Gotta put this one on the quarterback

[zeebish 0]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

[GalensGhost 0]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of  pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

208582[/snapback]

Disagree completely. Could not disagree more. In fact, this post really ticks me off, to be honest.

Bottom line is our D got torched for nearly 600 yards. Could easily have been 31 points or more. Did you forget that the Badgers took a knee at the one foot line even as one of their coaches was exhorting them to "stick it in there"?

No offense -- unless it's in the PAC-10 -- should have to overcome a 31-point deficit due to poor defensive play.

Did you miss the fact that Auburn receivers dropped 627 passes? Even the normally sure-handed Mix and Taylor let a few get by that would have made a difference.

Blaming this loss on Brandon Cox makes as much sense as blaming the chef on the Titanic for the sinking of that ship. Did Cox have a bad day? Not as good as some others, for sure, but he should hardly have to shoulder the blame for the loss.

[bigsixfive 328]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of  pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

208582[/snapback]

No, I don't believe so. Cox was inaccurate yes, but he did a good job of staying cool and not getting frantic. He needs to work on his awarness in the pocket some, and he was just having an off day. The entire team had an off day. The line didn't block, no one tackled, there was a 20 yard halo around their receivers, etc, etc, etc. Kody Bliss, Kenny Irons, and Brad Lester were about the only ones that had normal days. So to put it all on Cox, well, that's too heavy a burden. The only thing that kid should look at is his technique in the game, and learn from his mistakes, as I'm sure he did after all other games this season. Blame the coaches, not individual players.

[saniflush 0]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of  pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

208582[/snapback]

Blaming this loss on Brandon Cox makes as much sense as blaming the chef on the Titanic for the sinking of that ship.

208588[/snapback]

Can always count on Galen to get me smiling! OUCH head still ringing!

[CCTAU 3,342]

The old saying, "Dance with the one what brung ya," comes to mind here. The coaching staff forgot all about K. Irons and the running game. There was no reason to put Lester in the game when K. Irons was doing well. The running up the middle of K. Irons got us here. The coaching looked the same as the GT game. I'm very dissappointed in the coaching.

[GoAU 1,600]

I feel it's a team loss - a total breakdown in just about every area - hterefore I say the "team" gets the blame.

*BTW, I do consider the coaching staff to be a part of the "Team"

[tgr4lfe 220]

I do not believe any one player is responsible for a loss. I do however know that BC had the worst passing game of his young career. 15/33 is not good. I was there he was just off....many many of his passes were just not on target as usual. It was the strangest thing. For instance, the reverse flea flicker where DA was open running the corner route. BC has the time and throws but it doesn't go to toward the corner, he throws down the middle of the field where DA has to go up with the safety to try to catch.

Don't just look at him, look at the entire team. OL, DL, DBs, coaching....for what ever reason we were not ready, came out I guess thinking we would just walk up and down the field on their D, we didn't. I knew we would have some trouble with their O, but I know idea Stocco would torch our secondary like that.

We got whipped.....I was there, I felt it from the word go, when BC's pass was under thrown and inside and intercepted, THEN turn around next series and fumble..I knew then we were out of it, we were finished we were not ready for them to jump on us like that.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet.

208582[/snapback]

There is no way to lay this loss at the feet of any one player. That is assinine.

The timimg between the receivers and Cox appeared to be "off". It looked like we did not do a good job preparing for this game. Nothing more, nothing less.

[WarTiger 3,917]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of  pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

208582[/snapback]

Disagree completely. Could not disagree more. In fact, this post really ticks me off, to be honest.

Bottom line is our D got torched for nearly 600 yards. Could easily have been 31 points or more. Did you forget that the Badgers took a knee at the one foot line even as one of their coaches was exhorting them to "stick it in there"?

No offense -- unless it's in the PAC-10 -- should have to overcome a 31-point deficit due to poor defensive play.

Did you miss the fact that Auburn receivers dropped 627 passes? Even the normally sure-handed Mix and Taylor let a few get by that would have made a difference.

Blaming this loss on Brandon Cox makes as much sense as blaming the chef on the Titanic for the sinking of that ship. Did Cox have a bad day? Not as good as some others, for sure, but he should hardly have to shoulder the blame for the loss.

208588[/snapback]

Galen, It ticks me off too... Blaming a loss on one player is about the lowest, most classless thing you can do. As a fan of this university, I LOVE AUBURN...I support EVERY player. Games are not won or lost by individual effort, or lack thereof. They are won as a TEAM, and lost as a TEAM. Our TEAM was NOT prepared yesterday. I wish they had been. Not sure what happened, but hopefully it will get fixed. My support for this program does not hinge on winning or losing, my support it constant regardless. I'm proud of this TEAM and what they accomplished. Even CTT says this team OVERACHIEVED... WE will be a better team next year from this... 2006 and beyond looks very bright for this program... Let's get behind the TEAM of 2006 and support them regardless of the outcome on any given saturday....WAR EAGLE!!!!

[tigernt'town 4]

they win as a team, they lose as a team. they all had a bad day. you cannot play football without emotion, or less than your opponent. at least our lineman finally showed some after his helmet was ripped of and he was hit in the back of the head with a hard forearm. i wish they could use replay in those situations, to at least get those calls right too. wisconsin player should have been ejected for that one too.

we have 8 months to be ready for washington state, right? we better be ready!!

and too players considering leaving early, they need to stay, a stellar season will help them move up in the nfl draft. mcclover needs to lead the nation in sacks and he will be a high first round pick.

[PowerI 0]

I'm not going to blame Brandon for this. You can't expect a quarterback to be on every game. Everybody has a bad game. The problem is, we didn't use the strength of our offense, the running game. We did the same thing we did in the G tech game, put all the pressure on the quarterback and forgot about the running game. The loss needs to be at the feet of the coaches. Poor gameplan, and piss-poor preparation. I don't understand why Tuberville seems to relax and take it easy after we win a big game. He's done it many times, (Arkansas 01,02, Tech 05, bammer 01), just to name a few.

This is what used to really piss me off about Tuberville, the lack of preparation. It's like they took the day off. And another thing, he said after the game that winning 9 games is alot better than just winning 6. I agree, but winning 8, 9, 10, or 11 games is expected at Auburn. He doesn't get paid over 2 million to win less than 8 games a year. A 6 win season would be unexceptable. That comment just got under my skin.

[TigerOne 1,152]

CTT"s favorite saying "we'll see what happens" Uses it more when he knows the team is not ready or will probably lose. They ignored the wind, yet talked about it

the pregame(let's throw deep against it).

I don't blame Brandon, he was put in a no win situation by the preparation.

[vatz22au 142]

I'm gonna have to say that Brandon Cox was not playing Brandon Cox football. Offensive execution as a whole wasn't there as well.

[quietfan 233]

...Way to much blame to go around to lay it all on any one player or coach, IMO. Actually, can anyone think of any one particular player that stood out as having a great day? [perhaps Kody Bliss--but when your punter has the best day on the team, you know there's a problem.] They all seemed flat at one time or another to me, and the coaching also seemed flat.

But also, let's give some credit to Wisconsin...they came ready to play and drummed us for over 500 yards while effectively stopping the #1 offense in the SEC.

Hopefully, in the long run, this will serve to make us extra hungry next year. If it embarrasses us and motivates us to avoid similar letdowns in 2006, and to play every game with the intensity we're capable of, that will be the biggest positive to come out of yesterday.

[zeebish 0]

To clarify, I don't mean to say that Brandon is the sole reason we lost the game. There was plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the ball. My point is that even though our defense got torched for 500+ yards and 24 points, that is not an insurmountable lead based on the way our offense has produced this year. The only 2 games where we scored less than that this year was GT and LSU.

I still think the biggest deciding factor in this game was our ability to get the passing game going which would have really opened up the running game. If Brandon had been "on", I think the outcome of the game would have been totally different. Regardless of how much talent you have on your team, a quarterback having a bad day negates just about everything.

Just my .02.

Zeebish

[saniflush 0]

...Way to much blame to go around to lay it all on any one player or coach, IMO.  Actually, can anyone think of any one particular player that stood out as having a great day?

208625[/snapback]

Speacial teams had a good day. Would have been great except for kciking the ball out of bounds after the touchdown.

David Irons had a VERY good day IMO. There is a reason why they did not run to him. He form tackles and usually can get off whatever block they send on him.

I had a great game. Drank way more beer per minute than ever before and still got out of the bar for under $40.

[TitanTiger 20,510]

Well, this game was not they way I wanted to start the new year. That being said, I have to lay this loss at Brandon Cox's feet. Sure, you can look at the outrageous numbers Wisconsin put up against our defense, but bottom line is that our D held them to 24 points, and our offense should have surpassed that. Brandon's inability to get the passing game going was the difference to me. Of course it doesn't help either when receivers are dropping the ball, but to me, Brandon was for the most part ineffective. Some may say that the play calling was questionable, and yes, we probably should have pounded to ball a little bit more, but if I was Al Borges I would have called plenty of  pass plays. Brandon has been able to pass all year. Why would this game be any different?

I still think Brandon will prove to be special, and I hope he uses this game as an important lesson. I think this game illustrates how dang important it is to have solid play from your quarterback. Wisconsin got it from their QB and we all saw how it turned out.

WDE

208582[/snapback]

I disagree. There was plenty of blame to go around. The blocking wasn't solid the whole game, with Badger defenders frequently in the backfield hitting Irons or Lester before they could get going. Irons fumbled. Taylor and Mix both dropped passes that would have been first downs and kept drives alive. On several occasions, Cox dropped back and had time but looked and looked but no one was getting open. Inexcuseable with this WR corp.

Cox made some poor throws and held the ball too long resulting in sacks to be sure. But this isn't on him. It's on the entire offense.

And the defense, while they did a decent job keeping the score down, allowed Wisconsin to march right down the field in 5 plays right after we got the momentum cutting it to 17-10. And the 24 points is deceiving because the Badgers knelt on the ball at the 2 yard line.

Sorry, too many overall problems to blame Brandon.

[AUesquire 1]

I think Zeebish's subsequent post clears it up and he probably jumped the gun in pointing the finger solely at BC. But, this offense centers around the QB distributing the ball where it needs to go and he simply was not in sync at all. The qb doesn't have to be flashy and athletic, just execute and make the throws. The month plus layoff looked as if it really affected his timing.

To be fair, when he did get his timing back, the WR's lost theirs.

[WarTim 3,457]

How about this....It was a TEAM loss! Heck, there is plenty of BLAME to go around.

I did not attend the game so it is partially MY fault too I guess.

It is one game and it is OVER. Let it go and support the TEAM that will be on the field in '06. TRUST the Coaching staff that got us to 9-2 to "fix" the problems...ALL of them. That is, after all, what they get paid to do and I am certain they are more upset than the fan base.