What does AU do when...

[Auburn20041345162806 0]

I think we will be fine as long as we execute our assignments. We essentially are always im nickle and and many times this year our safeties have been able to jump the route. If they begin with the idea that they will just dink and dunk all game long I think we see aj get some pick six action. If RT does a good job of reading the keys I think a team like this gives him an excellent chance to blow up some backfield runs and ball hawk a pass or two. Aj is a great QB and I'll give them the edge on this but there is differnce between one quarter of prevent defense and the defense that we will run the rest of the he night. If the plan is for aj to pass on us to win then I feel much better our chances, especially if we get him into a slug rest, I think our defensive backs are the he must dangerous when the guy throwing the ball feels like he has to make it happen each time he is throwing the ball. Basically both teams have defined rolls and game plans and the team that is gonna win is whichever team can make the other change the way they play the game. Jmo

[aushrink 22]

This thread got me thinking....about red zone defense. ...I think we may be so good at red zone defense because the field is condensed, allowing safeties and dbs to help the lbs. In the open field, our lbs get taken advantage of as safeties have to cover the deep routes. Bring in our safeties closer to the line and our defense looks completely different...ie: no big holes where lbs usually are, making the quick passes tougher to come by. Just a thought

Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner. Auburn gave up so much to Georgia because we went into prevent mode. We've got very aggressive corners and they play shut down man defense but when we went up by 20 on Georgia, Ellis had his boys back up, and for good reason. If UGA was going to come back, it was more likely to happen because someone got caught jumping a route and Murray throws a 60 yard TD. Ellis knew murray was taking advantage of the soft coverage he was laying out for them but as soon as you tighten up, Bobo would've had Murray try to hit a receiver on an island and it probably would've worked, too.

Thankfully, Auburn is not going to come out against Alabama playing like we're up by 3 touchdowns. We'll keep tight coverage and cause some coverage sacks and, if everything goes well, some INTs.

Rigby's problem here is he looks at a time when Auburn underperformed and doesn't ask why things changed, he just assumes we were finally exposed. We shouldn't have too much of a problem keeping Alabama under 30 points. The hard part is scoring 30 ourselves.

Another thing.

That was the right call for CEJ to make at the 12 minute mark of the 4th quarter. He had no idea the offense was going to go into a tubershell and not be able to get any first downs from that point until the final drive.

Our offense and punting was what almost lost the uga game. Not the defense.

[IronMan70 3,277]

IMHO, the prevent defense is never the "right call", other than the last play of the half or the game. Look at what happened to us in the Georgia game and we could list another 50 games we all know about in college or the NFL. The only thing the prevent does is prevent a team from winning big. They should outlaw the damn prevent defense, make it illegal, make the DC serve 5 years in jail if he uses it.

PS- did I mention I hate the prevent defense ?

[Guest jojo1515]

This thread got me thinking....about red zone defense. ...I think we may be so good at red zone defense because the field is condensed, allowing safeties and dbs to help the lbs. In the open field, our lbs get taken advantage of as safeties have to cover the deep routes. Bring in our safeties closer to the line and our defense looks completely different...ie: no big holes where lbs usually are, making the quick passes tougher to come by. Just a thought

Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner. Auburn gave up so much to Georgia because we went into prevent mode. We've got very aggressive corners and they play shut down man defense but when we went up by 20 on Georgia, Ellis had his boys back up, and for good reason. If UGA was going to come back, it was more likely to happen because someone got caught jumping a route and Murray throws a 60 yard TD. Ellis knew murray was taking advantage of the soft coverage he was laying out for them but as soon as you tighten up, Bobo would've had Murray try to hit a receiver on an island and it probably would've worked, too.

Thankfully, Auburn is not going to come out against Alabama playing like we're up by 3 touchdowns. We'll keep tight coverage and cause some coverage sacks and, if everything goes well, some INTs.

Rigby's problem here is he looks at a time when Auburn underperformed and doesn't ask why things changed, he just assumes we were finally exposed. We shouldn't have too much of a problem keeping Alabama under 30 points. The hard part is scoring 30 ourselves.

I think also that the 4-2-5 has to flex Therezie up in support of runs and short passes and become more of a 4-3 middle lb than a 4-2-5 star safety. I didn't play close enough attention in the Ga game to see if that was the case or not for the first 3 quarters, but I'm guessing (hoping too) he plays most of the game Saturday within ten yards of the LOS. He could be the difference in this game. If he stays close to the line, Holland may not be able to make all the tackles to push us to a win, but he can slow down yeldon enough that Therezie could put a hurting on him. IMO, we need Holland and Frost to play assignment football and Therezie to be a ball hawk.

[aubfaninga 16]

Bama tries to attack our D like UGA did in the 4th quarter of last game?

I'm assuming Bama's gameplan will be to "dink and dunk" the ball similar to the way UGA shredded our D the final quarter. It seems the reason it worked for UGA is because they have an accurate passer in Murray and talented playmakers to get YAC. The same holds true for Bama...McCarron will be accurate, their receivers will catch the ball, and they have the talent to make big plays after the catch. One major problem this creates for us is it essentially takes the DL out of the game, which is a big strength for us. I'm no X's and O's guy so what adjustments can Coach EJ make to counter this attack?

I know the prevent is a touchy subject for some and can be debated for weeks with no definate consensus. EJ had our defense playing a form of the prevent late in that game against GA. Even knowing how the game turned out with uga coming back I stick with the gameplan that has WON many many more games than lost. If you have a cusion, play off and "PREVENT" the quick easy score. WHICH AUBURN DID! Murray had to earn every yard, use precious seconds, and use his legs to keep drives alive. AJ ***CANNOT*** make as many pin point throws as Murray did, AJ ***CANNOT*** run as well as Murray did, and I cannot see us being in situation that we would be in a prevent this Saturday. (I can hope to see "prevent" but I would not put money on it) Murray is an NFL qb that was playing in a college game and he ONCE AGAIN showed that he deserves the praise he gets. If you watch that the uga/Auburn games again, you will see how accurate and forcefull his throws were. Half of the current NFL qbs could not have done what he did on that many throws.

I got off task.

What I am trying to say is, we should not be in a prevent against Alabama and EJ will put us in position to stop the short game if this is the gameplan bammer comes with. Even with that being said, I would still be cautious of trying to take away every 3 yard slant because their receivers will burn us deep if we get careless. We have won 10 games by playing a "BEND BUT NOT BREAK" defense, so why change? 3 things can happen when they throw a pass and 2 are good for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aubfaninga 16]

This thread got me thinking....about red zone defense. ...I think we may be so good at red zone defense because the field is condensed, allowing safeties and dbs to help the lbs. In the open field, our lbs get taken advantage of as safeties have to cover the deep routes. Bring in our safeties closer to the line and our defense looks completely different...ie: no big holes where lbs usually are, making the quick passes tougher to come by. Just a thought

Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner. Auburn gave up so much to Georgia because we went into prevent mode. We've got very aggressive corners and they play shut down man defense but when we went up by 20 on Georgia, Ellis had his boys back up, and for good reason. If UGA was going to come back, it was more likely to happen because someone got caught jumping a route and Murray throws a 60 yard TD. Ellis knew murray was taking advantage of the soft coverage he was laying out for them but as soon as you tighten up, Bobo would've had Murray try to hit a receiver on an island and it probably would've worked, too.

Thankfully, Auburn is not going to come out against Alabama playing like we're up by 3 touchdowns. We'll keep tight coverage and cause some coverage sacks and, if everything goes well, some INTs.

Rigby's problem here is he looks at a time when Auburn underperformed and doesn't ask why things changed, he just assumes we were finally exposed. We shouldn't have too much of a problem keeping Alabama under 30 points. The hard part is scoring 30 ourselves.

I think also that the 4-2-5 has to flex Therezie up in support of runs and short passes and become more of a 4-3 middle lb than a 4-2-5 star safety. I didn't play close enough attention in the Ga game to see if that was the case or not for the first 3 quarters, but I'm guessing (hoping too) he plays most of the game Saturday within ten yards of the LOS. He could be the difference in this game. If he stays close to the line, Holland may not be able to make all the tackles to push us to a win, but he can slow down yeldon enough that Therezie could put a hurting on him. IMO, we need Holland and Frost to play assignment football and Therezie to be a ball hawk.

Really hope this does not start a bash Holland thread but it needs to be said. Murray used his legs to keep the sticks moving against us. That week is in the books.

For this week, I PUT ALL MY MONEY ON HOLLAND or FROST IN A ONE ON ONE SITUATION WITH AJ McCARRON SCRAMBLING!!! We can take that to the bank!

[Guest jojo1515]

aubfaninga, I hope there is no Holland bashing either, and I wasn't attempting to do so. I think he can be a big enough factor in this game that between he and Therezie, if allowed to play in the same area, can slow yeldon down. I do think yeldon can outrun him, but he is smart enough to play his assignment and make a few stops himself while getting help from Therezie on the others. I am sure he will play his tail off Saturday. I hope he has a great Senior day!

[gall1533 0]

We blame the defense but don't forget the offense didm't do much in the second half.

[aubfaninga 16]

aubfaninga, I hope there is no Holland bashing either, and I wasn't attempting to do so. I think he can be a big enough factor in this game that between he and Therezie, if allowed to play in the same area, can slow yeldon down. I do think yeldon can outrun him, but he is smart enough to play his assignment and make a few stops himself while getting help from Therezie on the others. I am sure he will play his tail off Saturday. I hope he has a great Senior day!

Comment was not directed at you. I just know the subject can take off in a bad direction real fast.

[AirmanR22 0]

He can't honestly

The linebackers we start are to slow to catch most of the Dink and dunk passes, especially if they go to the middle.

He just has to hope the secondary remembered to tackle, and they fare better than the Georgia game.

Get out. Seriously. You continue to bang this drum, the voice of one in the wilderness. By the way, this defense is 10-1 and #4 with a frickin' bullet.

And by the way, UGA didn't throw the short passes over the middle. Alabama is too arrogant to come in with the running game as an afterthought. They always have and always will want to be balanced. And our front six will separate #4 and #17 from the ball, as they are known to do.

If you watched the UGA game, you would know he has a point. Aaron Murray should never have come close to the goal line on their last TD; whether it be from LB speed or being out of position.

I love Auburn and I love college football. The ones that post here with O&B glasses pasted to their heads love Auburn football; however, they seem to ignore the big picture.

[AirmanR22 0]

The best thing happened with Georgia in the 4th quarter what it did was one give Alabama a game plan and two show us what we need to work on I believe in Gus he will put a plan together on offense trust me defense is working on the middle slants now to stop it

[aubfaninga 16]

The best thing happened with Georgia in the 4th quarter what it did was one give Alabama a game plan and two show us what we need to work on I believe in Gus he will put a plan together on offense trust me defense is working on the middle slants now to stop it

The best christmas present that Auburn could ever recieve is if Alabama tries to beat us using the same offensive scheme uga did to make a comeback. I took my O&B glasses off to make that statement.

Please Saban... Use the short slant passing game for 4 qtrs!!!! PLease!

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Jake Holland is going to get himself on a painting this weekend.

[Stripe 5]

90% of bama's passing game is dink dunk patterns. it's like watching New England play college ball. it doesn't take a great QB just an average one. The way to stop this little dink and dunk passing game is to jump the routs and get INT's and incomplete's. Holland and Thereze will have to be on top of their games playing in the middle. I look for this pass play to be well defended as with any other short pass.

We will have a good game plan and play it out. as long as we don't go into prevent defense and prevent ourselves from winning, it will be a great game for us.