Auburn can’t stop Oklahoma.
(AP Photo, Gerald Hebert.)

     War Eagle everybody. It’s time now for the Acid Reign Report on Auburn’s 35-19 Sugar Bowl Loss to Oklahoma. On the fast track in the Superbowl in New Orleans, Auburn was able to keep track for a half, trailing only 14-13 at the break. In the second half, the Auburn offense went into the tank, and the Sooners rattled off 3 touchdowns to break this game open. Auburn’s only points in the second half came on a last second consolation touchdown.

     Sean White left the game before halftime with a broken arm, and all offensive hope went with him. The first three drives of the second half featured quick, 3 and out series for the Tigers. Oklahoma was known to have a spotty secondary, but Auburn didn’t even attempt a pass till the Sooners had scored twice, and led 28-13. Thanks to a hand cramp, John Franklin was ineffective throwing, and the Tigers wen three and out again. Oklahoma would drive again and put the game out of reach. Jeremy Johnson finished the game at quarterback with 2 garbage-time drives, ending the first with an interception in the end zone, and the second with a touchdown on the last play of the game.

     I was worried about an artificial turf game even before this one started. The fast surface with good traction really favors the offense, particularly one with good speed at the skill positions. Time and time again, Oklahoma ball carriers cut their way out of trouble, and sped away from pursuit. This was one of the few teams Auburn has seen this season that could really match up speed-wise, with the defense. Coupled with an Auburn offense that could not stay on the field, the Tigers surrendered 524 yards, and a season-high 35 points.

     Lost in the dismal finish to the season was that special teams played pretty well for the Tigers. Both sets of legs were stellar, with booming, driving kicks and punts, all accurate. Despite a lack of Tiger offensive success, Auburn allowed only 19 return yards.

Unit Grades, after the jump!

Defensive Line: C. I felt like this was maybe the only game this season where the Auburn line didn’t win more battles than it lost. Oklahoma had a plan for keeping end Carl Lawson under wraps, and the talented end managed only 2 tackles all night. Auburn had no sacks, and only a couple of tackles for a loss, both by the line, Lawson and Jeffrey Holland. I’m guessing that the stat guys for this bowl game don’t count quarterback hurries, because neither team was credited with any.

Linebackers: C. With the line handled, Auburn’s linebackers had trouble tracking ball carriers down. The only linebacker in the top 5 tacklers for Auburn was Deshaun Davis, with 8. The Tigers allowed 5.3 yards per carry on the day, and that’s a big reason that the Sooner offense was able to stay on the field.

Secondary: B-. This grade may seem a bit high, but the Tigers had to cover for a very long time, on most downs. The Tigers got little heat on the quarterback, up front. When Auburn did pressure, Mayfield was always able to escape. The Auburn secondary made the lion’s share of the tackles, and did an admirable job of staying with a dangerous receiving corps.

Punting: A+. Kevin Phillips had his best day of the season, averaging 49.2 yards on 5 punts. Even with that distance, Oklahoma had only 2 return yards, and Phillips killed a couple of those punts inside the 20 with no touchbacks. Without Phillips and the punt coverage team, Auburn likely gives up even more points.

Punt Returns: B. I give Stephen Roberts this grade for good ball handling, and knowing when to get away from bad situations. Auburn had trouble even making Oklahoma punt, with only 3 in the game. All 3 Sooner punts landed inside the Auburn 20.

Kick Returns: C-. With an offense that was not doing much, the Tigers brought 3 kickoffs out of the end zone, and managed only an average of 16.3 yards per return. Kerryon Johnson and Stanton Truitt had tacklers swarming them around the 10 yard line.

Place Kicking: A+. Daniel Carlson hit all of his kicks once again, adding 2 more field goals. He finishes the season with 28 field goals on 32 attempts. On kickoffs, Carlson drove 3 of 4 for touchbacks, and Oklahoma only got 17 yards on their one kick return. Carlson finishes the season with 57 touchbacks on 72 kickoffs.

Offensive Line: B. Again, some may question this grade, but Auburn’s line did about as well as could be expected, against a good defensive front. On the rare times Auburn tried to throw, the protection was good. We can gripe that the Sooners slowed Auburn’s running game down, but that’s because 5 linemen can’t block 8 or 9 guys. The Tigers finished with 185 rushing yards, which isn’t bad against stacked boxes.

Running Backs: B-. There was good, tough running from Kamryn Pettway, Kerryon Johnson, and even Chandler Cox, who scored the first Tiger touchdown on a carry. There were no Auburn fumbles, either. Where I counted off was on blocking. Too many times, I saw a lead blocker go through a sea of Sooner defenders, and emerge on the other side, having blocked nobody.

Receivers: B. It is difficult to give too bad of a grade to these guys. At least half the time, these guys are just asked to run 4 vertical routes, with no branching off, or any sort of imagination. I didn’t see any drops, but I did see a few good catches in traffic. I can just hear it in the huddle: “everybody go deep,” with no intention of throwing the ball down the field.

Quarterback: B. Again, I’m not going to grade the handcuffed players too harshly. Starter Sean White engineered a good opening drive, then struggled with a broken arm for a quarter. John Franklin III also had his moments, but was struggling with hand cramps. Jeremy Johnson had the lone turnover for the quarterbacks, on an interception. But at least he was throwing for the end zone.

     It was a disappointing evening in the Big Easy. Once again, I felt like the offensive staff had no idea what to do with the offense, after Sean White got hurt. One of the things I like about the Superdome that the press box is way up high. The camera folks tend not to be as zoomed in to the line, as they are most games. We were able to see a lot more of the receiver route running, in this one. And folks, Auburn’s about as vanilla as they come. Guys will telegraph that they are in blocking mode, before the snap in a lot of cases. This makes it far too easy for secondary defenders to abandon their man or their zone, and come after the ball carrier. This must change, next year.

     Defensively, the Tigers met their match, but still did an admirable job of slowing the bleeding. No one before the game thought that the Sooners could be completely shut down, and the 35 points isn’t unexpected, considering what the Auburn offense did.

     A long offseason begins, into the bleak midwinter. I can’t be completely down, on this season. There were some fun times, particularly stomping a mud hole out of Dan Mullen and Bret Bielema teams, at midseason. The fact remains that there is a ton of talent returning, next season, with guys that fight hard and never quit. Ever the optimist, I’m hoping against hope that Auburn can install a successful passing game, and make the changes necessary to become a title contender again.

The post Sooners Roll Over the Tigers. (grading Auburn’s Sugar Bowl loss.) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.

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