AUBURN - Coach Gene Chizik spent the first five weeks finding imperfections in his team's wins, so he was well-equipped Sunday to assess Auburn's first loss, a particularly ugly showing at Arkansas.
His analysis of the Tigers' 44-23 defeat offered few silver linings. That would be great, he deadpanned, "if we're looking for warm-and-fuzzies."
Chizik was not in a warm and fuzzy mood Sunday, and he took pains to avoid excuse-making. That said, he predicted that Auburn's depth issues on defense and special teams will only grow more pressing.
Arkansas' Dennis Johnson's 70-yard kickoff return on the final play of the third quarter effectively halted Auburn's comeback. Chizik blamed inexperienced special-teamers for Auburn's coverage woes, and said coaches are handcuffed by lack of depth at other positions.
"This is where we see our depth issues creep up on us," Chizik said. "You want your best guys on those cover teams. We've got some starters on it and some that aren't on it. The bottom line is, at some positions, if we lost that starter there's such a drop-off to the next guy that we're playing a lot of young guys."
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10-12-2009, 05:37 PM
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