Well. That sucked. I said last week that I was worried about this game, and I was certainly right to be. I knew it was possible we would lose; I just expected it to at least be a close game. Mississippi State is a good team that is really firing on all cylinders this year; but so are we. My thinking going into the game was that Auburn would win at home or at a neutral site, but the Mississippi State home field advantage might get us. I still hold that view, but I don't think I can chalk up all of our errors to the opposing team having home field advantage in this case. In some respects, we played the worst that I've ever seen us play. Turning the ball over on the first two plays? Unheard of. But I can't really blame that for our loss, because Mississippi State followed that by four turnovers of their own. The difference was that they were able to capitalize on our turnovers and score two touchdowns within the first couple minutes of the game. We weren't able to score at all off of one of their turnovers, and on the other three we got two field goals and a touchdown. We didn't lose the turnover battle; we lost the "capitalizing on turnovers" battle. Both of these teams played a really sloppy game. Neither was at its best. But State came out on top, and that's that.
I watched the game from Hilton Head, where I was on vacation with my sister, her husband, and my niece. I watched in a separate room from the three of them because (1) they were watching the UT game; and (2) I didn't want to scare my niece with my yelling. I was largely successful at that, although she happened to be in the room when Duke Williams fumbled, which resulted in a loud yell from me and tears from her. I've never felt so terrible, for a couple of different reasons. I'm telling you - these outbursts are often completely involuntary, the reflexes as natural to a girl raised on the SEC as kicking your leg when the doc hits your knee with that little hammer. In a few years, my niece will have developed them as well. But I tell you what - if Auburn has to lose a football game, I hope I'm always with my niece when it happens, because she's about the only thing that can cheer me up after a result like that.
I did my best to comfort my niece after my, "AAAAARRRRGHHHHHH, DUKE!!!" outburst. Now it's time for me to comfort my guys. Many of them were on Twitter Saturday night and Sunday feeling down, apologizing for their mistakes, and expressing disappointment. For the most part, I saw Auburn fans replying to them, supporting them, and lifting them up; but unfortunately there were a few "fans" who thought it necessary to berate our team and our coaches. To those people, I say, "Go back to whatever bandwagon you were on before you joined Auburn's last year, because you are not a part of our Family." We have no room and no desire for bandwagon fans. Seriously, guys. One loss? We will bounce back from this like we bounced back from the LSU loss last year. Remember that? We were down BIG early in the game, but our guys fought back HARD in the second half and brought the score back to a more respectable level. Does that sound similar to this game? We were so close to being able to come back before a late turnover foreclosed that possibility (not picking on Ricardo - a lot of errors put us in that position, not just his), but thankfully we bounced back from that early 21-0 deficit and continued to fight for the rest of the game. As Gus said, "I saw our guys hustle on and off the field, there wasn't anybody with their head down, a defeated look. That's not what we're going to be about. I was proud of that fact." Do you remember how last season ended? A heartbreaking loss, yes, but IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Simmer down, people. This team is not finished.
Yes, I yelled at my guys. I was frustrated with them at times. But I was also proud of them at other times and cheered when they made big plays. If given the chance, I would strangle that ref who took that 68-yard reception away from Sammie Coates on a bogus offensive pass interference call, and who also called defensive pass interference on Jonathan Jones when the receiver was basically taking a ride on his back. No, we shouldn't have put ourselves in a situation in which the refs could affect the game that much, but talk about kicking us while we're down, and talk about inconsistent foul calling...
I will always support this team, no matter what. Guys, if you're reading this, I'm with you 100%. I may yell and cuss, but probably not worse than your mama (unless your mama doesn't cuss, in which case I'm a little bit worse); and I will always be here to give you a virtual hug when things are bad or a virtual high five when things are good. Speaking of virtual high fives, even in a dismal game, there were some Weagles earned. So let's get to it. I'm giving all of our guys on defense a Weagle. Even though State converted on 8 of its first 10 third downs, our defense blanked them on the next 7 tries. They forced 5 fumbles (although only recovering 1) and 3 interceptions. After a dismal first half, they held State to only 10 points in the second half and allowed under half of the yardage in the second half that they allowed in the first half. Jonathan Jones gets another Weagle for bringing down 2 of the interceptions. Duke Williams gets a Weagle (in spite of the fumble) for making a couple of great catches.
I kind of hate that we have a bye week this week because I don't want to dwell on this loss for two weeks, and I don't want our guys to have to dwell on it, either. I hope they're getting pumped up for the South Carolina game in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm going to go with Ben to support the Vols at Ole Miss this weekend, so there will be a rare Vols game blog next week. Stay tuned!
I watched the game from Hilton Head, where I was on vacation with my sister, her husband, and my niece. I watched in a separate room from the three of them because (1) they were watching the UT game; and (2) I didn't want to scare my niece with my yelling. I was largely successful at that, although she happened to be in the room when Duke Williams fumbled, which resulted in a loud yell from me and tears from her. I've never felt so terrible, for a couple of different reasons. I'm telling you - these outbursts are often completely involuntary, the reflexes as natural to a girl raised on the SEC as kicking your leg when the doc hits your knee with that little hammer. In a few years, my niece will have developed them as well. But I tell you what - if Auburn has to lose a football game, I hope I'm always with my niece when it happens, because she's about the only thing that can cheer me up after a result like that.
I did my best to comfort my niece after my, "AAAAARRRRGHHHHHH, DUKE!!!" outburst. Now it's time for me to comfort my guys. Many of them were on Twitter Saturday night and Sunday feeling down, apologizing for their mistakes, and expressing disappointment. For the most part, I saw Auburn fans replying to them, supporting them, and lifting them up; but unfortunately there were a few "fans" who thought it necessary to berate our team and our coaches. To those people, I say, "Go back to whatever bandwagon you were on before you joined Auburn's last year, because you are not a part of our Family." We have no room and no desire for bandwagon fans. Seriously, guys. One loss? We will bounce back from this like we bounced back from the LSU loss last year. Remember that? We were down BIG early in the game, but our guys fought back HARD in the second half and brought the score back to a more respectable level. Does that sound similar to this game? We were so close to being able to come back before a late turnover foreclosed that possibility (not picking on Ricardo - a lot of errors put us in that position, not just his), but thankfully we bounced back from that early 21-0 deficit and continued to fight for the rest of the game. As Gus said, "I saw our guys hustle on and off the field, there wasn't anybody with their head down, a defeated look. That's not what we're going to be about. I was proud of that fact." Do you remember how last season ended? A heartbreaking loss, yes, but IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Simmer down, people. This team is not finished.
Yes, I yelled at my guys. I was frustrated with them at times. But I was also proud of them at other times and cheered when they made big plays. If given the chance, I would strangle that ref who took that 68-yard reception away from Sammie Coates on a bogus offensive pass interference call, and who also called defensive pass interference on Jonathan Jones when the receiver was basically taking a ride on his back. No, we shouldn't have put ourselves in a situation in which the refs could affect the game that much, but talk about kicking us while we're down, and talk about inconsistent foul calling...
I will always support this team, no matter what. Guys, if you're reading this, I'm with you 100%. I may yell and cuss, but probably not worse than your mama (unless your mama doesn't cuss, in which case I'm a little bit worse); and I will always be here to give you a virtual hug when things are bad or a virtual high five when things are good. Speaking of virtual high fives, even in a dismal game, there were some Weagles earned. So let's get to it. I'm giving all of our guys on defense a Weagle. Even though State converted on 8 of its first 10 third downs, our defense blanked them on the next 7 tries. They forced 5 fumbles (although only recovering 1) and 3 interceptions. After a dismal first half, they held State to only 10 points in the second half and allowed under half of the yardage in the second half that they allowed in the first half. Jonathan Jones gets another Weagle for bringing down 2 of the interceptions. Duke Williams gets a Weagle (in spite of the fumble) for making a couple of great catches.
I kind of hate that we have a bye week this week because I don't want to dwell on this loss for two weeks, and I don't want our guys to have to dwell on it, either. I hope they're getting pumped up for the South Carolina game in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm going to go with Ben to support the Vols at Ole Miss this weekend, so there will be a rare Vols game blog next week. Stay tuned!
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