It's time for the defense to carry it's weight

[StatTiger 3,188]

Since joining the Auburn coaching staff (2009), there has been frequent discussions about the effect of Malzahn's offense on Auburn's defense. There are those who believe Auburn will never be able to field a dominant defense because of the style of the offense under Malzahn.

Whether this is true or not remains to be seen but here are some numbers to consider regarding the discussion. The following is a comparison of Auburn's 2004 and 2013 defenses.

Looking at the number of possessions defended and the average number of plays defended, might lead one to believe Malzahn's offense places undo strain on the Auburn defense. The 2004 Auburn defense defended 11.8 possessions per game and 60.0 snaps per game. The 2013 Auburn defense defended 13.0 possessions per game and 70.6 snaps per game. Not a major difference in possessions defended but the number of plays defended does stand out. Over the course of a 14-game season, it equates to about 150 additional plays defended over the course of the season.

Though I believe there is some correlation between the play of the offense and defense, I still believe the primary responsibility of the defense is to get off the field as soon as possible, regardless of the play of the offense.

Here are the issues I see on Auburn's defense, which has little to do regarding the style of play by the Auburn offense.

* The 2013 Auburn defense allowed 6.50 yards per play on first down, while the 2004 Auburn defense allowed 5.26 yards. If a defense struggles on first down, it will become difficult to get off the field in a timely manner. You can't field a dominant defense, struggling on first down.

* The 2013 Auburn defense allowed a 3rd-down conversion rate of 33.0% compared to the 27.6% allowed during 2004. The 33.0% wasn't bad but clearly wasn't as good as the 2004 defense. Just imagine how much better the 2013 Auburn defense could have performed on 3rd-down had they not allowed an average of 6.5 yards per play on 1st-down.

* The 2013 Auburn defense surrendered 35 plays of 30-yards or more, while the 2004 defense allowed just 17. Big plays allowed was a major issue for the 2013 Auburn defense.

* The 2013 Auburn defense allowed 20.6 first downs per game, while the 2004 defense allowed just 14.2. When you consider that a first down allowed last season equates to 1.4 points, allowing 6 more first downs per game basically meant allowing over 7 more points per game.

* The 2013 Auburn defense allowed 163.0 yards rushing per game, compared to the 104.2 allowed during 2004. Auburn must continue to improve their run-defense in 2014. Also keep in mind the 2010 Auburn defense was top-10 material nationally, despite teaming up with a Gus Malzahn offense. This at least proves you can field a top-10 run-defense teamed with a Malzahn offense.

* The 2013 Auburn defense forced a turnover every 52.1 snaps, while the 2004 defense forced 1 every 32.5 snaps. This is another area Ellis Johnson wants to improve upon, giving Auburn the ability to generate sudden possession exchanges.

* During the 2013 season, the Auburn defense held their opponent to under 20-yards during a possession, 42.5% of the time. The 2004 Auburn defense did it 60.8% of the time.

* The 2013 AU defense forced a "3 & out" 29.1% of the time, compared to the 38.6% generated by the 2004 defense. This category along with the percentage of possessions where the opponent was held to under 20-yards is a reflection of 1st & 3rd down performances.

Finally, here is a comparison of Auburn's defensive averages during the first 4 possessions of the game. This should be a period of time the defense should not be overly fatigued because it's basically the first 1/3 of the game.

* During the 2004 season Auburn's defense allowed an average of 20.3 yards per possession on 3.76 yards per play during the first 4 possessions of the game. The opponent scored on only 11.5% of these possessions.

* The 2013 Auburn defense surrendered 36.6 yards per possession on 5.86 yards per play during the first 4 possessions of the game. The opponent also scored on 35.7% of these possessions.

Bottom line, the Auburn defense as of late (2009-2013), has not performed well early on in games. Once again, I do believe the performance of the offense can hurt or help the team's defense at times but it shouldn't change the fact that the defense is still required to make plays. We saw plenty of improvement on defense from 2012 to 2013 and I believe we will continue to see improvement in 2014 as long as they can remain fairly healthy. IMO, it should be more about the accountability and responsibility of the defense than the style of the Auburn offense.

[Slammer1 409]

Thanks Stat, pretty tell tale set of statistics. I hope CEJ reads your stuff and does something about it. If we can even come close to 2004 stats, nobody will be able to touch us. Let's just wait and see what happens. I am old enough to know anything can happen, good or bad. No matter what I am still very excited about the coming season. Keep the good stuff coming. WDE!!!

[C'viewTiger 242]

"IMO, it should be more about the accountability and responsibility of the defense than the style of the Auburn offense. " Stat, I tend to think the same way. I can see a fast pace offense wearing on the guys later in the game but early on they should be making plays. Thanks again. Good read.

[GoAU 1,676]

Great analysis. 1st down stops for little to no gain are key. I think CEJ should show a good improvement this year.

Its great to beat everyone in a shootout, but it'd be even better to score all of those points while giving up much less

[AUbritt 611]

I was actually shocked to see that the 2004 defense allowed over 5 yards on first down on average. Wow. I'd have guessed something closer to 3, but definitely under 5.

The very best thing our defense can do is get off the field and give the ball back to our offense (assuming that's not as the result of a big offensive play, of course). If our D can force punts and turnovers, and get the ball back to our offense, we are going to win a lot of games!

[N2AUtigers 5]

Very nice read, and I'm sure CEJ has had many sleepless nights pondering how to fix these stats. But I'm really feeling good about the direction he's going on. We are finally seeing size recruited to this defense, something I have correlated to the demise of AU defense over the past several years.

When CGM was hired he promised an aggressive attacking defense, and I have faith in his hire to deliver just that. But that will take some time, and I think they will be allot closer this year.

[Mikey 16,781]

I'm not Stat and don't pretend to be, by a long shot. I do know this: Last year, in our six biggest games we gave up 35, 41, 38, 28, 42 and 34 points. If that happens again we won't get back to Atlanta.

[StatTiger 3,188]

I was actually shocked to see that the 2004 defense allowed over 5 yards on first down on average. Wow. I'd have guessed something closer to 3, but definitely under 5.

The very best thing our defense can do is get off the field and give the ball back to our offense (assuming that's not as the result of a big offensive play, of course). If our D can force punts and turnovers, and get the ball back to our offense, we are going to win a lot of games!

Yep... the first down yardage in 2004 surprised me too. The production during the first 4 possessions of the game also stood out to me. Since 1981, Auburn has won 80 percent of the games they held their opponent under 14 points during the first half.

[StatTiger 3,188]

Thanks Stat, pretty tell tale set of statistics. I hope CEJ reads your stuff and does something about it. If we can even come close to 2004 stats, nobody will be able to touch us. Let's just wait and see what happens. I am old enough to know anything can happen, good or bad. No matter what I am still very excited about the coming season. Keep the good stuff coming. WDE!!!

I thought Ellis Johnson was a terrific hire and we should continue to see improvement in 2014 IFFFFFFFFF we can just remain fairly healthy.

[AUIH1 1,515]

"IMO, it should be more about the accountability and responsibility of the defense than the style of the Auburn offense. " Stat, I tend to think the same way. I can see a fast pace offense wearing on the guys later in the game but early on they should be making plays. Thanks again. Good read.

I agree.

wde

[buzzurd24 11]

Thanks Stat, pretty tell tale set of statistics. I hope CEJ reads your stuff and does something about it. If we can even come close to 2004 stats, nobody will be able to touch us. Let's just wait and see what happens. I am old enough to know anything can happen, good or bad. No matter what I am still very excited about the coming season. Keep the good stuff coming. WDE!!!

I thought Ellis Johnson was a terrific hire and we should continue to see improvement in 2014 IFFFFFFFFF we can just remain fairly healthy.

I tend to agree with Stat about the improvement this year. A year into his system and now a second spring to work on fundamentals (or another year way from the Chizik bad habits) should help the defense be more sound in year 2.

[WarNole 141]

Great read and looking forward to continued defensive improvement.

[yeaauburn 21]

I'm tired of giving up 3rd and long all the time. Also, I would love to see more 3 and outs and more points scored by the D!. I do believe we're well on our way to solving our defensive issues.

[bikeriderga 134]

I believe our Defense this year, will make strides similarly to our offense, barring serious injuries.

We are still thin in depth on defense as witnessed during the Spring. However. our first team defense (even without some of the stars) gave the second team offense (and Johnson) trouble all day. Think we are in pretty good shape on both sides of the ball.

[Tiger 8,841]

I think I had read somewhere, not sure where, that Ellis Johnson's defense makes great improvement from year 1 to year 2. Let's hope that is true.

I don't want to be in in a position like we were with Tubbs, in that if we had just fielded an average Offense AU would've had multiple SEC Championships IMO.

But Gus has proven even with mediocre D, his offense can win a lot of games.

[IronMan70 3,315]

Good post Stat Tiger, you laid out the numbers well on this subject. The only offenses that really hurt a defense are the ones that can't put up points. That is not a concern with a Gus offense. I have said this many times but given this offense, an improvement of only 20% by the AU defense will result in few close games this year. That necessary improvement will be the real key to AU's success and you have identified it.

[AUpreacherman22 3,910]

Good post Stat Tiger, you laid out the numbers very well on this subject. The only offenses that really hurt a defense are the ones that can't put up points. That is not a concern with a Gus offense. I have said this many times but given this offense, an improvement of only 20% by the AU defense will result in few close games this year. That necessary improvement will be the real key to AU's success and you have identified it well.

This!!!

Our D doesn't have to be great for us to have a championship team. It just needs to be good.

When the Offense is clicking on all cylinders, we can out score anyone.(ex. This past year's SECCG) But there will be a few games when the O needs a little help. In these games, we need the D to be good, not great. If this level of improvement is achieved we will be a championship caliber team, no doubt!

[NoALtiger 3,875]

Absolutely time for the D to step up. One defensive stop and we would have had another Natty. As stated earlier, the D doesn't have to be great, just solid.

[WarEagle84 0]

I'm not Stat and don't pretend to be, by a long shot. I do know this: Last year, in our six biggest games we gave up 35, 41, 38, 28, 42 and 34 points. If that happens again we won't get back to Atlanta.

I hope and expect to see defensive improvement this year too, but you are wrong. With an improved offense, we can and will outscore opponents even when we give up 40 points. We all want to see better defense, but if it doesn't happen I wouldn't give up on winning it all just yet.

[McLoofus 35,182]

I'm not Stat and don't pretend to be, by a long shot. I do know this: Last year, in our six biggest games we gave up 35, 41, 38, 28, 42 and 34 points. If that happens again we won't get back to Atlanta.

I hope and expect to see defensive improvement this year too, but you are wrong. With an improved offense, we can and will outscore opponents even when we give up 40 points. We all want to see better defense, but if it doesn't happen I wouldn't give up on winning it all just yet.

-We failed to score 40 points 8 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 35 points 7 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 30 points 3 times last year.

Yes, our offense should improve, but that doesn't mean we're automatically going to score 40 points in every game. In fact, that's highly unlikely.

[collector527 0]

The average number of possessions only increased slightly. That is all the offense can effect imo. If the defense allows the opposing offense to stay on the field then that is on them.

[C'viewTiger 242]

I'm not Stat and don't pretend to be, by a long shot. I do know this: Last year, in our six biggest games we gave up 35, 41, 38, 28, 42 and 34 points. If that happens again we won't get back to Atlanta.

I hope and expect to see defensive improvement this year too, but you are wrong. With an improved offense, we can and will outscore opponents even when we give up 40 points. We all want to see better defense, but if it doesn't happen I wouldn't give up on winning it all just yet.

-We failed to score 40 points 8 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 35 points 7 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 30 points 3 times last year.

Yes, our offense should improve, but that doesn't mean we're automatically going to score 40 points in every game. In fact, that's highly unlikely.

I guess to put this into perspective, your offensive scores need to be viewed in regards to who we played and what time of the year we played the respective team. How did the team perform in the later games after they had time to learn more of the system and who were the lower scores against (i.e. 2 of those under 35 pt games were against the #1 team in the nation at the time and only missed 35 by 1 pt). I do agree with your view on guaranteeing 40 pts though.

As someone else pointed out, our D doesn't have to be 'Lock Down' in order to get back to the SECCG but it would be fun to watch!

[Auburn4Winners 0]

I just want to see our defense have a fire in them again. I miss the days when our defense was intimidating not intimidated. I really like all of our guys on D but I think they could be better if they had a little swagger.

[auburnatl1 5,727]

I think part of the original point was the question of whether our defense is impacted by the type of offense we run. It's been brought up before that any defense practices exclusively against the offense and therefore it's a major influence.

I have no idea what the answer is.

[AU-24 3,124]

I'm not Stat and don't pretend to be, by a long shot. I do know this: Last year, in our six biggest games we gave up 35, 41, 38, 28, 42 and 34 points. If that happens again we won't get back to Atlanta.

I hope and expect to see defensive improvement this year too, but you are wrong. With an improved offense, we can and will outscore opponents even when we give up 40 points. We all want to see better defense, but if it doesn't happen I wouldn't give up on winning it all just yet.

-We failed to score 40 points 8 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 35 points 7 times last year.

-We failed to score more than 30 points 3 times last year.

Yes, our offense should improve, but that doesn't mean we're automatically going to score 40 points in every game. In fact, that's highly unlikely.

Mikey, you just can't please some folks.