Western Carolina Review

The future is now.

Not much to review about Auburn destroying a really bad football team, except to say that Auburn did exactly what they are supposed to do in this one. Auburn took care of business in this one, and pretty much everything you like to see in a cupcake eating contest happened. No one got hurt. Lots of people got to play, giving way to lots of Shakespeare references.

Most intriguing was Jeremy Johnson's play. Johnson was off the hook good against Western. He threw basically one bad pass all day. His throws were crisp and on target. We can definitely see that he is the future for Auburn football.

How soon that future gets here is the intriguing part. With Nick Marshall's injury, Gus could have elected to go with Jonathan Wallace and beat Western Carolina. He chose Johnson, electing to burn his redshirt. Why? My only answer is Auburn feels like Johnson can help Auburn win sooner other than later, and/or Marshall's injury is more serious than is being advertised. Gus is tight lipped and even a bit misleading when it comes to Auburn injuries. Jeff Whitaker went from day to day to medical redshirt rather quickly

Would Gus have burned the redshirt if Auburn was 3-3? Hard to say. Every coach gets a honeymoon period and most of us would have been happy with 7-5 and a bowl game. But in 2013 Auburn has exceeded and continues to exceed expectations. My bet is that Gus and company feel like they can win every game left on the schedule. If Marshall is truly injured and not just banged up, and Johnson gives Auburn the best chance to win those games, then why not go with him?

I also believe that Auburn has a chance at winning every game on the schedule, including the game at College Station come Saturday. More on why I feel that way later this week. Until then, let's all enjoy being 5-1, having the best rushing offense in the SEC. Things feel right again, don't they?