I love Malzahn...BUT

[AUFAN78 3,894]

UK had 8 players because once they realized AU was punting, they changed personel. And it's not like once they saw UK trying to swap player they can snap the ball. It's not that simple. Too much could go wrong unless everyone was ready for the ball to be snapped. What if the punter isn't looking? What if there aren't enough players at the LOS? If you aren't going to go for it (and I wish they had), then the best thing to do is follow the script and run the punt play as designed and punt it away.

Thank you for your sanity.

[tomcat 569]

What exactly did you want them to do?

Snap it to a 330lb blocker and hope he doesn't fumble?

There was no way Phillips was going to take that into his own hands.

Here is what I would expect...a team that has been taught to expect the unexpected and how to respond to the ever changing landscape of the game. The key is always capitalize upon unexpected gifts/mistakes of the competition

[AUFAN78 3,894]

Gus showed incredible foresight in putting Davis in the endzone on the Kick Six play. I wish he would have shown the same foresight last night in getting his players prepared for a situation like that, whether it is an audible by one of the players on the field, or whatever it might have been.

Boom and Gus made the right call. We won.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

This thread reminds me how little actual coaching experience exists amongst message board soothsayers.

exactly

[PoetTiger 1,896]

Gus showed incredible foresight in putting Davis in the endzone on the Kick Six play. I wish he would have shown the same foresight last night in getting his players prepared for a situation like that, whether it is an audible by one of the players on the field, or whatever it might have been.

Boom and Gus made the right call. We won.

Exactly...act like not faking cost AU the game

[bdc81 89]

I would like to know if CGM asked CWM what he thought was best at 4th+1 or whether his (GWM) defense could hold after a punt. GWM is not a wuss and would never back down from a challenge, especially If he thought his boss was weak and looking for plausible deniability in case they lost. Those are two different questions.

1972 ua scored a td with 2 minutes to go with the score 10-9. CPD told bb not to go for two, that the defense would get the ball back. UT fumbled and ua scored. The point is that whether your in need of a 5 foot putt on 18 or in the last minute of a SEC football game. You must have absolute confidence and you have "got to want it".

I want to know if the offense spit the bit or whether CWM demanded the pressure to be put on his defense.

In the long run this is as important as the fact our young defense stood up last night.

Little doc

[StatTiger 3,188]

Gus showed incredible foresight in putting Davis in the endzone on the Kick Six play. I wish he would have shown the same foresight last night in getting his players prepared for a situation like that, whether it is an audible by one of the players on the field, or whatever it might have been.

Apples and oranges..... The kick-6 involved a timeout to change personnel. The UK play would have required something already in place in terms of an automatic play. How often do you see only 8 players on a field to cover a punt? First time I have seen that during an Auburn game, which dates back to the mid 70's. I can see a fake punt being utilized if prior game film revealed poor alignment or assigment play in prior games. This was not the case against UK, which was merely a beakdown of getting the right 11 on the field.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

Gus showed incredible foresight in putting Davis in the endzone on the Kick Six play. I wish he would have shown the same foresight last night in getting his players prepared for a situation like that, whether it is an audible by one of the players on the field, or whatever it might have been.

Apples and oranges..... The kick-6 involved a timeout to change personnel. The UK play would have required something already in place in terms of an automatic play. How often do you see only 8 players on a field to cover a punt? First time I have seen that during an Auburn game, which dates back to the mid 70's. I can see a fake punt being utilized if prior game film revealed poor alignment or assigment play in prior games. This was not the case against UK, which was merely a beakdown of getting the right 11 on the field.

Logic

[bdc81 89]

Stat, do you have any numbers on the percentage a college team can take the last possession for the winning score. Given 4 downs instead of three it must be greater than the percentage of scoring drives the rest of the game.

I don't know that would put their money on our defense stopping KY over the chance of making 4th+1.

Everyone gets upset when a good defense goes into prevent mode.

Bet the coaches at UT understand when you get the ball late in the game that you need to keep it.

Little doc

[doc4aday 1,887]

I do not care what team it is, but over time most teams have situations like this here and there. I doubt that we will see this same scenario again this season. We looked the best I have seen this season since the first half of the Louisville game. I am looking forward to the final 6 games. We are now into the real meat of the season. I think it is reasonable to expect a 4-2 record for the final 6 games. Who knows, it could even be better than 4-2

[StatTiger 3,188]

Stat, do you have any numbers on the percentage a college team can take the last possession for the winning score. Given 4 downs instead of three it must be greater than the percentage of scoring drives the rest of the game.

I don't know that would put their money on our defense stopping KY over the chance of making 4th+1.

Everyone gets upset when a good defense goes into prevent mode.

Bet the coaches at UT understand when you get the ball late in the game that you need to keep it.

Little doc

I would imagine Gus would have gone for it in 2010, 2013 and maybe in 2014. Coming into the Kentucky game, Auburn had converted only 65% of their short-yardage (2-yds or less) during their last 2 games. A huge drop off from the 2010 and 2013 seasons combined of 84%. He also knew that AU was struggling running the ball against UK, averaging just 2.6 yards per rush on first down. As for this season, AU the opponent has scored 33% of the time, at least 85-yards away from the AU end zone.

[ReidMcLain 75]

Kentucky gained 39 yards on their last drive. If we were stopped on 4th down Kentucky would have easily been in in FG range and who knows what else would have happened. But since Kentucky wasn't in FG range they had to go for it and our defense made a play. Punt was the right call.

[TexasTiger 12,835]

Gus showed incredible foresight in putting Davis in the endzone on the Kick Six play. I wish he would have shown the same foresight last night in getting his players prepared for a situation like that, whether it is an audible by one of the players on the field, or whatever it might have been.

Apples and oranges..... The kick-6 involved a timeout to change personnel. The UK play would have required something already in place in terms of an automatic play. How often do you see only 8 players on a field to cover a punt? First time I have seen that during an Auburn game, which dates back to the mid 70's. I can see a fake punt being utilized if prior game film revealed poor alignment or assigment play in prior games. This was not the case against UK, which was merely a beakdown of getting the right 11 on the field.

This. It's moronic to think we should have a play ready just in case there are only 8 defenders. We will likely never see it again.

[Mikey 16,578]

Kentucky gained 39 yards on their last drive. If we were stopped on 4th down Kentucky would have easily been in in FG range and who knows what else would have happened. But since Kentucky wasn't in FG range they had to go for it and our defense made a play. Punt was the right call.

This guy seems to actually understand the game, unlike the drooling hoards that wanted to all but hand Ky. a field goal to tie on their last possession. The punt was the correct call and a no-brainer even if the other team did have only 8 on the field. We could have known well ahead of time that they'd only have 8 and the punt would STILL have been the correct call.

[AU64 10,122]

Stat, do you have any numbers on the percentage a college team can take the last possession for the winning score. Given 4 downs instead of three it must be greater than the percentage of scoring drives the rest of the game.

I don't know that would put their money on our defense stopping KY over the chance of making 4th+1.

Everyone gets upset when a good defense goes into prevent mode.

Bet the coaches at UT understand when you get the ball late in the game that you need to keep it.

Little doc

I would imagine Gus would have gone for it in 2010, 2013 and maybe in 2014. Coming into the Kentucky game, Auburn had converted only 65% of their short-yardage (2-yds or less) during their last 2 games. A huge drop off from the 2010 and 2013 seasons combined of 84%. He also knew that AU was struggling running the ball against UK, averaging just 2.6 yards per rush on first down. As for this season, AU the opponent has scored 33% of the time, at least 85-yards away from the AU end zone.

No doubt...needing one yard with Cam in the back field was the closest thing you could get to a sure thing. Thursday night however? ...after a few our our recent miscues and a bunch of freshmen in the backfield....I don't think so.....

[au75 75]

Yes. GUS made the right call not to go for the one yard. We won. And the defense made the stop. 2 great things for this team to build on.

[johnnyAU 3,630]

It is just plain sad to me that we don't have enough confidence, or ability to gain a yard or less to ice a game at this point. I'm not saying we should have gone for it given our situation on offense, but having to make that decision saddens me. This wasn't the best DL in the country....it was Kentucky. What the heck have we become?

[fieldturf 12]

This coach staff is coming together especially on the defensive side. That defensive stop to put the game way is huge in the confidence for this upcoming rough stretch of games. We have a bunch of new faces on the defense that getting SEC game experience.

[StatTiger 3,188]

It is just plain sad to me that we don't have enough confidence, or ability to gain a yard or less to ice a game at this point. I'm not saying we should have gone for it given our situation on offense, but having to make that decision saddens me. This wasn't the best DL in the country....it was Kentucky. What the heck have we become?

I don't see it as being sad, I see it as a rebuilding process. The running game is still not as consistent as the AU coaches would like. Replacing 3 starters on the OL, top-3 leading rushers and 2 TE's ended up not being a smooth transition. The OL is still trying to gel as a unit, we are rotating 3-backs and have put a lot of weight on 2 freshman FB's to get the job done. As well as Barber as performed, he is not a major break away threat and he occasionally hits the wrong gap. Like everyone else, he lacks experience and will improve with more reps. I expected a major drop off in the running game this season for the above stated reasons and the loss of Nick Marshall running the football. Despite all of this, AU is about 5.5 yards per game from being the #4 run-offense in the conference. This is why Gus had such a heavy-run game-plan against San Jose State, to work out some of the kinks in the running game before AU returned to conference play.

[fieldturf 12]

I'm just glad we cut down on penalties. What we have 3?

[AU64 10,122]

I'm just glad we cut down on penalties. What we have 3?

Good observation....that had been a major issue on both sides of the ball for a while. The O in particular has been very disciplined...very few procedure penalties and don't think our WRs have a holding penalty yet.....which is a huge step forward.

[johnnyAU 3,630]

Rebuilding or not, we should be able to pick up a yard in that situation against Kentucky. Jovon was supposed to be a difference maker. We can't get him on the field. Peyton is a tremendous player. Plays with as much heart as any player in the country. He is neither big enough to pound it inside nor fast enough to take the corner in that situation, yet he does somehow manage to get the yards when needed in other situations. Roc and Kerryon aren't big enough, but are shifty and play hard.

3rd and short has been an issue since 2013 with the loss of Robinson, Prosch and Mason. I get that, but how many years does it take to correct it?

We are seriously under-utilizing our talent at WR and HB in the passing game. To add to that, we are losing a ton on defense next season. Adams likely gone to NFL. Maybe Lawson. Frost, McKinzy, Garret...gone. Holsey, Countess, Jones, Lambert...gone.

On offense, we lose Dampeer, Louis, Ray, Danzey and Wallace.

In Malzahn's 4th season as HC, we are in a worse position talent-wise than when he started. That is unacceptable.

Are we whiffing more on talent recognition, acquisition or development with this staff? At this point I'm not sure.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

It seems like Gus' is hurry up offense doesn't work any more. Every team we go against knows it's coming so they stack the box. I feel Gus will have to come up with a new offense for next season. Maybe go back to the old fashion offense of using TE's more and a smash mouth offense. Maybe Gus should consider using the wishbone from time to time for the next 6 games.

[hutchids 227]

Stat, do you have any numbers on the percentage a college team can take the last possession for the winning score. Given 4 downs instead of three it must be greater than the percentage of scoring drives the rest of the game.

I don't know that would put their money on our defense stopping KY over the chance of making 4th+1.

Everyone gets upset when a good defense goes into prevent mode.

Bet the coaches at UT understand when you get the ball late in the game that you need to keep it.

Little doc

I would imagine Gus would have gone for it in 2010, 2013 and maybe in 2014. Coming into the Kentucky game, Auburn had converted only 65% of their short-yardage (2-yds or less) during their last 2 games. A huge drop off from the 2010 and 2013 seasons combined of 84%. He also knew that AU was struggling running the ball against UK, averaging just 2.6 yards per rush on first down. As for this season, AU the opponent has scored 33% of the time, at least 85-yards away from the AU end zone.

That seems like a high percentage for how far from the endzone that is. Any idea, oh wise stat guru, what the national average is? Thanks bud

[nurbis 572]

Very disappointed that we punted on 4th and 1 when Kentucky only had 8 players on the field. I think a well coached team would have taken advantage of that defensive set up and run the ball. If Kentucky has 11 players then fine, punt the ball, but there is no excuse when it would have essentially been a gimme to get the first down.

The coaches had no way to communicate to Phillips that they wanted him to run a fake. I guess Malzahn could have yelled across the field to fake it but that may have clued in the eight guys for UK and they may have played it differently. Phillips could have taken it upon himself to run a fake but I would not want my punter making those decisions on his own at random. If they had practiced earlier in the week before that just in case UK only runs 8 guys on the field for a punt then fake it, then yes, in that scenario where they practiced it, they should have ran a fake.