Post-UMass notes

[AURex 2,055]

A win is a win is a win! And there was a lot of good going on for our Tigers.

A few notes as we wait for the real pros here at AUF to give their analyses.
1. Lots of jabber during fall camp about up-tempo on offense. Didn't see it.
2. Geriner was so obviously a better passer than Robbie. If Thorne goes down, I expect him to be in there. Robbie is still just a running package.
3. UMass was clearly overmatched, so Robbie scored easily in the red zone. That may not happen against decent SEC defenses.
4. The OL looks MUCH improved, although we will know more against Cal.
5. Dammmmmm, do we got us some RBs? Even if Hunter is gone, no drop off IMO. All these guys looked mighty fine to me. Of course, that was with good blocking up front against overmatched UMass. Still, I loved our RB play. Let's hope our OL is as good going forward as it looked today.
6. First team Thorne + starting receivers, just 60% completions. This is not gonna win against top SEC teams.
7. Auburn defense did a good job attacking the UMass crippled QB, blitzing. Less effective when working against healthy QBs. Still, the DL was playing well and DBs did pretty well for a first game. The LB play was not so impressive. Work needs to be done here. A lot of plays out of position. Missing some key players on D, so hopefully will be better as they return.

Well, that's just the off the wall observations of an old dude who has been watching Auburn FB since the 60s. Let's hear what the pros have to say.

WDE!

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Would like to have seen the offense establish an identity.

The defensive front is a concern.

[Win4AU 4,055]

I saw some a good bit of uptempo.

Greiner did look better throwing but I only saw his one back shoulder throw.

60% is pretty decent.  

Defense definitely took a giant leap after that first series.  

Not a whole lot to be deciphered against UMass.  Cal beat up on North Texas pretty good so who knows how good they are as well.  It may be a close game.

[LPTiger 5,202]

We went fast during the first half and snapped it several times with less than 10 seconds off the play clock.   Multiple times UMass did not have their D set.    CHF said he intentionally called it off in the second half to shorten the game and get out healthy.

The Robbie runs are to set up other plays later in the year.

 I only recall 2 plays thru the first 3 quarters where our OL allowed penetration.   They gave up zero sacks.   The game is a lot easier when those guys are legit SEC players.   I think we played 3 true freshman on the OL in the 3rd and 4th Q.

The D difference after the first drive was using our star to apply pressure on the QB.   We went from no 3rd downs on the first possessions to 2 3 and outs.

3 penalties and zero pre snap penalties, no turnovers, no sacks allowed, 3 sacks caused, 2 Turnovers created and should have been 3, no missed extra points or FGs, explosive ko and punt returns.

I didn't see Thorne miss a read. 

Rushed for 292 yards.

Granted it was UMAss but this was a complete game.   As good as we have played in game 1 in a long, long time. 

[sevenlee36 1,654]

7 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

I saw some a good bit of uptempo.

Greiner did look better throwing but I only saw his one back shoulder throw.

60% is pretty decent.  

Defense definitely took a giant leap after that first series.  

Not a whole lot to be deciphered against UMass.  Cal beat up on North Texas pretty good so who knows how good they are as well.  It may be a close game.

Yep, would like to have seen Geriner throw the ball more. Those two back shoulder passes were certainly beuts!

Edited September 3, 2023 by sevenlee36

[LPTiger 5,202]

17 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

Would like to have seen the offense establish an identity.

 

Seven we had 7 different ball carriers carry it for 292 yards, 6 running touch downs and a 6.6 yd per carry average.   And, we threw it for 200 yards.   What did you feel was missing?

[sevenlee36 1,654]

1 minute ago, LPTiger said:

Seven we had 7 different ball carriers carry it for 292 yards, 6 running touch downs and a 6.6 yd per carry average.   And, we threw it for 200 yards.   What did you feel was missing?

It was a cluster of randomness. I’d guess that’s mostly because everything was working. What is going to be our “bread and butter”? Don’t feel like we answered that. I don’t think we know what our true RedZone offense is going to be either. Certainly we aren’t going to put a different QB in to run just the redzone offense every time we enter the redzone? 

[woodford 3,679]

5 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

It was a cluster of randomness. I’d guess that’s mostly because everything was working. What is going to be our “bread and butter”? Don’t feel like we answered that. I don’t think we know what our true RedZone offense is going to be either. Certainly we aren’t going to put a different QB in to run just the redzone offense every time we enter the redzone? 

You expect them to show everyone what they have first game of the year against UMass? Auburn hasn’t played a complete game like that since maybe Akron in 2021 or sometime in 2019 off the top of my head. 

[sevenlee36 1,654]

1 minute ago, woodford said:

You expect them to show everyone what they have first game of the year against UMass? Auburn hasn’t played a complete game like that since maybe Akron in 2021 or sometime in 2019 off the top of my head. 

Since it’s such a new group/team plus they are going on the road next Saturday, I would like them to fine tune the game plan as best they can, and as early as possible, so they can improve and work out the kinks sooner. Certainly hold back some, but the very base offense I’d like fine tuned early. But idk, just my opinion. 

[woodford 3,679]

Just now, sevenlee36 said:

Since it’s such a new group/team plus they are going on the road next Saturday, I would like them to fine tune the game plan as best they can, and as early as possible, so they can improve and work out the kinks sooner. Certainly hold back some, but the very base offense I’d like fine tuned early. But idk, just my opinion. 

I get your point. I think we’ll see a little more next weekend. 

[LPTiger 5,202]

8 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

Since it’s such a new group/team plus they are going on the road next Saturday, I would like them to fine tune the game plan as best they can, and as early as possible, so they can improve and work out the kinks sooner. Certainly hold back some, but the very base offense I’d like fine tuned early. But idk, just my opinion. 

I don't know if you had the chance to hear CHF's postgame presser.   He was asked about the offense's balance in the game.    He said it in a much nicer way that this, but what he said was basically "they couldn't stop anything we were doing.   We could run it, throw it, whatever we wanted to do."   To your point, I think he felt we are better able to fine tune against our scout team Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in private vs against UMass in public.   

[auburnatl1 5,253]

Other than winning, it’s always tough to feel great after playing a team like this. But we’ve also experienced feeling awful after playing a team like this.

This feeling is better.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I feel like our identity is simple- run the ball right at teams until they can stop us. Our OL is pretty good. Thorne and WRs still need to work on timing. He’s only been practicing for 5 weeks with these guys. He looked fine to me. 

Defense is a big concern - especially the  linebackers. I wish I could see the stats on who played, and how many plays. 

[ScotsAU 1,343]

Disagree on several of the notes here. I think you’ve overreacted to some stuff.
 

Robby and Holden barely threw the ball. Not enough of a sample to say who is better from what we saw in the game. But this idea that Robby is not really the second string needs to die. Geriner was the first eliminated in the competition, and he was almost exclusively playing with reserves in his limited number of series. He threw a beautiful pass, but it was only 1 pass. Ashford took over earlier in the game, and was playing with mostly starters and key rotational reserves. He’s clearly number 2 on the roster.

The running plays in the redzone were still very vanilla, a sign that Freeze and Monty probably didn’t want to show too much. Those may not work against top talent, but other plays potentially will. A few of those runs looked like plays we ran against A&M last year though, so… They weren’t Georgia, but we were able to do some of those vanilla qB runs with a weaker OL against an SEC opponent.
 

Several of Thorne’s misses seemed to be qb/receiver not on the same page. There were also a few cases of very blatant missed defensive holding calls that ended up being missed by Thorne because the receiver was interfered with. Take those out, and Thorne’s numbers were relatively good. The communication will likely get better as Thorne gets more reps with these guys as well. So, while i agree the completion percentage needs to get better, chances are that it will improve.

[AU-24 3,119]

53 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

It was a cluster of randomness. I’d guess that’s mostly because everything was working. What is going to be our “bread and butter”? Don’t feel like we answered that. I don’t think we know what our true RedZone offense is going to be either. Certainly we aren’t going to put a different QB in to run just the redzone offense every time we enter the redzone? 

If this makes you feel any better: Freeze said a couple weeks ago, if they stack the box on us, we’re not even gonna try to run, we’re gonna throw the ball all over the field. Freeze went on to say: if they don’t stack the box, we’re going to run the ball.

[nthemix 106]

good, solid performance in a warmup game … my personal observations

Thorne is a VERY average QB … he’s a game manager … when we’re ahead we’ll love him, when we’re behind we won’t … I sincerely hope I’m wrong but I’m not

Robby can be an excellent QB … he has exceptional talent running the ball but desperately needs to learn some touch … I think he may be the starter before the end of the year

O line looked MUCH improved … that’s wasn’t hard to do BUT looked much better nonetheless

I believe that the secondary can be very good but I think the D line is a concern … we’ll see 

I ❤️ out new return guy … my dude is exciting 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,389]

3 minutes ago, nthemix said:

good, solid performance in a warmup game … my personal observations

Thorne is a VERY average QB … he’s a game manager … when we’re ahead we’ll love him, when we’re behind we won’t … I sincerely hope I’m wrong but I’m not

Robby can be an excellent QB … he has exceptional talent running the ball but desperately needs to learn some touch … I think he may be the starter before the end of the year

O line looked MUCH improved … that’s wasn’t hard to do BUT looked much better nonetheless

I believe that the secondary can be very good but I think the D line is a concern … we’ll see 

I ❤️ out new return guy … my dude is exciting 

I thought Thorne showed some impressive athleticism on a 3rd down scramble that lead to converting a first down through the air. I was at work while the game was on, so I couldn't pay that close attention, but that particular play stood out.

[AUloggerhead 2,268]

We saw Robbie throw & complete a slant route for a first down.  A SLANT route!  

[AdamsHouseCat 43]

I thought Thorne looked good. He was poised and confident.  I can see why Freeze praises his leadership.  His mobility is better than I expected.  I thought his passing looked totally fine.  Several of the misses were timing issues with new receivers- we have talent there too.  Admire Robby's contributions, and Holden's passes looked great. Offensive line and running backs were really good.  And this was without Hunter. 

Kickoff coverage was a problem but should be fixable.  In all other ways special teams looked really good. 

Defense- we will see. UMass first possession was discouraging.  We looked much better afterward, but that also coincided with the UMass QB losing his mobility.

I think we will have at least an OK season.  Possibly emotionally similar to  Pat Dye's first season.  All things Auburn are on the same page.  The trajectory is up from here.

[LPTiger 5,202]

I agree that Thorne looked good.   He had one ball in the 1st Q to Jay Fair that he could have thrown a little further down the field but Jay got both hands on it and didn't come down with it.  That would have been another completion and another 40 yards.   He threw one ball to Hooks on the east sideline that Hooks tried to catch with one hand (and Hooks was immediately pulled out).   It could behave been thrown better but it also could have been caught.   The scramble to his left where he squared his shoulders and threw 20 yards to Hooks was impressive.   The TD to Fair was perfectly thrown.   The back shoulder throw to Hooks was perfect.  He avoided the rush really well and took a pretty good hit on the 1st drive.  His guys voted him a team captain after only being in Alabama for 3 months.   I think we are going to be pleased with him at the end of the year.

[TexasTiger 13,138]

1 hour ago, LPTiger said:

The Robbie runs are to set up other plays later in the year.

This. We’ll see him throwing when better D’s focus on the run.

[WFE12 9,191]

I said it once I’ll say it again. Best RB room in the country debate ya mama. We know how special Quez is and now we see Damari and Battie. Cobb was somebody I was excited to see from fall camp reports and he’s special. I didn’t know Sean was shifty like that. Dude was moving like CAP out there. We’ll see how the o-line continues to play but we should make DC’s worried around the country. The future is very bright. We got backs on the bench that could be starters at other schools.

Edited September 3, 2023 by WFE12

[W.E.D 11,070]

33 minutes ago, nthemix said:

Thorne is a VERY average QB … he’s a game manager … when we’re ahead we’ll love him, when we’re behind we won’t … I sincerely hope I’m wrong but I’m not

Think this is a bit extreme.  He's not elite. But I think he's above average.  He made some solid throws today above a game manager level.

Him and the WR need to get on the same page. It's gonna be a slow ramp up

[passthebiscuits 6,888]

2 hours ago, LPTiger said:

We went fast during the first half and snapped it several times with less than 10 seconds off the play clock.   Multiple times UMass did not have their D set.    CHF said he intentionally called it off in the second half to shorten the game and get out healthy.

The Robbie runs are to set up other plays later in the year.

 I only recall 2 plays thru the first 3 quarters where our OL allowed penetration.   They gave up zero sacks.   The game is a lot easier when those guys are legit SEC players.   I think we played 3 true freshman on the OL in the 3rd and 4th Q.

The D difference after the first drive was using our star to apply pressure on the QB.   We went from no 3rd downs on the first possessions to 2 3 and outs.

3 penalties and zero pre snap penalties, no turnovers, no sacks allowed, 3 sacks caused, 2 Turnovers created and should have been 3, no missed extra points or FGs, explosive ko and punt returns.

I didn't see Thorne miss a read. 

Rushed for 292 yards.

Granted it was UMAss but this was a complete game.   As good as we have played in game 1 in a long, long time. 

This. ^^^^^ so much…So I had to repost. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,819]

1 hour ago, nthemix said:

Thorne is a VERY average QB … he’s a game manager … when we’re ahead we’ll love him, when we’re behind we won’t … I sincerely hope I’m wrong but I’m not

I think he can be whatever the 2023 version of McCarron is, as a ceiling. As a pre-emptive response to snarkiness, I don’t meant that as a pejorative. There were much, much worse options in the transfer portal than Thorne.