Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
After Math: Auburn
Sep 19, 2016 | Football
Each Monday, 12th Man Productions' Will Johnson will go inside the numbers of the previous game with "After Math".
Once the War Eagle soars through Jordan-Hare Stadium, and the Auburn faithful is whipped into a frenzy, the math flies out the window.
It's then you know you're in for a full-on SEC slugfest that can only leave one team standing.
When it was over, Myles Garrett summed it up well.
"It was about us," he stated from the bench, too exhausted to stand. "(It was) about finding the person inside of us, the person in the mirror. You have to keep going, keep fighting if you're tired. Somebody was going to give. That wasn't us."
Always good with words, Garrett gave the perfect explanation to an SEC grudge match. After another night of creating havoc in the backfield, he now has 4 tackles for lost yardage and 4 QB hurries in the two games vs. Power 5 opponents (UCLA and Auburn). His effect on opposing offenses goes beyond numbers.
Perhaps that was evident in the Auburn game. The Tigers love to use play action to hit the home run. Countless times under Gus Malzahn, Auburn has fooled opponents while making the long strike look easy.
"Every week you look up, and they've got a guy running wide open down the field," said head coach Kevin Sumlin.
The shell game Auburn plays takes time in the backfield. The Aggie front doesn't allow for a lot of it. But when asked if that was the reason the Tigers didn't try the play-action deep ball much on Saturday, Sumlin offered a different answer.
"You can discourage that," Sumlin started. "The couple times they did it we covered it."
The coach gave much credit to safeties Armani Watts and Justin Evans, who are playing lights-out football.
"After all the motions and play-fakes, I thought that took some real discipline from some veteran guys in the back end."
Very true, but the front line certainly did their part in not allowing Auburn the time to play action and find receivers downfield. This continues to be a menacing group. A&M registered 13 tackles for lost yardage Saturday, allowing only 4. Texas A&M is one of only seven teams nationally currently averaging 10 or more TFLs per game.
Offensively, there is more deception in the numbers.
Trevor Knight ended the evening 20-of-40 passing, but he threw several good balls that didn't result in completions. A few were dropped, a few more Auburn contested heavily. One beautiful throw resulted in a brilliant catch by Ricky Seals-Jones that was inches from being a touchdown. But Seals-Jones came down with a foot just barely out of bounds, negating the score.
It was that kind of night, but the Aggie QB performed better than what an average completion percentage suggests.
"He was really good early," said Sumlin. "For him to play the way he did really gave us a chance to get ahead."
Excellent point. The opponent scored first (a rarity in the Sumlin era). Once Auburn went up 7-0, Knight responded by hitting on 8 of his next 11 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown. The stretch helped A&M gain a 10-7 advantage, settle in and ease the environment on the Plains.
What does it all add up to?
When crunching the numbers, not enough. Because a game inside Jordan-Hare between two SEC West opponents goes beyond.
The only way out of a harsh, rugged placed like the Plains of Auburn is straight ahead. A talented team lined up across from the Aggies, and a hostile environment surrounded them. They simply focused on moving forward. They just played, and went on to the next snap of the ball.
"Watching the video, we played hard, with great efforts and really fast," said Sumlin. "I thought our older and experienced guys showed great leadership."
They put the focus forward, and walked out of Jordan-Hare still standing tall.
But, it's the SEC. The real challenge is doing it again. Then again. Then again.
This conference tests a team all season, not just in Week 3.
Texas A&M will have to be every bit as sharp for the Razorbacks this weekend. They'll have to focus once more on moving forward.
In this league, it's the only way out.
Players Mentioned
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