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Turning Point?


AubTiger14

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Three quick thoughts/questions....

1. We ran a play early in the game where Danzey was the pulling guard to seal the backside and he completely whiffed on the block. Why did we do the same thing with him two plays later?

2. Why isn't JJ running more? Hopefully we are saving it for LSU, but the guy is big and has some straight line speed. Obviously he isn't some Superstar like we thought he would be where an injury to him would be catastrophic. The entire defense is just piling up the Line of Scrimmage and keying on the RB. We need the zone read to be a threat.

3. I don't understand our strategy with the hurry up. Every time we go "fast", it's the same play....just a basic dive play to the running back...and it's not working. It seems like pace would work better if we could run zone-read, counters, jet sweeps, bubble screens....and then play action down the field. I would think JJ doesn't have to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning if if we can keep defenses off balance in this way. Our offense has absolutely no rhythm.

I haven't posted in a long time and I'm no expert, but I thought Gus' reputation was being able to adjust to the players on his roster and slice through defenses like butter. JJ has been in this system for 2-3 years. Were there not signs before he couldn't read coverage, or is this just a complete surprise? Gus took a one-dimensional QB and a team that didn't win an SEC game to a National Championship game. So two years later, when he's had time to develop his players and install his entire scheme...why did we come 1 play away from the worst loss in history?

Jacksonville state was able to get favorable 1 on 1 match ups. Jacksonville state was able to repeatedly hit simple slants, and establish a rhythm and timing on offense. I thought this was Gus' calling card, and we couldn't even do it against an FCS opponent. We were outplayed.

Am I crazy for thinking this next week (or maybe the next two weeks) is not just important for this season, but is extremely pivotal for the direction of the program and the Malzahn era? Our stock since the loss to Florida State has steadily gone down, and we keep thinking it's going to turnaround and we are going to look like a championship team again, but it's yet to actually happen.

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Three quick thoughts/questions....

1. We ran a play early in the game where Danzey was the pulling guard to seal the backside and he completely whiffed on the block. Why did we do the same thing with him two plays later?

2. Why isn't JJ running more? Hopefully we are saving it for LSU, but the guy is big and has some straight line speed. Obviously he isn't some Superstar like we thought he would be where an injury to him would be catastrophic. The entire defense is just piling up the Line of Scrimmage and keying on the RB. We need the zone read to be a threat.

3. I don't understand our strategy with the hurry up. Every time we go "fast", it's the same play....just a basic dive play to the running back...and it's not working. It seems like pace would work better if we could run zone-read, counters, jet sweeps, bubble screens....and then play action down the field. I would think JJ doesn't have to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning if if we can keep defenses off balance in this way. Our offense has absolutely no rhythm.

I haven't posted in a long time and I'm no expert, but I thought Gus' reputation was being able to adjust to the players on his roster and slice through defenses like butter. JJ has been in this system for 2-3 years. Were there not signs before he couldn't read coverage, or is this just a complete surprise? Gus took a one-dimensional QB and a team that didn't win an SEC game to a National Championship game. So two years later, when he's had time to develop his players and install his entire scheme...why did we come 1 play away from the worst loss in history?

Jacksonville state was able to get favorable 1 on 1 match ups. Jacksonville state was able to repeatedly hit simple slants, and establish a rhythm and timing on offense. I thought this was Gus' calling card, and we couldn't even do it against an FCS opponent. We were outplayed.

Am I crazy for thinking this next week (or maybe the next two weeks) is not just important for this season, but is extremely pivotal for the direction of the program and the Malzahn era? Our stock since the loss to Florida State has steadily gone down, and we keep thinking it's going to turnaround and we are going to look like a championship team again, but it's yet to actually happen.

All very good questions. I am completely perplexed by the offense so far from playcalling to JJ's mistakes. I do believe these next two games are pivotal for Gus. If the wheels come off completely and this turns into a 4-8 type year Gus will be on the hotseat next year for sure. Win at least one of these next two and show improvement and maybe we start rolling.
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I am no expert either but I saw a JSU QB have the game of his life putting the ball into a recievers who were well covered and hitting them where only they could catch it and often making circus catches to do so.

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I have seen every other opposing quarterback since about 2009 have the 'game of his life' against Auburn. The younger and less experienced, the better.

"I am no expert either but I saw a JSU QB have the game of his life putting the ball into a recievers who were well covered and hitting them where only they could catch it and often making circus catches to do so. "

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I am no expert either but I saw a JSU QB have the game of his life putting the ball into a recievers who were well covered and hitting them where only they could catch it and often making circus catches to do so.

They made some miraculous plays for sure, but they were able to get their receivers one on one in favorable match ups and the QB put the ball in a position where they could make a plays. That's something we've yet to do. They also consistently hit underneath routes to move the chains like it was a 7 on 7 drill.

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1. Yep, saw that. Basic play, can't not use it against Jax State and Danzey is fundamental to our rotation this season so he better learn it sooner rather than later.

2. I personally think Gus remembers how beat up Cam got by the last 3 games in 2010. Cam was a warrior but after October, every D plan seemed to be sacrifice everything else to knock out the big running QB. In other words, with JJ, wait for it.

3. We have yet to see a Malzahn speed HUNH this season but don't sweat it, historically Gus O's get faster on command as the O's gel as the season goes along.

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I have seen every other opposing quarterback since about 2009 have the 'game of his life' against Auburn. The younger and less experienced, the better.

"I am no expert either but I saw a JSU QB have the game of his life putting the ball into a recievers who were well covered and hitting them where only they could catch it and often making circus catches to do so. "

That newbie QB Louisville put on the field looked dang good too.
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Three quick thoughts/questions....

1. We ran a play early in the game where Danzey was the pulling guard to seal the backside and he completely whiffed on the block. Why did we do the same thing with him two plays later?

2. Why isn't JJ running more? Hopefully we are saving it for LSU, but the guy is big and has some straight line speed. Obviously he isn't some Superstar like we thought he would be where an injury to him would be catastrophic. The entire defense is just piling up the Line of Scrimmage and keying on the RB. We need the zone read to be a threat.

3. I don't understand our strategy with the hurry up. Every time we go "fast", it's the same play....just a basic dive play to the running back...and it's not working. It seems like pace would work better if we could run zone-read, counters, jet sweeps, bubble screens....and then play action down the field. I would think JJ doesn't have to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning if if we can keep defenses off balance in this way. Our offense has absolutely no rhythm.

I haven't posted in a long time and I'm no expert, but I thought Gus' reputation was being able to adjust to the players on his roster and slice through defenses like butter. JJ has been in this system for 2-3 years. Were there not signs before he couldn't read coverage, or is this just a complete surprise? Gus took a one-dimensional QB and a team that didn't win an SEC game to a National Championship game. So two years later, when he's had time to develop his players and install his entire scheme...why did we come 1 play away from the worst loss in history?

Jacksonville state was able to get favorable 1 on 1 match ups. Jacksonville state was able to repeatedly hit simple slants, and establish a rhythm and timing on offense. I thought this was Gus' calling card, and we couldn't even do it against an FCS opponent. We were outplayed.

Am I crazy for thinking this next week (or maybe the next two weeks) is not just important for this season, but is extremely pivotal for the direction of the program and the Malzahn era? Our stock since the loss to Florida State has steadily gone down, and we keep thinking it's going to turnaround and we are going to look like a championship team again, but it's yet to actually happen.

Lots for good points. If we can't run the ball effectively (and early in the game) it will be a long season. Our QB should be throwing it about 15-20 times per game, not 30+.

The hurry up has been almost not existent this year.

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The hurry up, fast paced offense was missing last year as well. While other teams around the country have adopted the concept and seem to run it effectively.

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I've said it before, but I think Lashlee (or one of the other position coaches) needs to be up in the box instead of on the field.

The biggest reason that he is on the field is so that he and Gus can have 2 perspectives of the play and can talk to each other before making a decision on the next play call. While this may help us get a better play call, it means that we cannot go as fast as say Oregon or even teams like J. State.

The other part of this IMO is that Gus, Rhett, and JJ have to stop keying in on 1 receiver pre-snap. Numerous times, the ball has been snapped and JJ immediately looks straight at his target, never takes his eyes off of him, throws it, and gets picked off by the underneath defender. Instead, he needs to work through his progressions and find 1) the open receiver, 2) the hole in the zone, or 3) tuck it and run/throw it away.

Peyton Barber needs to be the featured back at this point. 4th Quarter against Jax State, we were driving. Peyton was making some big runs. What do we do? Put Roc in for 1 play, and BOOM! Fumble. At this point, Barber has been the most consistent, the least likely to fumble, and has shown that he is capable of breaking big runs. We need to take some of the pressure off of him using JJ in the running game as well as utilizing Duke in the quick passing game. If we do that effectively, it will open up the counter, power, and dive plays that we saw so much in 2013.

I know that hindsight is 20/20 and I'm an armchair QB, and that playing and being in the moment is a lot more difficult than sitting here analyzing it, but through 2 games, I have been generally underwhelmed. The defense looked very good the 1st half against Louisville. Since then, they haven't looked great, and at times they've looked downright bad. The offensive play calling has been very vanilla, but when they do start to get creative (using backs on screens, using Jeremy as a running threat, hitch routes, etc.) they have looked pretty good. The OL has left a lot to be desired.

We will need to bring out A game this week. No more excuses. We can't afford for JJ to have 2+ picks, or it will get ugly. The defense needs to make sure that they keep outside contain and make stopping the run a priority. If Fournette starts getting hot, we're gonna have a bad time. If we can stuff the run and force Harris to make plays, we have a chance.

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Except Brandon Harris. Always ignore counter-examples if they don't support your argument, 7298.

So we have one counter example against the dozens who have succeeded???

Side note: I don't think we've called zone reads or any RO because A. Gus B. Jeremy isn't decisive with running the ball at all. He doesn't know when to scramble and if he does scramble he doesn't know when to go forward vs scrambling around.

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Except Brandon Harris. Always ignore counter-examples if they don't support your argument, 7298.

So we have one counter example against the dozens who have succeeded???

Side note: I don't think we've called zone reads or any RO because A. Gus B. Jeremy isn't decisive with running the ball at all. He doesn't know when to scramble and if he does scramble he doesn't know when to go forward vs scrambling around.

This would be another example of Jeremy not having good field vision, and not being able to make reads.

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Les Miles will run Fournette like a horse.

He may run Fournette like Tubbs ran Cadillac in 2001 to his detriment. It seemed LSU had another good back the other night though, I think his name was Williams.
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Les Miles will run Fournette like a horse.

He may run Fournette like Tubbs ran Cadillac in 2001 to his detriment. It seemed LSU had another good back the other night though, I think his name was Williams.

Les will try to mix in the passing game early on, and if Harris can't get it done Les will go super conservative and he will go 70-80% run the rest of the game. Their defense will throw multiple blitz packages out in an effort to confuse and rattle JJ.
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Les Miles will run Fournette like a horse.

He may run Fournette like Tubbs ran Cadillac in 2001 to his detriment. It seemed LSU had another good back the other night though, I think his name was Williams.

Les will try to mix in the passing game early on, and if Harris can't get it done Les will go super conservative and he will go 70-80% run the rest of the game. Their defense will throw multiple blitz packages out in an effort to confuse and rattle JJ.

Well, at least Harris doesn't run the zone read??
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Les Miles will run Fournette like a horse.

He may run Fournette like Tubbs ran Cadillac in 2001 to his detriment. It seemed LSU had another good back the other night though, I think his name was Williams.

Les will try to mix in the passing game early on, and if Harris can't get it done Les will go super conservative and he will go 70-80% run the rest of the game. Their defense will throw multiple blitz packages out in an effort to confuse and rattle JJ.

I think our defense will keep us in the game for the most part assuming all players are back. LSU has never been explosive. Biggest concern I have obviously is can our offense get rolling? On the road at LSU against that defense doesn't seem like a good spot for us to turn it around. They are going to come at Jeremy Johnson and try to confuse him and reek havoc. We need to get the ball in our play makers hands. WR screens, RB screens to counter the pressure they will probably bring. We need to get Duke on the outside and put the ball up for him. We need to let Jeremy run it 5-7 times to keep the defense honest. We definitely can't turn the ball over.

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Les Miles will run Fournette like a horse.

He may run Fournette like Tubbs ran Cadillac in 2001 to his detriment. It seemed LSU had another good back the other night though, I think his name was Williams.

Les will try to mix in the passing game early on, and if Harris can't get it done Les will go super conservative and he will go 70-80% run the rest of the game. Their defense will throw multiple blitz packages out in an effort to confuse and rattle JJ.

Well, at least Harris doesn't run the zone read??

He will against us...bank on it!

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Can anyone explain where Avery Young was? i realize he was hurt but can someone provide more info than that. That was a big reason our run game wasn't clicking enough to free up the passing game. I admit i haven't seen a good enough reason for them to perform so poorly, but i'm not sure i really want to watch any team i pull for do so poorly. I have to just get up and go for a walk, it makes me so upset.

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I was taught that you give it 100%. Thats coaching and players giving it 100%. You play to win and win big. The only drop off in this should be when you show mercy to the other team after you're up by 50 late in the 4th.

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IMHO, a huge difference between the rest of the country's HUNH and Malzahn's has always been his subjective, proven judgment of WHEN to call it during the game. That's primary to the delegation-to-Rhett discussion. Other than arguably plays immediately after gaining a first down, Malzahn's HUNH use is more successful as a sporadic, unpredictable weapon than anybody else's version of it.

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As bad as Auburn has looked so far, I'd be shocked if they don't play better as a team against LSU, but I don't know if they'll play well enough to win. The level of play you see against LSU (good or bad) will likely be what you will see for the rest of the season.

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JJ is either over throwing or throwing behind his WR's just about every time. I don't understand what's wrong this season. He was on target a lot last year.

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I don't get why EVERY year it's takes 3 or 4 games before we have a clue what we are doing. One would think that a group of guys making the Quan coaches do these days, might have a clue by the time the season rolls around.

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