What is Malzahn's Offense?

[AubTiger14 0]

There's a lot of chatter out there that JJ could get another chance, which stems from the coaching staff not committing to Sean White and giving it a "week-to-week" approach. Putting JJ in would be a huge mistake in my opinion. Malzahn and Lashlee would be taking a huge gamble that he could play much better and regain his on-field confidence. If you replace a guy that is doing everything asked of him, with one that played some of the worst QB in Auburn history...huge risk the Gus Bus gets pretty empty if it doesn't pan out.

Whoever is taking the snaps, here's what I don't understand.....

1998 - Shiloh Christian QB throws for over 5,000 yards

2007 - Tulsa QB throws for over 5,000 yards. Tulsa ranks 3rd in the nation in passing.

2011 - Arkansas St QB throws for almost 3,500 yards and 24 TDs

Gus has recruited Jeremy Johnson, Sean White, and Tyler Queen who are all pocket passing QBs primarily......

Now we are 3-2. We really should be 2-3 with a loss to Jacksonville St. The coaches are looking hard at a number of dual-threat QBs from the JUCO ranks, because our offense is sputtering and has no identity. Gus says we are a run first play action team, but we seem to be a run first, second, and third team with an occasional screen or hitch mixed in about once a quarter. Our only play action is that lame fake statue of liberty/reverse that doesn't fool anybody.

- Why have past Malzahn offenses been prolific through the air? But we barely throw the ball 15 times a game?

- Why have we recruited pocket passing QBs if we still want to run the ball 75% of the time?

- Why doesn't Gus ever field an offense like the ones he did in high school or at Tulsa?

- Is Lashlee calling the plays? Because if he is...I think he deserves all the criticism he's getting and more.

Gus's reputation is getting the most from his players offensively, and now we seem to be scraping week to week to get any kind of offensive production. Why have we recruited to be more balanced and similar to past Gus offenses, but we are determined to run the 2013-14 offense at all costs?

[penguin149 391]

Ok....I'll bite....

Gus' offense is assignment football. Read-Option fits his philosophy well. Chris Todd lit up the record books in 2009. It's not necessarily pass-oriented though. In 2013 and 2014 we ran...a lot. If everyone completes their assignment on each play, the offense is successful; if someone misses a block or takes their man to the wrong side, doesn't run a crisp route, the play can blow up. And that is what we are seeing too much of. WRs are not blocking and are running sloppy routes. H-back is not blocking long enough for the back to get through. OL is not making the right holes. QB is not making his progressions. Lack of execution all around. White has either not been given a chance to throw the ball deep or the coaches are scared to let him try. IMO changing QBs now will not help and could only hurt.

This year's offense reminds me of the 1998 team with Ben Leard....after D Craig, Bowden tried to run the same offense with Leard and failed miserably. CTT and Malzone came in the next year and Leard ended up tearing it up!

[N2AUtigers 5]

And in 2009 the offense ended 2nd in the sec and Chris Todd was not what you consider a duel threat. It's baffling that he doesn't try the same type game plains with SW..

[AUbritt 611]

Well, it used to be the Hurry-Up, No-Huddle. Here's the opening paragraph from Chapter 1 of Malzahn's book:

In my opinion, two different types of "no huddle" philosophies exist. The first one involves getting to the line of scrimmage, seeing how the defense is aligned, and then having enough time to signal in the proper play that has the best chance of being successful. The second philosophy of the no huddle is the two-minute offense that has a fast and furious pace that you would run toward the end of the game when you are behind. The HURRY UP NO HUDDLE is just as the title says. It is the second philosophy that I described. The only difference is we run our offense at that fast and furious pace the entire game.

I don't know about y'all, but I think he's switched whole hog to the first philosophy and essentially abandoned the HUNH. In fact, he seems to have gone crazy conservative, running the ball WAY more than passing, having only one predetermined read for passes, and so on. He goes on in his book to talk about how the HUNH requires aggressiveness, taking chances, going for it on 4th down "in our own territory," having four different onsides kicks, and a whole bunch of other stuff we used to see. I know the rules have changed on onside kicks, but that's not my point. My point is that the aggressiveness of the HUNH is also gone. We are playing not only slowly, but also passively. Instead of dictating to the defense, we have decided to take what the defense gives us. This requires us to adopt the first philosophy so we can get into the 'right' play -- as dictated by the defense.

I think it's ridiculous and he needs to go back to the real HUNH and sink or swim with it. We are sinking right now without it.

[GTNupe11 2,033]

All a matter of opinion but JJ has way more upside than Sean and I personally don't care if he comes back in or not, but it wouldn't be surprised if he does and does well.

[UltraSwagnus 1]

Well, it used to be the Hurry-Up, No-Huddle. Here's the opening paragraph from Chapter 1 of Malzahn's book:

In my opinion, two different types of "no huddle" philosophies exist. The first one involves getting to the line of scrimmage, seeing how the defense is aligned, and then having enough time to signal in the proper play that has the best chance of being successful. The second philosophy of the no huddle is the two-minute offense that has a fast and furious pace that you would run toward the end of the game when you are behind. The HURRY UP NO HUDDLE is just as the title says. It is the second philosophy that I described. The only difference is we run our offense at that fast and furious pace the entire game.

I don't know about y'all, but I think he's switched whole hog to the first philosophy and essentially abandoned the HUNH. In fact, he seems to have gone crazy conservative, running the ball WAY more than passing, having only one predetermined read for passes, and so on. He goes on in his book to talk about how the HUNH requires aggressiveness, taking chances, going for it on 4th down "in our own territory," having four different onsides kicks, and a whole bunch of other stuff we used to see. I know the rules have changed on onside kicks, but that's not my point. My point is that the aggressiveness of the HUNH is also gone. We are playing not only slowly, but also passively. Instead of dictating to the defense, we have decided to take what the defense gives us. This requires us to adopt the first philosophy so we can get into the 'right' play -- as dictated by the defense.

I think it's ridiculous and he needs to go back to the real HUNH and sink or swim with it. We are sinking right now without it.

great analysis and i agree 100%

we are out thinking ourselves, and the worst offenses are the ones that let the defense dictate the play

I think the critical difference between the teams of the past and the teams recently are:

1. Not sticking to one group of personnel for a drive

2. Not passing on first down atleast 50% of the time

3. Tempo Passes(think quick screens) and G-block Run execution

the deep passes open up when we do those three well, 2010 was just as much execution of the play as it was the heroics of Cam. All in all we look like a young team that is still trying to get there, but expectations of the team and by fans arent allowing it to happen organically like it has for Malzahn teams of the past.

We as fans should trust malzahn personally, and whether it is him or Lashlee I still believe play calling isnt so much the issue as it is execution and familiarity by our young players. However the WRs HAVE to step up. We didnt have show stoppers every year but they worked hard. We need that again if we are going to stay competitive for the rest of the season because that is supposedly our strength and much of the senior leadership

[FHeal 4]

The only hurry up I'm seeing is the one where the QB struggle's to get a play off in time. Perhaps the quick fix is to put Rhett in an out of the way spot (out of chain of command) so Gus has more time to do his micro-management. It just seems if you have QB's that are struggling at best, you should help them out with a couple extra seconds, instead of making their job more hectic. Yep, I know he's trying to out chess the opponent; however it might be best to better execute your first idea, instead of always changing gears mid-stream... and essentially forcing offensive QB hurry-ups in the last 3 seconds.... with such an inexperienced team.

*edit: spelling

[AUbritt 611]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

[UltraSwagnus 1]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

[tigerchris 243]

This is the Rhett offensive experience IMO..

[AUbritt 611]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

[augolf1716 21,101]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

I promise you the answer is no

[AUbritt 611]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

I promise you the answer is no

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

[TigerOne 1,140]

every coach that will face Gus has read his book and studied the last two years of Auburn film. They know what he will do and how to stop it

[AUbritt 611]

every coach that will face Gus has read his book and studied the last two years of Auburn film. They know what he will do and how to stop it

I don't believe it's true that they can stop it consistently. But if you're suggesting this as the reason we've abandoned the HUNH -- as in, Gus is scared of this -- then I might buy it.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

I'm not sure Gus even knows what his offense is.

[augolf1716 21,101]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

I promise you the answer is no

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I wish I knew the answer for sure. I have an ideal but I'm not sure.

[AUbritt 611]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

I promise you the answer is no

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I wish I knew the answer for sure. I have an ideal but I'm not sure.

Well, that's not a very satisfying answer.

[Strychnine 1,802]

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I'm pretty sure that is a question we will never have an answer to, unless Gus himself chooses to answer. Perhaps he has decided that his original HUNH philosophy cannot be sustained consistently against the caliber of defenses the SEC presents on a weekly basis. Perhaps he has been influenced into changing his philosophy by someone. Perhaps it is Rhett's decision. Perhaps he sees a lack of execution all over the field and isn't confident in having them mash the accelerator.

The HUNH requires a simple offense and quick playcall signals in order to operate effectively. I do not think a playbook crafted around the philosophy of tempo can be consistently successful when it is executed at the tempo of hurry into formation and then wait. That said, the offense is still having some success running the ball, but the passing offense and big plays have been lacking. I do not think that can continue when it is operated at slow tempo AND one-dimensional. The struggle in the red zone is also a serious problem, and it cost them the Mississippi State game. The 2013 offense was able to get away with being one-dimensional because it had at least two serious rushing threats in the backfield at all times. LSU can get away with it because they have Fournette.

[AUbritt 611]

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I'm pretty sure that is a question we will never have an answer to, unless Gus himself chooses to answer. Perhaps he has decided that his original HUNH philosophy cannot be sustained consistently against the caliber of defenses the SEC presents on a weekly basis. Perhaps he has been influenced into changing his philosophy by someone. Perhaps it is Rhett's decision. Perhaps he sees a lack of execution all over the field and isn't confident in having them mash the accelerator.

The HUNH requires a simple offense and quick playcall signals in order to operate effectively. I do not think a playbook crafted around the philosophy of tempo can be consistently successful when it is executed at the tempo of hurry into formation and then wait. That said, the offense is still having some success running the ball, but the passing offense and big plays have been lacking. I do not think that can continue when it is operated at slow tempo AND one-dimensional. The struggle in the red zone is also a serious problem, and it cost them the Mississippi State game. The 2013 offense was able to get away with being one-dimensional because it had at least two serious rushing threats in the backfield at all times. LSU can get away with it because they have Fournette.

So, looking at his book some more, he discusses a "window of time" during which the HUNH will provide a huge advantage ... until folks learn to defend it. I guess I'm still not convinced that folks have learned to defend it. But we, apparently, won't get to see, since Gus seems to have abandoned it.

Agree with your post, basically.

[AU-24 3,063]

Here's another sort of sad quote from this story. Gus had just become a head coach for the first time:

"As a coach you think you know what you're doing, but when I got out there, I realized I didn't have a clue," he said. On a whim, he reached out to Barry Lunney Sr., a legendary high school football coach in the state who had also grown up in Fort Smith, and asked for some advice.

"How many plays do you have?" Lunney asked.

"Coach, we've got at least 200," Malzahn boasted. "We're going to be able to run every single one of them."

"Pick out four or five of them," Lunney said. "Then run 'em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you'll be just fine."

To this day, Malzahn considers it the best advice he's ever received.

Now probably we want to do more than four or five, right? That's the trap, of course.

i dunno, it seems to work alright for LSU lmao

Yep.

I could be wrong, but I think the last time we scored so poorly was when Chizik 'handcuffed' Gus and told him to slow things down to protect the D. Has Gus handcuffed himself to protect the D?! I'd rather see us play UK in a game like that one against Utah State -- or risk that, over a slow death to the Wildcats.

I promise you the answer is no

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I wish I knew the answer for sure. I have an ideal but I'm not sure.

Please speak oh wise one, please.

I have no idea but I'll take a stab at it.: Gus handed more of the O to Rhett and there is in-fighting between assistants b/c they don't like Rhett's approach to the O? I, of course have no solid clue.

[Strychnine 1,802]

So, looking at his book some more, he discusses a "window of time" during which the HUNH will provide a huge advantage ... until folks learn to defend it. I guess I'm still not convinced that folks have learned to defend it. But we, apparently, won't get to see, since Gus seems to have abandoned it.

Agree with your post, basically.

Yes, his goal is to use tempo to create a virtual 5th quarter in the game that the opponent is not likely to be conditioned for, and that is where it provides the huge advantage.

I do not believe he has necessarily abandoned it, as I find it difficult to believe that he would abandon a philosophy that brought him great success and that he believed in strongly enough to write a book about it. While 2010 and 2013's offenses never went HUNH for an entire game, it was still a very integral part of their success. I've seen Gus on the sideline this season yelling and motioning for the offense to go faster. With JJ at the helm, the offense never really seemed together enough to kick up the tempo.

[Potatooooooes!! 1,370]

So why have we abandoned the HU part and adopted the slow, get in the right play, take what the defense gives us, NH philosophy?

I'm pretty sure that is a question we will never have an answer to, unless Gus himself chooses to answer. Perhaps he has decided that his original HUNH philosophy cannot be sustained consistently against the caliber of defenses the SEC presents on a weekly basis. Perhaps he has been influenced into changing his philosophy by someone. Perhaps it is Rhett's decision. Perhaps he sees a lack of execution all over the field and isn't confident in having them mash the accelerator.

The HUNH requires a simple offense and quick playcall signals in order to operate effectively. I do not think a playbook crafted around the philosophy of tempo can be consistently successful when it is executed at the tempo of hurry into formation and then wait. That said, the offense is still having some success running the ball, but the passing offense and big plays have been lacking. I do not think that can continue when it is operated at slow tempo AND one-dimensional. The struggle in the red zone is also a serious problem, and it cost them the Mississippi State game. The 2013 offense was able to get away with being one-dimensional because it had at least two serious rushing threats in the backfield at all times. LSU can get away with it because they have Fournette.

So, looking at his book some more, he discusses a "window of time" during which the HUNH will provide a huge advantage ... until folks learn to defend it. I guess I'm still not convinced that folks have learned to defend it. But we, apparently, won't get to see, since Gus seems to have abandoned it.

Agree with your post, basically.

Lol. Did you go out yesterday and by his book or something?

In all seriousness, I personally think execution and personnel are the problems. For instance, I definitely agree that our wide receivers aren't blocking nearly as well as they should, and it frustrates me to no end to see opposing receivers block the mess out of our dbs. Not to mention we SEEM to have a lack of a deep threat guy like ole Sammy. Having said that, I have started wondering for a while now if DCs everywhere have finally trained their players to be disciplined and ignore the eye candy, which, I would think, does a great deal of harm to Gus's offense. If that is the case, then my question is where do we go from here?

[milehighfan 1,240]

One of the many things I don't understand is we have a coach on staff who was an outstanding QB who is coaching WR's and a coach on staff who never played college ball and he may or may not be calling plays. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this season.

[AUwingsfan 1]

I don't think Gus has abandoned the HUNH, he has just adapted it to only hurry after a first down. Can't say I blame him. Could you imagine us running pace, going three and out, then throwing our defense out on the field in less than a minute? Sure it's frustrating watching us now. I have no idea what's wrong, but I bet part of it is the young guys, especially h-backs having to get their feet wet for the first time. Couple that with a new center and there are bound to be some set backs.