AUFriction

On 9/27/2020 at 8:54 PM, AURex said:

Thanks JMR for your expert insights. Like you, I noticed Bo continuing to throw off his back foot. You'd think a year of off-season would have corrected this, Still, I was glad to see that he was working more from he pocket.

And Seth is THE MAN! Shrove got some catches, but like to see Mr Speed Schwarz get the ball more often.

Alas, what happened to the TEs? All this conversation during off-season about Morris using the TEs more in the passing game. Is this on Bo r Morris? I dunno. Waiting! Let's do it!

 

Involving TEs in the passing game more doesn't necessarily mean throwing to them more. It means designing routes where they are more likely to be usable. I saw a lot more complexity on TE routes on Saturday than I've seen from Malzahn's offense in some time (if ever). Put another way, they were running routes and getting open, but so were our receivers. The receivers were more open and created a better opportunity for a big play. If the receivers weren't getting open, we would have seen a lot more TE receptions. 

50 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

Cam Newton named starting QB and captain for the NE Patriots.

Ok, I hate the Patriots. 

So how now do I root for Cam, but want the Pats to lose every game? 

The pats will have my support as long as Cam/Stiddy are under center, unless of course New England pulls the same kind of nonsense Carolina did. 
 

Once they’re gone, I’ll stop caring about the pats.

1 hour ago, Barnacle said:

Agree to disagree on what, exactly? As I said earlier, there are strong arguments for why Boobie may not have been the best back on our roster while he was here. I'm not even trying to debate that point. I just find it incredibly dismissive to say that Boobie Whitlow, a two-year starter and the most productive running back on our roster for 2018 and 2019, was never an SEC back. I don't even think that's your opinion. It's just a misstatement of fact. 

There’s a lot of people saying this, and I don’t agree either. He was never elite, but he was solid. His vision was hit or miss (probably because he’s only played the position for 2 years), and he lacked elite speed. But he was a patient and very powerful runner, and had good lateral quickness (i.e., he juked defenders well). He was also a legit threat in the wildcat because he was a qb in high school. He also had decent hands. Reminded me a lot of a young Peyton barber but with more versatility, and we know how he did after college despite everyone doubting him as Auburn’s starter.

I can’t believe no one has picked him yet. Tyrone Truesdell!

4 hours ago, Win4AU said:

That was back when 3&15 was a gimme for the opposing offense.  What that 2014 team could have been with a good/not great defense.  This game and the TaMu game we’re almost identical with USC getting up by a couple tds only for Auburn to storm back.  I’d actually point to this game being when the wheels started to falloff.  USC was not a good enough team to give Auburn trouble that season.  I’m always amazed how bad Auburn was defensively during and post Chizik.

Well, the weird thing was that they were actually pretty good during Ellis Johnson’s first year. Maybe Chizik’s staff was developing defensive guys but was schematically bad at calling plays and Johnson was good at calling plays but couldn’t develop talent? Im not sold on that explanation per se. I’m just legitimately confused at how 2009-2015 had such bad defenses except a good front 7 in 2010 and a randomly overall good defense in 2013.

On 7/26/2020 at 4:01 PM, AUDevil said:

Hastings cut....

https://clutchpoints.com/patriots-news-new-england-trims-roster-cuts-two-quarterbacks/

Hastings is now back with the Pats.

https://247sports.com/Player/Caylin-Newton-67427/
 

While it is exciting to have another Newton on campus, he wasn’t that highly rated out of high school. We’ve had better rated quarterbacks buried in the depth chart in recent years. He will probably be 3-4 on the depth chart next year if he remains at QB. 

On 5/20/2020 at 10:07 PM, gr82be said:

@DAG, I know you're in Packer country. What's the general feeling among fans regarding the drafting of Jordan Love? Personally I was for them looking to the future but I think they could have gotten Love a little later. Don't think he was first round worthy. I know Aaron's got a few years left but his body is starting to show some age. I think Green Bay will end up doing the same thing they did with Favre. He'll be gone within a year of two at the most. It's logical. I just think they could have drafted smarter. I'm so tired of the year in year out struggles where if we score we can't stop anyone and if we stop people we can't score. I know we had a decent run last season but there was no way we were going to make the SB. 

I’m not up there, but I’m the offspring of someone who lived in Wisconsin in the glory years and still have a ton of family up there. I’m hearing that it’s a little more split within the fan base. Some fans went into the draft expecting a high round receiver to be a part of the plan and were furious when we walked away with no receiver in the draft and a QB drafted in the first round. Others were initially surprised by the draft, but felt better about it after the organization explained their decision. Love was apparently drafted because he was available. The original plan was to pick up an elite receiver in the first round, but, when they got to their first pick, they didn’t feel like any of the receivers that were left were any better than what was already on their roster. So they instead grabbed a QB that they felt could be AR’s eventual successor.

On 4/25/2020 at 4:52 PM, AUBwins said:

Same here. I just think that’s where he goes. My gosh Cam in Dallas would have been magic for sure with a great OL. Especially with the Boys also getting Lamb?!  Dang man, never thought of that combo. Now I have to change my shorts. lol

Most of the projections I’ve read have Cam either going to the Pats or the Jags.  As much as I hate Bellichek, I’d much rather see him in New England.

Strongest positions on the packers roster:

QB

RB

Packers draft picks so far:

QB

RB

Any outsiders have any insight here? Us packer fans are confused.

I just hope he ends up anywhere but Chicago or Minnesota. If he did, I’d have to root against him. 😕

I’d actually be fine with NE. He could spend a few years as a mentor to Stidham, who I think could really develop a lot working with Cam.

47 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

No they won't. Stidham will still be a backup. Pats will sign one of the FA QBs out there if they can (Bridgewater, etc..).

I don't see them relying on a 2nd year QB to get them to the playoffs again...

More likely that they are going to sign a vet to get them through a few years with a plan to try to keep developing Stidham. I think Stidham could become a good NFL quarterback, but I’m not sure he’s ready. Maybe they’ll sign Cam, and Cam can help mentor him. One thing Stidham still needs to develop is in being more of a vocal leader... One of Cam’s strengths.

I agree with the odd officiating in the secondary. It was even more apparent after rewatching the game this morning. At least it seemed mostly even, but I'm sure the aggie fans, having lost, are griping about 1 or 2 of those calls that may have legitimately ended scoring drives for them. 

Still, they don't have much to complain about since they were holding our defensive line all game. We would have stopped them on a few of those later scoring drives if they had been correctly called for holds.  

It seems like the refs were mostly content to just let them play the game, which I'd prefer to flags coming out every 20 seconds over anything that even resembles a penalty.

1 hour ago, leglessdan said:

Not to put you on blast, so to speak,  but I'm curious as to why you wouldn't speak on the fact that JG was only used as a RB. Do you genuinely support a decision to NOT get him actual game experience passing the football? I do agree the OL showed improvement "at times", but against Kent St, I'm not sure we can measure that in the win column. 

Honestly, I think we are trying to keep other teams from having film. If Gatewood threw it more, other teams (including A&M) would strategize around that. By making him exclusively a runner in these early games, defenses will expect him to be only used in that capacity. Wouldn’t surprise me to see Gatewood throw a deep pass next week when they sell out to stop him from running it.

I was a little surprised about the flea flicker. We have kept things really vanilla so far, aside from that one play. I think Gus has some stuff up his sleeve for later. Also, I noticed he had Joey and Bo in at the same time during some plays. I expect that will turn into some kind of reverse pass at some point this season.

1 hour ago, Warbird82 said:

From what I saw, Tulane sold out to stop the run by putting 8-9 guys in the box.  Now I'm no mathematician but its kind of hard to block them all if they out number your guys.  Having said that, one way to counter this is to use screens and play action passing.  Gus finally figured it out in the second quarter.  IMHO, he continues to force the issue when the defense is showing you otherwise...that's just being stubborn.

Most of the plays in the first half were perimeter runs and perimeter passes. We seemed to focus on inside runs more in the second half. So maybe all the perimeter stuff just paid off in the second half?

1 hour ago, ValleyTiger said:

Wow, 1-16 for the offense. Only 3.3 yards per play on first downs, yeesh. I think the improvement needs to begin at winning first downs. 

Bingo. We got cute on first down last night. Too many perimeter runs and screen passes. Would be interesting to see how the number would have been different if we had committed to the downhill running game early instead of this dink-and-dunk perimeter stuff. 

To be fair though, the 1-16 is a little misleading. We didn't use a lot of tempo last night, and Tulane was milking the play clock on every play. We only got 5 possessions in the 2nd half, and one of them ended after 1 play (with the fumble). We also sat on the ball in the redzone on the final drive instead of scoring, which we could have easily done. Take that into account and it is likely that 4, 7, 8, 10, and 16 would have  been passes. Most of the rest of the numbers would have come up if we had committed to the inside run game early instead of trying to throw underneath and run to the perimeter.

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.

43 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Was it a "good" day for the defense? No, and I don't think anybody has said that. But that's a long way from pinning the loss on them.

3 plays, 6 yards, 1:07

3 plays, -3 yards, 0:57

4 plays, 9 yards, 1:13

Those were our first 3 offensive possessions. You can't do that to your defense. And then your best WR can't muff a punt right after a 3-and-out when your offense can't do anything. 

We only surrendered 6 points in the first half other than the touchdown after the muffed punt on which the guy didn't actually cross the goal line. 

Feel free to say that Steele and his group didn't have their best day but they would have won that game if the offense had bothered to participate. 

To add to your point, MSU only had 69 yards passing. We held their passing attack almost completely in check. It was by no means a stellar day for the defense, but keeping an opponent under 25 points and under 100 yards passing is hardly bad defense. That game was lost because we didn’t put the ball in the end zone once.

Just now, McLoofus said:

I hope DJ hits the hole faster than he's hitting this announcement amirite

Unless he signs with UGA.

Something I’ve noticed (and has been pointed out on here) about Kam... He’s not a patient runner. He tries to hit the prespecified hole as quickly as possible rather than patiently waiting on the blocking to develop. Honestly, I think he’s more powerful than folks give him credit for, and I think he’s still a very talented RB. Unfortunately, with our poor blocking this year, holes aren’t opening where they are expected to, so he’s not able to be effective in our offense right now. Thus, I think Kam getting buried in the depth chart is less about talent and more about how his talent is more limited than some of the others with the poor OL play. 

1 hour ago, StatTiger said:

Game #8 Statistical Evaluation (Ole Miss Game)

Offensive Report Card

01) Avg 6-yards per play on 1^st down: [6.29] pass
02) Convert at least 40% of 3^rd downs:  [42.8%] pass
03) Avg at least 4.5 yards per rush:  [5.8] pass
04) Score on at least 1/3 of possessions:  [41.7%] pass
05) Keep 3 and out series under 33%:  [16.7%] pass
06) Average 8.0 yards per pass attempt: [9.8 yds] pass
07) Score at least 75% inside red zone:  [100.0%] pass
08) TD red zone above 60%:  [75.0%] pass
09) Avg at least 30-yards per possession:  [40.3 yds] pass
10) 40% of offensive snaps part of scoring drives:  [57.3%] pass
11) TD / Turnover ratio above 1.6:  [4 / 0] pass
12) TD ratio of at least 1 every 17 snaps:  [17.0] pass
13) At least 8 impact plays:  (10) pass
14) At least 2 big plays:  (3) pass
15) Pass rating of at least 126.3:  [156.2] pass

16) Yards to Point Ratio of 14.0 or under: [15.6] pass

Score: 16 of 16 (100.0%) 

  
Defensive Report Card:

01) Avg under 6-yards per play on 1^st down: [7.03] fail
02) Convert below 35% of 3^rd downs:  [35.3%] fail
03) Avg at least 4.0 yards per rush or less:  [3.2] pass
04) Score  1/3 of possessions or below:  [33.3%] pass
05) Keep 3 and out series above 33%:  [25.0%] fail
06) Average below 7.5 yards per pass attempt: [6.9 yds] pass
07) Score below 75% inside red zone:  [100.0%] fail
08) TD red zone below 60%:  [33.3%] pass
09) Avg under 30-yards per possession:  [37.2 yds] fail
10) 40% or less of offensive snaps part of scoring drives:  [47.7%] fail
11) TD / Turnover ratio below 1.6:  [1/0] pass
12) TD ratio of at least 1 every 30 snaps:  [86.0] pass
13) Less than 8 impact plays:  (6) pass
14) No more than 2 big plays allowed: (3) fail
15) Pass rating below 125.0:  [122.4] pass

16) Yards to point ratio of 18.0 or higher: [27.9] pass 

 

Score: 9 of 16 (56.2%) 

Special Teams Report Card:

1) Punt Average (Above 41.3):  [44.7] pass
2) Punt Return Defense (Below 7.8 YPR): [2.0] pass
3) Punt Return Offense (Above 9.8 YPR): [4.0] fail
4) Kick-Return Defense (Below 21.2 YPR): [17.0] pass
5) Kick-Return Offense (Above 22.3 YPR): [14.0] fail
6) PAT’s (100%): [4/4] pass
7) FG Pct (75% or above): [33.3%] fail

Score: 4 of 7 (57.1%) 

* 50% is a passing score.

 

  Auburn was finally able to run the football, though it came against the worst run defense in the country. The Tigers ability to run the football kept the outcome off the shoulders of Jarrett Stidham, who had a pedestrian like performance. JaTarvious Whitlow was the MVP of the offense, who tallied 208 yards on 23 offensive touches. For the second week in a row, Chip Lindsey worked the football to his top playmakers. Auburn's top-5 leaders in impact plays, totaled 385-yards on 30 snaps for two touchdowns. They also accounted for all of Auburn's impact plays against Ole Miss. Auburn's 21-point third quarter was the second most points scored during the third period under a Gus Malzahn offense when the Tigers were held to just ten halftime points. Auburn was 14-21 in games when Malzahn's offense was held to 10-points or less by halftime. Auburn's 484-yards in total offense was a season-high against an FBS opponent.

 

  Nick Coe had a monster game with three QB sacks, and Marlon Davidson effort on a bad leg was a prime example of a player selling out to win. Overall, the defense did an excellent job of limiting the big plays, something that was a major concern coming into this week. The defense is banged up and running on fumes but had enough left in the gas tank to assist in the "team" victory. The Tigers were at their best inside the red zone, and Ole Miss scored their only touchdown against Auburn's backups. After surrendering 92-yards on the first two possessions, Auburn allowed only 212-yards during the next eight possessions. The game was already decided before the Rebels finally cracked the Auburn goal line. The Auburn defense earned their bye-week and hopefully can re energize their batteries before Texas A&M comes to town. 

 

  Auburn's fifth victory of the season should assure the Tigers of becoming bowl eligible this season with Liberty an almost certain victory. The Tigers victory over Ole Miss certainly doesn't salvage a disappointing season, but it was definitely a much-needed victory for the players. It was a positive sign the players have not quit on the coaching staff, and the bye-week should inspire the team to sell out for Texas A&M. There still were looming issues that have stymied the team this season, but this Saturday was about the players believing once again. It was about digging down deep this past week in practice despite being injured, fatigued and on a two-game losing streak. The players went on the road to face a confident Ole Miss team and came away with a solid victory. There will be no accolades given out for defeating an unranked Ole Miss team, but a loss would have undoubtedly finished off this football team. Since 1995, Auburn is now 43-0 with at least 250-yards rushing and only 1 turnover or less.

                  

 

War Eagle!

We clearly went passive defensively in the 4th quarter once the game was in hand. I wonder what the defensive numbers would have looked like if we accounted for that.

1 hour ago, TigerOne said:

Give the coaching staff a big fat F for the 4th quarter. Instead of continuing to try and score Auburn goes into the fetal position and tries to run out the clock.

Good opportunity to maybe try different plays if we have any and give schwartz more touches.

What did Gus say to get a flag, which killed that drive.

Surprise Ole Miss didn't throw more cause we couldn't cover most of the time and PI call is good bet.

I don’t actually mind us going passive in that 4th quarter. The game was more or less in hand. We want A&M thinking we are worse than we are. Better chance that they come into the game expecting us to roll over. Also, we’re pretty beat up right now. No reason to risk further injury.

Schwartz was clearly involved in several RPO plays in the second half. Ole Miss was selling out on the perimeter pass game.

No idea what Gus said, but apparently it fired up the players. So I’m glad he did It.

Ole Miss threw it a lot, and our guys did a reasonably good job defending the pass. Ole Miss’s completion percentage was not very good.