aubiefifty 16,766 Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 Auburn’s run game historically bad in win vs. Texas A&M Updated 4:29 PM; Posted 4:29 PM Boobee Whitlow, pictured here from earlier this season, rushed just six times for 16 yards on Saturday. (AP/Vasha Hunt) 0 shares By Sam Blum | SBlum@al.com SBlum@al.com Auburn’s offense had two weeks to get ready for Texas A&M, and its well-known elite rush defense. But on the first series of the game, it didn’t look prepared for that challenge. The Tigers ran two consecutive, very similar -- if not identical -- plays. They were handoffs to freshman Anthony Schwartz. Two plays later, they were 11 yards in the negative. It started a day in which Auburn’s run game hardly ever got in the positive. “We’re not happy at all with the rushing numbers, everybody here knows that," said head coach Gus Malzahn. “There’s a lot of things we need to work on and correct and we’ll continue to do that but today, the big thing I don’t want to take away from is that we won.” The Tigers ran for just a net total of 19 yards -- though still somehow came out with a 28-24 win. That victory mostly came on the back of two acrobatic touchdowns from Seth Williams and an out-of-nowhere effort from quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who more than doubled his offensive production in the final quarter. Boobee Whitlow was not totally healthy, and was truly a game-time decision. Stidham said he was pestering his top RB as recently as Friday over whether or not he’d play. Whitlow did play, but took only six carriers for a team-high 16 yards. Auburn handed the ball off 21 times, and had only one play of 10 yards or more. At the start of the fourth quarter, Texas A&M had triple the number of first downs the Tigers had (7). “We knew it was going to be tough to run the ball,” said senior fullback Chandler Cox, who had a one-yard TD run. “We knew. For two weeks prepared for it. So we’ve got to make plays somewhere else besides run the ball.” Whitlow wasn’t available for interviews after the game, but his absence definitely played an impact on why Auburn struggled so mightily in that area. It also didn’t help that Stidham’s -15 yards on the ground will factor into the final stats. Through Auburn’s first 10 possessions, five ended in a three-and-out. That includes the first two drives of the fourth quarter, the latter which saw Stidham get knocked back nine yards. “We knew their run [defense] was pretty stout just from looking at the other games against some of the other teams, that had really good run teams," said receiver Darius Slayton. "We knew that. We struggled running the ball early a little bit, and we knew we were going to have make plays on the perimeter.” Texas A&M had been allowing fewer than 90 rushing yards per game, and were in the top five in the nation in that category. It will get better now, once the numbers from this week are all tallied up. They’ll still have lost the game, though. It was the fewest rushing yards for an Auburn team since 2000, when they rushed for 18 yards in a game. Earlier in the week, Malzahn said that, in order to be successful against Texas A&M, in order to win, both the running game and the passing game would have to be good. He’s likely very glad to be wrong about that. “Defensively, they’re as good as advertised against the run. I thought they had a good plan offensively," Malzahn said. “They were able to run the football. ... But really, what stood out to me was that I’m very thankful to have a chance to coach a team like this with the character that they have.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChltteTiger 649 Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 So coach it appears the team bailed you out and you will be back one more year. Enjoy Waffle House tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamp Eagle 5,134 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 JMO, but this is what happens when you have a terrible OL combined with a gimpy RB who should probably be resting. Even with a healthy RB, we pretty much suck running the football. Gus was all "we got our running game going" against the worst D in probably all of the Power 5 conferences. A fool could see that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDUBB4AU 5,112 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Who cares . Just win . The scoreboard matters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linayus 676 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 On 11/3/2018 at 4:44 PM, aubiefifty said: Texas A&M had been allowing fewer than 90 rushing yards per game, and were in the top five in the nation in that category. It will get better now, once the numbers from this week are all tallied up. They’ll still have lost the game, though. Anyone else absolutely baffled at this? A&M went from one of the worst defenses (at least in the SEC), especially against the run, to one of the TOP in the nation seemingly in one season. It's incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,050 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Maybe we can borrow a GA running back? One of the guys who we said if they don't want to be here good riddance please....when this situation arises people remember that they like to win again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,050 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 2 minutes ago, Linayus said: Anyone else absolutely baffled at this? A&M went from one of the worst defenses (at least in the SEC), especially against the run, to one of the TOP in the nation seemingly in one season. It's incredible. The main thing was they started to control the ball so their defense wasn't left out on the field most of the game. That's the biggest thing you can do for your defense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linayus 676 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 1 minute ago, cole256 said: The main thing was they started to control the ball so their defense wasn't left out on the field most of the game. That's the biggest thing you can do for your defense That's true - I do remember the announcers saying they were really good at eating up the clock. That certainly helps out the defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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