StatTiger 3,188 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Post Season Numbers & Thoughts: During the first 7 games of the season the Auburn defense allowed 5.88 yards per play during the first-half and 4.21 yards per play during the second-half. During the final 6 games of the season, the Auburn defense allowed 5.97 yards per play during the first-half and 6.76 yards per play during the second-half. During the first 7 games of the season, 49.0% of the snaps defended by the Auburn defense during the first-half, went for 2-yards or less. It increased to 55.6% during the second half of games. During the last 6 games of the season, 43.7% of the snaps defended by the Auburn defense during the first-half, went for 2-yards or less. It decreased to 42.9% during the second half. The top-5 play-makers on offense this season based on impact-plays were: Cameron Artis Payne (26), Duke Williams (22), Nick Marshall (20), Sammie Coates (14) and Quan Bray (12). Injuries to Williams and Coates took away from Auburn's explosiveness this season. During the first 6 games of the season, Nick Marshall averaged 82.0 yards rushing per game on 6.6 yards per attempt. During the final 7 games of the season, Marshall averaged only 43.7 yards per rush on 3.9 yards per carry. The read-option was nowhere close to last season. During the final 7 games of the 2013 season, Marshall & Mason averaged 257.6 YPG on 6.09 YPC. During the final 7 games of 2014, Marshall & CAP combined for 179.3 YPG on 4.92 YPC. Ricardo Louis is a player to watch for in 2015. With the departure of Sammie Coates, Auburn will need him to become a consistent playmaker. During the first 6 games of the season, Louis had 15 offensive touches for 118-yards. During the final 7 games of the season, Louis had 22 offensive touches for 353-yards. Of his 9 impact plays on the season, 7 came during the second-half of the season. Duke Williams was No. 12 nationally in generating pass-receptions of 15-yards or more and Sammie Coates was No. 21. The Auburn offense simply wasn't the same without both healthy and on the field together. During Auburn's 8 victories this season, the Tigers compiled a pass-rating of 157.1 on first-down and only 117.2 during their 5 defeats. From 1992-2014 Auburn has compiled a pass-rating of 136.0 on first-down and was only 134.9 in 2014. Of Auburn's 332 passes on the season, only 96 (28.6%) came on first down, which was dead last nationally. The national average was 37.9%, which means Nick Marshall was forced to throw more often when the opponent wanted him to, rather than when Malzahn wanted him to throw. I expect that percentage to change drastically with Jeremy Johnson at quarterback. In terms of the game day report cards, the Auburn offense had a passing grade in 11 of 13 games, the defense 6 in 13 games and special teams, 7 of 13 games. Last season the offense had a passing grade in 12 of 14 games, the defense 7 of 14 games and special teams 13 of 14 games. Overall the offense improved to 74.9% from 74.6% in 2013. The defense dropped to 47.7% from 49.3% in 2013 and special teams took the biggest dive to 53.4% from 71.7% in 2013. During the last 3 games of the season Auburn allowed 3.93 yards per rush during the first-half and 7.58 yards per attempt during the second-half. How vital are impact plays? During Auburn's 73 scoring drives this season, 63 involved at least 1 play of 15-yards or more during the possession. Last season the Auburn defense registered 32 sacks and 13 interceptions. This season despite only 20 sacks, Auburn intercepted 22 passes. One can only imagine how many picks Auburn could have totaled in 2014 with a more consistent pass-rush. During the first 5 games of the season, the Auburn defense forced a "3 & out", 45 percent of the time. During the final 8 games of the season, it dropped to only 18 percent. During the first 5 games of the season, the Auburn defense allowed 24-yards per possession and a TD every 37.2 snaps. During the final 8 games of the season, the defense allowed 36-yards per possession and a TD every 16.6 snaps defended. During the first 7 games of the season, Auburn scored 75 points from their opponent's turnovers. During the final 6 games of the season, Auburn scored only 24 points off of turnovers. Rarely does a player find immediate success after making a position change at the collegiate level. Johnathan "Rudy" Ford moved to safety this season, finishing the year as Auburn's leading tackler with 93 stops. He also had 2.5 tackles for loss, 3 interceptions and 1 forced-fumble. Look for him to continue to grow into his position under Will Muschamp. Rudy Ford was No. 14 in the SEC with 7.15 tackles per game. Cassanova McKinzy was No. 16 and Kris Frost was No. 17. McKinzy was also No. 14 in the SEC with 11 tackles for loss. Fifteen SEC defensive linemen had more tackles for loss than Auburn's leader, Montravius Adams (8). Cameron Artis-Payne had some major shoes to fill, replacing Tre Mason. The senior RB, responded with an All-SEC season, leading the conference in rushing and No. 2 in rushing TD's. CAP's 123.7 yards per game was the 5th best average in school history. Cameron Artis-Payne was No. 15 nationally in yards per game. Quarterback Nick Marshall improved his passer-rating from 143.2 in 2013 to 150.8. His 150.8 rating is the 4th highest rated performance among the 37 Auburn quarterbacks to attempt at least 150 passes during a season. His TD ratio of 1 every 14.6 attempts was 5th best in school history. Marshall was No. 33 in pass-efficiency during 2013, improving to No. 15 his senior year. The Auburn offense finished No. 13 in run-offense and No. 9 in pass-efficiency offense. The Tigers were No. 17 in total-offense and No. 26 in scoring-offense. Based on yards per game, yards per play, points per game, TD ratio and strength of schedule, the 2014 Auburn offense is No. 3 among the past 60 Auburn offensive units. The 2010 offense was No. 1 with a 213.5 rating, the 2013 offense was No. 2 with a 209.9 rating and the 2014 unit had a rating of 199.6. From 1970-2014, Auburn has compiled a record of 204-6-0, when scoring at least 30 points during regulation. Four of the 6 losses have come during the past 2 seasons. From 2009-2014 (79 games), Auburn has allowed 26 PPG, 398.3 YPG and 163.2 yards rushing per game. Of those 79 games, it includes 26 losses, where Auburn allowed 36 PPG, 446.5 YPG and 222.6 yards rushing per game. The second installment of Will Muschamp's defense cannot start soon enough. The 2014 season marks the 12th time Auburn has closed a season with only 1 win during their last 5 games of the season since 1950. The Auburn coaching staff has their work cut out for them as Auburn followed up the previous 11 seasons with a win percentage of .622 the following year. Looking at only FBS competition, Auburn's 2014 schedule ended up being the 6th most difficult in school history, minus the result of the "Auburn" game. 10 of Auburn's 13 opponents this season (76.9%) were FBS programs that finished the season with a winning record. It was the 3rd highest percentage of winning opponents faced during a season from 1950-2014. The 1983 team holds the highest percentage (83.3%). So what happened to the 2014 Auburn defense? During the first 5 games of the season, Auburn faced opponents that averaged 402.0 YPG, averaging 30.4 PPG. The Auburn defense held them to 24% below their yardage average and 53% below their scoring average. During their last 7 FBS games, Auburn faced offenses that averaged 463.3 YPG, while scoring 35.1 PPG. Auburn allowed those 7 teams to gain 5.5% more yardage than their average, while scoring 7.7% more than the opponent's average. In a nutshell, the competition was better during the second-half of the season, but Auburn's production percentages should not have collapsed as much as it did. Time to move onto 2015 and Happy New Year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Good stuff as always Stat. Lots of work to do in all phases of the game. It's going to be an interesting offseason. Coach Russell is going to work their butts off in the weight room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarTim 3,456 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Thanks Stat. Amazing stuff. Excellent per your usual. War Eagle and ready for Spring ball !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilin tiger 0 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Thank you Stat. I have a great feeling about the defense. Just hope the offense don't start dropping off. I really don't think so but who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexava 6,973 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Man, I just looked at the roster thread. D-line is scarse. I hope Lawson, Adams and Daniel can go about 60 plays a game next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Yeah the way defensive recruiting is going now, we're not gonna have that 10 deep DL of yesteryear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronCrazy 1,058 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Looking back on the season, I remember that this team was at one point the #2 team in the country going into the MSU game. We had Malzahn's first returning QB and Duke Williams to go along with him. Naturally a defense is going to have their biggest improvement in year 2 under their new defensive coordinator... We we're the defending SEC champs with high hopes for a playoff run. Then we lose 4 of the last 5 games including a bowl again to a Big 10 team with a fill-in, retired head coach. If Florida didn't have to cancel a game, we would have ended up with the same record as Florida, 8-5. That kind of season got Muschamp fired. I hope that we solved our problem by getting rid of our defensive coordinator along with some assistants. But I would give this team a "D" on the season. I wouldn't give it an "F" just because we were very close in a couple of games. But it was a huge disappointment to not have the first back-to-back 10 win season in Auburn history and to end the year that we did. Malzahn HAS to find a way to sustain success at Auburn. This is something that his predecessors have struggled to do. Bowden started out great before he lost control of his team. Tuberville & Chizik had good runs, but they eventually lost their teams too. I love Gus Malzahn and I truly believe that he is the guy. But next year that faith needs to become sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2kid 216 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Have we ever gotten an explanation of why we didn't run the read option as much as last year? We all wondered why throughout the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CleCoTiger 1,957 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Have we ever gotten an explanation of why we didn't run the read option as much as last year? We all wondered why throughout the season The explanation is simple I think. AU didn't run it as much this season because our Tigers just weren't as good as running it as they were last season and/or defenses got better at defending it (which they kind of have.) Marshall + Mason + Robinson + Prosch was a better combo than Marshall + Cam-Payne + Coleman + Fulse/Uzomah/whoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwings 75 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Have we ever gotten an explanation of why we didn't run the read option as much as last year? We all wondered why throughout the season The explanation is simple I think. AU didn't run it as much this season because our Tigers just weren't as good as running it as they were last season and/or defenses got better at defending it (which they kind of have.) Marshall + Mason + Robinson + Prosch was a better combo than Marshall + Cam-Payne + Coleman + Fulse/Uzomah/whoever. Dont forget Kozan over Danzey/Slade/Young, an out of position tackle. Giving Coleman one more year to develop, getting Kozan back and getting CC on campus is huge. CC will need to add some muscle but from what was seen at the AA-AG, he has a lot of potential as an incredible blocking, catching and running H-back. He may still be a year away but the offense will benefit from his presence I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weagl1 1,782 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Just hard to explain what happened with the defense. They started off OK then just went to crap about the middle of the season and never came back. I have never seen a DL regress like this one did. It just looked like they were going through the motions the second half of the season. Then the A&M loss was the big blow to the whole team. The confidence went out the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn2oregon 0 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I may be wrong, I've definitely been wrong before, but I thought I saw somewhere Kozan may not ever make it back. His injury was THAT bad. Has anyone else heard this? Hard to get good info 3000 miles away... And it's hard to believe that we thought the defense was ok the first half of the season... we still gave up 400+ yards passing per game during that stretch... Anyway, the defense just wasn't the same after the Whitehead suspension. Its like that whole issue split the "team" chemistry apart. That and the fact that our leading tackler was not only a safety, but a converted RB in Ford. Not to mention, in my opinion, T Reed played WAY too much for a first year converted WR in the defensive backfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icanthearyou 4,462 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Have we ever gotten an explanation of why we didn't run the read option as much as last year? We all wondered why throughout the season The explanation is simple I think. AU didn't run it as much this season because our Tigers just weren't as good as running it as they were last season and/or defenses got better at defending it (which they kind of have.) Marshall + Mason + Robinson + Prosch was a better combo than Marshall + Cam-Payne + Coleman + Fulse/Uzomah/whoever. OL not as good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,042 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I think people don't think about the teams we played in the first half weren't as good as the teams we played in the second....then the lsu win everybody just knew how awesome we were when on offense they were the equivalent of us on offense in 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CleCoTiger 1,957 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I may be wrong, I've definitely been wrong before, but I thought I saw somewhere Kozan may not ever make it back. Nope. Still expected back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wareaglexx 34 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Maybe with CWM, we can get these converted players back to the positions they were recruited for and get those that were slacking or just not ready to play to step up their game and play the positions they are supposed to play. I am sure all the "converted-position" players were still trying to learn while playing new positions and may have lacked in skill set. I have played sports and changing positions is not as simple a it sounds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I may be wrong, I've definitely been wrong before, but I thought I saw somewhere Kozan may not ever make it back. His injury was THAT bad. Has anyone else heard this? Hard to get good info 3000 miles away... And it's hard to believe that we thought the defense was ok the first half of the season... we still gave up 400+ yards passing per game during that stretch... Anyway, the defense just wasn't the same after the Whitehead suspension. Its like that whole issue split the "team" chemistry apart. That and the fact that our leading tackler was not only a safety, but a converted RB in Ford. Not to mention, in my opinion, T Reed played WAY too much for a first year converted WR in the defensive backfield. Kozan is making nice progress. Looks like he will be able to go in spring practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalsinger418 88 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I may be wrong, I've definitely been wrong before, but I thought I saw somewhere Kozan may not ever make it back. His injury was THAT bad. Has anyone else heard this? Hard to get good info 3000 miles away... And it's hard to believe that we thought the defense was ok the first half of the season... we still gave up 400+ yards passing per game during that stretch... Anyway, the defense just wasn't the same after the Whitehead suspension. Its like that whole issue split the "team" chemistry apart. That and the fact that our leading tackler was not only a safety, but a converted RB in Ford. Not to mention, in my opinion, T Reed played WAY too much for a first year converted WR in the defensive backfield. He has apparently recovered very well so far. Expected to be back next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUIH1 1,515 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Exceptional work as always Stat!! wde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AU64 10,122 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Maybe with CWM, we can get these converted players back to the positions they were recruited for and get those that were slacking or just not ready to play to step up their game and play the positions they are supposed to play. I am sure all the "converted-position" players were still trying to learn while playing new positions and may have lacked in skill set. I have played sports and changing positions is not as simple a it sounds... Most of these "converted guys" played both ways in HS and came to AU at the positions they wanted to play...just took a couple years for them to find out that they were not going to play RB or WR....and IMO, they wasted a season or two of development on the other side of the ball. Think what TReed could have been this year if started playing DB soon as he got to AU. We have another prospect on they way in Kerryon Johnson who is an exceptional defensive player but likely will come to AU as a RB and spend half of his eligibility behind the guys we have now. Hoping he is open to moving to defense right away where we need his level of talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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