First, I am sorry for the lateness of this post. I was always upset in previous years when nobody posted on Sunday and again I am doing the same thing. So let's get to it...
One good part about waiting a little late is getting to surf around a bit and gauge the AU reaction to the game. The reaction to this game is well I am starting to wonder if we beat LSU instead of La Tech. Yes they had a winning season last year and won a bowl game (over a MAC team) but they are still just La Tech. I mean I am excited we played fairly well and the new offense showed some results but let's not completely lose it here.
I have decided to title my AU game reviews: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I mean everyone and their brother does "game grades" and I have always found grading individual units in a team game like football rarely accurately reflects what happened. This also provides me a format to be positive first and then get an extra rant on something in at the end (-:
Alright AU vs. La Tech, THE GOOD...
The game stats.
In my previous predictions post I put the thing to watch for in our game was Malzahn and our offense. Well things started slow as I believe the coaches were trying to protect and build Todd's confidence. I thought we finally broke through with the big pass to get us a field goal before the half. That was nice. The long pass play was of course awesome. I was so happy for Terrell Zachary. The guy has waited a long time for that.
McCalebb put up the best freshman rushing performance in AU history so I would say that is good. Ben Tate also put up his usual solid performance. Mario Fannin also made some big plays as you would expect. Darvin Adams made some plays giving us actual production from both our starting WRs which is a nice change from the previous regime. The "Wildcat" package was largely ineffective but Kodi Burns did score a TD which was nice. Finally, all this was powered by the OL so props to them as well.
All in all, it was a pretty good night on offense. I have said again and again over the years that offensive coordinators doing good put up good stats. It is as simple as that. It is not the only way to determine a good offense but it is a large one. On Saturday night we put up 500 yards of offense and scored almost 40 points. Those are good stats and are indicative of a good performance.
There was not quite as much buzz about the defense as not much changed on that side of the ball formation and strategy-wise from the Tub years. However other than stupid penalties we played pretty good. It was also nice to hear of an actual effective halftime adjustment that really worked...
"I think it was a combination of things," said Bulldogs coach Derek Dooley. "Once we got behind them a little bit, it changes a little bit of your mentality, and then they switched to man-to-man in the second half. They were playing zone early on and we were able to pick at it early on. Once they covered us up, their guys were playing better than our guys and we just couldn't win."
DL Nick Fairley really had a good first game as did freshman safety Darren Bates. The rest of the guys including former "invisible man" Craig Stevens did as well. Bottom line we held them under 2 TDs and with less than 300 yards total offense.
THE BAD...
Alright folks, the sunshine and lollipop time is over with. How do you determine bad or be critical of a team? What is your point of reference? I don't know about other people but mine is comparing us to an SEC West champion. Mine is seeing if we are showing what it takes to compete with the best in this conference. If your point of reference is just knowing that we played pretty good and we have some good players then hey just stop here and stick with the sunshine and lollipops.
I still don't see a team that is going to beat the good teams in this conference. It starts with QB. Chris Todd did some nice things but he also did some nice things and had about the same stats against Southern Miss last year. The guy is still slow, he still cannot throw the deep ball and he is still indecisive at times. The rainbow "punt pass" he lobbed to Fannin almost got Fannin really hurt. I still think good SEC defenses are going to eat Todd alive.
A basic theme of the spread no matter what variation you are running is that you have to have a good QB. It emphasizes the QB. There is no hiding the QB some as you can do in a more traditional offense. I also think our current group of WRs will get pushed all over the field by a good SEC defense. I think McCalebb can be effective against better defenses but he will not get all those cheap yards outrunning the defense to the corner like he did Saturday.
Next, just like I knew, the myth that the spread will get "so many people involved" is still just that, a myth. Other than Zachary's big play we basically only had 2 guys catch balls. Yes we ran the ball much more but if you think it is just going to suddenly happen when you travel up to Knoxville in a big game I think you are wrong. Tommy Trott and Deangelo Benton got one pass each I believe thrown their way. Kodi Burns only got "Wildcat" carries except for the trick play to Trott that failed. There is still a chance for us to change this somewhat so we will see.
Defensively we did not seem to get a lot of pressure on the passer in the first half and they made some plays passing short. I am hoping we turn up the pressure against some of the tougher teams we play.
THE UGLY...
Commercial breaks on a game being broadcast on ESPNU. I mean COME ON. It is simply amazing that any QB and offense on any team can ever keep a rhythm in a televised football game.
THE FINAL WORD...
Andy Bitter actually beat me to it. This mirrors what I wanted to say exactly:
"So in summary, a good first game. Is it enough for me to change my 6-6 prediction? Not yet. I don't like being one of those people who see one game and convince myself that will be the way things happen for the rest of the season, and that would have been the case had Auburn lost as well. But I do have to say that after seeing what Malzahn did with this offense after one game (just to reiterate, 556 yards!), that things looked to operate much better than I thought they would. Now let's see how it works against a defense from the SEC. It should be interesting."
One good part about waiting a little late is getting to surf around a bit and gauge the AU reaction to the game. The reaction to this game is well I am starting to wonder if we beat LSU instead of La Tech. Yes they had a winning season last year and won a bowl game (over a MAC team) but they are still just La Tech. I mean I am excited we played fairly well and the new offense showed some results but let's not completely lose it here.
I have decided to title my AU game reviews: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I mean everyone and their brother does "game grades" and I have always found grading individual units in a team game like football rarely accurately reflects what happened. This also provides me a format to be positive first and then get an extra rant on something in at the end (-:
Alright AU vs. La Tech, THE GOOD...
The game stats.
In my previous predictions post I put the thing to watch for in our game was Malzahn and our offense. Well things started slow as I believe the coaches were trying to protect and build Todd's confidence. I thought we finally broke through with the big pass to get us a field goal before the half. That was nice. The long pass play was of course awesome. I was so happy for Terrell Zachary. The guy has waited a long time for that.
McCalebb put up the best freshman rushing performance in AU history so I would say that is good. Ben Tate also put up his usual solid performance. Mario Fannin also made some big plays as you would expect. Darvin Adams made some plays giving us actual production from both our starting WRs which is a nice change from the previous regime. The "Wildcat" package was largely ineffective but Kodi Burns did score a TD which was nice. Finally, all this was powered by the OL so props to them as well.
All in all, it was a pretty good night on offense. I have said again and again over the years that offensive coordinators doing good put up good stats. It is as simple as that. It is not the only way to determine a good offense but it is a large one. On Saturday night we put up 500 yards of offense and scored almost 40 points. Those are good stats and are indicative of a good performance.
There was not quite as much buzz about the defense as not much changed on that side of the ball formation and strategy-wise from the Tub years. However other than stupid penalties we played pretty good. It was also nice to hear of an actual effective halftime adjustment that really worked...
"I think it was a combination of things," said Bulldogs coach Derek Dooley. "Once we got behind them a little bit, it changes a little bit of your mentality, and then they switched to man-to-man in the second half. They were playing zone early on and we were able to pick at it early on. Once they covered us up, their guys were playing better than our guys and we just couldn't win."
DL Nick Fairley really had a good first game as did freshman safety Darren Bates. The rest of the guys including former "invisible man" Craig Stevens did as well. Bottom line we held them under 2 TDs and with less than 300 yards total offense.
THE BAD...
Alright folks, the sunshine and lollipop time is over with. How do you determine bad or be critical of a team? What is your point of reference? I don't know about other people but mine is comparing us to an SEC West champion. Mine is seeing if we are showing what it takes to compete with the best in this conference. If your point of reference is just knowing that we played pretty good and we have some good players then hey just stop here and stick with the sunshine and lollipops.
I still don't see a team that is going to beat the good teams in this conference. It starts with QB. Chris Todd did some nice things but he also did some nice things and had about the same stats against Southern Miss last year. The guy is still slow, he still cannot throw the deep ball and he is still indecisive at times. The rainbow "punt pass" he lobbed to Fannin almost got Fannin really hurt. I still think good SEC defenses are going to eat Todd alive.
A basic theme of the spread no matter what variation you are running is that you have to have a good QB. It emphasizes the QB. There is no hiding the QB some as you can do in a more traditional offense. I also think our current group of WRs will get pushed all over the field by a good SEC defense. I think McCalebb can be effective against better defenses but he will not get all those cheap yards outrunning the defense to the corner like he did Saturday.
Next, just like I knew, the myth that the spread will get "so many people involved" is still just that, a myth. Other than Zachary's big play we basically only had 2 guys catch balls. Yes we ran the ball much more but if you think it is just going to suddenly happen when you travel up to Knoxville in a big game I think you are wrong. Tommy Trott and Deangelo Benton got one pass each I believe thrown their way. Kodi Burns only got "Wildcat" carries except for the trick play to Trott that failed. There is still a chance for us to change this somewhat so we will see.
Defensively we did not seem to get a lot of pressure on the passer in the first half and they made some plays passing short. I am hoping we turn up the pressure against some of the tougher teams we play.
THE UGLY...
Commercial breaks on a game being broadcast on ESPNU. I mean COME ON. It is simply amazing that any QB and offense on any team can ever keep a rhythm in a televised football game.
THE FINAL WORD...
Andy Bitter actually beat me to it. This mirrors what I wanted to say exactly:
"So in summary, a good first game. Is it enough for me to change my 6-6 prediction? Not yet. I don't like being one of those people who see one game and convince myself that will be the way things happen for the rest of the season, and that would have been the case had Auburn lost as well. But I do have to say that after seeing what Malzahn did with this offense after one game (just to reiterate, 556 yards!), that things looked to operate much better than I thought they would. Now let's see how it works against a defense from the SEC. It should be interesting."
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