The 17th-ranked Auburn Tigers are riding high coming into Fayetteville this week at 5-0, and the main reasons are scoring (41.4 ppg) and racking up yards (512.8 ypg) in bunches.
Before the season started, it was written here that if Gus Malzahn could make something out of his bunch of quarterbacks, “they may very well build a statue of him down on The Plains.” The Tigers’ fundraising arm — Tigers Unlimited — should be making the bronze cast as we speak.
Sometimes people mistake Malzahn’s Hurry Up-No Huddle offense as a wild, spread passing attack. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Gus is going to do what he can do best, with the players he has at his disposal. And right now…that means running the football. The HUNH represents the tempo that he chooses to attack a defense with. The Tigers average 253.8 rushing yards per game. The Hogs are a paltry 111.8 yards per game.
Senior quarterback Chris Todd, who was all but run out of town last year, is thriving in Malzahn’s offense. Completing 58.7% of his passes, Todd has thrown 12 touchdowns to just one interception.
Senior Ben Tate and true freshman Onterio McCalebb provide a ‘thunder and lighting’ ground attack as they are averaging a collective 191.2 rushing yards per game. Kodi Burns (Ft. Smith Northside) is now ‘Mr. Wildcat,’ and has scored five TDs on the season.
The Tigers, led by first year Auburn coach Gene Chizik, have been pedestrian at best on defense. Two weeks ago, they somehow managed to give up 30 points to a Ball State team that failed to score a point during the first two weeks of the season.
After their 26-22 victory over Tennessee, the Tigers rank 9th in the SEC in total defense this week giving up 344.2 yards per game. The Hogs are last (of course) at 404.5 ypg, and trail next-to-last ranked Georgia (358.2 ypg) by a large margin.
After the defense held A&M to 19 points, the Hogs seem to be feeling a bit better about themselves, despite the Aggies rolling up 458 total yards. One of the keys to Saturday’s game will be who wins third down. Auburn has converted 46.5 percent on the season, while the Hogs still struggle, making it only 26 percent of the time.
The 11:00 ESPN kickoff typically is no advantage for the home team. Cool temperatures in the 50′s will await the ‘breakfast tailgate crowd’ before kickoff. With Florida looming on the horizon for the Hogs, it sure would be nice to get this one.
It's a pick'em; should be a great game.
The season so far has defied analysis; not because so little is known but because so much is set in stone. There is still very little to say that is not pretty obvious. Looking at the first five weeks it has all run to form with very few exceptions. It is playing out just as expected.
Florida and Bama are the class of the league, head and shoulders above everyone else. Georgia is Georgia again because they found a QB. South Carolina has the easiest schedule since Ole Miss and Ole Miss stumbled out to the gate. LSU is undefeated despite not resolving the QB issues. Monte makes Tenn look respectable but they are still a few recruiting classes and a QB away from competing again.
Tommy left Gus a smashmouth O-line and a couple of running backs, and, a spread QB. He left Chizik enough of a defense to compete. They couldn't lose to a West Virginia team that committed 6 turnovers although they were behind going in the fourth quarter. They played well against Miss St. and Tenn.
Arkansas might have beaten Georgia but kind of self destructed and showed their youth. They continued the slide at Alabama. I don't think they really showed up for that game. They got their feet under them in Dallas and showed a little defense and a running game.
Everyone gives Auburn the edge and, that's probably about right. But, it's anybody's game. It depends on who show up, who wants it the most as they say.
At the start of the season we all thought it was probably a W. If it runs to form, it's Arkansas in the fourth quarter, maybe sooner if the running game and defense show up. It's a coming out party for someone.
If the hogs play against auburn like they did Texas A & M THEY SHOULD WALK AWAY WITH A NICE WIN.GO HOGS YOU CAN DO IT!!!
I'm glad Auburn is ranked 17th and 5-0.
The bigger they are the harder they fall!!
Go Hogs!!