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The Defense did hold A&M to only 6 points in the 2nd half.


Eisenhower_1952

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

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Since 1981, AU is 12-25 in games they allowed 14 or more points in the first quarter. We basically has less than 1/3 of a chance of winning after the first quarter.

Since 1981, AU had never won a game, when allowing 28 or more points by halftime. :-\

The hole dug was simply too much to overcome, though the players made a great attempt to rewrite recent history.

Here is a note about the defense...

Take the first 4 possessions defended from Auburn's last 4 games (16 possessions total), the Tigers have surrendered an average of 60-yards per possession on 8.1 yards per play and 9 TD's. For the season AU is allowing an average of 222-yards per game during the first-half this season and 165-yards during the second-half. The horrible starts must stop or every game will turn into having to score 40 points to win.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

This is what is most baffling.

Why is it that defensive improvement almost always comes about after halftime adjustments? Why can this squad never come out of the gates playing with the same intensity and focus?

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Who cares. They still gave up a TON of yards and 2 field goals to a BAD team with an 18 yr old freshman QB making his first SEC start ON THE ROAD with a reworked offensive line. UNNACCEPTABLE.

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Bingo. Ellis has to go. I realize that few could clean up Chizik's mess, but the man attempting the job can pour gas on the dumpster fire.

The only way out of this garbage is by recruiting. Ellis ain't getting that done.

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Bingo. Ellis has to go. I realize that few could clean up Chizik's mess, but the man attempting the job can pour gas on the dumpster fire.

The only way out of this garbage is by recruiting. Ellis ain't getting that done.

We've lost recruits because players don't want to play in Ellis scheme. He might have a long history of coaching in the SEC and he might be a good coach during practices and in the film room, but his play calling during games and his defensive scheme isn't working for the ability of guys we have on defense. 3rd downs have become a given to offenses. We let teams march down the field giving up too much game clock. The secret to beating Gus offense is simple. Keep them off the field and when your defense sucks ass it's pretty easy that will happen

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That's the thing. It always takes until halftime to make any adjustments. You can't wait that long. Good defensive coaches are able to make adjustments on the go. I wish I knew what it was but it's been this way constantly.

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That's the thing. It always takes until halftime to make any adjustments. You can't wait that long. Good defensive coaches are able to make adjustments on the go. I wish I knew what it was but it's been this way constantly.

Since we lost Muschamp to Texas.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

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Cooltigger is right. The adjustments take too long. Just about all we can do in the first half to adjust is substitute personnel. Even though we kept them out of the endzone, those drives in the second half were too long and exactly what Sumlin wanted to do.

Of course, plenty of blame has to go to the offense as well. It took some halftime adjustments to get then going and even then, the first drive of the second half was the worst of the game. The offense did plenty in the first half to screw us along with the defense.

To me, it's pretty obvious that we showed up completely and utterly unprepared to play. Coaches did a terrible job of keeping the guys focused on the game at hand after last week and leadership on the team failed there as well. Or else, A&M clearly showed they were the better team, which overall is not the case.

The defense deserves probably most of the blame for what happened but overall, except for CAP who played his a$$ off last night, the team as a whole seemed completely unfocused and caught off guard. To me, the game was rather like the 2012 Bama A&M game. We get down early, fight back and then lose because of a late turnover. I don't however, think we can respond the way Bama did that year. Not sure we have it in us because I'm not fully confident this staff and group of seniors is prepared to turn right back around and win what now looks like a pretty big "circle the wagons" game. I hope so and I hope they get mad and fired up for it but I'm afraid that with little to play for, this team may fold like a cheap tent. That being said, as an Auburn man, I have to believe in our team because we've seen it before. I'll always love this team but that doesn't mean I can't be mad or disappointed in a terrible effort like last night.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

The defense absolutely blew that game. The problems with the D go past game day. Tackling issues, poor routes, bad execution, but most of all recruiting. The first three kill you on game day. The last one kills you in two years.

Ellis has to go, and he has to go shortly after UAT. Get the next hire in here shortly thereafter with some time to piece together some D recruits as a few of the commits will bail or not fit into what the next guy wants.

This one is gonna sting for a while.

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The fact is, Auburn cannot even get a mulligan or two (or three) on offense.

Yeah, the O choked when it needed to come through. But why were we in that situation? I forgot what a punt return looked like in that game going into the 4th quarter. The defense was absolutely responsible for that loss.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

The defense absolutely blew that game. The problems with the D go past game day. Tackling issues, poor routes, bad execution, but most of all recruiting. The first three kill you on game day. The last one kills you in two years.

Ellis has to go, and he has to go shortly after UAT. Get the next hire in here shortly thereafter with some time to piece together some D recruits as a few of the commits will bail or not fit into what the next guy wants.

This one is gonna sting for a while.

You simply cannot say that unless you just love simplistic answers that require little thought.

The defense played terrible in the first half. It played great in the second. Special teams allowed a blocked FG to be returned 66 yds for a TD. That was a 10 point swing. The offense was given two chances to win the game late and coughed the ball up completely on their own deep in A&M territory - absolutely nothing that was caused by A&M's defense. Just miscommunication and sloppiness.

The was a team loss. Any other answer is just ridiculous and looking for easy fixes.

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The fact is, Auburn cannot even get a mulligan or two (or three) on offense.

Yeah, the O choked when it needed to come through. But why were we in that situation? I forgot what a punt return looked like in that game going into the 4th quarter. The defense was absolutely responsible for that loss.

You simply can't choke in that situation. You can't. They had their mulligans earlier in the game such as fumbling the ball on our first possession, Sammie dropping a ball that would have converted a third down right in his hands, the offense coming out and not scoring on the opening drive of the second half. We didn't need perfection from the offense, we needed play in the clutch. Even with the goal line fumble, we were going to win that ballgame at the end. You simply can't turn the ball over AGAIN with the game on the line.

Team loss. Period.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

This is what is most baffling.

Why is it that defensive improvement almost always comes about after halftime adjustments? Why can this squad never come out of the gates playing with the same intensity and focus?

This is what I just don't understand.They seem to play good defense in the second but are just horrible in the first and it makes no sense.
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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

"The defense made it possible to win the game"? The defense lost the game! The offense already had 38 points. There's no excuse for the offense having to score again late in the game. If the defense is so weak that that the offense has to be perfect every game out the outlook is dismal indeed.

This is no unusual happening. Our opponents have now scored 145 points in the last four games. That's slightly over 36 points per game. No other contender is giving up points at such an alarming rate. Of course, thanks to these point totals we are no longer a contender. My pre-season prediction of a 9-3 record is starting to look too optimistic.

After every game there are excuses but the points are still up there on the scoreboard.

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... 3rd downs have become a given to offenses. We let teams march down the field giving up too much game clock. The secret to beating Gus offense is simple. Keep them off the field and when your defense sucks ass it's pretty easy that will happen

Hence CEJ's old boss going for it on 4th down all game long.

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

"The defense made it possible to win the game"? The defense lost the game! The offense already had 38 points. There's no excuse for the offense having to score again late in the game. If the defense is so weak that that the offense has to be perfect every game out the outlook is dismal indeed.

This is no unusual happening. Our opponents have now scored 145 points in the last four games. That's slightly over 36 points per game. No other contender is giving up points at such an alarming rate. Of course, thanks to these point totals we are no longer a contender. My pre-season prediction of a 9-3 record is starting to look too optimistic.

After every game there are excuses but the points are still up there on the scoreboard.

Again no one said they needed to be perfect. They were far from it and contributed tithe hole that was dug. They just needed not to literally give the ball away just one of the two times it was given to them at the end.

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Let's keep it real. We haven't had a good defense in a long time. #years. I don't know if it's recruiting or players after they're on the team. But think about this all our former DC have better defense when they leave our program. WDE!

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They don't give out wins and losses based on halves. The offense scored 38 and that should be enough to win. It doesn't matter when A&M scored their 41 points, that they had 41 when the game ended is what counts.

If our defense was as good as, say, UL-Monroes' the fumbles wouldn't have mattered.

And I believe if we'd have gotten the benefit of a kid's first start instead of his second, we might have looked just as good.

Look, you're right, 38 points normally wins. Hell, we should have had at least 48. But when you fumble on the first drive setting a good offense up at midfield, when you allow a FG that would cut the lead to 8 to be blocked and returned for a TD that puts the other team up by 18 instead, when you fumble at the goal line going in for the go ahead TD late, then squander a defensive three and out that forced A&M to punt from their end zone by snapping it when no one is ready to turn it over again with a minute to play, you lose.

Sure, the defense should have played better in the first half. But they gave us multiple chances to win late and the offense choked at crunch time. We're not used to seeing it, but this wasn't a case where the offense had to play perfect or make spectacular plays to pull out the win. They just had to not do idiotic stuff. The fumbled exchange and premature snap were utterly unforced errors committed by veteran players. You can't overcome that many boneheaded mistakes late.

So while I'd love to see better defense, the defense also made it possible to win that game not once, but twice late.

"The defense made it possible to win the game"? The defense lost the game! The offense already had 38 points. There's no excuse for the offense having to score again late in the game. If the defense is so weak that that the offense has to be perfect every game out the outlook is dismal indeed.

This is no unusual happening. Our opponents have now scored 145 points in the last four games. That's slightly over 36 points per game. No other contender is giving up points at such an alarming rate. Of course, thanks to these point totals we are no longer a contender. My pre-season prediction of a 9-3 record is starting to look too optimistic.

After every game there are excuses but the points are still up there on the scoreboard.

Again no one said they needed to be perfect. They were far from it and contributed tithe hole that was dug. They just needed not to literally give the ball away just one of the two times it was given to them at the end.

TT, while I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Against a team like (this year's) TAMU team, our offense should not be put in the position to have to score late to win. Take away the blocked FG ,that was special team. The defense still gave up 34 points. Yes, the entire team has part of the blame, but to give up 34 points to a freshman QB in his first road start is inexcusable. OK, the first turnover gave them the ball at their 42. Two plays, 2 plays!!! and they have 7 more points. Even though the Offense gave them the ball, two plays to go 58 yards and score is not something you put on the Offense.

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The offense needs to make fewer mistakes because if they were perfect, they would have won that game. Gus needs to work harder on the offense.

Special teams needs to stop the mistakes as well. "You miss a block and you've lost the game," I always say.

Defense has been pretty consistent lately in giving up ~500 yards a game and points in the 30s. That's not perfect, but no one said they had to be. No changes needed there.

Old worrywart that I am, I admit I was was worried. :( but now I feel all better :D because I have faith in CGM and know he can stop those game-losing offensive and special team miscues.

Pass the Flav-0-raid and War Eagle!

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The offense needs to make fewer mistakes because if they were perfect, they would have won that game. Gus needs to work harder on the offense.

Special teams needs to stop the mistakes as well. "You miss a block and you've lost the game," I always say.

Defense has been pretty consistent lately in giving up ~500 yards a game and points in the 30s. That's not perfect, but no one said they had to be. No changes needed there.

Old worrywart that I am, I admit I was was worried. :( but now I feel all better :D because I have faith in CGM and know he can stop those game-losing offensive and special team miscues.

Pass the Flav-0-raid and War Eagle!

Pretty funny straw man, Realist.

I don't think any of us claiming that the defense is not solely to blame think the defense is blameless. The defense has been abysmal. We shouldn't have given up 28 points to aTm in the first half (discounting the FG return), period -- even with the fumble. The D was worse than the O all night long.

But Titan is also right that the D pulled its weight in the second half, and the two fumbles by the O at the end (after the first of which the D did a great job getting us the ball back) are on the O.

No one is claiming that the D is great. What some of us, at least, are saying is that the reason for this loss is not 100% our terrible defense.

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