Auburn’s win over New Mexico this past Saturday had a lot of things that can cause, well, exactly what happened. It was wet and it got much wetter throughout the game. New Mexico was coming off a bye, with a quarterback that can make plays all over the place, playing on their biggest stage of the season with literally nothing to lose. Auburn was giving a new, young quarterback a try.
If you’re going to have a should-be blowout feel a little testy for a bit, all of those things combined can do it. Easily.
When water falls from the sky, the passing game can disappear. It’s harder to grip the ball, it’s harder to catch the ball, and those little drops could, I guess, change the flight of the ball a little. That said, there were a few pockets when the air was clear and the ball could be thrown. This was very apparent considering that there were over 500 combined passing yards and 5 combined touchdown passes in the game.
Sure this could be attributed to some abysmal pass defense on both teams, but the passing game was mostly unaffected while the rain had stopped. However, it did cause 2 Auburn fumbles (1 lost) and 1 muffed punt. Despite the final score, at the time of those fumbles they were equalizers of a game that probably normally would’ve been a blowout from start to finish.
Jason Campbell compared New Mexico’s quarterback to Michael Vick. I’m sure that was scoffed at by a few, but I don’t know that he’s too far off. The guy was never touched. He was poised in and out of the pocket, and he gave guys plenty of time to get open way down field to where he could flick his wrist and drop the ball in a 10-yard bubble.
As I mentioned, the Lobos had a week off to prepare for Auburn. They were coming off a 61-39 loss at Arizona. Until Arizona lost at Kansas State this weekend, the Wildcats were ranked. So, New Mexico put 39 on what was supposed to be a pretty good team. Then they had an extra week to prepare for a team that just lost to Cal and changed quarterbacks. They were already 0-2. What’s another loss in fun trip to a huge SEC stadium?
Coach Hugh Freeze said to the media on Monday that it was very apparent that New Mexico was throwing the kitchen sink at them. Playing fun, fast, and free. That’s the only way a team like New Mexico can beat a team from the SEC. It caused a lot of heartburn for a half, but even that abysmal defensive performance eventually let the talent difference show up.
When you’re playing a team like New Mexico, the easiest way to stop them defensively is to just start scoring offensively. They aren’t prepped to come from behind, but if they have a little mojo and the home team is worried, they can keep running their kitchen sink stuff. The halftime score was 17-13 Auburn.
Auburn beat New Mexico 28-6 in the 2nd half. But all it took was getting more than a touchdown lead. Aside from the rain, aside from Michael Vick on the other sideline, the last factor that likely kept this game a tad close and nerve-wracking was the first career start of redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown.
Sure, Freeze eased him into it. Freeze ran the ball more than Auburn had all season, which honestly hadn’t been the strength it needs to be. Auburn’s inability to pull away early wasn’t necessarily due to Hank underperforming. He just wasn’t given the opportunity early to air it out and do what Thorne did to Alabama A&M.
There were a handful of throws downfield, but the gameplan early was easy, simple, and risk-free play calls while the defense kept the Lobos in check. 13 points in the 1st half was keeping the Lobos in check for the most part I guess.
And then once Hank was comfortable, and once Auburn got more than a touchdown lead, he was let out of the cage a little. Auburn scored touchdowns on all 4 2nd half drives (1 drive didn’t happen because of the muffed punt), 3 of those were through the air from Hank.
So yeah, the inability to pull away wasn’t due to inability to play. It was more due to a conservative approach until Hank got his feet wet. Literally. DO YOU GET IT?
The defense has to get better. The offensive line has to open more holes for a very good running back room. Hank has to face a real SEC team next. The word is that’s his real job interview. We’ll see.
Auburn had many reasons the game wasn’t comfortable for the wet locals for a little bit. But despite those things, the Tigers came out with a 26 point win in the rain, against a better than expected quarterback, while breaking in a new quarterback. It was much better than it felt at times.
I smell bacon.
