Stream-of-Consciousness Notes
2011 BCS Championship
Second Quarter
By
Pete Fiutak
-
Auburn
Wins The National Title
-
CFN
Analysis - The Fizzling Oregon O
-
CFN
Analysis - The Auburn D On Fire
-
CFN
Analysis - The Better Team Won
-
CFN
Analysis - The Duck D Did Its Part
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - Pregame
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 1st Quarter
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 3rd Quarter
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 4th Quarter
- 3rd and 2 for Oregon on the Auburn 3.
- And Nick Fairley, who got time off after the
quarter change and got his wind back, and he blows
up the play forcing a field goal.
- Bad, bad misread on the option by Darron Thomas.
- 27-yard field goal by Rob Beard is good, but
settling for the field goal might be costly.
Auburn on is own 18
- It's Michael Dyer time. Auburn has
to settle down, and it needs to give the defense
some time. The up tempo offense has to stop to let
the D rest.
- Dyer up the middle for five.
- Newton has an easy throw for a first down.
- Running time since the Auburn D has been on the
field: four minutes.
- Oregon struggling to get the right guys on the
field and Dyer gashes the interior.
- Terrell Zachery is wide open and gets an easy
first down. Newton is finding his receivers now.
- Five minutes.
- OH what a play. Newton wants the home run, slops,
loses his balance, and with all arm, gets the ball
off for a first down to Onterio McCalebb ...
- And then it was almost picked off by Cliff Harris
....
- REVIEW THAT!!! HE GOT IT!!! How could that be
ruled incomplete? Harris made a remarkable play,
dove for it, flipped over, and appeared to have it.
- Six minutes.
- I just Zaprudered it ... he bobbled it and didn't
have possession.
- Here's the thing no matter what happens; why was
Auburn trying that when it was gashing the Ducks for
seven to ten yards a crack?
- Auburn ball.
- That review is going to make it ten minutes before
the Auburn D ...
- TOUCHDOWN. Newton finds Kodi Burns, the supposed
Wildcat quarterback coming into the season, and the
wide open target blows into the end zone.
- AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL miss by Oregon safety John
Boyett. Not only was he badly out of position;
he flat out whiffed.
Auburn 7 ... Oregon 3
- If I'm Auburn, I'm running down the clock
to the final second to give the D even more time.
- Oh, come on, Oregon. Either you can play with
these guys or you can't, The Ducks are getting all
Boise State and going cute with the gimmicks, the
reverse on the kickoff return is a disaster, and the
drive starts deep.
- Oregon, I know you're a squishy-soft finesse team,
but you need to get it into your heads; you're not
faster than Auburn. Get smarter. Fast.
Oregon on its own 7
- Jeff Maehl hasn't been ...
- Speak of the devil. Maehl blows past Neiko "Toast"
Thorpe and gets an 81-yard big play. Fine, Oregon,
get vertical.
- Is that the play that gets Thomas rolling?
- Here's the problem in the red zone for Oregon;
there's no room. Going wide isn't working with no
space.
- Thomas has completed 10-of-13 passes, but he's not
locked in like he needs to be. Oregon is trying to
run plays like it was at midfield and not shooting
for the end zone. It's okay to attempt a pass in the
end zone.
- TERRIFIC play call to take advantage of the
over-aggressive Auburn defensive front. Thomas rolls
to the right, throws it back to James, easy walk-in
touchdown.
- Remember, that play stared on the seven ...
- Option for two, and Oregon gets it, but I hate it.
You're not going to take the heart out of a team
that was down by three touchdowns at Alabama. The
Ducks didn't need any more momentum after that
phenomenal drive, and the kicker, Rob Beard makes
the play to get into the end zone.
Oregon 11 ... Auburn 7
Oregon on its own 31
- Auburn can't worry about keeping up the pace.
Just run the offense. You're only down four.
- Oregon's defensive front is holding up just fine.
You're not going to gas this group.
- Newton hasn't had a sliver of daylight to move.
The Ducks appear to have two spies on him at all
times.
- 3rd and 4 just past midfield. Run Newton up the
gut, and go for it on fourth if you ...
- Or take advantage of the dumb decision by the Duck
defense to give a ten-yard cushion allowing Newton
to throw for an easy first down.
- Second down and Auburn is trying to soften up the
Duck D with a tough inside run. At the 23 and 3rd
and 2, with this offense, and with Newton, it's four
down territory.
- And that's what Newton is such an X factor. He was
dead-to-rights in the backfield, and he blew through
the LB for a first down.
- Phenomenal open field tackle by Kenny Rowe to keep
Newton from being Newton on the move. What should've
been a touchdown was a three-yard gain.
- A slip by Dyer. Footing is a problem for both
sides.
- Rowe goes offsides on what would've been a third
down stop. Now it's 3rd and 2. Don't get cuts,
Tigers. Pound No. 2.
- Meanwhile, the Auburn defense has had a nice rest.
- Good job Brent and ESPN addressing the Cecil
Newton factor and not totally avoiding it.
- Cam barrels forward for three. Oregon has no
prayer of stopping that.
- Fantastic open field stop by John Boyett, who made
up for the last miss on the touchdown with a great
play on Terrell Zachery in space.
- 3rd and goal from the two. Oregon, here's the fast
ball. Can you hit it?
- Yup. Oregon doesn't buy the fake for a second and
stuffs Newton. Casey Matthews with a big-time
tackle.
- Yeah, Auburn, you hit it again.
- OOHHHHHHH. Newton blew it. The entire stadium
focused on stopping Newton, and he misses a wide
open Eric Smith, who should've made the grab, for a
wide-open score.
- Oregon is catching a few breaks, but it's guessing
right defensively just enough to stay ahead.
Oregon on its own 2
- Under four minutes to play. Oregon,
I know you're offense and I know your mentality, but
right now, just get into the locker room ahead.
- Shuttle pass to Barner for a nice gain, but
illegal motion is bringing it back.
- Be very, very careful. The Tiger defensive tackles
will be pinning its ears back and will be in the
backfield. A simple dump off pass will work ...
- I don't mean to be ripping on a coaching staff
that's in the national title with the best offense
in America, but Kelly and company is coming up with
some butt-dumb play calls. Who hands the ball off
five yards deep on a defense with these tackles?
Oregon deserves to get hit with a safety on
principle alone.
Oregon 11 ... Auburn 9
- Another slip. Neither team is able to plant or
cut.
Auburn on its own 35
- 3:21 to go. Considering the tempo,
Auburn, this is where you go into your four-minute
offense to get rid of the rest of the clock. Up
12-11 going into the locker room is just fine.
- A few short plays for an easy first down. Auburn
doesn't have to do anything crazy. Dyer and the
Tiger interior are gashing the Ducks on the inside.
- Auburn is moving the ball at will. Herbstreit has
it right. Jab ... jab ... .jab ... but there's no
real reason to go for the haymaker.
- And there's Cam Newton being Cam Newton, and
that's why he deserves to be considered the No. 1
pick in the draft. In the face of a pass rush, he
shrugs off a defender, steps up, and finds a wide
open target down the field to find a wide-open Emory
Blake for a score.
- Did the Tigers score too quickly? There's still
1:47 to play.
Auburn 16 ... Oregon 11
Oregon on its own 29
- Kenjon Barner is way too tentative on his returns.
He needs to go up with a bigger head of steam.
- But it helps to get a bad late hit penalty on the
Tigers.
- James is taking a bit of a beating. He's limping a
bit.
- Quick strike to Maehl for a first down. Auburn
gets the ball to start the second half. Oregon needs
a score.
- The Oregon coaches obviously have no fear of the
Auburn corners whatsoever.
- But the Tiger corners can hit. Now it's 3rd and 8,
and Auburn smartly calls a time out to give the D a
minute to get its breath with a chance to get the
stop.
- Nope. Oregon has no problems moving the ball on
the outside, and what does it do? It throws a
jailbreak screen pass against a rested Tiger D and
it does absolutely nothing.
- 4th and 10 and Oregon is going for it?! It must be
trying to force Auburn to burn a time out with the
clock running down.
- Yup. Time out.
- Yup. Oregon punt down to the two.
- Auburn. you're getting the ball to start the
second half. 30 seconds to play and no time outs,
don't risk a Jack Squirek. Go Cam up the middle
three times, burn Oregon's time outs, and get into
the locker room.
- And there's the break Auburn needs. Offsides on
Oregon.
- Onterio McCalebb breaks off a huge run and gets
out of bounds. Now Auburn can go for it. Wes Byrum
has a leg.
- Newton gets across midfield on a nice throw.
Oregon's defense hasn't come up with a play in a
long, long time.
- Three seconds left after a nice pass rush by Kenny
Rowe ...
- Somewhere, South Carolina fans are a bit
squeamish.
- Darvin Adams almost had it ... but Auburn will
take it being ahead.
- Chip Kelly with his first ever non-cocky going-into-the-locker room answer.
- Oregon hasn't lost under Kelly when it's leading
at halftime. It's not leading at halftime.
Second Quarter Score: Auburn 16 ... Oregon
11
-
Auburn
Wins The National Title
-
CFN
Analysis - The Fizzling Oregon O
-
CFN
Analysis - The Auburn D On Fire
-
CFN
Analysis - The Better Team Won
-
CFN
Analysis - The Duck D Did Its Part
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - Pregame
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 1st Quarter
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 3rd Quarter
-
2011
BCS Champ. SOC Notes - 4th Quarter