Auburn was simply the better team on the field in every phase of the game. Before attending the game, I believed the Tigers and the Ducks would split 10 games, each winning 5. However, after witnessing the actual event, the two teams were not as equal as I had thought. Throughout the whole game, it was obvious that Auburn was the better team.
The score did not capture the actual beat down Oregon took from Auburn’s lines on both sides of the ball. True football fans know that games are won and lost in the trenches. Auburn dominated them on both sides. The Final Score should have been 19-11, but because of two fluke plays, one by Oregon and one by Auburn, the score ended up 22-19.
The first fluke play is when Oregon converted a 4th and 5. As the Duck WR, DJ Davis, went across the middle, Auburn’s safety, Zac Etheridge, was in perfect position to make the tackle, but the referee was in the way and knocked him out of the play. This allowed Davis to scamper for the first down and a huge 29 yard play setting up the Ducks for their first score since early in the 2nd Quarter. It simply should not have happened, and 9 out of 10 times, Oregon never gets that first down and Auburn runs out the clock on the turnover on downs.
After the Ducks scored on their fluke play, it was Auburn’s turn to do the same with just a few minutes left in the game. Auburn’s fluke play involved a 27-yard run by Mike Dyer. It appeared to everyone on the field that he had been tackled, but the whistle never blew and Dyer started running again after hearing his coaches and WR Darvin Adams yell for him to do so. In the replay, it was clear that Dyer had not been tackled and actually had fallen completely on top of the defender without touching the ground. Again, 9 out of 10 times, this doesn’t happen. Instead, he gets stopped there and the Tigers would have to find another way of driving down the field. I’m not saying the Tigers would not have still won the game because they were at the 50 with 2 minutes left, but I am saying that was a fluke play.
While both teams run a spread offense, Oregon’s is 100% gimmick. Auburn does several gimmick plays as well, and got destroyed whenever they did them…the second statute of liberty play-action pass, for example. Whenever Auburn lined up and just played football without all the gimmicky nonsense going on before and during the play, they dominated…in other words, whenever they lined up and played smash mouth football, they were killing the undersized Ducks. The push they were getting in the interior line was monstrous. The Tigers were just tossing lil’ duckies all over the place, but instead of just lining up and hitting them in the mouth Auburn kept attempting spread attacks.
The Auburn spread offense is nothing like the Ducks spread. For most of a game, Auburn has either a big TE (Lutz), a big blocking RB (Fannin), or a FB (Smith) to help block…essentially, the FB or TE give the Tigers a sixth man on the line. The Ducks only had five on the line with no TE or FB…unless you consider someone as small as Kenjon Barner a FB…I do not. Auburn's offense involves more north and south, downhill running. The Ducks offense has a lot of plays that begin lateral. Against easy LAC ONE BCS title conference opponents, these plays lead to huge gains...but not against Auburn.
Coaching
Chip Kelly was clearly out coached. Auburn’s D dominated his supposedly genius offense. This is simple. Chizik was a Defensive Coordinator before becoming Head Coach and Kelly was Offensive Coordinator before becoming the Head Coach at Oregon. Chizik's Tigers Defense was Better than Kelly's Ducks Offense. It was, in part, due to his stubbornness and refusing to accept facts that the Ducks kept trying to run the football on the SEC’s #1 rush defense…a fact alone that should have caused the Ducks to have a different game plan. LaMichael James may have ran wild against undersized and usually slower defenses, but he was not going to be able to do the same against an SEC defense that was just as fast but 10 times the size the Ducks had been used to facing. It just wasn’t going to happen. The Ducks defense actually did a good job stopping Auburn’s spread attack. However, the Ducks were undersized along the line allowing the Tigers to get a lot of push for the running attack between the tackles. The Ducks were not prepared for Auburn's D-Line and were pushed around for 254 yards rushing! And That's Why Auburn Won! Period!
Special Teams
The Ducks only had 1 kick and punt return yards all game. Statistically, they led the nation in punt and kick returns. It is actually one of their major advantages in most games. But not against the Tigers who played both fast and disciplined. By doing so, they kept contain and the Ducks return men were never able to make anything happen. Poor punting by the Ducks together with their inability to generate a return game, led to Auburn winning the battle for field position.
In one play, typical to Duck-Style football, Kelly decided to get cute and attempt a reverse on a kick-off return. The Tigers nearly caused a Duck turnover when they were attempting to execute. Though they were not able to get the ball back, the Tigers forced the Ducks to start inside their own 10 yard line.
The Ducks FG kicker scored the first three points of the game, but never attempted another field goal. On one occasion, Kelly chose to go for it 4 and goal in the late 3rd quarter instead of getting the points. The Auburn D-Line stuffed an attempted dive by Barnor.
Wes Byrum was two for two on FG and kicked the game winner with only two seconds left on the clock. Coach Chizik also chose to go for it on a 4th down instead of kicking a field goal inside the redzone, and it ended in similar fashion...Cam Newton's pass to FB Eric Smith was short, but catchable, and dropped by Smith.
Quarterbacks
Both QB’s had bad games, but Oregon’s Darron Thomas was a little worse. I don’t care how many yards either had throwing. If you watched the game, then you know they were both off. Cam Newton had an interception, a fumble, and made two poor throws that if thrown correctly would have led to touchdowns. He also only had 64 yards rushing. Thomas, on the other hand, was just off all game. He had 2 balls intercepted, but it should have been 4. He was lucky Auburn defenders were unable to hang onto the ball on 2 occasions when it hit them in their hands. Thomas, on numerous occasions, also missed WR’s on easy throws and finished with –6 yards rushing.
Newton was also injured his back, which was evident throughout the second half. He has made a name for himself for being a bruising quarterback that runs over opposing defenses. This was not the case in this game. On numerous plays, Cam chose to slide instead of pound for a few more yards. In one play, he slid a yard short of a 1st down, requiring a 3rd and 1 converted by Mike Dyer. It was definitely not the Cam we had seen all season.
I say Cam had a slightly better game than Thomas because he blew in the 2nd quarter and 1st drive of the 3rd quarter. He racked up 19 and over 250 yards mainly through the air, but also some yards were gained on the ground. During this period he was outstanding and played like the Heisman Trophy Winner. Thomas just never hit stride and was inconsistent all game. He'd make a great throw, but then have a terrible miss on the next. The only word to describe his performance is off. It seemed the Auburn D-Line got in his head.
Running Backs
The Statistics speak for themselves:
Oregon RB’s:
1. LaMichael James: 13 rushing attempts for only 49 yards and 0 TD’s
2. Kenjon Barner: 11 rushing attempts for only 32 yards and 0 TD’s
3. Darron Thomas: 8 rushing attempts for –6 yards and 0 TD’s
Auburn RB’s:
1. Mike Dyer: 22 rushing attempts for 143 yards and 0 TD’s
2. Cameron Newton: 22 rushing attempts for 64 yards and 0 TD’s
3. Onterio McCalebb: 6 rushing attempts for 47 yards and 0 TD’s
Total Rushing:
Auburn: 50 rushing attempts for 254 yards and a 5.1 yards average per carry
Oregon: 32 rushing attempts for 75 yards and a 2.3 yards average per carry
Defensive Front Seven
Oregon’s run game was completely shut down by Auburn’s defense. They couldn’t do anything against Auburn’s front seven. Auburn's line was in the Ducks backfield all game disrupting the rhythm of the "unstoppable" Ducks Offense. It was very clear during the game, the Ducks were unprepared for Auburn’s D-Line. Whether it was Carter, Fairley, Goggins, Blanc, Lemonier, Whitikar, or Clayton, somebody seemed to be in Thomas' face.
There were times it seemed as though Nick Fairley, the Lombardi Award winning DT, was completely unblocked. At other times, he collapsed their entire offensive line leading to others making the plays...the safety, for example, was created by Fairley knocking two men over allowing Blanc to tackle James in the endzone. Again, this has to be a major coaching flaw in the Kelly's gameplan. It is absolutely absurd to let a BEAST like Fairley have free shots all game at your QB, and that's what happened all game long. Either the line was constantly missing assignments or Fairley's technique is FAR SUPERIOR.
