Popular Post JMR 2,118 Posted October 7, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 7, 2018 A particularly ugly football game, at least from an Auburn standpoint. The offense continued to struggle, converting only three of fourteen third downs, and the defense finally caved under the challenge of carrying the team to a win. Special teams pitched in with two muffed punts and another missed field goal, and the result was a crushing loss on the road vs an SEC West opponent. Here are some things I thought I saw….. Calvin Ashley started at right tackle in place of Jack Driscoll (knee). Ashley, like most 2018 AU offensive linemen, cannot begin to handle a speed rush, and gave up three sacks to State’s Montez Sweat. Jarrett Stidham appeared to do a better job of hanging in the pocket under the State rush, but his accuracy was not what it needed to be, missing badly on deep shots to Anthony Schwartz and Darius Slayton. Those opportunities are not easy to come by against almost any opponent, and missing them is costly. I honestly can not remember the last time I saw an Auburn defense tackle so poorly. You know you are in trouble when you see defensive players *reaching* for a ball carrier, and I saw that time after time in this game. I’m sure there must have been one, but I don’t recall seeing a single hard hit delivered by Auburn’s defense in the game. Lots of arm tackling and whiffs. Two muffed punts and a missed field goal put a damper on what had been some encouraging growth by AU special teams. Field position was always going to be a critical factor in this game, and other than Arryn Siposs flipping the field on his first punt, Auburn could neither drive the ball offensively, nor keep State from mounting drives to own field position. Marlon Davidson’s block of a State field goal did give Auburn a chance to get back into the game. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t get it done. It was frustrating to see the AU offense begin the game by trying to establish the inside zone against State’s excellent interior defensive line anchored by Jeffrey Simmons. It took nearly two quarters of that for Auburn’s offensive staff to begin attacking the perimeter, which was predictably much more vulnerable. It’s always a little odd to me how, when you’re playing well, the toss-up plays seem to go your way, and when you’re playing poorly, you can’t catch a break. Two key plays that were reviewed were both called in State’s favor on the field, and the video “evidence” was deemed inconclusive. Those two plays accounted for 14 points in the game; a TD by Fitzgerald at the end of the first half, and a no-TD for Boobee Whitlow later. Searching for positives in this disappointing game, Auburn did manage to greatly reduce the penalties that have plagued the team in recent games. State’s ability to outflank the Auburn defense was a huge factor in the game. Auburn was unable to set the edge almost throughout the game. Granted, Fitzgerald ran for 195 yards mostly up the middle, but most of that was due to missed tackles, not some tactical flaw. “Where we go from here” is pretty much TBD at this point. For us as fans, it feels like the roof has fallen in, and our house has been deemed uninhabitable. But fortunately, players are young and resilient, and are capable of bouncing back from heartbreak and disappointment. I don’t know how the season will play out going forward, but I’m sure the coaches are focused on winning the next game, as opposed to determining just how we lost the last one. Let’s hope we can begin to play well enough to cause some breaks to go our way. WAR EAGLE!! 4 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A particularly ugly football game, at least from an Auburn standpoint. The offense continued to struggle, converting only three of fourteen third downs, and the defense finally caved under the challenge of carrying the team to a win. Special teams pitched in with two muffed punts and another missed field goal, and the result was a crushing loss on the road vs an SEC West opponent. Here are some things I thought I saw….. Calvin Ashley started at right tackle in place of Jack Driscoll (knee). Ashley, like most 2018 AU offensive linemen, cannot begin to handle a speed rush, and gave up three sacks to State’s Montez Sweat. Jarrett Stidham appeared to do a better job of hanging in the pocket under the State rush, but his accuracy was not what it needed to be, missing badly on deep shots to Anthony Schwartz and Darius Slayton. Those opportunities are not easy to come by against almost any opponent, and missing them is costly. I honestly can not remember the last time I saw an Auburn defense tackle so poorly. You know you are in trouble when you see defensive players *reaching* for a ball carrier, and I saw that time after time in this game. I’m sure there must have been one, but I don’t recall seeing a single hard hit delivered by Auburn’s defense in the game. Lots of arm tackling and whiffs. Two muffed punts and a missed field goal put a damper on what had been some encouraging growth by AU special teams. Field position was always going to be a critical factor in this game, and other than Arryn Siposs flipping the field on his first punt, Auburn could neither drive the ball offensively, nor keep State from mounting drives to own field position. Marlon Davidson’s block of a State field goal did give Auburn a chance to get back into the game. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t get it done. It was frustrating to see the AU offense begin the game by trying to establish the inside zone against State’s excellent interior defensive line anchored by Jeffrey Simmons. It took nearly two quarters of that for Auburn’s offensive staff to begin attacking the perimeter, which was predictably much more vulnerable. It’s always a little odd to me how, when you’re playing well, the toss-up plays seem to go your way, and when you’re playing poorly, you can’t catch a break. Two key plays that were reviewed were both called in State’s favor on the field, and the video “evidence” was deemed inconclusive. Those two plays accounted for 14 points in the game; a TD by Fitzgerald at the end of the first half, and a no-TD for Boobee Whitlow later. Searching for positives in this disappointing game, Auburn did manage to greatly reduce the penalties that have plagued the team in recent games. State’s ability to outflank the Auburn defense was a huge factor in the game. Auburn was unable to set the edge almost throughout the game. Granted, Fitzgerald ran for 195 yards mostly up the middle, but most of that was due to missed tackles, not some tactical flaw. “Where we go from here” is pretty much TBD at this point. For us as fans, it feels like the roof has fallen in, and our house has been deemed uninhabitable. But fortunately, players are young and resilient, and are capable of bouncing back from heartbreak and disappointment. I don’t know how the season will play out going forward, but I’m sure the coaches are focused on winning the next game, as opposed to determining just how we lost the last one. Let’s hope we can begin to play well enough to cause some breaks to go our way. WAR EAGLE!!
AuMarine 1,372 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I am honestly in awe of how bad our QB and OL are playing. It makes my head hurt. But as always.. love your insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creed 1,635 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 One of things I noticed is on the inside runs by Fitzgerald is that Davis was running out of the middle to cover the sweep man leaving the middle wide open. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd4au 1,145 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I saw a team in moo st that was fired up and ready to play and a team in AU that seemed to have zero fire in their belly to win this game. As poorly as this team played we still had plenty of chances to come out on top even if we didn't deserve to win.The refs absolutely killed us with every review of critical plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creed 1,635 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Also, when you're a team that is struggling mistakes are deadly. Fumbled punt return netted 7 points for state. Fumbled TD run resulted 0 points for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Eye 7 2,535 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I did don’t see any good play on JS’s part. Go back and look at that long pass down the side line . He was running backwards and just heaved the ball without even looking much. We were lucky it was in the area of the reciever and the reciever fought for the ball and made the catch. JS was pretty much pitiful all night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
around4ever 4,139 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 A few notes to add to Coach's excellent points. MSU had possession of the ball for 21:40 in the 1st half. They had it for 41:53 for the game. We had one drive of 11 plays in the first half resulting in a missed FG. The rest of the first half we ran 13 plays. We have yet to see Stidham make a play change at the line without looking to the sidelines. Was Gus truthful in saying Stidham would have the freedom to do so? I agree on the missed tackles, just awful. The DEs were crashing most of the game and losing outside containment. If that isn't bad enough they weren't getting to the point of attack to stop the up the middle runs either. Credit MSU though, they came to play. Their plan on both sides was almost flawless and they whipped our butts on both sides of the ball. This was IMO one of the worst all around performances by an Auburn team in a long time. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyAU 3,630 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I think I saw an Auburn team that has been relying on its defense for 5 games, and the one game they struggle a bit, the offense can do nothing to help. I think I saw the defense getting a little tired of carrying the load with no end in sight. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburnphan 6,050 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 hour ago, creed said: One of things I noticed is on the inside runs by Fitzgerald is that Davis was running out of the middle to cover the sweep man leaving the middle wide open. remember when teams would do this with Chizik's tampa 2 all the time, drove me nuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Eye 7 2,535 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 2 hours ago, creed said: One of things I noticed is on the inside runs by Fitzgerald is that Davis was running out of the middle to cover the sweep man leaving the middle wide open. You are correct but at least Steele and Davis both owned that problem. They admitted their fault and I’m sure they will fix it. Problem on the other side is no one is owning the offense problems and have not all year. That leads me to believe they will NOT get it fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lala 327 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 9 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said: You are correct but at least Steele and Davis both owned that problem. They admitted their fault and I’m sure they will fix it. Problem on the other side is no one is owning the offense problems and have not all year. That leads me to believe they will NOT get it fixed. Yea on them correcting but we knew what they were going to do coming into the game and yet our top 5 D was not disciplined enough to stop it. Disappointing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Eye 7 2,535 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Just now, lala said: Yea on them correcting but we knew what they were going to do coming into the game and yet our top 5 D was not disciplined enough to stop it. Disappointing I agree but my point is we all make mistakes from time to time but we must accept them and learn from them. Gus has no idea how to do that. He considers hisself as perfect therefore no need to change. It always someone else’s fault. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigercj 242 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 The problem in my humble opinion is that no one on the offense coaching staff knows how to correct the problems. We have a QB that is shell shocked trying not to get hit and throwing the ball as quickly as he can. This has his accuracy way off. The offensive line has been ignored in recuriting for several years and really has not been developed at all. The offensive line still seems confused about their assignments and our tackles cannot handle any quick DE. Our RBs are small backs we don't have the big power back. This combined with offense line problems and Gus's stubbornness that he is going to run up the middle doesn't work. In no way should it take a couple of quarters to figure that out. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jptiger 481 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Thanks Coach. Read everyone of these and never miss the podcast. WDE 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigers23 648 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 All we need to fix everything is a football only facility. Gus said so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aubaseball 2,588 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 In my opinion this game showed just how bad Auburn’s in game adjustments are handled. For some reason the defense was more concerning to me than the offense. They basically ran three plays and no adjustment were made to stop the plays. The quarterback read option sweep (the play that Cam perfected) we had no answer. Their QB ran for 5 yards shy of 200. That is quite honestly, unacceptable. He is their only weapon and, AU had no answer. The offense stinks and if only three plays are made AU wins. Now that is just how bad Mississippi State is and speaks of the failure how bad the offense is playing. The game was decided by missed opportunities and a bad play review of their touchdown. I thought Whitlow lost control of the ball just before going over the line. The ball to Slayton was as bad as a poor high school qb would throw. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creed 1,635 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Another note from last night I saw a diverse offense with off tackle plays with pulling guards , tight-end passes, half-back screens, intermediate passes, and do deep throws. But execution was missing. With that we still had a chance to win the game. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowebb11 9,313 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 hour ago, Tigercj said: We have a QB that is shell shocked You’re right about that. Now let me pose this question. Who can he count on to lead and develop him out of it? Gus? When is the last time you’ve seen Gus get with any QB and have a heart to heart when they come off the field after a mistake or bad drive? He never does. He mumbles something to some 20 something year old guy on the sideline who walks over to Jarret to relay Gus’s info. Chip Lindsay? He’s in the press box, which is fine when things go well but when there is a debacle, he needs to come down and teach, coach, and lead. I agree with you that JS is floundering, but he lacks a leader to fix it. JS would throw for 3500 hundred yards and 30 TDs with Jimbo Fisher as his coach. I feel for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamp Eagle 5,129 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 mod edit: leave the players alone I realize the horrible OL play amplifies this, but he has some scaredy-cat tendencies that come naturally. As long as that continues, things will only get worse as the season progresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle79 3,569 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 5 hours ago, JMR said: State’s ability to outflank the Auburn defense was a huge factor in the game. Auburn was unable to set the edge almost throughout the game. That was frustrating to see. We were beat by alignment several times and you knew they would go outside before the ball was snapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KolchakAU85 430 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Jarret Stidham looks like he wishes he had gone to the NFL last year, because he sure as hell isn't going after this year. And that's bad for AU. Hope the OP doesn't mind if we complain about Gus after this ugly disappointment of a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc2525 17 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) The more I watch Auburn play the more it seems that our coaching staff does no have new game plans. Every game we seems to run the exact same plays, it reminds of a high school program. Our coaching staff does not appear to be able to make on the fly adjustments but rather just keep running the same plays hoping for a different results. Two years ago it was Rhett Lashley that was the problem and now a hand picked OC and yet this offense looks exactly the same as pre Chip Lindsey era. The common dominorator is CGM. Why is it so hard for CGM to just let go of the offense and let someone else run it. Auburn and Gus will never improve until he becomes the CEO Head Coach the the neighbor to the north has. You pay assistances big money so empower them to run their offense.....not sure if we will win another SEC game but one thing is for sure we better learn from history or we will surely repeat it again. Just my take.... Edited October 8, 2018 by gc2525 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corchjay 5,311 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, gc2525 said: The more I watch Auburn play the more it seems that our coaching staff does no have new game plans. Every game we seems to run the exact same plays, it reminds of a high school program. Our coaching staff does not appear to be able to make on the fly adjustments but rather just keep running the same plays hoping for a different results. Two years ago it was Rhett Lashley that was the problem and now a hand picked OC and yet this offense looks exactly the same as pre Chip Lindsey era. The common dominorator is CGM. Why is it so hard for CGM to just let go of the offense and let someone else run it. Auburn and Gus will never improve until he becomes the CEO Head Coach the the neighbor to the north has. You pay assistances big money so empower them to run their offense.....not sure if we will win another SEC game but one thing is for sure we better learn from history or we will surely repeat it again. Just my take.... Did you watch the game last night? None of our offense was the same as before except possibly lining up. Many different play calls. We have to try to establish the inside zone and power but after it failed we went outside with the buck sweep. Stidham has the rolling pocket early and I think he started 0-6 or somewhere around there. We went to a more quick pass game and completed about 50 percent of those. There was plenty of adjustments and scheme manipulation to say “different things” were tried. We had 3 perfectly timed called plays that should have been TDs. I guess people see what they want to see. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milehighfan 1,240 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 10 hours ago, Eagle Eye 7 said: You are correct but at least Steele and Davis both owned that problem. They admitted their fault and I’m sure they will fix it. Problem on the other side is no one is owning the offense problems and have not all year. That leads me to believe they will NOT get it fixed. They have played six games and there has been little to no improvement from Stidham and the offense. I don't see them turning things around anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippin Jimmy 5 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I think I saw a HC that has no business coaching at a higher level than the HS ranks... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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