Auburn OC: Without mistakes, 'we could have named our score' in BCS championship game
It has been almost four months since Florida State pulled off an impressive comeback to knock off Auburn in the final BCS National Championship Game, but the loss still stings for Tigers offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee.
Per Al.com, Lashlee addressed the media prior to a speaking engagement in Tennessee and said that the Tigers could have “named our score” in the game if it weren’t for a handful of mistakes.
“I mean we got away with some things at times last year. We could’ve executed much better and really named our score in that game, and we didn’t,” Lashlee said. “We let them hang around and we ended up losing the football game.”
Auburn had numerous chances to add on to a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, then had trouble re-establishing its footing in the second half. As the Auburn offense sputtered, the Seminoles stormed back and pulled out a dramatic 34-31 victory with a Jameis Winston touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin in the final seconds.
To Lashlee, if the offense continued to add on, the lead would have been too much for Florida State to overcome.
“From an offensive standpoint, if we would’ve executed at a higher level, there were plays here or there that maybe even the average fan doesn’t see that, if we just executed, we stay on the field on third down, or it’s not a bust and a sack or a throw-away, it’s a touchdown. That could have blown the thing open,” Lashlee said.
I don’t believe Lashlee is taking a shot at Florida State here; he’s just looking back at what could have been. It’s hard to blame him. An 18-point lead in the National Championship Game is a dream scenario, but the Tigers could not hold the Seminoles back for long, especially when your offense gains just 43 total yards in its first four drives of the second half.
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