Some thoughts on Scrimmage #1

[StatTiger 3,188]

Before we jump to any conclusions, it was a scrimmage and the first one at that. Bottom line, it certainly gives the Auburn coaches the best evaluating tool to gauge the progress of the younger players. It’s great football is finally here and won’t be long before Utah State.

Great to hear that Tre Mason stepped up in the first scrimmage. Adding another weapon to Gus Malzahn’s arsenal can’t hurt and having a 3-headed monster at the running game will help the offense. It would appear that Coach Luper’s comments about Mr. Mason were valid.

It sounds like the offense got off to a hot start and the defense finished stronger. In a season with so many new faces, that could end up being a successful theme in 2011 if the Tigers can maintain it. Since 1981, Auburn has compiled a 127-10-0 record, when scoring at least 17 pts by halftime. This includes a 14-0 record under Gus Malzahn.

Before anyone becomes too concerned about the defense, keep in mind the tempo of the offense, which won’t likely be duplicated by anyone else on the schedule except for Clemson. Prepping against this offense will better prepare the defense for their actual games. How many diverse offenses will the Auburn defense face anywhere similar to the Auburn offense? Malzahn’s offense is not only deceptive and fast tempo, it can also be extremely physical. Hoping the freshman who will contribute on defense will benefit from practicing against the Auburn offense when the actual season rolls around.

Coach Ted Roof mentioned the defense gave up too many big plays. Is this a valid concern? Yes it is but not a major concern at this point. It’s important to keep in mind the ratio of impact plays a Gus Malzahn offense creates. Auburn’s offense had 80 plays of 15-yards or more in 2007 and 62 in 2008. The 2009 AU offense generated 120 impact plays and the 2010 offense totaled 144. As good as the Alabama defense has been the past two seasons, Malzahn’s offense has 13 impact plays in the last 2 Iron Bowls.

The fact that the Auburn offense was able to be explosive at times without the services of Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb was impressive. I realize some will take it as the defense having issues but even if that’s the case, Auburn’s ability to score will keep them in every game in 2011. As Auburn fans, we had grown accustomed to winning with defense for so long but last year’s team proved you can win it all with an explosive offense.

Sounds like the quarterbacks are competing hard and doing well, which will make the decision of selecting a starter a tad more difficult. In the end, it will likely be the little things the average fan has no clue of which will be the deciding factor in choosing the eventual starter. This is a quarterback friendly offense but minimizing mistakes and recognizing where the ball should be placed is what Malzahn will look for. All three can do it but who can do it consistently.

Over the past 5 seasons, there have been 65 freshman starters at quarterback at the FBS level. That accounts for 13 percent of all the starting quarterbacks. Of those 65, only 25 were true freshman. The true freshman at quarterback had a QB rating of 122.8. The 45 RS freshman quarterbacks had a combined pass rating of 130.8. Sorting all 65 freshman QB’s by pass rating, 17 of the top-20 were RS freshman.

War Eagle!

[banditmwp 713]

Sounds like the quarterbacks are competing hard and doing well, which will make the decision of selecting a starter a tad more difficult. In the end, it will likely be the little things the average fan has no clue of which will be the deciding factor in choosing the eventual starter. This is a quarterback friendly offense but minimizing mistakes and recognizing where the ball should be placed is what Malzahn will look for. All three can do it but who can do it consistently.

THIS. Things that can't be measured on a stat sheet are what's going to determine our starting QB. Rhythm, familiarity with the offense, and the ability to read defenses and adjust accordingly are also going to be deciding factors.

Great breakdown, Stat.

[RunInRed 16,994]

Good stuff, as always, Stat! And for those who missed them, we've recapped Scrimmage 1 here.