looking to continue success

[aubiefifty 18,398]

Auburn looking to continue success against undefeated teams in 50th Peach Bowl

By Bailey Murphy | Campus Writer

4-5 minutes

It’s not often that you see two top-ranked teams fall to the same opponent, and Auburn is riding that unlikelihood with a return trip to Atlanta.

Auburn is currently 3-0 all-time against the University of Central Florida, with three consecutive wins at Jordan-Hare Stadium as the Tigers transitioned from Terry Bowden to Tommy Tuberville at head coach.

The Tigers are also now 6-10 (60 percent) all-time against top-ranked opponents, with a third of those wins coming from the 2017 season.

Beating the best in football takes time, and a lot of frustration, too.

In contrast to Auburn’s long and heralded football history, Central Florida has only been playing the sport since 1979. The Knights didn’t play a down in Division I until 1996, however, finishing 5-6.

Since its transition, Central Florida has consistently finished in the top 25 and is ranked inside the top 10 for the first time in program.

And it has had some notable players rolling by.

Since 1996, the Knights have produced a number of cult favorite athletes in Daunte Culpepper, Asante Samuel and Kevin Smith. Both Culpepper and Smith finished with votes for the Heisman Trophy, losing to Ricky Williams and Tim Tebow, respectively.

Now, with a matchup in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Auburn and Central Florida meet again under different circumstances.

Auburn is 10-3 with an undefeated record at home, including wins to top-ranked Georgia and Alabama to reach the SEC Championship. The Tigers, however, have all three of their losses on the road, including a loss in the rematch with the Bulldogs.

Quarterback Jarrett Stidham took time to marinate with Division I football again, and was sacked 11 times in a 14-6 loss to then-No. 2 Clemson in Death Valley. 

Since then, Stidham has led the SEC in completion percentage (66.7 percent) and is 173 yards away from becoming Auburn’s first 3,000-yard passer since Dameyune Craig in 1997.

Success through the air has been a long time coming on The Plains, even with Jason Campbell and Cam Newton passing by.

The Knights, in comparison, are riding the arm of McKenzie Milton, who led the American Athletic Conference in completion percentage (69.2 percent) and finished second with touchdowns at 35.

In the backfield, Stidham is complemented with the SEC leader in touchdowns, Kerryon Johnson, and Milton with Adrian Killins Jr, who finished with 10 touchdowns and 762 rushing yards on 6.8 yards per game.

To contrast the offense, however, the Knights boast a 1,000-yard receiver in Tre’Quan Smith, who also has 10 receiving touchdowns. 

Auburn’s closest to 1,000 yards is Ryan Davis, who, in its first meeting with Georgia, broke the single-season record for receptions with 69.

At head coach, Malzahn resuscitated his resume at Auburn with a conference championship berth and a seven-year, $49 million contract. Scott Frost, who led the Knights back from a winless 2015 season to 12-0 in 2017, is currently transitioning over to Nebraska with Josh Heupel being named as his replacement.

Auburn will hope to ride the success of young defensive talent and a tandem of veterans on offense, while Central Florida will look to maintain the same confidence it has all season.

And with another meeting in Atlanta, Auburn will have its third opportunity to end an undefeated season.

Tyler Roush | Sports Reporter

[Tiger 8,864]

Gus is gonna let Stidz air it out just so he can break Craig's record

[corchjay 5,311]

9 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Gus is gonna let Stidz air it out just so he can break Craig's record

Nah.  We will pound their defensive front into submission and coast to a 45-20 victory.  

[McLoofus 35,182]

13 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Gus is gonna let Stidz air it out just so he can break Craig's record

 

3 minutes ago, corchjay said:

Nah.  We will pound their defensive front into submission and coast to a 45-20 victory.  

Fortunately, Stid only needs to throw a few screens to Ryan Davis to get 173 1/2 yards.

[Tiger 8,864]

3 minutes ago, corchjay said:

Nah.  We will pound their defensive front into submission and coast to a 45-20 victory.  

You're probably right I was just joking about the relationship between Gus and Dameyune.

 

Then again, Gus let Ryan Davis throw a TD while being up by ~75 points against Arkansas this year just to stick to them so there is a Petty-Gus somewhere under the visor.

[alexava 6,976]

I want JS to get 4000 next year. Very possible. 

[Tiger 8,864]

2 minutes ago, alexava said:

I want JS to get 4000 next year. Very possible. 

I think it is too.

If that happens I know @GwillMac6will be all 

 

[AUBwins 10,295]

10 minutes ago, alexava said:

I want JS to get 4000 next year. Very possible. 

While he is very capable, I think we will run the too often to do that.  Running game and clock management are both too important in the SEC. We better have a 1000 yard receiver next year.  We are due. 

[GwillMac6 20,849]

3 hours ago, Tiger said:

I think it is too.

If that happens I know @GwillMac6will be all 

 

GIVE ME PASSING!!!!! I am tired of being rb U it is boring and not as fun!!! I WANT TO BECOME QB AND WR U!!!!! The prettier girls of the college fball world!!! lol

[GwillMac6 20,849]

3 hours ago, Tiger said:

I think it is too.

If that happens I know @GwillMac6will be all 

 

[WarEagle1983 2,194]

6 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

GIVE ME PASSING!!!!! I am tired of being rb U it is boring and not as fun!!! I WANT TO BECOME QB AND WR U!!!!! The prettier girls of the college fball world!!! lol

Chicks do dig the long ball. It applies to football too! 

[GwillMac6 20,849]

Just now, WarEagle1983 said:

Chicks do dig the long ball. It applies to football too! 

MUHHHHHH MAN!!!!!!!! you said it sir!

[GwillMac6 20,849]

1 minute ago, WarEagle1983 said:

Chicks do dig the long ball. It applies to football too! 

I believe statistically we are the worst passing team in sec history!!! Why does Auburn hate the long ball and passing so much?! lol :[ it is like no matter who the coach is it is all about RUN RUN FORREST RUN!!!!!! haha

[WarEagle1983 2,194]

5 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

I believe statistically we are the worst passing team in sec history!!! Why does Auburn hate the long ball and passing so much?! lol :[ it is like no matter who the coach is it is all about RUN RUN FORREST RUN!!!!!! haha

And when we do pass the ball we'll only target 1 or 2 guys and that's it. As we saw in the SECCG we're going to have to develop a better passing tree. I simply don't understand recruiting all of those top WRs and not using them. I'm not calling for an air raid but we have to better understand our personnel and mismatches we have with our players. We add a formidable passing attack there's NO stopping our run game. That run game is going to be wide open. It's just too much of all or nothing with our passing game. Build a real fricking pass attack and we still can light it up running the ball.  

[GwillMac6 20,849]

7 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

And when we do pass the ball we'll only target 1 or 2 guys and that's it. As we saw in the SECCG we're going to have to develop a better passing tree. I simply don't understand recruiting all of those top WRs and not using them. I'm not calling for an air raid but we have to better understand our personnel and mismatches we have with our players. We add a formidable passing attack there's NO stopping our run game. That run game is going to be wide open. It's just too much of all or nothing with our passing game. Build a real fricking pass attack and we still can light it up running the ball.  

YOU JUST GET ME MAN!!!!! HELL YAH!!! That is what I am forkin talking about!!! haha (did I mention how much I hate we cannot curse?! lol) I am afraid good friend that under malzahn our affinity for a awesome passing attack EVEN WITH THE WEAPONS we have that you pointed out will continue to disappoint us. Like you so amazingly pointed out it is BOOM OR BUST!!!! MY GOODNESS HOW A INTERMEDIATE PASSING ATTACK would do us wonders!

[WarEagle1983 2,194]

39 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

YOU JUST GET ME MAN!!!!! HELL YAH!!! That is what I am forkin talking about!!! haha (did I mention how much I hate we cannot curse?! lol) I am afraid good friend that under malzahn our affinity for a awesome passing attack EVEN WITH THE WEAPONS we have that you pointed out will continue to disappoint us. Like you so amazingly pointed out it is BOOM OR BUST!!!! MY GOODNESS HOW A INTERMEDIATE PASSING ATTACK would do us wonders!

lol. Agree. Hopefully with JS and Chip being comfortable with one another and the system the passing game will branch out more. I think we can tell that a little more trust was given to JS late in the season. With a tough schedule YET AGAIN coming we have to be able to go into Bama and UGA with a little more even if KJ does come back. 

[GwillMac6 20,849]

1 hour ago, WarEagle1983 said:

lol. Agree. Hopefully with JS and Chip being comfortable with one another and the system the passing game will branch out more. I think we can tell that a little more trust was given to JS late in the season. With a tough schedule YET AGAIN coming we have to be able to go into Bama and UGA with a little more even if KJ does come back. 

The georgia and bama gameplans were amazing!!! but that georgia one left me perplexed!!! a lot less passing on first down and other non obvious passing downs had me discouraged!!! we needed to pass the ball more that game with KJ being not even close to 100%

[Gowebb11 10,008]

4 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

The georgia and bama gameplans were amazing!!! but that georgia one left me perplexed!!! a lot less passing on first down and other non obvious passing downs had me discouraged!!! we needed to pass the ball more that game with KJ being not even close to 100%

I believe UGA saw very early that our running game was not a threat and were backing their safeties off accordingly. That made passing much more difficult. Thats why i wish we had rolled the dice and played KM more early. Nothing we can do about it now. Let’s go beat the Knights!