Gus Holding Back?

[JDUBB4AU 5,110]

I'm upset that the toughness isn't there. This week I would put those guys through hell until we were mad enough to play LSU. Muschamp surely sees that

[kd4au 1,145]

Holding back?I don't think so.Now we did seem to have a vanilla game plan and we did have a lot of players out with injuries and we did play with out much effort.But to say we were holding back with a chance to lose the game and any shot at the playoffs along with it,I just can not believe that.

[msza 228]

Well, if he ran practice last week with a 'held back' playbook, he's not going to have much confidence in increasing the playbook mid-game, so I'd say yes there's a good chance he was ;holding back' though not in relation to their preparation for the game.

[around4ever 4,139]

We were told that Coach Malzahn and Coach Lashley were going to open the playbook up with JJ because he knows the entire playbook better than all previous Malzahn QBs. Well, so far all we have seen is actually less than we saw the last two years. WR Screens left and right, straight handoffs left and right, a couple of Jet Sweeps, a couple of deep balls, a couple of short out routes. Is this the entire playbook? I hope Malzahn IS holding back. I am also hoping that after two games and a positive end of 4th quarter and OT for JJ he gets more comfortable and sees the defense better. I hope we go to the second chapter in the playbook for LSU.

I am OK with the defense we saw in the first half against UofL and the second half against JSU. I like the in your face Man to Man coverage. The 10 yards off the ball Cover 2, not so much. We need pressure from more than one DLineman. Frost still has a hard time reading the play and finding the ball. He is still out of position more than in position to make the play. War Eagle!!

[Potatooooooes!! 1,370]

Honestly, I think it could have been a mix of holding back, our o-line sucking, and Gus not having confidence in JJ. For most of the game I saw two plays: pass to Ricardo behind the LOS ( the right and left side) and running back up the middle. The only time JJ took a shot down field was on the free play; other than that it seemed each pass was 8 yards or under. Compare that to Nick Marshal, who regularly took shots. It honestly seems to me that Gus keeps saying that he has confidence in JJ and that he's our starter--not because he actually does--but because he wants JJ to think he does. It's an effort to maintain and/or build up JJ's confidence. Just my two cents.

[aubaseball 2,590]

Not sure if holding back is the right term, I'm thinking it is more play calling than holding back. AU has turned into very predictable on play calling. After a first down, we run the ball up the middle on first down most of the time. Would love for stat to crunch the numbers on that. If CGM says that we need to get so and so more invovled, that really means its not going to happen.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Gus holding back? oh please. Other then Cam, we haven't recruited top QB in a long time. Heck, Nick was a DB at Georgia. JJ is not the QB that Gus and Rhett kept telling us time and time again.

[80Tiger 899]

A quality team should be able to play plain vanilla and look respectable. Auburn looked terrible yesterday. I was at the game and about the only positives that I saw were, Peyton Barber, Monty Adams, respectable play from

several true freshman on defense at times. Right now, Auburn is not a very good team. Not a flame, just a simple fact. Maybe it was a

fluke, but I doubt it. The pollsters will treat this game like a loss, although the polls are the least of our problems.

Tough pill to swallow, but true. We are not a good team and haven't seen much to sy otherwise.

[around4ever 4,139]

Gus holding back? oh please. Other then Cam, we haven't recruited top QB in a long time. Heck, Nick was a DB at Georgia. JJ is not the QB that Gus and Rhett kept telling us time and time again.

Jeremy was the 5th ranked Pro Style QB in the nation in 2013. You can't do much better than that. Recruiting is not an exact science. JJ's career is not over. He could very well prove that the ranking was deserved.

[FoundationEagle 637]

We definitely held back for 3 quarters on play calling. You could see when the game really started to be in question, the plays offense began to change to more complicated plays. By the time we changed our philosophy, JSU thought they were going to win and we were frustrated. I have to say that I was impressed in the comeback and poise shown in the final drive in the 4 Q and overtime. A lot of people crumble there, and our whole team stood up, finally. If we can decide to play the whole game the way we played the final half of a quarter, we will be fine. I think it's all mental. We have more youth than anybody that's won a NC in a very long time. Youth takes a few games and a few wake up calls to realize what it takes. In a strange way, almost losing to JSU may have been good for us. It has forced our young DBs to learn to play the ball (which happened mid-game...very impressive mid-game coaching). It has forced our Oline to start playing a little harder. It has awoken the beast inside Adams, Ford and Barber. It has given JJ a game tying drive late and a game winning drive in OT. Honestly, I am very frustrated with the game overall, but there is the possibility that it was exactly what we needed. I see a lot of holes in LSUs offense and I expect a score similar to what we saw against JSU. Hope I am right.

[MIGMAN 16]

Good teams overlook lessor opponents, come out flat, look ahead....maybe for a half....usually a quarter. They then come out and assert themselves as the dominant team and win going away. We are not therefore we did not. We all hoped the Utah St. game a few years back was an anomaly. It wasn't and we limped home at 8-5 with some pretty god awful losses. No reason for a top 10 team to be taken to the limit by an FCS team. Yes, I understand Jax St. has some Div 1 talent. That should not allow them to beat a team with all Div 1 talent all day long. The idea that "Gus is holding back" is ridiculous. That may have been the game plan going in but it certainly was not the game plan after the first half. We had a ton of key injuries yesterday. If we are truly a top ten team we should have been able to go well into our depth chart and still not be challenged. Like I said, at this point, we are not a top ten team. Gus' teams do, for whatever reason, take time to "spin up" to full speed. We will be better as the season goes along. The question is how much better. Need to give a hard look at the QB position. There are freshmen and sophomores around the country looking FAR more comfortable, and capable, than Jeremy. That is beyond puzzling at this point. LSU will not be the time to give a different QB a shot. Should have seen someone else starting the second half but that just speaks to the hardheadedness of most college football coaches. Don't want to admit they were wrong about their decision on a starter. Displaying little discernible threat running the ball, Jeremy has to be dead on accurate. He has been nowhere near that. Two things happen next week. The lightbulb goes off and we win or at least stay close and regain some credibility. Or, Jeremy looks like he has the first two weeks and we get run out of the gym and fall out of the top 25. I've tricked myself many times in the past with any number of Auburn coaches into saying "maybe we're holding back", "maybe we're just not showing anything until game X". Rarely does that turn out to be the case. A play here or a play there? Maybe. But Gus was running his offense and by the second half there was nothing to "hold back" since a loss yesterday means there would be ZERO way of making the playoff. At this point, for whatever reason, we are not very good. Hopefully that changes in a hurry.

[WarTiger 3,901]

Gus holding back? oh please. Other then Cam, we haven't recruited top QB in a long time. Heck, Nick was a DB at Georgia. JJ is not the QB that Gus and Rhett kept telling us time and time again.

Here you are again spouting off about something in which you know NOTHING. All last year all you ever said was, "we would be better if Jeremy Johnson would play QB" Now he's playing and he's suddenly the worst player in Auburn history. You are clueless.

[JGLEATON 1,244]

If he is going to be vanilla, can't he at least use a waffle cone and a couple of sprinkles.....to KEEP me from FREAKING OUT!

"Sprinkles are for winners" Flo.

...wait a minute, we did win?? We can have sprinkles!

[TexasTiger 12,828]

Gus holding back? oh please. Other then Cam, we haven't recruited top QB in a long time. Heck, Nick was a DB at Georgia. JJ is not the QB that Gus and Rhett kept telling us time and time again.

Here you are again spouting off about something in which you know NOTHING. All last year all you ever said was, "we would be better if Jeremy Johnson would play QB" Now he's playing and he's suddenly the worst player in Auburn history. You are clueless.

And you keep responding.

[Plaric 4]

Gus isn't holding back. We aren't executing. Go back and watch the first half of the Arkansas game. JJ was staring down receivers that game as well. Arkansas just wasn't that good and expected us to run.

[bikeriderga 134]

If Gus and company were holding back while we were getting our butts kicked by an FCS team, that would not speak well of his coaching.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652]

We definitely held back for 3 quarters on play calling. You could see when the game really started to be in question, the plays offense began to change to more complicated plays. By the time we changed our philosophy, JSU thought they were going to win and we were frustrated. I have to say that I was impressed in the comeback and poise shown in the final drive in the 4 Q and overtime. A lot of people crumble there, and our whole team stood up, finally. If we can decide to play the whole game the way we played the final half of a quarter, we will be fine. I think it's all mental. We have more youth than anybody that's won a NC in a very long time. Youth takes a few games and a few wake up calls to realize what it takes. In a strange way, almost losing to JSU may have been good for us. It has forced our young DBs to learn to play the ball (which happened mid-game...very impressive mid-game coaching). It has forced our Oline to start playing a little harder. It has awoken the beast inside Adams, Ford and Barber. It has given JJ a game tying drive late and a game winning drive in OT. Honestly, I am very frustrated with the game overall, but there is the possibility that it was exactly what we needed. I see a lot of holes in LSUs offense and I expect a score similar to what we saw against JSU. Hope I am right.

The game was in question the entire game, we weren't even the better team going into halftime or coming out of halftime. Gus couldn't possibly rationalize that somehow their coach would just go brain dead, their punter would just go brain dead, and we'd somehow be in a position to tie. That doesn't factor into any sane person's head

[Tiger 8,818]

Gus isn't holding back. We aren't executing. Go back and watch the first half of the Arkansas game. JJ was staring down receivers that game as well. Arkansas just wasn't that good and expected us to run.

Yup I agree

[mustache eagle 2,397]

yes gus was holding back on the play calling. runs up the middle and passes to the outside were the bulk of the play calling. i think it was a horrible gamble and wish it was not done.

the players, on whole, did not execute. the OL had 2 guys playing out of position, which did not help, but they played below ability. We had a few WR drops.

the D played with cushion on the outside that we did not do in the first half against UL (which we all consider to be universally a great defensive effort). We also limited giving up long pass plays by our young DB's. Give credit to the JSU Wr's for making some freaking great catches.

[AU64 10,122]

yes gus was holding back on the play calling. runs up the middle and passes to the outside were the bulk of the play calling. i think it was a horrible gamble and wish it was not done.

the players, on whole, did not execute. the OL had 2 guys playing out of position, which did not help, but they played below ability. We had a few WR drops.

the D played with cushion on the outside that we did not do in the first half against UL (which we all consider to be universally a great defensive effort). We also limited giving up long pass plays by our young DB's. Give credit to the JSU Wr's for making some freaking great catches.

Folks blaming the OL...but keep in mind that JJ threw 32 passes, was not sacked even once and was rarely pressured. The INTs were not thrown when he was under duress. Just saying.....look somewhere else for the blame....not at the OL.

[mustache eagle 2,397]

i agree the OL was not a problem in the pass game. they were "OK" in the run game. i think the play calling and jumbled right side of the OL were bigger problems for the OL than their performance specifically. I dont think they played all conference level as a group, but they could have been helped by play calling. we ran between the tackles for the most part into a stacked D. We still moved the ball for the most part. What was Barbers average/carry? over 5? that is solid without a long run. I dont have a probelm with the OL in the pass game. could have been better in the run but thought it was ok.

[cole256 17,042]

OL is more than just he didn't have THAT much pressure on him...o line has been as mediocre as every other position on the team.

[milehighfan 1,240]

I'm sure part of the game plan through the first two games was for J.J. to throw 5 picks. Hopefully we have lulled LSU into a false sense of security.

[Lucy123 8]

No zone read since first drive? Tuck it and run if the receiver is covered

[FoundationEagle 637]

We definitely held back for 3 quarters on play calling. You could see when the game really started to be in question, the plays offense began to change to more complicated plays. By the time we changed our philosophy, JSU thought they were going to win and we were frustrated. I have to say that I was impressed in the comeback and poise shown in the final drive in the 4 Q and overtime. A lot of people crumble there, and our whole team stood up, finally. If we can decide to play the whole game the way we played the final half of a quarter, we will be fine. I think it's all mental. We have more youth than anybody that's won a NC in a very long time. Youth takes a few games and a few wake up calls to realize what it takes. In a strange way, almost losing to JSU may have been good for us. It has forced our young DBs to learn to play the ball (which happened mid-game...very impressive mid-game coaching). It has forced our Oline to start playing a little harder. It has awoken the beast inside Adams, Ford and Barber. It has given JJ a game tying drive late and a game winning drive in OT. Honestly, I am very frustrated with the game overall, but there is the possibility that it was exactly what we needed. I see a lot of holes in LSUs offense and I expect a score similar to what we saw against JSU. Hope I am right.

The game was in question the entire game, we weren't even the better team going into halftime or coming out of halftime. Gus couldn't possibly rationalize that somehow their coach would just go brain dead, their punter would just go brain dead, and we'd somehow be in a position to tie. That doesn't factor into any sane person's head

I agree. What I am saying is that Gus expected his team to get in gear without having to open up so much of the playbook. When he finally gave up hoping for better execution on just a few plays, it was almost too late. It was his fault for making the offense that easy to figure out and for letting that go on as long as it did. We have seen Gus be stubborn and try to prove that he can do something on O that the other team wants to take away. What he didn't count on was an inexperienced young team full of potential being shell shocked and having that much trouble breaking through. It was a coaching mistake all the way. But again, it has forced our young guys to grow up quickly. They have been held to the fire and stood strong when it mattered. It was ugly and embarrassing, but hopefully they grew up and became a team along the way. We will know in the next two weeks. We may not be NC this year, but I bet win atleast 1 of the next 2 and get better every week.