Auburn Beats Arkansas State – What They’re Saying

 

Auburn Beats Arkansas State

Auburn beats Arkansas State 38-9 Saturday down in Alabama, keeping the Red Wolves’ offense out of the end zone and gives up only three field goals.

Here is a roundup of what sports writers and analysts had to say about the game.

Below, you will read several observations from the media about Arkansas State’s coaching decision to wear dark, or non-contrasting color uniforms as the road team at Auburn. Traditionally, the visiting team wears white jerseys. The Red Wolves didn’t. A team that doesn’t is subject to an penalty for each half of play they violate the rule.

In case you hear there may have been some confusion or that someone was double-crossed regarding the enforcement of the rule, we want to share the actual rule and requirements for it to be waived.

Jersey Color and Design

ARTICLE 5. a. Players of opposing teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors. Players on the same team shall wear jerseys of the same color and design.

  1. The visiting team shall wear white jerseys; however, the home team may wear white jerseys if the teams have agreed in writing before the season.
  2. If the home team wears colored jerseys, the visiting team may also wear colored jerseys, if and only if the following conditions have been satisfied:
    1. The home team has agreed in writing prior to the game; and
    2. The conference of the home team certifies that the jersey of the visiting team is of a contrasting color.
  3. If on the kickoff at the start of each half, the visiting team wears a colored jersey in violation of the conditions specified in paragraph 2 (above), it is a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct.

PENALTY: Administer as a dead-ball foul. 15 yards at the succeeding spot following the kickoff. If the kickoff is returned for a touchdown, the penalty is assessed either on the try or on the succeeding kickoff, at the option of the home team. [S27] 

There. Now you know. If your visiting team doesn’t meet the requirements of paragraph two, you are going to get penalized. Period.

Red Wolves head football coach Bryan Harsin during his weekly teleconference discussing the game and a look forward.

From the Associated Press:

Adam Kennedy and the Arkansas State offense had no problem churning out yards against Gus Malzahn’s Auburn team.

The Red Wolves (1-1) just kept getting turned back after nearing the end zone with chances to stay within striking distance before falling 38-9 to their former coach and the Tigers Saturday night.

“We were running the ball. It wasn’t difficult,” Arkansas State running back David Oku said. “We shot ourselves in the foot on a couple of plays. I just talked to my teammates and we take the blame for not getting the ball in.

“We got down there plenty of times.”

Ryan Black wrote:

It didn’t take long to figure out this would be Auburn’s night.

In fact, it took all of one play. Arkansas State, the school Tigers coach Gus Malzahn led last season, was called for “failure to wear contrasting colors” on the game’s opening kickoff. It was a foreboding sign for the Red Wolves, who were attempting to become the first Sun Belt Conference team to win in Jordan-Hare Stadium, snapping an 0-for-17 skid.

When asked about the “equipment malfunction” called on Arkansas State to begin the game, Gus Malzahn could only shake his head.

“Yeah,” he said. “You don’t see that one (called) very much.”

Fansided wrote this about the Arkansas State uniform decision:

Traditionally in football the home team wears a color jersey while the away team wears a white jersey. When the Arkansas State Red Wolves lined up to take on the Auburn Tigers they appear to have been slightly confused as to where they were based on the hideous uniforms they put on.

Arkansas State took the field with black pants, a dark grey jersey and a black helmet, definitely not the light colors an away team is supposed to wear.

The game’s officials hit them with a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to start the game for wearing the dark uniforms. After half-time the team came back out with the same uniforms on and were hit with another 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to start the half.

I can picture that locker room conversation at halftime.

“Hey coach should we change our uniforms?”

“No, they already penalized us, what else can they do? Just keep them on.”

Then boom, another 15 yard penalty.

Auburn went on to win the game 38-9 and Arkansas State will forever go down in history as one of the ugliest uniforms.

Deadspin.com gave the Red Wolves some national exposure over the uniform decision, too:

Before the first offensive play of Saturday’s Arkansas State-Auburn game, the Red Wolves were penalized 15 yards for their heinous uniforms.

Arkansas State’s uniforms, as seen above, were dark colors, as were Auburn’s. But because Auburn was the home team and Arkansas State couldn’t understand the concept of contrast, officials hit them with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for their grey and red numbers. They gave up another 15 yards after halftime for not changing.

Auburn ended up winning 38-9, so while the uniform penalties certainly didn’t help Arkansas State, they probably weren’t the biggest problem.

Odds and Ends from AL.com’s Joel A. Erickson:

Auburn made 13 tackles-for-loss; 12 separate players were credited with at least half a tackle-for-loss.

At least 27 players recorded at least one defensive statistic for the Tigers.

Former quarterback Kiehl Frazier is not on the participation chart, but he may have played on Auburn’s final drive defensively and on special teams, according to several fans. (Editor’s note: This note originally read that Frazier didn’t play.)

Straight A’s for the Auburn Tigers in this report:

Defense: A

Don’t let the total yards fool you. Even though Arkansas State gained 422 total yards, they didn’t score a single touchdown. After bending early, the Tigers’ defense bowed up and held the Red Wolves to three field goals. Auburn also held ASU to 150 yards on the ground a week after the Red Wolves rushed for 509 yards against Arkansas Pine-Bluff.

James Crepea of the Montgomery Advertiser wrote:

Auburn (2-0) was able to hold Arkansas State, which came in with a national-best 509 yards rushing, to just 150 yards on the ground and quarterback Adam Kennedy (12 carries for 74 yards) led the Red Wolves.

“We’re making too many mistakes right now, trash plays I call them, where we’re in position to make plays and we’re not getting it done.”

The trash can allow first downs, which Auburn has allowed the most (52) of in the SEC thus far and ranks tied for 116th nationally of 123 teams.

“Sometimes they’re quick-strike scores and things of that nature, but the biggest issue right now is we’re giving up too many first downs,” Ellis Johnson said. “Third-down defense is not that bad… But we’re giving up first downs on those second downs. Overall, we’re way down on allowing first downs by opponents, and that’s got to stop.”

Crepea’s game story:

Two stops into the 2013 season, the Gus Bus is 2-0. In a meeting with his former team, Gus Malzahn and Auburn dominated his successor and former players at Arkansas State.

“It feels good to be 2-0. We beat a good football team,” Malzahn said. “We talked about needing to run the ball to be successful against these guys, and I felt like we were able to do that.”

Adam Kennedy went 29-for-41 for 272 yards for the Red Wolves, who Malzahn coached last season. The first-year Auburn coach said he didn’t think his Tigers would prevent the Red Wolves from reaching the end zone.

“I really didn’t. They got some phenomenal skills guys that will have the chance to play at the next level,” he said. “It was interesting but it was good to see those guys. I wished them nothing but the best going forward.”

From the Opelika-Auburn News:

Auburn remains unbeaten two weeks into the season for the first time since 2011, yet to listen to several coaches, it’d be hard to tell.

Tigers fans saw flashes of the high-scoring, up-tempo offense that Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn promised at his introductory press conference during Saturday’s 38-9 victory over Arkansas State.

But, at least as far as offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee is concerned, it wasn’t nearly enough.

“It wasn’t fast enough, we worked on that tonight, we weren’t fast enough — that’s just the bottom line,” Lashlee said Sunday night.

“We had more opportunities to go fast, especially in the second half where we felt like we could wear them down, and we did,” Lashlee said, “but to our standard we have to be even better and cleaner getting lined up, getting set quicker and getting ready to roll.”

One of Lashlee’s biggest points of criticism was the nine penalties for 91 yards, including about five of those coming from his offense.

“Overall, the No. 1 thing that sticks out as a whole is discipline — we can’t beat ourselves. We’re definitely not good enough to do that,” Lashlee said. “I think we had five penalties alone on offense, several holding calls that called back either big gains or called back a touchdown, that set us in some really tough situations.”

Tags: , , ,