This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Before the season, everybody told you how bad this Auburn football team was going to be. Voters at SEC Media Days in Birmingham in late July picked the Tigers fifth in the Western Division. Not one Auburn player was named first-team All-SEC.
Preseason publications, including Lindy’s, put Auburn at the bottom of the conference – dead last in the Western Division, ahead of only Kentucky among all conference teams, No. 65 in the country, behind such traditional powers as Indiana, UConn and Ball State.
A national television commentator, discussing the upcoming campaign before the start of the 2013 season, urged Tiger fans to “be patient” since Auburn “didn’t have the talent to match up with the better SEC teams,” but that new head coach Gus Malzahn would bring Auburn back … eventually.
News flash – Eventually has apparently arrived.
There was evidence of that in the final minute of the win over Mississippi State. It showed in the second half comeback in Baton Rouge. There was the fourth quarter dominance of Ole Miss. But, if there was any question, it was answered at Kyle Field in College Station on Saturday.
On Maroon-Out Day, with over 80,000 faithful literally rocking the stadium, Texas A&M won the toss, took the ball, and for the sixth consecutive time scored a touchdown on its first possession. At 7-0 just 1:41 into the contest, this one could have turned into a replay of the game a year ago, won by the Aggies, 63-21. Instead, any similarity with the 2012 game – or the 2012 Auburn team – ended right there.
Unlike last year, Auburn responded with a 10-play, 86-yard touchdown drive, knotting the game at 7-7 and the horse race was on. By the time it was over, Auburn’s 45-41 win, along with other upsets throughout the conference, had totally changed the SEC landscape.
Make no mistake, this is a good Texas A&M football team.
Mike Evans, the lanky sure-handed sophomore from Galveston, showed why he heads the list for my vote for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver. Getting open early and often, he had over 200 yards receiving by halftime. He broke tackles, made acrobatic catches and outran defenders, catching 11 passes and scoring four of the Aggies five touchdowns.
Gutsy jitterbug Johnny Manziel showed again why he is the best quarterback in college football. Whether you like him (that’s most everybody in College Station) or don’t like him (that’s most everybody else), you can’t argue with the numbers. His stats in this game weren’t that different from other games, which is what makes him so amazing. He completed 28 of 38 passes for 454 yards and added 48 yards rushing and the only A&M touchdown not scored by Evans.
And, in the closing minutes, he took the team on his shoulders … again. It had worked in Fayetteville when the Aggies held off Arkansas, 45-33. Last week in Oxford, he almost single-handedly willed Texas A&M to victory, 41-38, with a last-minute touchdown run on a gimpy leg still hurting from an earlier injury.
But, on Saturday, the Houdini-like miracle worker couldn’t find the magic. Injured again in the fourth quarter, Manziel couldn’t avoid Auburn’s aggressive, opportunistic defenders. As happened against Alabama five weeks before, the Aggies couldn’t overcome their own defensive disappearing act.
It was Auburn’s offense and defense that ruled the day.
Nick Marshall, coming into his own as a first-year starting quarterback, ran 20 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for 236 yards and two more scores. And, that doesn’t count his in-stride strike to receiver Sammie Coates, thrown from his end zone, a likely 96-yard touchdown that was dropped. The sophomore wideout made up for that mistake, catching five passes for 104 yards and a score.
Tre Mason carried 27 times for 178 yards, including the driving, stretching touchdown plunge with 1:19 remaining that proved to be the game-winner.
But, in a game with over 1,200 yards total offense (615 for Auburn, 602 for Texas A&M), it was the maligned Tiger defense that won the day.
A year ago at Jordan-Hare, A&M had 81 offensive plays, including 33 passes, with no interceptions. Auburn had two picks on Saturday, one coming near the Tiger goal line. With the Aggies driving in the fourth quarter to extend its lead, Tiger defenders stopped Manziel at the Auburn 3-yard line, limiting A&M to a field goal. Then, in the final seconds with the home team at the visitors’ 18-yard line, Auburn sacked Johnny Football on back-to-back plays to seal the deal.
The Auburn offense, almost non-existent a year ago, has 1,324 yards total offense the past two games. And the defense, despite giving up droves of yards, is playing a lot of people – young, talented people – and is winning in the second half when it counts.
This could still be an outstanding season for both teams. The Aggies are almost certain to win at least eight games and can make the year special with wins in the final two – LSU and Missouri. Don’t bet against that happening.
And, for everybody delighting in Auburn’s hoped-for demise, you might want to get a reality check.
In the first BCS poll of the season, the poor Auburn Tigers, that bunch with few talented players and no respect, are the No. 11 ranked team. They’re No. 11 in the Associated Press poll, too. They’re one of only three SEC teams with fewer than two losses. And, their head coach, along with Missouri’s Gary Pinkell, is among the early leaders for Coach of the Year honors.
Still, nothing is certain for Auburn. Arkansas could be a trap game. Tennessee, which beat South Carolina, is improving. Georgia has had the Tigers’ number recently. And, Alabama is still No. 1 until somebody says differently on the field. It’s doubtful that Auburn will win all of those and it could end up losing several.
But, at this point, for Auburn – the team that won at Kyle Field on Saturday – no game remaining on the schedule is a slam dunk loss anymore.
No game.
It looks like Auburn is back, and if so, it sure wasn’t gone very long.