Play calling DID NOT lose this game!

[japantiger 4,051]

And let me point out that there is only one team this season that scored more points against Wisconsin than we did. That team is currently scheduled to play for a national title.

Yes, and they scored 59 with a third string QB leading them....who threw for 3 TD's and 257 yds. in his 1st start. Wisc was wide open to being ripped by downfield passes...we didn't take advantage of it when we needed it.

[slipadeedoodah 24]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

[BeatBama1972 11]

Look: Since Gus got here in 2009 his offense has ALWAYS hit flat spots. See the '09 Kentucky game for an entire flat game. Usually we win anyway, but those flat spots aren't going away. Predictable plays are only bad when the defense stops them. Often Gus's predictable plays work anyway. When we get a defense on the field that can hold people to below 30 points we'll be big winners with Gus's play calling. Until then it won't matter what plays are called.

Well we got away with those flat spots before. This season we couldn't do it. I am not giving anybody a pass for this. He has to be accountable for that. He has to improve on the way he runs his offense. I can't tell you how many times I've had to sit through games we should have won comfortably that ended up being close because he took his foot off the gas.

When your defense can't stop anybody, the best way to win is get a lead and slow the offense down late in the game. I don't have a problem with taking your foot off the gas when the defense is atrocious.

No that's a sure fire way to lose a game like that. When your defense is atrocious you keep the foot on the gas because you know the defense is not capable of holding the lead.

Lets each get us a team and play it out! :)/> Taking 30+ seconds off the clock every snap when you have a late lead is how to win. A couple first downs keeps your best unit (offense) on the field until the game is over. We won the 2010 Iron Bowl by slowing down after we took the lead, for example.

We didn't take the lead until late in the 4th qtr. We had a defense that, for all the yards they gave up, was capable of stopping a team from scoring. Bama wasn't a team that was an offensive juggernaut that year. The defense last year and this year couldn't stop a 1A high school team from scoring. You don't do it in the middle of the third qtr when the other team has plenty of time to get the momentum and come back. That is what happened against UGA last year. You can argue the touchdown by Murray but the fact that it even came down to that was due in part to Gus taking his foot off the gas. He did the same thing against FSU and it contributed to losing that game.

I agree, you are correct. Seems more often than not we get out of sync when we really slow down. Not that we really play all that fast.

[slipadeedoodah 24]

Look: Since Gus got here in 2009 his offense has ALWAYS hit flat spots. See the '09 Kentucky game for an entire flat game. Usually we win anyway, but those flat spots aren't going away. Predictable plays are only bad when the defense stops them. Often Gus's predictable plays work anyway. When we get a defense on the field that can hold people to below 30 points we'll be big winners with Gus's play calling. Until then it won't matter what plays are called.

Well we got away with those flat spots before. This season we couldn't do it. I am not giving anybody a pass for this. He has to be accountable for that. He has to improve on the way he runs his offense. I can't tell you how many times I've had to sit through games we should have won comfortably that ended up being close because he took his foot off the gas.

When your defense can't stop anybody, the best way to win is get a lead and slow the offense down late in the game. I don't have a problem with taking your foot off the gas when the defense is atrocious.

No that's a sure fire way to lose a game like that. When your defense is atrocious you keep the foot on the gas because you know the defense is not capable of holding the lead.

Lets each get us a team and play it out! :)/> Taking 30+ seconds off the clock every snap when you have a late lead is how to win. A couple first downs keeps your best unit (offense) on the field until the game is over. We won the 2010 Iron Bowl by slowing down after we took the lead, for example.

We didn't take the lead until late in the 4th qtr. We had a defense that, for all the yards they gave up, was capable of stopping a team from scoring. Bama wasn't a team that was an offensive juggernaut that year. The defense last year and this year couldn't stop a 1A high school team from scoring. You don't do it in the middle of the third qtr when the other team has plenty of time to get the momentum and come back. That is what happened against UGA last year. You can argue the touchdown by Murray but the fact that it even came down to that was due in part to Gus taking his foot off the gas. He did the same thing against FSU and it contributed to losing that game.

I agree, you are correct. Seems more often than not we get out of sync when we really slow down. Not that we really play all that fast.

If you've watched Oregon any, they are the same way. They get into funks just like we do. The main difference between us and Oregon is they have the best QB in college football and a moderately better defense. Muschamp should solve half of that.

[japantiger 4,051]

Two points:

• Giving up 30 is not a big deal these days...note one of the posts on here that 9 of the top 10 teams gave up over 30 in the bowl games...welcome to the 21st century version of college football. I think he has taken care of the defensive issue hiring WM; whether we have top tier talent for WM to coach still remains to be seen; I personally think he needs two more years of recruiting DB's as our guys can't seem to understand you can't have your back to both the QB and receiver at the same time. But I am sure he will get us into the top half of defenses and hopefully at least the top 25 next year.
  
• Gus is not the OC; he is the HC...I could give two sh**s about his play calling ability. His job is to have someone there to call the plays; whether you have given up 3 or 30 points; in situations that help you win the game. If he's gonna call the plays...and keep screwing up and trying to be too cute in critical situations; as a HC that makes ~$3m; I would recommend he hire someone who can make the right play call and won't try to be too cute and take what the D gives you.
  

Last point on this...some of you guys think Gus is above reproach...he did a great job in 2013 and we over achieved; way over achieved...he did a subpar job in 2014 and we under achieved and basically fell apart in the 2H of the season. We got worse on the field, had obvious off field discipline problems, had a kid get killed going someplace the program should have never allowed him to go; and had a team so undisciplined on the field that we set a record for Auburn penalties...by nearly 2:1. So, at this point, Gus has a lot to prove going into next year. Our top rival got better this year and was competing for a championship. Gus is the HC....it's all on him.

[slipadeedoodah 24]

Two points:

• Giving up 30 is not a big deal these days...note one of the posts on here that 9 of the top 10 teams gave up over 30 in the bowl games...welcome to the 21st century version of college football. I think he has taken care of the defensive issue hiring WM; whether we have top tier talent for WM to coach still remains to be seen; I personally think he needs two more years of recruiting DB's as our guys can't seem to understand you can't have your back to both the QB and receiver at the same time. But I am sure he will get us into the top half of defenses and hopefully at least the top 25 next year.
  
• Gus is not the OC; he is the HC...I could give two sh**s about his play calling ability. His job is to have someone there to call the plays; whether you have given up 3 or 30 points; in situations that help you win the game. If he's gonna call the plays...and keep screwing up and trying to be too cute in critical situations; as a HC that makes ~$3m; I would recommend he hire someone who can make the right play call and won't try to be too cute and take what the D gives you.
  

Last point on this...some of you guys think Gus is above reproach...he did a great job in 2013 and we over achieved; way over achieved...he did a subpar job in 2014 and we under achieved and basically fell apart in the 2H of the season. We got worse on the field, had obvious off field discipline problems, had a kid get killed going someplace the program should have never allowed him to go; and had a team so undisciplined on the field that we set a record for Auburn penalties...by nearly 2:1. So, at this point, Gus has a lot to prove going into next year. Our top rival got better this year and was competing for a championship. Gus is the HC....it's all on him.

I'm sure you can argue any of those points, but if you think that Gus could've prevented the Mitchell shooting by micromanaging his players' lives then I'm pretty sure you've never been to college.

[cooltigger21 0]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

When I see room for improvement I don't just shrug it off and say oh well. You are always striving to get better and that includes Gus as well as the defense. The football landscape is changing even more each year. You are either moving forward or backward. There is no standing still. The vaunted Tide defense just got torched for 40 plus points in consecutive games.

[cooltigger21 0]

Two points:

• Giving up 30 is not a big deal these days...note one of the posts on here that 9 of the top 10 teams gave up over 30 in the bowl games...welcome to the 21st century version of college football. I think he has taken care of the defensive issue hiring WM; whether we have top tier talent for WM to coach still remains to be seen; I personally think he needs two more years of recruiting DB's as our guys can't seem to understand you can't have your back to both the QB and receiver at the same time. But I am sure he will get us into the top half of defenses and hopefully at least the top 25 next year.
  
• Gus is not the OC; he is the HC...I could give two sh**s about his play calling ability. His job is to have someone there to call the plays; whether you have given up 3 or 30 points; in situations that help you win the game. If he's gonna call the plays...and keep screwing up and trying to be too cute in critical situations; as a HC that makes ~$3m; I would recommend he hire someone who can make the right play call and won't try to be too cute and take what the D gives you.
  

Last point on this...some of you guys think Gus is above reproach...he did a great job in 2013 and we over achieved; way over achieved...he did a subpar job in 2014 and we under achieved and basically fell apart in the 2H of the season. We got worse on the field, had obvious off field discipline problems, had a kid get killed going someplace the program should have never allowed him to go; and had a team so undisciplined on the field that we set a record for Auburn penalties...by nearly 2:1. So, at this point, Gus has a lot to prove going into next year. Our top rival got better this year and was competing for a championship. Gus is the HC....it's all on him.

Gus is the play caller on offense unless he's given over more of that to Rhett. It is his offense though make no mistake about it.

[slipadeedoodah 24]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

When I see room for improvement I don't just shrug it off and say oh well. You are always striving to get better and that includes Gus as well as the defense. The football landscape is changing even more each year. You are either moving forward or backward. There is no standing still. The vaunted Tide defense just got torched for 40 plus points in consecutive games.

That is a good philosophy, except when you don't realize that you've got something good going, so you dump Malzahn's offense and go hire Scot Loeffler. I've seen so many setbacks at this program and most of those have been caused by trying to fix things that weren't necessarily broken. For example: Hiring Scot Loeffler, on lesser notes: the Tony Franklin project and getting rid of Tuberville in favor of Gene Chizik. (We lucked out on that last one since it landed Malzahn in our lap.)

If it wasn't for Malzahn the Chizik era would have gone from disappointing to a putrid disaster.

[cooltigger21 0]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

When I see room for improvement I don't just shrug it off and say oh well. You are always striving to get better and that includes Gus as well as the defense. The football landscape is changing even more each year. You are either moving forward or backward. There is no standing still. The vaunted Tide defense just got torched for 40 plus points in consecutive games.

That is a good philosophy, except when you don't realize that you've got something good going, so you dump Malzahn's offense and go hire Scot Loeffler. I've seen so many setbacks at this program and most of those have been caused by trying to fix things that weren't necessarily broken. For example: Hiring Scot Loeffler, on lesser notes: the Tony Franklin project and getting rid of Tuberville in favor of Gene Chizik. (We lucked out on that last one since it landed Malzahn in our lap.)

If it wasn't for Malzahn the Chizik era would have gone from disappointing to a putrid disaster.

Jump to conclusions much? Where anywhere on this thread have I even intimated dumping Malzahn? All I have ever said and continue to say, which you seem to want to ignore for whatever reason, is that Gus has a few things he has to work on to improve what he does. It is good now, very good, but it can be better and it has to, because our opposition isn't going to just sit still and not adjust their defense to our offense.

[slipadeedoodah 24]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

When I see room for improvement I don't just shrug it off and say oh well. You are always striving to get better and that includes Gus as well as the defense. The football landscape is changing even more each year. You are either moving forward or backward. There is no standing still. The vaunted Tide defense just got torched for 40 plus points in consecutive games.

That is a good philosophy, except when you don't realize that you've got something good going, so you dump Malzahn's offense and go hire Scot Loeffler. I've seen so many setbacks at this program and most of those have been caused by trying to fix things that weren't necessarily broken. For example: Hiring Scot Loeffler, on lesser notes: the Tony Franklin project and getting rid of Tuberville in favor of Gene Chizik. (We lucked out on that last one since it landed Malzahn in our lap.)

If it wasn't for Malzahn the Chizik era would have gone from disappointing to a putrid disaster.

Jump to conclusions much? Where anywhere on this thread have I even intimated dumping Malzahn? All I have ever said and continue to say, which you seem to want to ignore for whatever reason, is that Gus has a few things he has to work on to improve what he does. It is good now, very good, but it can be better and it has to, because our opposition isn't going to just sit still and not adjust their defense to our offense.

I realize that and from what I know about Malzahn, he doesn't sit around and let people "out-innovate" him, which I imagine is a large part of why he went after Muschamp. I simply need you to understand that Auburn's offense has a history of imploding on itself in the face of change. Malzahn has been the shining exception to this.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

If you keep giving up 30, you probably are in a situation where you have to keep scoring. As someone stated earlier it a difficult to score at that rate and call perfectly executed plays. The 59 Oregon put up was the result of a defensive td, and FSU turning the ball over like crazy. Without those errors the game is significantly closer, and Oregon would have to put together more precise drives. FSU made the game a lot easier, plus Oregons defense played an awesome game...yes defense is very important to the success of your offense.....and the 2014 AU defense did very little to help the offense this season....

[japantiger 4,051]

Two points:

• Giving up 30 is not a big deal these days...note one of the posts on here that 9 of the top 10 teams gave up over 30 in the bowl games...welcome to the 21st century version of college football. I think he has taken care of the defensive issue hiring WM; whether we have top tier talent for WM to coach still remains to be seen; I personally think he needs two more years of recruiting DB's as our guys can't seem to understand you can't have your back to both the QB and receiver at the same time. But I am sure he will get us into the top half of defenses and hopefully at least the top 25 next year.
  
• Gus is not the OC; he is the HC...I could give two sh**s about his play calling ability. His job is to have someone there to call the plays; whether you have given up 3 or 30 points; in situations that help you win the game. If he's gonna call the plays...and keep screwing up and trying to be too cute in critical situations; as a HC that makes ~$3m; I would recommend he hire someone who can make the right play call and won't try to be too cute and take what the D gives you.
  

Last point on this...some of you guys think Gus is above reproach...he did a great job in 2013 and we over achieved; way over achieved...he did a subpar job in 2014 and we under achieved and basically fell apart in the 2H of the season. We got worse on the field, had obvious off field discipline problems, had a kid get killed going someplace the program should have never allowed him to go; and had a team so undisciplined on the field that we set a record for Auburn penalties...by nearly 2:1. So, at this point, Gus has a lot to prove going into next year. Our top rival got better this year and was competing for a championship. Gus is the HC....it's all on him.

I'm sure you can argue any of those points, but if you think that Gus could've prevented the Mitchell shooting by micromanaging his players' lives then I'm pretty sure you've never been to college.

Simple, tell everyone if go there and lose your scholarship. Better you lose your scholarship than go home in a body bag. See, that's not hard. I would imagine there is a long list of places like that that should be off limits. This will effect recruiting going forward; it would if I had a D1 prospect making decisions about where to go to college. Gus and each recruiter called every parent after Mitchell was killed to assure them this was not indicative of the whole program...but that rings kind of hollow after the events of the last 3 years.

[japantiger 4,051]

Complain all you want about the play-calling. Malzahn is considered one of the best in the game. When your defense gives up at least 30 points every game that puts alot of pressure on him to call a perfect game. It's impossible to call a perfect game and we will be lucky if whoever takes over playcalling after Gus leaves is even close to as good as he is.

I'm not putting all the blame on the defense, I am content with the defense right now because I feel we will be trending up soon. Regardless, I am perplexed that anyone who lived through the Scot Loeffler era would find it in them to complain about very good but not quite elite offensive execution.

When I see room for improvement I don't just shrug it off and say oh well. You are always striving to get better and that includes Gus as well as the defense. The football landscape is changing even more each year. You are either moving forward or backward. There is no standing still. The vaunted Tide defense just got torched for 40 plus points in consecutive games.

Well said.

[japantiger 4,051]

Two points:

• Giving up 30 is not a big deal these days...note one of the posts on here that 9 of the top 10 teams gave up over 30 in the bowl games...welcome to the 21st century version of college football. I think he has taken care of the defensive issue hiring WM; whether we have top tier talent for WM to coach still remains to be seen; I personally think he needs two more years of recruiting DB's as our guys can't seem to understand you can't have your back to both the QB and receiver at the same time. But I am sure he will get us into the top half of defenses and hopefully at least the top 25 next year.
  
• Gus is not the OC; he is the HC...I could give two sh**s about his play calling ability. His job is to have someone there to call the plays; whether you have given up 3 or 30 points; in situations that help you win the game. If he's gonna call the plays...and keep screwing up and trying to be too cute in critical situations; as a HC that makes ~$3m; I would recommend he hire someone who can make the right play call and won't try to be too cute and take what the D gives you.
  

Last point on this...some of you guys think Gus is above reproach...he did a great job in 2013 and we over achieved; way over achieved...he did a subpar job in 2014 and we under achieved and basically fell apart in the 2H of the season. We got worse on the field, had obvious off field discipline problems, had a kid get killed going someplace the program should have never allowed him to go; and had a team so undisciplined on the field that we set a record for Auburn penalties...by nearly 2:1. So, at this point, Gus has a lot to prove going into next year. Our top rival got better this year and was competing for a championship. Gus is the HC....it's all on him.

Gus is the play caller on offense unless he's given over more of that to Rhett. It is his offense though make no mistake about it.

Then the play calling mistakes are all on him...I hope he does the soul searching and comes out better next year.

[TheBlueVue 177]

"Then the play calling mistakes are all on him...I hope he does the soul searching and comes out better next year."

Yep, that's hard to argue. Ive never stated that the play calling cost us the game. However, it could have won us the game. Instead, what we saw was, the worst sequence of plays called the entire game. It almost seemed as if all the aggravations Gus experienced throughout the game, in the end, over came him in the end. We would have surely been better off running 3 straight plays right into the middle of the line. There have been several lapses this season and like you, I hope, he'll do some soul searching and be better because of them next year.

[cole256 17,043]

Smh

[AUFAN78 3,894]

To quote our beloved Coach PFD, "hindsight is 50/50." I'm quite certain CGM wishes he had the last series to do over. He doesn't. Time to move on.

Our Tiger's finished 63rd in total D and 16th in total O. Call me crazy but, it appears our biggest need is quite obvious.

Interesting that Wisky finished 4th in total D and 21st in total O. Despite the anomaly that was the Ohio State game, they had a very good D. Might I add that D played very well on our last series and deserves some credit for our failure. An overlooked fact.

[AUnMS 120]

To quote our beloved Coach PFD, "hindsight is 50/50." I'm quite certain CGM wishes he had the last series to do over. He doesn't. Time to move on.

Our Tiger's finished 63rd in total D and 16th in total O. Call me crazy but, it appears our biggest need is quite obvious.

Interesting that Wisky finished 4th in total D and 21st in total O. Despite the anomaly that was the Ohio State game, they had a very good D. Might I add that D played very well on our last series and deserves some credit for our failure. An overlooked fact.

Let's not cloud the issue with the facts, please.

[murpjf88 506]

The amount of posters handling the Gus situation with kid gloves is laughable. His playcalling cost them the game in overtime. I can't believe this is up for debate. The DEFENSE held Wisconsin's POTENT 21st ranked offense to a FG and Auburn's HIGH POTENT 16th ranked offense managed - 3 yards on three bogus play calls. Everything that happened prior to that point was moot.

Auburn's offense might be a little misleading because they were going up against SEC defenses. Had they been playing against teams from other power five conferences, they probably wouldn't have been so lucky. Conversely, thank god Auburn's defense was going up against SEC offenses or it would have been much worse.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

Well he!!, lets just play the game with a coin flip and a single possession. The first 4 quarters are a moot point. Sigh..... :-\

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Those making comments about Wisky getting beat by a 3rd string QB need to remember that was the same QB that beat uat also. Wisky's loss against tOSU was like our's against uga. It was not really the comparison between us and uga, just a game that snowballed to the bad side. Same with TAMU's loss against uat. What was bad in both instances was we were the next team they faced and we paid for their embarrassment . Just like uat paid against LSU after we beat them. WDE

[selias 2,398]

We had a converted DB as a QB

Our 2 best WRs were either out or gimpy

We lost 2 stellar blockers to the NFL after last season

Injuries across the board

A recent player death

A defense that couldn't stop anything

All that being said, we were the 4th best team in our division playing the Conference Runner-Up from another Power 5 conference and lost by 3 in OT. Back away from the ledge people.

[cooltigger21 0]

We had a converted DB as a QB

Our 2 best WRs were either out or gimpy

We lost 2 stellar blockers to the NFL after last season

Injuries across the board

A recent player death

A defense that couldn't stop anything

All that being said, we were the 4th best team in our division playing the Conference Runner-Up from another Power 5 conference and lost by 3 in OT. Back away from the ledge people.

Who's on the ledge? You offer up an opinion that a play call wasn't correct. You say that this isn't the first time he's gotten too cute with the play calling. You opine that Gus has a tendency to take his foot off the gas. Suddenly you're accused of panicking and wanting to run Gus off. It never ceases to amaze me how lightly you have to tread when talking about the offense around here.

[cole256 17,043]

The converted db at qb makes no sense when the qb is easily one of the best in the nation and is the reason for many of your wins