KolchakAU85

On 10/6/2019 at 2:42 PM, JMR said:

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!!

 

Gee, thanks.  You could have just said "I'm no analyst (which you're clearly not), but we just got beat badly and Bo Nix sucked", and saved yourself all that typing.

Let me start this post by saying I'm a huge Patriots fan.

I remember back in the 1980s when Joe Montana and the 49ers ruled for years.  I absolutely hated that team.  Hated to see them in the Super Bowl.  Hated to see Montana's picture on Cheerios boxes, and hated to see him in a TV commercial telling me to drink Pepsi (Coke has always ruled).  But there they were - every time I turned around, I was reminded about how great they were, and would continue to be.  That was probably the only time in my life that I ever got down on the NFL.

So even as a Patriots fan, I can understand how fans of other teams feel.  There has definitely been Patriots overload in the NFL for the last 15 years.

But have faith.  The 49ers dynasty crumbled, and so will the Patriots.  I know it's predicted every year, but I really feel this is their last year to make the Super Bowl before a thorough rebuild.

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

and people will turn in hoping the Pats get beat.....they are the bama of the NFL I think.

Yes, but Bill and Nick have made their accomplishments in different ways.

Nick gets the best players every year, because college players can choose where they play.  In the NFL, that would be like getting 25 first round picks every year.

OTOH, Bill is restricted by the NFL's competitive balance rules, in a league that is designed for every team to go 8-8 every year.

I respect Bill's accomplishments much more than Nick's.

Patrick Mahomes missed a wide open receiver for an easy throw-and-catch TD.

Tom Brady gave 7 points away with that interception he threw in the end zone.

The supposed "best offense" in the NFL was held scoreless in the first half.

Dee Ford lined up off sides, else the Chiefs would have won.

Now England gained somewhat near twice as many yards as KC, ran twice as many plays, possessed the ball twice as long, etc.  The Chiefs were beaten worse than the score indicates.  They were very lucky to have made it to overtime.

Tom Brady's completed passes in overtime:

• 3rd-and-10 conversion.
• 3rd-and-9 conversion
• 3rd-and-10 conversion
• 3rd-and-10 conversion

Un-freaking-real.

The lost coin toss is nowhere near the reason the Chiefs lost the game.  Based upon the stats and their mistakes, they had no business even being in the game at the end.

IMO.

I'll miss her.

7 hours ago, kevon67 said:

 

I think I watched that Gasden Tournament on youtube...........was it a big bass tourney or reg season schedule? 

Some here have posted pics of their kids that fish on their HS teams..............I think it's great having bass fishing on HS and College level👍

My son is 28.  When he was a freshman in high school (new school for him), he was invited to join the skeet shooting team.  I had no idea that high schools even had shooting teams. 

7 hours ago, kevon67 said:

 

I think I watched that Gasden Tournament on youtube...........was it a big bass tourney or reg season schedule? 

Some here have posted pics of their kids that fish on their HS teams..............I think it's great having bass fishing on HS and College level👍

IIRC, the tournament you watched was the week after the college tournament there.

Those 2 tournaments were one week apart.  11 lbs (one fish) won the college tourney, and the pro winner the next week had 35+ lbs.

Is anybody here on Auburn's fishing team?

Does anybody here even know Auburn has a fishing team?

My son was on it for 2 years.  They traveled expense-free all over fishing tournaments against other colleges.  They fished a tournament in Gadsden, AL one year, and there was 2 inches of snow in their boat when they got done.  The weather was so bad that winner of that tournament caught only one bass: an 11 pounder.

On 10/14/2018 at 2:53 PM, JMR said:

 

• Auburn’s secondary was abused by the UT wide receivers and even running backs. Javaris Davis might have had his worst game as a Tiger. I shudder to think about Ole Miss next week with their big, skilled wide receivers.

 

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In Malzahn's post-game press conference, he made excuses for this, claiming (over and over) that the Tennessee QB threw perfect passes that only his intended receiver could catch.  Made me sick listening to it.

Jarret Stidham looks like he wishes he had gone to the NFL last year, because he sure as hell isn't going after this year.  And that's bad for AU. 

Hope the OP doesn't mind if we complain about Gus after this ugly disappointment of a game.

On 8/1/2018 at 11:58 AM, ellitor said:

http://southeasthoops.com/2018/07/31/kira-lewis-narrows-list-potential-schools/

 

Kira Lewis, a 5-star guard in the 2019 recruiting class, has released his final 12 schools.

The 6-3 point guard, who currently attends Hazel Green High School (AL), announced the remaining schools via Twitter on Tuesday, with five SEC schools still in the mix.

Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and Ole Miss all remain potential landing spots for Lewis, with Kentucky being the most notable school to miss the cut after he took an unofficial visit to Lexington in June.

View image on Twitter

Kira Lewis Jr.@Mr_Lewis3

 

 

Top 12 S/O to @TiptonEdits

2:00 PM - Jul 31, 2018

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According to 247Sports, Lewis ranks as the No. 5 point guard and No. 26 player overall in the 2019 class.

Alabama is considered to be the front-runner to land Lewis.

Yeah, Avery Johnson sure can recruit, can't he?  I guess he seemingly represents a direct route to the NBA, since he played and coached in the NBA.

Auburn/Pearl would be the better choice.

21 hours ago, JMR said:

I kind of think we ought to be patient with Kim. He is a smart player, just not terribly physical. He doesn't have to be, if he'll use his smarts/technique wisely. Greg Gaines is one powerful dude. Also, neither of our guards played real well, not getting off the combo blocks with Kim and moving to the second level quickly enough. J.B. needs to get busy; both Harrell and Horton are *capable* of being really good players. Kim looked a little lost at times, as did Harrell and Horton. That's on J.B. to fix.

I'm not thrilled with the RB situation. Kam Martin is a good little back, but he has his limitations. To be honest, that's hard to evaluate when your OL isn't doing its job. Whitlow has potential, but having played at a small school, this is a major step up for him. I do think he will get better and be a guy we can count on, given time. He is progressing pretty rapidly IMO.

Love Ryan Davis. He is "electric" with the ball.

Coach,

Did you see anything defensively from Washington that might explain the lack of speed sweep calls for us yesterday?

The LSU loss was 100% due to a stupid in-game strategy change by Gus.

The domination by Georgia in the SECCG was mainly due to poor preparation.

Yes, Kerryon's injury hurt.  But how do we completely dominate both lines of scrimmage in the first game, and get completely dominated on both in the second?  By not being prepared mentally to play.

None of us should forget the LSU debacle.  The drubbing of a terrible Arkansas team in no way diminishes what happened in Baton Rouge.  Gus Malzahn is still the same, in-over-his-head, failure of a coach who has guided a top-5 team (talent-wise) toward another average, under-achieving season.

The FIRST thing I wanted to hear from Malzahn after Arkansas laid down and rolled over was another apology for screwing up against LSU.