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Time to rally for a "team victory"


StatTiger

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* Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the No. 1 priority this Saturday night must be protecting the football. Auburn under Malzahn has not won a road conference game with three turnovers or more.

* I would add minimizing the penalties, but I expect to have another high-penalty game because it is the first real "away game" and the cowbells will likely cause some issues on the offensive side of the football. At the end of the day, I would rather have a ten-penalty game than three turnovers.

* Chip Lindsey must attack the perimeter of the MSU defense. This will be a good game for screen passes, speed sweeps, quick pitches, and flare passes to the RB’s in the flat. Auburn cannot concede running between the tackles, but too much of it against MSU’s front would be futile.

* In 3rd and 1 or 4th &1, I believe Auburn's best shot for success running the football is from the wildcat. Not sure if this is the case should Whitlow not be available for the game. Would the coaching staff play Harold Joiner in this role again?

* There is a very strong possibility Jarrett Stidham’s performance will decide the outcome of the game. I don’t expect much success in the “traditional” running game, which places more pressure on the shoulders of Stidham. Chip Lindsey must help him out scheme-wise and limit the “obvious” passing situations. Through five games, Stidham is averaging 26 pass attempts per game. He is averaging 11 pass attempts per game, where he is throwing on 2nd & 8 or longer or 3rd & 7 or longer. Throwing the football over 42 percent of the time in obvious passing situations is compounding the offensive issues.

* Auburn needs to take a few deep shots downfield, and it would be wise to make those on 1st down with max protection. Last week against Southern Miss, Auburn attempted two deep shots on 2nd and long, and the pocket collapsed despite having seven in the backfield to block five. Last year Auburn produced seven plays of 30-yards or more during a blowout victory over the Bulldogs. Auburn has only six such plays through five games this season. It would be huge if Auburn could produce two such plays Saturday night.

* Malzahn needs to take a page out of Tommy Tuberville’s strategy in close ball games. Lean on your defense and special teams as much as you can to take home a “team victory.” I am not advocating an all-out conservative approach on offense, but he certainly needs to take advantage of the field position game. Auburn has surrendered only one touchdown drive over 75-yards this season out of 47 attempts. CTT was 26-11 in games decided by 7-points or less from 2000-2007 and Malzahn is currently 14-9. Gus Malzahn finally has the defense to lean on when the offense is sputtering.

* It would be nice for Jarrett Stidham to be able to check out of a run play on 1st down when it is evident State has eight defenders in the box. Auburn must improve their productivity on first down to avoid the 3rd and long situations they have faced this season. Auburn's average distance to convert on 3rd down against FBS competition this season is over 7-yards.

* Regardless of the situation, it is always the head coaches responsibility to place his team in the best possible position to succeed. I am not talking about concerns that only can be addressed after the season. I am referring to the current issues, injuries and troubles the team is currently working through. It is up to Coach Malzahn and his assistants to give their players the best change to succeed regardless of the circumstances they face.

War Eagle and Beat State!

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I'm expecting a game like UA 2016 where Gus admitted he played not to lose instead of playing to win.

We're going to need the defense and special teams to step it up another notch, which is asking a lot with how well they're already playing and the real possibility they'll be on the field a lot.  We can't afford mismanagement of the play clock going forward either, there's just not any margin for error.  Snap at 1 second and eat as much time off the clock as possible on offense.  Sad to say that about a "HU"NH team but it's where we are.

The over/under on this game is 41.5!!!!   That’s easy money!   I think both teams will be in single digits.  I can’t imagine a scenario where either team gets to 20.  This has the potential to be another 3-2 game like 10 years ago. Right now AU and MSSt are 2 of the most boring offenses in CF.  😱😳🙈

7 minutes ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

The over/under on this game is 41.5!!!!   That’s easy money!   I think both teams will be in single digits.  I can’t imagine a scenario where either team gets to 20.  This has the potential to be another 3-2 game like 10 years ago. Right now AU and MSSt are 2 of the most boring offenses in CF.  😱😳🙈

I agree with you but it seems like Vegas always knows something in these situations. They love to draw folks in on a line like this and then bam! You get a 24-21 game...

Thanks Stat and yep, ball protection will be numero uno. IMHO converting 3rd downs (and indirectly, as you point out, avoiding 3rd & longs) will be a very close 2d.   

Agree with "team victory" and leaning on defense. Do not attempt FG over 50 yds. Punt the ball and play defense and get the ball back in good field position. Make Moo State make long drives for potential scores. Do not give them short field to work with.  I imagine this is MSU game plan also; make the other teams poor offense beat you.

1 hour ago, AUDevil said:

If the opposite is called a pancake, what's that called?

 

1 hour ago, atl-tiger said:

Crepe

It's called 'crepe'ing the bed.

I'm thinking we abandon the run game completely for the 1st quarter - max protect, keeping our RB in to block - then on our first play of the 2nd quarter we do that delayed RB draw and they run it in for a TD. Then we go for 2 where Malik keeps it instead of throwing to a wide open Shenker.

Final score: Auburn 6 - Moo State 3

I, for one, am lowering my expectations of the team. OR readjusting my view of things. To a time when I was happy with an Auburn victory, regardless of the enemy Auburn played. And not be p!ssed off because Auburn did not beat the Arkansas and Southerns of the world by 40 points. Take the win, albeit how ugly, be satisfied with it, and move on to the next game.

I'll use this thread to brag about Deshaun Davis this year...the guy has been a monster! He's leading the team in tackles and it's not even close.

43 total tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, and 3 quarterback hurries

The next closest in tackles is Darrell williams with 29

War Eagle DD

33 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I'll use this thread to brag about Deshaun Davis this year...the guy has been a monster! He's leading the team in tackles and it's not even close.

43 total tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, and 3 quarterback hurries

The next closest in tackles is Darrell williams with 29

War Eagle DD

Yep, hes been awesome.  Hopefully he can keep the D playing at a high level regardless of what the offense does.  He stays fired up and gives it his all the entire game.

48 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I'll use this thread to brag about Deshaun Davis this year...the guy has been a monster! He's leading the team in tackles and it's not even close.

43 total tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, and 3 quarterback hurries

The next closest in tackles is Darrell williams with 29

War Eagle DD

My man crush. I've been saying best since Bynes, but we might be looking further back now. 

Of course, DD also has a pretty complete squad around him, to include as good a DL as we'll ever have. 

Just now, McLoofus said:

My man crush. I've been saying best since Bynes, but we might be looking further back now. 

Of course, DD also has a pretty complete squad around him, to include as good a DL as we'll ever have. 

Absolutely loved Bynes and I felt like, while he was respected, he was never appreciated for just how well he played at Auburn.

Loved the way Eltoro Freeman played too. Frankly I'm just glad we don't have LB woes...there were a few years where I felt I could have started for Auburn at LB

I was watching a pro game last weekend, which I rarely do.  They had a clock on Eli Manning and there was a play where he got the ball off in 1.3 seconds and the pass was complete for a 5 yard + gain.  Thats what we need with the OL problems.  Quick crosses and flares.  Quit running these slow developing patterns when you know the protection is lacking.  We are not going to run over the MSU front and there is not enough protection for the long throws with 4 receivers in the pattern.  Max protect and have two guys in the pattern if you are going to try a deep throw.  The defense and the Stidham are going to have to win this game.  We can’t win it taking sacks and running up against a wall without effective blocking.  

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