War Eagle Extra

1. Yes, that game was reason for concern. Florida Atlantic wasn’t just bad. It was among the worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, judging by its first two games. Florida and Michigan State held the Owls to 185 yards and three points. FAU blew by those numbers in four quarters against Auburn. You could argue that the Owls had the benefit of a bye week to iron out some problems, which no doubt contributed to them looking much more competent on offense than the numbers suggest. But it was a listless effort for Auburn, which out-gained FAU only 315 to 307. Regardless of how much game-planning the Tigers did for this game — and from the sounds of it, it wasn’t much — the sheer talent disparity should have made the outcome much more lopsided. It’s dangerous to read too much into one game, particularly one where it was clear Auburn played down to its competition level, but head coach Gene Chizik talked about playing angry after last week’s loss, promising that the Tigers would respond. If that was all they could muster, it was pretty disappointing.

2. What happened to all the carries the coaches were going to give to Mike Dyer? We heard all week that Dyer would get more carries, something I found hard to believe considering the opponent and the importance of having him completely fresh and healthy heading into SEC play. But with the offense sputtering and the game’s outcome still in question in the third quarter, Auburn still didn’t feed him the ball often. Dyer ran 14 times (two fewer carries than last week) for 68 yards. Perhaps you can attribute that to the level of competition, perhaps to the low number of plays the Tigers ran (only 62). But it was hardly the workhorse day everyone expected. I’d expect him to get carries aplenty against South Carolina next week. Anything under 25 would make me scratch my head as I’m sure many Auburn fans are doing right now.

3. If the pass protection doesn’t improve, I don’t know how Barrett Trotter is going to hold up. Trotter took some shots again Saturday. Some were a result of pass protection breaking down, some because he held the ball too long, some because he was trying to get extra yards and doesn’t possess Cam Newton-like running skills. Regardless, he had FAU defenders breathing down his neck all night (three sacks, 12 quarterback hurries). That’s no way for a quarterback to survive and no way for one to operate in Gus Malzahn‘s offense, which is built around timing. Anything that disrupts that throws things off. “A lot of times I felt like Barrett was running for his life tonight,” Chizik said. Trotter finished 16-for-28 for 178 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. A lot of his completions were on screens (which weren’t overly effective). I’ve seen a lot of fans clamoring for a change at quarterback, but I don’t think all that ails the Auburn offense is Trotter’s fault. He made one bad decision on the pick right off the bat. After that, he was adequate, especially given the pressure. It’s not as though Auburn’s other options are anywhere near ready. Kiehl Frazier has thrown one pass. Clint Moseley hasn’t gotten on the field has thrown one pass. It’s Trotter’s show, like it or not.

4. Auburn’s coaches can say the defense showed improvement, but do you really believe them? Here’s what I look at when judging this one: Two weeks ago against Michigan State, Florida Atlantic had one first down and 48 total yards. Saturday against Auburn, it had 20 first downs and 317 yards. Hardly a stalwart performance by Ted Roof‘s crew. Yes, things got a little better in the second half. Auburn started forcing some turnovers that turned the tide of the game. Jermaine Whitehead‘s was a pretty pick-six, the kind of momentum-turning play that this team has lacked the first few weeks (Demetruce McNeal‘s interception for a TD against MSU notwithstanding). But the numbers still weren’t great. The Tigers had one sack (I know, I know, not the end-all stat), but only six quarterback hurries, half as many as FAU. The Owls, who had converted 2 of 23 third downs entering the game, were 6 of 14 Saturday. That’s not great, and certainly was an improvement from how Auburn had fared the first three weeks, but how do you judge that coming against an offense that had been horrid up to this point? I think getting Corey Lemonier going (6 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack) will be big for this defense and the tackling issues were clearly not as bad as in previous weeks, but I’m not sure the strides the coaches say the unit took as a whole are that substantial.

5. The next four weeks won’t be pretty. I’m terrible at predictions, which I’m sure plenty of folks will tell me in the comments section below, but a stretch that includes games at South Carolina, at Arkansas, at home against Florida and at LSU is going to be extremely tough for this team. Going 1-3 might be considered a success, given the level of competition.If Auburn plays like it did Saturday, it will not win any of these games. Chizik and Co. have surprised before. I didn’t think they’d play as well as they did against Mississippi State (in one of those bad predictions, I picked the Bulldogs to win by 10), but this stretch will be the hardest of the season for Auburn, which is not necessarily peaking right now. Perhaps the Tigers were simply not motivated for this game. Perhaps the coaches didn’t put a whole lot of time into game-planning for the Owls, instead focusing on how to fix their own problems. That might be true, but Auburn didn’t look like a team that could easily put away one of the lower-tiered teams in the Sun Belt. It doesn’t bode well with four games coming up, three on the road, against teams in the upper half of the SEC. We shall see.

What’s next? On the road to Columbia, S.C., to take on South Carolina (4-0) next Saturday, either at noon ET (ESPN) or 3:30 (CBS).