Linayus

No no, just calling myself out. lol

96??? Seriously? Wow. And I was totally picking on him for being lucky with a few of those PBUs.

I think it was a mixed bag of really good plays and having a bit of luck. But all that really matters is the result and definitely no complaints there!

I miss those Irons brothers!

This shows a bit of what I'm talking about - and just emphasizes more to myself that I'm being very nit picky about Carlton Davis (really I'm just asking for perfection, right?) - but in one clip he gets lucky that the State defender never secured the catch (still gets credit for the PBU) and then in another he makes an excellent play for the PBU. https://www.seccountry.com/auburn/auburn-football-film-room-mississippi-state-jarrett-stidham

Tre' could've played this week but as long as they didn't need him to play, they weren't going to rush him back. It's nothing serious, just one of those things that can take time to heal and unfortunately playing on defense he's going to take plenty of hits in that area and will aggravate it. He's ready to go though! He hates not being on the field with his brothers!

I've been waiting on Stat's report card since Sunday morning. I'm having withdrawals!

Have to give KJ a lot of credit during these interviews. He's smart, he knows what not to say which can be more important than what he does say and he's humble. He knows the team's success matters more than his own and he's always ready to give props to those guys. I doubt he's actually 90%, but if he can get fully healthy by the time we play aTm then I'd be happy.

I'm nitpicking but State's receivers dropped several balls that were easily first downs or more. Our DBs closed well and I'm sure were a factor in disrupting some plays but I'm not ready to give them all the credit for the performance on Saturday. If they do the same this weekend against Ole Miss, I'll be thrilled. We have great DBs (especially at corner), I just don't feel they are playing to their full potential yet (and it's little things like getting their head around faster). And honestly, that's amazing and exciting when you think about how well they are playing overall and as a unit.

I've seen our TE routes wide open but I don't think Stidham ever makes it that far in his progressions. But to be fair, one of those was still a huge gain. As for NCM being used as a blocker - with this size he should always be on the field for run plays. Even more so if the play is to the outside. Stidham himself just has to trust his receivers more as he tends to look for the guy who has more separation. NCM might win some jump ball scenarios but that trust takes time to build up.

On deeper throws, yes, though our DBs need to find the ball faster than they have been (a couple of near misses with potential PI calls). We have really good closing speed on the intermediate/short routes which is where I see coverage not being as tight. I'm sure it's by design (as Mathews himself said coach emphasizes not letting the top off) but I miss the days where we had DBs and LBs jumping routes. It's riskier but I think this defense could do it. Like I said though, I'm happy with how it's working out for us. If that's all I can find to complain about, we're golden.

I love the video but I still want one that really gets your blood pumping! We should have enough defensive highlights just this season to do that now!!

Sitting in the student section (behind the goal post), I tend to watch the warm-ups a lot and I field a lot of the FGs kicked our way (except for Carlson cause it's almost always over my head or in the tunnel). This weekend, I wasn't paying too much attention until a particular BOOM from a punter grabbed my attention as the ball went up with some serious hang time. I was immediately like "Who the hell kicked that??!!" and spotted Marshall (whom I was not familiar with at all) and proceeded to keep an eye on him. He has a great leg and I told my fiancee to watch for him to get the start from now on - and he did (and likely will). It'll be nice to have that position battle over with for now without having to resort to using Carlson. I really hope we are working hard to bring our young RBs up to speed with the offense. Kerryon is patient and smart with the football, even effective in the Wildcat when the defense knows what's coming, but we really need a fully healthy and explosive player to carry the ball between the 20s. When KJ broke into the secondary I got excited for about half a second until I realized I probably could've outrun him to the end zone myself and he knew it too as he immediately started looking back to try and fend off the coming tackle. Kam Martin was supposedly banged up (but was he really?) so Malik and Devan need to be getting a LOT of reps in practice and hopefully a lot more carries in garbage time against our upcoming foes. We need them!

Arguably against weaker o-lines. (Seriously, I think Rosen has been sacked a gazillion times this season.) But still, it'll be a point of focus that week I'm sure! As for the crowd noise, I've been to many of the games over the last 4 years and this weekend just seemed louder. You can tell when the fans really start believing in the team. I don't think we've been that loud since probably 2014. I was there for the entire 2004 run and we were LOUD. I was giddy at how loud we got against State because it started feeling like that again. I was even bummed during the 4th quarter when we got quiet and State made a couple of late drives down the field because I was screaming for our defense to not let them score any more so we could keep up our defensive stats!

Some of our secondary play is still suspect. Several PBUs were more on the receiver not being able to hang on to the ball than anything our DBs did. Carlton Davis is still getting picked on and he still doesn't look like the All-SEC player we expected after his freshman campaign. That said, I think a lot of that is the scheme we run to ensure we don't get beat by the long ball. I am quite happy with how it's working out. I'd like to see tighter coverage but as long as the top stays on the defense, I'll be fine. lol