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Things I Think I Saw: Auburn vs Georgia....


JMR

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Appreciate the observations.....not an easy game to watch I expect....after knowing the outcome and have an idea of how AU played. 

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Thanks for your run down of the game.  I know it was a hard thing to do.  I also noticed that UGA used the same rub route with the TE that was so successful against us in 2009 by Bama.  UGA ran it at least 2 times on 3rd down to get the 1st.

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Mr. JMR sir -

Very good points throughout, and 

Excellent! synopsis at the end ("internet shout!" intended).

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2 hours ago, JMR said:
  • We have a QB who can’t throw effectively, and, although running the ball is our strength, we are nearly out of running backs. I think the lack of a backup QB can reasonably be blamed on recruiting/planning/development, but the situation at running back is just plain bad luck, IMO.

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Well said. QB has been a consistent problem for our program before/after Gus. We get a gem here and there (Jason Campbell was solid in 2004, Cam in 2010, Nick in 2013-14) but overall we are lucky to have a game manager like Sean taking snaps.

As for running backs, that's just plain bad luck like you said. Losing three before the season then all the injuries piling up on top of each other here late is making us scramble for an able body to plug in. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rudy Ford back there this week out of desperation.

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3 hours ago, JMR said:
Things I Think I Saw: Auburn vs Georgia….

My apologies for getting this up so late this week. Not wanting to sit down and watch this game, I managed to be “too busy” until this morning. I’m not going to use this little platform to harp on my theories on “where we went wrong”, or even on “what we might have done differently”. Instead, this is just a randomly constructed list of things I think I saw watching the tape.
 
  • The offensive line play was not nearly as bad as “zero first downs in the second half” would lead one to believe. Some third down conversions might well have been available via running plays, but on most of those, Auburn chose to throw the ball, and either there was a poor throw, or a drop, and third-and-two was somehow unattainable.
  • This might have been the best game Montravius Adams has played at Auburn. He was literally everywhere.
  • The AU defense obviously tired in the second half, as the Auburn offense went three-and-out over and over. Still, although the play of the defense began to slip due to fatigue, I saw no “quit” anywhere. I thought the effort and determination of the defense was summed up in the trick play attempt by uga on third-and-goal. Great effort by several players kept that from being a touchdown.
  • The dropped balls by wide receivers are becoming all too frequent. Just one drop can (and did) have a huge impact on the entire game. I hope Kodi Burns has rented every JUGS machine within 500 miles of Auburn, and has them all going every day and night for the rest of the season and beyond.
  • Stating the painfully obvious, Sean White was not himself. If playing him was the only option Auburn had, that doesn’t say much for our continuing preparation throughout the season. It’s definitely not easy to get backup players ready to play during the season, but there’s definitely a need to do exactly that.
  • As I’ve said before, Marlon Davidson is one of the most advanced *freshman* defensive linemen I’ve seen. Georgia ran a trap at him once, and he crushed it like he’d been doing it his whole life. Very impressive, to say the very least.
  • Defensive tackle Andrew Williams struggled some this week, coming off an injury suffered last week. He gave good effort, but didn’t look like the same player he was earlier this year. Injuries to take a toll, even on players who are able to get back on the field.
  • A couple of times early in the game, backup DT’s Devaroe Lawrence and Maurice Swain both got washed away by double team blocks, to the point where the Auburn linebackers were swept aside as well. Simply a case of lack of disciplined technique, and playing too high. To their credit, they both made corrections as the game went on.
  • The AU offense did an unusual amount of substituting, especially in the first half. More often than not, the substitutions involved only wide receivers. I had a hard time understanding why that was happening.
  • Speaking of wide receivers, I love the way Eli Stove runs the ball. His effort on the speed sweeps is outstanding, and I feel like he squeezes every possible yard out of the play. It’s too late for this year, but I hope Stove and the other freshmen wideouts will be a much bigger part of the AU offense next season.
  • I very seldom stop a game tape and run it back to watch a play. But I did so on the pick six thrown by Sean White. It was an awful throw, a poor read by a QB with a bad shoulder to boot. But the most disappointing thing to me about the play was Tony Stevens’ apparent lack of effort to get to the guy with the ball following the interception. Stevens was clearly more worried about getting blindsided by a Georgia blocker than preventing a runback. He almost looks like he is looking for a block to make himself.
  • For the second week in a row, I was reminded about the Auburn coaches’ comments about Darius James “being inconsistent at practice”. I like James, and I think he has a ton of ability, but now and then he just decides to take a break, and when you’re in the game, that almost always costs your team. I think DJ and Herb Hand need a heart-to-heart, if they haven’t already had one.
  • Chandler Cox was still better than he was early in the season, but he did slip a bit. When you’re not the biggest guy in the battle, the little things, like putting your head on the correct side of a defender, matter more than they do when you’re King Kong. CC is too intelligent a player to make those kind of mistakes. Cox is a huge part of Auburn’s ground game, and I’m excited to see what he will be next season.
  • After Cox got banged up, Jalen Harris lined up at the H-back spot. He wasn’t “pretty”, but he was moderately effective. Good job by him of stepping up when needed.
  • Early in the game, the AU linebackers mis-fit a couple of running plays, giving Georgia some good gains. I felt like DeShaun Davis was trying a little too hard, but Davis came around and played an outstanding game. He’s not the fastest, or the best coverage guy, but give me a half-dozen guys like him any time.
  • I’ve been impressed with young Darrell Williams’ play all season, but this game was more like what one would expect from a first-year starter. Fit some wrong gaps and over-ran some plays. He did play hard, though, and made some plays after a fairly rocky start.
  • Saw Josh Holsey back on the field after he had left for a while with some kind of injury. He got nailed for a (legit) PI call, but as he always does, he played his tail off.
  • Javaris Davis got away with a pretty flagrant PI. And that’s why sometimes you take the chance, rather than just give up the catch.
  • No use talking about holding here. Will always be an opportune subject, but what’s the use?
  • Our punt coverage team was a little shaky this week. We gave up a 20-yard return, and had a fair catch-interference penalty. Lots of guys who get their opportunity to play on that unit. I would hope they’d take pride in doing a great job.
  • Georgia out-flanked the AU defense three or four times using one of Arkansas’ pet formations with a tight end and two “wings” to the same side. Since uga offensive coordinator Jim Cheney was Bert’s first OC at Arky, I thought we’d be prepared for that formation and the plays off it.

None of us knows what happens from here. This was a game we should have won, but with the injuries, probably not as easily as most expected. We have a QB who can’t throw effectively, and, although running the ball is our strength, we are nearly out of running backs. I think the lack of a backup QB can reasonably be blamed on recruiting/planning/development, but the situation at running back is just plain bad luck, IMO. Not being able to put a decent offense on the field when we are playing strong defense for the first time in years is disappointing for sure. But it’s football. I have no idea what might happen at the end of this season. We don’t know who will be back next year and who won’t. For the fans, all we can do is let the season play out. The coaches and players, though, will have to look for ways to compete in the Iron Bowl. Gonna be a challenge, but that’s what the game is about.

Well done coach. Thank you!

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I was so frustrated we threw 4 or 5 times consecutively on third and short when t was obvious our QB was hurting.  I know a couple should have been converted but in one instance when the ball hit the receiver in the shoulder pad, I think he (as was I) thought it was about to be another pick 6.   

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5 hours ago, JMR said:
  • No use talking about holding here. Will always be an opportune subject, but what’s the use?

I thought the refs got it right this week. Some of you may see holding in this picture, but it's actually a mid-play bro hug and a guy trying to get an autograph from a future NFL star. Definitely not holding.

IMG_2286_JPG_4.jpg

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4 minutes ago, bigsixfive said:

I thought the refs got it right this week. Some of you may see holding in this picture, but it's actually a mid-play bro hug and a guy trying to get an autograph from a future NFL star. Definitely not holding.

IMG_2286_JPG_4.jpg

I've said it all year and I'll say it again.  The SEC officiating sucks this year.  What do expect when you have a bammer heading the officiating?

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Nice post JMR.   Notice the Stevens play the second time they showed the replay.   Some things  I don't understand about AU's offense is no screen passes to running backs, no draw plays, no underneath crossing routes, no line up under center in I formation and run some power plays and play action off that 

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Good as always, Coach. You should get some sort of extra credit for enduring that second half. 

Two things I can't understand: if your QB has a bad arm, why do we have him throwing out patterns? And if Kerryon is still hobbled, why is he returning kick-offs? Makes no sense to me. 

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I've been waiting for Stevens to sit for two years. The effort on that interception play pretty well sums it up for me. With the talent we have at that position I'm disappointed to see him still out there dropping balls and giving poor effort. Maybe that's just my perception; the offense didn't look worse with him out injured for sure.

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Great observations as usual. I thought the defense was very solid overall, especially in the second half. The offense was struggling the whole game. The outlookforthe Iron Bowl is not good. Maybe we can get healthy this week.

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To me, the whole problem with this game is that the kids didn't look like they thought they were going to win the game. @JMR, with your experience, can you tell how much of the lack of effort that you mentioned comes from an already preconceived notion that they aren't going to win? With the offensive kids knowing the injuries they had going into the game, do you think that stifled the efforts of some of the guys on offense? How do you, as a coach, combat that mentality? Can you even pick up that vibe during the game? Poor Sean is out there, playing as a wounded duck, and the guys around him aren't giving their 100%. That's what it looked like to me. I could be 100% wrong, though.

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53 minutes ago, 3rdgeneration said:

To me, the whole problem with this game is that the kids didn't look like they thought they were going to win the game. @JMR, with your experience, can you tell how much of the lack of effort that you mentioned comes from an already preconceived notion that they aren't going to win? With the offensive kids knowing the injuries they had going into the game, do you think that stifled the efforts of some of the guys on offense? How do you, as a coach, combat that mentality? Can you even pick up that vibe during the game? Poor Sean is out there, playing as a wounded duck, and the guys around him aren't giving their 100%. That's what it looked like to me. I could be 100% wrong, though.

3G, I did not mean to imply that I thought there was "a lack of effort".  I saw Darius James take a play off, but I've seen him do that in nearly every game he's played in. I saw Tony Stevens show what I considered a lack of effort on the pick six, but I've never been struck by his effort anyway. In my opinion, "effort" was not a factor in our poor offensive performance.  And I don't think (could be wrong, of course) not believing we could win factored into either of those two instances. I have no way of knowing, but I would guess pretty much every coach and player thought we would win the game, regardless of the injury situation. 

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33 minutes ago, JMR said:

I saw Tony Stevens show what I considered a lack of effort on the pick six, but I've never been struck by his effort anyway.

I would bet, as one of the many banged up players, that Tony was more focused on avoiding further injury than he was just not putting in effort.

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@JMR, as a female, I guess I am always looking for some emotional angle. haha I guess that's the way I am wired. Glad to know you didn't see a lack of effort. Something about the game just felt flat to me though. :dunno:

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59 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

I would bet, as one of the many banged up players, that Tony was more focused on avoiding further injury than he was just not putting in effort.

 

59 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

I would bet, as one of the many banged up players, that Tony was more focused on avoiding further injury than he was just not putting in effort.

Fair point, lion. But if Tony felt that tentative about his injury, he probably should not have been in the game. We do have other (albeit inexperienced) wide receivers. 

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25 minutes ago, 3rdgeneration said:

@JMR, as a female, I guess I am always looking for some emotional angle. haha I guess that's the way I am wired. Glad to know you didn't see a lack of effort. Something about the game just felt flat to me though. :dunno:

Me too!

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On 11/14/2016 at 5:44 PM, aubaseball said:

Nice post JMR.   Notice the Stevens play the second time they showed the replay.   Some things  I don't understand about AU's offense is no screen passes to running backs, no draw plays, no underneath crossing routes, no line up under center in I formation and run some power plays and play action off that 

post-35884-that-dont-make-no-sense-gif-O

pardon the sarcasm. 

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