Random-ness

After a pretty good "weekend" of College Football there are some things that have become apparent to me.  For starters there should be no such thing as a Preseason Top 25.  I know this is nothing new, but lets look at this a little.  If you tell me that VT was a Top 10 team and Oregon was a Top 15 team after watching them play….  I would kiss your foot.  It is not possible to be there with no offense.  Just ask Auburn last season.  I know it is only the first week, but come on.  Miami not being in the Top 25 and Iowa being there?  Again… come on.  Hopefully things will work itself out in the polls.

Now to the point of my post and Auburn, everyone is talking about Onterio McCalebb and rightfully so, but how about Fairly?  He as in fact a big stud.  He alone saved us on two LA Tech drives.  Was anyone else surprised at how well he played?  Our defense is going to be fine after a couple more games, but can we get through Miss St and be prepared for West Virginia?  Darren Bates made a few mistakes due to inexperience; Herring played most of the game after practicing only five or six times all summer.  Our linebackers are going to have to get into the flow.  Having no Eltro Freeman, Spencer Pybus, or Nosa Equae can hold you back, but Josh Bynes is a veteran and was out of position a lot, and not one linebacker was able to drop into coverage.  A decent SEC team will expose that quickly.

All the media talk regarding WR was about DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake prior to gameday.  Both looked like rookies in game one.  Routes were not sharp, but I see that turning around.  I am sure they were "wide-eyed" in front of 86 thousand.   Besides, Trooper will not stand for that.   

Speaking of coaches… how about the fire and animation on the sidelines?  I know that we have seen it in the past with Will Muschamp, but I am actually talking about Gene Chizik.  I cannot recall a time when Tommy Tuberville got excited/animated over a play.  He would just casually stroll up the sidelines with a golf clap.  Chizik was quite animated.  I for one thought it was good to see.

Gus Malzahn was another matter all together.  Maybe it was his legendary coffee intake, but all he seemed to do was yell "Run It… Run It, Hurry up… Snap It, Go… Go."  I for one thought that Auburn looked really fast in the first half.  The Tigers did slow it down in the second half and it was obvious.  I am sure that was so that every one was in the correct position.  I cannot wait to see what the offense will look like when Gus gets Auburn on his speed. 

Special Teams…  Auburn needs a punt returner!  Mario Fannin cannot do it.  He looked bad.  Anthony Gulley looked like a freshman and appeared to not be very comfortable at the position either.  Byrum looked good.  His leg looked strong, and his mechanics seemed cleaner.  Durst, was good, but we did not see him much. 

My final take will be on the "wildcat."  Like it or not the "wildcat" is part of college football now.  It seemed like every team used it at some point this weekend.  I like having Kodi at that position, but why in the world does he run to the side that Chris Todd is blocking every time.  I understand that we need both players in the game, especially to keep the "quick to the line" plan of Gus, but I do not like to see Todd blocking.   I know it happened three times, maybe more.  I also though the pass play that Kodi threw was a good play call.  Too bad the pass was badly overthrown. 

War Damn Eagle