al.com : Scarbinsky: Replace Auburn's Roof already? That's just crazy talk

[TigerGlide 1]

..."That goes with the territory," said former Auburn coach and current AUTigers.com blogger Pat coach and current AUTigers.com blogger Dye. "On Ted's behalf, last year we didn't have near-enough people on defense. We still don't have enough people, and we're playing with a lot of young ones."

See what he did there? He played the depth card and the youth card, all in one hand. It's true on both counts, but well-played just the same coach.

Continue"There's more than one coach over there" on that side of the ball, he said. So git 'er done, Tracy Rocker, Tommy Thigpen and Phillip Lolley."Besides that," Dye said, "I know damn well Gene Chizik knows how to coach defense,...

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I have to say that I agree. I think the quick turn around of the offense has set an unreasonable standard for the D. Roof needs more time and more recruiting classes.

[dabrasco 127]

I agree with you on giving him more time to develop the defense; I did like that we were putting more pressure on the QB than last year.

[Mikey 16,755]

All the injuries gave some validity to the depth excuse last year. Now we've got three returning starters back in the defensive backfield alone, plus Gaston, Clayton some fine recruits on that side of the ball.

We got taken to the woodshed last Saturday by the same thing we got whupped with last year: The short passing game.

This year's defense now has as much depth and as much experience and anybody else has. It's time to put the excuse book up and fix whatever the problem is. 26 (twenty-six) points to a mid-level program is not a good sign.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

All the injuries gave some validity to the depth excuse last year. Now we've got three returning starters back in the defensive backfield alone, plus Gaston, Clayton some fine recruits on that side of the ball.

We got taken to the woodshed last Saturday by the same thing we got whupped with last year: The short passing game.

This year's defense now has as much depth and as much experience and anybody else has. It's time to put the excuse book up and fix whatever the problem is. 26 (twenty-six) points to a mid-level program is not a good sign.

Woodshed? Really? The biggest issue, imo, were blown coverages by Etheridge and him missing a tackle on their rushing TD, which to me was just him being rusty. Him, Savage and McNeil have been playing long enough to know they can't make those mistakes. I have full confidence those 3 will probably not make any mistakes like that again. If they do keep happening, then I think you can start worrying, but I just don't see that being the case. These guys are vets and know better and will definitely learn from their mistakes.

I thought other than that and playing soft coverage and giving up the underneath routes, our defense actually looked pretty good. 43 yards rushing on 34 attempts, 4 sacks, 10 TFL and 12 QB rushes. I like to see the D line getting after it.

Plus, Stevens was out. Hopefully he's back this Thurs. He'll give our D and short pass coverage a big boost.

[TitanTiger 20,527]

All the injuries gave some validity to the depth excuse last year. Now we've got three returning starters back in the defensive backfield alone, plus Gaston, Clayton some fine recruits on that side of the ball.

We got taken to the woodshed last Saturday by the same thing we got whupped with last year: The short passing game.

This year's defense now has as much depth and as much experience and anybody else has. It's time to put the excuse book up and fix whatever the problem is. 26 (twenty-six) points to a mid-level program is not a good sign.

I hardly think you could call that the woodshed. Especially considering that after the halftime adjustments, we all but shut them down. About 130 yds and 10 pts in the 2nd half is pretty stout. And 7 of those points were on a drive that started around our 30 because of the turnover. We also only allowed them to convert 5 of 18 on third down which is strong no matter how you slice it.

We definitely need to tighten up on the short passing game coverage and get better on the tackling angles though.

[Duder 238]

I'm not saying fire the guy yet but we cannot let another season go by and make excuses for poor fundamentals. Our coverage was soft Saturday night and on some of the plays where we were in position, we bothced tackles. We are still tackling poorly and taking poor angles in pursuit. There was consistent pressure on the QB and we didn't disguise blitzes or coverage or anything like that Saturday as we will when we get into the meat of the schedule.

That being said, young or not, we should be more talented than Arkansas State and should not give up 26 points--period. I thought our secondary would be a strength this year but it certainly looked weak Saturday. I know Etheridge, Savage and McNeill had a long layoff and are rusty--I get that. Neiko and Demond didn't play as well as we'd hoped either. I hope it will improve but who knows

[Mikey 16,755]

I thought other than that and playing soft coverage and giving up the underneath routes, our defense actually looked pretty good.

Since those are the things that got us beat in the Iron Bowl and let Northwestern back into the Outback Bowl, I'm disappointed. There has to be something a team can do other than let the opposition march down the field with a series of underneath passes.

[ziggyg 2]

there definately is no rest for the weary (roof and company) with Dan Mullin who will give them everything they can handle Im sure. Most of the problems can be cleaned up I hope but as the season wears on the coreners are going to press the wide receivers and not give them such a cushion for under neith passes all day. The Bend dont break mentality is becoming old quick. I kn ow that has to dow tih depth so the youngins need step up the learning curve. would halp also if we could get some more pressure form the Dline even though I thought Fairley had a great game.