Oregon Report Card

[StatTiger 3,188]

Auburn under Gus Malzahn as head coach was 2-13 in games they trailed by at least 6 points at halftime, coming into the Oregon Game. It included a 0-8 record when trailing by more than 7 points at halftime. So when Auburn trailed 14-6 , it was almost certain the Tigers were destined to lose their season opener against the No.11  Ducks. An Auburn defense that was expected to be dominating, looked overrated during the first period as Oregon gained 176-yards and scored 14 points. After the first three possessions, the Tigers settled in on defense, allowing just 14.2 yards per possession during the final eleven possessions defended. The Auburn offense sputtered during the first half, scoring only six points and turning the ball over two times. The Tigers hung around on defense until the offense found it’s footing during the second-half, gaining 227 yards and scoring 21 points during the second-half.

With so many teams struggling during their season openers against lesser competition, Auburn’s come from behind victory on the road against a solid Oregon team was a good start to the season. There were plenty of mistakes made by the players and coaches but it is always good to learn from your mistakes and still capture a victory. The manner in which Auburn won the game might be a blessing in disguise, as the Auburn coaches should find it easier to keep the team motivated to work hard. Jeremiah Dinson was a beast on defense, limiting Oregon’s yards after receptions, while totaling 13 stops on the night. JaTarvious Whitlow delivered during the second-half, finishing the game with 110 yards on 24 carries. Except for one big pass play allowed, Auburn’s plan of keeping everything in front of them was extremely successful. Take away the two 30+ yard plays allowed and the Auburn defense allowed 248 yards on Oregon’s remaining 68 snaps. Take away the 47-yard pass in the first period, Oregon gained only 195 yards on their remaining 27 completions.

There is plenty of room for improvement moving forward. Auburn could lose four games during the remaining regular season based on their overall performance against the Ducks. Bo Nix pressed at times but the good news is that the game never appeared to be too big for the true freshman. When given the opportunity, he was very effective in the running game, something Auburn needs to do more often down the road. He will never be as productive as a Nick Marshall but he proved he could extend drives with his feet. Some will focus on the negatives but Auburn’s comeback after trailing by 15 points was a good sign of leadership and effort to fight through adversity. Auburn fought to overcome their early mistakes and came away with a victory on the road against a quality opponent. Very few Auburn teams under Malzahn have been able to do the same. Auburn has two games to become a better team before moving into conference play.

==================================

Game #1 Statistical Evaluation (Oregon Game)

Offensive Report Card

01) Avg 6-yards per play on 1st down: [6.37] pass
02) Convert at least 40% of 3rd downs: [41.2%] pass
03) Avg at least 4.5 yards per rush: [4.79] pass
04) Score on at least 1/3 of possessions: [35.7%] pass
05) Keep 3 and out series under 33%: [35.7%] fail
06) Average 8.0 yards per pass attempt: [5.53 yds] fail
07) Score at least 75% inside red zone: [80.0%] pass
08) TD red zone above 60%: [40.0%] fail
09) Avg at least 30-yards per possession: [27.3 yds] fail
10) 40% of offensive snaps part of scoring drives: [41.3%] pass
11) TD / Turnover ratio above 1.6: [3 / 2] fail
12) TD ratio of at least 1 every 17 snaps: [25.0] fail
13) At least 8 impact plays: (8) pass
14) At least 2 big plays: (3) pass
15) Pass rating of at least 126.3: [95.2] fail
16) Yards to Point Ratio of 17.0 or under: [14.2] pass

Score: 9 of 16 (56.2%) PASS


Defensive Report Card:

01) Avg under 6-yards per play on 1st down: [3.75] pass
02) Convert below 35% of 3rd downs: [28.6%] pass
03) Avg at least 4.0 yards per rush or less: [2.73] pass
04) Score 1/3 of possessions or below: [21.4%] pass
05) Keep 3 and out series above 33%: [35.7%] pass
06) Average below 7.5 yards per pass attempt: [6.54 yds] pass
07) Score below 75% inside red zone: [60.0%] pass
08) TD red zone below 60%: [60.0%] fail
09) Avg under 30-yards per possession: [23.7 yds] pass
10) 40% or less of offensive snaps part of scoring drives: [32.8%] pass
11) TD / Turnover ratio below 1.6: [3 / 1] fail
12) TD ratio of at least 1 every 30 snaps: [23.3] fail
13) Less than 8 impact plays: (4) pass
14) No more than 2 big plays allowed: (2) pass
15) Pass rating below 125.0: [139.5] fail
16) Yards to point ratio of 17.0 or higher: [15.8] fail

Score: 12 of 16 (75 %) PASS


Special Teams Report Card:

1) Punt Average (Above 41.3): [45.0] pass
2) Punt Return Defense (Below 7.8 YPR): [43.7] fail
3) Punt Return Offense (Above 9.8 YPR): [12.8] pass
4) Kick-Return Defense (Below 21.2 YPR): [28.5] fail
5) Kick-Return Offense (Above 22.3 YPR): [20.0] fail
6) PAT’s (100%): [3/3] pass
7) FG Pct (75% or above): [66.7] fail

Score: 3 of 7 (42.8%) FAIL

* 50% is a passing score.


War Eagle!

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

No more appropriate tweet than this, and by our own site nonetheless 

 

[CR 2,440]

For the defense to end up with 12 out of 16 pass is amazing after the way they started.
I'm very happy AU won but still have some serious concerns going forward. The O-Line is going to see some way tougher front 7's going forward and Nix was running for his life last night. I saw Derrick Hall in quite a bit in the 2nd half. Moultry was supposedly going to be the pass rush guy this season. Where was he? His availability(or not) could have a big impact up front.

[AUApostle 7,651]

Where was Smoke Monday...didn’t show up in ESPN’s stat sheet and I don’t remember his name getting called.  Tutt was everywhere though.

[RunInRed 16,385]

1 hour ago, StatTiger said:

Auburn under Gus Malzahn as head coach was 2-13 in games they trailed by at least 6 points at halftime, coming into the Oregon Game. It included a 0-8 record when trailing by more than 7 points at halftime.

Didn't realize this ... good stuff, as usual, @StatTiger!

[CR 2,440]

22 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

Where was Smoke Monday...didn’t show up in ESPN’s stat sheet and I don’t remember his name getting called.  Tutt was everywhere though.

I saw Smoke in the game but it didn't seem like he got a lot of plays.

[RunInRed 16,385]

1 hour ago, Maverick.AU said:

No more appropriate tweet than this, and by our own site nonetheless 

 

You act surprised AUFAMILY is the best social media feed to follow 🤷‍♂️ 😉

[WarNole 141]

Thanks for the info, Stat !

[jaydubb121 22]

@StatTiger Your posts are the reason I thank Al Gore each day for inventing the Internet.

[AUGoo 2,659]

3 hours ago, CR said:

For the defense to end up with 12 out of 16 pass is amazing after the way they started.
I'm very happy AU won but still have some serious concerns going forward. The O-Line is going to see some way tougher front 7's going forward and Nix was running for his life last night. I saw Derrick Hall in quite a bit in the 2nd half. Moultry was supposedly going to be the pass rush guy this season. Where was he? His availability(or not) could have a big impact up front.

I would say the OL improved enormously from the first to second half.  Perhaps that was due to the play calling improving.

Thoughts about the OL?

 

[NoALtiger 3,850]

Special Teams should never be a “fail” on he report card. Very disappointing all around. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

I thought Siposs was good.  Maybe could’ve used a little more hang time.   Carlson was pretty good.  He missed being perfect on the night by a few inches.   Our kick and punt return defenses were awful!!!!   Worst I’ve seen in a long time.   We had one good return on a punt, and it was at the perfect time for a big play.  

Overall, special teams weren’t so special.  

[au701948 998]

43 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

Special Teams should never be a “fail” on he report card. Very disappointing all around. 

Regardless of Defense or Offense struggling, our Special Teams play last night was atrocious. Not very special at all. I do not how much you can attribute to Oregon's efforts, but other teams we are measured against are able to get the job done. Special Teams has to get fixed!

[Carnell 592]

Coaching still shows shortcoming.  Tried to run time consuming pattern while Oregon blitzed.  No blitz packages such as safety valves to backs and quick hitches to tight ends.  

Coaches acted surprised that Oregon would blitz a freshman quarterback making his first start.

[WFE12 9,191]

 

[kennypowers 1,431]

12 hours ago, CR said:

For the defense to end up with 12 out of 16 pass is amazing after the way they started.
I'm very happy AU won but still have some serious concerns going forward. The O-Line is going to see some way tougher front 7's going forward and Nix was running for his life last night. I saw Derrick Hall in quite a bit in the 2nd half. Moultry was supposedly going to be the pass rush guy this season. Where was he? His availability(or not) could have a big impact up front.

Injured

[AUFriction 1,179]

13 hours ago, CR said:

For the defense to end up with 12 out of 16 pass is amazing after the way they started.
I'm very happy AU won but still have some serious concerns going forward. The O-Line is going to see some way tougher front 7's going forward and Nix was running for his life last night. I saw Derrick Hall in quite a bit in the 2nd half. Moultry was supposedly going to be the pass rush guy this season. Where was he? His availability(or not) could have a big impact up front.

OL did better than they’re getting credit for. Oregon was blitzing the heck out of us, and using odd looks to do it.

[war3ag13 15]

10 hours ago, Carnell said:

Coaching still shows shortcoming.  Tried to run time consuming pattern while Oregon blitzed.  No blitz packages such as safety valves to backs and quick hitches to tight ends.  

Coaches acted surprised that Oregon would blitz a freshman quarterback making his first start.

This is my biggest issue with our pass designs. We always do a double play action that takes the quarterback’s eyes off the defense for 3 seconds and takes those 2 players out of the play (blocking and receiving). We need to throw in some quick slants and outlet routes. Bo was great at using those in A-day! 

Edited September 2, 2019 by war3ag13

[toddc 13,194]

On 9/1/2019 at 8:28 AM, Maverick.AU said:

No more appropriate tweet than this, and by our own site nonetheless 

 

I really believe CGM and Bo have a bond together and are going to be great together!

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

16 minutes ago, toddc said:

I really believe CGM and Bo have a bond together and are going to be great together!

Seeing him actually coach and talk to a QB extensively after every series was refreshing to see

[toddc 13,194]

58 minutes ago, Maverick.AU said:

Seeing him actually coach and talk to a QB extensively after every series was refreshing to see

I truly believe they are on a mission, “A mission from god “, and the two of them are gonna set the football world on fire.

[tbone4jc 2,241]

I thought that was the highlight of CGM coaching Saturday night, especially after Bo's mistakes. I think that helped tremendously in keeping the young qb's head in the game and his confidence from wavering. I likey! War Eagle!

[AUsince72 11,084]

2 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

Seeing him actually coach and talk to a QB extensively after every series was refreshing to see

Not only that, but after a couple picks, the Offense didn't go into Turtle-shell mode....even to the point that Gus kept Bo slinging it.  Refreshing trust IMO.

Edited September 2, 2019 by AUsince72

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

42 yards shouldn’t be difficult for Anders at this stage but we did move backwards for about 13 yards during that possession. Maybe he was shell shocked like I was 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

3 hours ago, toddc said:

I truly believe they are on a mission, “A mission from god “, and the two of them are gonna set the football world on fire.

My guy....take it down a little lol