Things I Think I Saw (AU vs LSU).....

[JMR 2,118]

First of all, these are no fun to write when Auburn loses and/or doesn't play well. I try to be as objective and unbiased as I can, and I do not like to criticize individual players. They work extremely hard, and give their best on the field. Sometimes that translates into a winning effort, sometimes it's not enough. There were some who got outplayed by their opponent yesterday, and some who did not. That's kind of the nature of team sports.

All that said for whatever it's worth, here are some things that caught my eye in the game....

• Darius James blew his assignment on Auburn's first offensive play. There were two defenders for him to choose from, and he chose the wrong one. Did not hurt the play, which resulted in a completed pass, but it was disappointing to see a veteran player make such a simple error.
   
• Cornerback Carlton Davis struggled more in the game than I've seen from him this season. He was beaten by LSU's D.J. Chark on LSU's third play for a big gain. Fortunately, Chark fumbled and Davis recovered. The big play later in the game where Davis went for the pick on what would have been a three-yard pass but ended up being a 39-yard catch-and-run for LSU was much more obvious, and did much more damage.
   
• Austin Golson is recognized for his ability to play multiple positions on the offensive line, and deservedly so. But as experienced as he is, Golson almost never "brings his feet" to the point of attack. He makes contact, his feet die where they are, and he generates very little movement of the defender. Seems like that would be relatively easy to fix, but it's gone on for a long time now.
   
• Braden Smith, whom I believe is one of the most capable offensive linemen in college football, allowed his man to cross his face after contact yesterday, resulting in some failed short-yardage plays for the AU offense. Smith is better than that, but yesterday was not the first time that's happened. Easily corrected, but those kind of corrections should have been made by now.
   
• Going into the game with Mike Horton out, I was concerned about Prince Tega being able to deal with Arden Key. Tega did reasonably well, but because he lets his feet stop, he is often drawing a stalemate on run plays. A stalemate on those plays is a win for the defense. Again, correction, repetition, success. Simple habits to instill and reinforce, but we are 7 games into the season.
   
• I saw the play Casey Dunn injured his knee on. A defensive lineman got pushed back onto the back of Dunn's leg just below the knee. Seeing it, I was surprised Dunn returned to the game. Still, he was not able to get any push at all after that, and eventually left the game again. Hope he is ok, as we need him badly. Especially if Horton is out long term.
   
• Marquel Harrell was forced into action at left guard by the injury to Dunn. He wasn't terrible for his first action with the starting offense, but he did look a little lost at times.
   
• On the 70-yard run LSU's Russell Gage hit on the jet sweep, it was a breakdown on the part of Nick Ruffin. Ruffin has been improving steadily throughout the season, but on that play he got sloppy with his assignment, and instead of getting wide to force Gage back inside, he slowed down to take a peek into the LSU backfield, and was beaten to the outside by Gage. Huge play that should never have happened. Ruffin was also beaten by Chark on a wheel route late in the game after he had recognized the route and was all over it.
   
• When the season started, pretty much every Auburn fan knew that while we had some exceptional athletes in the defensive secondary, we did not have the depth to deal with injuries back there. As often happens, there have been plenty of injuries to that group, and the lack of depth is causing some problems. Some guys who would normally be getting playing time here and there are on the field far more than that, and getting experience and building skills in this league is costly. Dropped interceptions, missed tackles, blown assignments, or just plain getting beaten on routes.....all are the price those key injuries exact.
   
• Missed tackles have reared their ugly heads often over the last couple of weeks. Paul James III missed a big one on a jet sweep on LSU's first scoring drive, and Jeff Holland missed one on the 4th down TD that LSU scored. In Holland's defense, he played exceptionally well most of the day.
   
• We are missing linebacker Tre Williams, not only for his individual play, but also for his leadership in the linebacker group. Auburn's linebackers misfit several LSU run plays yesterday. They were aggressive and hustling, but they fit the wrong gaps some of the time.
   
• I don't know what Kam Pettway's injury situation is. It's pretty obvious that he is not the same running back that excelled last season. He look healthy compared to the last time I saw him, but "ineffective" is a generous assessment of his play. I am unable to fathom why other running backs are not getting opportunities. With KJ getting 30 carries per game, we may find ourselves at Amen Corner with no Pettway, no KJ, and no experienced youngsters.
   
• I don't know what is going on with special teams. There is a lot more to that part of the game than having a great kicker and/or a great punter. We don't appear to hold anybody up on punt returns, we cover punts and kickoffs with little regard for lanes. Special teams is a great way to get players in the game who are not ready to contribute at a position, but ONLY if they are ready to *contribute* on special teams. With the exception of Daniel Carlson's kicking skills, our special teams look pretty ugly to me.
   
• I wasn't thrilled with the officiating in the game. I don't feel like there was any bias, and I don't believe the officials affected the outcome of the game. But I felt like there were a number of missed calls, both ways.
   
• I think I mentioned here two or three weeks ago how impressed I was with the ball skills of our defensive backs. Time to go the other direction with that. Our guys are not reading the receivers, and therefore don't know where the ball is, when it's arriving, or much else. Some of that may be due to injuries and resulting substitutions, but it's happening with some experienced players as well. Time to get back to the drills that seemed to be so productive early in the season.
   
• Saw Chandler Cox get absolutely crushed attempting a block of Arden Key as Auburn was trying to come off its own goal line.
   
• From a coaching standpoint, I don't know who was in charge of the offense in the second half, but there were *numerous* times when LSU had 7 or even 8 in the box on first and second down, and Auburn ran the ball anyway. When Auburn did opt to pass, it was "Deep ball or bust!". You can't have that many defenders in the box AND cover deep AND cover short/intermediate. I am amazed sometimes at how difficult the simplest things can be made to look.
   
• Defensively, I thought AU "played well enough to win" as the expression goes, but not nearly as well as they are capable of playing. Lots of critical missed tackles (though not as many as vs Ole Miss), and some breakdowns in the secondary.
   
• Kudos to Marlon Davidson for chasing down Russell Gage at the 5-yard line after Gage went 70 yards on a speed sweep. Hell of a play, and even more so for a defensive lineman.

Back to work. We fans can be disgusted, disappointed, and so forth, but the players and coaches have to try to put this one out of their minds and get ready for the next one. Still a lot of football to be played.

WAR EAGLE!!

[Farmer Brown 2,391]

Thank you sir. Nice work.

[Brannigan's Law 29]

8 minutes ago, JMR said:

don't know what Kam Pettway's injury situation is. It's pretty obvious that he is not the same running back that excelled last season. He look healthy compared to the last time I saw him, but "ineffective" is a generous assessment of his play.

 

The switch to zone blocking has basically elimated one of our best weapons in Pettway. Instead of having a predetermined hole to run towards, he is now tasked with reading the line and finding a hole. Kj can do this well,  Pett cannot. So we see him basically running into the pile. 

 

Allowing Lindsey to change the blocking scheme while not adding any more pass routes is a complete joke. Basically chip took the only thing we did well and changed it for no additional gains. 

[Tigercj 242]

Thanks I always enjoy reading your insights to the game. However, I feel that now Gus has to go or this program will only get worse until it becomes totally irrelevant. Gus is not a P5 coach or assistant coach he really does not understand adjustments that need to be made during a game. Carlton has not shown the promise he did his freshman year but then again he has had a different secondary coach every year. Not sure what the rest of the year holds but I do not believe Gus will change. 

 

[fredst 9,064]

Believe that was Roberts that recovered that fumble early. But, my interpretation of the play seeing it in real time was that it was his missed assignment because it looked to me like Davis just let the man go- not sure what the coverage was without rewatching. But, I agree, Davis was not good yesterday- that whiff on the short pass turning it into a ~40 yd gain was brutal to watch because it was so fundamentally unsound, technically and strategically. Thanks as always, Coach! Look forward to your assessments of a new coaching staff soon, lol!

[JMR 2,118]

1 minute ago, fredst said:

Believe that was Roberts that recovered that fumble early. But, my interpretation of the play seeing it in real time was that it was his missed assignment because it looked to me like Davis just let the man go- not sure what the coverage was without rewatching. But, I agree, Davis was not good yesterday- that whiff on the short pass turning it into a ~40 yd gain was brutal to watch because it was so fundamentally unsound, technically and strategically. Thanks as always, Coach! Look forward to your assessments of a new coaching staff soon, lol!

Fred, Roberts made the tackle/caused the fumble, and Davis picked it up. At least that's how I remember it. 

[fredst 9,064]

5 minutes ago, JMR said:

Fred, Roberts made the tackle/caused the fumble, and Davis picked it up. At least that's how I remember it. 

You might be right, Coach. I think my brain is fried after watching that second half yesterday without the help of any mind/mood altering substances...

[JMR 2,118]

2 minutes ago, fredst said:

You might be right, Coach. I think my brain is fried after watching that second half yesterday without the help of any mind/mood altering substances...

I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch one more game with Malzahn at the wheel. The man has got serious issues. 

[CR 2,442]

Coach, hard not to notice your insights on several aspects of OL play. Has Hand been a disappointment in your opinion?
Thanks.

[fredst 9,064]

Just now, JMR said:

I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch one more game with Malzahn at the wheel. The man has got serious issues. 

I hear you. I told my family yesterday that I wasn’t watching another minute of Auburn football as long as he was the coach... and I was serious. As much as I love Auburn I never thought I’d say that but I just can’t stand to watch his mismanagement of our personnel and the game situations any longer. 

[ToraGirl 5,498]

Just want to thank you for the time and pain it took to craft...and relive...your excellent analysis of yesterday's display. Episode. You are a blessing.

[Brannigan's Law 29]

11 minutes ago, CR said:

Has Hand been a disappointment in your opinion?
Thanks.

A disappointment would be an upgrade for Hans. He has been nothing short of a colossal failure. This 6th, 7th, 8th OL crap he does is not working. He cannot scout our IL in camp. Shifting out OL 4 times in a game is very dumb.

 

[bigbird 60,501]

27 minutes ago, JMR said:

Fred, Roberts made the tackle/caused the fumble, and Davis picked it up. At least that's how I remember it. 

CD and SR should've had him bracketed. Davis let him cross his face and get inside of him and then just stopped after about 10. Roberts got caught with his eyes in the backfield and wasn't in position over the top. So our bracket consisted of Davis trailing the play by 10 yards and Roberts flat footed and even with the out breaking receiver.  

[autigeremt 6,599]

Thanks......great job as always.

Can you coach the team moving forward? 

[JMR 2,118]

24 minutes ago, CR said:

Coach, hard not to notice your insights on several aspects of OL play. Has Hand been a disappointment in your opinion?
Thanks.

To me, yes. A huge disappointment. And I really wanted him. It's like he skips the basic stuff and moves to the more advanced, schematic stuff. 

[fredst 9,064]

30 minutes ago, bigbird said:

CD and SR should've had him bracketed. Davis let him cross his face and get inside of him and then just stopped after about 10. Roberts got caught with his eyes in the backfield and wasn't in position over the top. So our bracket consisted of Davis trailing the play by 10 yards and Roberts flat footed and even with the out breaking receiver.  

Seemed like Roberts broke towards the other half of the field to help on another deep route going that way the broke back towards his deep half when he saw the ball in the air...

[bigbird 60,501]

Just now, fredst said:

Seemed like Roberts broke towards the other half of the field to help on another deep route going that way the broke back towards his deep half when he saw the ball in the air...

But he shouldn't have. It was a post-corner, The post was coming right at him. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

But he shouldn't have. It was a post-corner, The post was coming right at him. 

You were still on the roof of the Gus Bus till yesterday? I'm done with you. 

[bigbird 60,501]

1 minute ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

You were still on the roof of the Gus Bus till yesterday? I'm done with you. 

You've seen the idiot being pulled behind the car on a skateboard?

[fredst 9,064]

9 minutes ago, bigbird said:

But he shouldn't have. It was a post-corner, The post was coming right at him. 

I’m agreeing with you. I was happy with the end result but really disturbed at the time with how we got there, particularly with two pretty experienced guys

 

[jAUSon 2,836]

Thanks for this jmr.

[AUCE05 369]

Thanks for the write up, really.   I still can't believe Gus was out coached by a guy people call Yaw Yaw.   

[weagl1 1,782]

It's just hard to fathom why Chip (or Gus) kept trying to run the ball on 1st down time after time after they adjusted.  

[Brannigan's Law 29]

10 hours ago, weagl1 said:

It's just hard to fathom why Chip (or Gus) kept trying to run the ball on 1st down time after time after they adjusted.  

No it is not. Our higschool coach went out and hired a high school oc from his coaching tree that can't adapt. Somehow Gus hired the only OC in America that uses the wildcat more than he did. 

[SumterAubie 3,031]

18 hours ago, JMR said:

I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch one more game with Malzahn at the wheel. The man has got serious issues. 

Ouchie