How Should Auburn Fans Feel After The Clemson Win?

Auburn won a heart stopping contest against Clemson on Saturday night in Jordan Hare Stadium.  There were some good things to take away from the game as well as plenty to be concerned over going forward.  Tiger fans likely exited Jordan Hare feeling good, but have since had time to wonder if we will get a better overall performance from this team soon.  We'll run through the good, the bad, what can be fixed easily, what we should expect to get better and what might not get better all season here. 

THE GOOD

- Auburn survived a brutally physical game and dished out at least as much punishment as it took.  That was SEC level tough in terms of hitting.  Most physical game I think Auburn has played since the 7-3 win over LSU in 2006 at Jordan Hare.  I'm not sure Auburn expected it and it looked like it took them awhile to get with the program, but when they did there was no shortage of hits.  You can question a lot of things on this team if you want but toughness, both physical and mental, should not be one of those things.  This team played a tough, hard nosed, physical ball game and came out on top. 

- Anytime you bounce back from a 17 point deficit you have to like the heart of your team.  There's really no spin on that.  I've seen many Auburn teams, some over the last few years that would have given up and rolled over after that start. 

- Josh Bynes has turned into a great middle linebacker.  He's an absolute animal.  I'm sure someone will tell you he overran a play or missed  an assignment on a screen.....nobody plays a perfect game at his position.  What those folks fail to see is the numerous plays Bynes makes in the run game.  He's everywhere.  This is the guy that stuffed last years Heisman winner again and again in last years Iron Bowl.  He's no joke against a power run game. 

- Nick Fairley is now a kid you must deal with on every snap.  He's a difference maker.  Teams that play Auburn will have to gameplan around this guy.  That's a huge deal and gives the defense a fighting chance against anyone.  It wasn't just Nick though, the entire front 4 have really grown up this year.  With better depth and another year under Tracy Rocker this group has become a strength. 

- The 3rd quarter was dominant football against a good team from the ACC.  Auburn absolutely dominated every aspect of that quarter....offense, defense, special team.  We won the quarter 21-0 and we threw an INT in the endzone to start the quarter or it might have been more.  We gained over 250 yards in the quarter.  You might want to read that again because it's crazy good.  That team that played the 3rd doesn't get beat by many teams in college football this year.  They absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage for those 15 minutes. 

- Darvin Adams and Onterio McCalebb showed us what they can do when healthy and getting chances.  Adams is one of the best wide receivers in the conference.  He's not as flashy or look as dominating in pads as guys like AJ Green, Alshon Jeffrey or Julio Jones, but the kid makes great plays and gets the job done at a very high level.  Onterio is so fast that even against a very fast Clemson defense he still gets the edge more of the time.  That's incredibly impressive.

- Cam Newton is not a perfect quarterback yet, but he's a winner and a real competitor.  Most quarterbacks in their 3rd start would not be able to shake off that kind of start and lead a team back.  He's a little slow on some reads and stares his main target down....which is what most guys do in their 3rd career college start.  He'll get better...I'm pretty sure of that.  You can't teach some of his intangibles though.  Auburn will be better off in some games this year just because Newton has a winners attitude.

- Jordan Hare stadium felt like the Jordan Hare I grew up attending games in.  Only a few games over the last 3 years have had that kind of electricity.  It's good to see it back.  I think the fans believe this team can be special and when the Auburn family actually gets behind their team that stadium can be an almost impossible place to win in. 

THE BAD

- That was a flat start by Auburn pretty much across the board.  Not sure if the team was too fired up or took the opponent too lightly or what.  Bottom line is we weren't ready.  Seems to be something about early season out of conference home games.....we looked almost the same against West Virginia a year ago. 

- Poor game by officials in all aspects.  There were bad calls both ways and both fans have legit complaints about a few flags or non-flags.  The worst was the never ending delays that kept the game moving at a snails pace.  I've never seen a crew so intent on making a game last 6 hours.  They would huddle and talk for 5 minutes over the most obvious of calls.  Now I know it's not only SEC officiating that is below standard.

- To steal a line from Bill Simmons, I'll describe Auburn's 3rd and short offense from this point forward as "The Clogged Toilet" because it seems too fitting not to.  I don't know what is wrong with the short yardage offense, but it's really bad.  I don't know why Auburn can't seem to run the ball downhill in that situation, they seem to be very adept at it on 1st and 10 and everyone in the stadium has to know they are going to run the ball there as well.  Auburn runs on first down as much as any team in the country and still gets yards.  Yet on 3rd and 2 we either resort to trickery, delay or misdirection.  The Clogged Toilet will cost Auburn a win or two soon if they don't get it fixed.  Good teams convert there. 

- As good as Auburn has looked against power backs going back to late last year, they've looked equally horrible against quicker, scat type backs.  Clemson's Andre Ellington was absolutely killing the Auburn defense.  He's the type of player that will give Auburn nightmares all year long.  Not at all looking forward to seeing Kentucky's combo of Locke and Cobb. Those two alone will make that an interesting road trip.

- Linebacker play outside of Josh Bynes is still suspect.  I think Craig Stevens will be back to his old form for South Carolina and nobody should have expected for him to have no rust at all, but we still aren't getting consistent performances from the two spots outside of Bynes. 

- Secondary play is still lacking as well.  There were Clemson guys wide open on more than one play.  Early I kinda expected that.  They had done nothing in the first two games but set up or defense for plays they hadn't seen.  Yet it was still happening late in the game.  Auburn has experienced guys that are making the wrong read at the back end of plays.  The defense is much improved, but those big plays will cost Auburn dearly against a team that executes slightly better.  I think we can get better in assignments in the secondary, but I'm not sure the raw talent is there to be great. 

This is where Auburn is after Week 3.  They are 3-0, they have some flaws, the have a few talent issues, they have a few issues that can be resolved.  This is not last years Auburn team.  That team had such big depth issues that any reasonable fan would assume that we had our best chance to look good early, especially on defense.  That team started a quarterback that had been at Auburn as the starter for a full season and had some experience under his belt.  He wasn't going to get much better than he was in the first few weeks.  This Auburn team has more depth, and young depth.  That young depth should get better as the weeks go by.  This Auburn team shouldn't be melting down because it's worn out late in the year.  They are rotating more guys into the game and those guys are more talented.  This Auburn team has a quarterback that just finished his 3rd career start.  I expect that he'll get better each week and he'll learn more and more as he sees good defenses.  I expect this Auburn quarterback to be better in games 8-12 than he has been in games 1-3.