55th in total offense, 92nd in total defense

[AUIH1 1,515]

You can't fix 4 years of terrible coaching on D (other than Rocker) in 9 months. We have improved. We certainly are far from being good enough to compete for SEC championships, but we are better off than we were. I will take 3-0 right now. This week will be our 1st big boy opponent conference game. If we can keep it competitive, I will be very happy.

wde

[HSVWarEagle 49]

You can't fix 4 years of terrible coaching on D (other than Rocker) in 9 months. We have improved. We certainly are far from being good enough to compete for SEC championships, but we are better off than we were. I will take 3-0 right now. This week will be our 1st big boy opponent conference game. If we can keep it competitive, I will be very happy.

wde

+1

[auelvis87 96]

D still has a long way to go, but they seem much more agressive than the last few years, and we stopped MSU when we had to in the 4th. Most glaring deficiencies I see on D are lack of pressure (or sacks) on QB and 3rd down defense. We gave up two 3rd and 14's, one 3 and 13, and on 3rd and 9 we gave them enough (about 8 yards and 2 feet) so that MSU went for it on 4th and short and made it.

Agree that we need more production from our linebacking core.

WDE!

[aubiefifty 16,921]

last time i checked sports boards are about opinions and perceptions. i have no problem with dye. at the end of the day he just wants auburn to be awesome and feared again. if we all had the same opinions this would be a boring place.

[CameronCrazy 1,085]

Stat - do you know what we were ranked in total offense and defense at this point in the 2009 & 2010 seasons? I'm just looking for some perspective from previous teams that Malzahn coached on.

[berrytgr 0]

I am extremely happy with the improvements we have seen on defense. Compared to the defenses of the last 4 years this is a huge improvement. Our DBs are making plays on the ball in the air, breaking up passes and even getting ints. Our Dline is getting better as the games go on and our tackles for loss sure seems to be up. I like the fact that we are keeping people out of the end zone. Most importantly we are making adjustments and shutting people down late in the game. This is just based on what I observe, not based on stats.

I have been more disappointed with our offense so far than our defense. Our WRs are still dropping too many passes, not finishing their routes, missing blocks, etc. Coach Craig has his work cut out for him. Until that last drive Saturday I would say I was disappointed with our QB. However, there is no doubt now he is getting better and is calm and cool at crunch time. With only five weeks on campus I can see there is a great amount of possibility for our young QB. Now on to a much much more difficult challenge than anything he has faced before, a night game in Baton Rouge.

[yeaauburn 21]

Real SEC play. MSU always has a physical football team. Very aggressive on defense. They will surprise some teams this year. Just like WSU, we will see how good MSU becomes the rest of the season.

[AUbritt 611]

I'm more concerned with scoring D.

Yep, that's the defensive stat that really matters and the stat we have been terrible at the last 4 years. The rest of the stats will indicate areas a team may need to improve on to keep the opponent out of the end zone. We don't want a team to put up yardage, but if it's being done between the 20 yard lines, you can still win ball games while you are working on certain areas of your defense. Being #32 in scoring defense after the first 3 games says that so far we are heading in the right direction.

Yep.

[Rednilla 5,397]

I knew there'd be howls on this board if our D was criticized after finally showing up in the 4th quarter. It's funny how stats....like "big plays" given up by the D...were rolled out last year as critical, unacceptable, etc (which they are) but this year that data should be shrugged off because all that matters 3 games into the season (before we've played anybody near the top 25) is "did we get the W?!? Well okay then!?!"

You know, there IS a middle ground here. Just because someone doesn't like to see only the most negative points doesn't mean that it is irrelevant. Is the defense on par with what AU has been used to for most of the past three decades? No, not at all. However, at the end of the day, winning is what it's all about. Again, let us not lose sight of the fact that we have the same amount of wins ALREADY this season as we had ALL of last season.

[AUbritt 611]

I knew there'd be howls on this board if our D was criticized after finally showing up in the 4th quarter. It's funny how stats....like "big plays" given up by the D...were rolled out last year as critical, unacceptable, etc (which they are) but this year that data should be shrugged off because all that matters 3 games into the season (before we've played anybody near the top 25) is "did we get the W?!? Well okay then!?!"

You know, there IS a middle ground here. Just because someone doesn't like to see only the most negative points doesn't mean that it is irrelevant. Is the defense on par with what AU has been used to for most of the past three decades? No, not at all. However, at the end of the day, winning is what it's all about. Again, let us not lose sight of the fact that we have the same amount of wins ALREADY this season as we had ALL of last season.

Absolutely, Red!

Not only that, but I think we also have an idealized view of our past defenses. It was eye-opening to me to watch this video VT posted. Yes, it's got CDC at QB, but it also has plenty of footage of LSU running up and down the field on us. When we had Takeo Spikes at LB. He must really have sucked to allow all those rushing yards.

[AUFAN78 3,926]

Altima, under Chizik, we seemed to recruit very well on the defensive side of the ball...

Lemonier, Whitaker, Blackson, Wright, Holland, Frost, Whitehead, Therezie, Rose, Florence, and others were 4-5 star defensive recruits. Lawson was originally a Chiz commit. Coaching was the issue...not recruiting.

Not so much... Chiz really didn't recruit that well on the defensive side. He recruited a lot of projects, but failed to sign true position players...

Lemonier was our best defensive prospect by far! But, jury was out on a lot of our signees back then, and to be honest, the jury's still out now! Chizik most definitely struggled bringing in elite defensive talent.

•Chizik Recruites on the 2013 AU Defense•

D Ford - undersized DE, 3 star

L Owens - great athlete, but DE to LB to DE

K Carter - 3 star DT

J Whitaker - look like Tarzan, play like Jane

A Blackson - 3 star DT

K Frost - WR turned LB

R Therezie - not a true Safety, but not a true CB

C Davis - 3 star athlete

G Wright - still hasn't lost his baby fat

J Mitchell - high school DT turned college LB/S

J Holland - 3 star LB

J Mincy - 3 star CB

C McKinzy - high school DL turned college LB

J Garrett - 185lb 3 star LB turned Safety

J Whitehead - last minute replacement

A Swain - Safety turned LB

N Egua - 3 star DE

C Sanders - good athlete LB/DE hybrid

J Holsey - CB turned Safety

R Smith - last minute addition

R White - QB turned CB

I'm not knocking our team by any means, but there sure are a lot of projects on our roster. And thats nowhere near what LSU and bammer were(are) bringin in... The good news is, our projects are playing well under CEJ, and they're 3-0!

Thank you!

[juscAUse 1]

I just don't like what's happening to deteriorate college football. I'm sorry, but give me I-formation offense and solid defense any day over basketball like scores.

Thing is no one cares what you think. You have whined for a couple of years about the spread and hurry up and it's gotten ridiculous. I'm sure some people were against the there point line and shot clock in basketball. Hell probably against the.forward pass too. But games evolve. You either get with it, or get left behind. Deal with it, or go back and watch games from the 60s or something. It in no way deteriorates the game in anyway. It's going away anytime soon. I just don't see how anyone can find a reason to complain about being 3-0 after last year. And the coaches have consistently made great adjustments after the half. That's a pretty good testament to how good they are.

As long as the HUNH haters are whining about WINS, we are OK. It's like sales, if they are bitchin' about gross profit you are fine. They are always going to be "critical" about something. Our coaches have to undo bad coaching first. Then they can coach. More than 2 or three LBs and DBs would probably help a little, too.

First of all, calm down. No one ran over your dog, so there's no need to be hostile and rude.

Second of all, some of us have enjoyed watching physical football. Auburn has always been known for tough defense and ball control offense since the dawn of its existence. So, it is deteriorating the traditional sense of Auburn football and football in general seeing the dog and pony show offense. Not whining, just very critical.

[Eisenhower_1952 87]

We are 3-0. Last year about this time, we were 1-2 and facing a 5 gaming losing streak.

[juscAUse 1]

I just don't like what's happening to deteriorate college football. I'm sorry, but give me I-formation offense and solid defense any day over basketball like scores.

Thing is no one cares what you think. You have whined for a couple of years about the spread and hurry up and it's gotten ridiculous. I'm sure some people were against the there point line and shot clock in basketball. Hell probably against the.forward pass too. But games evolve. You either get with it, or get left behind. Deal with it, or go back and watch games from the 60s or something. It in no way deteriorates the game in anyway. It's going away anytime soon. I just don't see how anyone can find a reason to complain about being 3-0 after last year. And the coaches have consistently made great adjustments after the half. That's a pretty good testament to how good they are.

As long as the HUNH haters are whining about WINS, we are OK. It's like sales, if they are bitchin' about gross profit you are fine. They are always going to be "critical" about something. Our coaches have to undo bad coaching first. Then they can coach. More than 2 or three LBs and DBs would probably help a little, too.

First of all, calm down. No one ran over your dog, so there's no need to be hostile and rude.

Second of all, some of us have enjoyed watching physical football. Auburn has always been known for tough defense and ball control offense since the dawn of its existence. So, it is deteriorating the traditional sense of Auburn football and football in general seeing the dog and pony show offense. Not whining, just very critical.

As long as the HUNH haters are whining about WINS, we are OK. It's like sales, if they are bitchin' about gross profit you are fine. They are always going to be "critical" about something. Our coaches have to undo bad coaching first. Then they can coach. More than 2 or three LBs and DBs would probably help a little. Everybody here wants a 1983 defense, Dyehard. But Bo Jackson could have had twice the yards in 2/3 the carries if Dye had thrown the ball a little on first down. I like this offense. If you don't, we agree to disagree on that topic. But WDE anyway.

[AU-24 3,108]

Sure wish we were statistically ranked higher and had a 1-2 or 0-3 record.

Not!!!