Arkansas State Review: AU 52 Ark St. 26

Photo courtesy of Hal Yeager, The Birmingham News

I saw lots of positives and much to build upon in Auburn's opener against Arkansas State. It obviously wasn't perfect all night, but all in all I see a team with enormous potential to accomplish some incredible feats this season.

What I liked...

-Cam Newton's ability to improvise

-Tons of defensive linemen rotating into the game

-Craig Sanders desire covering kicks

-The trio of McCalebb, Fannin, and Dyer. As a former safety, I would not have looked forward to playing against that trio all night.

-The run defense was extremely solid

-Q. Carr's confidence fielding punts as well as emerging as another offensive and punt return weapon teams must account for.

What I disliked..

-The slow start to begin both halves. Better teams will make you pay in a hurry (See Arkansas 2009).

-Fannin's continued case of fumblitis

-Penalties

-No turnovers against a pass-happy team new to the spread with a young quarterback.

-Tempo not as quick as what I observed in practice

I'm hearing/reading lots of concerns about the defense (i.e. poor tackling, no pressure, too many points against a no-name team, etc.). Don't worry about the defense...at least not yet. I think this group is different than last years and will improve week to week instead of regress. Much of that will be due to these guys pushing each other in practice for playing time because many positions have back-ups nipping at the starters heels. This defense was mostly vanilla and did a better job tackling than what I saw last season. The safeties seemed to have the hardest time with blown assignments and missed tackles, but this will improve dramatically I'm confident. A broken leg, a ruptured achilles, and a freaking broken neck have hampered each of these three respectivley and this game will go a long way in getting their feet wet once again and re-aquainting themselves with the speed of the game. We also played without arguably our best linebacker in Craig Stevens. With his return from suspension (hopefully this week) we will only improve.

And offensively we are in excellent shape. We have the most dynamic quarterback in the conference, if not the country in Cam Newton. Things will get dramatically more difficult in the coming weeks, but he is obviously a special talent and is surrounded with experienced weapons en masse.

Overall, good initial perfomance...not great. But definitely see a team with all the ability in the world to accomplish all the goals these guys have set. Could be a special year.

It's Time

Does anyone else feel like this all week?

Finally, after a long summer it begins again. The 12-13 week acid trip that is college football gets rolling Saturday.

I am so stoked, well, look at the picture.

Arkansas State will be our first opponent, and all I can say is, it will be nice to have cupcakes before a meal.

It has become a bit of a tradition during the fall to make our way over to our friend Matt's house for Auburn games.

Matt has the ultimate Man-cave. It has a bar, a huge screen TV, leather couches, and coolest of all a frickin' urinal in the bathroom. It also has windows just in case you need to see your kid fall and break her arm or something in the backyard.

Matt has by far the gold-standard mancave. I am not really sure what he does for a living but I think he put in the fire-prevention system in Saddam's palaces. He must be really good at his job because those palaces didn't burn to the ground during "shock and awe". For that and your "basement palace", I say 'Mission Accomplished' Matt. Look forward to seeing you this season.

Speaking of Shock and Awe, the Auburn offense will get rolling Saturday. Arky St lost several key players on both sides of the ball and it should be over early, and we need it to be because a Thursday night trap game awaits us in Starkville if we are not careful.

Auburn: 56

Arkansas other school: 17

Arkansas State Preview

This preview really has nothing to do with Arkansas State. Arkansas State is a middle of the road Sun Belt Conference team battling it out with the likes of Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State. If it's close, we weren't mentally prepared, which is seldom the case in an opener.

What to expect offensively- the pace to be quicker than last year. The training wheels will come off this year and this will be most apparent early on with the speed at which plays are run. I had a chance to watch a walk-thru practice a few weeks ago and plays were run at a blistering pace (in a freaking walk-thru). I don't know if Coach Malzahn plans on utilizing the NASCAR pace at all times, but when they do it's a weapon in and of itself. Don't expect to see too much playbook against Arkansas State tough. Coach Malzahn will be fine-tuning his bread and butter plays and show nothing more to Mississippi State.

What to expect defensively- a lot of bodies rotating in and out. This defense is at least two deep along the front seven with ease. Some/Many of those will be freshman, but I assure you none of them look like it. The corners don't have the luxury of a tremendous amount of depth yet, however the two starters have the ability to be the best tandem in the conference. The key will be the safeties...and their health. If they remain healthy it will be the deepest, most experienced group in the country. All the defensive depth allows for pressure and I fully expect Ted Roof to bring much more of it this season. He was handcuffed last season...won't have an excuse this year! I also expect to see Coach Chizik's fingerprint all over this defense schematically. Last season was hard to watch, however, last season saw starters play from opening to closing whistle and on special teams. That will not be the case this year.

What to expect from special teams- consistency, attitude, and no Darvin Adams running down the field covering a kick. The luxury of having the likes of Jessel Curry, Jake Holland, Ladarius Owens, Jawara White, Dee Ford, and Joel Bonomolo cover kickoffs and punts and allow the starters the opportunity to be off their feet and drink Gatorade is without question the biggest positive of this season. Wes Byrum is as solid a kicker you could hope to have. Two capable punters and a myriad of potential punt returners makes for a special teams that should be dominant.

Keys to the Game- Fast start, offensive rhythm, getting Cam comfortable, tackle well

Predicted stand out players- Offense- Onterio McCalebb; Defense- Corey Lemonier

AU-49
Red Wolves-10

Dr. Z's Preseason SEC Offense

QB- Ryan Mallet, Arkansas-Still having flashbacks of this guy scrambling past Josh Bynes in the 09 debacle. We'll see how that foot is after 2 offseason surgeries.

RB-Mark Ingram, Bama- Think he wussied out big-time in the Iron Bowl. And depending on who you ask, Ben Tate was a better running back in 09. That being said the guy did win the freakin Heisman

RB-Mario Fannin, Auburn- Does any else think this guy is due for a ridiculous breakout year in this offense?

WR-Darvin Adams, Auburn-Sorry Julio, but all I've seen from you in two years is suspect hands a cool hairdo. Adams was statistically the best receiver in the SEC last year.

WR-A.J. Green, UGA-Most athletic receiver in the SEC. Question is-WIll Georgia have anybody to get it to him?

TE-D.J. Williams, Arkansas- Great hands for a big guy (thought I'd give you the cliche' compliment for a big tight end)

OL- Lee Ziemba, Auburn-Has been a rock for his career at Auburn. Geologists are still trying to classify this rock that tends to get flagged for false starts.

OL-Mike Pouncey,UF- Don't know how good he'll be without Tebow in the backfield. I think it's in the bible that blocking well for Timmy T gets you in to Heaven. John Brantley...not sure about.

OL-Barrett Jones, Bama-One of the big reasons that Ingram won the Heisman.

OL-Clint Boling, UGA-Sorry Clint, but now that you are on a preseason all-SEC team, and you play for Georgia, you most likely will have a catastrophic knee injury.

OL-Ryan Pugh, Auburn- He's tough, He's mean, He'll do anything to protect his QB. Did I mention he was mean?

PK-Wes Byrum, Auburn-. 15-16 on field goals last year. The only guy even close to as good is named Blair. I am not putting a guy on my team named Blair.

2010 Preseason All-SEC Defense

CB- Patrick Peterson, LSU (6'1" 211 lbs with 4.37 speed. Enough said!)

CB- Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina (unmatched football IQ, leader, playmaker)

S- Ahmad Black, Florida (leads the best safety tandem in the conference)

S- Mark Barron, Alabama (prototypical NFL safety. Tough against run. 7 INTS!)

DE- Cliff Mathews, South Carolina (quick, athletic, hard working team captain)

DE- Marcel Dareus, Alabama (fast as an end, big as a tackle, tenacious ball pursuit)

T- Jerrell Powe, Ole Miss (says he can't read but he can plug a hole nicely and isn't that all one really needs to be able to do in life?)

T- Drake Nevis, LSU (bench presses 500 lbs and looks like the terminator. Scared not to pick him for fear of retribution)

LB- Dont'a Hightower, Alabama (fast, physical, and instinctive. 6'4" 260 lb beast!)

LB- Craig Stevens, Auburn (co-defensive MVP, consistent, durable, smart)

LB- Kelvin Sheppard, LSU (sideline to sideline maniac, plus he sports dreads!)

P- Blair Walsh, Georgia (last year's winner of the Ray Guy Award as nation's top punter...no dreads surprisingly!?)

Honorable Mention

LB/DE- Justin Houston, Georgia (a demon last season as a DE, moved to OLB this season, 1st team talent no doubt)

C- Janoris Jenkins, Florida (great anticipation and closing speed, undersized)

LB- Josh Bynes, Auburn (could be interchanged with Craig Stevens on my 1st team, but trouble running with TEs in pass coverage is his only downfall, love to watch him play)

S- Demond Washington, Auburn (may be the best player in the league no one knows, look for an explosive year)

LB- Chris Marve, Vandy (solid player, stats inflated because offense is horrendous)

LB- Jerry Franklin, Arkansas (ball hawk)

LB- Courtney Upshaw, Alabama (could have also inserted Nico Johnson and/or Jerrell Harris...Bama has the best LB rotation in college football)

Creede saves the day

I dub thee "Homer" Simpson.

I have a toddler and an infant son. I woke them both last night screaming in my den, at my desktop computer of all things. Auburn 11 Clemson 10 was one of the most exciting moments I've witnessed as an Auburn fan of any sport. Check out the video if you haven't seen it.

We were done. 2 easy outs by Clemson's Tomas Cruz in the 9th. I was almost ready to turn it off, but Cruz had been just wild enough to give us a pulse. A two-out walk to Justin Bryant (the most common phrase uttered by pitching coaches everywhere: two out walks will kill you everytime), then a two strike seeing eye bloop by Justin Fredajas.

Enter Creede Simpson, who never would have been there had Trent Mummy not tweaked his quad. When he got down 1-2, I was just hoping for another bloop single or for Cruz to make a mistake.

Then Cruz made a mistake. "Just wild enough" to give us a pulse indeed, because another thing pitching coaches like to point out is wild in the strike zone is way worse sometimes than wild outside the strike zone. Cruz was wild in the zone with lousy 2 strike pitches. The 1-2 pitch Creede "Homer" Simpson destroyed what looked like a cut fastball that a former teammate of mine would call "luke warm, pecker high". In other words, a mistake pitch in the strike zone and Creede parked it. Simply Beautiful.

Hats off to this team that never quits. Hats off to Coach P for getting all out of this team. Let's catch lightening in a bottle once more guys, what'dya say?

Just a few months into a coaching change, Auburn turns into Blue Chip U

Bryan Matthews reports today that Luke Cothron will sign with Auburn tomorrow. He is a top 100 player with offers from UConn and Tennessee. Cothron averaged 30 and 13 this past season and should make an instant imapct for Auburn.

This of course follows Josh Langford's signing on April 22nd. Langford is Alabama's top rated basketball player.

So for Rob and all any other football first folks (not saying there is anything wrong with that) that might not be paying all that close attention, a recap:

-Jeff Lebo fired
-Tony Barbee hired
-2 stud recruits on board
-New arena opens next season=more big time recruits

I am of the opinion that in college hoops today, a team can get to the Sweet 16 by and large on talent and just playing hard. Final fours are a combo of great coaching and players (see Duke Blue Devils, Michigan St, etc).

Tony Barbee has taken a huge step in the right direction with going out on the now defunct Tiger Prowl (middle finger extended to you NCAA) as well as actually going out amongst the student body and asking them to be a part.

All of a sudden I am seeing enthusiasm for basketball at Auburn again after 10 years of shear apathy.

I still think Barbee needs a couple years, but look for a vest improvement over Lebo's brand of basketball.