Couple of things to Ask Chizik...

[AUgrad00 7]

Great job in many respects by the Auburn coaching staff. I do have two questions though why did Auburn let the foot off the pedal after being up 14-0 and what I mean by that is Malzahn unloaded trick play after trick play then Auburn goes up 14-0 and its like Tommy Tuberville took over the offensive play calling again. I mean Auburn had at least three chances to put the game away. Third possession Chris Todd cannot hit an open Tommy Trott twice.

Then Auburn gets the stop at midfield and does nothing and I think AU had another possession prior to Alabama's last and did nothing. Sure the Bama D is good but why not keep running that stuff till they stop it. I will be honest I keep thinking on the third possession Auburn could have won the game right there. I don't believe Alabama would have come back from a 21-0 deficit. I just do not understand why you play one quarter balls to the wall then Marty Schottenheimer starts calling your plays.

Secondly the clock management on that last possession is embarrassing. Why on earth in that situation does it take 15-20 seconds to get a play even called. Frankly I am not sure why Todd did not just say F it and if he knows the play book call plays himself instead of wasting valuable time waiting for the calls to be given to him. I mean that was amateur hour. I guess what I do not understand either can Auburn not develop a quarterback with the acumen to read a defense so he is capable of changing the play at the line why must the qb look at the sideline every play. One more though if our quarterback is looking to the sideline for every play call why can't Malzahn not read all the corner back blitzes Alabama runs. Auburn had a third down at midfield and they bring a corner back blitz and sack Todd for a ten yard loss. How you cannot read that I have no idea Alabama does that crap every play.

Just a few thought.

All of this is sad to me because the defense could not have done anymore.

Still one hell of an effort by Auburn that should NOT be overlooked.

[Shug2003 1]

The only question I would have had was the play selection on our last chance drive. I knew if we didn't control the ball on that drive, bammer would get it back and win the game. That's the way it happened!

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

IMHO you can't place much blame on Todd on our last series. One of the downsides of Malzahn's offense is the plays are sophisticated, they take a long time to develop, and the signals from the sidelines are complicated. Malzahn needs to set up a two minute offesnse and let the QB take over. It was the same as the end of the Georgia game, a pass play that took too long to develop and Todd gets sacked when everybody in the stadium could see the blitz coming. A coach once pointed out to me that if you start counting when the QB gets the snap and he still has it on the count of three on a passing play he is in trouble. Look at other offenses (Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, etc) and see how quickly they get rid of the ball. That's made possible by using a lot of timing plays rather than having the QB make too many reads. Look at what bama did on two cruicial 3rd down plays on their last drive......a quick throw on a slant over the middle to Jones.

Plus it would have helped if Roof would have made some adjustments to the short over the middle passes which were open all day.

In any event, congrats to the Auburn Tigers for a great effort. The bammers are pretty subdued in Huntsville today. There are little thoughts in their minds that maybe they aren't as good as we all thought they were and here come the Gators.

War Eagle!!!!

[TigerfanKM 37]

We could have spiked the ball in between plays to stop the clock! Can anyone explain why we did not do this on the last drive? Todd is a SR so I would expect that out of him. Still, one hell of a game our boys played. The future looks bright - War Eagle!!

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Todd is given very little leeway to make decisions. That is all directed from the sidelines.

[nanatiger 3]

[/u] I guess what I do not understand either can Auburn not develop a quarterback with the acumen to read a defense so he is capable of changing the play at the line why must the qb look at the sideline every play.[/u]

Been wondering the same thing. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I'm hoping that as players become more ingrained (not sure if that's the word I'm looking for) in Malzahn's system, this will be resolved.

I'm proud of what this team did accomplish in less than a year. I would have been happy to break even.

WAR DAMN EAGLE!

[autigeremt 6,970]

I am very happy with the team and the future as a whole.

I knew when we had the ball at their 45 and couldn't get a first down that we were playing with fire.....and it burned us. We are headed in the right direction.