Our Defense, Our Team.

[imsoauburn 0]

Not gonna say I wasnt disappointed in our D tonight because I was. Not that im disappointed in our guys I just got my hopes up I guess. HOWEVER! I saw ALOT of exciting things tonight! Lots of positives to go with those negatives. We will improve. Im gonna go out on a limb and say that I think that will be our worst game defensively this season. Call me crazy, idc. We clearly have the players to have a good D, adjustments just have to be made. The pieces are there guys, so stop freaking out. It'll get better. You gotta have faith. Believe in your Auburn Tigers. Get behind Ted Roof or GTFO. Youre either withem or your not. I am still VERY VERY excited about this season! Theres no reason not to be!

WAR DAMN EAGLE! LETS GET READY FOR MISSISSIPPI STATE!

[Lint 0]

I like unicorns and candy falling from the sky too...

[imsoauburn 0]

I like unicorns and candy falling from the sky too...

Your an idiot and an embarrassment to Auburn. Take yourself somewhere chump.

I call it like I see it and ive seen enough of your dumbass tonight.

[SCWarEagle 4]

It's on.

I like unicorns and candy falling from the sky too...

Your an idiot and an embarrassment to Auburn. Take yourself somewhere chump.

I call it like I see it and ive seen enough of your dumbass tonight.

[au03cobrafan 0]

I just think the defense needs to be taught some basics and we'll be ok but till then it'll be the same ole same ole 

[AuburnEngineer 0]

I'm going to hold my tongue on our defense and our defensive coordinator until next week

[harvest tiger 0]

Trovon would clearly benefit the team more in the secondary

[GoCrazyAuburn 0]

a lot of young guys played tonight, and like the coaches said, there will be some growing pains.  At times the D looked very good and at times they looked like they did last year.

[styxfan34 0]

You think now's a time for Chizik to start DC shopping?

[AA 1]

I have a feeling that we will be missing a few members after their display tonight. Awful bammerish acting

[AuburnEngineer 0]

Emotions running high with alcohol mixed in, don't worry about it

[SCWarEagle 4]

I have a feeling that we will be missing a few members after their display tonight. Awful bammerish acting

Well, I want to be on record saying I was happy with the win. I thought Cam was spectacular, Dyer was as good as advertised, and Q. Carr showed up big. Dude knows how to get open and not get called for it, if you know what I mean. Good for him.

WDE

[styxfan34 0]

Emotions running high with alcohol mixed in, don't worry about it

^^^THIS I'm happy with the win but am worried

[AUCorpsman 0]

Those who have been around here for a long time know I'm no troublemaker, but I have to say, I'm worried about the defense.  Eternal optimist that I am I'm gonna chalk it up to facing a spread team with no tape on them, missing one of your starting linebackers, and playing all of our young talent.

Now you do have to differentiate by halves. 

1st Half:8 drives for 246 yds.

2nd Half:7 for 125  54 of which was the last drive against our back ups.

That in and of itself tells you something about coaching adjustments.

Let's talk about another good thing the D did tonight..after giving up a rushing touchdown on the kick return fumble, they get the ball on our 29 and make -14 yds for the drive.

You know, after looking at the stats, maybe I'm not as worried about our defense as I thought.  If we can just convince Cam not to score on 72 yard runs all the darned time, the D might catch their breath some too. 

[Gimme back that fish! 0]

I like unicorns and candy falling from the sky too...

Unicorns? Really?

I thought you liked goats from behind?

[paheadley 0]

I'll say the tackling was MUCH better than last year, but the secondary needs alot of work. I couldn't tell if they were playing extremely conservatively tonight, but I'm not sure im down with the "I'll let him catch the ball then make sure he doesnt go far" theory. I'd like to see them go for the ball and play more physical with more excitement, but like i said, i couldn't tell if they were being held back by the coaches or if there was a legitimate problem there. Rushing was kept in check all night long. They had what, less than 50 yards total?

Offense on the other hand (aside from some dumb penalties) looked SHARP. Newton and Dyer are clearly the 2 best players on the team. Fannin's fumblitis returned tonight, but he really played well when he was back in the H-back position as opposed to running it.

[aubieclaws 0]

I am like some others, i will hold my tongue for 1 more game..otherwise, I think it is time for a change!! tonights performance was a disgrace on national/local TV.. Our defense is not young, they are vets(most), there was no excuse for the play..to me, i think it may be time for a search for a DC..etc.. sorry, but, I had this feeling last year, and after tonight..got worse..The D is terrible !! i am sad to say.  WDE..

[BHDAU1 228]

The D is not good and I am sure its not because we dont have the talent.  I am hoping that Chizik will decide that he is going to take over D play calling and put more of his influence into what the D does.  If we were all fans of another school like UK or Texas Tech we would be happy with this kind of effort; but I grew up watching dominant Auburn defenses on TV and in person when I was in school there so this is a shock to the system.  I think Roof is just in over his head a little.  Maybe Chizik can get him up to speed if he takes a bigger roll in the coaching and play calling on that side of the ball.  It looks like we are headed for another year of playing 8 yrds off the receiver, letting them catch the ball and then try and tackle them.  Oh and the biggest frustration is that he coaches the Dbs to face guard the WR instead of looking back and playing the ball. 

The offense on the other hand is going to be special.  I have no doubt it will get better all season long and be near-unstoppable.  Hopefully Auburn can outscore everyone however I will have a head full of gray hair by the end of the season and Im only 30.

[WarEagle10 77]

I'm sorry, but I for one don't understand why people aren't concerned about the D. We didn't play well for many parts of the game, and that is just a fact. If it's so why not be concerned about it? Every fanbase criticizes their team from time to time. One certain fanbase is know for their "delusion" and constantly being in a "state of denial" and I hammer them about it every chance I get. One thing I try not to be is a hypocrite. I am as huge an Auburn fan, and an Auburn Man, as there is and I see no problem's with "calling it like you see it". Just my $.02.

P.S. That doesn't mean we can't improve on the D, but just from a one game perspective we have a long ways to go on that side of the ball.

[Aeronaut 0]

Not trying to offend anyone here but the defense in first half was pathetic.   It was good against simple concepts like "guy holding the ball runs towards you" , but anything more complex, like "guy throws the oblong spheroid forward towards another guy"  was not something mr ted roof could envision, or prepare against.

Hugh Freeze, the first year OC of ASU must've lived / coached on another planet because mr ted roof said that he had no idea what kind of offense will be unleashed by mr Freeze.    Here's an excerpt from that planet's newspaper:

Freeze brought his up-tempo, no-huddle version of the spread with him from Lambuth, an NAIA school where he was the head coach.

Chances are good that the Red Wolves will be much more aggressive through the air in 2010. One harbinger: there were 56 passes attempted during the spring game.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sunbelt/asu.htm

so... seriously the excuse of "first year OC" is bollocks.   The guy simply does not have what it takes to prepare a defense, in advance, on SEC level.   He always gets PWNED in the first half.  Maybe he should be introduced to some of the more advanced concepts, like "watching a FILM".

Mullen and Mallet must be licking their chops.

[AUrite 0]

Am I the only one around that saw the defense improve as the game went along?

We held them to just over 100 yards in the 2nd half.  After the gimme 27 yard TD less than 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter, they got a grand total of 3 points on their longest sustained drive of the half -- a whopping 54 yards.

The first half we had some busted coverages by the safeties and a few missed tackles, including one by Zac.  After that, Zac wrapped up and I believe we also gave up no more big plays.

[WarEagle10 77]

Am I the only one around that saw the defense improve as the game went along?

We held them to just over 100 yards in the 2nd half.  After the gimme 27 yard TD less than 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter, they got a grand total of 3 points on their longest sustained drive of the half -- a whopping 54 yards.

The first half we had some busted coverages by the safeties and a few missed tackles, including one by Zac.  After that, Zac wrapped up and I believe we also gave up no more big plays.

No, no, you are right about the D getting better as the game went along. My biggest problem is there are at least a handful of teams that we can't wait to make adjustments and change things at the half. If you listen to Gus, he is making changes during drives. I just don't see why we have to wait until the half to make adjustments on D. After 2 series we should have a pretty good idea what an opposing O is trying to do to us. I would like to see our D make opposing O's make adjustments, not the other way around. We did have some missed tackles tonight, but we tackled so much better as a team than we did last year. Our special teams are vastly improved also IMO.

[Stripe 5]

What I saw from our Defense that I liked was that unlike last year guys are wrapping up and making tackles. That was a glaring improvement.

My problem with our defense isn't that they guys aren't executing, it's that we are playing so far back that any QB is going to sit back and dink us for 10 yards and a first down on every play. we are literally 10 or more yards off of the Offensive players. and backpedaling as soon as there is a snap of the ball. We are giving up free yardage trying to keep passes in front of us. would rather see us play a much tighter coverage. there is no excuse for us to play that far off. Last year this might have been necessary because of the piss poor tackling and thin nunbers, but these guys are tackeling well and are not so thin any more.

Roof needs to wake up. someone please get him a fresh pot of cofee so that he can wake up and realize that this isn't the 2009 season.

Once this issue is fixed we will be just fine.

My only hope is that this was a set up to give Miss St. a false sence of confidence. i

[AUFan1 0]

I saw much better tackling versus what we saw last year. Gave up a lot of little short completions that turned into 10 or 12 yard gains, but other than that I thought the D was pretty vanilla. We also played a lot of young guys too. I'm glad to see that our D got tested during the first game, instead of watching a cupcake team throw up all over themselves. Take away the 2 cheap scores we gave them by coughing up the rock deep in our own end, and we are looking at only giving up 13 points instead of 26....

Also I think a lot of people around here forget exactly why the spread offense is so popular. It is a great equalizer, that allows smaller schools the ability to compete, because the "running" game is really all of the short passes. Jacksonville State or Appalachian State  *cough* *cough* *cough* ... It is an offense that allows a team to get the ball in the hands of their skill position people and play makers, and allows them to make plays in space. If Arky State or any of those other teams come out and line up in the I formation, and just try to pound the ball, you would see a different game.

I don't really see the need to panic at this point, because like it or not the spread offense is gonna allow lesser teams to move the rock and pick up yards. The biggest key is being able to consistently make solid tackles. Compared to last year, we looked much improved in tackling this game.

[weaglebeagle 0]

It seems like offensively Arky State just kinda followed the Northwestern formula from the Outback Bowl. I hope they make some adjustments because I think Miss State could give some similar looks. Honestly if you go back and look at last night you'll see that a lot of Arky State's big plays came off of missed tackles and blown assignments. I love him to death but I saw Zach get caught napping or in the wrong place a couple times. That will correct itself, he's just got to get back in game mode. Other times it was some of the defensive lineman. I think execution will get better and so will the defense.

That being said it's still disappointing to give up that many points to Arkansas state. But hey at least we didn't lose to Jacksonville State