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Auburn Football: A Quick Look Back at the Regular Season
Oct 29, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Auburn Tigers players celebrate with fans after the game against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Auburn won 40-29. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Here we go back and take a look at the 2016 Auburn football regular season, and how the Tigers rose and fell along the way.
Auburn football certainly gave its fans a roller coaster season by starting off slow, peaking in the middle, and then hanging on down the stretch.
Coming into the season there weren’t people that thought Auburn football had any chance to compete in the SEC this season.
Gus Malzahn was on the hot seat, and it became pretty clear that he needed to win at least eight games to save his job.
The team had lost three running backs from the previous season, including Jovon Robinson at the beginning of fall camp as he was supposed to be the leader on offense for Auburn football this year.
Quarterback was still up in the air going into the season, and even into the first game.
So let’s take a look at what conspired from each game this season.
Clemson: Gus Malzahn uses three quarterbacks in the first 15 snaps and continues to call a horrible game offensively. The defense shows it’s a force to be reckoned with and keeps Auburn in the game until the end.
Arkansas State: The Tigers come back home and give fans optimism after running all over the Red Wolves and putting up 51 points. After not getting a single carry again Clemson, Kamryn Pettway breaks onto the scene.
Texas A&M: More of the same from the Clemson game as the offensive play calling made Auburn fans all over the world vomit. The lack of momentum on offense eventually led to the defense wearing down and allowing the Aggies to pull away late, but you never felt like we were in this one.
Oct 29, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Kamryn Pettway (36) carries the ball to score a touchdown during the first quarter of the game against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
LSU: Both coaches’ jobs were on the line going into this one. It was a defensive struggle throughout the game, but the leg of Daniel Carlson and horrible clock management by Les Miles helped Auburn football survive. However, Miles did not survive.
UL Monroe: Gus Malzahn made the best decision of the year and turned play-calling duties over the Rhett Lashlee. We once again embarrassed a Sun Belt team cruising to 58-7 win.
Mississippi State: The Tigers hit the road for the first time all season, and after Johnson left the game early with an injury, Pettway took over. He ran the ball 39 times for 171 yards in a 38-14 blowout. Looking back, you wish he wouldn’t have gotten overworked in this game.
Arkansas: Same can be said for this game where Pettway received 27 carries for 192 yards in a 56-3 blowout. The defense was absolutely relenteless in this game holding what was a powerful Arkansas offense to just 215 total yards.
Ole Miss: This was the most pivotal game of the season at the time as Auburn went into Oxford and came from behind in the fourth quarter to win 40-29 thanks to four Daniel Carlson field goals. Pettway once again received a heavy workload carrying the ball 30 times for 236 yards.
Vanderbilt: If you’re keeping up, that’s 96 carries for Pettway in the last three games. So here is where things come off the rails. Sean White surprisingly doesn’t start the game because of injury, and Auburn’s offense struggles and trails at halftime. White comes in after halftime and leads Auburn to a 23-16 win. However, Pettway receives another 25 carries in this game, and on the 25th one he pulls up lame as he’s heading towards the end zone. We essentially lost our quarterback and starting running back trying to beat Vanderbilt at home.
Nov 12, 2016; Athens, GA, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Sean White (13) is sacked by Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Reggie Carter (45) during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Auburn 13-7. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
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Georgia: Even after the Vanderbilt game, Auburn controlled its own destiny in the SEC, and possibly for the College Football Playoffs. But then came the worst game I can remember since 3-2 against Mississippi State – but at least we won that game. The injuries caught up to Auburn as the offense couldn’t move the ball at all – literally, no first downs in the second half. A pick-six gave the Bulldogs the lead and eventually the win, which pretty much ended Auburn’s season.
Alabama A&M: I’m not going to lie, I didn’t even watch this game. First of all I was disgusted after the Georgia game, and there is nothing to gain from playing a team like Alabama A&M.
Alabama: The defense came out and played fantastic in the first half, keeping Auburn football in the game through halftime. But once again, the offense’s inability to sustain drives wore down the Tigers’ defense, which eventually collapsed after being on the field for over 40 minutes.
All-in-all, you have to be happy with an 8-win season and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. If you take off your blinders though, you’ll realize it was an unusual down year in the SEC and Auburn fell into the Sugar Bowl.
Still, if healthy I think Auburn football was the second best team in the SEC this year.
Those last three SEC games were very frustrating, and thus the joy of the season was tainted for me a little bit, but looking back it really was a great year for Auburn football, and one that we can hopefully build upon.
War Eagle!
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