Did we turn a corner today?

[Carnell 592]

We won't turn any corners until people in the AD stop running this program like a high school program and run it like an SEC program.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,852]

I think they turned a corner in the sense that the rest of the schedule sans Alabama looks pretty bad on defense. They theoretically should be able to run on anyone 

But 0 100+ yard passing days against real teams…that trend has got to stop lol 

[AUloggerhead 2,356]

4 hours ago, bigbird said:

No. When we can have a consistent and unpredictable passing game and can convert 3rd and 4th and 1's, then we can say we turned the corner. 

If anything, today reaffirmed that the thing in the distance that we've been squinting at is, in fact, THE corner. On the bright side, we're heading in the right direction and we've got a guy leading us that knows the way. 

And there's also the slight problem of having to burn two TOs early in the game because the offense can't get lined up correctly or whatever -- that screams the offense is still a work in progress.  

[W.E.D 11,070]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

Then again, what defenses have they faced

Ole miss was held to 10pts at Bama.  Can we do similar?  That's a big question mark

[bigbird 60,701]

5 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Ole miss was held to 10pts at Bama.  Can we do similar?  That's a big question mark

I think a better chance than others they play

[DAG 34,216]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

I think a better chance than others they play

I have a fear their QB will kill us on the blitz. But I have high hopes for the defense .

The offense ? Not so much. 

[TexasTiger 13,556]

11 hours ago, ScotsAU said:

There’s already a thread on moral victories. And I’m never a fan of claiming them. The ugly win at cal was still a win. The loss to UGA was still a loss… to one of our biggest rivals, and honestly the one I can’t stand the most. It hurts, and I’m far from celebrating tonight.
But… UGA has a legit defense, and we were in it until the end. The coaches finally found something that works with our personnel. For the first time since Bo Nix went down in 2021, it felt like the offense had an identity. 
Thoughts?

If our identity is we can’t pass for 100 yards, I’d say we haven’t turned a corner.

[bigbird 60,701]

41 minutes ago, DAG said:

I have a fear their QB will kill us on the blitz. But I have high hopes for the defense .

The offense ? Not so much. 

Me too. Gonna have to tighten up the zones or get pressure quicker

[AUApostle 7,665]

1 hour ago, Carnell said:

We won't turn any corners until people in the AD stop running this program like a high school program and run it like an SEC program.

Speaking of high school offenses…you-know-who was up 35-10 on Baylor’s 26 yard line with 16 minutes left in the game, and lost.

[Old fan 47 777]

4 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

Buckle up

This may just get ugly versus these two teams this year. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,536]

Every game takes on a different personality.  Not wise to assume this or that based on what 2 other teams did against each other.  Who would have thought AU would rush for over 200 yds against GA

[Hank2020 3,237]

33 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Every game takes on a different personality.  Not wise to assume this or that based on what 2 other teams did against each other.  Who would have thought AU would rush for over 200 yds against GA

Agree, read it many times this past week. “We won’t be able to run, so will have the throw.”

[autan 773]

1 hour ago, Old fan 47 said:

This may just get ugly versus these two teams this year. 

Sure could, but I'd still go with UGA over either one of those two, assuming Bowers is not injured.

[Viper 3,197]

13 hours ago, ScotsAU said:

Did we turn a corner today?

Absolutely not. Our two TD drives came off turnovers / short fields (48 and 32 yards).

Meanwhile, their TD drives were 56, 98 and 75 yards.

[WillMunny 1,445]

2 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

If our identity is we can’t pass for 100 yards, I’d say we haven’t turned a corner.

Yes, and even when our pass-challenged QB delivers a nice 50-50 ball to our receivers, they pretty much 100% don't catch it.

I think a lot of Freeze's past success has been rooted in receivers catching 50-50 balls.  Our receivers don't seem big and strong enough to win hardly any of those battles.

[tbone4jc 2,252]

IMO, we are pulling up to the corner with the turn signal on. My if’s, and’s and but’s….

 Dropped balls killed us.if we caught those then the less than 100 yards wouldn’t exist. PT was on point for a good portion of the game, finally. 

Injuries and lack of depth were the reason we couldn’t stop them in the 2nd half. When we blitzed more often then not they made us pay.

It’s a loss and I hate it but we showed so much improvement on offense. It’s clear to our recruits that we need playmakers and from what I am reading/hearing, a lot of them are drinking the frozen kool-aid and lovin it!

Wae Eagle fam!!

Edited October 1, 2023 by tbone4jc

[TigerTennis80 351]

I agree: No corner turned, but today it feels much more like we're heading in the right direction than it did last week. Hopefully the bye week allows us to get some people healthy, work on catching balls, & identifying an outside blitzer among other things. In the appreciating progress category, I'll point out 1 penalty for 5 yards & only the 1 TO late in a near desperation situation. In the WTH category, since I mentioned our awful short yardage offense in another thread, here I'll bring up our 3rd & long defense. Why can we not stop a 3rd & long? And y'all, that's not just this year! It seems like I've been screaming about this for7-8 years! Different coordinators, different personnel, against different offenses, doesn't matter. I'm starting to wonder if there's something in the freaking water in Auburn! For years I've said I'd rather we faced a 3rd & 3 than 3rd & 12! It's just so frustrating! 

[TexasTiger 13,556]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

Absolutely not. Our two TD drives came off turnovers / short fields (48 and 32 yards).

Meanwhile, their TD drives were 56, 98 and 75 yards.

So UGA turned a corner. 😉

[Tiger 8,841]

Realistically we are probably in between what we saw vs TAMU and UGA

[ellitor 33,284]

7 hours ago, Carnell said:

We won't turn any corners until people in the AD stop running this program like a high school program and run it like an SEC program.

@Carnell I'm almost afraid to ask but what are you referring to specifically?

[ArgoEagle 1,968]

Our receivers (except for Fairweather) have a bad habit of trying to let passes come in to their bodies & not extending their hands to catch a pass. Therefore we are getting balls punched out by DB's ( example Malcolm Johnson on that last back shoulder pass).

Next_ the only way we get pressure on the QB is to blitz. That's not good. HF needs to focus heavily on the D Line & Edge Rushers on recruiting.

Why were we not chucking Bowers at the line on that last series. Everybody in the stadium knew they were going to him and he just ran free off the LOS & got open with ease.  I would have put our toughest safety in his face on the line & popped him as soon as he came off the line & at least slowed him down.

Our O line is serviceable, but we don't pick up blitzes well & don't straight up pass block very well.

At least HF figured out how to move the ball effectively with the RPO, but we have got to coach our receivers up to pass for over 100 yds. per game before we turn a corner.

Here's an idea: Throw short passes to the TE's more & run more slant patterns.

Edited October 2, 2023 by ArgoEagle

[auburnatl1 5,727]

Next 2 weeks maybe we should go back to the basics.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,852]

8 hours ago, Old fan 47 said:

This may just get ugly versus these two teams this year. 

Tulane was cooking Ole Miss for 3 quarters with their backup QB who I believe was a true freshman. That is a dreadful defense. LSU has talent but they aren't much better in terms of results. I would not pencil in a butt kicking, much less a loss, against either of those teams right now (depending on how much faith you have in the pre-2022 read option offense we seem to be reduced to) 

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Obviously we haven’t turned a corner but we do know that this season looks like a typical Gus season except we are less successful. Under Gus it seemed we didn’t find an identity until week 4-6. Can’t wait to see if we find some identity after the bye week.

[Win4AU 4,068]

The running game looked pretty decent.  Payton made better looking throws for the most part.  Next is to figure out how to catch the balls.  Maybe after that they can start implementing a sophisticated offense like they tried to do in the offseason.  LSU’s weakness is defensive secondary.  If Auburn doesn’t take advantage of that it could be a long night in Red Stick.