Thoughts on Coach Borges and the Iron Bowl

[StatTiger 3,188]

How frustrated must Coach Al Borges be this season?

We all have heard all the comments made through out this season. Borges has lost his magic or he’s too predictable. Is there any truth to this? I don’t know but I do know the following…

Before the season started, Auburn lost it’s two starting tackles, three of it’s four key wide receivers and the starting fullback. As the season progressed, Borges watched his starting quarterback and running back battle with injuries since the LSU victory. He also lost his starting tight end, Cole Bennett, who was essential in the running game with the loss of his starting fullback. Midway into the season, Borges lost his starting center, who has since returned but is nowhere close to 100%. These are no excuses but personnel facts that have influenced his play calling.

We all know Borges scripts his first 15-20 plays of the game, which consist of 1st and 2nd down plays only. Third down plays are dictated by down and distance. The purpose of scripting these plays is to determine how the opponent will defend certain formations and given plays. From there, Borges would select his remaining plays and adjust accordingly. With the clock rule changes, we have seen the offense held under 55 offensive snaps, five times this season. How damaging is this?

Consider the following….

Of the last 408 Auburn games, the 2006 offense has four of the top 12 games with the fewest number of offensive plays. No other team appeared in the list of 12 games more than once except for the 2006 team, which appeared FOUR times.

How much does this affect the way Borges calls his plays? We’ve heard talk of him getting away from the running game too soon but can you truly blame him? He realizes he now has about 3 fewer possessions per game than before and he probably cringes when he watches the Auburn defense giving up another third down conversion as the clock continues to dwindle away. Now he has to obtain more quality from fewer opportunities, which is why he has commented on getting “bigger chunks” of yardage through the passing game. Even when we do put together a long and methodical scoring drive, it eats away time from future possessions. Without the ability to strike with the big play, he now must rely on a running game hindered with injuries to Kenny Irons and Brad Lester.

Looking back at his history of play calling, Borges will stick with the ground game when the Auburn defense is forcing 3 and outs. However, when the defense is struggling, Borges has a tendancy to rely more on the passing game in hopes of making up for lost opportunities.

It’s been a mess this season and Coach Borges has been forced into adjusting his offense due to personnel, injuries, a shorter clock and a defense that doesn’t force as many “3 and outs” as in the past.

The team has watched it’s conference and national title hopes dwindle away, not once but twice after the Arkansas and Georgia games. The Tigers can still fight for a 10-11 win season and a better bowl game but is there enough gasoline left in the tank? The Iron Bowl simply comes down to which team wants the game more. Alabama doesn’t have to be the better team to beat Auburn, they just have to want the game more to make the plays needed to make the difference in the game. The same can be said about Auburn.

It’s been an up and down season for Borges and the entire 2006 Auburn Tiger squad. It comes down to this last game against it’s biggest rival. Forget a bowl victory in Orlando or Atlanta because if you can’t win the conference title or a national title, you’d better play your heart out against Alabama. This is not to say that the Alabama game is more important than a conference title but it is now. It’s time to forget the disappointments from this season and focus on Alabama. If not, Alabama will certainly defeat Auburn this year because you can bet they want Auburn badly.

Forget the scripted plays and the limited opportunities Coach Borges. It’s Iron Bowl time and the opponent will be waiting on you like no other this season. Forget about motion, schemes and out smarting Coach Kines because he’s prepared for all that and has been the last two years. You got lucky last year Coach Borges. The Tide offense self destructed in the first period and gave you a short field to play on. It won’t happen this year so you better be hungry.

Auburn needs to be hungry for this game and do what they do best. Kines defense is good but cannot stop the run. It might be ugly and it might go late into the final period but Auburn needs to do what they do best. RUN THE BALL DOWN THEIR THROATS.

Yes, Brandon Cox will be needed to make key 3rd down conversions but don’t put the game into his hands when you have an offensive line more suited to run the ball with three good running backs to carry the load. Make Coach Shula panic this Saturday. Make Coach Shula worried about getting big chunks of yards with his passing game. The more you run the more he will want to pass the ball. There will be a few more 3 and outs on offense but there won’t be as many turnovers and sacks if Auburn rides it’s running game this weekend. The better running team has won 17 of the last 19 Iron Bowls so let it be Auburn that makes it 18 of the last 20.

Auburn's chances of winning are a lot higher with Kenny Irons or Brad Lester rushing for 100 yards than Brandon Cox attempting 25-30 passes. The "hunter" is always more hungry and Alabama is clearly the hunter coming into this year's game after losing four in a row. If we are to be the hunted, let it be the beast of all beasts. Make Alabama earn their victory if a victory is to be obtained. Make the Crimson Tide stop Lester and Irons because I don't believe they can.

War Eagle

[autkidd 0]

I don't think I've ever seen a post like this from you. Such emotion is filled throughout. Here's to the team having the same emotion throughout this week in practice and during the game saturday.

[AuburnGrad02' 0]

100% agreement!!! Can someone tack this on the Borges and Tubs door.

[Justin5 20]

thank you.

ive been trying to tell this to my friends all season

[TrojanTiger13 0]

War Damn Eagle

[WarTim 3,457]

Amen and AMEN ! ! !

p.s. Be careful. You will be labeled a sunshine pumper.

p.s.s. DEATH to all that is DARK PINK ! ! ! !

[Ranger12 46]

Dang Stat! This has to be the longest post you ever made that did not include statistics.

Great post and I concur. We need to run, run, and run some more.

[SKCAUB 0]

Looking back at his history of play calling, Borges will stick with the ground game when the Auburn defense is forcing 3 and outs. However, when the defense is struggling, Borges has a tendancy to rely more on the passing game in hopes of making up for lost opportunities.

Correct...and those usually seem to be the games we lose...see Wisconsin, Arky and UGA. The running game has to be given a chance at least. Hey, don't get me wrong...I love throwing on first down occasionally...but Irons gashed UGA last year...and that D was better than this years edition. And our guards and center are pretty good. JMHO

[PChamp119 96]

The reason Coach Borges was so successful in 2004 was because he had the talent and brought in a new scheme that DCs did not know how to defend. In 2005, same scheme altered a little to adjust for different talent. This year it is the same talent and the same scheme as 2006, so it is easy for the Defense to see what is coming.

The reason Arkansas and Tennessee and Florida have all had such good seasons is because of a new philosophy on offense that defenses are not used to seeing. As long as it is somewhat interesting (obviously Nall Ball was too vanilla to work), it will work in the short term. But things need to keep adjusting to keep defenses on their heels.

[upchuck 0]

I'm not sure what Florida offense you've been watching, but they are very mediocre and very beatable on offense.

[JB33 1]

Bottom line is that, even if CAB had called a great game (admittedly, maybe he didn't) and the offense had executed well (admittedly, they certainly didn't), we still would've lost. CTT and/or Will Muschamp, or whoever the defensive coordinator is these days, lost the game before it ever started. The defense simply didn't have a clue - all I saw was confusion. (How else do you explain Matthew Stafford running free up the middle, time after time, on simple QB draws??) As I expressed in another post, I think CTT (and/or WM, but mostly CTT) has a tendency to (once in a while) "overscheme" and outsmart himself -- Exhibit A: (inferior) 37, (superior) 15 -- and CTT prety well admitted as much after the game.

[edgecy 3]

Kenny Irons? Brad Lester? Ben Tate? It'd be crazy to see Brandon attempting 25-30 passes this weekend!

[AUMom 1]

Didn't CTT remark after the Fla. game, and maybe CWM did too, that they went back to basics

the 2nd. half, where we were very effective. I agree that a simple plan, run, hit, block, or whatever

it takes, may be the most advantageous for where our team is in terms of injuries etc. NO One

wants us to BEAT BAMA while they're down more than I do! WAR EAGLE!

[CCTAU 3,341]

Didn't CTT remark after the Fla. game, and maybe CWM did too, that they went back to basics

the 2nd. half, where we were very effective. I agree that a simple plan, run, hit, block, or whatever

it takes, may be the most advantageous for where our team is in terms of injuries etc. NO One

wants us to BEAT BAMA while they're down more than I do! WAR EAGLE!

They also switched to a 4-3. WE WILL NOT WIN WITH A 3-4 AGAINST BAMA. No pressure and Sarah Jessica Parker Boudroux Wilson will eat us alive. And he is not an inexperienced freshman like Stafford. Fear the 3-4!!!!!!

[aucanucktiger 1,798]

It seems like we always go to our TEs and RBs out of the backfield more in Ironbowls, maybe to offset an unusually active (charged up) Bama D. After the UGA game, watch for the Bama DBs to be licking their chops against Brandon. This situation sets up the RB safety valve/ TE short route once again. Look for it.

[TexasTiger 13,000]

Actually, I think it makes more sense to run the ball, and control the clock, when our D is not working. If we can force 3 and out, we can pass with less concern about its success. If we can't stop the other team, we need to not let them see the football.

[StatTiger 3,188]

Both teams have struggled protecting their QB's. Auburn has given up 27 sacks and bama has allowed 24. On the other side of the ball, Auburn's defense had 25 sacks to only 10 by Alabama. What concerns me is that Alabama has forced 24 turnovers and Auburn has 19. For various reasons Cox is not himself and the majority of Bama's turnover has come on pass defense. A focus on the running game would play in favor of our true strength on offense and would limit to some degree, Bama's strength on defense.

Don't get me wrong, I do realize Cox will be a factor in the ball game because we will have to throw the ball on critical downs but I'm just concerned about our recent turnover problems which is primarily in the passing game.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Wonder if Tubs has second thoughts about voting for the clock rule changes.

[cehuff21 0]

Can somebody please tell me why we don't use a two back system with Kenny and Lester??? I mean come on we need to get both of these guys on the field... They are playmakers! Hell you could even hide Tristan Davis Ben Tate in there with Kenny or Lester and get them some carries that way. I'm sure that would go for some big plays.... Honestly I think what made Ronnie and Caddy so good is because they were in at the same time. I think Kenny and Lester in at the same time would produce alot of the same results!

[auburnspice 21]

Can somebody please tell me why we don't use a two back system with Kenny and Lester??? I mean come on we need to get both of these guys on the field... They are playmakers! Hell you could even hide Tristan Davis Ben Tate in there with Kenny or Lester and get them some carries that way. I'm sure that would go for some big plays.... Honestly I think what made Ronnie and Caddy so good is because they were in at the same time. I think Kenny and Lester in at the same time would produce alot of the same results!

I think, at the very least, it would force the defense to think about which back might be getting the ball, or even what type of play we were running if we had two or three backs in at the same occasionally.

[TitanTiger 20,509]

Can somebody please tell me why we don't use a two back system with Kenny and Lester??? I mean come on we need to get both of these guys on the field... They are playmakers! Hell you could even hide Tristan Davis Ben Tate in there with Kenny or Lester and get them some carries that way. I'm sure that would go for some big plays.... Honestly I think what made Ronnie and Caddy so good is because they were in at the same time. I think Kenny and Lester in at the same time would produce alot of the same results!

The thing you forget about Ronnie...and what made him so good at that upback role, was that he was not only a starter quality tailback (Lester, Irons), but he was big enough to be a fullback. Ronnie was around 220 lbs. So when they ran Caddy, he could be a nice lead blocker while also taking handoffs or running pass routes.

Lester is 189 soaking wet. Irons is a shade over 200. It's not the same effect. I don't think you can sell to defenses that you're really going to run that much out of that formation...they'll key on the swing passes. Stewart is a better fit for that slot and perhaps next year it will be a good way to get Tate out there with Lester and possibly Enrique Davis. But I don't believe for a second that Lester and Irons will work the same way Ronnie and Caddy did and it's not just a matter of talent...it's a matter of physics.

[autigeremt 6,661]

Carl Stewart and Ben Tate may be the most instrumental of all the guys in the backfield come Satdy. Carl for more reasons that Ben, but this game needs to be a physical approach on Auburns part. The key will be the defense and their ability to create possesions. The more Auburn has, the better chance the Tigers have of wearing down the Turds.

Keeping the early game momentum will be a huge key for Auburn as well. In both the Arky and UGA games, the Tigers had to try and play catch up. This is not the kind of game we can afford. Auburn must go out, play with fire and get after the UAT D! Score early, and set the game up for ball control.

I know Auburn is better than UAT, but we should have been v/a UGA and Arky.

[Raven_tiger 5]

Injuries are a part of football. Good recruiting classes (such as we have been lead to believe that we have enjoyed) and gaining playing time through playing loer tier team are crucial in developing deep rosters. The success of the previous recruiting classes is argueable. One thing that can be said for sure is the lack of playing time to develop talent while letting starter reat and recover from injuries. Why was Cox playing late in the 3rd quarter (some 4th quarter too) in games such as: Tulane, Buffalo and Arky State? Other than the games were tight. Because of the this we have failed to develop talent in order to account for injuries.

Cox should not be the focus of the offense. With the very talented and deep running back pool, there should be no reason why Brandon should ever throw more than 12-15 times a game. Run, play field position and play good defense...

[aucanucktiger 1,798]

Thanks Stat. If you look at his career beyond AU, Al really shows his O talent in games against big rivals (USC when he was @ UCLA...although that team had NO talent, against Mich. & Ohio St. when he was @ Indiana, & Bama since he's been @ AU). Tubs saying as far back as October "Bama's coming up in 4 weeks" suggests to me they're putting a LOT of prep into the plans for this game.

Al's an historian too. I think he'll pay attention to his TEs up the middle and RBS out of the backfield (especially early) because they're safe plays that have worked for AU in past Ironbowls (especially when Bama's overrated DC blitzes on every play of the first quarter...and they will), they make sense for the chuck & duck situation his semi-healthy OL/QB are in and frankly, Bama's preparing for AU TEs probably stopped about the time Cole went down.

[WarTim 3,457]

Two words....Tommy Trott.