a frustration Auburn knows too well

[aubiefifty 18,222]

Hoping for chaos, a nation feels a frustration Auburn knows too well

Posted Nov 16, 10:21 PM

5-6 minutes

Auburn Football

 

For a fleeting moment during Auburn’s 21-14 loss to Georgia, all of college football’s magic materialized inside this gloriously loud stadium like an ephemeral dream and shook the world.

Swag Surfin’ in the student section was back at Jordan-Hare, in other words, and it felt like 2017 again.

An upset seemed possible.

A crowd believed.

Fans around the country wishing and hoping for Auburn to create some chaos for the College Football Playoff committee collectively wondered what took Auburn so long to find its offense. They were rooting for Auburn in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, believe it or not. It made for one of the stranger plot twists of this college football season.

With Georgia at No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings, there were one-day Auburn fans scattered all over the country. Which means, for a moment, people all over America shared in that familiar feeling Auburn has come to know so well this season.

So close.

So frustrating.

So predictable.

Auburn’s offense was too conservative early, and too inexperienced late. Auburn quarterback Bo Nix attempted 50 passes, proving that there are some good things to come for him, but also demonstrating once again that his coach can’t figure out how to put him in the best position to be successful.

“Not feeling that great right now,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “It was a tough loss.”

Counting the 2017 SEC championship game, Auburn has now lost three games in a row to Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team lost to South Carolina earlier this season. Georgia, led by its defense, has improved incrementally this season and is now in a position to win its way into the College Football Playoff.

Faced with the most difficult schedule in the country this season, Auburn’s offense never had the luxury of gradually doing anything. Suddenly, though, everything started to click on a beautiful evening inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

When the beat dropped over the speakers here after Auburn’s second touchdown of the fourth quarter, the place turned into a dance party.

Down a touchdown but with all the momentum, Auburn’s players jumped and grooved on the sideline. In the student section, everyone locked arms and swayed back and forth in that Swag Surfin’ way. Just minutes earlier, Auburn trailed 21-0 entering the fourth quarter, and this game, and the Tigers’ season, felt dead and buried.

Auburn had 24 yards of total offense in the third quarter, and Georgia, behind running back D’Andre Swift, was finally starting to look like a team worthy of that No. 4 ranking, and the final spot in the playoffs that comes with it. Swift had 100 yards on 15 carries entering the fourth quarter against Auburn’s rugged and proud defense.

Say what you want about Malzahn’s play calling, but his team’s never quit fighting for him. They didn’t against Georgia in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

“We were talking, ‘We just gotta score the first touchdown,’” Malzahn said.

And they got it. And Malzahn was right.

People will forget this fourth quarter for Auburn, but it’s when Nix made some of his biggest strides as a freshman quarterback. Auburn had just 171 yards of total offense in the game’s first three quarters, but then had 158 in the final frame.

Nix was 7 of 9 passing on his first touchdown drive after beginning the game 17 of 30. His second touchdown drive, which cut Georgia’s lead to 21-14, ended with a two-yard rushing touchdown by Nix. It was the first rushing touchdown Georgia’s defense has allowed all season.

“Bo Nix is a winner,” Malzahn said. “He competes. He battled. He fought.”

He then made the mistakes of a freshman.

On fourth and 2, Nix threw behind receiver Harold Joiner, who didn’t help his quarterback by trying for a one-handed catch. The ball hit the turf, and a stadium dancing with energy let out a collective gasp of disbelief. Joiner was so wide open.

How did he drop that?

How was it thrown so poorly?

“When two good teams are playing, the little things matter,” Malzahn said.

The incompletion came after a deep sideline pass to Seth Williams that was overturned on review. Williams had 13 receptions for 121 yards. In the end, Auburn’s offense actually outgained Georgia 329 to 251.

How does Auburn come so close every time just to watch that magic transform into resentment?

“I think everyone can see we got a good football team,” Malzahn said. “They’ll rebound and finish this thing.”

Maybe so, but that will only make the frustration burn hotter.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

[WarTim 3,524]

Already slamming AU and eager to pump up the uat rednecks. 

[aubiefifty 18,222]

they are echoing the majority of auburn fans in my humble opinion.

[Sully to Beasley 643]

This loss was caused by Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III and his pathetic play calling. He put Auburn in the desperate scenario that our players almost overcame in spite of him. Please Arkansas, call your favorite son home, NOW!

[AURealist 2,194]

Looks like it's yet again time to let the particulars of yet another lost season slip down the memory hole and concentrate on the team "never giving up"/"playing for pride" and gushing that Gus "never lost the team".  Plus, sucks "that our schedule is so hard" and "the refs hate us".  We just "can't catch a break", ...

Might be easier to just recycle articles and responses from earlier seasons than to bother writing new ones.  

 

[ToraGirl 5,498]

1 hour ago, Sully to Beasley said:

This loss was caused by Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III and his pathetic play calling. He put Auburn in the desperate scenario that our players almost overcame in spite of him. Please Arkansas, call your favorite son home, NOW!

Found this on Twitter last night...it is an honor. But the comments...oh, the comments...

"Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will be inducted March 13 into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame."

4:08 PM · Nov 17, 2019·TweetDeck

https://mobile.twitter.com/bmarcello/status/1196188456831143937

[AURealist 2,194]

18 minutes ago, ToraGirl said:

Found this on Twitter last night...it is an honor. But the comments...oh, the comments...

"Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will be inducted March 13 into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame."

4:08 PM · Nov 17, 2019·TweetDeck

https://mobile.twitter.com/bmarcello/status/1196188456831143937

From the comments:  "...Hopefully he won’t have far to travel."    My immediate reaction, exactly.