Tag: Tigers Football

Auburn could be the SEC West’s “surprise team” in 2022

A college football expert says that Auburn is going to surprise some people this fall.

Following Auburn Football’s disappointing end to the 2021 season, and the failed coup to remove head coach [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag] from his job during the early stages of the offseason, it appears that many national media outlets are writing off the 2022 Auburn Tigers before the season has even begun.

There is one exception, however.

College Football expert Phil Steele recently joined the Locked On SEC podcast to share his outlook on all things in the conference, from new coaches to predicted division winners. Among the topics discussed with host Chris Gordy was surprise teams in the SEC. His pick for the west? Auburn.

“I think Auburn this year has a much higher buy-in level than they did last year and they’ve got talent,” Steele said. “I think Auburn is going to surprise some people.”

Auburn looks to rebound following a 6-7 record in 2021, a season where they dropped their final five games after upsetting No. 10 Ole Miss on October 30. The Tigers open the 2022 season on Sept. 3 against Mercer at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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New list has Zach Calzada as a “tier 2” quarterback

Zach Calzada led Texas A&M to an upset win over Alabama last season, but can he do bigger things at Auburn?

Although he has not been formally announced as Auburn’s starter at quarterback for the 2022 season, Pro Football Focus believes [autotag]Zach Calzada[/autotag] has been given a strong case to earn that position.

Seth Gazinaa, senior football analyst at Pro Football Focus, recently dropped his list of his favorite Power 5 quarterbacks. He listed Calzada in the same category as Kentucky’s Will Levins, Louisville’s Malik Cunningham, and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler as tier 2 quarterbacks.

Calzada transferred to Auburn after playing in 15 games with 10 starts in three seasons at Texas A&M. He completed 184-of-327 passes in 2021 for 2,185 yards and 17 touchdowns, but is most notably the quarterback that led the Aggies to a 41-38 upset win over Alabama at Kyle Field on October 9.

Gazinaa says that the Alabama win was the game that made him a believer in Calzada.

“Zach Calzada surprised me the most upon rewatch after watching a bit of him in season,” said Gazinna in a tweet. “Was one of the better qbs (sic) from the ‘Bama game on.”

Upon reading Gazinaa’s tweet, the Auburn Observer’s Justin Ferguson broke down Calzada’s stats following the Alabama game and found some amusing numbers.

In last season’s game against his new team, he completed 15-of-29 passes for 192 yards in the Aggies 20-3 win over Auburn in College Station.

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Bryan Harsin is bottom-tier in SEC head coach rankings

Is the “unnatural” fit between Auburn and Bryan Harsin keeping him from succeeding on the Plains?

After going through a rough offseason to this point, which included a supposed plan to remove him from his job, as well as having to hire two different offensive coordinators, it appears that Auburn’s [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag] is not predicted to have a great season in 2022.

On3’s Jesse Simonton recently released his rankings of SEC head coaches from best to worst for the 2022 season, and he has listed Harsin as No. 12 out of 14 coaches, ranking just above Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea.

When explaining his stance on Harsin, Simonton seems to give Harsin the benefit of the doubt, saying that the rocky start to his chapter at Auburn is more of an “Auburn” problem as opposed to a “Harsin” problem.

“Harsin is a solid coach in a sour situation. He is not a good fit at Auburn, and despite surviving a coup this offseason, heā€™s ultimately going to lose that fight ā€” likely sooner than later. The former Boise State head coach doesnā€™t have the recruiting chops compared to the rest of the coaches on this list, and heā€™s also churned through assistants with the Tigers ā€” already on his third offensive coordinator before Year 2.”

Last week, Simonton answered a mailbag question asking if Auburn would be going through another coaching search this offseason. Simonton believes that Harsin’s days are numbered, due to the unnatural fit between Harsin and Auburn, as well as having to face a brutal schedule that involves both Alabama and Georgia.

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On3 ranks Tank Bigsby as a top-10 running back for 2022 season

Bigsby is set to be the anchor of the Auburn offense this season, which has led to high expectations from the national media.

In an offense that will see many changes from the 2021 season, the Auburn Tigers will be relying on running back [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag] to be the anchor.

After leading the team in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns last season, it appears that Bigsby is poised for another great season. The folks at On3 also have high expectations for Bigsby, as they have ranked him as the no. 7 running back on their Impact 300 list.Ā 

On3’s Nikki Chavanelle explains that the Impact 300 list ranks the best players in college football entering the 2022 season, and factors in each player’s NIL value. Here’s why On3 is high on Bigsby heading into the 2022 season:

Tank Bigsby broke 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career last season and will likely do it again for Auburn in 2022. On top of 1,099 rushing yards, he had 10 scores and 184 yards receiving. Bigsbyā€™s NIL value is $546,000 ahead of the 2022 season.

Bigsby is one of five SEC running backs to make the top-10. Those joining Bigsby include Chris Rodriguez of Kentucky, Devon Achane of Texas A&M, and recent transfer Jahmyr Gibbs of Alabama.

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Ed Orgeron and LSU among midseason takeaways that are less than flattering

A couple midseason takeaways that no one wanted to hear.

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The midseason mark is officially here for the LSU Tigers and for most of the college football teams in the FBS. After six games the team sits at 3-3 (1-2) and overall are 8-8 since the beginning of the 2020 season.

The college football staff at ESPN spent some time discussing their midseason takeaways, of course, one topic of conversation being the LSU Tigers. However, when the Tigers came up it was less than flattering for the purple and gold.

The first time they uttered the name LSU it was when discussing the biggest disappointment of the season. Two of the analysts on the panel went with the LSU Tigers and their poor performance over the last 16 games since the title-winning performance.

Chris Low:

LSU has recruited far too well to be staring down the barrel of a second straight non-winning season. The Tigers, ranked No. 16 in the AP preseason poll, are 3-3 and still have to face Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M. The magical 2019 national championship season seems like forever ago, and the real drama now in Baton Rouge is whether Ed Orgeron will make it through the season

Alex Scarborough:

To see LSU the last season and a half is to almost forget what happened in 2019. The team that went undefeated and won a national championship is gone in mind, body and spirit. It has been replaced by a program that’s 8-8 since the start of last season and is still struggling to find its footing. What’s most perplexing is how they’ve lost, no longer able to run the ball effectively or play above-average defense. Who would have ever thought we’d say those two things about LSU? Give Orgeron credit for trying to make a course correction after the train wreck of last season, revamping the coaching staff and hiring two new coordinators, but it doesn’t appear to be working. Now he’s in danger of becoming another Gene Chizik, who led Auburn to the national championship only to be fired a short time later.

The other teams mentioned were the UNC Tar Heels, Clemson Tigers, USC Trojans, and last year’s darling, Iowa State.

Among the other topics of discussion was the favorite coaching storyline, David Hale went with the Ed Orgeron situation brewing down on the Bayou.

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Kirk Herbstreit “didn’t agree with” overturned fumble in Fiesta Bowl

Some believe Ohio State was cheated in the Fiesta Bowl, and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit agrees “the call” shouldn’t have been overturned.

The Ohio State football team lost 29-23 to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl Saturday night (as if we have to remind you). It was brutal, and there were two distinct and impactful moments the officials had a hand in that will forever live in the minds of Ohio State fans.

The first was the Shaun Wade targeting call, taking the team’s third-best cornerback out of the game permanently. That rule in general needs to be changed as Wade clearly wasn’t aiming to put a vicious hit on Trevor Lawrence.

Then, what I’ll just go ahead and dub “the call” happened. While many disagree with the decision to overturn the fumble and ensuing touchdown, the refs left their mark on the game yet again.

It was a brutal reality for Ohio State fans who thought the Buckeyes had wrestled the lead back in the team’s most important game of the season. However, the call was overturned, shocking the world — and maybe the entire Milky Way Galaxy too.

Let’s just say former Ohio State alum and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who keeps his opinions on the Buckeyes extremely fair and neutral, didn’t agree with the call.

Herbstreit, who “didn’t agree with (the call) at all,” knew that just one decision didn’t force the game Clemson’s way. After all, Ohio State’s dynamic offense did settle for three first-half field goals.

The Buckeyes were on the wrong end of those two calls, but they needed to be better. Herbstreit knew that, and Ohio State knows that. Needless to say, it doesn’t make anything better for die-hard Buckeye fans.

Halftime Report: Ohio State dominates Clemson early yet only leads by 2

It felt like the Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the Clemson Tigers, yet they will enter halftime only leading by two points.

It felt like the Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the Clemson Tigers, yet they will enter halftime only leading by two points thanks to a late surge by the ACC Champions.

It isn’t enough to say the first half of the Fiesta Bowl was entertaining. Going up 16-0 to start the half, Ohio State allowed a few huge plays in which it almost lost the lead to end the half.

However, the biggest play of the first half may not have been a scoring play after all, but aĀ judgement call by the officiating crew.

It was Shaun Wade’s ejection for targeting that turned the tide. It was questionable at best as both Chase Young and Wade collapsed on the Clemson quarterback. Trevor Lawrence went down and stayed down in agony, but lowered his head as Wade came in on the tackle.

The first half was ignited by 60-plus yard runs from both Trevor Lawrence and J.K. Dobbins. With Dobbins totaling 142 yards on nine carries, the junior was almost able to take two more to the house yet failed to secure two catches that could have made the gap even larger.

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Overall, the first half was a thriller, yet for Ohio State, it was brutal ending as they almost put the game away. The Tigers clawed back in the game and now we’re sure to have a tight second half.

Time to fight through the adversity.

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Fiesta Bowl tickets for Ohio State vs Clemson are officially sold out

The Fiesta Bowl, one of two College Football Semifinals, will showcase Ohio State vs. Clemson. The matchup is officially sold out..

The Fiesta Bowl, one of two College Football Semifinals, will showcase Ohio State vs. Clemson. And now, the matchup is officially sold out, the Bowl’s Twitter account noted.

The game will be played on December 28, 2019, and kickoff is set for 8 pm EST. The 2 pm tweet came just a few days following the announcement of the matchup.

Two of the three remaining undefeated programs, this will certainly be the more notable of the two semifinal games.

For Ohio State, it’s about re-writing history. The last time these two teams met, Clemson destroyed Ohio State, beating the Buckeyes 31-0. The Buckeyes also lost to the Tigers in the 2014 Orange Bowl 40-35.

A 31-point beatdown is certainly still felt, and a senior like KJ Hill should have a little extra motivation heading into the late-December matchup.

Ohio State, one of the nation’s most prestigious football programs, has created a fanbase that travels well. That said, expect the game, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, to have a good amount of Ohio State and Clemson fans in attendance.

Ohio State Football: Game time, date released for Fiesta Bowl

Ohio State Football, after being relegated to the No. 2 seed despite being undefeated, will play in the Fiesta Bowl. Here’s the start time.

The Fiesta Bowl, which tag teams with the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl as the two College Football Semifinals, will be taking place in Glendale, Arizona. This season, it will be Ohio State and Clemson, two conference champions, battling it out in the hot southwest, but on an air conditioned venue.

Ohio State is coming off a victory over Wisconsin in which they were down 21-7 at the half. They looked flawed, but the Buckeyes still found a way to win the game after finding themselves in the second half, scoring 27 unanswered.

Clemson has just the opposite. The Tigers blew through Virginia. It’s 13-0, but it’s partially because the ACC is such a weak conference that the Tigers were given no respect as a top-two team in the nation.

That said, Ohio State Football, after being relegated to the No. 2 seed despite being undefeated, will play in the Fiesta Bowl. The game, which will take place on December 28, just released its start time.

Let’s hope this game ends better than the last time these two teams met.

WATCH: This SECCG hype video will get your blood boiling

This SEC Championship Game hype video will get your blood boiling!

The Georgia Bulldogs clinched the SEC Championship Game two weeks ago in Auburn and now, it’s finally time for the main event. Georgia and LSU for a spot in the College Football Playoff and bragging rights that will last a lifetime.

In the words of Brent Musberger, here we go!

This epic hype trailer might be the best we’ve ever seen for Georgia football and that’s saying a lot. Just look at how the scenery fits with the music. I mean, wow!

Go Dawgs!