THE post-game analysis

[Strychnine 1,803]

That game was difficult to enjoy. It seemed right about the time we were getting some breathing room it vanished. I dont have players to criticize but I will say this, I thought the play calling after TReeds INT when Auburn was set up deep in KSU territory with a 1st down inside the 15 yard line was terrible. Gus sends in JJ as a WR and from my vantage point it didn't look like a single player on the field knew what Gus wanted to do.

If having to settle for 3 there instead of a TD had cost Auburn the game that would have been squarely in Gus. He's quick to tell players when their mistakes are on them.....that would have been on Gus. He should have just let Nick run the team in for a TD. He had put together 3 or 4 1st downs in a row and had momentum. I thought we going to put the game away until that crappy series when JJ was set up as a WR. Getting too cute is never a good thing when you're over powering your opponent..its just not necessary.

I think the cute play just accentuated the already sluggish performance of the offense. For lack of a better way to put it, it just seemed like their heads weren't fully in the game for most of it. I suspect Gus saw something that made him think KSU would be susceptible to that play, and I imagine they had even practiced it. However, when it came to execute it, it certainly didn't look like everyone was on the same page. Bad throws, good throws dropped, bad blocking, rushes for loss, slow tempo, it's like Murphy's Law was the 12th man on offense last night for most of the game.

[japantiger 4,051]

First off; we beat a top 20 team in their place. I am so proud of the team to find a way to win....that is what you have to do to win championships. 3rd game of the year...we will get better and should get a lot better...

The D played very well. When we determined to get pressure he ran for his life or got sacked a ton. Why we just didn't continue that I don't know. I think we try to be too cute. Just blitz the guys brains out if they can't handle it. Some DB execution issues with turning their backs on the QB and receiver and letting #14 and #16 get open; and frankly the alignment against the slot receiver wouldn't cover me. But we made some plays last night and in general, held a top 20 offense in check. When you only give up 14 to a top 20 team...that is a good Defensive performance.

We dropped 7 passes last night...dropped...the 1H our receivers looked high. I don't see how we just flat out drop that many balls.

Sammy dropped balls and; once again; we got within inches of a long pass and the receiver waived at it....what happened to leaving your feet when you get close to a ball? Duke dropped 2; and then looked fantastic in the 2H. Ricardo drops an easy one and then makes a catch with a great run and makes them look silly. Inconsistent was the issue on catches...

As for the run game; we could run up the middle....not sure why we just didn't pound right at them. They schemed to take away the corner...fine...take what we can do...CAP, CAP and more CAP up the gut. After that, the outside opens up. We missed a lot of reads in the 1H....it got better; but we just couldn't get the read option going.

I still don't understand the wildcat and dorking around in the red zone. That's how we lost the NC game settling for a field goal. It could have cost us the game last night.

We maybe missed two throws? Not horrible...couple that with 7 drops...and then 3 bat downs. We were lucky to still be in the game after 12 unproductive throws. We can do better and am sure we will. Moving the QB a little more would probably help that...their D line played well and those guys know how to get up and block a pass.

So many positives too...the gutsy call on 3rd and 8 to seal the game...Wow! That was great to see. We got the running game going. We scored in the 2H when we had to...we stuffed their run game.

Good win on the road against a top 20 team. Look forward to watching them get better.

[aubie17 65]

My main issue with the defense was not covering #14. Nick seemed to be staring down receivers all night and on long throws he needs to put some air under them instead of throwing all on a rope.

[WarEagle84 0]

My main issue with the defense was not covering #14.

Pick your poison. We made a determination we were not going to let Waters beat us running, nor Lockett catching the ball. That left Sexton able to get open most of the time. Very few defenses can take away everything. Overall, it was a very good defensive effort. Easily the best we've seen this year.

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

Did it seem like there was a lot of players slipping and nobody could really cute East/West very well?

I believe that was part of the weird factor. AU's offensive skill players never seemed sure of their footing. Eveything just felt timid during the game.

My degree is art and not sports management but is it possible that the slipping issue had anything to do with playing on turf as opposed to grass? My father and I noticed that our guys seemed to tip-toe a bit as though they were afraid of slipping, and could our shoes have been the reason since it appeared to be an issue for the whole team? Seemed like something K-State didn't suffer from.

[maxwere 82]

Watched the whole game on skycam... highly recommend.

Marshall really only made one bad decision in the passing game (several in the run game), that was a 3rd down completion to Quan Bray. The batted ball thing was more of a pre-snap awareness of where 95 is. Call off a slant to the side he lines up on.

It seems the initial offensive game plan didn't work the way we thought personnel groupings. We used 10 and 11 exclusively in the first half I believe thinking 3-4 wides would whip their nickel in terms of speed and so forth (this was a change from the two TEs). In reality WSU played very well with their safeties defending the edge (also read, we didn't block well outside). We'll need the two extra days to self scout, because we didn't seem to win the numbers game running that we usually do.

CAP needs to recognize when the D has limited a run to 3-4 yds and take it. This is an area Tre Mason excelled in. Trying to laterally extend runs for more and not simply diving forward when he's hemmed in left us behind schedule on a few occasions. This game will help him improve in that regard.

[AU64 10,122]

My main issue with the defense was not covering #14.

Pick your poison. We made a determination we were not going to let Waters beat us running, nor Lockett catching the ball. That left Sexton able to get open most of the time. Very few defenses can take away everything. Overall, it was a very good defensive effort. Easily the best we've seen this year.

IMO, you got all the salient points here....well done.

[AUsince72 11,084]

Did it seem like there was a lot of players slipping and nobody could really cute East/West very well?

I believe that was part of the weird factor. AU's offensive skill players never seemed sure of their footing. Eveything just felt timid during the game.

My degree is art and not sports management but is it possible that the slipping issue had anything to do with playing on turf as opposed to grass? My father and I noticed that our guys seemed to tip-toe a bit as though they were afraid of slipping, and could our shoes have been the reason since it appeared to be an issue for the whole team? Seemed like something K-State didn't suffer from.

Yes, in my non-expert opinion, I believe that was the problem. I believe the "dirt" is made from recycled tires and until it's packed down by time and weather it can be loose and easy to slip on. I haven't seen nor read anything about it being a new surface but I did notice a lot of plays where a foot drag left a rooster-tail of black rubber and that tells me that it must have been very loose. Maybe KSU suffered from it as well, I don't know, but OUR guys certainly seemed to be bothered by it.

[AURex 2,024]

KSU runs the read-option as a big component of their attack (watch the KSU-ISU game). So they see it a lot and they know how to make it real difficult for anyone wanting to run it against them. They are well coached and disciplined on defense. So, Auburn was forced to pass more than usual -- 31 attempts on the night.

Auburn's receivers dropped balls, but NM was not exactly on target either. That first completion on the slant was well behind the receiver (Bray?) who made a great catch falling backwards to get to it. I get jumped on whenever I comment about NM being off target and SC dropping balls and not extending himself to make catches -- so I won't say those things. There were plenty of reasons the passing game floundered last night.

But, when you are only completing 55% of your passes, you are not going to strike fear in the hearts of any SEC opponent. You can bet that every other team Auburn plays will do its best to shut down the run and force Auburn to pass the ball. Auburn has to improve that aspect of the offense.

[Browning4AU 405]

If the receivers made the catches that were dropped, NM's completions would be around 65%. I'm not sold that he's completely improved his passing game, but the drops from the last 2 games don't help him. If those catches are made, he looks much better.

However, the touch pass on the fade for the TD to Duke was a thing of beauty. And there was another pass where the pocket was collapsing and he quickly adjusted his footing and delivered a dart to Duke. This time last year, I don't think he would've or could've made those throws.

So maybe it's still a little early to tell.

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

JMO This is a game we won but maybe should not have. Something was wrong tonight. AU either totally overlooked ksu or AU is not nearly as good as we think. IMO, it is a little of both.

If those are the only two options that come to your mind, you perhaps ought to step back and think again.

KSU was a top 20 team in their home stadium. It's not necessary for AU to overlook or "not be nearly as good" in order for our Tigers to have to work for the win. And ya know...it was 20-7 in the 4th quarter. KSU scored late to pull within a TD....and then our Tigers just went ahead and won it.

Every great team has a close call somewhere along the way. Doesn't mean that it isn't a great team.

[80Tiger 899]

Our best half of offensive football was the first half of the Arky game. Since then we have been sporadic, even SJS game.

We miss Tre Mason more than I thought. CAP wants to dance a little too much when between the tackles and I would have thought we would have had more big plays from Grant. I know it is hard to tell which plays are directed runs and which are "read option", but if these are reads, we are making the wrong reads 5 or 6 times a game. Receivers have to catch the ball and downfield passing accuracy has to improve.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

To borrow from General George Pickett on Auburn's offensive performance.

"I've always thought the Yankees KSU Wildcats had something to do with it."

[war eagle6 0]

JMO This is a game we won but maybe should not have. Something was wrong tonight. AU either totally overlooked ksu or AU is not nearly as good as we think. IMO, it is a little of both.

If those are the only two options that come to your mind, you perhaps ought to step back and think again.

KSU was a top 20 team in their home stadium. It's not necessary for AU to overlook or "not be nearly as good" in order for our Tigers to have to work for the win. And ya know...it was 20-7 in the 4th quarter. KSU scored late to pull within a TD....and then our Tigers just went ahead and won it.

Every great team has a close call somewhere along the way. Doesn't mean that it isn't a great team.

Dont forget, we were playing against big12 refs as well. They were gonna keep it close, and the bookies knew about it because the line had changed to around 6-7pt spread