JMR

Anyone who’s read this little column a time or two knows, I try to focus on the positive as much as possible. That won’t be easy this week.

Prior to this season, most “experts” expected Texas A&M to compete with Alabama for the SEC West. This was to be the year that Jimbo Fisher proved to be worth the $75 million he was awarded to take the job. But, as often happens in college football, things didn’t go so well for the Age early in the season, as they surprisingly fell to Arkansas and Mississippi State. To his credit, Jimbo got things turned around, beat mighty Alabama, and has his team playing really well at this point. A&M has recruited extremely well under Fisher, and they have a very talented roster.

This was a physical, hard-fought game. Frankly, I thought A&M earned the win, although the margin ended up a little bigger than it should have been, thanks mainly to the scoop-and-score on a Bo Nix fumble and the ensuing two-point conversion. This will be a short version of the things I think I saw, in keeping with the “focus on the positives” effort.
 

• Texas A&M had an open date last week, and they obviously put the extra prep time to good use. Their defense had Auburn well-scouted, and they played with excellent discipline. Defensive linemen played solid technique, and linebackers executed their reads and filled gaps consistently well. I saw very few errors on their part defensively.
   
• In something of an understatement, Bo Nix did not have one of his better games, after showing strong improvement in recent games. His footwork was inconsistent, and he missed some key throws that would have likely changed the trajectory of the AU offense.
   
• As has been the case for most of the season, the Auburn wide receivers looked confused and unprepared. Not only were there problems getting lined up properly, there was seldom any separation from the aTm defensive backs. In fairness to Nix, A&M was able to generate a decent pass rush, and there was often no open receiver easily discernible.
   
• One thing that stood out to me with Auburn’s offense was the number of times AU lined up strong to the boundary, and then ran a play into the boundary. A&M, on the other hand, often lined up strong into the boundary, but then ran a play to the wide side of the field. The basic tenet here is that the offense lines up strong to the boundary, the defense matches that alignment, and then the play is run to the wide side, where there are less defenders and more space. I don’t know that what AU was doing was “wrong”, just that it was “unusual”.
   
• Credit to Tank Bigsby. He ran hard and created yards after contact. Obviously he didn’t pile up a lot of yards, but he certainly put in the effort.
   
• The AU offensive line wasn’t “awful” in pass protection. A&M blitzed successfully a few times, but the protection looked worse than it was due to the dearth of open receivers. The run blocking, on the other hand, was pretty poor. One thing I did note: Bro Hamm struggled last week against the speed rush, giving up a couple of pressures to Ole Miss. Hamm was MUCH better vs the speed rush this week, obviously having put in some work this past week. He was also pretty strong run blocking. Some along the OL did not play nearly as well, and it only takes one to make a play fail.
   
• The AU defense played well once aTm got into or near the red zone. There were some defensive busts in the game, and some explosive runs given up between the tackles. One of Auburn’s defensive tackles was turned several times by the A&M OL, freeing blockers to get to the second level and seal off the Auburn linebackers. That, along with a half-dozen missed run fits by the linebackers, led to some big runs by the A&M running backs.
   
• Except for misplaying the ball on aTm’s two-point conversion, I thought Jaylin Simpson played well. A&M’s wide receivers are athletic and well-coached, and all in all, the AU secondary played reasonably well. A&M receivers had a handful of drops, which greatly helped the AU defense.
   
• As happens pretty often in SEC games, I was generally disappointed in the officiating. Granted, I’m old school, and played (and coached) back in the days when any kind of holding was prohibited, but to my eyes, there was holding on virtually every play A&M ran. But, that’s the way it’s done now….”hold until they call it”…which they only did when A&M’s left tackle lifted his man and body-slammed him.

Always disappointing to lose a game, even more so when it’s one we thought we could win. But realistically, we all knew we had a long way to go. When climbing, there will always be slips and falls. This process is going to take time. There will be bright spots and dark spots along the way, but I believe Coach Harsin will take us where we want to go. Fortunately, I think most Auburn people are in this for the long haul. War Damn!

For those who haven’t read this before, I titled it because over the thousands of hours of actual games I’ve watched live or on film, I’ve always been surprised at how many times I’ve been absolutely convinced I saw something happen a certain way, only to find “upon further review” that it didn’t happen quite the way I thought. So if you saw it differently, I make no claim to being right. I just call it the way I saw it.

HUGE win for Auburn and the Bryan Harsin program. Lane Kiffin is one of the better offensive coaches in college football, and Ole Miss is very much on the rise as a program. Not quite deserving of the status they are afforded by the media, but very good. It obviously helped that the game was at Auburn, but I suspect the result would have been the same in Oxford. This Auburn football team continues on its stated path to “get better every day.”
 

• Bo Nix, the focal point of this team, had an outstanding game. Going into the game, I had tremendous respect for Ole Miss QB Matt Corral. I honestly think Corral is as good as any QB in college football. Bo Nix stood tall in this game, and played every bit as well as Corral. That is extremely impressive to me. Bo missed some throws in the second half that would have made the point spread bigger than the eventual outcome. He lost track of his footwork a couple of times and made poor throws. So did Corral. All in all, I would have a hard time picking “the better QB” in this game, and that’s a heck of a compliment to Bo. Nix is playing winning football at this point in the season, and like the team, he is improving every week.
   
• I’m impressed with the job OL coach Will Friend is doing. For the most part, Nix enjoyed a comfortable pocket. Ole Miss played a lot of games in the box, bringing multiple stunts and blitz schemes, and the Auburn OL handled those surprisingly well. Brodarius Hamm got beat multiple times by a speed rush, and that portends to be a problem going forward, but overall, the protection was very good. Compare that to where we spent most of last season, and one can’t help but be pleased.
   
• I can’t say enough about the job being done by OC Mike Bobo as well. I was less than excited about the hire, but have to admit, I was wrong. I don’t recall an Offensive Coordinator at Auburn (maybe Al Borges?) doing a better job of manipulating opposing defenses via formations, misdirection, and play calls. As an old coach, I’d hate the prospect of preparing a defense for all that Bobo offers. The use of multiple tight ends….and I mean USE, not just deployment…is just a pleasure to watch.
   
• Was fun to watch J.J. Pegues play. Moved from tight end to defensive tackle, the kid still has little idea what he’s doing. But he is such a gifted athlete, he’s a force wherever he lines up. Saw him at rush end on one Ole Miss offensive series, and he wasn’t bad. Lots of good things to come for that youngster.
   
• Colby Wooden just keeps getting better and better. When I see a guy constantly improve from not only year to year, but week to week, I know he has to have been working his tail off. Wooden has done/is doing that, and I love watching it.
   
• Was great to see Owen Pappoe back. He is one of the keys to this AU defense mentally. I’ve thought since Auburn signed him that his lateral speed is exceptional, and that was clearly evidenced in this game. Zacoby McClain played like his hair was on fire, and Chandler Wooten had the best game I’ve seen from him. The Ole Miss passing game is so good, their play-action stuff is very tough on linebackers, and ours did a great job in a difficult situation.
   
• As an old punter myself, I was beyond pleased to see Oscar Chapman average 56 yards. I always suspected that Gus Malzahn limited what Arryn Sippos was allowed to do, and I’m glad to see that Chapmen’s ability is being put to full use. To be fair, I don’t “know” that about Gus, but making sure we didn’t outkick our coverage sounds like him.
   
• Kobe Hudson’s fumble hit a sore spot with me. My first coaching job was working for an old Head Coach from Ohio, a Woody Hayes disciple. In games or scrimmages, whenever our ball carrier was about to be tackled, he’d always yell “Two hands on the ball!”  He was right, of course, but he said it so much, to this day I find myself saying it out loud at that moment in an Auburn game when contact is imminent. I wish he was around to explain that deal to Kobe.
   
• I am a very careful watcher of the offensive line. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been pleased with the work Coach Will Friend has done. They’re a ways from “great,” but one would have to be pretty numb to not recognize that they are improved. Brandon Council was a positive factor in this game, as was Austin Troxell. Both are guys I had been disappointed in to this point. I mentioned earlier Brod Hamm’s problems with the speed rush, and that will either be fixed, or will cost us dearly later.
   
• Smoke Monday was called for lining up offsides for at least the third time this season. On third down and less than five, Monday has come up on the line of scrimmage, and has not once looked inside at the ball to make sure he was not in the neutral zone. For that situation not to have been corrected by now is ridiculous. Coach Harsin likes to talk about “the details”. Come on, Coach.
   
• Speaking of “details”, how does a team get hit with a delay-of-game penalty on a field goal or extra point? Not sure I’ve ever seen that before, and we had TWO in this game.
   
• I’ve been pleased with the progress of rush end Eku Leota. He plays hard, and is more than adequately athletic. But the transfer from Northwestern is having problems with his pursuit angles, and is allowing the ball carrier to get outside him. I don’t know, but I suspect there is more speed in this league than in the Big Ten?
   
• I somewhat admire the coaches who are using “analytics” in their decision-making these days, but after being denied on three fourth-down attempts in the second half of this game, I’m wondering if Lane Kiffin might be tempted to go back to the old “coaching handbook” methods.
   
• Speaking of Kiffin: I kind of like the guy. I certainly admire his acumen as an offensive play-caller. But this business of faking injuries to stall the speed of play is out of hand. No way Ole Miss players had so many “cramps” this late in the season. No way.
   
• Auburn Defensive Coordinator Derek Mason is an interesting subject. I personally don’t like the “bend but don’t break” philosophy of defense, but a LOT of highly successful DC’s ascribe to it. That style was probably a good choice for this particular game, given the opponent’s high powered offense. On the other hand, Ole Miss rather enjoyed it in the first half, with their proclivity for throwing the slant pass, and manipulating the safety with their play action. Got to give Mason credit, though, his halftime adjustments, including more press, were right on, as his adjustments have been in pretty much every game this season. I sometimes wonder if his approach is too “cerebral” for our guys, but it does seem to be gradually taking hold, and if it does, it will pay huge dividends. For sure, the kids love playing for the guy and learning from him.
  
  BIG win for the Tigers this week. BIG. So far, Bryan Harsin has been everything we hoped for. Challenges ahead, of course, but I’m gradually coming to the point where I look forward to ‘em. Credit to Harsin, his staff, and our players for that.
  
  WAR DAMN!!

Like pretty much everyone here, I've been disappointed so far. But having spent thousands of hours watching and re-watching film/tape/digital recordings of hormonal high school boys learning the game (and life), I understand at least a little about where we are at this point.

I spend far too much time thinking about Auburn football, what I saw, what went well, and what didn't. Truth be told, if we had not been so thoroughly dominated by uga last week, we'd all be more optimistic about the rest of the season, even with a couple of too-close wins and a more respectable loss. But, the uga game is, unfortunately, a solid indicator of where we are in terms of talent, execution, and coaching when trying to compete with what we like to think are our "peers."

Anyone reading this is likely to think I'm looking for "the pony in this pile of horse manure". I don't think so. Believe it or not, I did see some improvement in some areas. I also saw some regression in other areas, and that is very disappointing.

Poor as our OL play has been so far, the Arky game was better than the first two. There were a few times I actually saw a lineman moving his feet after contact.....something I haven't seen over the last three years or more. I saw fewer missed assignments, which were a HUGE contributor to our offensive failures in the first two games. Don't get me wrong.....those occasions when we got some real push up front were the exception, but at least there were some this week.

The DL play was quite a bit better this week. There are no Derrick Browns or Marlon Davidsons on our front, but I did see better technique and quite a bit better effort out of that group. Unfortunately, our linebacker play was maybe the worst it's been so far this season. That might be reasonable, given the absence of our best LB, but one of the guys who played really poorly this week is also extremely talented, and is capable of much better.

I have been disappointed in our QB play. Bo is tough, and an excellent athlete, but he is missing on more throws than we can afford with our anemic offense. The "marriage" of Nix and Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Chad Morris has been disappointing. Some of that is on Bo, some of it is on Morris. Once when Arky sent six (including two linebackers), Bo was quickly sacked. I went back and looked closely, and there were NO options available (or even assigned) for blitz control. Unless you are in max protection, including the TE, there's no way to block 'em all. A moderately sophisticated passing game accounts for those issues; ours apparently does not.

Tank Bigsby continues to improve at an accelerated pace. D.J. Williams looks to be getting healthy. I have no idea where MAR is. He is "reportedly" an outstanding receiver, which we could certainly use. The tight end has been almost as absent as ever in the passing game. I've heard that's because freshman Brandon Frazier has been injured, but we have other tight ends who are capable receivers. I don't really know whether the lack of use of that position in the passing game is on Bo, or on Morris.

Not having spring practice has no doubt had an effect. Realistically, it has had an effect on everybody, not just Auburn. But there is no scientific way to quantify that factor from team to team, program to program. As we noted before the season began, different players, coaches, and programs handled that in different ways, and the ultimate effect varies from team to team, position to position.

Special teams play was a big factor in Auburn's favor this week. Aside from Anders Carlson putting two kickoffs out of bounds and thus giving up 20 yards of field position, of course.

Injuries have been a factor thus far. Most teams have 'em, and, again, the effect varies depending on depth at the position, etc. There will be more, as almost nobody has "cupcakes" on their schedule wherein they can rest certain players, develop depth, and so on.

Early in the Kentucky game, I noted that Chad Morris was using formations and motion to get the defensive alignment he wanted from Kentucky. I have seen virtually none of that since that point. So far, not impressed.

I don't have the answers, and I'm very much aware that "it ain't easy". There is lots and lots of room for improvement across the board. But I did see a few steps in the right direction this week. Not nearly as many as I'd like to have seen, but "one step at a time". I hope we can hold it together and keep moving forward, however small the steps may be.

With this being the first of these this season (and with the way 2020 has gone so far, maybe the last), a quick reminder: I watch the game, and make a few mental notes that I try to summarize when it's over. I refuse to watch a game over and over, so I may see some things wrong, or maybe miss some things altogether. I make no claim to being "right" about what I saw, hence the name....Things I Think I Saw.

I may very well be overly generous in my overall assessment, given the circumstances of this particular football season. Lots of losses to the draft and graduation, no spring practice, an erratic off-season, and a protracted pre-season with lots of disruptions and interruptions.

I was relatively pleased with Auburn's play in the game. UK came in with lots of experience on both the offensive and defensive lines. Four of five UK offensive linemen were named to various pre-season All-SEC teams. The Cats returned 9 starters on defense. With all those caveats listed, here are some things I think I saw in the game:

• Auburn's defensive line was handled pretty easily by Kentucky's very good offensive line. UK did not miss many assignments, and appeared to be exceptionally well-versed in their blocking schemes. As the game moved along, I thought Auburn's DL got better at using their hands and keeping the UK OL from getting into their bodies. That trend continued throughout the game, and the AU defense got better from beginning to end.
   
• With a relatively experienced group of linebackers, I saw more bad fits than I expected on UK running plays between the tackles. That tendency did not improve drastically during the game, and will likely be a point of emphasis in practice this week.
   
• Auburn's offensive line play was not great, but given the fact that there were four new starters in that group, I thought they played surprisingly well. Pass protection was good for the most part, with only a couple of breakdowns. That phase I thought was an improvement over last season. Left tackle Alec Jackson had a couple of false starts, and I don't recall any others by linemen. There were some "mental lapses" by offensive linemen, like putting the head on the wrong side of the defender, not moving the knees on backside cutoffs, etc. Those things become automatic with time and experience.
   
• Auburn pulled more backside linemen (sometimes both the guard and tackle, sometimes only the guard) than I remember seeing in a while, and those pulling linemen usually found a block.
   
• The "Chad Morris Offense" was an improvement in my mind. Not as predictable, and more of the field was utilized. Keep in mind, nothing was "fine-tuned", as this was Game One for almost the entire offensive front. Auburn will have to continue to improve its run game going forward.
   
• I liked the two-point conversion call after Auburn's first TD. Don't particularly like the play itself, but love the idea of going for two when it's certainly unexpected.
   
• I think when considering the AU offense in this game, one needs to be mindful of the fact that Kentucky returned a majority of defensive starters this season, and Stoops' teams are very sound fundamentally.
   
• Some newcomers to the AU defense showed promise. Truesdell and Newkirk played hard and with lots of effort. Colby Wooden made some plays, and looks like he will be a good one.
   
• There were some breakdowns in the secondary, but those will be corrected. Overall, I thought the secondary played very well. McCreary, Simpson, and Sherwood all made big plays.
   
• The AU defense was without Big Kat Bryant, and then without Derek Hall. With having won the game, that becomes a good thing from an adjustment and experience standpoint. I didn't quite agree with the targeting call on Hall, but I am admittedly biased. For what it's worth, it was a great effort by Hall, who tackled the UK QB as he threw the ball, then hustled to catch up and make a block for McCreary after his pick.
   
• I thought Bo Nix showed progress from last year. He wasn't perfect, and lost focus on his footwork a few times, throwing off his back foot, or pedaling backwards. But the strength and accuracy of his arm looked much improved to me. He did appear to bail on plays too early a few times, and his escape from the pocket is entirely too repetitive/predictable. I don't know if there are checkdowns on some of those plays, but a handful of times, it looked like he had one defender to read, and if the prime receiver was covered, he took off. One of the things I was hoping for from Chad Morris was checkdowns to the running backs. Didn't see that this week.

As is almost always true after a game, especially the first game, there is lots of stuff to work on. While it's well-recognized that Kentucky is much better than they have traditionally been over the last several years, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Georgia will be as good or better.

All in all, my take on Game One is that we have a ways to go, but we are on track to get there. I thought the game was well-coached and mostly well-played. There were not a lot of stupid, emotional penalties, and that's often not the case in early games. We played a quality opponent, overcame occasional adversity, and won. I'll take it. Dawgs up next! War Eagle!

These things are fun to write when AU plays well, not so much when they don't.  Like most fans, I've been pleasantly surprised with the progress made by Bo Nix from game to game.  But in the dark corners of my old football mind, I've been wondering whether it would last.  It did not.  Bo was hardly the only AU player who didn't have a great day yesterday, but because of the position he plays, his bad days are more impactful than most.  This game was a bad one for our rookie QB, and the impact was huge.

I was not impressed with the offensive game plan (if there was one). But to be fair, I have thought our plans going into the other five games this season have been pretty darn good.  Sometimes as a coach you guess wrong; some coaches can quickly adjust to the circumstances, and some can't.  It's never easy, as you've spent all your preparation time working on what you went into the game believing would work.  Enough of my rambling.  Here are some of the Things I Think I Saw.....
 

• The first offensive play was a real head-scratcher.  Pretty much identical to the play we opened the Texas A&M game with a few years ago, which resulted in a huge sack by Myles Garrett.  We faked to the tailback, then to a WR going behind the QB (requiring the QB to turn his back to the defense), and pulled the backside guard to block the DE.  Same result as the one we all remember.  Rough start, and equivalent to pouring gasoline on the raging fire that was the Florida home crowd.
   
• The second offensive play was a bad shotgun snap that inadvertently went to Boobee Whitlow instead of Bo Nix.  We were fortunate that Whitlow was watching the ball.
   
• On Florida's second offensive play, Dan Mullen managed to get his fastest wide receiver covered by one of our linebackers. K.J. Britt (not unexpectedly) was beaten badly in coverage, Auburn safety Daniel Thomas overran the play, and the result was an instant score for Florida.  More gasoline on the Florida Field fire.
   
• Auburn fans love Defensive Coordinator Kevin Steele.  He is no doubt one of the better ones in the SEC.  But more than once yesterday, the AU defensive front was on their knees, looking to the sideline for a signal, when Florida snapped the ball.  The secondary was playing man coverage, expecting a strong pass rush, and because the front was not ready, there was none. I like Steele as much as anyone, but that was not good coaching.  No matter how good you are, there are always things that need work.
   
• Christian Tutt has been terrific on punt returns, but he has taken some risks, fielding punts on the bounce, etc. That finally caught up with him yesterday.  A punt returner is coached to *field the ball in the air* if he can do so without leaving his feet. Tutt lets too many punts hit the ground. Usually that results in a favorable roll for the punting team but yesterday it resulted in even worse, with Tutt touching, then losing a key punt, setting Florida up deep in AU territory.
   
• Tutt did make a great play on a safety blitz, executing a perfect tackle that resulted in a fumble by the UF quarterback.
   
• Huge hit by K.J. Britt on Florida running back Dameon Pearce.  Britt unfortunately offset that great play with a missed tackle on Lamical Perine that resulted in an 88-yard, "nail-in-the-coffin" Florida TD.
   
• Dan Mullen's comment to the CBS reporter at halftime about "dirty play" on the part of Marlon Davidson was typical Dan Mullen.  Had Florida offensive tackle Stone Forsythe not pulled Davidson down by the shoulder pads on the play, Trask would have been untouched.  In point of fact, by my unofficial tally, Forsythe was Florida's leading tackler in the game. Amazing that he was only called for it twice.
   
• Auburn struggled mightily to convert third downs in the game.  That's even more disappointing when considering that Towson was 8-of-15 on third down conversions against Florida last week.
   
• Derrick Brown was, as always, held over and over in the game.  A few were actually called.  Brown is an incredible player, and will be a millionaire very soon.
   
• Marlon Davidson was also held multiple times but played with great effort as he has all season.
   
• Though I dislike the man, Dan Mullen is an outstanding game planner.  His use of 6-4 tight end Kyle Pitts as a wide receiver was a brilliant move.  Auburn was forced to cover Pitts with a defensive back, meaning another Florida wide receiver had to be covered by a safety or a linebacker.  Those matchups proved disastrous for Auburn.
   
• The Florida wide receivers got the better of the Auburn secondary yesterday.  Auburn played lots of man coverage and the receivers were too good, and too well-coached on route-running for Auburn's DBs to handle without interference.  Ugly day for that group.
   
• Was glad to see T.D. Moultry step up his effort on the pass rush yesterday.  That effort did garner him a key sack.
   
• I can't emphasize enough how poorly Bo Nix played in this game.  Missed throws, overthrows, terrible interceptions.  Just one or two less of any of those, and the game likely would have had a different outcome.  I think Bo is going to be great and unfortunately, part of getting to that point is enduring painful lessons and not repeating them.
   
• Disappointed that the staff didn't give more of our Florida players opportunities to be a part of the game yesterday.  Joey Gatewood, D.J. Williams, Shaun Shivers. W ould have been nice for them to get some action against the flagship team in their home state.  If you don't think that means anything to those kids, you need to tweak your thinking.
   
• On the bright side, Anders Carlson looked great on his two field goal attempts. Hopefully, he is on track for a great season.
   
• The Auburn OL got whipped most of the time by the Florida DL.  I'm still not sure how good Florida's defensive front is but they definitely looked the part yesterday.
   
• The crowd was indeed a factor, resulting in some key false start penalties on Auburn. Gus said he was surprised by that. What???
   

This was a bitter loss, and I'm not gonna try to pump any sunshine.  But the world has not ended, the season is not in ruins. There are dang sure some stiff challenges down the road, but unlike most fans, players are exceptionally resilient. They have an open date to heal bumps and bruises and make needed corrections before taking on a desperate Arkansas. Got to use this one as a learning tool, and get back to work.

WAR EAGLE!!