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Sunday, September 18, 2016

Observations



I was in Auburn on Friday visiting friends and their seemed to be an air of confidence that Auburn could beat Texas A & M on Saturday night as I roamed around the campus. 

My compliments to Full Moon Bar-B-Que for the great turkey sandwich and potato salad. 

I must say that the Texas A & M fans are the best in the SEC West. The ones that I met were complimentary of the Auburn campus and the football team. I really had to question what I was hearing after dealing with the fans from other SEC schools.


Klell and I decided to post our thoughts about the game Saturday night:

Randy: Auburn looked great on the first series and I actually thought that Texas A & M would be in for a long night.

Klell: Auburn's defense was in the Aggie backfield all night. Although they only recorded one sack, the Aggie QB, Trevor Knight had to resort to running and improvising quite a bit. 

Randy: The Auburn offensive line play was average and Sean White seldom had the time to find receivers. He was under stress most of the night and the Texas A & M pass rush seemed to bother him. I could see in his eyes that he seemed to question some of the play calling.

Klell: Kamryn Pettway gained 123 yards on 20 carries and a 6.1 yard per carry average. I was impressed with the way he ran the ball. 

Randy: Sean White is a good QB, but he was a pocket passer in high school. Since Gus Malzahn recruited him, he should be given an opportunity to run an offense that is suited to his playing style. I saw some blocks missed that could have translated into long gains if he had just been given time to throw the ball. 

Sean White had only had 126 passing yards. Tony Stevens had a career high 8 catches for 86 yards.
 As we observed in the Clemson game, Auburn's defense played well enough to win the game, but the offense was anemic. Auburn's defensive line played well and put pressure on Trevor Knight all night long. The defense spent a lot of time on the field since the Auburn offense was unable to move the ball and seemed to bad faced with a series of 3 and outs.

Klell: The biggest item that stands out to me is the Auburn Defense. This unit continues to show improvement. Only a couple missed tackles were evident, but this team has improved in tackling over the past couple of teams.

Randy:  John Franklin did enter the game to add a spark to the offense, but it was too late. An opposing defense does have to make adjustments when he enters the game. The verdict is still out on his passing game and ability to read a defense. He may get the start next Saturday against LSU.

In conclusion.

Randy: Once again, my Alma mater is faced issues surrounding the performance of the football team. Auburn  still has an opportunity to have a respectable football season if they can defeat LSU this Saturday. As a friend told me that the LSU offense is a "hot mess" and we all know that Les Miles is under fire. This game will define the rest of the season for Auburn. If Auburn wins, they could possibly win 8 games. If Auburn loses, the team confidence could be shattered.

Klell: If the 2016 Auburn offense can find it's game, this team can be dangerous. I have a feeling that they are close, but having a terrible time putting it together on the field. Somewhere between the showing against Clemson, and the game vs. Arkansas State is where they are. Lets hope that this week, against LSU they put together a complete offensive performance.

Keep the faith and War Eagle!

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