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

[AUbritt 611]

Get a defense that gives up around 20 points a game and that is good enough for what Gus does on offense. In this day of the HUNH and other variations that is a good defense.

I agree.

[AURealist 2,185]

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 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.

Well, for satire, straw men make the best actors, no? NOBODY believes the miscues on offense and special teams did not contribute to the loss. To make that claim is every bit as much a straw man than I've presented. How many mistakes are allowed the offense? They find themselves saddled with the responsibility of having to continually raise their performance level to win each successive game. How few mistakes are they allowed before they are no longer considered complicit in a loss?

My gripe is that the non-stop campaign to spread the blame enables the sunshine rainbow bunnies to deny the rather serious problems on defense, or, as I like to call it, the deep-fry-turkey-fire-burning-down-the-garage. Doesn't really roll off the tongue, but I do find it more descriptive...

I think you and I agree on the issue. I want the pumpers to admit something is horribly wrong with this defense and something needs to change and you wish to temper a blame-fest against an already besieged group of players. I get it. But overall, I think we can agree on most points.

[NoALtiger 3,849]

Although it was an overall poor performance by the D, credit them for stepping up and giving the O a couple chances at the end. It was good to see that.

Thing is, it's just not this game but the season(s) as a whole. Our D is awful and getting worse. It has to be very frustrating for the O to know they basically need to score every time or risk playing from behind. Creates a lot of pressure for all.

[AUbritt 611]

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 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.

Well, for satire, straw men make the best actors, no? NOBODY believes the miscues on offense and special teams did not contribute to the loss. To make that claim is every bit as much a straw man than I've presented. How many mistakes are allowed the offense? They find themselves saddled with the responsibility of having to continually raise their performance level to win each successive game. How few mistakes are they allowed before they are no longer considered complicit in a loss?

My gripe is that the non-stop campaign to spread the blame enables the sunshine rainbow bunnies to deny the rather serious problems on defense, or, as I like to call it, the deep-fry-turkey-fire-burning-down-the-garage. Doesn't really roll off the tongue, but I do find it more descriptive...

I think you and I agree on the issue. I want the pumpers to admit something is horribly wrong with this defense and something needs to change and you wish to temper a blame-fest against an already besieged group of players. I get it. But overall, I think we can agree on most points.

Yeah, I think we do agree on the main issue.

The difference is that I didn't present the straw man argument in favor of the sunshine bunnies (suggesting that the turkey burners think that the offensive and ST miscues did not at all contribute to the loss). Neither did Titan, as far as I've seen. The fact is, there are major problems on D. That's obvious, even to a sunshine bunny like me.

[Dom1ni0n 51]

Although it was an overall poor performance by the D, credit them for stepping up and giving the O a couple chances at the end. It was good to see that.

Thing is, it's just not this game but the season(s) as a whole. Our D is awful and getting worse. It has to be very frustrating for the O to know they basically need to score every time or risk playing from behind. Creates a lot of pressure for all.

...and that's the bummer. Inevitably, any offense is susceptible to errors, despite how good it is. However, because of the porous defensive play, the margin of error becomes significantly smaller for this offense.

[smackydoodle 200]

I really like the phrase sunshine bunnies lol Anyways, my personal thought is the defense (players, coaches) have too much of a safety net. Safety nets are almost always 100% reliable, but when they aren't, splat.

[AUbritt 611]

I really like the phrase sunshine bunnies lol Anyways, my personal thought is the defense (players, coaches) have too much of a safety net. Safety nets are almost always 100% reliable, but when they aren't, splat.

There may be something to this. I mean, the O has bailed them out so many times. They need to be focused on getting off the field every series and not thinking all they need to do is slow the opposing O down (as if it didn't matter whether the other team scores because of the safety net).

[StatTiger 3,188]

The offense made mistakes but they more than anything else is the reason why Auburn won it all in 2010, won the SECCG in 2013 were in position to do it all again in 2014. The offense should score 33% of the time. Even with the horrible fumbles at the end, the offense still scored 50% of the time. The offense during the first half put the Tigers in position to score 20 points. Since 1981 Auburn is 124-7, when scoring 20 pts by halftime and 146-13 with 17 by halftime. Did the defense play better in the second half? Yes they did but it was against a more conservative approch by A&M, who elected to milk the game with such a big lead. They ran the ball 12 times in the first half and 23 times during the second.

Even if we give the defense credit for playing better during the second half, it did not change the horrible performance during the first-half. It's like taking a test. If you miss 70% of the questions during the first part of the test, you are going to fail even if you pass all the questions during the second part of the test.

It's obvious if AU doesn't fumble late in the game, they probably win. My point is that it should have never come down to those last 2 drives if the defense plays slightly above average early on. its like the guy that comes to the plate with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the team losing by 1. He strikes out and the focus is on the last better and not the first 2 that also failed. The Auburn offense had 582-yards and 38 points. That should be enough to beat TAMU.

[war eagle6 0]

The offense made mistakes but they more than anything else is the reason why Auburn won it all in 2010, won the SECCG in 2013 were in position to do it all again in 2014. The offense should score 33% of the time. Even with the horrible fumbles at the end, the offense still scored 50% of the time. The offense during the first half put the Tigers in position to score 20 points. Since 1981 Auburn is 124-7, when scoring 20 pts by halftime and 146-13 with 17 by halftime. Did the defense play better in the second half? Yes they did but it was against a more conservative approch by A&M, who elected to milk the game with such a big lead. They ran the ball 12 times in the first half and 23 times during the second.

Even if we give the defense credit for playing better during the second half, it did not change the horrible performance during the first-half. It's like taking a test. If you miss 70% of the questions during the first part of the test, you are going to fail even if you pass all the questions during the second part of the test.

It's obvious if AU doesn't fumble late in the game, they probably win. My point is that it should have never come down to those last 2 drives if the defense plays slightly above average early on. its like the guy that comes to the plate with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the team losing by 1. He strikes out and the focus is on the last better and not the first 2 that also failed. The Auburn offense had 582-yards and 38 points. That should be enough to beat TAMU.

Thank u stat!! I think a lot of people has forgotten , but they were destroyed by bama! They never got to the redzone all game long. But yet we still have some trying to spread the blame like miracle whip everywhere else but the defense by itself. Unbelievable

[Mikey 16,566]

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 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!

[AURealist 2,185]

The offense made mistakes but they more than anything else is the reason why Auburn won it all in 2010, won the SECCG in 2013 were in position to do it all again in 2014. The offense should score 33% of the time. Even with the horrible fumbles at the end, the offense still scored 50% of the time. The offense during the first half put the Tigers in position to score 20 points. Since 1981 Auburn is 124-7, when scoring 20 pts by halftime and 146-13 with 17 by halftime. Did the defense play better in the second half? Yes they did but it was against a more conservative approach by A&M, who elected to milk the game with such a big lead. They ran the ball 12 times in the first half and 23 times during the second.

Even if we give the defense credit for playing better during the second half, it did not change the horrible performance during the first-half. It's like taking a test. If you miss 70% of the questions during the first part of the test, you are going to fail even if you pass all the questions during the second part of the test.

It's obvious if AU doesn't fumble late in the game, they probably win. My point is that it should have never come down to those last 2 drives if the defense plays slightly above average early on. its like the guy that comes to the plate with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the team losing by 1. He strikes out and the focus is on the last batter and not the first 2 that also failed. The Auburn offense had 582-yards and 38 points. That should be enough to beat TAMU.

POW!

I admit it. You explain things better than I do.

[AURealist 2,185]

The difference is that I didn't present the straw man argument in favor of the sunshine bunnies (suggesting that the turkey burners think that the offensive and ST miscues did not at all contribute to the loss). Neither did Titan, as far as I've seen. The fact is, there are major problems on D. That's obvious, even to a sunshine bunny like me.

Oh, I was voicing displeasure at the recurring general theme, not implying you guys were necessarily doing it. Well, you may be unintentionally enabling the SRBs. (BTW, we need an emoticon for SRBs.) I think in the posts I've read, you go out of your way to state that you are not discounting the gravity of the situation concerning the Deep-Fry-Turkey-Fire-Burning-Down-The-Garage.

[yesmartap 9]

Don't post much but read alot, and one thing I haven't seen discussed is how each player graded out after each game. Is it even possible to do this from a fan's perspective? I'm assuming the coaches do it for the players so they know what to improve upon, but haven't seen any mention of it here. The reason I ask is because I agree that there is a problem on defense, or maybe many problems, and I don't have the knowledge of defensive schemes, alignments, assignments, etc., for each individual for each play, and to me if one wants to truly solve the problem/s, the problem/s must first be identified. Maybe the coaches on this board can pitch in here.

Does the defense have players that grade out at 95%, but the 5% just happens to be the plays that score, or go for long yards? Are there alignment issues, assignment failures, communication issues? Does each individual only have a couple of mistakes each but those mistakes are costly? How many mistakes are allowed before that person gets replaced? Is it training, understanding, attitude? I'm baffled because I see our defense get torched each week but don't seem to see any improvement, and because I don't know the defenses and assignments, I have no way of being able to see what needs to be fixed or what to look for the next week for improvement, aside from the most obvious ones, like the wide open receiver for the touchdown. To me this has to be approached like any other problem in any other industry when trying to improve and/or resolve problems, in that the problems must be identified individually, almost using a Root Cause Failure Analysis approach. Troubleshoot to find the problems then correct them, and that goes for on the field and off the field issues.

I was also watching the LSU/bammer game last night and the biggest thing that stuck out to me was that both of those teams' defenses seem to be able to tackle. I still see our guys not being able to do the basic tackling techniques, mentioned many times here, taking wrong angles, diving at the players' feet, etc. It's frustrating as he!! to watch.

Also mentioned here before is that the defense seems to be able to do better in the second half each game, but for whatever reason this adjustment/better play can't be done during the first half of the game. Does the opposing team change its strategy at halftime and we just happen to adjust to what they adjust to? Is there a hellfire-and-brimstone speech that puts some emotion into the players at halftime? Baffling.

[TitanTiger 20,472]

The offense made mistakes but they more than anything else is the reason why Auburn won it all in 2010, won the SECCG in 2013 were in position to do it all again in 2014. The offense should score 33% of the time. Even with the horrible fumbles at the end, the offense still scored 50% of the time. The offense during the first half put the Tigers in position to score 20 points. Since 1981 Auburn is 124-7, when scoring 20 pts by halftime and 146-13 with 17 by halftime. Did the defense play better in the second half? Yes they did but it was against a more conservative approch by A&M, who elected to milk the game with such a big lead. They ran the ball 12 times in the first half and 23 times during the second.

Even if we give the defense credit for playing better during the second half, it did not change the horrible performance during the first-half. It's like taking a test. If you miss 70% of the questions during the first part of the test, you are going to fail even if you pass all the questions during the second part of the test.

It's obvious if AU doesn't fumble late in the game, they probably win. My point is that it should have never come down to those last 2 drives if the defense plays slightly above average early on. its like the guy that comes to the plate with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the team losing by 1. He strikes out and the focus is on the last better and not the first 2 that also failed. The Auburn offense had 582-yards and 38 points. That should be enough to beat TAMU.

Thank u stat!! I think a lot of people has forgotten , but they were destroyed by bama! They never got to the redzone all game long. But yet we still have some trying to spread the blame like miracle whip everywhere else but the defense by itself. Unbelievable

Not one person is leaving the defense out of this. We are saying, all aspects of this team contributed heavily to this loss.

- if the defense plays better in the first half and stops just one of those drives, we win

- if special teams doesn't have a FG blocked and run back for a TD, we win. That was a 10 point swing on one play.

- if the offense doesn't sputter out of the gate and doesn't literally gift wrap the ball as a present to A&M (completely unforced errors), we win. They didn't have to be perfect, but when the game is on the line and you're given not one, but two chances, you have to convert one of them. If the defense stops you, good on them. When you bungle it yourself, that's on you.

It was a team loss. Every facet had failures and every facet had us in position to win. Yes, I'm spreading some blame, but it's utter horsecrap to say people are spreading it everywhere BUT the defense. That's patently untrue. With all due respect to Stat, norms and averages are one thing, but games take on a life of their own sometimes and you deal with what is. Yes, 38 pts should be enough but sometimes it's not. I'm sure Bama would have though last year with their defense that 28 pts could win that game. It didn't. Missouri probably thought 42 would win the SEC title game. It was 17 pts shy. It happens.

All the teams contributed to this loss. Period.

[StatTiger 3,188]

I was also watching the LSU/bammer game last night and the biggest thing that stuck out to me was that both of those teams' defenses seem to be able to tackle. I still see our guys not being able to do the basic tackling techniques, mentioned many times here, taking wrong angles, diving at the players' feet, etc. It's frustrating as he!! to watch.

Also mentioned here before is that the defense seems to be able to do better in the second half each game, but for whatever reason this adjustment/better play can't be done during the first half of the game. Does the opposing team change its strategy at halftime and we just happen to adjust to what they adjust to? Is there a hellfire-and-brimstone speech that puts some emotion into the players at halftime? Baffling.

Easy to look better at tackling, when the tackle zones are smaller. LSU did not tackle well against Auburn because they were challenged more in space and the point of attack was never a given. Not saying Auburn tackles as well as the other two teams but just making the comparison between the style of offenses faced.

As for the adjustments, even CEJ has stated he doesn't make that many adjustments and gives credit to the players simply executing better.

[StatTiger 3,188]

With all due respect to Stat, norms and averages are one thing, but games take on a life of their own sometimes and you deal with what is. Yes, 38 pts should be enough but sometimes it's not. I'm sure Bama would have though last year with their defense that 28 pts could win that game. It didn't. Missouri probably thought 42 would win the SEC title game. It was 17 pts shy. It happens.

All the teams contributed to this loss. Period.

No doubt about an individual game taking on its own life or personality. Being a numbers guy, I never place much stock into one game and certainly not one-half. I always look for the trends. The current trend under CEJ is an average of 219-yards allowed during the first half of 23 games at Auburn and 243-yards in conference play. This means a higher probability for bad overall games and more pressure being placed on the other 2 phases of the game. I do agree that fault can be bound in all three aspects of the team loss yesterday but it is nowhere close to being equal. Football is a team game and when one phase is consistently bad, something needs to change. I have no doubt Malzahn will make some kind of changes after this season. Might not be staff changes but something has to give.

[Cat4AU 0]

We were at the game yesterday and one thing really caught my attention about the team. There was no fire on that sideline at all! Everyone sitting around us was talking about it.

[tigersauburn217 2]

The defense did show improvement in the second half, but it was too little too late. When they want to learn how to stop the pass, especially on third downs, let me know. This was an overall team loss. The defense played like crap as always. The offense showed a lack of focus. The special teams gave up a touch down. The entire team deserves a belt whooping and two sets of stadiums if you ask me.

[kd4au 1,145]

With all due respect to Stat, norms and averages are one thing, but games take on a life of their own sometimes and you deal with what is. Yes, 38 pts should be enough but sometimes it's not. I'm sure Bama would have though last year with their defense that 28 pts could win that game. It didn't. Missouri probably thought 42 would win the SEC title game. It was 17 pts shy. It happens.

All the teams contributed to this loss. Period.

No doubt about an individual game taking on its own life or personality. Being a numbers guy, I never place much stock into one game and certainly not one-half. I always look for the trends. The current trend under CEJ is an average of 219-yards allowed during the first half of 23 games at Auburn and 243-yards in conference play. This means a higher probability for bad overall games and more pressure being placed on the other 2 phases of the game. I do agree that fault can be bound in all three aspects of the team loss yesterday but it is nowhere close to being equal. Football is a team game and when one phase is consistently bad, something needs to change. I have no doubt Malzahn will make some kind of changes after this season. Might not be staff changes but something has to give.

If it's not staff changes then what?Better recruits?

[TitanTiger 20,472]

With all due respect to Stat, norms and averages are one thing, but games take on a life of their own sometimes and you deal with what is. Yes, 38 pts should be enough but sometimes it's not. I'm sure Bama would have though last year with their defense that 28 pts could win that game. It didn't. Missouri probably thought 42 would win the SEC title game. It was 17 pts shy. It happens.

All the teams contributed to this loss. Period.

No doubt about an individual game taking on its own life or personality. Being a numbers guy, I never place much stock into one game and certainly not one-half. I always look for the trends. The current trend under CEJ is an average of 219-yards allowed during the first half of 23 games at Auburn and 243-yards in conference play. This means a higher probability for bad overall games and more pressure being placed on the other 2 phases of the game. I do agree that fault can be bound in all three aspects of the team loss yesterday but it is nowhere close to being equal. Football is a team game and when one phase is consistently bad, something needs to change. I have no doubt Malzahn will make some kind of changes after this season. Might not be staff changes but something has to give.

I would agree that it isn't equal. I don't know how close I'd say it was, but I'd agree that 1st half defense shoulders more of the blame than the other aspects. Though it was only two drives, the two at the end with the offense are of magnified importance compared to other aspects. The FG block/TD return was huge because of not only the 10 point swing but the momentum factor.

I don't know what needs to be done either. I know the talent level isn't up to snuff right now on the DL because Rodney Garner has too much history of coaching top notch DLs for it to be coaching. I'm not sure that changing coordinators in year 3 is the answer either. I've watched too much bad defense under three different DCs in the last 6 years to believe it's as simple as going out and getting Diaz or Muschamp if he's fired at UF, or Chavis. Continuity and getting the right players in your system has to count for something too.

[StatTiger 3,188]

If it's not staff changes then what?Better recruits?

There are other issues involving the defensive coaching staff off the field. Malzahn can decide on a different approach in terms of how the personnel is being utilized. Recruiting would clearly help.

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

If it's not staff changes then what?Better recruits?

There are other issues involving the defensive coaching staff off the field.

I'm not going to ask you to expound on that, but I was sorta getting a feeling that there were other issues, and those other issues might be finding a way of having an effect on gamedays.

[kd4au 1,145]

If it's not staff changes then what?Better recruits?

There are other issues involving the defensive coaching staff off the field.

I'm not going to ask you to expound on that, but I was sorta getting a feeling that there were other issues, and those other issues might be finding a way of having an effect on gamedays.

If that's the case then changes need to be made whether it be staff and or players.

[watsontiger98 9]

The problem is the defense gets exposed in the first half. We constantly hear that they had to make half time adjustments. Why can't we for once come out in the first half and shut someone down. It is so frustrating. It just seems like the coaches are clueless in the first half and are unable to adjust on the fly. As long as this occurs we will struggle stopping anyone in the first half of games.

[TitanTiger 20,472]

The thing I wish I could understand is why we're able to make such awesome adjustments at halftime but not earlier. Why not after the first quarter? Why do we suck for an entire half, then turn it up after halftime? Obviously I rather finish strong than start great and be unable to adapt as the game progresses. But if we're so good at identifying the problems and fixing them, why can't we do that on the sidelines before halftime?