Jump to content

Pump The Brakes!


AUFriction

Recommended Posts

I rarely post on here anymore, but I visit the boards very frequently. 

I want to say that I've been on and off the Gus Bus since he was hired. I in part blame him for Chizik's failure because I think he failed to develop the quarterbacks he coached while he was a coordinator (and let's face it, Cam was going to be good with or without Gus). But I've noticed a lot of unwarranted negativity on this board and I think it needs addressing. 

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0. It is true that we haven't looked stellar on offense, but let's not act like we haven't been here before. So... let's go back in time.

2010: Offensive line play looked iffy in games 1-3. Cam was missing wide open targets. There were folks saying Cam was only a running quarterback, and that he wouldn't be able to throw. In fact, it took a field goal to beat a bad Mississippi State team, and a missed field goal to beat a mediocre Clemson team. By game 6, the offense found its groove and ended up being one of the best in the country, and finished the season winning the national championship. 

2013: To start 2013, we barely beat Washington State, that ended the season with a losing record. We looked mediocre at best against Arkansas State. We looked bad (but won on a last second play) against Mississippi State. We lost to LSU. Early in the season, people on this board were saying Tre Mason didn’t have it in him to be a go to running back. It wasn't until Ole Miss that we found any real continuity on offense. We made it to the national championship game, and came up 13 seconds short.

2014: This season was weird. We ended up losing 4 games in the regular season, but the Mississippi State game was the second worst officiated game I've ever seen (with the LSU game this year being the worst). We lost to Texas A&M on a fumble, but this primarily happened because we had no defense. I think the loss to UGA was due to the shock of the previous week's loss. We lost to Alabama because we had a bad defense. Most people remember this as the season that Ellis Johnson's defense let us down. However, most people forget that our offense was not very good early in the year. We put up points through the air against bad defenses, but struggled to run the ball behind a shaky offensive line. It wasn't until 3-4 games into the season that the offensive line found its groove and we started being able to run the ball.

2016-Another weird year. Injuries lost us 3 of the last four games. White, being hurt against Vandy, played terribly against Georgia, could not play against Alabama, and got injured again against Oklahoma. We unfortunately had no depth at the QB position. However, when we had a healthy Sean White, we looked relatively good... Or so people remember. We lost the opening game against Clemson, a game that included 5 people taking snaps at QB. We looked bad in games 3 and 4 against Texas A&M and LSU, with Les Miles being fired after we won with 5 field goals. Starting after that game, we went on a several game run of very sound offense. Had Sean White not been hurt, we may have ended the season with a national championship.

2017- After a good performance against a bad Georgia Southern team, we had two absolutely terrible games in back to back weeks. Against Clemson, our offensive line played so poorly that Stidham was sacked a ridiculous 11 times. We struggled to run the football and throw the football. We put up 24 points against Mercer. With the exception of that embarrassing LSU loss, we went the rest of the regular season without a loss. we went from one of the worst offenses in the country to one of the best. Had Kerryon not been hurt, he probably would have won the Heisman, and Auburn probably would have won the national championship.

 

So what’s my point? I’m a packers fan, so I’m going to quote Aaron Rodgers…

RELAX!

If history tells us anything, it tells us that will get our offensive woes straightened out. If we do, we have the potential to be a very dangerous team. The wide receivers are some of the best we’ve had in years. I still believe Stidham has the potential to do great things if we can find any rhythm offensively. We have a good stable of running backs, including Kam Martin. (I think he’s getting too much criticism. His running style requires a crease, which he isn’t getting from the offensive line.)

I believe our struggles are twofold, but I think these two problems share a common cause.

Problem 1- Offensive Line Play. Everything we want to do requires better play from this group. We want to run the ball, which we can’t do without better O Line play. We want to throw deep, which requires a decent pocket from our Offensive Line.

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

So, I guess what I’m advocating for is more time for things to straighten out. Quit insulting Stidham. Quit insulting Gus and CCL. Quit insulting Kam Martin. Quit acting like the sky is falling. It is too early for that! If we lose to Moo State in 2 weeks, you may have an argument. But for now, complaining about any of these things is premature, especially when you consider that we’ve looked bad like this early in previous seasons.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites





  • Replies 156
  • Created
  • Last Reply
1 minute ago, AUFriction said:

I rarely post on here anymore, but I visit the boards very frequently. 

I want to say that I've been on and off the Gus Bus since he was hired. I in part blame him for Chizik's failure because I think he failed to develop the quarterbacks he coached while he was a coordinator (and let's face it, Cam was going to be good with or without Gus). But I've noticed a lot of unwarranted negativity on this board and I think it needs addressing. 

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0. It is true that we haven't looked stellar on offense, but let's not act like we haven't been here before. So... let's go back in time.

2010: Offensive line play looked iffy in games 1-3. Cam was missing wide open targets. There were folks saying Cam was only a running quarterback, and that he wouldn't be able to throw. In fact, it took a field goal to beat a bad Mississippi State team, and a missed field goal to beat a mediocre Clemson team. By game 6, the offense found its groove and ended up being one of the best in the country, and finished the season winning the national championship. 

2013: To start 2013, we barely beat Washington State, that ended the season with a losing record. We looked mediocre at best against Arkansas State. We looked bad (but won on a last second play) against Mississippi State. We lost to LSU. Early in the season, people on this board were saying Tre Mason didn’t have it in him to be a go to running back. It wasn't until Ole Miss that we found any real continuity on offense. We made it to the national championship game, and came up 13 seconds short.

2014: This season was weird. We ended up losing 4 games in the regular season, but the Mississippi State game was the second worst officiated game I've ever seen (with the LSU game this year being the worst). We lost to Texas A&M on a fumble, but this primarily happened because we had no defense. I think the loss to UGA was due to the shock of the previous week's loss. We lost to Alabama because we had a bad defense. Most people remember this as the season that Ellis Johnson's defense let us down. However, most people forget that our offense was not very good early in the year. We put up points through the air against bad defenses, but struggled to run the ball behind a shaky offensive line. It wasn't until 3-4 games into the season that the offensive line found its groove and we started being able to run the ball.

2016-Another weird year. Injuries lost us 3 of the last four games. White, being hurt against Vandy, played terribly against Georgia, could not play against Alabama, and got injured again against Oklahoma. We unfortunately had no depth at the QB position. However, when we had a healthy Sean White, we looked relatively good... Or so people remember. We lost the opening game against Clemson, a game that included 5 people taking snaps at QB. We looked bad in games 3 and 4 against Texas A&M and LSU, with Les Miles being fired after we won with 5 field goals. Starting after that game, we went on a several game run of very sound offense. Had Sean White not been hurt, we may have ended the season with a national championship.

2017- After a good performance against a bad Georgia Southern team, we had two absolutely terrible games in back to back weeks. Against Clemson, our offensive line played so poorly that Stidham was sacked a ridiculous 11 times. We struggled to run the football and throw the football. We put up 24 points against Mercer. With the exception of that embarrassing LSU loss, we went the rest of the regular season without a loss. we went from one of the worst offenses in the country to one of the best. Had Kerryon not been hurt, he probably would have won the Heisman, and Auburn probably would have won the national championship.

 

So what’s my point? I’m a packers fan, so I’m going to quote Aaron Rodgers…

RELAX!

If history tells us anything, it tells us that will get our offensive woes straightened out. If we do, we have the potential to be a very dangerous team. The wide receivers are some of the best we’ve had in years. I still believe Stidham has the potential to do great things if we can find any rhythm offensively. We have a good stable of running backs, including Kam Martin. (I think he’s getting too much criticism. His running style requires a crease, which he isn’t getting from the offensive line.)

I believe our struggles are twofold, but I think these two problems share a common cause.

Problem 1- Offensive Line Play. Everything we want to do requires better play from this group. We want to run the ball, which we can’t do without better O Line play. We want to throw deep, which requires a decent pocket from our Offensive Line.

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

So, I guess what I’m advocating for is more time for things to straighten out. Quit insulting Stidham. Quit insulting Gus and CCL. Quit insulting Kam Martin. Quit acting like the sky is falling. It is too early for that! If we lose to Moo State in 2 weeks, you may have an argument. But for now, complaining about any of these things is premature, especially when you consider that we’ve looked bad like this early in previous seasons.

 

 You don’t have to advocate. We don’t have a choice but to allow Gus more time as he will be our head coach for the foreseeable future barring a catastrophic collapse or a Petrino situation. In the mean time, I think a football forum should be used for the purpose of discussion whether you agree with it or not. One’s man complaint is another man’s critique. I for one enjoy hearing others opinions and if I don’t agree or feel it’s annoying I either respond or ignore the post. Happy postings. The sun will rise tomorrow and we will still discuss and dissect this game until we play again next week. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This frustration has alot to do with philosophy vs actual coaching. Gus wants to only use tempo after first downs. Instead of doing the straight up the middle run we are running the screen. He slows it down if we don't  It's obvious. We are rarely throwing it over the middle, this may be a case of numbers but it doesn't seem so. He wants to minimize risk with his qb. And thats his philosophy. Stidham has that option only because he's been in the system for two years.  I can't explain the run or lack thereof outside of the line. Brahms will help though... If we keep pounding it with Whitlow and mixing it up with the faster guys.

Just a multi year observation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

I rarely post on here anymore, but I visit the boards very frequently. 

I want to say that I've been on and off the Gus Bus since he was hired. I in part blame him for Chizik's failure because I think he failed to develop the quarterbacks he coached while he was a coordinator (and let's face it, Cam was going to be good with or without Gus). But I've noticed a lot of unwarranted negativity on this board and I think it needs addressing. 

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0. It is true that we haven't looked stellar on offense, but let's not act like we haven't been here before. So... let's go back in time.

2010: Offensive line play looked iffy in games 1-3. Cam was missing wide open targets. There were folks saying Cam was only a running quarterback, and that he wouldn't be able to throw. In fact, it took a field goal to beat a bad Mississippi State team, and a missed field goal to beat a mediocre Clemson team. By game 6, the offense found its groove and ended up being one of the best in the country, and finished the season winning the national championship. 

2013: To start 2013, we barely beat Washington State, that ended the season with a losing record. We looked mediocre at best against Arkansas State. We looked bad (but won on a last second play) against Mississippi State. We lost to LSU. Early in the season, people on this board were saying Tre Mason didn’t have it in him to be a go to running back. It wasn't until Ole Miss that we found any real continuity on offense. We made it to the national championship game, and came up 13 seconds short.

2014: This season was weird. We ended up losing 4 games in the regular season, but the Mississippi State game was the second worst officiated game I've ever seen (with the LSU game this year being the worst). We lost to Texas A&M on a fumble, but this primarily happened because we had no defense. I think the loss to UGA was due to the shock of the previous week's loss. We lost to Alabama because we had a bad defense. Most people remember this as the season that Ellis Johnson's defense let us down. However, most people forget that our offense was not very good early in the year. We put up points through the air against bad defenses, but struggled to run the ball behind a shaky offensive line. It wasn't until 3-4 games into the season that the offensive line found its groove and we started being able to run the ball.

2016-Another weird year. Injuries lost us 3 of the last four games. White, being hurt against Vandy, played terribly against Georgia, could not play against Alabama, and got injured again against Oklahoma. We unfortunately had no depth at the QB position. However, when we had a healthy Sean White, we looked relatively good... Or so people remember. We lost the opening game against Clemson, a game that included 5 people taking snaps at QB. We looked bad in games 3 and 4 against Texas A&M and LSU, with Les Miles being fired after we won with 5 field goals. Starting after that game, we went on a several game run of very sound offense. Had Sean White not been hurt, we may have ended the season with a national championship.

2017- After a good performance against a bad Georgia Southern team, we had two absolutely terrible games in back to back weeks. Against Clemson, our offensive line played so poorly that Stidham was sacked a ridiculous 11 times. We struggled to run the football and throw the football. We put up 24 points against Mercer. With the exception of that embarrassing LSU loss, we went the rest of the regular season without a loss. we went from one of the worst offenses in the country to one of the best. Had Kerryon not been hurt, he probably would have won the Heisman, and Auburn probably would have won the national championship.

 

So what’s my point? I’m a packers fan, so I’m going to quote Aaron Rodgers…

RELAX!

If history tells us anything, it tells us that will get our offensive woes straightened out. If we do, we have the potential to be a very dangerous team. The wide receivers are some of the best we’ve had in years. I still believe Stidham has the potential to do great things if we can find any rhythm offensively. We have a good stable of running backs, including Kam Martin. (I think he’s getting too much criticism. His running style requires a crease, which he isn’t getting from the offensive line.)

I believe our struggles are twofold, but I think these two problems share a common cause.

Problem 1- Offensive Line Play. Everything we want to do requires better play from this group. We want to run the ball, which we can’t do without better O Line play. We want to throw deep, which requires a decent pocket from our Offensive Line.

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

So, I guess what I’m advocating for is more time for things to straighten out. Quit insulting Stidham. Quit insulting Gus and CCL. Quit insulting Kam Martin. Quit acting like the sky is falling. It is too early for that! If we lose to Moo State in 2 weeks, you may have an argument. But for now, complaining about any of these things is premature, especially when you consider that we’ve looked bad like this early in previous seasons.

 

Good post. Seems like the offensive line was in a similar position last year at this time so hopefully with 2 weeks until Miss State, they begin to become a good unit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, DAG said:

And one more thing. Advising that we shouldn’t express concern because we looked bad in previous seasons and it has turned out positive is not sound advice. Quite frankly, it is a crap shoot tbh. We usually pick up mid season because we beat teams on a lower talent scale than us and then fall off at the end of the year. It just so happened last year we played to our potential and beat both UGA and Bama ( which was great btw).

But it comes a point in time that we need to take the next step and look like a top ten team from start to finish. This trend of starting off slow is not a good trend. We have all off season to figure out pieces and the strength of the team. Yes we are 3-1 and I am happy for that, but I am not happy with the inconsistency of play of this very talented team. We lucked out playing a team like Arkansas today, because if we would’ve played any other team in the SEC West , we probably lose this game.

I think I am most dissapointed that we came out flat on the offensive side after losing a game like LSU. I think that’s fair criticism to be had, especially since we were outgained by the worst team in the SEC West. I don’t necessarily know if that has happened in the past and it is a valid reason to be concerned. To say otherwise is just being dishonest. 

By all means... be concerned. But there’s a difference between being concerned and throwing in the towel on Gus, Stidham, CCL, or Kam Martin. In the past, we’ve had early struggles like this, and we’ve gotten better. We have to see that happen again, or we are going to struggle. But I don’t think it’s time to outright hit the panic button.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

By all means... be concerned. But there’s a difference between being concerned and throwing in the towel on Gus, Stidham, CCL, or Kam Martin. In the past, we’ve had early struggles like this, and we’ve gotten better. We have to see that happen again, or we are going to struggle. But I don’t think it’s time to outright hit the panic button.

I don’t think most fans have thrown in the towel, but yes, there should be some serious concern as to why we couldn’t generate offense against a very bad Arkansas team. That was a bad team. They might not win a single sec game. That is a huge concern. It’s a lot more than just the offensive line. 

You skipped 2015...why? That is the last time we got outgained by an opponent who we were a high favorite to win against which was Jacksonville state.

So no, we shouldn’t throw in the towel, but there should be a lot of concern on the offensive end right now. It’s one thing to have abysmal performances against Clemson, UGA, etc. There is absolutely no reason that this Arkansas team should’ve outgained us tonight. They averaged more rushing yards than we did. That’s not good. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the concern is actually a good thing. It shows we, as Auburn fans, are focused solely on an SEC title and a playoff berth. That is the expectation, not the longshot hope.

It's indicative of how elite our program has become in the past 15 years, and the current talent level on the plains. Auburn fans expect to contend for national titles on a yearly basis now, because we have elevated our program to that height.

However, I do agree people can go too far in the anxiety. We are in great shape so far this season. We don't need to be even remotely calling for Gus' head after a 34-3 SEC west win. We are in the top 10. We have already beaten a top 10 team. We lost by a point to another after being jobbed.

People's criticism needs to be contained to how the team can improve. We aren't in the head coach market, and this season could still very well end in a title run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, AUght2win said:

I think the concern is actually a good thing. It shows we, as Auburn fans, are focused solely on an SEC title and a playoff berth. That is the expectation, not the longshot hope.

It's indicative of how elite our program has become in the past 15 years, and the current talent level on the plains. Auburn fans expect to contend for national titles on a yearly basis now, because we have elevated our program to that height.

However, I do agree people can go too far in the anxiety. We are in great shape so far this season. We don't need to be even remotely calling for Gus' head after a 34-3 SEC west win. We are in the top 10. We have already beaten a top 10 team. We lost by a point to another after being jobbed.

People's criticism needs to be contained to how the team can improve. We aren't in the head coach market, and this season could still very well end in a title run.

good post

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good post. My opinion, big difference in most of your examples are expectations. While I agree 2010 we didn't start off on fire, we didn't struggle like this on the o line or offense in general but we got better each game, and js isn't cam. When I say isn't cam I'm not talking physical talent. I'm saying playing scared. It's going to take somebody on the offense to challenge each other and to step up and be a leader and be fearless. Preferably js but right now I can't see an ounce of that in him. 

The other part of the expectations is Gus. Back then we are saying yeah they may struggle but Gus is learning on the job. Now he's a vet. He should know how to handle some of these situations better by now. I read one poster say Gus is still learning how to be a coach. That's b.s.. That's out the window now, can't use that excuse anymore. 

Gus tailored his offense then. Now it seems he has a hard time accepting that we're not running for 4 yards a pop by running up the middle with this offense. But he could be trying to protect the qb, I don't know

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, DAG said:

I don’t think most fans have thrown in the towel, but yes, there should be some serious concern as to why we couldn’t generate offense against a very bad Arkansas team. That was a bad team. They might not win a single sec game. That is a huge concern. It’s a lot more than just the offensive line. 

You skipped 2015...why? That is the last time we got outgained by an opponent who we were a high favorite to win against which was Jacksonville state.

So no, we shouldn’t throw in the towel, but there should be a lot of concern on the offensive end right now. It’s one thing to have abysmal performances against Clemson, UGA, etc. There is absolutely no reason that this Arkansas team should’ve outgained us tonight. They averaged more rushing yards than we did. That’s not good. 

And they are in a brand new system with personnel that don't fit it. They don't have a smidge of the talent we have. And they were going up against a MUCH BETTER defense than we were. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always tell people looking back, the offensive line back in 2014 was really not good run blocking wise. I used to say horrendous but then Ive seen the past few lines we've fielded, and well... but for whatever reason, they just lost most of their will with Robinson gone and I think its really when we knew Grimes wasn't a long term answer. Their pass blocking skills were miles better than the current crop we have now, but overall they seemed like smarter and better players too. Itd be nice if we could get a young OL GA thats been somewhere with good technique to come here and be a transition from JB in the next 2-3 seasons.

 

side note: Auburn has got to stop allowing itself to be jobbed in big seasons. Bama or UGA's programs would blow up the SEC's office in anger if they had moments like our 2014 MSU game, 2014 A&M ending, 2018 LSU, the missed PI last night. We just seem content to get pooped on. I watched highlights of Muschamp's "tirades" here and I really miss him, he made those refs accountable no matter the opponent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, AUFriction said:

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

First, I appreciate your rational post. We still have a lot to play for and I’m sure we will continue to improve. But committing to the run is not enough. You have to have coaches and coordinators who recognize schemes and make adjustments on the fly. Last night, Arky had a defensive end crashing into the backfield from the backside on every play. He disrupted our runs time and time again. What adjustment did we make? None. No new formation, no jumbo package, no extra blocker. It was as if our coaches had no awareness. If that was a one time event, it would be one thing. It wasn’t. It is happening game after game, season after season. As a result, we have a QB known to have an NFL arm that looks as confused and lost last night as the other QBs who have regressed in our system. Heck, we couldn’t even call plays in right. At home, against an outmanned opponent. We are head to a finish somewhere between 10-2 or 8-4, and the outcome wont be determined by player will or talent. That is there. It will be determined by where our offensive staff steps up and coaches like they are in the SEC as opposed to high school. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, AUFriction said:

I rarely post on here anymore, but I visit the boards very frequently. 

I want to say that I've been on and off the Gus Bus since he was hired. I in part blame him for Chizik's failure because I think he failed to develop the quarterbacks he coached while he was a coordinator (and let's face it, Cam was going to be good with or without Gus). But I've noticed a lot of unwarranted negativity on this board and I think it needs addressing. 

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0. It is true that we haven't looked stellar on offense, but let's not act like we haven't been here before. So... let's go back in time.

2010: Offensive line play looked iffy in games 1-3. Cam was missing wide open targets. There were folks saying Cam was only a running quarterback, and that he wouldn't be able to throw. In fact, it took a field goal to beat a bad Mississippi State team, and a missed field goal to beat a mediocre Clemson team. By game 6, the offense found its groove and ended up being one of the best in the country, and finished the season winning the national championship. 

2013: To start 2013, we barely beat Washington State, that ended the season with a losing record. We looked mediocre at best against Arkansas State. We looked bad (but won on a last second play) against Mississippi State. We lost to LSU. Early in the season, people on this board were saying Tre Mason didn’t have it in him to be a go to running back. It wasn't until Ole Miss that we found any real continuity on offense. We made it to the national championship game, and came up 13 seconds short.

2014: This season was weird. We ended up losing 4 games in the regular season, but the Mississippi State game was the second worst officiated game I've ever seen (with the LSU game this year being the worst). We lost to Texas A&M on a fumble, but this primarily happened because we had no defense. I think the loss to UGA was due to the shock of the previous week's loss. We lost to Alabama because we had a bad defense. Most people remember this as the season that Ellis Johnson's defense let us down. However, most people forget that our offense was not very good early in the year. We put up points through the air against bad defenses, but struggled to run the ball behind a shaky offensive line. It wasn't until 3-4 games into the season that the offensive line found its groove and we started being able to run the ball.

2016-Another weird year. Injuries lost us 3 of the last four games. White, being hurt against Vandy, played terribly against Georgia, could not play against Alabama, and got injured again against Oklahoma. We unfortunately had no depth at the QB position. However, when we had a healthy Sean White, we looked relatively good... Or so people remember. We lost the opening game against Clemson, a game that included 5 people taking snaps at QB. We looked bad in games 3 and 4 against Texas A&M and LSU, with Les Miles being fired after we won with 5 field goals. Starting after that game, we went on a several game run of very sound offense. Had Sean White not been hurt, we may have ended the season with a national championship.

2017- After a good performance against a bad Georgia Southern team, we had two absolutely terrible games in back to back weeks. Against Clemson, our offensive line played so poorly that Stidham was sacked a ridiculous 11 times. We struggled to run the football and throw the football. We put up 24 points against Mercer. With the exception of that embarrassing LSU loss, we went the rest of the regular season without a loss. we went from one of the worst offenses in the country to one of the best. Had Kerryon not been hurt, he probably would have won the Heisman, and Auburn probably would have won the national championship.

 

So what’s my point? I’m a packers fan, so I’m going to quote Aaron Rodgers…

RELAX!

If history tells us anything, it tells us that will get our offensive woes straightened out. If we do, we have the potential to be a very dangerous team. The wide receivers are some of the best we’ve had in years. I still believe Stidham has the potential to do great things if we can find any rhythm offensively. We have a good stable of running backs, including Kam Martin. (I think he’s getting too much criticism. His running style requires a crease, which he isn’t getting from the offensive line.)

I believe our struggles are twofold, but I think these two problems share a common cause.

Problem 1- Offensive Line Play. Everything we want to do requires better play from this group. We want to run the ball, which we can’t do without better O Line play. We want to throw deep, which requires a decent pocket from our Offensive Line.

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

So, I guess what I’m advocating for is more time for things to straighten out. Quit insulting Stidham. Quit insulting Gus and CCL. Quit insulting Kam Martin. Quit acting like the sky is falling. It is too early for that! If we lose to Moo State in 2 weeks, you may have an argument. But for now, complaining about any of these things is premature, especially when you consider that we’ve looked bad like this early in previous seasons.

 

I like your post, and I hope you're right.  But damn, Gus makes me sick.

And BTW, I thought I saw several little pieces of the sky laying in my back pasture this  morning.  I hope I was mistaken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, KolchakAU85 said:

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

I see this as a big problem.....indecision......and result is the game is slowed down which in the past has not helped us.  

I long for the days when opponents were taking fake injury timeouts to slow us down.....now they are subbing all over the place while we (chip, whoever) is trying to decide what play to call and while the OL is crouched in their stance  for 15 or 20 seconds waiting, waiting, waiting...for the play to be called....and no time for JS to make a change if he wanted to.

The system is inefficient.....and detrimental to a smooth offense.  JMO but we need to improve the entire play calling system...not just the plays... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, AUFriction said:

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0

We are also one great effort play by a LB from being 2-2 with wins against a pretty bad 1-3 Alabama State team (who just got blanked 34-0 by Grambling State and that was on the heels of a 62-13 spanking by Kennesaw State) and a pretty bad 1-3 Razorback team who was manhandled by North Texas 44-17. 

Just a little perspective

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, johnnyAU said:

We are also one great effort play by a LB from being 2-2 with wins against a pretty bad 1-3 Alabama State team (who just got blanked 34-0 by Grambling State and that was on the heels of a 62-13 spanking by Kennesaw State) and a pretty bad 1-3 Razorback team who was manhandled by North Texas 44-17. 

Just a little perspective

Or one bad pass interference call from being 4-0 and in the top 4....which is another perspective to consider...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At this point playoffs is not even in my mind. I want them to get it together and make a good bowl game and win it this time. I just don't see them having a complete 180 and solving all these problems as much as I want them to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Or one bad pass interference call from being 4-0 and in the top 4....which is another perspective to consider...

Mostly due to bogus preseason rankings. No way should we be considered a top 10 team even if we had beaten LSU. 

After last night, I only see 3 games where we should have comfortable wins...and 2 of those worry me. UT and Southern Miss.  I'm pretty sure we'll beat Liberty. 

(I'm happy we didn't draw Kentucky from the East)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, AUFriction said:

or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

I was hoping this would be the case early on in the year just due to the reshuffled OL and unproven RB group.  RB's are slightly better than I thought at this point in the season, and the OL is worse than I imagined.  The young WR's look pretty darn good.

Perhaps we'd be in the same boat regardless. Who knows? I still believe we should be North of 60/40 pass-run ratio with the skill players we have, mixing in quick passes to slow down the pressure.  It's hard to watch what's going on out there right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think the problem was the herb hand experiment. he wanted someone that felt comfy with his offense and felt herb would improve things. so they changed the way the line blocked and besides that hand moved too many cats around in case a lineman went down instead of teaching stronger basic technique before playing musical lineman chairs. gus realized his error and made changes but some of the damage is done and might take longer than we would like to get it changed around. i am not an x and o kinda guy but that is what it looks like to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, AUFriction said:

I rarely post on here anymore, but I visit the boards very frequently. 

I want to say that I've been on and off the Gus Bus since he was hired. I in part blame him for Chizik's failure because I think he failed to develop the quarterbacks he coached while he was a coordinator (and let's face it, Cam was going to be good with or without Gus). But I've noticed a lot of unwarranted negativity on this board and I think it needs addressing. 

First of all, we are 3-1, and were one play away from being 4-0. It is true that we haven't looked stellar on offense, but let's not act like we haven't been here before. So... let's go back in time.

2010: Offensive line play looked iffy in games 1-3. Cam was missing wide open targets. There were folks saying Cam was only a running quarterback, and that he wouldn't be able to throw. In fact, it took a field goal to beat a bad Mississippi State team, and a missed field goal to beat a mediocre Clemson team. By game 6, the offense found its groove and ended up being one of the best in the country, and finished the season winning the national championship. 

2013: To start 2013, we barely beat Washington State, that ended the season with a losing record. We looked mediocre at best against Arkansas State. We looked bad (but won on a last second play) against Mississippi State. We lost to LSU. Early in the season, people on this board were saying Tre Mason didn’t have it in him to be a go to running back. It wasn't until Ole Miss that we found any real continuity on offense. We made it to the national championship game, and came up 13 seconds short.

2014: This season was weird. We ended up losing 4 games in the regular season, but the Mississippi State game was the second worst officiated game I've ever seen (with the LSU game this year being the worst). We lost to Texas A&M on a fumble, but this primarily happened because we had no defense. I think the loss to UGA was due to the shock of the previous week's loss. We lost to Alabama because we had a bad defense. Most people remember this as the season that Ellis Johnson's defense let us down. However, most people forget that our offense was not very good early in the year. We put up points through the air against bad defenses, but struggled to run the ball behind a shaky offensive line. It wasn't until 3-4 games into the season that the offensive line found its groove and we started being able to run the ball.

2016-Another weird year. Injuries lost us 3 of the last four games. White, being hurt against Vandy, played terribly against Georgia, could not play against Alabama, and got injured again against Oklahoma. We unfortunately had no depth at the QB position. However, when we had a healthy Sean White, we looked relatively good... Or so people remember. We lost the opening game against Clemson, a game that included 5 people taking snaps at QB. We looked bad in games 3 and 4 against Texas A&M and LSU, with Les Miles being fired after we won with 5 field goals. Starting after that game, we went on a several game run of very sound offense. Had Sean White not been hurt, we may have ended the season with a national championship.

2017- After a good performance against a bad Georgia Southern team, we had two absolutely terrible games in back to back weeks. Against Clemson, our offensive line played so poorly that Stidham was sacked a ridiculous 11 times. We struggled to run the football and throw the football. We put up 24 points against Mercer. With the exception of that embarrassing LSU loss, we went the rest of the regular season without a loss. we went from one of the worst offenses in the country to one of the best. Had Kerryon not been hurt, he probably would have won the Heisman, and Auburn probably would have won the national championship.

 

So what’s my point? I’m a packers fan, so I’m going to quote Aaron Rodgers…

RELAX!

If history tells us anything, it tells us that will get our offensive woes straightened out. If we do, we have the potential to be a very dangerous team. The wide receivers are some of the best we’ve had in years. I still believe Stidham has the potential to do great things if we can find any rhythm offensively. We have a good stable of running backs, including Kam Martin. (I think he’s getting too much criticism. His running style requires a crease, which he isn’t getting from the offensive line.)

I believe our struggles are twofold, but I think these two problems share a common cause.

Problem 1- Offensive Line Play. Everything we want to do requires better play from this group. We want to run the ball, which we can’t do without better O Line play. We want to throw deep, which requires a decent pocket from our Offensive Line.

Problem 2- Tempo. I was not a fan of the up tempo offense, and still think it does more harm than good if you don’t have depth on defense. That said, our offense absolutely works better when we go up tempo. Right now, we aren’t doing that. I believe this is in part due to problem 1. The coaches desperately want to run the ball because they think it will be important later in the season. However, the coaches also want to score points. I think the coaches are struggling with this conundrum. Do they commit to running the ball at a fast pace? Or do they focus on the passing game, in turn looking more like an air raid offense which may make for a liability later in the season? I think this discussion/consideration is slowing down our tempo.

The fix: The coaches either need to commit to the run and work on getting that offensive line to look like a single unit, or they need to admit to themselves that this year needs to be a pass first team.  

So, I guess what I’m advocating for is more time for things to straighten out. Quit insulting Stidham. Quit insulting Gus and CCL. Quit insulting Kam Martin. Quit acting like the sky is falling. It is too early for that! If we lose to Moo State in 2 weeks, you may have an argument. But for now, complaining about any of these things is premature, especially when you consider that we’ve looked bad like this early in previous seasons.

 

A voice of reason 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, johnnyAU said:

Mostly due to bogus preseason rankings. No way should we be considered a top 10 team even if we had beaten LSU. 

After last night, I only see 3 games where we should have comfortable wins...and 2 of those worry me. UT and Southern Miss.  I'm pretty sure we'll beat Liberty. 

(I'm happy we didn't draw Kentucky from the East)

So who is really good...did you forget the Udub win and they are still in the top t0 and LSU in the top 10 and what other team has played two top ten teams already this year?  I think you under rate this team...JMO….

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

 I watched highlights of Muschamp's "tirades" here and I really miss him, he made those refs accountable no matter the opponent

Do you really believe ole Muschamp held the officials accountable :lol:  That's hilarious.  Muschamp did absolutely nothing of the sort and neither does any other assistant coach anywhere in the country.  Having tirades on the sidelines and shouting expletives at another grown man doing his job is not holding anybody accountable.   Remember we got penalized 15 yards because of one of his tirades at the officials.   That's not holding anybody accountable, that's hurting your own team.  There isn't an assistant anywhere in the country that "holds officials accountable".   The officials aren't paying any attention to any assistant coaches until they go too far like Muschamp often did as an assistant.   The head coach is responsible for any and all communications to the officials.  If he doesn't think something is right its his job to say something not any assistant coach.     The HEAD COACH will talk to the SEC office if he feels like they need to look at film and justify some calls or explain why something wasn't called.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Members Online

    No members to show

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...