The HQ was front and center (well, technically, not front and center, it was more like between the 30 and 40-yard line) at The Loveliest Village yesterday to see something we could only shake our head at and wonder just how far the talent has fallen on The Plains.
Do you realize that, right now, Louisiana-Monroe is only one highlight package away from being at the top of the Ess-E-Cee West Division...
Particularly, this group...
((HT: AuburnAthletics))
And, The Chiz will take the win...
((HT: goldcrim))
First, and foremost... had ULM won their second game in a row, realistically, they would be at the top of the Ess-E-Cee West. Western Kentucky, for that matter, is only a half-game back from the lead in East.
To that matter... for any member of the Auburn coaching staff to maintain that QB Kiehl Frazier is an "effective game manager" is just this side of "are you guys watching the same game we are?"
Frazier actually said in the post-game interview scrums: "I thought I took a step in the right direction. I made a lot of mistakes I need to get fixed, but I feel like I'm getting better."
Frazier started 9-for-12, but finished 1-for-6 which included poor decision-making, an overall lack of decision-making at times, holding onto the ball too long, not avoiding a sack by getting rid of the football, making ill-advised passes that were floating into coverage and could have killed a receiver, and throwing an interception right into a white jersey.
The only problem there was that Auburn was wearing their home blues...
It is evident, obvious, and any other adjective you'd like... that Frazier has not yet adapted to new-OC Scot Loeffler's power-system. Frazier is a zone-read option QB- this is clearly square-peg, round-hole stuff going on right now. Why the system wasn't created to suit Frazier's strengths is beyond me in a key year for this coaching staff...
Frazier is confused and is thinking entirely too much for his position... and when the world around you is moving faster than your brain is willing your body to function, you're in serious trouble.
Where's Clint Moseley, CJ Uzomah, or Quan Bray and the imagination that needs to go with finding the strengths of your athletes and (supposed 3, 4, and 5-star) recruits you felt worthy to be "All In?"
But Loeffler admitted: "He was able to do exactly what we wanted him to do" when the game was done.
Really...??? Okay... sure...
Thus... one play away from 0-3 and change-of-address kits for a coaching staff... which, still, may be in play at season's end...
Now, to the defense and new-DC Dave VanGorder...
Tackling and the skill that goes with it, obviously, is optional on the Plains (and a lot of other places these days, for that matter). Once again, the idea that a system wasn't created to allow for your athlete's strengths seems to be the order of the day...
One play in particular saw four down linemen line up on one side of the football before a snap- which forced the 'Stache to burn a time out to ask what in the blue hell was going on out there...???
Actually, the fans in the stands were asking the same question on both sides of the ball for the full 60 minutes- even moreso in the last 15 where the team that couldn't tackle or convert an important down-and-distance situation gave up a 2 touchdown lead and had to play a fifth period.
Coaches say the right things to make people feel better, but sometimes the Emperor needs that mirror just to prove that things aren't as they seem. Coach Chizik said the right things above, but when the team converted their first first down on a running play in overtime, all he did was have Frazier take the next set of downs to run to the middle of the field, summon Cody Parkey off the sidelines, and get out of Dodge...
Does that brim confidence in your quarterback to get a touchdown when you really need it in the future...???
You tell me... LSU might have your answer next Saturday night...
The obvious answer may come at season's end when everyone is gone from the coaching offices that harnessed a lightning bolt and won a title only two years ago. But in the interim, the entire Auburn coaching staff needs to issue an apology to their fan base for the display (or lack thereof) at home, against the Sun Belt Conference-toughened Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.
(And who thought that would be a sentence that had to be written in back-to-back weeks in the Ess-E-Cee...?)
Second thing that needs to be done...???
Every starting position is now up for grabs... prove your worth, pay on Saturday...
Third thing... if I was on that coaching staff, having seen some disgusting displays of fundamentals (both physical and mental) at home...??? Take all the names off the backs of the jerseys...
Make the players earn them back...
And some may never do that...
But that goes back to the problem created Sunday through Friday, doesn't it...??? Anyone know the phone numbers to Todd Berry and Mario Cristobal around Christmas time...???
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