Guerry Clegg: Mixed bag of answers for Auburn
Auburn carried several questions into Saturday night's game against Mississippi State. Among them:
Will starting redshirt freshman quarterback Sean White get the offense going?
Can the defense figure out how to slow down, let alone stop, anyone?
And, perhaps the most urgent question of all had nothing to do with lineup changes, schemes or coaches.
Do these Tigers have
heart?
The answers were mixed in the Tigers' 17-9 loss to the Bulldogs.
"Our kids competed and fought their butts off," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I will tell you this team is going to get better and they will fight."
White showed promise in his college debut. Yes, he could have played better. He threw a costly interception and missed a few open receivers. But he also could have had a little better luck.
White didn't lead the Tigers to the end zone. But he did move the team at times. His first possession was impressive until he was intercepted by Will Redmond at the State 2-yard line. He took the Tigers back down inside the 1, but a bad snap on third down forced the Tigers to attempt a field goal, which Daniel Carlson missed.
NFL analyst Trent Dilfer has raved about White's ability. Dilfer serves as head coach of the Elite 11 quarterback camp. White was named MVP of the camp in 2013 among a group that included Texas A&M's Kyle Allen and Clemson's Deshaun Watson
This was Dilfer's assessment two years ago:
"His accurate isn't just accurate. It's exact. It's an NFL type of ball. I'm stealing this from Steve Young, but he has an artistic ball. He paints a picture with his ball."
Facing their second Heisman Trophy contender in as many games, the defense made significant improvement. A week earlier, the Tigers couldn't slow down LSU's Leonard Fournette. This time, they were facing Dak Prescott, arguably the best quarterback in the SEC.
They gave up a 79-yard touchdown drive on State's first possession after Redmond's interception. After that score, the Tigers held the Bulldogs to just 250 yards the rest of the game.
Most importantly, the Tigers did show heart. That may be the reassuring development of the night.
It wasn't just fans and media who never played on a high level asking that question. It was being asked by many who played the game and study it. SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears, a former LSU and NFL player, was a guest on ESPN Radio's Bomani Jones show. Spears had this assessment of the Tigers after they were run over by Fournette.
"At times it looked like they didn't want to hit nobody. At times, it looked like they saw Leonard coming through the hole and they were like, 'Look, I'm going to make a business decision and not cut my career short trying to tackle this guy. I saw fear, and it's hard for me to say that about football players, but in some of these players, man, I just saw guys not really wanting to take part in tackling the guy."
Even Mr. Nice Guy, Tim Tebow, questioned Auburn.
"You have to play with heart. Heart doesn't require talent. Heart is a choice."
After Mississippi State went up 14-0 in the second quarter, it looked like the Tigers could be headed for another embarrassing loss. Instead, they kept grinding all the way down to their last possession.
Auburn outgained State in total offense 389 yards to 326. And this was a Mississippi State team that came within a missed field goal of beating LSU.
A moral victory? No. Simply being competitive isn't enough in the SEC. But it is at least a step forward.
With two division losses already, Auburn's chances of winning the West are virtually nil. But if they play with this effort the rest of the season, they have a chance to salvage a respectable season.
"You can see we've got a bunch of young guys," said Malzahn, "and we're going to get better."
-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com
This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Mixed bag of answers for Auburn ."