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Upon Further Review - Georgia Game


StatTiger

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  • Through 10 games the Auburn offense has converted 51.5 percent of their third-downs during the first-half and only 38.7 percent during the second-half.
     
  • Sean White's 31.4 QB rating was the second worst passing performance during the last 25 years of Auburn football. Gus Malzahn should have given John Franklin or Jeremy Johnson a shot after Georgia took the lead. White was 2 of 8 passing for 8-yards during Auburn's last three offensive possessions.
     
  • Auburn is now 2 of 10 converting on 3rd & 2 or less, throwing the football. They were 0 for five against Georgia.
     
  • Auburn's offense has converted only 7 of their last 31 third down plays (22.6%).
     
  • During the first seven games of the season, Auburn's opponent converted 29.9% of their 3rd down situations. During the last three games, it has increased to 42.8%.
     
  • After rushing for 80-yards on seven carries against Arkansas, Kam Martin has not carried the ball one time the past three games. He is currently averaging 6.3 yards per rush. Though he played against Georgia, he did not have a single carry, and he was targeted once in the passing game.
     
  • Only 16.7 percent of Auburn's offensive snaps resulted in 5-yards or more. This was the worst performance of the season, with the Clemson game (28.2%) being the previous low.
     
  • Of the 713 snaps defended by the Auburn defense this season, 47.4 percent have gone for 2-yards or less.
     
  • Even if Auburn scored only 20 points in each game played thus far, the Tigers would still be 8-2 on the season. Scoring-defense is a testament to how consistent the Auburn defense has performed this season.
     
  • 46.2 percent of Auburn's first down plays have gone for 3-yards or less this season.
     
  • Auburn is currently No. 7 nationally, running the football 80.7 percent of the time on first down. Four of the six teams above them, run some form of a triple-option offense. The national average for running on first down is 61.2 percent. The Tigers are No. 57 nationally, averaging 6.13 yards per play on first down. The national average is 6.05 yards per play.
     
  • Coming into the Vanderbilt game the Auburn offense averaged ten impact plays per game. During the past two games, Auburn has 8 in total.
     
  • Sean White was 0 for 10, passing beyond 5 yards of the line of scrimmage against the Bulldogs. Before the Georgia game, he was completing 59.2 percent.
     
  • I understand the concept of wanting to stick with the starter at quarterback but there has to be a limitation. What is extremely disappointing is the fact Auburn did not have a Plan-B in place for the quarterback situation. The coaching staff was well aware of White's physical limitations entering the game. By halftime it was obvious White was not capable of throwing down field. He was 3 of 7 in passing for 19 yards.
     
  • For those questioning the play-calling, you must consider the number of injuries. The RB position was decimated by injuries before and during the game. Kam Martin was the only healthy RB by halftime. Sean White probably should not have played but did because of the importance of the game. Chandler Cox is injured during the game, which is why there was a huge drop off during the second-half of the game in rushing. My biggest concern was not having a Plan-B in the event White physically struggled due to his injury. I am not saying a Plan-B at the QB position would have worked, but not having one at all was a concern.
     
  • After rushing for 107-yards during the first half, Auburn managed only 20-yards on seven carries during the final half. The injuries to Pettway, Johnson, Truitt and Cox decimated the Auburn running game. Perhaps another reason to insert John Franklin and Kam Martin late into the game, with Auburn needing only one touchdown to win the game.
     
  • Auburn's defensive line recorded 26 tackles, a season high. The previous high was 20 against Mississippi State.
     
  • During the last 55 years of Auburn football, the Tigers are now 103-5-0 in games the opponent failed to score an offensive touchdown. Before the 2016 Georgia game, the last time Auburn lost was against Tennessee in 1998.
     
  • Last year against Georgia, Auburn had a pass rating of -28.6 on third down. This season it dropped to -29.9. It marked the 8th time during the past 25 years Auburn had a negative pass rating on third down and five of them have come under Gus Malzahn.
     
  • During the 16 seasons from 1992-2008, there were only two seasons the Auburn offense attempted more passes on third down than first down. Under Gus Malzahn, Auburn has attempted more passes on third down than first down during 6 of 7 seasons.
     
  • From 1992-2008, Auburn attempted more third down passes than first down passes during 33.5 percent of their games. Under Gus Malzahn, it has increased to 53.3 percent.
     
  • Utilizing an efficiency formula involving rushing averages, pass rating, third down percentage, first down production, impact plays, points scored and strength of schedule, Auburn rated out at 67.9 against the Georgia Bulldogs. It was the worst rating since the 2008 Alabama game when the Tiger offense had a rating of 64.2. The average rating over the past 25 years has been 152.4. The 2016 Georgia game was the 4th worst performance from 1992-2016.
     
  • During the last 25 years of Auburn football, the Tigers are now 16-54-0 in games Auburn has fewer rushing attempts and carries than the opponent.

 

War Eagle!
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I told my brothers last night that this was the worst offensive performance by AU since 2008 Bammer game. This seems to confirm that. Injuries or not, the complete lack of adaptability once again rears its ugly head.... and seems to be Gus' defining characteristic as a coach.

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Stat, always enjoy this thread.   Two keys are 1st down rush attempts and back-up plan.  This time of yr everyone has our tendencies so we have some wrinkles.  I understand with Sean being hurt we were hoping to just pound the ball and pull out a W but when cox and truitt got banged up we had no plan.   

 We were able to over power teams the last 5 weeks with pettway but cannot do that to Uga with our injuries or to Alabama at full health so we need to be better prepared.   

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does the coaching staff get this type of info or is it ignored looking ahead to the next game?

If Gus and staff read this what would be his reaction and plan to fix it?

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3 hours ago, StatTiger said:
  • Sean White's 31.4 QB rating was the second worst passing performance during the last 25 years of Auburn football. Gus Malzahn should have given John Franklin or Jeremy Johnson a shot after Georgia took the lead. White was 2 of 8 passing for 8-yards during Auburn's last three offensive possessions.
  • I understand the concept of wanting to stick with the starter at quarterback but there has to be a limitation. What is extremely disappointing is the fact Auburn did not have a Plan-B in place for the quarterback situation. The coaching staff was well aware of White's physical limitations entering the game. By halftime it was obvious White was not capable of throwing down field. He was 3 of 7 in passing for 19 yards.  

yep

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13 minutes ago, IronMan70 said:
3 hours ago, StatTiger said:
  • Sean White's 31.4 QB rating was the second worst passing performance during the last 25 years of Auburn football. Gus Malzahn should have given John Franklin or Jeremy Johnson a shot after Georgia took the lead. White was 2 of 8 passing for 8-yards during Auburn's last three offensive possessions.
  • I understand the concept of wanting to stick with the starter at quarterback but there has to be a limitation. What is extremely disappointing is the fact Auburn did not have a Plan-B in place for the quarterback situation. The coaching staff was well aware of White's physical limitations entering the game. By halftime it was obvious White was not capable of throwing down field. He was 3 of 7 in passing for 19 yards.  

yep

out of likes.... agree.

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5 hours ago, StatTiger said:
  •   For those questioning the play-calling, you must consider the number of injuries. The RB position was decimated by injuries before and during the game. Kam Martin was the only healthy RB by halftime. Sean White probably should not have played but did because of the importance of the game. Chandler Cox is injured during the game, which is why there was a huge drop off during the second-half of the game in rushing. My biggest concern was not having a Plan-B in the event White physically struggled due to his injury. I am not saying a Plan-B at the QB position would have worked, but not having one at all was a concern.

 

 

Those injuries are the story of the game.  It's easy to say there should have been a plan B, but the truth is that perhaps outside of pulling Sean for JF3 (or even JJ), the entire game plan was already plan B.  I reckon I have to admit that I didn't really quite recognize just how beat up our Tigers were offensively. I had hoped that Pettway could go and think that if he had been able to, that alone might have made the difference.

I hurt for this team, the players as individuals and for the coaches.  These Tigers rose from the ashes of a 1-2 start to have a chance at greatness. And those "fans" here that belittle Sean White and have once again come out of their holes to call for firing coaches? They can just bite me. That group of "fans" is never happier than when AU loses.

I hope this team gets well quick.  There are two games left in the regular season. Whether plan A, B, C or D, I want 'em both!

 

War Eagle!

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Any person remotely aware of military strategy knows you always have an escape contingency- a way out if needed, even if it pains you to use it. As stated by others, due to the staff's lack of options at QB, they had no plan B (no escape plan). Problem is, they created this by their own hand due to lack of QB recruiting and development IMO. Came back and bit us all big time and at the worst possible time.  

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  • RunInRed pinned and featured this topic

As much as I hate to say it, if I'm JFIII, I would be looking to transfer elsewhere.  I love the loyalty, and generally never advocate ditching your team, but what the coaches told him on Saturday was "you will never be our QB.  We would rather play SW who is about 40% healthy, than let you take a snap."  I was in Athens, watching this clown-show of an offense, running the same three plays over, and over, and over.  I looked down and say JFIII throwing on the sideline and thought "good, let's give UGA something different to defend, and maybe he can break one".  That opportunity never came, even though SW couldn't throw the ball 5 yards without spinning out of his shoes and falling down (awesome mechanics, btw).  We never tried anything remotely different in the 2nd half.  UGA sat back and just licked their chops, watching a gimpy Kerryon Johnson run off tackle again and again, for no gain. 

The thing that hurts the worst about this game is because it was a must win for Auburn.  At a time when our season started off slow, then got better, and then got really good, we needed a great year to erase the past couple.  This would have had the entire fanbase pumped, the players pumped, and all the momentum going into the warm up game against A&M before facing our hated rival for the SEC West.  Unfortunately, it appears our offensive coaches opted for the "oh well, maybe next year" approach.  I personally feel our offensive coaches threw in the towel at halftime. They quit on this team, and now I don't see how they are going to expect our players not to quit on them the next two weeks, especially JFIII and Kam Martin. 

I'm not for firing Gus just yet, but I have a hard time backing a coach that lays down and plays dead against a huge rival, when the SEC West in on the line.  If anyone can help me change my mind about them quitting on the game at halftime, please tell me.  Someone who was on the sidelines, tell me Gus and Rhett were doing everything they could to get some momentum, because from the stands, it was pathetic looking. 

War Eagle always, but I hate that we pissed away this incredible defense on what we saw Saturday.  Kevin Steele, you deserve every cent of your paycheck, and half of Gus and Rhett's this week!  Coach Steele, you are the main reason I hope we do not get rid of Gus this season, as I would hate to see you leave!  That is, unless you are promoted and you bring in the younger Briles as OC, but that is a different thread all together.

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1 hour ago, AuburnGrad97 said:

As much as I hate to say it, if I'm JFIII, I would be looking to transfer elsewhere.  I love the loyalty, and generally never advocate ditching your team, but what the coaches told him on Saturday was "you will never be our QB.  We would rather play SW who is about 40% healthy, than let you take a snap."  

Exactly.  Or if they do play him, they will handcuff him with the play calling because they don't trust him to throw or not fumble.

1 hour ago, AuburnGrad97 said:

They quit on this team, and now I don't see how they are going to expect our players not to quit on them the next two weeks, especially JFIII and Kam Martin. 

And Eli Stove, Darius Slayton, Kyle Davis, and NCM.  I'm sure they love being on the sidelines and watching starters in front of them drop multiple, catchable passes game after game.

Edited by oracle79
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23 hours ago, StatTiger said:
  • I understand the concept of wanting to stick with the starter at quarterback but there has to be a limitation. What is extremely disappointing is the fact Auburn did not have a Plan-B in place for the quarterback situation. The coaching staff was well aware of White's physical limitations entering the game. By halftime it was obvious White was not capable of throwing down field. He was 3 of 7 in passing for 19 yards.

 

  •   For those questioning the play-calling, you must consider the number of injuries. The RB position was decimated by injuries before and during the game. Kam Martin was the only healthy RB by halftime. Sean White probably should not have played but did because of the importance of the game. Chandler Cox is injured during the game, which is why there was a huge drop off during the second-half of the game in rushing. My biggest concern was not having a Plan-B in the event White physically struggled due to his injury. I am not saying a Plan-B at the QB position would have worked, but not having one at all was a concern.

 

  • After rushing for 107-yards during the first half, Auburn managed only 20-yards on seven carries during the final half. The injuries to Pettway, Johnson, Truitt and Cox decimated the Auburn running game. Perhaps another reason to insert John Franklin and Kam Martin late into the game, with Auburn needing only one touchdown to win the game.

All of this.

Coaches need to answer the following questions HONESTLY - if not to the media and the fans, at least to the players themselves:

1. Why was Sean not benched and JF3 or JJ given a shot at moving the offense? (We know Sean has been our guy all season and we love him for his toughness, but you have to do what's best for him and the team. Continuing playing him was not good for either.)

2. Why was Kam Martin not utilized in the running game? Kerryon was less than effective during the 2nd half as his nagging injury reared its ugly head again. (And don't even get me started on why Kerryon was RETURNING KICKOFFS late in the game!!

3. Why do we not have another option at HB aside from Chandler Cox? If we do, why did they not see the field?

There was absolutely no excuse for losing to THAT Georgia team. Injuries or not, we should have won that game. It's one thing to lose to a team who just shows up and plays their best game of the season, but that wasn't Georgia on Saturday. They did just enough to win and the Auburn offensive coaches did everything they could to lose.

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Has anyone considered that the injury to Cox may very well have been the reason they didn't put John in? When you're lead blocker is out, going full run doesn't make much sense. On top of that, while Sean was struggling, so were our receivers. On top of a bunch of bad passes were a bunch of drops. And the O-Line was struggling.  I saw several plays were Smith, of all people, looked lost. There was just a cascading failure of the offense.  The only complaint that I have with the coaches is that they chose to play Sean and not practice him. That made us rusty across the board, and it killed us.

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19 minutes ago, Linayus said:

1. Why was Sean not benched and JF3 or JJ given a shot at moving the offense? (We know Sean has been our guy all season and we love him for his toughness, but you have to do what's best for him and the team. Continuing playing him was not good for either.)

I mentioned this above, but I think it was a combination of things, starting with the fact that we lost our H-Back.  On top of that, I think there was a level of hope that one of our receivers would step up and make something happen.

Jeremy hasn't practiced with the ones for so long that he would have likely been even worse.

21 minutes ago, Linayus said:

Why was Kam Martin not utilized in the running game? Kerryon was less than effective during the 2nd half as his nagging injury reared its ugly head again. (And don't even get me started on why Kerryon was RETURNING KICKOFFS late in the game!!

Kam hasn't been able to do much in the run, and when we put him in, he had by far the worst drop we've seen all season. I TOTALLY agree with you on Kerryon returning kickoffs.  I guess none of our speed guys have good hands.

22 minutes ago, Linayus said:

Why do we not have another option at HB aside from Chandler Cox? If we do, why did they not see the field?

Because we had to make him our featured running back and then he got hurt.  We are finally paying the penalty for losing 3 running backs in the off season.

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28 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

I mentioned this above, but I think it was a combination of things, starting with the fact that we lost our H-Back.  On top of that, I think there was a level of hope that one of our receivers would step up and make something happen.

I'm not sure who all was on the field on any given play but it was worse than any game we've had since 2012. Even when the passes were on target they just flat out dropped them. If I was Kodi, I'd have threatened every one of them that if they drop a pass, they are benched until everyone drops a pass then it's back to the top of the rotation. lol

28 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Jeremy hasn't practiced with the ones for so long that he would have likely been even worse.

This falls on the coaches then. JJ should have been getting reps last week and this week unless they honestly had no idea the extent of Sean's injury.

28 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Kam hasn't been able to do much in the run, and when we put him in, he had by far the worst drop we've seen all season. I TOTALLY agree with you on Kerryon returning kickoffs.  I guess none of our speed guys have good hands.

We should've had another blocker on the field and just Rudy back for the return (or KJ as a decoy). I was pissed that Kerryon waved him off so he could take the kickoff, knowing full well he couldn't run full speed. Especially since we know Rudy is very capable of giving us great returns.

28 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Because we had to make him our featured running back and then he got hurt.  We are finally paying the penalty for losing 3 running backs in the off season.

I mean, seriously, no one is behind Cox? Jalen Harris maybe? Even with Pettway back there, if Cox is injured we're struggling to gain more than 3-4 yards on those plays.

Ugghhhhhh, even when we're having a good season the cards just get stacked against us. I think we used every ounce of good fortune we had in 2013 an it hasn't refilled since.

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That was he worst offensive coaching job I have ever seen.  Everyone has injuries this time of year that is why you have a plan B.  Sean looked just as helpless this year as he did last year against UGA.  An OC with any sense would have seen he couldn't throw the ball and got him out of there.  A least JF3 would have given us some chance based on speed alone.  We had no chance with Sean when it was so obvious he could get anything on the ball.

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14 hours ago, weagl1 said:

That was he worst offensive coaching job I have ever seen.  Everyone has injuries this time of year that is why you have a plan B.  Sean looked just as helpless this year as he did last year against UGA.  An OC with any sense would have seen he couldn't throw the ball and got him out of there.  A least JF3 would have given us some chance based on speed alone.  We had no chance with Sean when it was so obvious he could get anything on the ball.

Name one team in the past 10 years who has had 3 of 5 running backs out, with one of the remaining 2 playing hurt, their starting H-Back/Fullback out, and their Quarterback with an injured throwing arm?

I really wish some of you would go back and re-watch the game.  Or maybe just read this article... http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Rhett-Lashlee-on-drops-We-all-have-a-part-in-Georgia-loss-48997489.

3-5 drops... one of those is a catch, we convert the first down and get the offense rolling. Even with Sean struggling, we could have moved the ball.  We just didn't. As for the run game, even Stove with his speed and determination couldn't break a long run.  Georgia has one of the best rushing Ds in the country.  We sell out the run with no threat to pass and we're going no-where without our battering ram and his lead blocker.

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4 hours ago, Richard78 said:

Georgia also has a good passing D. With our injuries and the drops, we unfortunately ran into a good D at the wrong time.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/695

 

 

Corollary: The UGA defense ran into the decimated by injury AU offense at just the right time.  If our Tigers are healthy and play that game, they win by two TD's or more.

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The more I read about the GA game, the angrier I get:

After running the ball so effectively on its lone touchdown drive, Auburn mostly went away from it in the final two quarters. Of the Tigers’ 22 second-half plays, only eight were runs. Johnson carried seven times for 25 yards, while White went 2-for-13 for just 8 yards.

Auburn faced third downs of 10, 2, 2, 2, 10, 5 and 2 yards on its seven second-half possessions. White dropped back to pass on each one of those plays, throwing one interception on the first, getting sacked for a loss of 5 yards on the second and throwing incompletions on the final five.

Lashlee said. “If I were to do it over again, we’d run the ball.”

So we throw the ball 4 times on third downs were we needed 2 yards.

 

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18 hours ago, Richard78 said:

Auburn faced third downs of 10, 2, 2, 2, 10, 5 and 2 yards on its seven second-half possessions. White dropped back to pass on each one of those plays, throwing one interception on the first, getting sacked for a loss of 5 yards on the second and throwing incompletions on the final five.

Lashlee said. “If I were to do it over again, we’d run the ball.”

Hindsight is 20/20. While Kerryon was no where near healthy enough to carry the entire game like he did, running him on 3rd and 2 was more likely to succeed than not. 2nd and 2 go ahead and throw a pass. 3rd and 2 you run it. Hell, Sean himself could've gotten the 2 yards on most of those.

It's frustrating.. but it is what it is.

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31 minutes ago, Linayus said:

Hindsight is 20/20. While Kerryon was no where near healthy enough to carry the entire game like he did, running him on 3rd and 2 was more likely to succeed than not. 2nd and 2 go ahead and throw a pass. 3rd and 2 you run it. Hell, Sean himself could've gotten the 2 yards on most of those.

It's frustrating.. but it is what it is.

I really don't want to watch the game again, but part of me wants to outline the WHY we didn't make it on those plays.  Was it a bad call... was it a bad pass... was it one of the times the O-Line failed to catch a rusher... was it one of the drops?  That's the thing that bothers me about all of the definites people are throwing around about the game... there were so many failures on so many fronts that trying to blame it on any one person or thing is a real stretch. It's more like the injuries were the catalyst to a complete meltdown on all offensive fronts.

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2 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

I really don't want to watch the game again, but part of me wants to outline the WHY we didn't make it on those plays.  Was it a bad call... was it a bad pass... was it one of the times the O-Line failed to catch a rusher... was it one of the drops?  That's the thing that bothers me about all of the definites people are throwing around about the game... there were so many failures on so many fronts that trying to blame it on any one person or thing is a real stretch. It's more like the injuries were the catalyst to a complete meltdown on all offensive fronts.

I don't think it'll help our mentality. lol But Auburn has been so successful converting on 3rd and short when running the football it's crazy we got away from that.

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2 minutes ago, Linayus said:

I don't think it'll help our mentality. lol But Auburn has been so successful converting on 3rd and short when running the football it's crazy we got away from that.

Makes me wonder just how badly Kerryon is hurt.

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On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 11:15 AM, lionheartkc said:

Name one team in the past 10 years who has had 3 of 5 running backs out, with one of the remaining 2 playing hurt, their starting H-Back/Fullback out, and their Quarterback with an injured throwing arm?

I really wish some of you would go back and re-watch the game.  Or maybe just read this article... http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Rhett-Lashlee-on-drops-We-all-have-a-part-in-Georgia-loss-48997489.

3-5 drops... one of those is a catch, we convert the first down and get the offense rolling. Even with Sean struggling, we could have moved the ball.  We just didn't. As for the run game, even Stove with his speed and determination couldn't break a long run.  Georgia has one of the best rushing Ds in the country.  We sell out the run with no threat to pass and we're going no-where without our battering ram and his lead blocker.

so how was it we continually had third and short after two runs but made the decision to 'pass'...Eric Zeier, former Ga. qb repeatedly said we were doing Ga. a favor

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