturday they had to bother with the travel first, and everything was probably rushed.

Also, I heard on the radio this morning that LSU stadium officials (not game officials) wouldn't let Vaughn out of his area during pre-game warmups. Kickers usually migrate to the opposing teams area to get enough room to warm up, but he wasn't allowed - even though the LSU kicker moved into our territory. It even prompted the radio announcer before the game to say "I hope this doesn't come back to bite us". So, again, maybe he wasn't able to loosen up like he normally does.

[quietfan 233]

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/birmingha...2591.xml&coll=2

AUBURN - Auburn place-kicker John Vaughn has a long-range goal for the people who filled up his voice mail with nasty messages about his performance over the weekend.

"Just give them something better to talk about," Vaughn said.

...

Vaughn, for his part, is facing the music, meeting the press twice since the game.

Still, it has been hard, with some of the stinging comments he's heard. Someone drove by the practice field Sunday to shout a profanity at him and others have criticized him on Internet message boards.

...

His teammates have talked, too. "They've been really positive. Everybody's been patting me on the back and lifting me up. The team has wrapped their arms around me. It's been a good thing."

Mental health aside, Auburn knows it left too many points on the field by driving within striking distance of the LSU goal line, only to come up short. The Tigers made it to at least the LSU 37-yard line six times. Five of those times they failed to score because of missed field goals. Offensive coordinator Al Borges said that flies in the face of how a former San Francisco quarterback and fellow Bay Area football expert looks at football.

"I heard Steve Young say once that every time you kick a field goal, you come one step closer to losing. I don't necessarily agree with that, but you have to finish drives," Borges said. "You don't rely on field goals."

...

Others missed too:

There were other players who missed, too. Auburn coaches counted seven drops by their wide receivers. The defense didn't line up correctly on a critical pass play. The defensive backs gave up big plays despite the decision to drop extra players into pass coverage in hopes of catching a wayward pass from LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

"We decided to defend and see if he could throw the ball downfield in between gaps and make plays," Tuberville said.

Auburn's problem: Russell made the plays.

"Usually, when you play that zone, you're going to get an interception," Tuberville said. "But they must have worked on it during the week. They weren't going to turn that ball over."

Tuberville also said he probably made a mistake by calling a timeout before LSU kicker Chris Jackson hit the game-tying field goal. Just over a minute remained and it may have saved LSU from a delay penalty that would have made the field goal try more difficult. Replays suggested LSU would have called the timeout, anyway.

...

Borges says the morale is still good. The Tigers are 5-2 overall, 3-1 in the SEC and can point to lopsided wins over Arkansas and South Carolina, something, for example, Georgia can't do.

"These kids are resilient," Borges said. "I'm not saying it felt like we won the game because it certainly did not. But I think we will recover fine from this."

First of all, for those who are cursing John Vaugn or leaving nasty messages on his voice mail: LAY OFF !!! I AN ASHAMED TO HEAR OF AUBURN PEOPLE ACTING IN SUCH A REPREHESIBLE WAY! It makes me want to treat you the same way (perhaps its a good thing I don't have your voice-mail number). If you want to treat fine young men who trying their best in such a manner, perhaps you should go find another team to support--I can think a few where you'd fit in better with the rest of the fan base!

Secondly, I pretty much agree with Steve Young. Every field goal attempt (except those rare ones forced at the last second due to clock considerations) could be a touchdown. Instead of blaming a kicker, why aren't we as equally upset that we didn't have the offense to punch it on in?

Thirdly, I think we had a great game and I congratulate everyone on the team for a game hard played. We had mistakes, but we also showed that everyone in our future path had better look out. We're for real, and we're going to be dangerous this year and for the next few years. It's great to be an Auburn tiger!

[AUTigerKat 0]

Sorry to jump in here and post.  I read the stuff about 5 missed FG's and it is true.  There were 7 missed FG's all told AU 5 and LSU 2.

However and please correct me if I am incorrect.  Vaughn's career long made FG is 43yds coming into 2005 and long for this year was 39 before the game Sat night.   Is it realistic to expect him to make from 54 and 49?

With the wind swirling LSU missed FG's of 28 and 38 yards and Vaughn missed from 54 and 49 with his longest career make of 43 it seems to me the odds were not very good that he would make those 2.   The other 3 from 41, 39 and 37 were certainly more makeable but again I think the wind did affect David and Jackson's attempts for LSU of 28 and 38 as well as Vaughn's.

I am not making excuses for AU's or LSU's kicking game but it did seem like a difficult night to make a kick and the 54 yard attempt in hindsight probably should never have been attempted.   Better to have punted (away from Green) and given LSU a long field.

Having said all that, I think it was a hard fought game and either team could have won.  There were a ton of mistakes, missed FGs, dropped passes, blown assignments and some poor tackling on both sides but both teams played hard.  I can tell you we never expected Irons to be as good as he was nor Cox.  We got to Cox a few times and hit him a few more.  Most of us LSU fans figured he would not stand up to the pressure and/or the noise but he performed well.

In any case Good Luck the rest of the season.

191870[/snapback]

Nice post...I wasn't there, but the commentators made repeated comments about the wind, was it that bad? I know Vaughn had been pretty good prior to this game I think almost perfect for 40 yards or less. With both kickers missing it seems the wind was a bigger factor than we think???

We tried to tell your comrades last week about Irons and Cox, but they didn't want to believe. Cox has been knocked around in the Tech and Arky games. He just hops right up. Kenny suprised everyone. We all knew he could run, but DANG he took it to a new level. I foresee LSU and Auburn being in the NC race next year. Both will have a lot of talent returning. We will have big holes to fill on the OL and at WR, but we got some good talent waiting in the wings. Defensively is the same. Of those that played Saturday, David Irons,Williams, Jackson, will be gone. Will probably be an even better game next year.

191908[/snapback]

I think David Irons has the opportunity to apply for another year due to injuries, so hopefully we'll have him for another year.