CAN AUBURN'S "D" DO ENOUGH, LIKE 2nd HALF VS. CRIMSON TIDE?

Following Auburn's torrid comeback from a 24-point deficit at Alabama last Friday, there is no doubt the Tigers' offense is national championship-worthy. But the question throughout all of the 2010 season has been can Auburn's defense hold up enough to give their offense a chance to win it.
As much as the huge comeback win over Alabama was attributed to the offense putting up 28 points to 'Bama's 3, the defense showed up in the second half, too.
Nick Fairley (#90 above) is a bona fide All-America candidate at defensive tackle. He disrupted things in the middle and ended the day posting two solo sacks and two tackles for loss, for a total of minus-30 yards (15 via sack, 15 via TFLs). The defensive front, which includes the linebackers, too, can be solid overall and they can also pressure the passer. Pass coverage has been the Tigers Achilles Heel, and that's where Alabama made the most of their opportunities in the first half. Fortunately for Auburn, the defense as a whole, and the pass defense in particular, pulled it together in the second half.
Alabama's passing game put up astronomical numbers in the first half en route to a 24-0 lead. QB Greg McElroy was 19 out of 23 for 335 yards. That's a great GAME for most people. In order to do that someone had to catch those passes. All-America WR Julio Jones was outrageous--seven receptions for 174 yards--again, a tremendous game total any receiver would be proud to have. RB Mark Ingram contributed big time in that first half with 91 receiving yards. Despite all of that, Auburn did manage to sack McElroy twice. But, the second half was as different as night and day.
If the first half was a dark time for Auburn's "D", the second half was bright sunshine. The Tigers limited to Alabama to just 67 total yards of offense in the second half compared 379 in the first. The Tide only clicked on 8 of 18 passing for a measly 42 yards in the second half and Auburn's defense came up with three more sacks of Alabama QBs. One was quite significant; McElroy, the outstanding senior, team leader, suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder when he was driven into the ground on a sack late in the fourth quarter. Jones was not blanked in the receiving department in the second half, but his three catches were for only 25 yards.
Cam Newton and the rest of the Auburn offense is exciting to watch and very explosive, but there has not been a team who has won the national championship with a shaky defense. The Tigers are yielding about 25 points per game and 363 yards of total offense (108 rush & 255 pass). That's good enough to beat most people given Auburn's offense. They are not a big INT defense; in fact, Auburn has only picked off opposing QBs eight times out of 441 attempts. As mentioned before, they can get after the QB a fair amount--30 sacks on the year. The key in the very near future will be for Auburn's "D" to play with the sense of urgency, tenacity, and execution they did the last 30 minutes against Alabama.
If Auburn gets past South Carolina in the SEC title game this Saturday, and Oregon takes care of business vs. rival Oregon State in their "Civil War", the bottom line is-- will the Tiger defense be good enough against the Ducks? If both teams hold form, we will have to wait until Jan. 10th to find out. That gives Auburn's defense a good month to get ready for Oregon's electric, scoring machine of an offense...but, it also gives the Ducks time to come up with a couple of new wrinkles, too.

SEC EAST TITLE AT STAKE SATURDAY IN THE SWAMP

As a former Florida quarterback, Heisman Trophy Award winner, and national champion head coach of the Gators, Steve Spurrier has his name among those in the ring of honor in "The Swamp", Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.  But, for about three hours this Saturday night Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks will be the opponent as 90,000-plus Florida fans yell, cheer and scream for their Gators to beat Spurrier and, thus, capture the SEC eastern division crown.  The winner of this battle will go on to play for the SEC championship in Atlanta the first week of December.  If nothing changes between now and then Auburn would be the opposition, as they currently sit atop the western division.

As much as it makes for endless amounts of mediocre copy for a lot of writers this game isn't about Steve Spurrier and it's not about Gator Coach Urban Meyer.  But, IT IS all about the players on both teams who have prepared since last winter's off-season training to play for a shot at the SEC title.

 Florida uncharacteristically lost three games in a row before getting a bye week and then righting the ship to beat Georgia in overtime two weeks ago and Vanderbilt in a glorified scrimmage last week.  South Carolina is trying to avert another November swoon under Spurrier.  Last week they were out-played from the opening kickoff and rolled over by Arkansas, 41-20, at home.  They also stumbled a few weeks ago against a mediocre Kentucky team, the very next week after they had upset then #1-ranked Alabama! 

Florida's defense, although not as physically dominating as past editions, is still near the top of SEC defensive categories thanks to their overall athletic ability and speed to chase down opposing ball carriers.  They started the first half of the year gathering a bushel full of turnovers before slowing down slightly in that department, but they are very capable of taking the ball away, and that will be critical to help set up the Gator offense with good field position.  Florida's offense has gone through a re-birth, or maybe just a birth.  Despite chalking up four straight wins to start the year the Gator offense never looked smooth.  It sputtered along trying to find an identity in a world without Tim Tebow.  After losses to heavyweights Alabama and LSU, followed by a 10-7 punch in the gut loss to Miss. St. in Gainesville, it was back to the drawing board for Florida during a bye week.  The Gators rolled out an offense that featured three potential QBs all in the game at the same time, keeping defensive coaches guessing as to who would take the snap from center.  If it was John Brantley, the regular starter, chances are he would not run the ball, but he was a threat to pass or hand off.  If it was Trey Burton, there was slim chance of pass, but a heavy tendency for him to run the ball.  Then, add in Jordan Reed, a former QB-turned TE-turned part-time QB.  He did both incredibly well last week vs. Vandy, thus further muddying the waters for the opponent's defensive game plan.  If you haven't seen it, all three possible QBs are in the game and they shift in and out of the QB position just prior to the snap from center.  As gimmicky as it seems, it has worked, and that's all that matters when you are expected to compete for championships at Florida.

South Carolina was motoring along this year because Spurrier added a legitimate run threat in true freshman Marcus Lattimore.  That was exactly what the Gamecocks needed to keep people from gearing up to stop Spurrier's passing game.  With the threat of run, the ability to play-action off of that, and still use "the old ball coach's" deep passing playbook the Gamecocks had it rolling. The very gifted young Lattimore has been dinged up a bit lately and was held to less than 50 yards a week ago by Arkansas.  That puts more pressure on SC QB Stephen Garcia.  Garcia has turned it around this year by reducing his turnovers which used to cause Spurrier to fling his visor to the ground way too often.  Alshon Jeffery is an outstanding talent at wide receiver and a tough match-up for the Gator secondary.  The SC offensive tackles will have their hands full trying to handle Florida's pass rush, so they need to be able to create some running lanes to off-set that situation.

The Gamecocks are struggling in the defensive secondary.  Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson tried to simplify things a bit for Arkansas due to having to play some inexperienced people back there, but they still had issues against such a strong passing attack from Ryan Mallett and his Razorback crew.  Florida doesn't have the overall pass attack to worry about like Arkansas, but the multiple quarterback system, threat of option, and QBs who can both run and pass could cause the Gamecock defense to suffer breakdowns simply due to getting the right calls made, communicating it before the snap, then having to adjust on the fly.

This has the makings of an outstanding game and everyone can see it--ESPN 7:15 EST Saturday night.  If I were a betting man, and I am not, I have to go with the Gators, especially at home.  Enjoy the game.