Well, thank GOODNESS we beat Arkansas. Bret Bielema is such a loud-mouthed whiner about EVERYTHING and is just in over his fat ole' head in the SEC. Arkansas has been terrible this year, but I don't take any game for granted, so I wasn't counting this win as a sure thing, especially because it was in Arkansas and because Arkansas has given us trouble in the past, even when they're not a stellar team. How's that for a run-on sentence? Anyway, I am, of course, pleased at the outcome of this year's game.
Bielema started his SEC coaching tenure by complaining about the hurry-up offense at Media Days, saying that it's dangerous and causes injuries to defensive players because they get tired and the hurry-up offense doesn't give them time to make substitutions. I basically have three arguments against that: (1) The offense doesn't make substitutions, either. If my offensive linemen can handle the pace, then you should be able to condition your defensive linemen to handle it as well. Don't use my offense as a scapegoat for your poor conditioning program. (2) If your defense is good enough to hold the offense to 3-and-out, surely they won't get too tired in three plays. Defense wins championships, Bret. Finally, (3):
Bielema then complained because Auburn allegedly sent him "altered" game tape that left out part of a trick play, which they saw on TV. (1) If you're relying on what the opponent sends you to make your game plan, you should probably re-assess your strategy. (2) Good job violating SEC rules by discussing that in the media. You remind me of Lane Kiffin, only bigger. I will say that, if we indeed felt the need to alter our game tape in order to get a competitive edge over Arkansas, that makes me sad. But Bret, do your dang job and scout on your own; don't rely on your opponent to help you.
THEN in the game he threw a fit accusing Anthony Swain of faking an injury. Let me be clear: watching the game, I definitely thought the injury was faked and was pretty embarrassed that we would stoop to that level. But going back and taking a good look at the big picture, I can't imagine it was actually a fake. I know all the ESPN videos show only Swain standing in the end zone and then falling down, because they want to support their announcer's statement that Swain was "guilty as charged." But if you actually go back and watch the tape from the end of the previous play to that injury, you will see that a fake injury makes no sense. After the play, Swain was limping into the end zone. Yes, he stood there for a few seconds before he fell down, but let's take a look at what else is going on on the field at that time. There are 2 seconds left in the third quarter; the ref has placed the ball (thus, the clock will be running); and Arkansas is still in its huddle. NO WAY they get to the line of scrimmage and get a play off before the quarter ends. Watch at about the 25 second mark in this video: http://college-football.si.com/2013/11/02/auburn-anthony-swain-fake-injury/. You can see that the ball is placed on the field and that the Arkansas players are not even close to being lined up. They're just standing around waiting for the quarter to end. So what was the advantage of "faking" an injury? I'm thinking the guy's knee just gave out (this has actually happened to me before). He was in a knee brace on the sideline and never came back into the game, and he's listed as questionable for the Tennessee game this weekend. Let's give the guy a break. Bielema, that injury (fake or real) had absolutely no effect on the outcome of that game. You lost. No excuses.
THEN in the game he threw a fit accusing Anthony Swain of faking an injury. Let me be clear: watching the game, I definitely thought the injury was faked and was pretty embarrassed that we would stoop to that level. But going back and taking a good look at the big picture, I can't imagine it was actually a fake. I know all the ESPN videos show only Swain standing in the end zone and then falling down, because they want to support their announcer's statement that Swain was "guilty as charged." But if you actually go back and watch the tape from the end of the previous play to that injury, you will see that a fake injury makes no sense. After the play, Swain was limping into the end zone. Yes, he stood there for a few seconds before he fell down, but let's take a look at what else is going on on the field at that time. There are 2 seconds left in the third quarter; the ref has placed the ball (thus, the clock will be running); and Arkansas is still in its huddle. NO WAY they get to the line of scrimmage and get a play off before the quarter ends. Watch at about the 25 second mark in this video: http://college-football.si.com/2013/11/02/auburn-anthony-swain-fake-injury/. You can see that the ball is placed on the field and that the Arkansas players are not even close to being lined up. They're just standing around waiting for the quarter to end. So what was the advantage of "faking" an injury? I'm thinking the guy's knee just gave out (this has actually happened to me before). He was in a knee brace on the sideline and never came back into the game, and he's listed as questionable for the Tennessee game this weekend. Let's give the guy a break. Bielema, that injury (fake or real) had absolutely no effect on the outcome of that game. You lost. No excuses.
So, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I will say that we had a good time watching the game with the Smoky Mountain Auburn Club, even though we were chastised by the staff at our watch party location for being a bit too loud. Auburn played steady, if boring at times, football throughout the game. We played standard smash mouth football, continually utilizing our strong running backs and our mobile quarterback. I believe we only threw nine passes the entire game. Meanwhile, the king of "regular American football," Mr. Bielema, tried an onsides kick at a strange time and called other gimmicky plays throughout the game. We played conservatively, and while it didn't result in a big blowout like it could have, we won by a respectable margin and kept our guys relatively healthy for the next game.
JaViere Mitchell gets two Weagles this week. He's a redshirt freshman reserve linebacker who doesn't get a lot of playing time. This week, however, he recovered Arkansas's failed onesides kick. Also, in the second quarter, Arkansas got a first down at the Auburn 4. Our defense made a masterful goal line stand and did not allow them to score, and JaViere was the player who stopped them on 3rd and 4th downs at the 1 yard line. Beast. I'm also giving one Weagle each to Nick Marshall, who was 7 of 8 passing, including an 88-yard TD pass to Sammie Coates; Sammie Coates for being pretty clutch at catching the long ball when it really counts (improving as the season progresses, for sure); and Tre Mason for his 168 rushing yards and 4 TDs. Rock on, rockers.
This weekend Auburn comes to me instead of me going to them. Auburn/Tennessee is a huge week in my household. Let's bring it, boys. WDE!
JaViere Mitchell gets two Weagles this week. He's a redshirt freshman reserve linebacker who doesn't get a lot of playing time. This week, however, he recovered Arkansas's failed onesides kick. Also, in the second quarter, Arkansas got a first down at the Auburn 4. Our defense made a masterful goal line stand and did not allow them to score, and JaViere was the player who stopped them on 3rd and 4th downs at the 1 yard line. Beast. I'm also giving one Weagle each to Nick Marshall, who was 7 of 8 passing, including an 88-yard TD pass to Sammie Coates; Sammie Coates for being pretty clutch at catching the long ball when it really counts (improving as the season progresses, for sure); and Tre Mason for his 168 rushing yards and 4 TDs. Rock on, rockers.
This weekend Auburn comes to me instead of me going to them. Auburn/Tennessee is a huge week in my household. Let's bring it, boys. WDE!
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