CleCoTiger

That right there is why I am so danged hopeful for the remainder of this season. Our Tigers correct the mistakes (and maybe get a few better play calls, pass once in a while on something other that 3rd down) and suddenly it's a whole new ball O' wax. Good times are just ahead! War Eagle!

Outa likes for today. Dang!

Stat's numbers are YPA (yards per attempt), not YPC. Either way, it's a pretty good number! War Eagle!

Hope you turn out to be wrong about that, especially now that CRL is handing play calls. (My understanding is that as a high school QB under Malzahn, Lashlee slung it around a good deal. Doesn't seem like he'd be a "true dual-threat QB" to me, but heck if I really know.) When Gus got here, his rep (especially post-Tulsa with what he and Hand were able to do there) seemed to be one of a coach who adjusted to fit his players. I've been kind of concerned that he's been wandering the wilderness hoping to turn over a rock and find the next Nick Marshall or Cam Newton instead of tending to the crop he already has in the field back home. Anyway, with CRL handling play calls it may be that CGM has recognized this for himself, or been helped in recognizing it.

This! A thousand times this! I hope CRL remembers more of what made 2009 with Todd, Tate, McCalebb, Adams, Blake et. al. go than Gus seems to. Sometimes I think having Marshall (and Cam before him) sort of skewed some of Gus's thinking. You have an accurate QB and a talented crop of frosh receivers, you oughta give 'em a chance. And with opposing D's loading up the box to stop the run because of AU's tendencies, there's gonna be a chance for one of those receivers to go up and get the ball if Sean can deliver it (which I am confident that he can.)

Fixed it for ya!

Man, it feels good to be called Ox again. I grinned big when I saw that. Mind if I just go back to calling you JR like the old, old days of The Bunker?

Thanks for this writeup, coach! Always worth the time. Saw nothing in what you said that I can disagree with at all. Between you and StatTiger, AUFamily has two of the most knowledgeable folks I've ever come across when it comes to AU football (and just the game of college football itself) sharing with us unwashed masses and I think we're dang lucky for that.

If you're talking about the play I think you are on the roll out to the left, he never had his shoulders squared or time to get his feet set in any way to deliver that ball. I thought he should have thrown it away rather than take the sack, in his his post-game interview he said the same thing himself. But I don't know that I think he should have attempted that pass.

@StatTiger is a dang AUFamily treasure. I make it a point to never miss his posts and comments. I don't necessarily always agree with him, but then again, I sometimes don't have good sense.

How about as a decoy? The one thing I did note in an earlier game was how the defense reacted to JFIII's mere presence which caused enough hesitation to help open up the running lanes for others.

Snipped a bunch but have some questions about what's left. 1. What the heck do you think has to happen for our coaches to call for a pass at least a little more often on first down? Running 80+ percent of the time on 1st down is wishbone team era stuff. 60/40 or even 70/30 seems like it might help the first down runs at least a little as the opposing D would not be able to just sell out to stop the run and be right 80+ percent of the time. 2. That slow progression with offensive contributions from frosh and sophomores? Just interested in your opinion about how likely that slow trickle might turn into a flood as these players get more experience and grow up this season. 3. Man, call me lazy, but who are the three QB's ahead of Sean when it comes to producing pass plays of 15 yards or more? If I had to guess, I'd venture Allen at Arky, Knight at aTm, Hurts at bammer and of course Kelly at Ole Miss. 4. The impact play stat seems to be headed in the right direction. Portends better days ahead ya think? 5. White's pass rating on 3rd down seems fairly amazing to me considering how many of those passes have been on third and looooonnnnggggg! Do you know what the average distance for a first down has been on those pass attempts and how that compares to the 3rd down distance faced by the three QB's ahead of him? 6. You kidding, Stat? I'm assured that Sean White is not capable of throwing the ball more than five yards past the LOS on AU forums across net. (Yeah, that was an unserious question.)

Do a little more reading on the board or listen to the post-game coaches interviews. Pettaway sustained some sort of thigh bruise that limited him in the second half last night. That's why he wasn't in the game, But ya know. KJ did a heckuva job in that second half. In fact, KJ ran determined and...well...like he really, really wanted it after LSWho stuffed us on the goal line earlier in the game.

When you go back and look at 2011, look at the beating the QBs (first Trotter and then Moseley) took. It wasn't so much the QBs as it was that the senior laden deeply experienced offensive line of 2010 was mostly gone. It all starts up front. A QB that has time to operate is a better QB no matter what the offense or who the coordinator. And this past weekend against aTm, the AU QB pretty much had very little time to do anything but try to get rid of the ball quick.

On the bright side, if anyone had told me AU would be within four points at 7-3 at this point in the game, I'd have gladly taken it. Our Tigers ain't out of this thing and AU's defense *is* better than the last few years for sure.

AU's defense has come to play!

Yep. Especially considering the plays White was saddled with and asked to run. Bringing him in on 3rd and 10 after two terrible plays with JFIII was just...bad.

Dear Gus, you named a starting QB. Would be nice to see you give him a chance to actually...you know...play!

That's who I thought you were. I'm CleCoTiger these days but you might recognize the Ox from days gone by.

Hey! I now have a nifty badge!

Define "balance." Some folks think if the yards passing and rushing are pretty even, that's balance. Others say that balance is when the number of passing and rushing attempts are fairly close, that's balance. Interested to know what folks here (including you) define as "balance." For me, "balance" just means that you have a credible threat in both the running and passing game and can take advantage of a defense that does not respect your ability in either area. That is to say that when you need to run, you can. And when you need to pass, you can. ,

Arkansas minus all the drops is also in the win column I think. Sean White deserved better than he got that day. And wasn't that game the one where he was injured? Regardless, it's interesting that three of the top five season pass ratings all belong to Malzahn coached teams at AU, two of 'em with Nick Marshall pulling the trigger. I reckon I'm a little surprised that 2009 with Chris Todd is as low as it is at 17. I know there were games where Todd's arm just seemed to be...not great. That may have had something to do with it, 'cause I sure had fun watching that offense. (Had even more fun in 2010 and 2013.)