Auburn Can’t Quite Seal the Deal

By MikeBullock  |   Tuesday, November 17, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

Auburn Tigers
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The Auburn Tigers came into this game with a great shot of winning, but miscues, missed opportunities and some great plays by Georgia brought that to an end Saturday, when the Bulldogs snatched a victory from Auburn, 31-24.

Two things in football are almost certain to bring victory to a team; one, outrushing your opponent and two, not turning the ball over. Unfortunately for Auburn, the Bulldogs managed both of those on game day and the lack of turnovers was a season first. A first that couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Tigers, desperately needing a win to stay in post season contention.

Another season first was one of Auburn’s biggest mistakes. With a five wide spread offense, Auburn Quarterback Chris Todd felt the pressure, rolled to his right and completed a quick strike pass to a waiting receiver, who turned with the ball and charged up field as if his life depended on it, running over a few Bulldogs along the way. Trouble is the receiver wasn’t one of the five on the play, but right tackle, Lee Ziemba, who was flagged for illegal touching. As one might imagine, this effectively killed the drive for the Tigers.

However, plays like this were offset by such brilliance as Demond Washington’s 99-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter to knot the score at twenty-four apiece. But even late game special team heroics weren’t enough to overcome the inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities, dropping the Tigers to 7-4 going into their final regular season game against the number two ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

While Auburn does have the edge against the ‘Tide in just about all the major statistical categories including points per game, Alabama has faced tougher opponents, they’re more physically dominant and most importantly the ‘Tide plays mistake free football.

Expect this one to get ugly and fast.

Auburn’s inability to score enough against Georgia will surely haunt them against an Alabama team that has only surrendered 109 points so far this season. Eleven points isn’t going to cut it for the Tigers, and neither will passes completed to offensive lineman.

Prediction: Alabama 45, Auburn 6
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