Well most of us knew this was coming. Actually I should say some of us knew this was coming because they were a LOT of sunshine pumpers talking about 8 or 9 wins this summer and would tolerate no talk otherwise. Unfortunately even if you know it is coming it never happens exactly like you think it will and it still hurts just as much. This is not a very good Auburn football team especially on defense and especially where it counts and that is in the trenches. It also does not appear this team has the scrap that a under talented team like the 1981 team had. Those two things equal tough times.
There are many reasons but unfortunately there is not much that can be done at this point but ride it out and hope we can grab a big win somewhere. It will take playing a lot better than they have played up till now to get bowl eligible. It can be done. All we have to do is beat Ole Miss, Samford and grab one other win somewhere. The only realistic chance looks to be at Georgia or hope we catch Florida napping. We will have to see how the team responds after a couple of beatdowns at South Carolina and Arkansas. We will also have to see how the coaching staff responds to their first real dose of harsh criticism. This staff has not gone through that yet.
AD Jay Jacobs quickly played his hand this week already blaming everything on Tub's last two recruiting classes. It is correct that Tub's last two classes are probably the biggest problem this season but the AD throwing him under the bus publicly is probably not the best move. Tuberville deserved a lot more credit than he received for the national championship which was won with an offensive line and defense he recruited. However it appears he will get his due for the abominations that were the 2007 and 2008 recruiting classes. It has to be said though that Chizik has had 3 recruiting classes to prepare for this and could have done more to strengthen our defensive front seven. It is not like you could not see some of this coming.
It is also hard to understand what the coaching staff's plans were for this year during spring and fall practice other than writing books and basking in the glow of the national championship like the fans. A coaching staff at this level should be able to see we cannot run the same old lay-back-in-loose-coverage Cover 2 defense with our current talent level on defense especially on the line. More disturbing is the fact that our offensive coaches who are top notch do not seem to have settled on a strategy for this offense and have been tinkering since the first game bottoming out with last night's underwhelming performance against FAU.
So that is where we are. I had marked the next two games as losses way before the season started. Revenge is usually overrated as a motivator but Auburn absolutely humiliated South Carolina last year in the SECCG and there are a lot of players back from that team as well as the coaches that are REALLY going to want some payback. I do not think we will catch them napping. Bobby Petrino always lights up our defense just like he always lays down for Nick $aban and Bama. Arkansas will look like world-beaters in two weeks.
Our team is just going to have to ride it out and the coaching staff has to use these tough games to try and get the team better and hopefully we will get one big win and get to a bowl. However before then you better fasten your seatbelts and put your food trays in their upright position because we are about to experience... turbulence.
Must come to an end and Auburn's 17 game winning streak finally did at "Death Valley" in South Carolina. Losing always stinks and everyone complains and usually wants to fire somebody. Then the self-righteous all-knowing "gods" of proper fan behavior in the media will then tell the fans how stupid they are for complaining (even though these people are able to earn a living off these very same fans). Fans overreact, it is part of it. I bring this up because I want to differentiate what most Auburn fans are upset about from normal fan behavior. Auburn fans, at least this one, are upset about a historically bad defense and a consistently weak defensive coordinator. As I have posted over and over again, the stats tell the story. Ted Roof coached the worst defense in Auburn history two years ago in 2009 and is now guaranteed to surpass that this season.
Yes we are low on talent especially on the defensive line but you have to WORK to be this bad. Clemson ran up over 600 yards of offense, 600 YARDS!!! They held the ball almost 40 minutes, ran almost 100 plays and scored almost 40 points just like Mississippi State did last week. I have never seen more missed tackles but the worst part is allowing a team to convert 14 of 18 third downs including ten in a row. Being this bad on defense goes back to coaching. We do not have a ton of talent but you can do better than this.
Let's update our season totals our defense has given up in just THREE games:
- 110 POINTS (to Utah State, Mississippi State and Clemson)
- OVER ONE THOUSAND AND SIX HUNDRED YARDS TOTAL OFFENSE
- ALMOST TWO HOURS OF TIME OF POSSESSION
- 273 plays which is an average of over 90 PLAYS A GAME
- 39 OF 59 THIRD AND FOURTH DOWN COVERSION FOR A RATE OF 66%
- THE AUBURN DEFENSE IS NOW RANKED #117 IN THE FBS (OUT OF 120 TEAMS)
Yes we won the national championship last year (although our defense still had the same problems but had just enough good players and a legendary great offense to mask it) but this is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE AND IT NEVER WILL BE. The next thing you hear is an offense like ours hurts the defense and that is true but NOT TO THIS EXTENT.
Frankly I am tired of writing the same thing. This is not a knee jerk reaction to a loss but something I have been writing for three years now. No one can accuse me of just criticizing our defense this season or just after losses. Our defensive philosophy is the biggest problem but add to it this year that we have not recruited enough defensive tackles. That is mostly Tommy Tuberville's fault but Chizik could have brought more in than he has. We need a lot of more bodies on the defensive line than wide receivers that sit the bench. For my thoughts on the game you can read my two previous posts or check out these quotes from my posts on games the last two seasons (especially Arkansas last season)...
WEST VIRGINIA 2009
"I know Auburn had to be careful in fall practice to not get anybody hurt but good grief I have not seen a much worse job at tackling and containing a QB than the first half. WVU was moving and scoring at will."
"This in no way though excuses the awful tackling and horrible angles our guys were taking last night. It does not excuse 10 of 15 third down conversions."
BALL STATE 2009
"It is very frustrating to watch our soft coverage..."
TENNESSEE 2009
"It is hard to say they played bad. However I will say they are showing BAD tendencies. I described this defense in the last post as "on-again/off-again" and they seem more like that after this game. They were on most of the first half and then suddenly let UT just fly down the field for a quick TD before halftime. They stone UT in the third quarter and let them score 16 points including the ridiculous last second TD in the fourth quarter. I am not a DC but playing so ridiculously loose in coverage allows just as many big plays as being overly aggressive."
KENTUCKY 2009
"Of course, we can't blame everything on Tub like missed tackles or our overall soft defensive philosophy."
GEORGIA 2009
" I am so sick and tired of watching our defensive line get pushed all over the field. I mean on seemingly every run our line gets pushed five yards back. I am sick of it! I would rather blitz every down and give up up throws over the top than get pushed all over the stupid field."
OUTBACK BOWL 2010
"We have done this stuff all year and thus we have THE worst defense statistically in Auburn history."
ARKANSAS STATE 2010
"The way Auburn plays their safeties is hard to watch. Most of the time they play them so far back that the other team just dinks us to death. I will never understand that philosophy. I think you should play the other team tight and make them throw over you and hit that lower percentage long pass. Yes you will give up some big plays but you will also get some three-and-outs. Between our current offensive and defensive philosophies I do not think we will ever have enough depth on defense."
CLEMSON 2010
"Defensively, Chizik and Roof have stated both in action and words that their philosophy is not to give up big plays and to keep everything in front of them and make other teams drive the length of the field. This usually involves playing way off the ball and giving up a lot of yardage on short passes. Auburn then usually makes adjustments, occasionally blitzes and gets a few stops. However, would it not help the team overall to play a more aggressive style of defense? The defense could then maybe get a few three-and-outs and let our offense do their thing and tire out the other defense. Now of course we would give up more big plays ala Will Muschamp. However that would get our offense back on the field and not subject our defense to staying out there so long getting dinked to death.
I just do not understand it. A more aggressive defense would fit in more with our supposed goals of being a more aggressive offense. Instead we seem to make it the worst of both worlds by keeping our offense on the bench longer and keeping our still thin defense on the field longer. This is also exacerbated by the fact our offense if played according to our supposed goals will keep the defense on the field more anyway. It just does not make sense to me. I would rather bring our guys up and let them play more aggressively and go for the three-and-out. They will give up a few but I think we would be more effective than we are now."
LOUISIANA MONROE 2010
"First, would this not have been a good game to work on covering receivers a little tighter??? I do not understand playing way off these guys and letting them drive three times into Auburn territory in the first half and letting them get a field goal. I think it would have been a good game to work on tighter more aggressive coverage. This confirms we will see this crap for the rest of the season."
KENTUCKY 2010
"Gene Chizik talks a lot about Auburn history and how important it is yet his teams seemingly ignore the tenets of good defense and special teams that Coach Jordan and Dye emphasized. With that said let us move to... Our defensive performance last night was ugly. There is no other way to say it. When your offense scores 31 points in the first half against KENTUCKY and you then have to win on a last second field goal YOU ARE PLAYING BAD DEFENSE. My gosh where do I start? I guess in the same place I start every week with our ridiculously extreme philosophy of playing soft coverage. I understand have an overall philosophy but you have to make adjustments based on the team you are playing. The Auburn defense has rose up several times but that is mainly because of the defensive line. Most teams will not throw short the entire night and that is how we finally stop them. That was not true of Kentucky. The three step drop and throw nullifies a defensive line. They were content to throw short to their play makers ALL NIGHT and it is not like that is a surprise. These guys have been around their forever. Their is plenty of film on Kentucky and their attack. Why did our defense not do more to take away Cobb and Locke??? Why did we never play tighter coverage? It is maddening to watch."
ARKANSAS 2010
"I find it comical that the post game reaction is that the defense "rose up" in the fourth quarter. I mean come on. The Arkansas guy was down on that fumble even though we deserved the call as I stated above. I do not think our defense can take a whole lot of credit for that. The Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson had all day to throw (as was the case the whole game) on both those interceptions. He just finally made some bad decisions. I do not think our defense can take much credit for that. If they pressure him and he makes a mistake I would give credit. The Auburn defensive performance was about the worst I have ever seen from an Auburn defense. It took much of my joy from the win. I can't think of the adjective to describe how bad they were. Bad, awful, terrible, disgusting, revolting, etc... do not seem to cover it..."
The basics of football are blocking and tackling. We are doing the blocking but I have never seen worse tackling in my 30 years of watching Auburn football. Case in point was our senior linebacker Craig Stevens who is a four year starter simply putting an arm out as an Arkansas running back or wide receiver ran straight past him. Arkansas receivers just ran wild after they caught the ball as Auburn defenders slipped off them or simply fell down as they ran past them. Auburn would not commit to pressuring the quarterback or jamming wide receivers so Bobby Petrino could empty his playbook and call whatever he wanted. WHAT IS THE POINT of playing conservative defense when the other team is scoring at will on big plays??? That is the only point of playing that kind of defense! Ted Roof is the worst defensive coordinator I have ever seen and he is being enabled by Chizik. Roof is also not even coaching his own position well as our linebackers miss more tackles than anyone.
Chizik was able to run this type of defense in 2004 when he had great pass rushers at both ends in Stanley McClover and Quentin Groves. All "Cover 2" defenses that have been hugely successful have a Dwight Freeney or a Charles Haley at defensive end and they can get pressure on the quarterback. WE DO NOT HAVE THAT. We do not have anyone even close. If you are an offensive team and you do not have great pass rushers YOU HAVE TO GAMBLE. Case in point would be the New Orleans Saints last year. They did not have great pass rushers so they gambled and blitzed a lot and were able to be good enough to win a Super Bowl. If tackling is the first fundamental of defense, pressuring the quarterback against a passing team has to be #2. You simply have to pressure the quarterback. You have to shorten the window the quarterback has to make a decision and in doing so he is more likely to miss the pass or make a mistake. The coach across the state has created his legend doing this. I understand picking the "Cover 2" as your defense but I do not understand adjusting your strategy when you are getting lit up like a Christmas tree by the other team's backup quarterback.
I do not see how these coaches justify what they are doing. The stats back it up. Last year's Auburn defense was one of the worst in Auburn history statistically. This year's version is right there with it as they gave up over 400 yards passing and almost 600 yards total (against mainly the back up quarterback). It is a complete embarrassment to play defense that bad. If we blitzed every play we would have gotten burned plenty but I firmly believe it would not have been near as bad. It also fires your defense up playing aggressive and not reacting all the time. It also shortens the other team's playbook. It was disgusting to me how many plays Arkansas called that had just about everyone going long because he knew the quarterback would have time."
LSU 2010
"On defense, we lose two starting linebackers, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles and will almost certainly lose Nick Fairley leaving us with only two true defensive tackles in Carter and Whitaker on the entire roster."
OLE MISS 2010
"They have a good defense, Auburn does not. We are still asking a lot of our offense to have to score 40+ points every game... Again I think we have to put more pressure on the quarterback. We cannot let.. the quarterback... stand back there all day. It does not matter how many men we drop back in coverage. We also HAVE TO TACKLE BETTER. There were a ton more missed tackles last night. Our guys have got to wrap up and bring the guy down."
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 2011
"Of course, just like the rest of the season, the pass defense was weak at times and Oregon rolled up almost 400 yards passing."
SPRING 2011
"My only big concern after getting this recruiting class is defensive tackle. I do not think many people understand how dire the situation is. We now have only two true defensive tackles ON THE ENTIRE TEAM before these freshmen come in the fall. Kenneth Carter and Jeffrey Whitaker are it. Coach Tracy Rocker did everything he could to get these guys ready giving them a lot of playing time however the jury is still out on them in my opinion. It is still unknown whether they are really true SEC-caliber starters but right now Auburn has no other options. Journeymen Derrick Lykes and Jamar Travis who "back them up" on the depth chart are certainly not SEC-caliber. Our DL coach will once again have to get true freshmen ready to back up his starters however this time his starters are not Nick Fairley and two seniors but two true sophomores. Just as I guessed from looking at the depth chart I heard the coaches will look at moving Nosa Egaue inside but defensive tackle still looks like a glaring weak spot for this Auburn team next season. The player Auburn will miss the most is not Cam Newton but Nick Fairley."
"
stupid and ungrateful"
to dare criticize Ted Roof after we won the national championship however I have seen a lot of good defensive coordinators at Auburn and Ted Roof is not one of them. I think we can do better. I thought that two years ago as we had the worst defense in Auburn history and I thought it last year when we had maybe the most dominating defensive lineman in Auburn history yet still had a mediocre-to-good defense. Again just look at the national championship game where Auburn dominated the line of scrimmage like few ever have and still gave up 400 yards passing to a non-passing quarterback. This year we are on track to eclipse the defensive unit from two years ago and have the worst defense in Auburn history. That will mean the top two worst defenses in Auburn history would have come in Ted Roof's three years on the plains. Yes even if it means I am "stupid and ungrateful" I think we can do better.
I have also heard the various reasons for our defensive strategy for not giving up the big play and making the opponent earn it. That strategy has yielded ONE THOUSAND YARDS OF OFFENSE , 72 POINTS and 73 MINUTES TIME OF POSSESSION for the teams we have played against. I am sorry I do not think our strategy is working and I think we can do better gambling occasionally to get a stop. Yes I understand we are winning but I think our defense would still be better mixing it up occasionally.
THE UGLY
The "ugly" this week is unbalancing the Southeastern Conference just to bring in Texas A&M. I know somehow this is supposed to make more money and that is the only thing that matters anymore but it sure looks like the SEC is playing with fire. Why mess with a good thing? Who even knows if the "super-conference" idea will work? You mess up the geography, competitive balance and good division splits the SEC has and you will be the ACC. I just do not think gaining a mediocre program like Texas A&M is worth it and I cannot wait how they try to equal things out with 13 members. This is a bad move.
But did not expect it to be so obvious against the likes of Utah State. Thanks to a perfect kick on one of the lowest percentage plays in football, Auburn eked out a victory against the Aggies from the WAC to open the season this last Saturday. Utah State was better than expected but regardless what happened at Jordan-Hare on Saturday was an embarrassment. I did not take the time to write an Auburn preview this season because there were hundreds to choose from available at any Auburn site you picked. However it was just as well because the first game provided a much more realistic preview. To start with it summed up what has been obvious after a cursory look at the roster since the smoke cleared last spring. It was obvious when the defending national champions and an elite college football program like Auburn enters the spring with only two legitimate yet unproven defensive tackles on its entire roster that there is going to be trouble.
Again unless you counted Jamar Travis and Derrick Lykes (who was kicked off the team before fall practice) as legitimate SEC defensive tackles which I do not, Auburn entered the spring with only two legitimate yet unproven defensive tackles on its ENTIRE roster. How in the world can it come to that for a program like this? The fault mostly lies on the nightmarish last two recruiting classes of the Tuberville regime however I still wonder why Chizik and company did not bring in a few more bigger bodies the last two years. I will always believe the game is won in the trenches (as Auburn proved once again last year) so I always want one more defensive or offensive tackle over another small wide receiver. It seems obvious that is what should have been done here.
It was especially obvious as Utah State ran all over us on Saturday. It also became obvious that our linebackers are ordinary and not coached particularly well. I do not see one All-SEC player right now or in the future from our current linebacking corps. I do see talent in our secondary but like all the units it is hamstrung by our current defensive philosophy but hey do not take it from me, here is former Auburn safety Rob Pate’s review of our defense on Saturday...
“I am continually amazed at the lack of desire to confuse, blitz, be multiple, stack the box and make young, inexperienced QB's beat us their arm? There was no reason in the world to have our corners playing 10-12 yards deep, allowing a QB that's never attempted a collegiate pass to build confidence with each uncontested throw to the flat for 10-15 yard gains. Granted, if our defensive backs made an open field tackle at any point in the game, perhaps the yards after catch would have been less...nonetheless, why give a freebie to a newbie? Why not make the guy figure out where the next blitz in coming from? Why not bring more rushers than they have blockers and let your cover men run with receivers? Give the corners and safeties the opportunity to run stride for stride with WAC receivers (cause God knows they couldn't tackle WAC RB's) and make a Frosh QB beat you down the field repeatedly with precision passing under pressure? Sorry...I don't get the philosophy!”
I cannot say it much better than that. It would also seem that playing a more gambling style of defense would fit in better with our offensive philosophy as well. We gamble and we can either get a quick three and out or give up a big play. However if we give up a big play we get our offense who wants to run as many plays as possible back on the field. The worst possible outcome appears to me is to give up multiple 15+ play drives for scores. Of course I wanted to fire Ted Roof last year when we were winning every game because of this stupid philosophy (and the year before). It has been the same for three years and the only question is how long we are going to have to suffer through it before a change is made. Last year our defense got the job done but it could have been a lot better. Case in point was the national championship game where Auburn dominated the line of scrimmage like few teams ever have yet still gave up almost 400 YARDS PASSING.
Unfortunately I think these last few paragraphs will become a reoccurring theme throughout the season. First the coaching is awful but even if by some miracle it improves I am not sure we have talent to stop most of the good teams we will play this season. Hopefully Carter and Whitaker can play better than Saturday and maybe true frosh Blackson, Sigler and Wright are all good players and can grow up fast. Hopefully Eltoro Freeman and somebody else stepping up can save our linebackers. If not, the only solution is to recruit more defensive tackles and bigger linebackers and a lot of them and then bring in somebody who can coach them up.
Offensively, there were not many surprises either. I was not a Barrett Trotter fan to begin with but he has won me over by his play every time he has gotten into a game since A-Day last year. I have seen a lot of backup quarterbacks come into games over the years and not many of them displayed the mental toughness Trotter has shown. He displayed it again on Saturday helping rally Auburn to the win.
I also knew that Trooper Taylor would have his guys ready and it looks like Emory Blake and Travante Stallworth are ready to step in for Adams and Zachary. Trovon Reed also showed glimpses of the playmaker he has been hyped to be for two years. Unfortunately it appears Auburn will become increasingly reliant on Trotter and these wide receivers.
We know Dyer and McCalebb are playmakers but their great plays last season (and for McCalebb the season before as well) were made behind one of the best offensive lines in Auburn history. The current Auburn offensive line looks pedestrian at best. Like our current linebacking crew you just do not see any All-SEC talent on this line. I cannot say that about Christian Westerman and Greg Robinson and maybe some of these other young guys will grow up like Mike Berry and Byron Isom did but right now it does not look good. This looks like an average offensive line at best that has never played together before. They are not going to be able to impose their will running the ball like last year’s group. I do not think that is a stretch when you cannot even rush for 100 yards as a team against Utah State.
My official prediction for this season was 6-6 but right now I am having a hard time finding six wins. I still think it is possible but if so it has to begin this Saturday against State. State is stronger than usual but they are not a powerhouse and we have them at home. Considering the fact that I do not think we have much of a chance against some of our bigger rivals this year I think this game against State is much bigger than usual.
