Podcast: Around the SEC Week 5

The first five weeks of college football have been wild so far, but no conference has been crazier than the SEC thus far.

Who will win each division in the SEC? Where does the conference stand now? What will this weekend's games tell us about the contenders and pretenders of the nation's best conference?

Answers to all of these questions and more, on the first edition of Around the SEC!

Don't Panic, Auburn Fans

It wasn't always pretty, but Auburn came away with an ultimately convincing win over a pesky Louisiana Tech squad.

And as we learned in Auburn's 45-17 win, looks can be deceiving.

On paper, the Tigers were dominant. They outgained Louisiana Tech 473 to 321, forced two turnovers while committing none of their own, held the Bulldogs to just 105 rushing yards, and produced two 100-yard rushers of its own.

Yet somehow, Auburn never really seemed in control of the game until the fourth quarter. Through the game’s first three periods, the offense was sputtering. Cameron Artis-Payne couldn’t find any room up the middle, and Nick Marshall was being pressured every time he dropped back.

Auburn’s offensive struggles were eerily similar to the performance against Kansas State. The Bulldogs did, for the most part, a good job of clogging up the middle, forcing runners to the outside, and having the cornerbacks and outside linebackers seal off the edges.

Auburn averaged roughly five yards per carry, but it didn’t feel like they did. All I can remember is the occasional big run by Nick Marshall sandwiched in between watching Artis-Payne get repeatedly stuffed at the line.

I’ll admit that I felt uneasy at times, as I sat there watching the opposing defensive players not getting caught out of position, something that became commonplace against Auburn last season.

Now don’t get me wrong, the game was never in danger for Auburn. The Tigers jumped out to a 24-0 lead before Louisiana Tech finally put a field goal on the board.

It just wasn’t a dominant performance. At least, not as dominant as I would’ve liked.

I know what you’re probably thinking. A week ago, I literally wrote the words, “All Auburn has to do is win.” And I meant it. I’m a big picture guy, and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter how Auburn wins each of its games.

Big picture in mind, Auburn is 4-0 with an average 26-point margin of victory.

But looking at the smaller picture right in front of us, the past two games for Auburn have been a cause for concern. They should not, however, be a cause for panic.

Compare Auburn’s first four gamse this season to their first four games last season. In 2013, Auburn was averaging 440 yards and 28.5 points a game offensively, and giving up 439 yards and 22 points a game on defense through four games.

This year, Auburn looks noticeably better. They’re putting up 480 yards and 42 points a game on offense, and stifling opposing offenses, holding them to 313 yards and 16 points a game.

And that’s with the stagnant performance against Kansas State. So when I say we shouldn’t panic about Auburn’s last two games, I mean it.

Last Saturday’s game reminded me of Auburn’s season opener against Washington State in 2013. Both games featured an inconsistent Auburn offense, but won because of Gus Malzahn would call “bang-bang plays.”

From there, the offense steadily improved. But it didn’t start to hit its stride until a home matchup with Ole Miss. That was game number five.

After a victory over Ole Miss and then a huge road win against Texas A&M the next week, Auburn’s offense was rolling. No one could stop them, even when they were running the same dive play six times in a row.

That same expectation has been levied on the 2014 Auburn Tigers, and while it’s not an unreasonable hope for Tigers fans, it shouldn’t be an immediate demand.

So far, the offense has produced plenty of explosive plays and generated a lot of offense, but they haven’t shown that they can just run right over people for an entire game yet, and I hear the grumblings of Auburn fans about it.

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t occasionally joined in. And I think we might be overreacting.

My point is that we shouldn’t be surprised that Auburn’s offense hasn’t hit its peak early on. Has it occurred to anyone that maybe Gus Malzahn and Rhett Lashlee are still playing around with different formations and personnel groups?

It’s certainly possible that in these first four games, the calm before the storm in October, Malzahn is experimenting with his team to make sure he has the right combination of plays and personnel groups ready.

And let’s also not forget that in every game this season, Auburn has won the fourth quarter when it has needed to.

So Auburn fans, don’t panic. Even if the Auburn offense sputters for a while to start the game, it always takes over at the end of the game. I believe that the season will run the same course.

The offense might appear sluggish at times now, but give it some time. By the end of the season, you just might see Cameron Artis-Payne gashing defenses the way Tre Mason did last year.

And Auburn will be just fine.

D-Rose, KD, and MJ vs. AI, LeBron, and Kobe

A friend of mine sent me a picture of a meme he’d found on Twitter. It had six pictures, each of an NBA player in his prime.

The three players on the top row were Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, and Michael Jordan. The three on the bottom were Allen Iverson, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant.

The caption in the picture read, “Who would win in a 3 on 3???”

Assuming all of these players are in their prime and injury-free when this 3-on-3 happens, it’s a very interesting question.

If we’re taking them as they are now, it’s an even more interesting question. You’d have to put Rose and Bryant in wheelchairs, get Iverson off the street and cleaned up a little, and have an oxygen mask ready for Jordan.

It would basically be a game of 1-on-1 between James and Durant, although I doubt any spectators would complain about that.

But it’s also fun to imagine some sort of rip in the space time continuum that allows these six players to play with one another in respective prime years. It’d be a real-life NBA 2K15.

For those of you who don’t know anything or don’t care about basketball, much less professional basketball, you might as well turn away now. You probably won’t find much about this article very enjoyable.

But for those of you who even slightly enjoy basketball, by all means keep reading!

I had to think for a few minutes before I replied to the message, so I analyzed the pick my friend (who shall remain nameless) gave me as I mulled it over.

He went with LeBron’s team, and as I say it I immediately realize that Kobe would want me to call it “Kobe’s Team.” He pointed out the quickness of Iverson, believing Derrick Rose would be unable to keep up with him.

According to his logic, the combination of Iverson’s quickness, Kobe’s deadeye shooting, and LeBron’s best-basketball-player-in-the-worldness, would be too much for MJ’s not Tune Squad.

Minutes later, I broke the news to him that I would have to respectfully disagree.

When I looked at the two trios next to each other, the biggest difference I saw was the number of willing passers on each team. Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose are all willing passers.

Even if you go by matchups, LeBron is a better and more willing passer than Durant, but Jordan and Rose are way more willing passers than Bryant and Iverson. Really, all three players on MJ’s squad are more willing teammates in general, making the players around them better.

In comparison, the bottom team does more of everything, not just score. The only player on the top team to truly be a great all-around player is LeBron, while Durant and MJ both play the boards well, and all three on that team (as mentioned a moment ago) are willing passers.

The key matchup is LeBron against Durant. My money would be on LeBron throughout the course of the game, but Durant will stay right with him, and if KD can actually win that matchup, then I think Team Jordan easily has the upper hand.

It would be a close game, but I think the level of teamwork from Jordan, Durant, and Rose would eventually overwhelm the isolation mentality sure to come naturally to any team with Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson on it.

It really is a shame that we can’t see this game play out in real life, it would really be a treat.

Will the Real SEC Champion Stand Up, Please?

Before the 2014 college football season started, I predicted that the SEC Championship Game would feature the winner of the Iron Bowl against South Carolina.

Georgia and LSU are as talented as anyone, but Georgia always has a knack for dropping at least one game that keeps from a title game, and LSU lacks experience at key positions.

Mississippi State has the second best quarterback in the league, but lacks the depth to make a long run to the SEC title game. Ole Miss goes as Bo Wallace goes, and as long as he takes care of the ball (a seemingly difficult task for the senior), the Rebels could be an SEC dark horse. Missouri would fly under the radar and compete for East, but they could be bothered by the loss of talent in the backfield and on the defensive line.

Florida could be much improved; with a better offense combined with an extremely talented defense, the Gators could be the dark horse of the East.

Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky would be about the same as last year, while Vanderbilt (losing head coach James Franklin to Penn State) and Texas A&M (trying to replace Johnny Manziel and his favorite target, Mike Evans) would take a step back from last year’s success.

All of this is what I thought going into the season opener.

And then Texas A&M rolled over South Carolina in Columbia 52-28 in the very first game, turning everything I thought I knew about the SEC on its head.

From there, the world of SEC football has gone from slightly unpredictable to downright crazy.

What has transpired over the past five weeks has been unabridged insanity, and we haven’t even gotten into the real meat of this year’s conference matchups.

Texas A&M dominated South Carolina on the road 52-28 in week one, but needed overtime to complete a 21-point comeback over Arkansas yesterday, who was beaten handily by Auburn 45-21, also in week one.

After struggling in its second game as well, South Carolina showed renewed intensity and beat Georgia 38-35 after the Bulldogs dominated Clemson 45-21 in their first game, and jumped into many experts’ College Football Playoff projections.

That same Georgia team struggled mightily against an upstart Tennessee team yesterday, narrowly pulling out a 35-32 win.

Florida and Kentucky battled in a shootout all the way to triple overtime before Florida came out on top in week three; that same Florida team was eventually overwhelmed by Alabama 42-21 in Tuscaloosa in week four.

Kentucky won the clash of the scrubs with Vanderbilt 17-7 yesterday, not long after the Commodores were thrashed by Temple 37-7 in their first game, demolished by Ole Miss 41-3, and barely beat Massachusetts 34-31. Vanderbilt also played a close game against a very unpredictable South Carolina team.

Mississippi State held off a furious LSU comeback in Death Valley in week four, after dominating the Tigers for nearly three whole quarters. Yesterday, Missouri upset South Carolina in Columbia, a week after being upset themselves by Indiana at home.

What the first five weeks of SEC football have proven is this: no one is unbeatable.

So my question is this: who will win the SEC?

No single team has emerged as a frontrunner thus far, and every squad has noticeable weaknesses that can be exploited by more than one team in the conference.

Alabama’s secondary is extremely vulnerable, and the Crimson Tide offense has been a bit turnover prone. Auburn has taken care of business at home with convincing wins, but struggled offensively on the road against Kansas St, and the secondary has had some problems.

Texas A&M’s offense is flying high, but struggled on both sides of the ball against the physical play of Arkansas. Todd Gurley is a force of nature and best running back in the nation, but Hutson Mason hasn’t made enough big plays for Georgia for me to be totally sold on him.

Ole Miss’s defense is quite talented, but their success ultimately rides on the consistency of Bo Wallace. Force Wallace into making mistakes (it’s easier than you’d think), and Ole Miss is very beatable.

Mississippi State was the most underrated team in the SEC until they exposed LSU, and Dak Prescott is a superstar in the making, but the Bulldogs have problems in their secondary and linebackers, and occasionally struggle with consistency on both sides of the ball.

LSU has tons of young talent and should be scary good the next couple of years, but for now, they need to get their quarterback issues worked out. Missouri hasn’t been bad, but they haven’t been impressive, either. Maty Mauk is a touchdown machine, but the ground game has been pedestrian against mediocre competition.

South Carolina has been hot and cold, the most difficult team to get a read on. Their secondary definitely has huge holes in it, and Dylan Thompson makes some questionable throws. Bret Bielema’s “real American football” is working outside the SEC for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks still don’t have enough depth to control games late.

Florida’s offense is certainly better, but it isn’t where Will Muschamp wants it yet. And now I have questions about their secondary surrendered 400-plus passing yards to Alabama. Tennessee, like LSU, has lots of youthful potential, but right now have no experience on the offensive or defensive lines.

Kentucky is improving, but still need more playmakers on offense. Every other team simply has better athletes. And as sad as it is to see, Vanderbilt is back to being Vanderbilt. They can’t stop anyone on defense, and they’re playing musical chairs with their quarterback.

Every single team is beatable, a good and bad thing if you’re an SEC team looking at your schedule. Yes, every remaining game could be a win in theory, but that also means they could just as easily be losses.

This year, more than ever, no SEC team is safe. Fans outside the southeast don’t realize just how much these teams beat up on each other, and this year it will be more evident than ever.

This coming Saturday will tell us a lot about where everyone in the conference really stands. All six of the SEC West’s ranked teams are in action, with 15^th-ranked LSU travelling to take on fifth-ranked Auburn, sixth-ranked Texas A&M visiting 12^th-ranked Mississippi State, and third-ranked Alabama road trips over to eleventh-ranked Ole Miss.

Florida and Tennessee square off in Knoxville, 13^th-ranked Georgia takes on Vanderbilt in Athens, and South Carolina meets Kentucky in Lexington.

Once the dust settles, we might have a clearer picture of who’s for real and who’s not. But if the first five weeks have been any indication, we probably won’t.

But I do feel confident saying that there will not be an undefeated team in the SEC this year. Only five remain, and they all have a tough road ahead of them.

But that’s what we all love about college football, right? The unpredictability? It adds to the excitement.

And this year, there will be no finish more exciting than that of the Southeastern Conference.

Don't Be Surprised By Another Upset From Tuberville

Cincinnati hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 1897. That’s right, it’s been over 100 years; it’s not a typo. Their most recent matchup in 2006 ended in a 37-7 Buckeyes victory, extending the overall series record to 13-2 in Ohio State’s favor.

But this year, all of that could change.

In 2007, now Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville and the Auburn Tigers started the season 2-2, falling well short of the expectations set for them in the preseason. Their fifth game was a road trip to Gainesville to take on the fourth-ranked Florida Gators.

Florida was fresh off a national championship, Tim Tebow was already carving out his place in college football history, and even without all of that hype, The Swamp is still a very difficult place to play. Needless to say, Auburn was a heavy underdog.

And that’s just where Tuberville loves to be.

Long story short, at the end of a thrilling game that turned Auburn’s season around, freshman kicker Wes Byrum booted in the first of many game-winning field goals to knock off the Gators in front of their home crowd, 20-17.

Just another day at work for Tuberville and his Tigers, one of the many examples of his uncanny knack for winning the big games.

And that, ladies and gents, is why I have a bold prediction to make: Tommy Tuberville and the Cincinnati Bearcats will beat the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday in Columbus.

These high-stakes games as the underdog are the situations Tommy Tuberville lives for and thrives in.

In his 18 seasons as a head coach, Tuberville has coached 44 games matched up against a ranked opponent while his team is not ranked. He was won 14 of them.

I know that doesn’t sound like a very impressive stat. In fact, it’s only a win percentage of 31.8, nothing that pops out at you when you read it. But it should.

Think about all of the games that have been played between a ranked team and an unranked team in the past 18 seasons. Of all of those games, how many times do you think the unranked team came out on top? My guess is not very often.

If it happened all the time, it wouldn’t be called an upset.

So the fact that Tuberville statistically has a 31 percent chance of beating you if you’re ranked should be considered more astounding than it is.

Of the 14 games he has won against ranked opponents as an unranked team, eight of those wins came on the road. Nine of them were against Top-10 teams, including a 23-20 home upset of first-ranked Florida in 2001, during his time at Auburn.

Now let’s look at how Ohio State factors into all of this.

Despite what some might think after their 66-0 blanking of Kent State two weekends ago, the Buckeyes are not the team we thought they were. After Heisman hopeful quarterback Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending shoulder injury, Ohio State came out of the gate a bit sluggish.

They struggled with a pesky Navy team, outlasting the Midshipmen in a 34-17 win. And then, in week two, they were exposed.

An offensively challenged Virginia Tech squad marched right into Columbus and walked out with a 35-21 win. Backup quarterback J.T. Barrett of the Buckeyes was terribly inefficient (9/29, 219 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) and only converted four out of 16 third downs.

His last interception was returned for the game-sealing touchdown in the game’s final minute, and it showed some true weaknesses for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are definitely missing their senior quarterback, make no mistake. He is a game-changer, and Ohio State could’ve possibly pulled away from Virginia Tech had he been playing. But he wouldn’t have had much help from a defense that gave up big plays to very inconsistent and highly turnover prone Hokies offense.

And don’t let the numbers from their last game fool you. Anyone could beat Kent State, and I would have been shocked if Ohio State had performed any worse than they did in that game.

There’s a reason Ohio State went from fifth in the AP Poll after that week to 22^nd.

I believe the real Ohio State Buckeyes are the ones we all saw against Virginia Tech and Navy. And those are Buckeyes that Tommy Tuberville can beat.

I would say that it doesn’t matter that the game is on Ohio State’s home turf and that they’re ranked, but I’d be lying to you. That’s actually the thing that could end up mattering the most.

Because no matter how many games Tommy Tuberville might lose that he shouldn’t, he will always deliver at least one signature win each year.

He will always win games that he shouldn’t.

His Bearcats are 2-0, with a chance to make a statement to the college football world. It would be a huge win, one that many people probably don’t think he can pull off.

And that’s just the way he likes it.

Podcast: Auburn vs. Kansas State

This is the first of many podcasts I'll be bringing to you through this blog. Most of them will be about Auburn football, but there will also be a few about anything else I feel like talking about.

And don't worry, they'll never be any longer than about eight to ten minutes. If you care to hear about how Auburn fared against Kansas State, want to know what my voice sounds like, or suffer from chronic boredom, give it a listen!

Is Auburn's Defense Turning the Corner?

As I watched Auburn do battle in Manhattan last Thursday night, struggling to move the ball, relying on a stout defense, fighting for the young life of an undefeated season, I had déjà vu.

I realized I had already watched this game before. In fact, I had watched many more just like it.

From 1999 to 2008, Tommy Tuberville carved out a legacy as one of Auburn football’s greatest coaches. He had eight winning seasons, coached an undefeated SEC championship team, and posted a 7-3 record against Alabama, winning an Auburn-best six Iron Bowls in a row.

How did he do it?

The staple of a Tommy Tuberville team was a bruising running game combined with a dominant defense. It’s how he posted seven records of eight wins or better in his time at Auburn. And a 20-14 score wasn’t very unusual to see with Coach Tubs on the sideline.

All of a sudden, the déjà vu made sense. I was watching an Auburn game from the Tuberville era. The offense was struggling, and while it moved the ball when it mattered, it was the defense that saved the day.

Many, if not most, of the games Auburn won under Tuberville were won in such a fashion. He branded Auburn football as tough, physical, and disciplined. No bells and whistles, just smashmouth, hardnosed football.

So as I watched the Auburn defense emerge victorious over Jake Waters and the Kansas State offense, the inevitable question came to mind: is Auburn’s defense finally good again?

It’s a question I’ve been disappointed to find the answer to in recent years. Ever since the less than pleasant departure of Tommy Tuberville after the 2008 season, Auburn’s defense has never quite been the same.

Since the 2009 season, Auburn’s defense has never had a better scoring defense than its 2010 mark of 24.1 points per game. The national championship season also produced Auburn’s best total defense since 2009, giving up 368.4 yards per game. And since Tuberville left, Auburn’s turnover margin has never been higher than plus-five.

Needless to say, the effort has been quite lackluster by comparison.

This year, however, Auburn’s defense appears to be turning the corner. Through three games, the Tigers are giving up 16 points a game (tied for 13^th best nationally) and 310.7 yards a game (23^rd nationally). Their turnover margin is plus-three, and all of this points to a drastic turnaround for a defensive group that has been highly criticized for the past five seasons.

Could this really be the year that Auburn’s defense finally returns to an elite level? A level that so many Auburn fans grew accustomed to during the Tuberville era, and so many times yearn for again?

These early indications tell me that it could be. Through three games, I’ve seen the best tackling, gap play, and intensity that I’ve seen out of Auburn in years.

It pained me to watch a once mighty unit get shredded by the ever-evolving offenses of college football, never seeming to have everyone covered, missing tackles in the open field. Through three games, at least, it seems those days could be behind us.

And for the rest of the nation, that’s a frightening notion. The last thing an Auburn opponent needs is a suffocating defense to go along with a virtually unstoppable offense.

That kind of defense has been the missing piece of the puzzle, the one thing keeping Auburn from being truly elite in its successful campaigns the past few years. And now, Ellis Johnson might have them at that level.

At the very least, he has them headed in the right direction. And that should scare the rest of college football.

All Auburn Has To Do Is Win

When all is said and done, if Auburn is undefeated through the end of the regular season, they should be in the College Football Playoff. Period.

If they win the SEC championship, even with one loss, they’d still probably make it in. But if they’re sitting at 13-0 after the conference title has been awarded, they should be the top seed in the playoff as far as I’m concerned.

All Auburn has to do is win.

Sounds easy, right? If only it were that simple.

Anyone with half a brain recognized the talent and explosive ability of Auburn’s roster entering the 2014 season. Save Tre Mason, Greg Robinson, Dee Ford, and Jay Prosch, this young team was bringing back most of the key pieces to its 2013 national championship campaign that shocked the nation.

Nick Marshall, the shrewd operator of the read option, was back. Four starters on a bulldozer of an offensive line were back. The defense lost playmakers in Dee Ford and Chris Davis, but retained its two starting linebackers, the explosive Robenson Therezie, and a multitude of senior defensive linemen.

The 2014 Auburn Tigers have the perfect combination of talent and returning experience to be serious contenders for the national title.

And then there’s the schedule. Nothing will ruin championship aspirations like a terrible schedule.

After playing what turned out to be a schedule with some advantageous home matchups last season, Auburn has to run the gauntlet this time around.

As it stands now, eight of Auburn’s twelve regular season opponents will be or have been ranked at the time they play the Tigers. Auburn has already passed its first major test in Kansas State, so what’s next?

An easy win over Louisiana Tech before October. The calm before the storm.

Starting in the tenth month, Auburn will battle through the worst stretch of games I’ve ever seen a team play through. It starts with a home matchup with #17 LSU, then a road game against #14 Mississippi State. The Tigers come home to face #13 South Carolina, and then go over to Oxford for a clash with #10 Ole Miss. Now we’re in the home stretch, with a home game against #6 Texas A&M, followed by a road trip to play #12 Georgia.

The Tigers get a scrimmage against Samford the next week, and then head over to Tuscaloosa for the big one: a matchup against #3 Alabama, the game that could very well determine the SEC West champion.

In case you weren’t keeping count, that’s six games in a row against teams ranked in the top 20, and seven of eight games against such teams.

And the way they’ve played since week one, Arkansas will likely jump into the top 25 by season’s end. That will give Auburn an unprecedented nine ranked teams on its schedule.

It’s a nightmarish schedule, one you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy (unless they posed a real threat to you, of course). All five of Auburn’s road games will be against ranked teams, and the only guaranteed wins left on the schedule are Louisiana Tech and Samford.

I don’t think that Auburn will only win five games, they proved at Kansas State they can win tough, gritty games. But they could lose three games and still be a better team than last year.

Now, enough pessimism. Here’s the awesome news: if Auburn makes it to the SEC championship undefeated or with just one loss, they’re in.

One of the primary factors the College Football Playoff Committee claims they will take into account when making their picks is strength of schedule. And who’s schedule is stronger than Auburn’s?

Look at the four teams ranked ahead of Auburn. Florida State? Two ranked teams. Oregon?  Three ranked teams. Alabama? Five ranked teams, none outside of the SEC West. Oklahoma? Three ranked teams.

I repeat, Auburn could look back on this season having played NINE.

Every team has a tough road ahead of them in their own respect. They each face their own challenges and overcome different obstacles. And sometimes, a tough schedule for one team can be easy for another.

But I dare any team to play through the schedule that Auburn is playing through this year.

If they win, they’re in. Period.

In Auburn's Case, "A Win Is a Win" Cliché Works

It wasn’t quite the game we were expecting, was it? It certainly wasn’t the one I thought I would see.

When the fifth-ranked Auburn Tigers left home to take on the 20^th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats, I was expecting a shootout. Both offenses were prolific, both defenses were suspect, and each team had a dual-threat quarterback eager to prove himself.

The script was set for a thriller in Manhattan, Kansas. And we got quite an exciting game, just not the one we were expecting.

The biggest game in years at Bill Snyder Family Stadium was ruled by defenses. For the first time in almost exactly a year, Auburn’s offense was held to less than 200 rushing yards. The Tigers prized rushing attack mustered just 2.9 yards per carry, and failed to register a touchdown on the ground.

Kansas State made Auburn look vulnerable, forcing them to put the ball in the air much more than they’re used to doing. They made Nick Marshall and the oft-maligned Auburn defense win the game.

They were able to step up and make a difference when called upon, but it certainly wasn’t pretty. Honestly, it was kind of ugly.

Auburn receivers were dropping passes, and when they were ready to pull the ball in, Marshall would misfire. The Tigers defense held the Wildcats ground game in check, but couldn’t stop Jake Waters from scrambling out of the pocket and finding receivers along the sideline for first downs.

But despite all of the offensive hiccups and close calls, Auburn ground out the 20-14 win. And after all, a win is a win, right?

“A win is a win” is probably one of the oldest sports clichés in the book. We all say it after our favorite team doesn’t play as well as we know they should. Sometimes, we don’t even think they deserved to win.

It’s widely regarded as an excuse, a coping mechanism, and in the end, doesn’t justify a sloppy performance.

But for these Auburn Tigers, it does work.

I know what you’re all thinking right now: “But Bobby, Auburn won’t go anywhere if they keep playing like that!”

Well of course they won’t. If Auburn only rushes for 128 yards against Alabama, they’re in trouble. But here’s my question to you: will this really happen again?

I don’t think so. I truly believe that, offensively at least, this game was an anomaly for the Auburn Tigers.

Let’s look at this logically. We’re talking about a Thursday night game against a nationally-ranked non-conference opponent in Manhattan, Kansas. The drive from Auburn to Manhattan is 14 hours. It’s a six-hour flight (and remember, these young college students are making this trip in the middle of the week, instead of Friday).

How many of Auburn’s players do you think have ever been to Kansas? My guess is little to none of them.

And let’s not forget that this was Auburn’s first road game of the year, historically a difficult task for the Tigers. Anyone remember the first road game last year?

The offense wasn’t running the offense at as quick a tempo as it would at home, or even in a more familiar road game setting. A shaky start was almost inevitable.

But on top of that, Auburn did everything you're supposed to do to win against a ranked team in your first road game. They out gained the Wildcats in total yards, 359 to 285. They won the turnover battle, forcing three while giving the ball away only once. They won time of possession, (albeit slightly) 31:00 to 29:00.

And as they’ve made a habit of doing, Auburn overcame their own mistakes, took advantage of Kansas State’s, and found new ways to win.

While pessimists are pointing to this game as a sign of Auburn’s vulnerability, I see it as a sign of progression. If Auburn can win on the road against a nationally ranked team without flexing its strongest muscle, what game can’t they win?

And I promise you, Auburn’s running game won’t be shut down by every team it plays. Even if it does, Nick Marshall may have just proven that he’s perfectly content to beat you with his arm.

It was far from a pretty win.

The defense allowed way too many trips into its own territory, but they got away with it by forcing an interception in the end zone and sneaking Cade Foster into the Kansas State kicker’s uniform to miss three field goals.

The offense never did get the running game going, but when it mattered, Nick Marshall got the ball where it needed to go downfield.

We still don't know exactly what we're going to see down the stretch from the 2014 Auburn Tigers, but here's what I do know: despite what some might say, Nick Marshall has improved as a passer; Duke Williams is a beast; the defense is substantially better; and this team knows how to win.

Auburn is proving time and time again that it will find a way to beat you, and that it doesn’t matter how. After all, a win is a win.