Offensive Analysis

[LPTiger 5,202]

Forewarning -- this may make you ill. I'll posit that our play calling is making Thorne look worse than he is...   Here is the analysis.

1st Q:

We have just 2 possessions.

Our first 2 plays of the game were QB runs.   On 3rd down Thorne overthrows JJ on a crossing route.  Punt

Drive 2 consists of 6 plays, the first 4 were all runs, then the near disastrous shuffle pass/pitch, sack, punt.

So first quarter, we attempted 2 true passes, both in obvious passing situations on 3rd down.  Thorne overthrew one and was sacked once.

2nd Q:

In the second Q we give Thorne 5 throws on first down.   They go 1. complete for 10 yards, 2. complete for 8 yards, 3. complete for 3 yards, 4. complete for 13 yards, 5. sack.

His other attempts are 2nd and 12 incomplete, 3rd and 12 complete and a 1st down, 2nd and 15 incomplete, 3rd and 20 incomplete, 3 sacks in a row 2nd 16, 1st and 10, 3rd and 8.

So in the 1st half: we called 11 true pass plays plus the pitch/toss.   Thorne was 5 for 10 (counting the pitch/toss play) and was sacked twice.  He was 4 for 4 on 1st down throws.  3 of the 4 incompletions were where we needed to pick up 12, 15 and 20 yards.   

 

So coming out of the half, we decide to do what (a) give Thorne more 1st down throws and try to keep him out of 2nd and 3rd and longs or (b) give him just 3 more attempts for the rest of the game?   Answer is B.   In the 2nd half, Thorne is given 3 pass attempts and none on first down.   His attempts were on 2nd and 11 sack, 3rd and 19 incomplete and 3rd and 25 complete.    In 17 drop backs he was sacked almost 33% of the time = 5 sacks.   Only 1 of the 5 sacks came on a 1st down attempt.  Even when he wasn't being sacked, he was under pressure (except on the missed TD where he simply failed to execute the play).

 

1st Q we have 4 1st down plays and all are runs.

2nd Q we have 9 first down plays and just 4 are runs.   Of the 5 passes, 4 are complete and we have 1 sack.

3rd Q we have 3 first down plays and all are runs.

4th Q before inserting Gernier, we have 6 1st down plays 4 are runs, 2 are passes by Ashford and both were incomplete.

For the game 22 first down calls, 15 run plays called on 1st down.

Bonus analysis= Both of A&M's touchdown throws were on A. 1st down, B. 2nd down, C. 3rd down?    Answer = A.

At the end of the second half and starting the 3rd Q, Thorne was sacked 4 straight times - only 1 was on first down.

 

Cutting edge analysis -- when Thorne was allowed to throw on 1st down, we were successful 80% of the time.   Despite this, we only gave him 5 1st down throws, all in the first half. 

 

So what is the answer:   IMO - we need to give Thorne more 1st down throwing chances. The troubles with our pass pro are exacerbated when everyone knows we are throwing.    We also need to give him some easy throws early in the game (instead of the 2 called QB runs) to get him settled.  

Most important --- WE NEED TO SETTLE ON A QB -- NOW!!!!!!!!!!!.  We need to look no further than to our nearest competitor to the west.   He tried the multiQB thing and it bit him.  Yesterday, despite a killer end-zone int thrown into double coverage, Saban stuck with Milroe and was rewarded.   No one plays well when looking over their shoulder.  I think this is particularly true for PT.  The kid was a 2 time Captain at MST.   He was elected Captain here after just a few weeks.  For better or worse we need to roll with him -- or someone.  

 

[TexasTiger 13,119]

16 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Forewarning -- this may make you ill. I'll posit that our play calling is making Thorne look worse than he is...   Here is the analysis.

1st Q:

We have just 2 possessions.

Our first 2 plays of the game were QB runs.   On 3rd down Thorne overthrows JJ on a crossing route.  Punt

Drive 2 consists of 6 plays, the first 4 were all runs, then the near disastrous shuffle pass/pitch, sack, punt.

So first quarter, we attempted 2 true passes, both in obvious passing situations on 3rd down.  Thorne overthrew one and was sacked once.

2nd Q:

In the second Q we give Thorne 5 throws on first down.   They go 1. complete for 10 yards, 2. complete for 8 yards, 3. complete for 3 yards, 4. complete for 13 yards, 5. sack.

His other attempts are 2nd and 12 incomplete, 3rd and 12 complete and a 1st down, 2nd and 15 incomplete, 3rd and 20 incomplete, 3 sacks in a row 2nd 16, 1st and 10, 3rd and 8.

So in the 1st half: we called 11 true pass plays plus the pitch/toss.   Thorne was 5 for 10 (counting the pitch/toss play) and was sacked twice.  He was 4 for 4 on 1st down throws.  3 of the 4 incompletions were where we needed to pick up 12, 15 and 20 yards.   

 

So coming out of the half, we decide to do what (a) give Thorne more 1st down throws and try to keep him out of 2nd and 3rd and longs or (b) give him just 3 more attempts for the rest of the game?   Answer is B.   In the 2nd half, Thorne is given 3 pass attempts and none on first down.   His attempts were on 2nd and 11 sack, 3rd and 19 incomplete and 3rd and 25 complete.    In 17 drop backs he was sacked almost 33% of the time = 5 sacks.   Only 1 of the 5 sacks came on a 1st down attempt.  Even when he wasn't being sacked, he was under pressure (except on the missed TD where he simply failed to execute the play).

 

1st Q we have 4 1st down plays and all are runs.

2nd Q we have 9 first down plays and just 4 are runs.   Of the 5 passes, 4 are complete and we have 1 sack.

3rd Q we have 3 first down plays and all are runs.

4th Q before inserting Gernier, we have 6 1st down plays 4 are runs, 2 are passes by Ashford and both were incomplete.

For the game 22 first down calls, 15 run plays called on 1st down.

Bonus analysis= Both of A&M's touchdown throws were on A. 1st down, B. 2nd down, C. 3rd down?    Answer = A.

At the end of the second half and starting the 3rd Q, Thorne was sacked 4 straight times - only 1 was on first down.

 

Cutting edge analysis -- when Thorne was allowed to throw on 1st down, we were successful 80% of the time.   Despite this, we only gave him 5 1st down throws, all in the first half. 

 

So what is the answer:   IMO - we need to give Thorne more 1st down throwing chances. The troubles with our pass pro are exacerbated when everyone knows we are throwing.    We also need to give him some easy throws early in the game (instead of the 2 called QB runs) to get him settled.  

Most important --- WE NEED TO SETTLE ON A QB -- NOW!!!!!!!!!!!.  We need to look no further than to our nearest competitor to the west.   He tried the multiQB thing and it bit him.  Yesterday, despite a killer end-zone int thrown into double coverage, Saban stuck with Milroe and was rewarded.   No one plays well when looking over their shoulder.  I think this is particularly true for PT.  The kid was a 2 time Captain at MST.   He was elected Captain here after just a few weeks.  For better or worse we need to roll with him -- or someone.  

 

Play calling is abysmal and doing him no favors. His hesitancy is also a factor in multiple sacks.

[LPTiger 5,202]

Looking back at the Cal game, we had 23 first down plays.   18 were run calls.

[auburnatl1 5,227]

2 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Looking back at the Cal game, we had 23 first down plays.   18 were run calls.

After what Washington did to cal yesterday - that win hasn’t aged well. If Thorne is indeed “panic prone” against who we’ve played so far (especially with our ol), what’s he going to do against the uga and lsu defenses?  It almost feels… cruel.

[WillMunny 1,384]

I'm unsure of what sequence of plays could have been called yesterday that would have constituted "good play calling".

Thorne missed a wide open receiver for a TD that would have softened up A&M's defensive front, allowing the run game to open up.  Then a wide receiver dropped a 3rd-and-long pass that would have moved the chains.  Once A&M saw we did not have the personnel required to mount an effective passing attack, they dared us to throw and we couldn't.

Robert Griffin III said there were several plays where Thorne didn't see open receivers and instead took sacks.  And on other plays, he had only about 2 seconds to throw the ball before having to flee the pocket.

Then there were 3-4 holding calls that put the coaches further in a hole.

In order to call good plays, a coach must have players that can execute good plays.  I don't think we have that yet (against SEC competition), and it will take a couple more recruiting cycles before we do.

Just my opinion.

[LPTiger 5,202]

A&M was nearly perfectly balanced yesterday on 1st downs.   They had 21 fist down calls, 10 were passes including 2 TDs and 11 were runs.

[LPTiger 5,202]

18 minutes ago, auburnatl1 said:

After what Washington did to cal yesterday - that win hasn’t aged well. If Thorne is indeed “panic prone” against who we’ve played so far (especially with our ol), what’s he going to do against the uga and lsu defenses?  It almost feels… cruel.

The score in Cal Washington sure looked bad for Cal.    It was made worse by a pick 6 and a TD on a punt return.   Overall the stats were fairly even Cal had 502 total yards of offense vs Washington at 539.   Cal had 28 first downs to Washington's 23.

 

[e808 3,028]

Is Washington who is the number 8th team, with a heisman trophy candidate , playing at home and in the same time zone a fair way to judge how good or bad the Cal win is. I watched the entire game and Cal didn’t play bad it was those plays that @LPTigermentioned that blew the game open. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by e808

[auburnatl1 5,227]

2 minutes ago, e808 said:

Is Washington who is the number 8th team, with a heisman trophy candidate , playing at home and in the same time zone a fair way to judge how good or bad the Cal win is

They were down 41-6 early in the second quarter. There’s obviously context but… that’s a lot of context.

[e808 3,028]

1 minute ago, auburnatl1 said:

They were down 41-6 early in the second quarter. There’s obviously context but… that’s a lot of context.

Final score was 51-33. I believe.

[Carnell 592]

If A&M had been a good team the score would have been similar to Oregon/Col yesterday.  But that A&M team had several miscommunications yesterday. Examples QB/WR weren't on the same page, on the play where Fair was wide open for a touchdown the CB went to take the inside guy who was already covered by a safety.  Unfortunately Fair could have standing on top of a Redwood and still could not have got to the ball.  A&M linebacker play were spotty did not control the misdirection (didnt) see any misdirection by Auburn after 1St Quarter.  OL was not good.  

The play selection noted was not the only problem, Auburn should have used Fairweather for clearing routes and try to get WRs and RBs matched up with linebackers.  This game A&M was just more effective of taking advantage of our mistakes than we were of there's.  

[aubaseball 2,670]

Thanks LP for the stats.   I knew it wasn’t balanced and I was talking to the tv all day yesterday wondering why AU wasn’t passing on 1st down more.   Would love to know how many times aTm blitzed on 1st down knowing Auburn was going to run.  
Not sure if Auburn ran any wide receiver screens or screens at all???   Perfect call for teams that blitz like they were doing.  

[Gowebb11 9,424]

2 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Forewarning -- this may make you ill. I'll posit that our play calling is making Thorne look worse than he is...   Here is the analysis.

Good analysis. PT needs to be a ‘quick read-throw to a spot’ QB. CHF is already in a tough spot. I’m pretty sure he knows he needs to take over the play calling, but doesn’t want to do that to his new OC. It will be interesting to see how he navigates the situation. 

[Hank2020 3,223]

1 hour ago, Carnell said:

If A&M had been a good team the score would have been similar to Oregon/Col yesterday.  But that A&M team had several miscommunications yesterday. Examples QB/WR weren't on the same page, on the play where Fair was wide open for a touchdown the CB went to take the inside guy who was already covered by a safety.  Unfortunately Fair could have standing on top of a Redwood and still could not have got to the ball.  A&M linebacker play were spotty did not control the misdirection (didnt) see any misdirection by Auburn after 1St Quarter.  OL was not good.  

The play selection noted was not the only problem, Auburn should have used Fairweather for clearing routes and try to get WRs and RBs matched up with linebackers.  This game A&M was just more effective of taking advantage of our mistakes than we were of there's.  

They had 2 very good QB’s.

[WarDamn2010 183]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I don't see play calling being the biggest issue here. I see him being unable to complete passes of more than 8-10 yards, being wildly inaccurate, being scared, and holding ball wayyyyy too long. The OL hasn't been great, but his hesitancy has made them look considerably worse imo. The WRs aren't helping much either. Hard to blame the coaches for calling run plays when they know what we've got in the passing game.

[yngwie1995 2,232]

It worries me a little bit that they went with QB (Payton) runs on the first 2 plays. At least soften them up with a passing game first? It's too early to tell if that's gonna work much in the future, but....

It reminds me of Gus and the WR screen. For some reason, I feel like Auburn has never been very effective with WR screens (for whatever reason). But, it worked ONE TIME (ironically against aTm, with Sammie Coates in 2013), and Gus kept going back to it over and over, and as far as I can recall, it never (or rarely) worked again. 

But until we prove that we can pass the ball, teams are going to continue stack the box against us. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by yngwie1995

[LPTiger 5,202]

2 hours ago, aubaseball said:

Thanks LP for the stats.   I knew it wasn’t balanced and I was talking to the tv all day yesterday wondering why AU wasn’t passing on 1st down more.   Would love to know how many times aTm blitzed on 1st down knowing Auburn was going to run.  
Not sure if Auburn ran any wide receiver screens or screens at all???   Perfect call for teams that blitz like they were doing.  

The one I recall was on 3rd and 28.   PT rolled right and then back left to Fairweather.   It gained 3 yards.

[tbone4jc 2,241]

If PR would stop looking at the dlinemen and looked downfield to scan for open receivers maybe we could pass more? If our OLine gave him more than 1.5 seconds before there is pressure he would be more aware of our receivers instead of the defense? If PT could recognize obvious blitzes and adjust maybe he could check out a bad play? There are so many intangibles that happen during a game and practice that limit play calling, execution is paramount to great play calling just as the opposite is true. It’s a long road to recovery. People are nit-picking every bad call and equating it into everything but the most obvious thing, we do not have the personnel to compete against average to good teams on offense.
 

I stated my concerns about the transfer portal, in particular the OLine and them being small school transfer but was rebutted by several people here. I don’t care if we had Bo Nix back he would be in the same predicament as he was when he was here, or worse, with the lack of talent we have. It is going to be a long road to recovery, 3-4 years IMO. We need quality OL more than ANY OTHER POSITION!! For the love of God make it happen or we will not be anything more than what we see now

[AURex 2,052]

I suppose, as an "excuse" we can say the two starters were out on the OL. In previous games, including Cal, the OL was pass blocking better. Of course, different level of competition. But A&M was basically shutting down the run as best they could and daring Auburn to beat them through the air. It worked for them.

And I'm not sure that simply calling more passes on first down would have solved much. There were plays on which Thorne had open receivers and he had time to throw -- and he air-balled the passes. Brown dropped a perfect strike, I guess because it hit him right in the hands. Other times, Thorne was taking coverage sacks when he should have thrown the ball away.

I'm actually not trying to be a negative nellie. I'm sure Freeze and Montgomery see all of the problems better than we do. But he's building a team from the bottom, with the best personnel they could round up, and the guys have not been playing together long enough to gel. It's going to take time.

I just want to see the offense improve over the season. I know it will be hard to actually see improvement, because some of the upcoming games will be ... um .... difficult to watch. I just hope to see receivers running better routes, Thorne not air-balling so many passes, and better use of Fairweather.

 

 

[GoAU 1,612]

Some random musings:

1) Play calling could have something to do with it, but the lack of blocking exasperates the situation, as does the compounded impact of pressuring the QB so he doesn't see receivers.  Remember, Bo was "panic prone" at AU too - common denominator: OL performance.

2)We knew coming into this season that it was going to be a rebuilding process.  I think a lot of us seem to have forgotten that after 3 wins.

3) The team is still fighting, so I'll keep cheering 'em on!

 

 

[TexasTiger 13,119]

41 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

The one I recall was on 3rd and 28.   PT rolled right and then back left to Fairweather.   It gained 3 yards.

Stupid call that doesn’t take advantage of his special skills.

[LPTiger 5,202]

19 minutes ago, AURex said:

And I'm not sure that simply calling more passes on first down would have solved much.

 

 

Rex PT was 4 for 4 on 1st down throws and 2 for 8 on 2nd and 3rd down throws.  Small sample size no doubt.   Any coach will tell you that the best offense is one that is balanced.   We were not balanced in this game or in the Cal game.   For the year, we are 62% run heavy.   Thorne has completed 65% of his passes on the year but has only had 75 attempts.   UGA, LSU and UT have had 148, 137 and 133 attempts.   This week CHF was still talking about receivers running the wrong routes, depth of routes, etc.  

[Auburn93 582]

5 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Forewarning -- this may make you ill. I'll posit that our play calling is making Thorne look worse than he is...   Here is the analysis.

1st Q:

We have just 2 possessions.

Our first 2 plays of the game were QB runs.   On 3rd down Thorne overthrows JJ on a crossing route.  Punt

Drive 2 consists of 6 plays, the first 4 were all runs, then the near disastrous shuffle pass/pitch, sack, punt.

So first quarter, we attempted 2 true passes, both in obvious passing situations on 3rd down.  Thorne overthrew one and was sacked once.

2nd Q:

In the second Q we give Thorne 5 throws on first down.   They go 1. complete for 10 yards, 2. complete for 8 yards, 3. complete for 3 yards, 4. complete for 13 yards, 5. sack.

His other attempts are 2nd and 12 incomplete, 3rd and 12 complete and a 1st down, 2nd and 15 incomplete, 3rd and 20 incomplete, 3 sacks in a row 2nd 16, 1st and 10, 3rd and 8.

So in the 1st half: we called 11 true pass plays plus the pitch/toss.   Thorne was 5 for 10 (counting the pitch/toss play) and was sacked twice.  He was 4 for 4 on 1st down throws.  3 of the 4 incompletions were where we needed to pick up 12, 15 and 20 yards.   

 

So coming out of the half, we decide to do what (a) give Thorne more 1st down throws and try to keep him out of 2nd and 3rd and longs or (b) give him just 3 more attempts for the rest of the game?   Answer is B.   In the 2nd half, Thorne is given 3 pass attempts and none on first down.   His attempts were on 2nd and 11 sack, 3rd and 19 incomplete and 3rd and 25 complete.    In 17 drop backs he was sacked almost 33% of the time = 5 sacks.   Only 1 of the 5 sacks came on a 1st down attempt.  Even when he wasn't being sacked, he was under pressure (except on the missed TD where he simply failed to execute the play).

 

1st Q we have 4 1st down plays and all are runs.

2nd Q we have 9 first down plays and just 4 are runs.   Of the 5 passes, 4 are complete and we have 1 sack.

3rd Q we have 3 first down plays and all are runs.

4th Q before inserting Gernier, we have 6 1st down plays 4 are runs, 2 are passes by Ashford and both were incomplete.

For the game 22 first down calls, 15 run plays called on 1st down.

Bonus analysis= Both of A&M's touchdown throws were on A. 1st down, B. 2nd down, C. 3rd down?    Answer = A.

At the end of the second half and starting the 3rd Q, Thorne was sacked 4 straight times - only 1 was on first down.

 

Cutting edge analysis -- when Thorne was allowed to throw on 1st down, we were successful 80% of the time.   Despite this, we only gave him 5 1st down throws, all in the first half. 

 

So what is the answer:   IMO - we need to give Thorne more 1st down throwing chances. The troubles with our pass pro are exacerbated when everyone knows we are throwing.    We also need to give him some easy throws early in the game (instead of the 2 called QB runs) to get him settled.  

Most important --- WE NEED TO SETTLE ON A QB -- NOW!!!!!!!!!!!.  We need to look no further than to our nearest competitor to the west.   He tried the multiQB thing and it bit him.  Yesterday, despite a killer end-zone int thrown into double coverage, Saban stuck with Milroe and was rewarded.   No one plays well when looking over their shoulder.  I think this is particularly true for PT.  The kid was a 2 time Captain at MST.   He was elected Captain here after just a few weeks.  For better or worse we need to roll with him -- or someone.  

 

He has done that. When the game went to crap. He brought in Ash for relief.

[Old fan 47 775]

5 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Forewarning -- this may make you ill. I'll posit that our play calling is making Thorne look worse than he is...   Here is the analysis.

1st Q:

We have just 2 possessions.

Our first 2 plays of the game were QB runs.   On 3rd down Thorne overthrows JJ on a crossing route.  Punt

Drive 2 consists of 6 plays, the first 4 were all runs, then the near disastrous shuffle pass/pitch, sack, punt.

So first quarter, we attempted 2 true passes, both in obvious passing situations on 3rd down.  Thorne overthrew one and was sacked once.

2nd Q:

In the second Q we give Thorne 5 throws on first down.   They go 1. complete for 10 yards, 2. complete for 8 yards, 3. complete for 3 yards, 4. complete for 13 yards, 5. sack.

His other attempts are 2nd and 12 incomplete, 3rd and 12 complete and a 1st down, 2nd and 15 incomplete, 3rd and 20 incomplete, 3 sacks in a row 2nd 16, 1st and 10, 3rd and 8.

So in the 1st half: we called 11 true pass plays plus the pitch/toss.   Thorne was 5 for 10 (counting the pitch/toss play) and was sacked twice.  He was 4 for 4 on 1st down throws.  3 of the 4 incompletions were where we needed to pick up 12, 15 and 20 yards.   

 

So coming out of the half, we decide to do what (a) give Thorne more 1st down throws and try to keep him out of 2nd and 3rd and longs or (b) give him just 3 more attempts for the rest of the game?   Answer is B.   In the 2nd half, Thorne is given 3 pass attempts and none on first down.   His attempts were on 2nd and 11 sack, 3rd and 19 incomplete and 3rd and 25 complete.    In 17 drop backs he was sacked almost 33% of the time = 5 sacks.   Only 1 of the 5 sacks came on a 1st down attempt.  Even when he wasn't being sacked, he was under pressure (except on the missed TD where he simply failed to execute the play).

 

1st Q we have 4 1st down plays and all are runs.

2nd Q we have 9 first down plays and just 4 are runs.   Of the 5 passes, 4 are complete and we have 1 sack.

3rd Q we have 3 first down plays and all are runs.

4th Q before inserting Gernier, we have 6 1st down plays 4 are runs, 2 are passes by Ashford and both were incomplete.

For the game 22 first down calls, 15 run plays called on 1st down.

Bonus analysis= Both of A&M's touchdown throws were on A. 1st down, B. 2nd down, C. 3rd down?    Answer = A.

At the end of the second half and starting the 3rd Q, Thorne was sacked 4 straight times - only 1 was on first down.

 

Cutting edge analysis -- when Thorne was allowed to throw on 1st down, we were successful 80% of the time.   Despite this, we only gave him 5 1st down throws, all in the first half. 

 

So what is the answer:   IMO - we need to give Thorne more 1st down throwing chances. The troubles with our pass pro are exacerbated when everyone knows we are throwing.    We also need to give him some easy throws early in the game (instead of the 2 called QB runs) to get him settled.  

Most important --- WE NEED TO SETTLE ON A QB -- NOW!!!!!!!!!!!.  We need to look no further than to our nearest competitor to the west.   He tried the multiQB thing and it bit him.  Yesterday, despite a killer end-zone int thrown into double coverage, Saban stuck with Milroe and was rewarded.   No one plays well when looking over their shoulder.  I think this is particularly true for PT.  The kid was a 2 time Captain at MST.   He was elected Captain here after just a few weeks.  For better or worse we need to roll with him -- or someone.  

 

I appreciate your post and agree with it. I made some less than flattering remarks yesterday in the heat of the moment, but I think it’s the play calling and the switching in and out of the QB’s, so I agree with you. This is our 3rd supposed O minded coach in a row and the last four years, plus this one so far, don’t appear to be working.  That is not to compare to BH, who quite obviously didn’t do one bit of recruiting, but he managed to ruin a really good QB in Nix and now, as you stated, I just don’t buy that PT has forgotten how to be a QB. There seems to be a similar pattern going on the last four plus years. My hope is that the Walker White kid that is committed for now, is a QB that can take us to another level. I had my issues with Bo, but he played under 2 coaches that definitely didn’t help him out, with recruiting dogs on the OL. Freeze can recruit, but will he be able to hang on to what appears to be a decent class in 24, with the current product. I thought he was too closely cut from the GM cloth and so far, unfortunately, it’s coming true. A lot of changes need to continue to happen, before the program falls any further behind. I love AU and always have, but there’s just a lot that needs to change. I never expected it this year, but I did expect our O to look more capable and it just hasn’t. To me, it’s a combination of lack of particular players, play calling and discipline. Hope by year 3 it’s better, but will he get that long. The same old coach speak is really stale. 

[TigerTennis80 349]

2 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Good analysis. PT needs to be a ‘quick read-throw to a spot’ QB. CHF is already in a tough spot. I’m pretty sure he knows he needs to take over the play calling, but doesn’t want to do that to his new OC. It will be interesting to see how he navigates the situation. 

I've had the same thoughts about CHF & playcalling. He made his "name" as an excellent offensive mind & playcaller. Now he's given that up, for understandable reasons, so how does he respond when the offense is so disappointing? How does he succeed as a coach when he's no longer doing the things that primarily made him a successful coach in the 1st place? I'm so hoping he has a really good relationship with Montgomery & a really good sense of himself as a head coach who doesn't call plays. If so, then things will get better, even this season. If not, this season will get rockier. Which doesn't mean he can't succeed at Auburn. But we might not see the improvement & reasons for optimism that all of us are longing to see through this season.

As for me, I've not forgotten that this is a rebuilding year. But I've been hoping for those reasons for optimism: A defense that plays hard & makes some plays that excite us Aubies (check!); an offense with improved line play, improved QB play, creativity, fun... No checks there, I'm sorry to say. Not gonna lie, when we're 4 games in & lacking reasons for optimism on the offensive side, that's discouraging to me. I'm not at all getting down on CHF at this point. I'm still hoping he can be good at Auburn. But I'm discouraged, & I didn't want to be discouraged again 4 games into the season. I wanted to believe we've begun the climb back up the mountain. Today, however, I feel like we're still wandering in the valley. Rats!