Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

[aubiefifty 16,761]

Jason Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

ByJason Caldwell

5-6 minutes

With just two games remaining in the 2019 football regular season, Coach Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers are looking for a strong finish following a 21-14 home loss to Georgia on Saturday. Meanwhile on the basketball court Coach Bruce Pearl's team is 4-0 as the Tigers prepare for another challenge. This time it comes from a veteran Colgate team that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday night at Auburn Arena.

Something I have been talking about for the last few years is getting to the line of scrimmage quickly and running plays because it puts pressure on the defense to show its hand and also keeps defenses from being overly exotic in terms of blitz packages and coverages. When I hear people talk about how the two-minute offense only works because the defense changes what it’s doing I quickly point out Mike Leach and his time at Texas Tech and now at Washington State. He has a play sheet that consists of about six plays ,but they are able to adjust and work with those while putting the pressure on the defense.

I have long been a proponent of letting the quarterback get to the line of scrimmage and run the show provided you trust him to make the correct read on the defense. That’s something you can figure out pretty quickly and like most coaches there will be mistakes you have to live with at times, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives in my book.

With a young quarterback one of the biggest advantages to playing fast is that it gives him a chance to see the defense and know exactly what it is doing on each play. Facing Samford this weekend and an Alabama defense relying on several true freshmen and one that has already struggled against LSU’s tempo passing game, I would turn Bo Nix loose on Saturday against the Bulldogs and run a two-minute  style offense the entire game to get prepared for the Iron Bowl.

There is no question that Nix could have played better this season and he would be the first person to tell you that, but let’s look at some of the numbers he has put up this season to give things a little perspective on what he’s accomplished. Right now he’s 200 yards away from Stan White’s school record for passing yardage by a freshman and needs just 10 completions to surpass White in that department. His 57 percent completion percentage is fourth for a freshman and he needs just one touchdown to match White’s 14 from the 1990 season.

Throw in his six rushing touchdowns, tied for second in Auburn history for a freshman with Carnell Williams and Boobee Whitlow, and the season Nix is having has been pretty darn productive. Without a dominating running game to lean on Auburn quarterbacks under Gus Malzahn have historically struggled against the best teams on the schedule. Nix has been no different this season, but if you didn’t see a player in the fourth quarter who took control of the game then you’re just not wanting to see it. We’ll see what it means moving forward, but there is no one anywhere who wants to win as any more for Auburn more than Nix. There may be some equal, but nobody wants it more.

While Auburn’s defensive line has gotten much of the credit for this year’s improved play on that side of the football, and rightfully so, the improvement in the secondary has been impressive to watch as well. Saturday was one of the games that will stick out to me for this group after shutting down Jake Fromm and the Georgia passing game with the exception of one play in the first quarter. Starting the game 3-3 for 54 yards, Fromm completed just 10-25 passes for 56 yards the rest of the game. 

One of the keys was putting Georgia in third and medium to long and forcing Fromm to throw football when the Tigers were expecting a pass. Auburn was able to do that with the exception of three long drives, which was enough for the Bulldogs to score 21 points and win the game. For the game Fromm attempted 13 passes on third down and completed five of them for a total of 24 yards. Only three were conversions with one going for a five-yard touchdown. 

25COMMENTS

It was a stellar performance by Auburn’s secondary with the only hiccup coming on the long touchdown pass on first down. Even though it didn’t end in a victory, for Javaris Davis, Jeremiah Dinson, Daniel Thomas, Noah Igbinoghene, Roger McCreary and company, job well done.

[NoALtiger 3,850]

Also worth noting that Stan’s records came as a redshirt freshman. He had a year to learn the offense, the pace of the game, etc...and college life in general. Bo has definitely had his miscues, but he’s had a heck of a true freshman year against the 2nd toughest schedule in the country. 

[aubaseball 2,595]

Not downplaying the job the secondary did last week but Georgia’s wide  receivers don’t have separation speed that LSU and Alabama have 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

7 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

His 57 percent completion percentage is fourth for a freshman

Auburn definitely can never claim QBU lol

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

6 hours ago, aubaseball said:

Not downplaying the job the secondary did last week but Georgia’s wide  receivers don’t have separation speed that LSU and Alabama have 

I think UGA has their own scheme/OC problem they need to resolve. Smart's outdated philosophy, and the people he's hiring to fit that boat, are doing a complete disservice to football. They have equal talent, in numbers, to those two teams, and they've had this problem you've mentioned all year. Just doesnt make sense