SEC Bust of The Week: Mississippi State v. Auburn

OK folks so it is BIGGEST BUST time again. I left to go fishing between 1 and 2 yesterday. I had to go find me a quiet, peaceful place to find a more joyful me. I actually stayed out on the lake until pretty lake and it helped.

I sat down tonight (Sunday night) after enjoying a good day at church and spending time with family and the pups. I thought about Arkansas and Alabama, Arkansas has lost their physicality (more on that later) and to me their identity that Bielema brought to them. Tennessee and A&M, hell of a game..no BUST there. Kentucky 20 Vanderbilt 13, I expected nothing else in fact Vanderbilt showed more than I thought they could. They had a chance to the last moments. South Carolina.....well who really expected anything from them this year, certainly not me.

LSU and Florida being “postponed” as it is now was actually a win for both of them. I don’t know how it can be worked out but it needs to be played somehow. At the least, it will hold bowl implication levels for both teams and at the most it could impact the SEC East race significantly. I would have to say right now that I would go with LSU to win the game but it is not being played until?

Well, I guess there is no avoiding it. We all know who the BIGGEST Bust was AGAIN. I am all DAWG all the way and having to put this seal on my DAWGS again just tears me apart, but we own it 100%! I said the first time that it was on the team, not so much the coaches but that if another game was played the way South Alabama was then it would be on the coaches, ALL OF THEM. I have to honestly say that for the first time since we lost to Maine many moons ago, I was really embarrassed by the effort we played with and the overall attitude. I cannot find a way to defend what I saw yesterday.

The first few minutes we had an interception, the receiver was open he just missed the ball but we were alert enough to grab it and advance it to a point. The offense and the coaches should have aggressively seized the moment and exerted all they had to punch it in for “6”. We didn’t. We weren’t ready for the moment and weren’t aggressive! Instead, we were timid and almost afraid of screwing up so WE DID! Then we come in to kick the field goal and “doink” it instead. After that we were pushed around all over the field by a team that just isn’t that good!

I saw our defensive line getting blasted out and pancaked like they didn’t have a clue how to play. Our offensive line made a lot of “LOOK OUT” blocks. That’s where a 7th grade boy that just hasn’t learned to be aggressive and physical in football yet is blocking (ha ha) but the guy on defense runs right by him so he wants to help the guys in the backfield so he turns around and hollers “LOOK OUT!” That’s how we looked on the offensive line for most of the game that I had the stomach to watch. We looked like 7th grade patsies. We have looked bad at times on the offensive line but yesterday reached a pinnacle. Making it worse was the fact that we had two weeks to get ready for what they had. Film study, technique drills, and identification of defensive sets. We looked like we had absolutely no preparation. Receivers and secondary were not any better either. I think Fitz is the best quarterback we have and can be really good but MAYBE he can’t lead and they will not play hard for him, I honestly don’t know.

It went further though, getting pushed and shoved around, made fun of and we didn’t offer any resistance. I was glad to see a couple of guys get a personal foul penalty. It showed me they had a small set down there anyway. Most of the team looked like they had been neutered by the vet school. Totally submissive and docile to having their tails whipped. I wrote earlier in the week that some Auburn folks said we had an A$$ whipping coming. I didn’t think they were capable, but when you lay down and let somebody beat your brains in without fighting back you deserve what you get. I know for years that even teams that did beat us respected the way we played them so physical. They knew they had been in a game and had sore bodies to prove it. We have lost our physicality like Arkansas. Now go look which two teams are at the bottom of the SEC West. SURPRISED? You can’t win in the SEC West or even the SEC East not being physical. A lot of that comes with attitude and leadership but it also comes through an off-season and summer of strenuous workouts and conditioning. It slipped some last year and has really showed up this year. Change needed?

We are MUCH better than what we showed yesterday. Much better. We have a ton of talent and probably more “Star” talent than ever before. We use to take lesser talent and do more than we were capable of because we had a desire burning inside. We seemed to have lost that this year. I’m not sure why but we are not motivated. It is one thing to get beat but it is quite another to seem like we could care less.

I see former players recognize and tweet the same thoughts. There is a problem. How deep it goes I am not sure but there needs to be some changes made NOW. The team needs to be shook up, made to understand lack of effort will not be tolerated. Coaches might need some responsibilities changed up so players know that coaches and players are both held accountable. I love you Coach Mullen, I always have. I respect you immensely but little nobody me thinks you need to shake up the staff some. It seems like everyone is just too relaxed and complacent, but hey that’s me and opinions are like names, we all have one.

I hope I never have to write these words again this year. I hope we at least play with pride and passion no matter what the outcome but this week,

WE ARE THE SEC BIGGEST BUST and it really hurts me deep!

GO DAWGS FOREVER!!!!