So what's to come?

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

14 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Auburn under Gus cannot win if they don’t have a successful running attack.  Boobie showed glimpses of being the man but we stopped feeding him.  Going forward I think you’ll see Boobie getting 30+ carries a game.  Auburn should stomp Arkansas, So Miss, and Tennessee.  Against Mississippi State Auburn will have to have a run 1st approach. If Auburn beats state it should get to Athens with 1 loss.  Split Bama/UGA and back door into the playoffs as a 2 loss team.

Two losses has no prayer of making the playoffs without an SEC Title, which also ain't happening with two conference losses.  OSU, Clemson, and OU are all one loss teams at worst.  Add in the SEC champ and there's your playoff.

[DAG 33,982]

@bigbird, @McLoofus

waiting for your valued opinion...

I imagine things could be worse. We have more than enough talent to be a consistent 9 win team. The problem is we also have enough talent to go to the playoffs every other year at least so the expectations are that much higher. Especially after the money Auburn has forked out.

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

1 minute ago, Win4AU said:

Auburn under Gus cannot win if they don’t have a successful running attack.  Boobie showed glimpses of being the man but we stopped feeding him.  Going forward I think you’ll see Boobie getting 30+ carries a game.  Auburn should stomp Arkansas, So Miss, and Tennessee.  Against Mississippi State Auburn will have to have a run 1st approach. If Auburn beats state it should get to Athens with 1 loss.  Split Bama/UGA and back door into the playoffs as a 2 loss team.

I'm mad about yesterday, and while Auburn did make mistakes, I honestly believe the better team did not win. If we can improve, we have the schedule going forward to facilitate that. But as of right now, this isn't a playoff contending team, you thought yesterday was hostile wait til we roll up into Athens and Tuscaloosa... As many others I think 9-3 should be the expection, but the uphill climb just got steeper

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

9 minutes ago, johnnyAU said:

As much as I like Whitlow and Shivers, and as much as I've liked KJ and other RB's over the past several years, I'm curious why can't Gus land the big time 5* RB's out of HS? You can have other schools with a backfield full of 4-5* RB's, such that few of them get much PT, but an offense that relies heavily on the run can't seem to get a Chubb, Gurley, Fournette, etc...Dyer and Robinson were the only two I can remember, but both had their personal problems, and Dyer was before Malzahn was HC. 

RB is not the problem.  Opening holes for the RBs we have is very much the issue.  Bo Jackson would struggle right now because our line is not blocking very well consistently.  There are flashes (2nd quarter was great), but no consistency.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

All goals are still in front of us, they’ve just gotten a lot harder to obtain now. To win the west and SEC Champ, we need to win out. To reach the CFP, we need the same thing and probably a little help, although Wisconsin losing to BYU does assist a little bit. We need to improve and fast though 

[DAG 33,982]

2 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

All goals are still in front of us, they’ve just gotten a lot harder to obtain now. To win the west and SEC Champ, we need to win out. To reach the CFP, we need the same thing and probably a little help, although Wisconsin losing to BYU does assist a little bit. We need to improve and fast though 

We need to just take it a game at a time. This is why playing Washington was good. We should be slightly outside of the top ten. The key is we need to destroy the teams what we have to destroy because the aggies and state will be somewhat problematic. 

[johnnyAU 3,630]

12 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

RB is not the problem.  Opening holes for the RBs we have is very much the issue.  Bo Jackson would struggle right now because our line is not blocking very well consistently.  There are flashes (2nd quarter was great), but no consistency.

Yeah, I know what the problem is. Many, including me, have stated the problem lies with the OL and HC/OC. In fact, that was the fear leading into the season, and it's played out in the first 3 games. 

I just simply find it curious why we don't seem able to land many big time RB's out of HS, in a run oriented offense. 

[PigskinPat 2,579]

3 hours ago, DAG said:

Stidham played average yesterday. People can kill him me if they want. I am just not overly impressed by him. He doesn’t have that it factor to me. Natural arm talent though. I will say, he needs more attempts to pass. Until the coaches realize we have more talent on the outside that we have to rely on, we will continuously allow teams to stay in the game. This year team will have to pass to open up the run. LSU left the field open in the middle all game because they blitzed Devon all afternoon (who was annihilating us btw). 

I haven’t been impressed so far this season either. It seems like when things break down he goes into shellshocked mode instead of being able to create something on the fly. That’s part of what made Cam and Nick so good. Not only did you have to defend the receivers and running backs, but you had to defend them perfectly as well or suffer the consequences. With Stidham, it just seems like all you have to do is cause a little disruption and he’s rattled/off.

[AU64 10,122]

37 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

How many real sacks did we have? Know we might have tackled him for a loss or two on QB runs?

you are right.....they were sacks in the record but nobody really planted him hard enough to send a message... 

[PigskinPat 2,579]

32 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Auburn under Gus cannot win if they don’t have a successful running attack.  Boobie showed glimpses of being the man but we stopped feeding him.  Going forward I think you’ll see Boobie getting 30+ carries a game.  Auburn should stomp Arkansas, So Miss, and Tennessee.  Against Mississippi State Auburn will have to have a run 1st approach. If Auburn beats state it should get to Athens with 1 loss.  Split Bama/UGA and back door into the playoffs as a 2 loss team.

Not doubting what you’re saying, but I’m afraid if we give a true freshman 30+ carries a game moving forward, by the end of the season we will be Boobieless.

[jared52 4,354]

It was always a consensus that this was an 8-4 team. It just sucks that’s looking to be correct. 

[DAG 33,982]

2 minutes ago, jared52 said:

It was always a consensus that this was an 8-4 team. It just sucks that’s looking to be correct. 

I was hoping 9-3 and I still think we can get there. But you are right. The reality is most of us predicted this.

[Tiger Scout 92]

We lost because gus took his foot off gas  once we got the lead.  As normal. All we needed was one score. Pass inference penalties are becoming the oppositions offensive game plan. Either teach them to cover or change defense. In their defense everybody else's corner do same thing and it's called great defense, we do it it's pass interference. 

[DAG 33,982]

Just now, Tiger Scout said:

We lost because gus took his foot off gas  once we got the lead.  As normal. All we needed was one score. Pass inference penalties are becoming the oppositions offensive game plan. Either teach them to cover or change defense. In their defense everybody else's corner do same thing and it's called great defense, we do it it's pass interference. 

Not to mention the pass rush was non existent. The secondary is getting called out but not so average joe had nothing but time in the pocket.

[Swamp Eagle 5,137]

50 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Yep..….Burrow threw about 30 plus passes and we had only two sacks and not many true hurries.   Pass rush was not effective at all. 

As mediocre a QB as he is, on "must have" passes on those many third and longs....he hung in there and found the open guys for LSU.   

Keeping in the tradition of making average QB's look like world-beaters, well...you know.

[AU64 10,122]

3 hours ago, DAG said:

Stidham played average yesterday. People can kill him me if they want. I am just not overly impressed by him. He doesn’t have that it factor to me. Natural arm talent though. I will say, he needs more attempts to pass. Until the coaches realize we have more talent on the outside that we have to rely on, we will continuously allow teams to stay in the game. This year team will have to pass to open up the run. LSU left the field open in the middle all game because they blitzed Devon all afternoon (who was annihilating us btw). 

We are not supposed to criticize individual players but we have to be realistic about what is going on.  IMO...You are right on with your comments..

JS does not have good pocket presence and if anything, he is slower afoot now than when he first arrived....almost has no chance of escaping a rush or finding a receiver when he is on the move.   Still seems to be going to his first receiver and rarely finds a dump off or secondary target as best I can tell.  

That NFL talk last year was pure fiction as has been the Heisman and NFL talk pre-season.   Right now he looks like a good college QB ....but to get further, something has to change about the way he runs the team.   I just don't notice the spark or whatever that Nick and Cam had that made me feel that a game was never over as long as they were on the field and there was time on the clock. 

[Tiger Scout 92]

Burrow out played stidham. Give him the credit he is due. 

[DAG 33,982]

4 minutes ago, AU64 said:

We are not supposed to criticize individual players but we have to be realistic about what is going on.  IMO...You are right on with your comments..

JS does not have good pocket presence and if anything, he is slower afoot now than when he first arrived....almost has no chance of escaping a rush or finding a receiver when he is on the move.   Still seems to be going to his first receiver and rarely finds a dump off or secondary target as best I can tell.  

That NFL talk last year was pure fiction as has been the Heisman and NFL talk pre-season.   Right now he looks like a good college QB ....but to get further, something has to change about the way he runs the team.   I just don't notice the spark or whatever that Nick and Cam had that made me feel that a game was never over as long as they were on the field and there was time on the clock. 

Unfortunately 64 JS will ride that wave because he does have uncanny natural talent. He has a big arm, can be very accurate and is a big body...the scouts love that. They absolutely love measurements. That is why someone like JS would get a higher grade than say a Kyler Murray even though I am of the opinion Kyler is a better QB right now. I want him to succeed very badly because if he does then we succeed. However, he needs to get better at the little things.

[AuMarine 1,372]

27 minutes ago, JBiGGiE said:

I'm mad about yesterday, and while Auburn did make mistakes, I honestly believe the better team did not win. If we can improve, we have the schedule going forward to facilitate that. But as of right now, this isn't a playoff contending team, you thought yesterday was hostile wait til we roll up into Athens and Tuscaloosa... As many others I think 9-3 should be the expection, but the uphill climb just got steeper

Agree. The thing is the best team does not always win. The fact that we came out flat and had little to no pressure up front on defense.. the OL problems.. QB problems.. I just don’t know. I do feel like that our RBs are the best position on the team right now and that is in spite of the OL. It seems as though they play when they want to and our rbs make some great plays. We will face better DLs than what we saw with LSU.. hell I think Washington’s DL was better. I feel like we play down to the level of our competition sometimes instead of just being good all the time. The SEC is tough every week and if we don’t get ourselves together and play to a higher level, it is going to be a long season. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

3 hours ago, cole256 said:

I agree it took way too long to adjust to passing to open the run. They were too good to get try deep passes. And I just don't know what JS was thinking on the fist pass of the game. You just know it was scripted though...

There was nothing wrong with the play call, Stidham threw it behind the WR, and the DB was right next to him to make the pick. If Stidham throws it to his outside, there is no INT..

[jared52 4,354]

9 minutes ago, Tiger Scout said:

We lost because gus took his foot off gas  once we got the lead.  As normal. All we needed was one score. Pass inference penalties are becoming the oppositions offensive game plan. Either teach them to cover or change defense. In their defense everybody else's corner do same thing and it's called great defense, we do it it's pass interference. 

Not really. The play calls were still agressive, they just weren’t executed. Average QB play when AU needs stellar with the deficiencies at OL, bad pass defense, and a DL not living up to the hype on pass plays (did fine in the run game) took this one. Gus’s issue here wasn’t a game day problem, it’s a culture problem. 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

What's to come? I think the real question  is what's to come from Malzahn's coaching. I think we'll see more to come from yesterdays game.

[DAG 33,982]

2 minutes ago, jared52 said:

Not really. The play calls were still agressive, they just weren’t executed. Average QB play when AU needs stellar with the deficiencies at OL, bad pass defense, and a DL not living up to the hype on pass plays (did fine in the run game) took this one. Gus’s issue here wasn’t a game day problem, it’s a culture problem. 

Yeah I have no problem with Gus other than the fact I think he needs to start doing everything possible to get the guys he needs to run his offense. Big RBs and prioritize some serious offensive linemen. Don’t need a 5 star QB just someone who is discipline in the QB read and can make three passes: the screen, slant and fade. And then after that..we just got to trust the system.

[BigWhiskey91 632]

I dont think Auburn took their gas off the foot at all. If anything, I thought as the game went on, you could tell the urgency built up. Especially when we found ourselves down 0-10. I thought after we went up 21-10, we would try to work the run game some more, but we had a few killer holding calls that stalled out drives. The missed 53yd fg sucked, and the no call on the holding/dpi on the bomb to Slayton.

I think Whitlow is starting to emerge as the lead back, and I was glad to see Shivers get a nice work load. Curious as to what was up with the disappearance of Kam Martin though. I thought the OL blocked well in pass protection considering. The run blocking wasnt that great. LSU was constantly plugging gaps and forcing our RBs to take the minimal gain. Stidham had flashes of great play, but you can tell he really doesnt trust his line too much. He gives them a few secs at most. 

One thing I really liked from the Washington game, was the amount of check downs we threw to Cox and our RBs. I thought we would see more of that this past weekend. Kinda disappointed by that. Seth Williams is gonna be a beast. Schwartz has wheels too. 

As long as teams limit Auburns ability to hit big plays, they are going to be able to hold Auburn to 24pts or less. Malzahns offense isnt built to go on 10+ play drives. We have to find a way to generate explosive plays. This is starting to feel like 2015 in terms of the lack of explosive plays. Most of our big time adjustments come after 3-4 games though, so I am still on the upbeat side of things. Need to figure out the OL and quick though. 

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

Unfortunately 64 JS will ride that wave because he does have uncanny natural talent. He has a big arm, can be very accurate and is a big body...the scouts love that. They absolutely love measurements. That is why someone like JS would get a higher grade than say a Kyler Murray even though I am of the opinion Kyler is a better QB right now. I want him to succeed very badly because if he does then we succeed. However, he needs to get better at the little things.

True….he almost looks like an NFL QB but there are probably fifty guys who look like him playing at various levels of college football ...and with good arms.  He has the good fortune to play at a top flite school like AU and get lots of visibility......but it's gonna take more.  

He's only had a bit over a year at AU so he's still wet behind the ears so to speak....but I can't recall seeming him truly put the team on his shoulders and bring them from behind to win an important game ….or even to rally them though he does have flashes of excellence, they don't seem to last an entire ballgame.