What Will It Take?

Looking forward to 2013

There are many questions, and areas of concern for this Auburn team heading into the 2013 football season. Whomever is selected by the committee to turn things around as the new head coach will have a job on his hands. What will it take to put Auburn back into contention in the West division?

 First, the attitude of this team needs some "tough love" adjustments. The defensive line needs to be told they played soft this past season. The difference seemed to be that when the helmets were strapped on, their personalities never changed. 

 As a defensive lineman, once those pads and helmets are on, your inner mean streak is what should take over. You have to take on the attitude that you are willing to scratch, claw and fight your way to defend your position.

 Taking on double, and sometimes triple team blocks should be looked at as a badge of honor. That unit has got to establish that Auburn defense is the roughest toughest place to enter in the country. It's evident that hasn't been the case in quite some time. Now is the time for change!

 The rest of the defense has to play with a fierce determination to stop the ball carrier in one on one situations. Too many times we saw Auburn safeties, and defensive backs diving at feet, without their hands and arms reaching for the legs of the opposing runner. We must tackle better. That is an attitude that must be enforced by the incoming coach.

 Offensively, Auburn has to find some players to step up for two very good graduates. Phillip Lutzenkirchen, and Emory Blake are going to leave a void in the pass catching department at AU. While we have recruited very well in that area, the results have been far from convincing that we are ready to be successful at catching passes thrown our way. Sammie Coates may be the exception to that.

 A very young offensive line has been through the wars, and should be much better in 2013. Auburn has recruited the top offensive line class in the last two cycles, so, the talent is there, and we have one of the best O-line coaches in the country in Jeff Grimes. I have every confidence that this unit will be a huge plus heading into next season.

 The number of Running backs is low, compared to most top programs. The Jovon Robinson issue may have an impact on just how many RB's get recruited to The Plains. Whether or not Robinson is able to return, will determine how many RB's AU tries to recruit in this class. The returning guys are good, with Tre Mason being a returning 1,000 yard rusher. 

 The biggest challenge to any coach coming in at Auburn, is to recruit and develop quarterbacks. Realistically, we are not in the best of shape at this position. Clint Moseley has been hurt most of his career at Auburn, and his shoulder is the big area of concern. When he was forced into playing time this year, he limped into his first huddle. Unfortunately, it didn't end well for Moseley. 

 Kiehl Frazier went through the typical sophomore jinx in his development this past season, looking as though he wasn't getting what the coaches were trying to instill in his play. I blame the coaches more so than Kiehl, because we have seen what he can do, and what a great improviser he can be with the ball in his hands. 

 Kiehl looked as though he was having to count his steps, and make sure his feet were in an exact place before he could start his actual reads. He was playing constricted. Way too much emphasis was placed on how, and not enough on his actual talent, which is move around and make plays. Those are the things that made him the #1 Dual Threat QB out of high school. Not being forced into becoming a pocket passer. Round peg, meet square hole!

 Jonathan Wallace was a true bright spot in the otherwise gloomy QB play. His development may be the biggest key to how quickly this team can return to competing for the Western Division title.

 I would imagine the overall mental state of this team needs molding. It's going to take a task master, with an attitude to get the slack out of these AU players and make winners of them. They have it in them, of this I am sure. The question is, who will be chosen to bring this team into a football state of mind?

 WAR EAGLE!

Early Evaluations Part 2

  The title seems to be a joke of sorts since Auburn President Jay Gouge has decided to wait until after the season to evaluate the state of the football program. I don't have to wait, and I see no reason to wait, so I will give my honest evaluations now.   Your criticisms and comments are welcome below, all you have to do is click on the  word comments.

 Part 2 looks at the linebackers and defensive backs. Without a lot of hoopla, lets get to it...

 Defense wins championships. However you choose to look at it, Auburn is about as far away from having a championship defensive unit as you can get. So, this is where we find out why.

 I could go on and on about how we don't tackle well, and how we miss the proper alignments in crucial situations, but Brian VanGorder beat me to the point. Listen as he describes the agony in ways that I could never explain. Being that he, you know, has a vast amount of football knowledge. 

Early Evaluations Part 1

Defense wins Championships

 The title seems to be a joke of sorts since Auburn President Jay Gouge has decided to wait until after the season to evaluate the state of the football program. I don't have to wait, and I see no reason to wait, so I will give my honest evaluations now. 

 Your criticisms and comments are welcome below, all you have to do is click on the  word comments.

 This is "Part 1" and we will break this team down by groups, so we don't have a multiple page post. Hopefully this is better for you, as I know it is for me. On to it...

 Let us start up front with the defensive line where we anticipated a much improved unit, and a steady stream of sacks and tackles for losses. None of that ever actually happened, and many AU faithful are asking themselves "why?"

 We have seen the results and listened to commentators talk all year of our defensive linemen being out of position during plays. Why are they still out of position, and not making plays? Does the current coaching staff not see these problems? Were we not promised an "unleashed" defensive front, that would supposedly cause havoc in the backfield? Who is to blame for this failure? Most importantly, how do we fix it? Tough questions.

 It's evident that our Defensive front is still not strong enough to compete throughout the entirety of the game. We went into the 4th quarter of several games this season with a reasonable chance to win. The defensive front for Auburn has been pushed around all season long, period!

 After the first couple of games, most of these nuances have normally been corrected, yet we continue to see the same mistakes game after game. Why?

  So far this season, Auburn only has 56 tackles for a loss. The defensive line is credited with 26.5 of those losses. Out of 719 plays so far, only 26.5 tackles for a loss. So much for the havoc being created in opposing backfields. PATHETIC!

 The start of every half has seen an opposing offense march up and down the field scoring with ease, and putting this team behind. While that may seem to be a coaching problem, and I am sure some of it may be, there also has to be an attitude amongst the defensive players that no team will score on us. That attitude is sorely lacking. Why can't the coaches get our defensive front to play with aggression?

 We have seen so little of this attitude from the linemen on defense this year, that I have to grade the entire unit as a failure. I'll let you decide if it is because of scheme, coaching, or lack of effort. I know one thing for sure, in all my days watching and cheering for Auburn football, I have never seen a more porous defensive front.

War Eagle!

Ughhh...

 No other expression is needed. No other phrase to be uttered. Just the total disgust, and exhausted feeling that this nightmare may never end.

 This should just about sum up how I feel about the fantastic job Auburn has done on offense this season. Powered by the brain trust that is Scot Loeffler, Auburn has sunk to new lows in conference play. 

 Let's start with a look at scoring.
  Points scored per game 17.3 
  Points allowed per game 28.4

 Don't like those numbers? How about offensive production?
  First Downs total 156, Out of 584 plays that Auburn has had the   ball, only 156 first downs.
  Rushing per attempt 3.74
  Third down conversion Out of 122 third down plays that Auburn had thus far this season, they have  only made a first down 35 times. That is a 28.69% rate. 4th down is just as bad at 28.57%.
  Red Zone rates are really good, until you see how seldom AU actually gets into the red zone. Only 23 times this season. 23! Converting 18 of those trips into points.

 Let's look at these numbers from a SEC perspective, shall we?  Next to last in scoring offense, 12th in rushing offense, next to last in passing offense, dead last in first downs, dead last in tackle for loss allowed, and last but not least, dead last in 3rd down conversions.

 Any questions as to why we looked so bad against our cousins from UGA?

 Normally, I am as positive an outlook as you could hope to find when it comes to my Tigers. Right now, I just don't see anything to be positive about. That saddens me. Because after the way this team played in the second half against New Mexico State, I thought that they would prepare much better for Georgia, and really fight them tooth and nail. It doesn't look to be getting any better either.

WAR EAGLE!

Dee Ford & Coach Thigpen Video

 Dee Ford has been impressive in his time with the media. Despite a losing season, he has tried to stay focused, and continue to get better.

  “It would be a huge difference,” Ford said, “not just for us, but for the whole defense. Our turnover ratio would increase. It’ll be a wholesale effect on the defense.”

 On dealing with a losing record this season. 

  “It’s hard, but it’s not as hard for me because I focus more on development,” Ford said. “Especially when we’re in a losing season like this, you know; Are you getting better? Or are you kind of skating through, or are you going backwards? And I just focus on my development, and especially the development of the D-line"


 Coach Tommy Thigpen got in on the chat about getting ready for UGA.
 

VanGorder: Georgia Week

Listen as Coach BVG talks about how difficult it is to play defense against the Bulldogs.