Time of Possession and Defense

[Friedchickenman 0]

I think we're all happy with how well our offense has done, and how explosive it has been, but at the same point I have to wonder if it might not be a double edged sword. I'm not blaming our offense for our defense not being up to standards obviously but when I start looking at statistics like this...

Team Rankings-Time of Possession

100 Texas Tech 6 27:57

101 Ball St. 6 27:57

102 Auburn 6 27:53

103 Georgia 6 27:45

104 California 5 27:42

105 San Jose St. 5 27:41

106 Western Mich. 6 27:38

107 Illinois 5 27:37

108 Iowa St. 6 27:21

109 Akron 5 27:16

110 San Diego St.

Malzahn's offense operates on the offense getting to the line and starting the play quickly. This can be good at times for catching the opposing defense off balance but if it's not working can be disastrous as we saw from the numerous 40 second 3 and outs from this past Saturday against Arkansas. When I look at at all those teams there, I see teams that struggle on defense, even UGA with all of their athletes and not having the depth problems that we have can't play defense when the time of possession is so low.

Tuberville warned about the spread before he switched to it with the Franklin debacle, saying that it makes your defense soft. I can't help but wonder if it's not true...Florida bucks the trend, but how many spread offense teams have you seen that have good defenses as well? Time can only tell if the spread offense will stick here, but part of me still feels the yearning to go Old School.

[bigsixfive 328]

It is true to a point. Malzahn is somewhat aware of it because he gives the D a little breather by burning clock for a little while until they sustain a drive. However, a working spread style offense is going to give the defense more of a breather than a Franklin style one that doesn't work

That's not the issues we're seeing this year, however I think StatTiger did a fairly detailed analysis of what Malzahn's offense might do to our D right after Chizik brought him on board. I think the main reason our TOP is off isn't because our offense can strike quickly, its because our D can't get themselves off the field.

[kickerman97 3]

Our defense would be fine if they could tackle.

[eibua12 81]

This horse was beat to death when Franklin came in.

[Justin5 20]

Other than the 3 and outs in the Arky game, I havent seen it really cost the D in terms of rest.

[Ryan Sanders 123]

Well, the defense was on the field a long time from the start, and I don't blame the offense. The defense from the get go would not get a stop on 3rd down... so when Arkansas scores at will, it puts the offense in a tough position and causes them to strain to move the ball which causes even more problems.

[TitanTiger 20,572]

The defense was pretty tired a couple of years ago under Borges when we weren't scoring too.

Mahzahn does take this into account. Each drive when we come out, until we get a first down the offense operates at more of a normal pace, taking more time off the play clock. That way if there is a three and out, the defense isn't literally right back on the field. But once we get a first down, things speed up.

bigsixfive is right. TOP is skewed not because our offense scores too fast, but because our defense isn't getting enough stops on 3rd down to get themselves off the field. That's happening even early in games before the defense has gotten tired.

Everyone's looking for some magic bullet, some excuse or reason and everything gets thrown out there like chum as the thing to explain it all: Roof's philosophy, the spread, not enough blitzing, whatever. Here's the brass tacks: we need more talent and we need more depth. That's it. We have some good players and we have some inexperienced guys that will be good players. What we don't have is enough of either right now. That will take recruiting more good players but obviously that won't happen this season. The guys we have will just have to get better and the offense will have to be clicking.

That's it.

[bird36 5]

You have a point that if Auburn speeds up the game to run more plays and have more possessions then the other team will also have more possessions.

Auburn may not rank in the top 10 in yards per game due to this. It would be more fair to compare yards per play, or points given up per opponent possession. Of course, all most of us care about it winning.

I will say part of the problem of TOP has been the fast pace of the offense, but part of the problem is a defense that can't seem to get off the field.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Our defense would be fine if they could tackle.

My thoughts exactly. Quit tackling by the facemask. Don't throw your hands up if you're a DB and the ball is overthrown, the refs don't seem to understand the overthrow idea. Get off the field on 3rd down and you won't be tired, period.

[subterranean_jack 112]

This year's defense just isn't as good as the Auburn defenses we've come to take for granted in the past, for various reasons. If this were a typical Auburn defense, this would not be an issue and Auburn would be on the verge of the Top 10.

Give Chizik a couple years to bring in more defensive talent. If he can keep this coaching staff together, Auburn is on the fast track to be a title contender. It just isn't going to happen this year, and we all knew that before the season started.

[AUman43 5]

Florida has enough depth that it doesn't matter what kind of offense you're running as does Bammer. When you have players stacked up like cord wood, it doesn't matter. Also, Roof doesn't have the right personnel (according to him) to have all the right people on the field at the same time and this limits what he can do and call. Give Chizik one more year and you'll see vast improvement and two more and you'll see a championship contender. JMO.