I thought the SC-Auburn game last night was entertaining, though I would not go so far as to call it one of the best-coached games in college football’s 138-year history. Sheesh.
More observations:
South Carolina is a different team with Syvelle Newton at quarterback. He’s a fun player to watch. His play has enabled the Gamecocks to make the jump from darn-near-awful to just-below-average in a couple weeks. He will give some opposing defenses fits, but since he’s a senior, he’ll be gone after this season. By not playing his younger quarterbacks, you have to wonder if Spurrier is sacrificing a little bit of the program’s long-term success for a quick fix this season.
I’m struck at how misdirection and bootlegs seem to constantly trick overly-aggressive SEC defenses. It happened last week with Colorado against Georgia and it happened last night with both teams’ defenses. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of disciplined, assignment football happening on that side of the ball. It is mostly just pin-your-ears-back and go get ‘em!
I was really impressed with Marquise Gunn, Auburn’s defensive end. He had a couple sacks and then returned a fumble about 60 yards before giving it back to the Gamecocks. It seems like Quentin Groves gets most of the hype, but Gunn is better.
I also like Auburn’s two offensive tackles. They are typical Al Borges bookends in that they are huge and yet still athletic enough to pull. Big Jonathan Palmer was just plowing people over all game. And King Dunlap (great name!) looked like a physical specimen out there.
I was amused to hear Kirk Herbstreit rave over the fact that Auburn linebacker Will Herring was able to cover Sidney Rice on a fade into the end zone.
“Look at him, he’s a linebacker covering Rice!” exclaimed Herbie.
It was a nice play, but let’s not forget that Herring is a coverted safety who is not a whole lot bigger than Rice right now. Plus, the play was run deep in the red zone, so it wasn’t like Herring had to match strides for 40 yards. More like 15.
Did anyone else think that South Carolina linebacker Jasper Brinkley seemed almost reluctant to knock helmets with Kenny Irons on Irons’ first score? Irons leapt for the touchdown and Brinkley (to me) seemed to hesitate, despite being the only thing between Irons and the end zone. The ball ended up barely breaking the plane of the goal line on that fourth down play. If Brinkley had been a little more aggressive, Auburn may not have converted and the game might have turned out differently.
No matter how good a team is, it takes a little bit of luck to go undefeated. It’s not always easy for a highly-ranked team to maintain focus week-in and week-out, which is why you see games like this on occasion. Sometimes you get the combination of an off night and the other team preparing for a game like it’s for the national title. Auburn was lucky to get out of Columbia unscathed, but the Tigers are still undefeated and that’s what matters in the end.
Not that Auburn’s close call didn’t reveal some issues. If not for a sure touchdown dropped by Jared Cook, that game goes to overtime and then who knows what would’ve happened? South Carolina outgained Auburn and had more first downs and–get this–more time of possession despite not taking a snap in the third quarter. And South Carolina had three more chances down at the Auburn goal line and did not get any points.
I think, in the end, it shows that–so far–there just aren’t any great teams in college football this year. There are some good teams that have a chance to be great by season’s end, but until that transformation occurs, any of these national title-contending teams can be beat.
Like most of the top teams, Kenny Irons and Auburn just aren’t there yet
About Heismanpundit
Chris Huston, A.K.A. ‘The Heisman Pundit‘, is a Heisman voter and the creator and publisher of Heismanpundit.com, a site dedicated to analysis of the Heisman Trophy and college football.
Dubbed “the foremost authority on the Heisman” by Sports Illustrated, HP is regularly quoted or cited during football season in newspapers across the country. He is also a regular contributor on sports talk radio and television.
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