Defense on first down

[StatTiger 3,188]

A major priority on defense this upcoming season will be how well the Tigers perform on 1st down. Last season, Auburn was No. 95 nationally in yards allowed per play on first down. When Auburn struggles on first down, it results in a higher percentage of third-down conversions, which translate to being on the field longer than expected. With this in mind, here are the national rankings of several SEC teams from 2007-2014, when it comes to yards per play allowed on first down.

Though I don't expect Auburn to suddenly rise to the level of Alabama or LSU, the Tigers should be expected to be better than Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. I included the national rankings of the defenses under Will Muschamp from 2007-2014. If Muschamp can return the Tigers to No. 27 in 2015, Auburn could be a very dangerous team to compete against.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I hate looking at year-on-year stats and being reminded of how progressively awful our defense has gotten. Seriously, we haven't played even decent defense since 2008. Maybe you could convince me in spurts in the 2010 year, but that's it. Otherwise, we can't spell defense. Number 27? I'd take 50th. That would be a wild improvement over anything we've seen in the last five years, and frankly, pairing an average defense with Gus' offense has proven to be a freaking revolution. The problem is, we haven't been able to do that very often. Geez. C'mon Muschamp! C'mon defense!

[REInvestingTiger 2]

An average of 70.4 yards per play is just way too much on first down in my humble opinion.

[triangletiger 1,599]

It's not 70.4 yards per play; it's an average ranking for the 2007 to 2014 seasons relative to the ranking of other CFB teams for yard allowed on 1st down. So, for 2014, we were ranked #95 and Alabama was ranked #4 for yards allowed on 1st down.

[AUbritt 611]

An average of 70.4 yards per play is just way too much on first down in my humble opinion.

:-\ Not sure if serious.

It's not 70.4 yards per play; it's an average ranking for the 2007 to 2014 seasons relative to the ranking of other CFB teams for yard allowed on 1st down. So, for 2014, we were ranked #95 and Alabama was ranked #4 for yards allowed on 1st down.

Yep.

Also agree with mcgufcm that it's depressing to watch our slide in this stat. I wouldn't be satisfied with top 50, though; and I sure hope the players aren't.

I really think Stat has isolated a very important stat here. What we need is a defense that gets off the field quickly to get the ball back to our offense. Yards per play on first is a huge factor. Honestly, if we improve dramatically here, it's difficult to see how we don't win a LOT of games.

[weagl1 1,782]

Our 2010 defense was not good but they did show up when the game was on the line. What we have done the past 4 years is just pathetic.

[triangletiger 1,599]

Our 2010 defense was not good but they did show up when the game was on the line. What we have done the past 4 years is just pathetic.

The 2010 defense did improve as the season went along.

[REInvestingTiger 2]

It's not 70.4 yards per play; it's an average ranking for the 2007 to 2014 seasons relative to the ranking of other CFB teams for yard allowed on 1st down. So, for 2014, we were ranked #95 and Alabama was ranked #4 for yards allowed on 1st down.

LOL. Sorry, should have put in one of those "I am just kidding" icons....

[AUbritt 611]

It's not 70.4 yards per play; it's an average ranking for the 2007 to 2014 seasons relative to the ranking of other CFB teams for yard allowed on 1st down. So, for 2014, we were ranked #95 and Alabama was ranked #4 for yards allowed on 1st down.

LOL. Sorry, should have put in one of those "I am just kidding" icons....

:laugh:

[Dixie1860 27]

It's not 70.4 yards per play; it's an average ranking for the 2007 to 2014 seasons relative to the ranking of other CFB teams for yard allowed on 1st down. So, for 2014, we were ranked #95 and Alabama was ranked #4 for yards allowed on 1st down.

LOL. Sorry, should have put in one of those "I am just kidding" icons....

:laugh:

PENALTY!! For excessive use of the LOL Emoji.

Lose 5 Intrawebz pts.

[Mikey 16,576]

Informative stats! It sure would be nice to get under 50 this year.

[triangletiger 1,599]

Reinvesting, if I knew you better, I'd have known you were joking. Unfortunately, there may be people that dumb on this board. No slight intended.

[keesler 5,924]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

[AUbritt 611]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

The big question for me is how they'll practice. Interested to hear reports from fall camp.

[AU64 10,122]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

A reasonable question perhaps?

If AU's defense stays middle of the road, will people say that Muschamp was over-rated as a defensive coach... or will folks come around to the possibility that the HUNH offense and a shut-down defense are incompatible?

This season looks like a good lab experiment for that premise.

[McLoofus 35,182]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

The big question for me is how they'll practice. Interested to hear reports from fall camp.

Same here. It's a lazy presumption that HUNH=crappy defense because, in an extremely limited sample group, it hasn't happened yet (although we saw things starting to click the first half of last season until the Great Schism of '15 happened). A modicum of analysis offers a host of reasons why that is.

The idea that playing alongside a HUNH offense in a game makes the defense's job harder is silly to me. They don't go hurry up unless they get at least one first down, so a HUNH 4-and-out doesn't take any longer than any other offense's would. And if a HUNH is working, that means that the offense is putting points up in a hurry. That makes the opposing offense's playbook smaller. That helps the defense. And practicing at that pace has to help the defense.

That all said, practicing against that scheme might not prepare the defense as well for other schemes. Funny thing is, more and more teams are adopting some of the concepts that Gus uses.

I guess we all agree that we'll know a lot more on the subject come December.

[AUbritt 611]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

The big question for me is how they'll practice. Interested to hear reports from fall camp.

Same here. It's a lazy presumption that HUNH=crappy defense because, in an extremely limited sample group, it hasn't happened yet (although we saw things starting to click the first half of last season until the Great Schism of '15 happened). A modicum of analysis offers a host of reasons why that is.

The idea that playing alongside a HUNH offense in a game makes the defense's job harder is silly to me. They don't go hurry up unless they get at least one first down, so a HUNH 4-and-out doesn't take any longer than any other offense's would. And if a HUNH is working, that means that the offense is putting points up in a hurry. That makes the opposing offense's playbook smaller. That helps the defense. And practicing at that pace has to help the defense.

That all said, practicing against that scheme might not prepare the defense as well for other schemes. Funny thing is, more and more teams are adopting some of the concepts that Gus uses.

I guess we all agree that we'll know a lot more on the subject come December.

Yeah. I would think that practicing against an offense that runs at a fast pace might make it difficult for the D coaches to, well, coach. They need to stop plays and correct mistakes, and that will obviously interfere with the offense's rhythm. One solution would be to have the first team D practice only against the non-starters on O so that you could prioritize the D. On the other hand, I really think we need some 1s-vs-1s practice. So, it will be interesting to me to see how they set it all up.

[Dom1ni0n 51]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

A reasonable question perhaps?

If AU's defense stays middle of the road, will people say that Muschamp was over-rated as a defensive coach... or will folks come around to the possibility that the HUNH offense and a shut-down defense are incompatible?

This season looks like a good lab experiment for that premise.

Is one season enough of a sample size to draw that conclusion?

Or is that luxury not afforded due to Muschamp's experience coupled with fan and media expectations of a significant turnaround?

[AU64 10,122]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

A reasonable question perhaps?

If AU's defense stays middle of the road, will people say that Muschamp was over-rated as a defensive coach... or will folks come around to the possibility that the HUNH offense and a shut-down defense are incompatible?

This season looks like a good lab experiment for that premise.

Is one season enough of a sample size to draw that conclusion?

Or is that luxury not afforded due to Muschamp's experience coupled with fan and media expectations of a significant turnaround?

Probably not...but this is not a one season "experiment"..... three DCs with pretty good credentials "failed" at AU at the time that Gus was running the HUNH. I don't know that there is a cause;effect relationship....maybe it was just coincidence..... but how many DCs will we go through looking for that ole time AU defense? I'm hoping this is the last one for a while....just sayin'....if we get the same result over and over ....there might be a reason.

As noted, we will know more in a few months...don't think it will take until Dec to see a difference....at least, I hope not.

[McLoofus 35,182]

I've heard so many pundits claim that it's virtually impossible to field a top shelf defense to go along with CGM's style of offense. IMO, AU finally has the best of the best DC on staff coupled with experienced talent on the defensive side of the ball. This is the year to prove the nation wrong, there should be zero excuses left for us to throw out if AU puts another ineffective defense on the field again.

A reasonable question perhaps?

If AU's defense stays middle of the road, will people say that Muschamp was over-rated as a defensive coach... or will folks come around to the possibility that the HUNH offense and a shut-down defense are incompatible?

This season looks like a good lab experiment for that premise.

Is one season enough of a sample size to draw that conclusion?

Or is that luxury not afforded due to Muschamp's experience coupled with fan and media expectations of a significant turnaround?

Probably not...but this is not a one season "experiment"..... three DCs with pretty good credentials "failed" at AU at the time that Gus was running the HUNH. I don't know that there is a cause;effect relationship....maybe it was just coincidence..... but how many DCs will we go through looking for that ole time AU defense? I'm hoping this is the last one for a while....just sayin'....if we get the same result over and over ....there might be a reason.

As noted, we will know more in a few months...don't think it will take until Dec to see a difference....at least, I hope not.

Amen to hoping CWM is here for a minute.

[triangletiger 1,599]

Playing defense on a team with a HUNH offense doesn't seem to have hindered Ole Miss' defense the last few years.

[fredst 9,064]

We have been poor fundamentally for several years on D- poor angles, bad tackling, etc. Cant blame the HUNH for that although it's been worrisome to see it carryover from coordinator to coordinator. I'm really hoping Muschamp has us fielding a fundamentally sound defense that is capable of getting off the field when it needs to (and not because the other team is kicking a PAT).

[Timeslider 6 269]

Playing defense on a team with a HUNH offense doesn't seem to have hindered Ole Miss' defense the last few years.

Not to mention Oregon, they played pretty good defense, as well as others who play the hurry up. I think people aren't looking deep enough for the problem and blaming it on the first thing they perceive as the problem.

[AUbritt 611]

Playing defense on a team with a HUNH offense doesn't seem to have hindered Ole Miss' defense the last few years.

Not to mention Oregon, they played pretty good defense, as well as others who play the hurry up. I think people aren't looking deep enough for the problem and blaming it on the first thing they perceive as the problem.

#firetrob

[McLoofus 35,182]

A couple notes about the succession of failures at DC since the end of the 2008 season:

-Roof was here all 3 years that Gus was under Chizik

-Loeffler was the OC when BVG was here

-CEJ was the only DC until now since Gus became HC

So that is 2 DCs that have not worked out at Auburn while Gus was calling the plays.

One of them answered not to Gus but to Chizik, who we now know let every single facet of the program (except special teams!) erode dramatically. Occam's razor tells us that the defensive shortcomings of 2009-2011 were Chizik's fault, not Gus's offense's.

Ellis Johnson was generally considered a good hire and failed miserably at Auburn with a lot of talent at his disposal. That is troubling. However, he inherited possibly the worst defense Auburn has ever fielded in his first season. Remember, even the seniors in 2013 had never had proper coaching. Sometimes it's harder to un-coach bad habits than it is to coach good ones, especially if they're 3-4 year old habits.

That leaves one season, last year, where I look at a defense that played with or under Gus and scratch my head. For me, that's not a trend. Stuff happens. Coaches lose locker rooms, which was widely rumored to have been the case last season. And it was definitely a tale of 2 seasons, with a starkly defined dividing line. We gave up 14.4 ppg in the first 5 games, with the outlier being 21 points in the first game of the season against Arkansas. That's very good. The last 8 games? 34.4 ppg given up, with the only outlier being Samford in November. Sure, the competition was better, but 20 ppg better? No way in hell. Again: Samford. Something happened to that team, and it was shortly after Whitehead was suspended that things went downhill.

Gus may or may not be capable of fielding a good defense, but there's no evidence to make me think he can't. Either way, #firetrob.