The Art of Self-Implosion

Is anyone else getting tired of the mistakes? Is anyone else getting tired talking about them? I know I sound like a broken record; I feel like one. But this is getting ridiculous.

I’m sure I’d be called a madman by any casual observer for complaining about a 31-7 victory, but I don’t care.

I’m about to complain about it.

I’m about to complain about it for the exact same reasons I’ve complained about Auburn’s losses to Mississippi State, Texas A&M, and Georgia, and their win over South Carolina.

Auburn is not playing its best football. Not even close to it, actually.

A 24-point win over Samford is not Auburn’s best. Being shut out for 22 football minutes by an FCS school is a far cry from Auburn’s best.

386 yards is not Auburn’s best. Being down 7-0 to Samford, even if it was for literally a minute, is certainly not Auburn’s best.

I really wish I could tell you what is wrong. I wish I had an answer.

After improving every week last season, a key component to the special run the Tigers made, Auburn appears to have regressed in at least one area every week after its win over LSU.

And this was never more exemplified Saturday night than in those first 22 minutes of football.

On the game’s very first play, receiver Quan Bray was flagged for holding. So instead of a reasonable second down and seven or eight yards, Auburn was looking at first and 18. Two plays later, Nick Marshall was sacked.

Minutes later, Jonathon Mincy started what would end up being a rough night with a pass interference penalty on second and nine that gave Samford a fresh set of downs.

Fast forward to the second quarter. Still knotted at goose eggs, Samford gets a free play when Montravius Adams was lined up offsides. Then on first and five, Mincy gets flagged against for interference, and Samford has a first down at the Auburn 31-yard line.

Four plays later, Samford puts the ball in the end zone.

Being down 7-0 to Samford midway through the second quarter clearly shook Auburn out of its funk, but the self-destructive mistakes continued throughout the game.

Early in the third quarter, Mincy was flagged (surprising, right?) for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Samford was again escorted right down to the Auburn 31-yard line.

Fortunately, the Tigers dodged a bullet as Samford missed the field goal, but they had pretty much handed the Bulldogs the yard they’d needed to get there in the first place.

Up next comes the worst part, the lowest point in the game for the Auburn offense.

After a third quarter interception by linebacker Kris Frost put the Tigers’ offense down at the Samford 25-yard line, Auburn looked poised to extend their lead to 31-7.

Cameron Artis-Payne rumbled forward for a ten-yard gain, and the offense looked to be in good shape. Next play, Marshall took the snap, dropped back.

He lofted a fade route over to the right corner of the end zone in the direction of Sammie Coates. Coates out-muscled and out-jumped his defender and came down with the catch. Touchdown, Auburn!

And then we saw our least favorite color on the field: yellow.

Sammie Coates was, again inexplicably, called for offensive pass interference (just for the record, I didn’t see enough of any kind of push off to warrant any interference call on either player). Seriously, I think the refs are picking on Sammie.

But it wasn’t a big deal, right? Auburn’s offense was rolling now, going ahead and backing them up to the 30-yard line wouldn’t stop them.

It wasn’t a big deal until Auburn faced a third down and 20 two plays later, and the offensive line, playing surprisingly lax football, let Nick Marshall down again.

The result? A 15-yard sack back to the Samford 40-yard line.

That’s right, an interception turned into zero points, even though Auburn was down at the 15-yard line at one point.

You see, that kind of stuff isn’t supposed to happen, especially against Samford.

On paper, it looks like Auburn was in control of pretty much the whole game, and at least in the last 38 minutes, they were.

But it should have been better. This offense rolled up 500 yards against Ole Miss, for goodness sakes.

For at least a quarter and a half, and in small glimpses after that, Samford was actually winning the line of scrimmage.

I repeat: that is not supposed to happen.

What is wrong with this team? They had so much promise at the beginning of the year, and even showed it through the first five games.

But ever since then, Auburn has seemed almost intent on beating themselves.

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t wondered if Auburn is making these mistakes on purpose just to test themselves, see how deep a hole they can dig themselves into and still get out.

It’s as if Auburn has a pathological addiction to adversity. And if they aren’t facing any, then they’ll just have to create some.

I know that’s most likely not true, but it’s the explanation for the turnovers, penalties, and missed tackles that hurts the least.

It’s better than admitting that maybe Auburn really is that undisciplined, or maybe they’re not that good.

But I can’t bring myself to admit that, because I don’t believe it.

I could believe that Auburn as a whole is undisciplined; the proof is in the pudding. 46 penalties for 473 yards through six games is extremely undisciplined.

But as I’ve so passionately stated many times, Auburn is better than that.

Auburn is better than slogging through a game against an FCS opponent it should have hung at least 50 points on. Auburn is better than all of the mistakes and mental lapses.

But they’re getting closer and closer to proving that the “better Auburn” I keep talking about doesn’t exist anymore.

If Auburn can’t find a way to return to its beatdown-of-LSU form against Alabama, this team’s legacy will be one to the tune of “almost but not quite.”

This team had the talent, but just couldn’t get out of their own way.

I can’t say for sure what was happening for the first 23 minutes of that game against Samford, but I can say one thing for sure: Auburn won’t beat Alabama playing that way.