This defense has to be dominant

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, AU64 said:

JMO but the defense must be "consistent".....dominant would be nice but not sure that's gonna happen with modern offenses....but what drives me nuts is not getting off the field on third and long....over and over.     We seem to play dominant defense inside our own twenty most games but between the 20s, we are inclined to play soft and allow teams to string together long drives....which often means when we finally stop a drive, our offense gets the ball deep in AU territory.   

I'm hoping for more 3 and outs following a kick-off or punt.   JMO 

Much of that was a direct result of the offense refusing to move the ball, score points, or even stay on the field for more than a minute of game time. Go back and look closely at the drive charts for the MSU game. The defense quickly gave the ball right back to the offense with good field position several times. Look at how the offense responded.

The defense will be just fine if they get any help whatsoever from the offense. 

We'll make some youthful mistakes at LB but I agree with those who say that we are now more talented than we were last year. Both corners are locked down if the ones stay healthy. Defensive line will be fantastic. 

Safety's an issue. Need a rush end to step up. Might get some real help from a freshman. 

Dammit, Richard Jibunor. DAMMIT!

 

[DAG 33,964]

Also I don’t know if the defense has to be dominant. It’s been a long time since we had a dominant defense . What I do hope for though is more pressure from the defensive line and turnovers. Maybe I am wrong but it seems like we rarely get turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. 

[AURex 1,992]

Talking about WRs has to do with needing a dominant defense because ....

Um ... Well, maybe the staff are thinking of the future, not just the current season.

We need to have 12 to 15 WRs because we can't seem to recruit enough top defensive secondary guys?

Now if they could just figure out a way to overload on another position to get some stud offensive linemen.

😉

 

[Gowebb11 9,313]

6 hours ago, DAG said:

Also I don’t know if the defense has to be dominant. It’s been a long time since we had a dominant defense . What I do hope for though is more pressure from the defensive line and turnovers. Maybe I am wrong but it seems like we rarely get turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. 

Agree on the defensive line, particularly the ends. We seemed to take a lot of bad angles and ‘almost’ get to the QB a lot last year. We need a sure footed speed rusher, and I was thinking Jibunor could be that guy. 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

If we score 21 points against Oregon, we should win. Our defense should be elite enough to hold them under that number. Gus may be an offensive coach but the defense is the rock of this team - at least until our freshmen QBs can adjust to the speed of the game. 

Yes I still believe we will win with defense in 2019. We may not hold teams to 0 points, but we can hold teams to 10-17 points. 

Let’s do this!!

[steeleagle 2,945]

36 minutes ago, gr82b4au said:

If we score 21 points against Oregon, we should win. Our defense should be elite enough to hold them under that number. Gus may be an offensive coach but the defense is the rock of this team - at least until our freshmen QBs can adjust to the speed of the game. 

Yes I still believe we will win with defense in 2019. We may not hold teams to 0 points, but we can hold teams to 10-17 points. 

Let’s do this!!

We talked about our D like this at the beginning of last year, and we still were up and down w/ our D. We had some games where we simply could not stop the run game, or a game where we could not make a stop on D or breakup a 3rd down pass. 

We are so lucky some of our best DL guys stayed, when they could have gone pro, so we have that in our back pocket, but we have ALL new LBs and it is unknown as to how they will play against strong SEC teams...

[aucanucktiger 1,791]

IMO by December our d-line will be called inconsistent (though they will turn in 2 or 3 gems), our LBs better than expected and our DBs a schizo intercept/surrender long play unit. No, this season will turn on our O line. IMHO

[ellitor 33,080]

13 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

we can hold teams to 10-17 points.

You're asking a heck of a lot there. 10 is nearly impossible in today's game as no team, SEC or otherwise, has been at 10 points per game the past 5 season except Clemson once, only a few from the SEC around the 13 point mark, & only 1 or 2 per season in the SEC at or around 17 PPG allowed. 19 PPG is our average the past 3 seasons. Off that 16-17 seems like a worthwhile goal for the upcoming season. Still the O is going to need to average 3 TDs a game at minimum for this team to be successful. The D won't be able to do it alone.

[Tiger 8,818]

Very rarely does a team lose all starting LBs from the previous year and go from one of the better defenses in the country (14th in points allowed in the nation) to dominant.

Defense will likely be solid, but there will be a game or 2 where our LBs look like first time starters. And unless we see a pre-neutered Gus make an appearance on the offensive side of the ball it will be very hard to mitigate these deficiencies within the LB unit

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

On 7/29/2019 at 6:46 PM, ellitor said:

Yup! Even Bama doesn't expect to win games at a 17-10 clip anymore & they still have great Ds. Also if we get back to pace as it's being talked about there won't be many low scoring games available.

Exactly. If you actually want low scoring games against your defense you would have to intentionally slow your own offense down to limit the touches for the opponent. I’m all about just out scoring the opponent, pretty sure you win that way 🤔

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

Very rarely does a team lose all starting LBs from the previous year and go from one of the better defenses in the country (14th in points allowed in the nation) to dominant.

Defense will likely be solid, but there will be a game or 2 where our LBs look like first time starters. And unless we see a pre-neutered Gus make an appearance on the offensive side of the ball it will be very hard to mitigate these deficiencies within the LB unit

While mostly true, we did just that 2 years ago and new guys did well. I think with T-Wil in charge, ain’t no problem 👍

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 hours ago, Tiger said:

Very rarely does a team lose all starting LBs from the previous year and go from one of the better defenses in the country (14th in points allowed in the nation) to dominant.

Defense will likely be solid, but there will be a game or 2 where our LBs look like first time starters. And unless we see a pre-neutered Gus make an appearance on the offensive side of the ball it will be very hard to mitigate these deficiencies within the LB unit

I think the expectation (hope) is that more talent overcomes less experience.

Reminds me of us losing Lawson and Adams and getting better the next season. If it happens lol.

[StatTiger 3,188]

On 7/29/2019 at 5:32 PM, gr82b4au said:

Our defense has played better the last few years and last year they kept us in games while the offense sputtered. Granted there were WTH games like MS State and TN that were terrible, but for the most part the defense has really played well. 

This year - we need them to be even better. We need them to dominate. Like the Auburn team of 2004, or the AU teams 1980's- DOMINATE. Like some of the Lsu/Alabama teams of the past decade. Top 5 in the country good (or better). Our defense, especially the front 7, will have to carry us early this year when the offense is trying to work things out.

Our offense is a huge question mark this year. New freshmen QBs, new leading WRs, RBs that are new or are still learning, and an OL that has experience but if we are honest they struggled at times last year. We could be amazing. We could be terrible. Chances are good we will be somewhere in between while they learn on the go. 

And while they learn, we need the defense take over games. We need the D to come up with sacks, turnovers, and 3-outs in mass. We need to be able to win 17-10 type games and 13-10 type games. We need to be feared. We need to be mean. I think we have the talent and coaching on that side of the ball. 

 

 

I agree with the majority of what you posted except for the last paragraph, regarding the low scoring games. Those low scoring games are rare with the way offenses scheme during the past decade. Over the past decade (2009-2018) there have been a total of 48 games involving SEC games only, where both teams scored no more than 17 points or 4.8 per season. There was only two during the 2017 season and three last year.

Again, I agree with your overall point of winning with defense again and winning the close ball games too.

[AUApostle 7,651]

20 minutes ago, StatTiger said:

I agree with the majority of what you posted except for the last paragraph, regarding the low scoring games. Those low scoring games are rare with the way offenses scheme during the past decade. Over the past decade (2009-2018) there have been a total of 48 games involving SEC games only, where both teams scored no more than 17 points or 4.8 per season. There was only two during the 2017 season and three last year.

Again, I agree with your overall point of winning with defense again and winning the close ball games too.

What's the average point threshold for a quality defense and how much has that changed since HUNH was introduced into the league?  No hurry, I can wait... 😃

[Mikey 16,566]

23 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

IMO by December our d-line will be called inconsistent (though they will turn in 2 or 3 gems), our LBs better than expected and our DBs a schizo intercept/surrender long play unit. No, this season will turn on our O line. IMHO

If your prophecy about the defense turns out to be true, this season will be one of the biggest wastes of talent/experience in Auburn history.

[aujeff11 6,243]

It’s only August 

 

 

[Tiger 8,818]

16 hours ago, McLoofus said:

I think the expectation (hope) is that more talent overcomes less experience.

Reminds me of us losing Lawson and Adams and getting better the next season. If it happens lol.

Nice catch. I'm not holding my breath but at least there is real life evidence that it can happen

[Tiger 8,818]

18 hours ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

While mostly true, we did just that 2 years ago and new guys did well. I think with T-Wil in charge, ain’t no problem 👍

Somehow I saw Loof's post before yours. Good call, sir!

[logan adams 333]

On 7/29/2019 at 9:04 PM, gr82b4au said:

Man I hope you are correct, but I think the offense will struggle the opening game a little. There are a lot of new faces in the biggest opening game of the season. Nerves and such. 

I would love it if we scored a ton, but I see a defensive struggle. 

I could see it going both ways. An absolute struggle or they come out the gates firing. I would love for our first play to be a read-play action deep pass to Seth Williams. 

[toddc 13,194]

It’ll be an RPO, and someone will swear they saw Chip ducking out of the coaches box up stairs.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

So is Jashawn Sheffield locked in at WR? He could certainly pair well with Smoke to create a dominant DB group

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

On 7/30/2019 at 8:56 AM, AU64 said:

JMO but the defense must be "consistent".....dominant would be nice but not sure that's gonna happen with modern offenses....but what drives me nuts is not getting off the field on third and long....over and over.     We seem to play dominant defense inside our own twenty most games but between the 20s, we are inclined to play soft and allow teams to string together long drives....which often means when we finally stop a drive, our offense gets the ball deep in AU territory.   

I'm hoping for more 3 and outs following a kick-off or punt.   JMO 

Agreed... in my opinion our defense kindve regressed throughout the season (minus Purdue) whereas the offense seemed to get better as the season went along. We SHOULD *knocks on wood* have a better offense this season. So hopefully we won’t have to hold opponents under 21 points to win 

[Carnell 592]

While this defense is talented for it to be dominant, Steele has to get a lot more imaginative with his defensive schemes. Our opponents know going into the game that we Auburn will run man coverage and blitz the middle backers.  Until Steele make our opponent read different schemes and make the opposing quarterback uncomfortable trying to read different schemes our defense wont be dominant.

[AUght2win 6,828]

On 7/29/2019 at 3:02 PM, AuburnNTexas said:

I don't think even with a dominant defense in today's spread fast paced Offenses you will see to many low scoring games. I agree D needs to dominate especially on Turn Overs giving O short field.  

Unfortunately, as long as Steele is coach we will not force turnovers. He is a big believer in bend-don't-break. We almost exclusively play in-phase man defense with our DBs turning their back to the ball. Can't pick off the ball if you can't see it.

For the record, I love Steele. He is a great coach. I just have a different philosophy on defense. I think forcing a turnover is the most game-changing play in all of sports. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

20 hours ago, AUght2win said:

Unfortunately, as long as Steele is coach we will not force turnovers. He is a big believer in bend-don't-break. We almost exclusively play in-phase man defense with our DBs turning their back to the ball. Can't pick off the ball passes if you can't see it.

For the record, I love Steele. He is a great coach. I just have a different philosophy on defense. I think forcing a turnover is the most game-changing play in all of sports. 

Auburn turnover margin last year was .7 Florida was also .7 and LSU  and Vanderbilt .8 that was the four top teams in the SEC 

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/turnover-margin-per-game

Like most statistics there is more to it. What part of the field was the turnover at did it lead to points for your team or if you turned it over did it lead to points for other team. Was turnover  at a crucial time in game that had a direct impact on the game.