It’s the final countdown

Thirteen days until the Iron Bowl. That’s a long time for one writer to preview and write about one game, so updates may not occur as frequently here at FAB during the bye week. Look for amped up coverage as the game gets closer.

For now, tomorrow’s notes today should suffice. Enjoy and keep on stopping by.

Auburn now worst in the nation in the red zone
For Auburn, it’s simply been the “dead zone.”

After another game of ineptitude inside its opponents’ 20-yard line, Auburn dropped to dead last – out of 119 FBS teams – in red zone offense.

The Tigers came away with zero points in their two red-zone possessions Saturday against Georgia, dropping their success rating to 57 percent (20-of-35). The next worst team, Ohio University – a 2-9, last-place team in the Mid-American Conference – has come away with points in 64 percent of its 31 red-zone opportunities.

Since coach Tommy Tuberville fired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, the Tigers have shown slow but steady improvement in both their running and passing game. Kodi Burns has emerged as a dependable quarterback both from a running and throwing standpoint.

The expected kinks, though, have been most prevalent when that improvement is on the cusp of translating into actual points.

“I think we’ve gotten better between the 20s, but it hasn’t gotten much better down there,” Tuberville said. “Sooner or later you’ve got to make plays.”

If Tuberville’s definition of the red zone was the same as the NCAA’s, Auburn would be in an even deeper hole. He said after Saturday’s game that Auburn had actually blown four red-zone opportunities.

The two that don’t qualify stalled at the 25- and 24-yard lines, respectively. Kicker Wes Byrum missed a 42-yard field goal near the end of the second quarter and the Tigers turned the ball over on downs on their second-to-last drive in the fourth quarter, when Burns’ pass sailed just out of Montez Billings’ reach in the end zone.

“We’re not all one-sided, which is good,” Tuberville said. “When we get down there it’s even harder because people play you tighter and closer and more physical.

“You’ve got to be a much better offense inside the 20 than outside the 20 because of limited space.”

Where’s Mario?
Auburn’s biggest playmaker was on the bench when the Tigers were in dire need for one.

But there was a reason for Mario Fannin’s absence on the team’s final two, eventually unsuccessful drives Saturday, Tuberville said.

Auburn was primarily passing the ball and needed a strong pass blocker, he said. That role was better suited for junior Ben Tate, not Fannin.

Not then, at least.

“We hadn’t had enough time with him in terms of protections and those things,” Tuberville said of Fannin, who was reconverted back to a tailback last month. “He’s getting better and better. (Tate’s) been there and done that. He understands it a lot better.”

Fannin accounted for Auburn’s only two touchdowns Saturday on two big plays. His 52-yard reception in the first quarter and his 35-yard run in the fourth made up the bulk of his 107 total yards of offense. He carried the ball just eight times compared to Tate, who ran the ball 14 times for 37 yards.

“He was a little bit beat up too,” Tuberville said. “He’s not quite there yet, having not played tailback that much this year. He’ll be able to press along as we go.”

Two weeks of practice heading into the Nov. 29 Iron Bowl should equip Fannin to be prepared to pass block, Tuberville said.
Byrum, Trott likely done
A knee injury will likely keep Byrum out of the Iron Bowl, Tuberville said.

Wear and tear on Byrum’s right kicking knee has piled up, which will open the door for Morgan Hull to handle both kickoffs, extra-points and field-goal attempts Nov. 29 against the Crimson Tide, Tuberville said.

After Byrum missed a 42-yard attempt in the first half, Hull warmed up on the sidelines the entire second half and was called upon for the extra point after Fannin’s second touchdown. Byrum’s knee injury served as a partial explanation for Hull’s appearance, Tuberville said.

“That’s one reason he didn’t kick the second half,” Tuberville said.

Byrum is 11-for-19 on field goals this season and just 3-for-7 on kicks longer than 39 yards.

The rest of tight end Tommy Trott’s season could also be in jeopardy because of a knee injury, Tuberville said.

Trott went down with the injury early Saturday and did not return. He caught 20 passes for 201 yards this season.

Gabe McKenzie, who was recently reconverted back to tight end, will likely start in Trott’s place.

Sunday chit-chat

Just got out of Tommy Tuberville’s weekly fireside chat with the media. Not much to report, aside from the fact that the head coach would love for the Iron Bowl to be this Saturday instead of the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The athletic directors of the SEC voted to disallow any team from having a week off before the conference championship game. They did not, however, give Auburn an option to fill that slot with a team other than the Tide, Tuberville said.

I don’t remember us being given that option, that’s for sure.

On to the other hot topic of the day: the disappearance of Mario Fannin during Saturday’s most crucial moments.

Here’s Tuberville’s answer 24 hours after the fact.

We hadn’t had enough time with him in terms of protections and those things. He’s getting better and better. (Ben Tate’s) been there and done that. He understands it a lot better. But he was in on some passing plays. When it got in a situation where we knew we had to throw the ball, Mario wasn’t in there quite as much.

He was a little bit beat up too. He played most special teams. Carried the ball and caught the ball. At the end of the game like that, it becomes a mental as well as physical game. He’s not quite there yet, having not played tailback that much this year, moving over there a few weeks ago. He’ll be able to press along as we go. But we just played the odds with Ben Tate.

Tuberville said Fannin’s lack of experience in pass blocking won’t be a deterrent in the Iron Bowl.

Fannin totaled 107 yards of total offense Saturday. He led Auburn in rushing, though he carried the ball just eight times. I liked what I saw from Fannin and the big-play option he brings to the table, but if you eliminate his two big plays, his numbers weren’t anything extravagant. Excluding his 35-yard touchdown run, Fannin had seven carries for 25 yards. Taking away his 52-yard touchdown reception in the first half, he had three catches for minus-4 yards. Though I’m not discounting Fannin’s no-show in the final two drives—I believe he should have been in the game—his day wasn’t as jaw-dropping as some made it out to be.

(Stepping off the soapbox)

Two injuries to report today. Kicker Wes Byrum has a sore knee and so does tight end Tommy Trott. Both, at the moment, are doubtful for the Iron Bowl. The Byrum injury comes as a surprise because it seemed that Tuberville had simply benched the sophomore in favor of Morgan Hull after he missed a 42-yard attempt in the second quarter Saturday. But, apparently, there was more. Tuberville said “unless (Byrum) has a miraculous recovery,“ Hull will be your starting kicker come Nov. 29.

Senior Brad Lester is not hurt, Tuberville reiterated today. “He just didn’t play,“ Tuberville said, adding that Lester is not in the infamous “doghouse” because, when you’re in the doghouse, “you’re locked up.“

More to come…

 

 

Testy Tuberville not enough

Anybody catch Tommy Tuberville swap bodies with Will Muschamp for a brief moment today?

It made for great television, great quotes afterward, but it didn’t get the desired result. Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford fired a high strike to A.J. Green in the end zone a few plays later, which ended up being the game-winner.

Oh yeah, Auburn had plenty of chances after that, but I’ll let you wait for that analysis in tomorrow’s OA-News. Here’s tomorrow’s lead.

The opportunities were more abundant Saturday, more within fingertips reach, than they have been throughout this season of blown chances and unmet expectations.

The Tigers had not one, but two real chances late in the fourth quarter to come back and beat No. 10 Georgia in their final home game of the season at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The mistakes made in the first 55 minutes notwithstanding, of course.

Georgia 17, Auburn 13 showed that the Tigers, as they have most of the season, really can compete with one of the best teams in the nation—albeit a mistake-prone, but certainly better-off reflection of themselves.

It just further established that the Tigers can’t finish.

“All the tools are there,” quarterback Kodi Burns said. “It’s really disheartening that we’ve come on the bottom end of most of these games when they’re so close.”

Here are a few highlights from the post-game press conference, none of which coming from Tuberville, who was still a bit cranky.

Kodi Burns

Hey, is this frustrating?
That’s really difficult because all the tools are there. We moved the ball pretty good. It’s really disheartening that we’ve come into the final minute in most of these games and guys are giving great effort and all everybody’s laying it on the line and we couldn’t get out of here on this last Senior Day for the seniors with a win. That’s pretty shameful, but I guess on the bright side, we did move the ball pretty good.

Talk about the Iron Bowl because, well, that’s all that’s left for Auburn.
It’s going to mean a lot. This is our season. Alabama is a great team and it’s the Iron Bowl. There’s nothing else you have to say about that. They’re the No. 1 team and we’re down and really beat up. That’s what it’s about – rebounding and coming back. I know everybody’s going to be up for that game. I don’t have to talk about it. Even though we lost this game and we’re going to be down about it.

Walter McFadden

His reaction to Tuberville’s blowup:
The only time I’ve seen him like that is when we hit Kodi in practice. I thought he was going to go out there and body-slam one of the refs. He had our back.

Mr. Paul Rhoads - Auburn’s defensive coordinating extraordinaire

Was this as good as Auburn’s played defensively all season?
I’d say it’s close. It was good to be healthy, it was good to play with everybody on our roster and, for the most part, have them all at full speed. That’s an awful, awful good offensive football team that we tangled with out there and I think that we challenged them and played pretty good.

Talk about the team’s pride because, well, it’s pretty much all that Auburn is playing for at the moment.
We always encourage our kids, that the ball’s always coming to their man and the ball’s always coming to their gap. I’m filled with pride on the effort that they gave and the way they sustained throughout this part of the season, and then you go back to work, and that’s exactly what we’ll do Sunday and Monday.

 

Seat 80 ... and cold

I’m here, once again, in the David E. Housel Press Box two hours before kickoff between Auburn and Georgia.

If you have trouble reading this, that’s because my fingers are frozen and I can’t feel my fingertips hitting the keyboard. It’s not so much the cold, but the wind.

You know you’ve been in the South too long when a 55 degree day considered Arctic weather.

Anyway, does Auburn have a chance today?

Sure. But it’ll take a perfect effort by the Tigers and a lot of mistakes by Georgia. Head to head, big on big, player for player, pound for pound, Georgia’s just better.

But if Auburn can create some turnovers and take advantage, it could be a different story.

What do you think?

While you guys discuss, I’m going back into the “enclosed” part of the David E. Housel Press Box to warm up.

“The Pick” (and other excruciating Georgia-Auburn minutae)

Auburn gives Georgia a tougher fight than most expect, but the Bulldogs do enough to cover the spread for the 38-24 win.

I’m wearing a sweater. Wind is blowing in my face. A cup of coffee sits to my right.

Finally, football weather has arrived in the South. Maybe Auburn football will show up with it.

If there were ever a time for the Tigers to play up to their preseason expectations, today would be the day. Not only would it shock the proverbial SEC world, but it would also all but guarantee a post-season bowl berth. I heard Shreveport is nice in late December…

I’ve been informed that anything can happen in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry. Not that I’m a doubter, hater or skeptic, but that might be one of my least favorite cliches of all time. If anything can happen, then I’ll go ahead and predict a tie.

In the spirit of “anything can happen,“ I’m going to give 110 percent effort on this blog, which, of course, I take one blog at a time. Here are some finer details regarding the 112th meeting between your Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs.

- The first time these two teams met was Feb. 20, 1892. Auburn won 10-0. The Tigers lead the series 53-50-8. Maybe I’m not so off in my prediction of a tie.
- 1892, by the way, was a leap year, and also a very important year in world history. Ellis Island opened itself to immigrants, James Naismith published the rules for basketball, Prince George of Wales became the Duke of York, Thomas Edison received a patent for the two-way telegraph and Grover Cleveland was elected as the 24th president of the United States, Actually, if you want to be picky, he was the 23rd different president because he also served a term from 1885-1889.
- Though Auburn holds the advantage in victories, Georgia has outscored the Tigers by 45 points (1,730-1,685).
- The largest margin of defeat in this here rivalry is 35, which has happened twice. Georgia won 35-0 in 1945 and Auburn did the same in 1954.
- The road team has won eight of the last 13.
- Quoting the Georgia media guide, “World war” is the only thing that’s stopped this rivalry. The teams did not meet from 1917-18 and 1943 because Auburn did not field a team.
- Let’s talk about the present, which has been a rough road for Georgia. The Bulldogs have had the hardest schedule in Division I based on their cumulative opposition’s records. Georgia’s opponents, and those from the future, are 57-31. Auburn, by the way, is tied for 60th (45-44).
- The Bulldogs are 2-2 against ranked opponents. Auburn is 0-2.
- Auburn still has not allowed a touchdown in the first quarter this season. Georgia has outscored its opponents 62-31 in the first 15 minutes.
- The Tigers have averaged 129 yards per quarter over their last six quarters.
- Auburn is second in the nation in rushing touchdowns allowed, surrendering just four so far this season.
- The Tigers rank last in the SEC in red zone offense, scoring just 60.6 percent of the time. Only 13 of Auburn’s 33 possessions inside the 20 have resulted in touchdowns.
- The Bulldogs are now on their seventh mascot, Uga VII. His predecessor, Uga VI, had the most wins in Georgia real-live mascot history.