Auburn’s offense remains ugly after coordinator fired
Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008
AUBURN, Ala. — There was no offensive epiphany for the Auburn Tigers on Saturday night.
The firing of their offensive coordinator, Tony Franklin, three days earlier, didn’t help. Inserting Kodi Burns back into the starting lineup at quarterback made no difference.
Right now, Auburn appears to be a bad offensive team, and Arkansas took full advantage to win its first SEC game, 25-22, at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn had 193 yards of total offense and didn’t score an offensive point without significant help from the Razorbacks.
The Tigers entered the game averaging 18. 7 points per game, third-worst in the SEC. The 22 points scored is misleading — the longest scoring drive Auburn put together against Arkansas was 25 yards.
“Offensively, we just weren’t consistent,” Burns said. “We have to start capitalizing on drives. We’re just average. Going threeand-out and not being consistent makes us an average team. This is not Auburn.”
Burns, the former Fort Smith Northside star, completed only seven passes, had two key interceptions and couldn’t move the ball 5 yards in four plays when the Tigers needed a late touchdown.
Burns started the first game of the season, but none after until Saturday. He got his chance when Franklin was fired. It’s uncertain if Burns will get another.
Chris Todd, who started the previous five games for Auburn, took some snaps away from Burns in the second half, but Tigers Coach Tommy Tuberville was not pleased with either player after the game.
“We really are going to look at it hard,” Tuberville said of the quarterback situation. “We’ll have a chance to look at several difference scenarios. We have to be able to have consistent drives. We’re looking for something right now. You’ve got to have someone throw it downfield.”
When asked if Tuberville meant he would look at a third quarterback option, Tuberville answered affirmatively.
“We’re going to have to make a lot of changes on offense to move the ball,” he said.
Moving the ball was a major problem Saturday.
Auburn got a kickoff return for a touchdown and then scored 13 points off of Arkansas turnovers when the Tigers only moved the ball 21 yards. On two of the scoring drives, both of which ended in field goals, Auburn moved a combined minus-3 yards. The other two points came on a selfinflicted Arkansas safety.
Burns finished 7 for 18 for 119 yards and 2 interceptions, and Todd was 3 for 10 with an interception and took 3 sacks.
“It’s frustrating to me,” Auburn receiver Rod Smith said. “A quarterback will come in and do good, and the next series, we go three-and-out. But it’s not just them. It’s all of us.”
Burns, who was listed on the pregame depth chart as the backup, trotted out to the field for the game’s first series to a loud cheer. It was the last one of the half he would receive.
Burns made some news earlier in the week when he was openly critical of his team’s play. He did little to help the Tigers’ woes, however.
The Tigers had three first downs in the first half, and Burns was replaced with Todd — to a cheering crowd — with 45 seconds left in the half.
The loudest boos came at the end of the third quarter when Todd, pressured by Arkansas tackle Malcolm Sheppard, was intercepted by Adrian Davis at the Auburn 23-yard line. The play led to an Arkansas field goal.
“They forced us to throw the ball, and we completed 10 passes,” Tuberville said. “We have to take advantage of what they give us, and we didn’t do it. They forced us to throw it, and we couldn’t convert.”
Despite all the problems throughout the game, Burns had a chance to redeem himself late in the game.
With Auburn trailing 25-20, Burns led the Tigers 76 yards to the Arkansas 5-yard line. Every one of the 12 plays was either a Burns pass or run, and the crowd was alive as he lined up under center on first-and-goal from the 5.
The next four plays gained 1 yard; three incompletions and a Burns run that got stuffed.
“We had some great opportunities to put them out right there, to win the game.” Burns said. “The throw-and-catch didn’t work out.”
Arkansas played nine men in the box and left the fade route open for Burns. Both his fade passes went out of bounds.
“We had to take advantage of what they were giving us,” Tuberville said, defending the play-calling. “They were playing inside and giving us the fade routes. We were very close.”
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