The bye week

[aubiefifty 16,775]

Auburn: The good and the bad this season heading into the bye week

Dave Hooker | 21 hours ago

4-6 minutes

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There isn’t a coach in the SEC who will turn down a bye week in mid-October. Players and coaches need a break. Auburn is no different.

Bryan Harsin will use this week to fine-tune what’s running well and hopefully fix what isn’t doing so well. Where should he start? Let’s start with the passing game and Auburn’s receivers.

There have surely been times in which Auburn fans have gotten frustrated with quarterback Bo Nix when a bad play wasn’t actually his fault. Auburn’s receivers have struggled in a new offensive system as they replace three starters from last year. It seems that Auburn has settled on 4 targets in the passing game: receivers Demetris Robertson, Kobe Hudson and Shedrick Jackson, along with tight end John Samuel Shenker. Each has at least 20 catches this season.

Drops have been a significant issue and, until Saturday, the group hadn’t had the consistent long-distance pop that Harsin would like. Harsin seemed to indicate that the drops might have become a mental hurdle that the Tigers will have to overcome.

Auburn’s offensive line has continued to improve throughout the season. The Tigers didn’t give up any sacks Saturday against Arkansas and have yielded just 7 this season. However, it’s important to remember that there have been plenty of pressures. Those cause Nix to run when that wasn’t the plan. Auburn has given up 91 tackles for a loss this season. This group should get better during the off week. The time will give them a chance to get healthy from the bumps and bruises of the season and continue to work on their group chemistry.

As far as running the football, Auburn is in the middle of the pack of the SEC. That’s probably more of the offensive line growing together over time as opposed to Auburn’s running backs not performing. Sophomore Tank Bigsby and freshman Jarquez Hunter are a formidable pair of tailbacks. Both are on pace to approach 1,000 yards. Working on pass protection and staying healthy should be the biggest goals for Auburn’s running backs during the off week.

Developing more depth on the defensive line is key for Auburn at such a physical position. Colby Wooden is probably Auburn’s best player up front on defense. Auburn has one of the better defenses in the SEC against the run.

The switch to a 3-4 defense has had its ups and downs, but things appear to be improving. Gap control was consistent against Arkansas. That hasn’t always been the case in 2021. Harsin has said he’s a “big fan” of Chandler Wooten. Still, this unit has not reached expectations, partially because Owen Pappoe has been dealing with a leg injury for a month. The bye week is a good time to make sure everyone is comfortable with their assignments. That will free up the linebackers to make more game-altering plays.

Auburn’s secondary was supposed to be a strength. It hasn’t been. Instead, the Tigers’ defensive backs have been underwhelming. Far too often, Auburn has given up big plays in the passing game. That was most evident against Georgia and Penn State. Auburn lost both of those games. Auburn’s defensive backs need to improve quickly with Ole Miss up next. The Tigers rank in the bottom half of the SEC in explosive pass plays (20+ yards) allowed.

They’ll need to adjust that or the Halloween weekend date with Ole Miss will be particularly scary. The Rebels’ passing attack is incredibly explosive. That makes this bye week incredibly important for the back end of Auburn’s defense. Special teams have been solid in all phases. That looks to be one of Harsin’s old-school hallmarks.

After Ole Miss, Auburn plays at Texas A&M, hosts Mississippi State, at South Carolina and hosts Alabama for the Iron Bowl. What is a realistic expectation based on what Auburn has shown? It depends largely on how much the Tigers improve/recover this week. However, anything less than 3-2 would be a major disappointment.

The Tigers are 5-2. An 8-win season would certainly be respectable. However, if Auburn can win 9 games under Harsin in his first season, that should be considered an incredibly successful season and might earn him a few votes for SEC Coach of the Year.

With the win over Arkansas, which was Harsin’s first over a ranked opponent at Auburn, the Tigers can see how things play out above them in the polls. They’ll likely be ranked before they play Ole Miss. The bye week comes at a perfect time.

[Guest MustardSeed]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

It seems that Auburn has settled on 4 targets in the passing game

Did he really write this after the game where 10 or 11 different guys caught passes?

Journalism is dead

[McLoofus 35,182]

46 minutes ago, MustardSeed said:

Did he really write this after the game where 10 or 11 different guys caught passes?

Journalism is dead

Those 4 guys are still lapping the competition- JSS is 4th with 20 catches and Worm is 5th with 10- and have consistently showed up in the targets column week in week out.

Landen King made a big statement, though, Saturday. I think we see a lot more of him going forward, as some predicted. (@bigbird has said from Day 1 that this kid is going to be a problem for defenses.) 

And we're still not throwing to the RBs as much as Harsin likely wants to. I'm guessing that's a function of us still not really getting the run game clicking on all cylinders, but that's a blind guess. Tank's sitting on 8 right now, but RB1 at Boise typically had north of 25 on the season under Harsin. 

[Quietmaninthecorner 1,945]

"However, anything less than 3-2 would be a major disappointment."     

May be a disappointment, but not major.  I was hoping for 7 wins  and a bowl game last summer.       We are still in the SEC west with a NEW head coach.   All I have ever asked of this team is to play hard and be competitive.     I want ALL the wins,  but if we keep showing improvement,  and play hard every game  I will not be majorly disappointed with less than 3 more wins.

Being on top is a lot of fun,  but watching  the program grow is the exciting part.  We are starting to grow up fast.   We just need to keep up fan support.  Show the recruits we do not punk out on our team when adversity hits. 

[autiger88 3,777]

So just gonna put this stat out there Harsin is 7-1 after bye weeks during his Head coaching career, let's hope the winning continues here at Auburn.

Edited October 18, 2021 by autiger88

[WFE12 9,191]

Glad we didn’t have to wait til after the bye week for the wrs to have a much better showing. Great film to look back on and we definitely need the extra time for Mason to get ready for Corral. Owen HAS to be back for this game. 

[aubiefifty 16,775]

3 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

Did he really write this after the game where 10 or 11 different guys caught passes?

Journalism is dead

i mostly agree. i just post what i can find for the folks on the board. and with pay walls and click bait it is getting harder and harder to find quality.

[Guest MustardSeed]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

i mostly agree. i just post what i can find for the folks on the board. and with pay walls and click bait it is getting harder and harder to find quality.

Oh I know. I appreciate the articles you post. I just question the quality of the best writers these days. They aren’t what they used to be. Listening to the press conference after the Arkansas game was like a couple fanboys asking questions. Pretty sure you and I could come up with better questions and I know jack about high level football. But I could make a killing beat writing apparently! 😂

[gr82b4au 5,568]

We have been underdogs against Psu, Lsu, Uga, and Ark. 3 Tough Road games and the number one team in the country. We beat LSU for the first time in 20 years on the road. We beat a ranked Arkansas team. We almost beat a Penn State team who, if they still had their starting quarterback, would be ranked in the top four. And Georgia is just good. 
Honestly I think we are playing above expectations. A bowl game for this team was my hope. Still is... but if we get to 7-5, that is good. 8-4 is very good. Anything above that is ridiculously good. 

[Guest MustardSeed]

3 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Those 4 guys are still lapping the competition- JSS is 4th with 20 catches and Worm is 5th with 10- and have consistently showed up in the targets column week in week out.

Landen King made a big statement, though, Saturday. I think we see a lot more of him going forward, as some predicted. (@bigbird has said from Day 1 that this kid is going to be a problem for defenses.) 

And we're still not throwing to the RBs as much as Harsin likely wants to. I'm guessing that's a function of us still not really getting the run game clicking on all cylinders, but that's a blind guess. Tank's sitting on 8 right now, but RB1 at Boise typically had north of 25 on the season under Harsin. 

For the season sure, but Arkansas was a different offense. There were 3 players not listed in the top 4 that had better days than Shenker, and 1 guy not listed who had the 2nd most catches on the day… so for Hooker to come out supposedly after the Arky game and make that statement the we’ve settled on 4 guys while the stat sheet from the game that just happened shows otherwise is a little off base and has me wondering if he even watches the games.   I can go read a season stat sheet and make assumptions and pass them off as facts. Maybe I’ll start writing sports columns too 😁

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 minutes ago, MustardSeed said:

For the season sure, but Arkansas was a different offense. There were 3 players not listed in the top 4 that had better days than Shenker, and 1 guy not listed who had the 2nd most catches on the day… so for Hooker to come out supposedly after the Arky game and make that statement the we’ve settled on 4 guys while the stat sheet from the game that just happened shows otherwise is a little off base and has me wondering if he even watches the games.   I can go read a season stat sheet and make assumptions and pass them off as facts. Maybe I’ll start writing sports columns too 😁

Eh. They all had catches, and all of them had multiple catches except JSS. If I'm not mistaken, they all got thrown to in big spots. 3 of them- including JSS- had the 3 highest yards per catch, with Javy Johnson being the lone exception with his 1 big TD catch. 

The only one who seems in any danger of giving up significant targets is Shenker, and that does look inevitable. The other 3 are clearly still our leading WRs. Hell, the two Johnsons had the only 2 catches by WRs that didn't go to one of those three. 

The rest of the article is very on point. Drops, improving pass blocking, bad run blocking, growing pains switching to the 3-4... dude has a pretty good read on this team. 

[Hank2020 3,199]

3 hours ago, Quietmaninthecorner said:

"However, anything less than 3-2 would be a major disappointment."     

May be a disappointment, but not major.  I was hoping for 7 wins  and a bowl game last summer.       We are still in the SEC west with a NEW head coach.   All I have ever asked of this team is to play hard and be competitive.     I want ALL the wins,  but if we keep showing improvement,  and play hard every game  I will not be majorly disappointed with less than 3 more wins.

Being on top is a lot of fun,  but watching  the program grow is the exciting part.  We are starting to grow up fast.   We just need to keep up fan support.  Show the recruits we do not punk out on our team when adversity hits. 

Team growth will not come in stairstep fashion either.  Will ebb and flow is my guess, with some partial steps back as each new opposing team sets their offensive/defensive plans to attack us.