Off the field, it would be harder to imagine a bigger culture clash than Auburn vs. Cal.
We're looking at small town conservative Alabama meeting big city “Berzerkely,” the spiritual home of the 1960s student protest movement and general West Coast weirdness for decades since.
How odd then that when this long-planned series finally got underway on Cal’s venerable (and decrepit) home field that the game itself was much more of a throwback to earlier decades of football than today’s offensive pinball games.
I think it’s safe to say that absolutely nobody expected a low-scoring defensive duel. When the game was mentioned at all in the sports press leading up to (late) Saturday night, the references were mostly variations on, “Bet the over.”
That prediction, like the scoring attacks of both teams, didn’t work out so well. Offensive frustration was almost as widespread in Memorial Stadium as the omnipresent stench of weed.
Very, very little worked on offense for Auburn the majority of the game, and even less made sense.
The passing game was way out of sync, and the running game couldn’t get in a groove. Protection from the OL was spotty and on the rare occasions when the receivers could get open, Payton Thorne either didn’t see them or couldn’t get the ball off in time. If the game plan made any sense, it wasn’t apparent from the crowded visitors’ section.
And of course, turnovers. So. Many. Turnovers.
Auburn had exactly one extended scoring drive. Fortunately for the Tigers and their hopes of finally getting a win in the road portion of an out-of-conference series (AU’s last non-SEC win on the road in what we won’t be calling the Power 5 after this season came in 2014 against Kansas State), one was enough.
Barely.
The contrast between a generally sharp Cal offense and whatever Auburn was doing for most of the game was vivid.
Cal had reasonable success moving the ball early, assisted by their guests’ gracious turnovers, but the Bears really caught fire in the middle of the second quarter when previously-injured quarterback Sam Jackson V (insert your own Pulp Fiction jokes here) took over.
The combination of Jackson and standout running back Jaydn Ott blazed down the field on Jackson’s first set of snaps for what turned out to be Cal’s only touchdown. Fortunately for Auburn, Cal elected to join the Tigers in offensive buffoonery after that, committing two turnovers of their own to kill drives before halftime.
Two other lineup changes were particularly important for the win. Cal took a 10-7 lead and the second half kickoff. and proceeded to eat most of the third quarter with their possessions. Things weren’t looking good for Auburn more than once, with the defense getting gassed and backed up on their own side of the field.
On critical downs, AU defensive coordinator Ron Roberts platooned in a backup defensive front, which proceeded to pressure Cal into giving over the ball via turnover on downs or missed kicks.
The strategic substitution was reminiscent of Auburn’s dominant 1980s defenses under Wayne Hall and their more recent DL cousins led by Hall’s former player Rodney Garner. It probably saved the game for the Tigers.
The second was less planned, but after Cal lost Ott to injury on the Bears’ next possession, its offense was never as effective again.
If Ott and Jackson had been able to keep up their one-two punch I suspect Cal would not have had to fall back on the kicking of Michael “Bad” Luckhurst (who despite rumors is not in fact a transfer from Alabama), and likely would have found the end zone in the second half.
The late game-winning drive, capped by a where-has-that-been Payton Thorne to Rivaldo Fairweather corner fade was right out of Auburn’s Comeback Kids history, but boy was it hard to get there. Auburn did so many dumb things in this game. Four turnovers. Critical penalties. Short kickoff returns when fair catches would have been fine.
It wouldn’t have been enough — not nearly enough — had the Tiger defense not found a way to keep Cal from scoring on three of the Bears’ four red zone possessions, the real difference in the game.
Usually after a cupcake warmup and a follow-up “real” game, you can get a feel for where a team might be heading. At the moment, I couldn’t begin to guess, and next week’s light snack against Samford won’t help any.
The only things I do think you can take away with any confidence are that that Auburn looks to be more effective against the run on defense than anyone (including their own coaches) expected, and having fought back for a late go-ahead score on the road can’t hurt the offense any.
Other than that, your guess is at least as good as mine, and probably better. A very ugly win in a very weird place, but as certain other members of the SEC West could tell you today, it does beat the alternative.
