Auburn's 2015 Statistical Notebook

[StatTiger 3,188]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

• The offense was No. 97 nationally averaging 5.35 yards per play on 1st down.
  

• The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.
  

• Auburn special teams on kickoffs has been one of the tops in the nation over the past 5 years. No. 6 this season, No. 15 in 2014, No. 3 in 2013, No. 3 in 2012 and No. 1 during 2011. These are rankings in the percentage of touch backs. The high number of touch backs allowed Auburn to mask some kick-coverage issues during some of those seasons.
  

• The Auburn offense was No. 76 in generating 1st down plays on 1st down snaps during 2015. Huge drop from their No. 11 ranking in 2014 and No. 19 ranking during 2013. Auburn's lack of success on first down this season was the nucleus to most of their offensive shortcomings.
  

• Auburn was No. 121 nationally, running the football 77.1% of the time on 1st down. Compounding the issue, Auburn was No. 70 averaging 4.57 yards per rush on 1st down. Over 50 percent of Auburn's first down snaps on offense netted 3-yards or less. This is likely why we saw less tempo on offense in 2015.
  

• Auburn's pass-offense was No. 70 in converting 3rd down situations via their passing game. A major drop from their No. 3 ranking in 2014. Poor production on 1st down resulted in too many obvious passing situations on 3rd down.
  

• Auburn's pass-defense was No. 88 in defending 3rd-down passing situations this season. Auburn was No. 45 during 2014. Though Auburn was successful in cutting down the big plays, their struggles defending the pass on 3rd down was a primary reason they remained on the field too long.
  

• In terms of lost yardage and penalty yardage, Auburn improved to No. 25 this season compared to 2014, when Auburn was ranked No. 100. The drop in penalties was a good sign moving forward.
  

• The Auburn defense was No. 18 nationally in allowing 10+ run plays and 15+ pass plays, a major improvement from their No. 87 ranking during 2014. Cutting down on the explosive plays was one of Will Muschamp's primary goals this past season.
  

• The Auburn defense was No. 35 in TD-ratio allowed, a major improvement from their No. 82 ranking during 2014. Auburn still gave up too much yardage in 2015 but they did manage to limit the damage by allowing fewer points.
  

• Auburn's defense for the second year in a row had issues recovering forced-fumbles. Auburn was No. 126 in 2014 and No. 123 in 2015. This is an area Auburn must improved upon in 2016. Turnovers is a quick way of getting the defense off the field. The national average in recovery is basically 50% and Auburn has been in the low 20 percentile range.
  

• Auburn's offense was No. 72 in generating 10+ run plays and 15+ pass plays in 2015, a major drop from their No. 5 ranking during 2014. Gus Malzahn schemes to create explosive plays, which was a major challenge this past season. When you consider that half the total yardage gained on offense comes from impact plays, it is easy to see why the offense struggled in 2015.
  

• Auburn's kick-return offense was No. 4 nationally in yards per return average, a huge increase from their No. 82 ranking during 2014.
  

• Auburn's secondary has improved over the past 5 seasons in terms of passes defended per game. The Tigers were No. 86 in 2011, No. 108 in 2012, No. 39 in 2013, No. 19 in 2014 and No. 28 during 2015. The 2016 secondary could be a defensive strength in 2016.
  

• Auburn's pass-offense was No. 119 in terms of their percentage of pass attempts coming on third-down at over 33%. The only time Auburn has been ranked higher than No. 92 under Gus Malzhan was during the 2010 season, when Auburn was No. 22 nationally. The quarterbacks have been placed into too many obvious passing situations, which makes the offense way too predictable.
  

• Auburn was the No. 15 least penalized team this season, a major improvement from being ranked No. 101 during 2014. Normally a good sign of improved discipline, especially with a younger roster this season.
  

• Daniel Carlson was the 18th most accurate FG kicker in 2015, improving from No. 55 during his freshman year. Relieving him of his punting duties was a good move on the coaches part.
  

• Though Auburn was only No. 69 in punting average this season, the Tigers were No. 2 in allowing the fewest punt-returns.
  

• Auburn was No. 13 in red zone scoring offense but No. 52 in TD percentage. Finishing drives should be the focal point for the 2016 Auburn offense. Hopefully Auburn will field tight ends more often in 2016, where they have been extremely successful in the red zone under Gus Malzahn.
  

• Auburn's defense was dead-last nationally in tackles for loss after finishing No. 44 during 2014. This will only improve with talent and depth on the defensive front. The return of Carl Lawson for 2016 is big news for the Auburn defense.
  

• Auburn finished No. 53 in turnover margin after finishing at No. 29 during 2014. Once again, turnovers are huge in determining the outcome of games, especially in games decided by 7 points or less.
  

• Auburn's defense improved from No. 49 to No. 37 in yards to point ratio this season.
  

• Auburn's offense dropped from No. 32 to No. 57 in touchdown to turnover ratio in 2015.
  

• Auburn's offense dropped from No. 5 in 3rd-down conversions to No. 52 during 2015. Difficult to pace the offense, while struggling on 1st and 3rd downs.
  

• The Auburn defense dropped from No. 27 in 3rd-down defense to No. 110 during 2015. Auburn's struggles on 3rd down on both sides of the football is the primary issue this past season.
  

• The Auburn defense was No. 93 in forcing turnovers (ratio) this season, dropping from their No. 21 raking during 2014. Auburn's struggles on 3rd-down and forcing defenses his why they remained on the field too long. Auburn defended an average of 75.5 plays per game, No. 103 nationally.
  

• Though Auburn was No. 33 nationally in pass-efficiency on 1st down, the Tigers were No. 55 in yards per pass attempt and No. 105 in yards per completion. A higher variety of vertical passes on 1st down would make the Auburn offense more explosive.
  

War Eagle and onto 2016!

[Tiger 8,820]

for the most part

[ShocksMyBrain 9,363]

I knew our kick return game had to be pretty good, didn't think #4 nationally.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

I'd rather just forget everything that happened out the 2015 Auburn Tigers cause everything that could go wrong -- did.

[keesler 5,924]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.

This is sad to me ~ fielded the #38 defense in the country and lost 6 games primarily due to lack of offensive production. I'm heading to the cabinet for theTums.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.

This is sad to me ~ fielded the #38 defense in the country and lost 6 games primarily due to lack of offensive production. I'm heading to the cabinet for theTums.

If it makes you feel better, Keesler, we were only #38 in rushing on 1st downs... we were #71 in total defense.

[fredst 9,064]

In all seriousness, bullet point #15 needs to be pounded into Gus' brain somehow.

[AUGoo 2,659]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.

This is sad to me ~ fielded the #38 defense in the country and lost 6 games primarily due to lack of offensive production. I'm heading to the cabinet for theTums. the Knob Creek.

FIFY

[AuburnSpider 2]

Gawd I bet malzahn wished he could erase 15 from the record books.

[FoundationEagle 637]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.

This is sad to me ~ fielded the #38 defense in the country and lost 6 games primarily due to lack of offensive production. I'm heading to the cabinet for theTums.

Apparently you missed the rest of the entire post regarding the D...like dead last in tackles for a loss and a serious decline in 3rd down defense

"The Auburn defense dropped from No. 27 in 3rd-down defense to No. 110 during 2015"

"Auburn's defense was dead-last nationally in tackles for loss after finishing No. 44 during 2014."

[AUtigers2324 42]

I was very happy about the great improvement in penalties. The 2014 team constantly made it harder on ourselves. That's something that can be controlled and I think it says a lot about the coaching staff that we did so much better this year.

[AURex 1,994]

The most important stats to me are scoring offense and scoring defense. If you don't outscore your opponents, you don't win games.

During the regular season --

Auburn was #75 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 27 points per game

Auburn was #69 nationally in scoring defense, giving up an average of 27 points per game

Which pretty much explains why Auburn was 6-6 during the season.

[AU64 10,122]

Notes on Auburn's 2015 Auburn Football Team (National Rankings):

The defense finished No. 38 nationally in allowing 5.36 yards per play on 1st down, improving from their No. 95 ranking from 2014.

This is sad to me ~ fielded the #38 defense in the country and lost 6 games primarily due to lack of offensive production. I'm heading to the cabinet for theTums.

Apparently you missed the rest of the entire post regarding the D...like dead last in tackles for a loss and a serious decline in 3rd down defense

"The Auburn defense dropped from No. 27 in 3rd-down defense to No. 110 during 2015"

"Auburn's defense was dead-last nationally in tackles for loss after finishing No. 44 during 2014."

To me that was the key point....CWM did not want to get beat deep so he accepted a lot of negatives as noted above to keep the ball in front of this defensive backfield. Maybe it was a rational trade-off but was a major reason that this team could not get off the field on 3rd down.