You can’t blame depth when the first string is getting abused on the opening series of the game.Ĭhizik’s reputation as a defensive genius was tarnished by the steady decline of his defenses at Iowa State. Depth is a consideration but not enough to justify what the Razorbacks exposed Saturday. Better dig out your reality recipes instead.Īuburn’s defense is simply abysmal. Doesn’t look like you’ll be getting to serve it for a while. Those baking dishes of crow for those who had the audacity to criticize once 5-0 Chizik had better wrap it in tinfoil and put it in the freezer. When doing what you do isn’t doing what you need, maybe you should do something else. When the trademarked “doing what we do” wasn’t working, the Auburn coaching staff seemed to have no retort, no alternate method. The team was uninspired, unemotional and ill-prepared. All four featured at least one pass interference call, some of which were phantom but called nonetheless.Įverything that could go wrong for the Tigers did go wrong. Arkansas got six first downs by way of penalty.įour of Arkansas’ six touchdown drives were extended by penalty. The Tigers were flagged eight times for 56 yards, nearly every step-off coming at the worst possible time. The Hogs went three and out just three times. Five of Auburn’s 14 possessions ended in three plays or less.Ĥ) You must keep the opposing offense off the field.Īrkansas put together a 12-play drive, a 10-play march and two eight-play series. Auburn only had three drives that consisted of more than five plays. The Tigers were a miserable 4 of 14 on third downs. Arkansas punched a field goal through to push the final score to 44-23.Ģ) You cannot give up big plays on special teams.įannin fumbled the kickoff, leading to one Arkansas score.Īfter Auburn had gained momentum and closed the deficit to a manageable 34-23, the Tigers surrendered a 70-yard kickoff return. On the following possession, Todd was sacked and coughed up the ball at the Tiger 10-yard line. Arkansas didn’t score, but the Razorbacks were able to bleed two minutes off the clock. He recovered the ball but failed to convert the first down. The Razorbacks recovered, hit a 38-yard pass on third down and went on to increase their advantage to 34-3.Īfter Auburn clawed back into the game, reeling off a 20-7 run to close to 41-23, Tiger quarterback Chris Todd fumbled the snap on fourth down and inches. Running back Ben Tate dropped a handoff at the Arkansas goal line when he would have scored easily. In the third, trailing 27-3 Auburn’s opening possession churned deep into Arkansas territory. In the second quarter, after Arkansas had gone up 13-0, Mario Fannin fumbled the kickoff at the Tiger 35. Arkansas scored 17 points following Auburn turnovers. The Tigers fumbled four times, losing three. When you are playing on the road in the SEC, the checklist for victory is even more demanding than usual.Īuburn did. There are several things you cannot do in a football game if you expect to win. It wasn’t just that Auburn suffered its first loss under its new head coach, it was the way in which the Hogs administered the reality check. The Arkansas Razorbacks served notice that while the rush to lynch Jacobs for the hire might have been premature, so, too, was the urge to wave the 5-0 start as a definitive case for proving the skeptics wrong. Lost in the rush to celebrate the resurgence and issue calls for the college football world to apologize for thinking Chizik didn’t have the credentials to handle the task was the fact that Auburn’s first five games were, if not cupcakes, at least in the pastry family. Some Auburn fans who booed Jacobs after he hired 5-19 Gene Chizik to coach the Tiger football program changed their tune after a 5-0 start to 2009. Custom Super Blooper: Mario Fannin walks away after fumbling a kickoff return in the 2nd qtr.įor two-and-a-half hours Saturday, as his ears rang with more Sooey Pigs than anyone expected, Auburn’s athletic director Jay Jacobs watched as the Arkansas Razorbacks served a healthy dose of 44-23 humility to the Auburn football program.
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