rebounding from loss to Florida

[aubiefifty 16,737]

How Auburn can rebound from midseason loss to Florida

Today 8:55 AM

7-9 minutes

Auburn Football

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Win or lose, Auburn’s coaching staff institutes a 24-hour rule. Players have 24 hours to either celebrate and bask in a victory or linger on a loss.

After that, it’s on to the next week.

That could be somewhat tricky after Auburn’s first loss of the season, a 24-13 setback at Florida in Week 6, as the Tigers were off last week. There was no immediate opponent to turn the page to, and the team instead focused on self-evaluations during the bye week. Still, Auburn was sure to move past that loss as it hit the midway point of the season and took some time to reflect on the big picture.

“You’ve got 24 hours to soak on it,” defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. “After that, what else are you going to be mad about? You can’t go back and replay the game. You have to let it go because if you hold onto that, it’s going to stop you from progressing on everything we’re doing this week. And if you keep holding onto it, now you face the issue of, ‘This guy is mentally messed up.’”

Was Auburn’s loss to Florida ideal? Certainly not. No loss ever is, but by no means was it one that derailed the Tigers’ season. Auburn is 5-1 at midseason and 2-1 in the SEC, though both of its wins are within the division and the one loss coming to an SEC East opponent. With the second half of the season officially underway for the Tigers, everything they set out for at the start of the season — a division title, a chance to play for the SEC Championship and a shot at the College Football Playoff — is still attainable.

Auburn, ranked 11th in the latest AP poll, is still in the thick of the SEC race and controls its own path to the CFP.

It won’t be easy, though.

While three very winnable games remain -- at Arkansas, at home against Ole Miss and Samford -- for Auburn, it also still has three of its toughest games ahead of it in the second half of the season. Auburn travels to No. 2 LSU on Oct. 26 and then hosts rivals No. 10 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium in November.

Those games are all hugely important, though the toughest may be the trip to Death Valley later this month, as it’s a venue Auburn has not won in since 1999. Auburn, this season at least, has proven it can win big games away from home -- as it did against Oregon and Texas A&M -- but Tiger Stadium, which has been a personal house of horrors for Auburn over the last two decades, will be a different challenge. Auburn has also been a much tougher team at home under head coach Gus Malzahn, as the Tigers have swept the Bulldogs and Tide on the Plains in two of the three years — 2013 and 2017 — that they hosted their two biggest rivals under Malzahn, which makes this year’s closing stretch even more intriguing (and certainly difficult for prognosticators to predict).

“We've got the first half of our season completed,” Malzahn said last Sunday. “And the facts are, right now, we're 5-1. We've played three top-20 teams away from home, and we're 5-1. We have a week off, and it's a much-needed week off. I think the timing right now is good. We're going to self-evaluate. You know, we're going to get a head start on our next opponent, and get healthier, then work on our improving our execution this next week.

“You know, looking at the second half, we can big-picture it right now, but we're looking at playing three of the top 5 teams in the country — one of those being on the road. So great opportunities for this team. Like I said, we're feeling tough today -- tough loss. But we'll wake up tomorrow and we'll turn the page and we'll be looking forward to this second half of the season.”

Auburn’s players and coaches aren’t thinking about those games yet, though Malzahn surely has his off-field analysts already scouting and preparing for the big three ahead on the schedule. For Auburn, first thing’s first coming off the loss to Florida — and that’s a trip to Arkansas this week for an 11 a.m. kickoff against the Razorbacks.

It’s a prime opportunity to Auburn to bounce back and get on track after the setback in The Swamp. Arkansas has lost 14 consecutive SEC games, while Auburn is 8-0 coming off bye weeks since Malzahn has been head coach.

That’s a testament to Malzahn’s ability to evaluate during off weeks, as well as his team’s ability to refocus after the time off. It’s a trend the Tigers hope to keep alive this season when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark.

Auburn spent its bye week largely focusing on itself, though there were some early preparations for Arkansas. Most importantly was the self-scouting, though. The coaching staff and players took a step back to look at the entirety of the first half of the season — every snap, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows — to figure out what the team has done well and where in needs to improve.

“There’s a lot of different things you learn,” Malzahn said. “A lot of times from a coach’s standpoint you can evaluate things on what you can do to make each group better. A lot of times it could be something very simple. It could be a communication. It would be a tendency. It could be personnel. We evaluated all three of those things. It was good.”

Defensively, Noah Igbinoghene said the secondary has focused on limiting explosive plays, which were costly during the loss to Florida, as well as finding ways to create more turnovers — particularly interceptions, as the team has just one through six games.

On the other side of the ball, look for Auburn to simplify things some for quarterback Bo Nix as Malzahn tries to make things easier for his freshman quarterback. The Tigers also need to regroup at running back following the loss of leading rusher Boobee Whitlow to a knee injury, and Malzahn has stressed the need to get more touches for big-time playmakers like Anthony Schwartz and Seth Williams.

After re-evaluating things early in the week, Auburn gave players Friday and Saturday off for fall break — a chance to decompress and spend time with family — before reconvening Sunday. It wasn’t a typical Sunday practice; it was longer and more detail-oriented than usual, and Malzahn could sense his players had a “hope in their step” when they returned to the field.

Auburn has seemingly flushed the loss against Florida. The Tigers know what awaits them in the second half of the season, as well as what’s within their reach — and Malzahn is confident his team is up for the challenge.

“You've got to move on,” Malzahn said. “You've got to learn from situations. And every time we didn't make it to the championship game or win, we learned from the situation. We were better because of it. That's our challenge with this group. The great thing about it — we've got great leadership. And also, we've got some big-time players that we have that we can lean on, too. And a lot of these guys that we have, these older guys, have actually been through it. In 2017. So that also helps with that.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

I bet the players are over the UF game. Young kids bounce back quick. They know they have more chances to redeem themselves down the line. I fully expect a molly whoppin this weekend.

[AURex 1,990]

Out of all this --- "look for Auburn to simplify things some for quarterback Bo Nix as Malzahn tries to make things easier for his freshman quarterback." Of course, this just simplifies it for your opponent as well. Against Arkansaas, that's probably not a problem. Against our rivals -- hahaha -- Yeah, Gus, make it all easy, man. hahahaha

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

12 hours ago, nixtosanders94 said:

I bet the players are over the UF game. Young kids bounce back quick. They know they have more chances to redeem themselves down the line. I fully expect a molly whoppin this weekend.

Really glad for the bye before this game. Hard to imagine another Tennessee would've happened but I don't think we would have seen a particularly inspiring performance. Imagine how hard it would be for the boys to get up for an 11:00 AM kickoff in Fayetteville a week after a top-10 matchup on national TV the week before. Especially for the defense. UF was very similar to last year's MSU game. 

[Beenjammin 87]

UGA made it possible for redemption with them in Atlanta if the rest if the season goes well ( really freaking well)

[Win4AU 4,052]

 watching Florida march up and down the field on LSU speaks to the strength of Auburn’s defense.    I think Auburn can hold LSU below 30 but the offense will have to find a dependable Rb this week to make the offense work.  I think Boobees injury will have a bigger effect than the Florida game.

[SuperAUsome09 738]

Imagine if we simplified it by utilizing the middle of the field just a tad more. lol

[gr82be 14,422]

18 minutes ago, SuperAUsome09 said:

Imagine if we simplified it by utilizing the middle of the field just a tad more. lol

That would be an interesting slant. 

[BJCrawford 1,568]

Was just listening to the radio and a mention was made of two key Florida defensive players who were hurt in the LSU game and they speculated that it likely had an affect on the outcome of the game. My question ......was Auburn the only game Florida played where their defense was completely healthy? I know something like six guys were back for our game, including a key pass rusher that reinjured his ankle against LSU. 

[SuperAUsome09 738]

16 minutes ago, gr82be said:

That would be an interesting slant. 

Exactly! That idea may be a bit over the line though.