Upon Further Review - Iron Bowl Postgame

[StatTiger 3,188]

• Auburn's 3.5 yards per play on first down against UAT wasn't enough to sustain drives. Take away the two 20+ yard plays and Auburn averaged 1.5 yards per play on their remaining 23 first down snaps.
  

• Entering the Iron Bowl the Auburn offense averaged 105-yards rushing on 23 attempts during the second-halves of their previous 11 games. Against Alabama, Auburn finished with 1-yard rushing on 8 attempts, which included sacks.
  

• The Auburn defense allowed 24 touchdowns this season during 8 conference games. This was the fewest TD's surrendered since 2008, when Auburn allowed 17 TD's during their 8 conference games.
  

• Auburn's pass-defense allowed only 9 TD passes during conference play this season, the fewest TD passes allowed in conference play since 2007, when Auburn allowed only six that year.
  

• Peyton Barber needs only 26-yards in the bowl game to become Gus Malzahn's tenth consecutive 1000-yard rusher at the RB position.
  

• The top-3 offenses in the Southeastern Conference are Ole Miss, Arkansas and Mississippi State. The three offenses are led by the top-3 most efficient quarterbacks in the conference. Quarterback play makes a major difference.
  

• Nineteen quarterbacks in the SEC have attempted at least 100 passes this season. The ratio of impact plays (15+ yards) in the passing game among the 19 is 1 every 5.8 attempts. Brandon Allen of Arkansas is currently No. 1 in the SEC with 1 every 3.9 attempts. Sean White is No. 4 with 1 every 5 attempts and Jeremy Johnson is No. 15 with 1 every 8.2 attempts.
  

• During the 2015 regular season, pass-offenses in the SEC converted a 1st down during 31.8 percent of the pass attempts. Arkansas was No. 1 in the conference at 44 percent and Auburn is No. 8 at 31.0 percent.
  

• Auburn finished the regular season No. 3 in the SEC regarding tackles for loss ratio (allowed). The Auburn defense finished dead last in generating tackles for loss. This statistic is normally indicative of the performance of the offensive line and the defensive front-7.
  

• Auburn finished at No. 6 in run-offense in the SEC in yards per game but No. 10 in yards per rush and No. 11 in generating run-plays of 10-yards or more.
  

• Of the 23 players with at least 80 rush attempts in the SEC, Jovon Robinson is No. 6 in yards per rush.
  

• During the last 10 Iron Bowls, Auburn has been penalized more than Alabama, seven times.
  

• From 1990-2015, Auburn has won 90 percent of their games with a pass-rating of 130 or better. Auburn's better seasons during this time frame, the offense reached this mark more than 70 percent of the time. This season, Auburn reached it only 5 out of 12 times (41.6%). The Tigers were 5-0 this season when they reached the 130 rating plateau.
  

• From 2011-2015 (64 games) Auburn has won the tackle for loss battle only 23 times (35.9%), compiling a 19-4 record. During the 41 games they did not, Auburn went 18-23. When it comes to conference play during this time span, Auburn won the tackle for loss battle only 29 percent of the time.
  

• During the last 20 games Auburn's defense has held their opponent to below 35% on third-down situations only 3 times (15.0%). During the previous 20 games, the defense reached the 35% goal, 11 times (55.0%).
  

• From 1993-2015, Auburn's pass-offense ranks No. 18 among the last 23 Auburn pass-offenses in third-down pass efficiency. The 2015 Auburn pass-offense is also 18 of the last 23 Auburn offenses in producing third-down conversions.
  

War Eagle!

[aubcali 433]

Thanks Stat.

[AUIH1 1,515]

What is an acceptable win loss record for you next year for Gus?

wde

[StatTiger 3,188]

What is an acceptable win loss record for you next year for Gus?

wde

I need to see who is coming back before I make that kind of prediction. Before the 2015 season began, I thought 9-3 was realistic and that was with JJ playing well. Auburn did not have the kind of experience possessed by prior championship teams at Auburn. We lost way too much talent on the offensive side and I also thought we would struggle against the run. I did not expect the offensive decline that actually took place.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Just like in other games this year, we had too many 3 plays and punt.or JJ missing his wide open WR's.

[fredst 9,064]

Better delete bullet points 6&7 or willieguns will be calling you biased against JJ. Because, you know, he played really well yesterday-lol

[AUIH1 1,515]

What is an acceptable win loss record for you next year for Gus?

wde

I need to see who is coming back before I make that kind of prediction. Before the 2015 season began, I thought 9-3 was realistic and that was with JJ playing well. Auburn did not have the kind of experience possessed by prior championship teams at Auburn. We lost way too much talent on the offensive side and I also thought we would struggle against the run. I did not expect the offensive decline that actually took place.

I predicted 9-3 as well. Do you think we need a competent DL coach and can we agree that Gus failed in a big way this season?

wde

[norcuron 35]

Great work as always Stat.

[AUbritt 611]

From 1990-2015, Auburn has won 90 percent of their games with a pass-rating of 130 or better. Auburn's better seasons during this time frame, the offense reached this mark more than 70 percent of the time. This season, Auburn reached it only 5 out of 12 times (41.6%). The Tigers were 5-0 this season when they reached the 130 rating plateau.

The lack of consistency in QB play really stood out to me, too.

I thought the Bama game was a lot like all the other games we lost. We just couldn't get it done consistently at QB. SW at least improved from game to game. I do think the coaches made the right decision to start and continue to play JJ in the Iron Bowl. Just wish he could've found something ....

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

What is an acceptable win loss record for you next year for Gus?

wde

I need to see who is coming back before I make that kind of prediction. Before the 2015 season began, I thought 9-3 was realistic and that was with JJ playing well. Auburn did not have the kind of experience possessed by prior championship teams at Auburn. We lost way too much talent on the offensive side and I also thought we would struggle against the run. I did not expect the offensive decline that actually took place.

I predicted 9-3 as well. Do you think we need a competent DL coach and can we agree that Gus failed in a big way this season?

wde

[around4ever 4,139]

On bullet point 12 about the penalties, let me guess, two of those three that they were penalized more were 2010 and 2013.

[TigerOne 1,140]

Auburn was fortunate to win any games this season excepy maybe Texas A&m

[AUbritt 611]

Auburn was fortunate to win any games this season excepy maybe Texas A&m

Lemme guess ... you fall more toward the Negatiger end of the spectrum.

[AUIH1 1,515]

What is an acceptable win loss record for you next year for Gus?

wde

I need to see who is coming back before I make that kind of prediction. Before the 2015 season began, I thought 9-3 was realistic and that was with JJ playing well. Auburn did not have the kind of experience possessed by prior championship teams at Auburn. We lost way too much talent on the offensive side and I also thought we would struggle against the run. I did not expect the offensive decline that actually took place.

I predicted 9-3 as well. Do you think we need a competent DL coach and can we agree that Gus failed in a big way this season?

wde

LOL. It is only a trap for those who are not willing to be realistic.

wde

[Auburn4life 24]

Yea our biggest problem was QB. And we lost a lot of playmakers. You can look at stats and see that. Hope they get Qb issue fixed for next year. Crazy Gus might not make it mostly due to he won't allow a Qb specialist come in and develop at Qb, or that's what I was told anyways. I hope he does turn it around next year.

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

Yea our biggest problem was QB. And we lost a lot of playmakers. You can look at stats and see that. Hope they get Qb issue fixed for next year. Crazy Gus might not make it mostly due to he won't allow a Qb specialist come in and develop at Qb, or that's what I was told anyways. I hope he does turn it around next year.

If he won't allow the QB specialist, maybe he'll allow the sport psychology specialist to fix JJ

[madkat7 233]

I did not expect the offensive decline that actually took place.

I don't think anyone expected the offensive decline. Aside from players not playing up to pre-season potential, I think the lack of a tight end and a good strong lead blocking fullback was evident all year. Imagine what our RB's could do behind a Jay Prosch. All in all, this was a season of dissapointment when results are compared to expectations. That said, I am proud that the team didn't appear to quit. You can build from that.

[au701948 998]

The coaching staff just flat out missed the boat on our QB selection and stubbornly stuck with it. After a QB change is finally made, he gets injured and unavailable for a third of the season. On top of that no vision to have a 3rd QB nominally ready forced them back to square one. And that is where we stayed all year. Square one and no way out. There are 3 things I would like to see next Fall:

*Move Roc Thomas to Receiver-get him the ball in space (His talent is being wasted as #3 behind JR & PB)

*All of our committed WR and QB do sign so we can go to someone actually operate the zone-read and find

receivers downfield

*CGM & CRL genuinely and successfully evaluate QB prospects with no pre-determined allegiances

I guess I just want a lot for Christmas

[japantiger 4,051]

The coaching staff just flat out missed the boat on our QB selection and stubbornly stuck with it. After a QB change is finally made, he gets injured and unavailable for a third of the season. On top of that no vision to have a 3rd QB nominally ready forced them back to square one. And that is where we stayed all year. Square one and no way out. There are 3 things I would like to see next Fall:

*Move Roc Thomas to Receiver-get him the ball in space (His talent is being wasted as #3 behind JR & PB)

*All of our committed WR and QB do sign so we can go to someone actually operate the zone-read and find

receivers downfield

*CGM & CRL genuinely and successfully evaluate QB prospects with no pre-determined allegiances

I guess I just want a lot for Christmas

All these requests sound very reasonable...get the best folks on the field regardless of position...that is what folks like Baylor and TCU do really well...a lot of their slot/wideouts are HS running backs with good hands...