Auburn Football: Post-Cam Newton Era Looks Bleak After Utah State Scare

The post-Cam Newton era of Auburn football got off to a rocky start today against Utah State, as the Tigers barely escaped an upset with a 42-38 fourth quarter comeback victory.

The Aggies took it to the defending national champions early, jumping out to a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, and led 21-14 at halftime. At one point late in the fourth quarter, they had Auburn on upset alert with a 38-28 lead.

However, just as they did in last year's season opener against Oklahoma, Utah State coughed up a good late fourth quarter lead.

After cutting the lead to 38-35 with just over a minute left, the Tigers recovered an onside kick and drove right down the field for the go-ahead score.

With an upset avoided, the Auburn players were quite excited after the final seconds ticked away. After such a poor performance like that, those players had absolutely nothing to be thrilled about.

The Tigers defense, which was the reason they held an explosive Oregon offense to just 19 points in last year's BCS title game, was lit up by an inexperienced Utah State team that went just 4-8 last year.

If the Aggies can score 38 points on this Auburn defense, there's no telling how many points a real SEC team will hang on them.

Next week the Tigers open up SEC play at home against No. 20 Mississippi State, then the following week they play a quality ACC opponent in Clemson.

But the schedule doesn't get any easier after that. From October 1st through 22nd, Auburn has a brutal four-game set of SEC opponents with road games at No. 12 South Carolina, No. 15 Arkansas, and No. 4 LSU, with a home game against Florida.

Auburn could easily be a .500 team and fighting for bowl eligibility in early November.

Without a dominant player at quarterback, and a defense that won't be able to limit opponents' playmakers like last season, Auburn will struggle mightily in the toughest conference in the country.

Cam Newton showed why he was so valuable to the Tigers last season by winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the school to a national title, but it could be the struggles of Auburn this season that displays just how important Newton was.