Upon Further Review - Peach Bowl

[StatTiger 3,188]

·Auburn was forced into 18 third down situations against UCF. It was a season high for the Auburn offense. The Tigers converted nine of the 18 third downs with an average distance of 9.1 yards needed to convert.

·McKenzie Milton came into the Peach Bowl averaging two third-down conversions per game, running the football. He converted four third-down plays running against the Auburn defense. UCF was 6 of 14 on third-down against the Auburn defense.

·For the season, Auburn allowed a 3rd down conversion rate of 23.3 percent during the first quarter and 38.9 percent during the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was the worst quarter for the Auburn defense when it came to third-down conversions.

·During Auburn's last three games of the season, the Tigers produced only one play of 30-yards or more on offense and surrendered nine such plays on defense. For an offense reliant upon the big play, losing this ability down the stretch cost the Tigers dearly.

·The Auburn defense permitted 3.8 yards per play during the first-half against UCF and 7.4 yards during the second-half.

·For the season, the Auburn defense held their opponent to 2-yards or less during 50.3 percent of the snaps defended.

·45.3 percent of Auburn's first down snaps on offense netted 3-yards or less this season. For the season, Auburn ran the ball 72.6 percent of the time on first down. Auburn is currently No. 37 in yards per rush on first down. They were No. 18 last season.

·Kerryon Johnson led Auburn with 19 plays of 15-yards or more this season. He was one of six players with 10 such plays. Johnson was followed by Darius Slayton (16), Will Hastings (15), Eli Stove (14), Ryan Davis (13) and Nate Craig-Myers (10). Auburn's 2018 offense should be explosive again with five of the six leaders returning next season.

·Auburn surrendered 13 plays of 15-yards or more to UCF, a season high.

·Jarrett Stidham's pass rating of 150.9 was the third best among the 35 Auburn quarterbacks that attempted at least 160 passes during a season.

·Auburn's top-5 most targeted players in the passing game were Ryan Davis (105), Darius Slayton (73), Will Hastings (43), Eli Stove (37) and Kerryon Johnson (26). Nate Craig-Myers was targeted 25 times, which means Auburn will basically return their top-5 most targeted players in 2018.

·Against Alabama, Auburn produced 184-yards passing from 18 pass attempts within 5-yards of the line of scrimmage. During the final two games of the season, Auburn attempted 35 passes within 5-yards of the line of scrimmage for only 154-yards. Auburn's screen game was shutdown the last two games of the season. Having the blocking WR take off on a vertical route will make the opposition pay for selling on the screen packages.

·50.8 percent of Kerryon Johnson, Kam Martin and Kamryn Pettway's carries this season went for 3-yards or less.

·Of Auburn's 113 impact plays (15+ yards) this season on offense, 88 went towards a scoring drive for the Tigers.

·Against Louisiana-Monroe, Auburn has seven situations of 2-yards or less to convert for a first down. During the Tigers last three games combined, Auburn produced only seven short-yardage situations.

·Auburn allowed a total of 20 points off of their turnovers during the first 12 games of the season and 28 points during the last two games of the season.

·From 2013-2015, Auburn allowed 7 tackles for loss or more during 25 percent of their games. During the last two seasons, it has increased to 37.0 percent.

·Auburn's defense allowed 16.6 first downs per game, the lowest average since 2007 when Auburn allowed 15.9 first downs per game.

·Based on yards per game, yards per attempt and touchdown ratio, Kerryon Johnson's 2017 season ranked No. 13 among Auburn's last 27 one-thousand yard rushers. His performance this season was definitely a "blue collar" effort, having to fight for the majority of his yardage after contact.

·Ryan Davis shattered the school record for receptions in one season with 84 on the season. Primarily utilized in the perimeter passing game, it would be great to see him utilized more frequently on crossing routes in 2018. He proved to me a gifted runner in traffic and would be a more explosive player in the open field.

·Will Hastings and Nate Craig-Myers accounted for 42 combined receptions this season but 25 went for 15-yards or more. There was a 7-game span, where the two combined were only targeted 25 times this season. One of the keys to a very successful pass-offense is targeting the entire field and utilizing all the "skill" players on the field in the passing game. Make the competition defend everything, everywhere!

·Based on yards per game, yards per attempt and touchdown ratio, the 2017 Auburn running game ranked No. 20 among the last 65 Auburn offenses. The 2016 Auburn running game ranked No. 6.

War Eagle!

[aubaseball 2,595]

Thanks for the write up.   I thought all year the line play was average and the stats tell story.  Here’s to hoping that next years line play is better.  

[alexava 6,973]

2 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

Thanks for the write up.   I thought all year the line play was average and the stats tell story.  Here’s to hoping that next years line play is better.  

Some games I thought it was stellar. Then not so much. Like the first Uga game we pounded them then struggled with La Monroe the held our own vs bammer. Very up and down. 

[Linayus 676]

19 minutes ago, StatTiger said:

·Auburn was forced into 18 third down situations against UCF. It was a season high for the Auburn offense. The Tigers converted nine of the 18 third downs with an average distance of 9.1 yards needed to convert.

·Auburn surrendered 13 plays of 15-yards or more to UCF, a season high.

·Against Alabama, Auburn produced 184-yards passing from 18 pass attempts within 5-yards of the line of scrimmage. During the final two games of the season, Auburn attempted 35 passes within 5-yards of the line of scrimmage for only 154-yards. Auburn's screen game was shutdown the last two games of the season. Having the blocking WR take off on a vertical route will make the opposition pay for selling on the screen packages.

·50.8 percent of Kerryon Johnson, Kam Martin and Kamryn Pettway's carries this season went for 3-yards or less.

·From 2013-2015, Auburn allowed 7 tackles for loss or more during 25 percent of their games. During the last two seasons, it has increased to 37.0 percent.

These aren't just bad.. they are terrible. Do we know yet if we extended Hand's contract? I really hope not.

[AURex 1,994]

I agree. The OL did not perform consistently, and sometimes porously. Hand is retiring. Not sure who will replace him. Malzahn just hired another defensive coach who (as yet) has no role, when our more important needs (IMO) are for a real special teams coach and an offensive line coach.

 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,296]

1 hour ago, StatTiger said:

For the season, Auburn allowed a 3rd down conversion rate of 23.3 percent during the first quarter and 38.9 percent during the fourthquarter. The fourth quarter was the worst quarter for the Auburn defense when it came to third-down conversions.

@StatTiger How many of these 4th quarter conversions came after the game was in hand? Bama comes to mind.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

13 minutes ago, AURex said:

I agree. The OL did not perform consistently, and sometimes porously. Hand is retiring. Not sure who will replace him. Malzahn just hired another defensive coach who (as yet) has no role, when our more important needs (IMO) are for a real special teams coach and an offensive line coach.

 

PLEASE tell me this is just an incorrect rumor. The defense is the one thing that kept this program alive. We dont need MORE defense. WE GOT TWO OTHER FACETS THAT ARE THE PRIMARY REASONS WE HAD 4 LOSSES GUS 

[alexava 6,973]

2 hours ago, AURex said:

I agree. The OL did not perform consistently, and sometimes porously. Hand is retiring. Not sure who will replace him. Malzahn just hired another defensive coach who (as yet) has no role, when our more important needs (IMO) are for a real special teams coach and an offensive line coach.

 

You serious?

[AU-24 3,063]

12 hours ago, alexava said:

You serious?

 Maybe over $400,000 a year isn’t enough?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/01/with_contracts_expiring_today.amp

The contracts for Auburn offensive line coach Herb Hand and linebackers coach Travis Williams are due to expire at the end of the day and though both are expected to be retained, the program has not disclosed any agreements beyondGus Malzahn's declaration that Hand would be back in 2018 .

[AURex 1,994]

My bad. Apparently Hand will be back next season, and that will involve a new contract as his current contract is expiring. Doesn't change the fact that Auburn really needs to address the need to improve special teams play -- coverage on kickoffs and punts was scary scary, and the Auburn returns were certainly not scary to opponents.