Burning Questions Going into Baton Rouge
by WarEagle86 on Oct 20, 2009 7:13 PM CDT
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Well, everyone I'm sure is finding a way to get past the Kentucky loss. We deserved it, we played poorly, very poorly. This loss, coupled with the loss to Arky, has raised some major questions/concerns with this Auburn team. Some are bigger than others, but they all affect the state of 2009 directly. Its hard to believe that after our quick start, we've stumbled so hard. Maybe its the youth of this team. Maybe its our depth (or lack there-of) catching up with us. Maybe its the injury bug (good luck getting that out of Chizik). I don't know exactly where to stand on us right now. I'm caught in between talking these problems off and saying we just stumbled unusually hard are going to get things turned around and hitting the panic button and settling on dreaming of the future. I'll let you guys/gals tell me where you all are at.
Do we lack depth that badly with our defense and special teams? Now I know what most of you are all thinking; that this is a stupid question. I agree, we lack experience in a lot of positions, but did Tubbs and crew really leave the shelves this empty?
What do we really have in Ted Roof? It has been difficult for me to read Ted Roof so far this year. His defensive play calling has been very dull and conservative the first 7 games. Is it only personnel issues that is holding this defense back or is Roof not cut out for the SEC ranks?
What happened to Malzahn's stellar offense? Again, I know we also have issues on the offensive side of the ball, but the drop in production the last 2 weeks is scary bad. From everything like the execution on field, down to the play calling, our offense has completely gone dormant the last two weeks. I see this as a major red flag. I do not need 500 yards of offense from Malzahn every week, thats unacceptable and ignorant to expect something like that. But with what happened last year I have to be very cautious with the way I perceive a coach's performance. Malzahn has already outperformed Franklin by far, but is this it? Is Malzahn's offense just slumping hard or is he in over his head?
What happened to our great halftime adjustments? Early in the season we came out of the locker room really rockin' and firing on all cylinders. Lately, we've looked like the Tubbs coached team of old. That is, we've failed miserably at adjusting to other teams' schemes and it seems we continue to get beat by the same thing over and over and over to the point where, as a fan, you begin to question if what you are seeing is actually real.
What happened to Chris Todd? I have been one of Todd's biggest fans here since he was named the starter. Last year I thought he was a waste of a roster spot and thought he should transfer. The first five games of this year he proved me dead damn wrong and I am thrilled about it. The last two weeks he has regressed into Todd of 2008 and you can immediatley notice its affects on the rest of the offense and the whole team for that matter. If Todd is hurt he needs to be taken off the field. I don't care if we have to appeal to the NCAA to get Daniel Cobb another year of eiligibility, I want a healthy quarterback that has a legitimate chance to make all of the throws. If he isn't hurt, the coaches really need to be pushing him to improve his pocket presence and moving thorugh his reads more fluidly and efficiently. The last two weeks he's looked very very average and this is not the fanbase to be playing for if you're a upper classmen QB making freshman mistakes. I really hope Todd can turn it around, he's a nice guy (I've met him twice) and I know no one wants to correct his mistakes more than he does.
Those are my issues I have right now with this team. I knew before hand that we weren't going to win the NC this year but after our quick start, we've fallen hard. I think the game versus LSU this weekend will be a very good barometer on how this team will fight through the end of the season.
War Eagle everyone and thanks in advance for your thoughts.
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Interesting post.
From what I read today, Malzahn (and Chiz) was (were) saying that the anemic offense was due to missed blocks and a variety of other miscues. From what I have noticed is this is a team that is highly affected by the small mistakes. Think about the Arkansas game and trying to mount the mighty comeback. It would have been doable, if it were not for a fumble, a couple of penalties. We were winning the KY game until the 4th quarter’s avalanche of penalties and swiss-cheese like defensive qualities. Minimizing those kinds of mental mistakes is the key to the rest of the season, and maybe spike the players’ gatorade with Zoloft to keep the bad thoughts from creeping in. On the upside and for the most part, the Defense played better on Saturday night. That is at least one encouraging thing that we can take away from an otherwise abysmal and highly disturbing evening. I am hoping that the Team will use these two losses as inspiration to prove everyone wrong about their apparent collapse. This adversity will make them stronger; we just might not be lucky enough to see it take hold this year. I still have faith and am curious about what will happen in Baton Rouge. Les Miles had Tubbs number, but I don’t think that he has Chizik’s yet.
by Tiger on the mountain on Oct 19, 2009 9:20 PM CDT reply actions
Fumbles, penalties, dropped balls/incomplete passes killed our offense against Arkansas. Missed tackles killed our defense.
Penalties, dropped balls/incomplete passes killed us against Kentucky. Missed tackles on defense.
Our inability to stop the run on defense. Malzahn going to the air more than relying on Tate. Play calling was kinda predictable. First down, run. Second down, run. Third down, pass. Running micro-bot up the gut instead of Tate or Fannin? From the shotgun?
Acid's answers.
……The short answer on depth is “yes.” Tub in his last few years, brought in some talent, and some respected recruiting classes. The “bust/departed” list has been huge. For all the talk about recruiting for character, it didn’t happen. Interestingly, the D-line has more depth than most areas, at least at this point. Blanc/Ricks/Fairley/Lykes in the middle, Goggins/Coleman/Carter/McKenzie/Ford on the outside. If Zach Clayton returns, that’s a ten man D-line rotation. Problem is that no one but Coleman is able to force a double-team block. Special teams are loaded with walk-ons.
…..Roof’s been a mystery. And due to the tight-lipped coaches, we don’t know who’s responsible for our terribly vanilla scheme. Honestly, from the few games I saw Roof coach prior to Auburn, he looked like a blitz-crazy guy in the mold of Jon Tenuta. All I can figure is that Auburn is trying to get Bynes and Stevens through the season in one piece.
…..Offensive woes are two-fold. McCalebb got hurt, we can’t stretch it east and west, anymore on the counters. Todd has not been on target. If we can fix one of these problems, things will improve. Fix both, and we’ll be chewing up record yardage again.
…..Halftime adjustments: They did, against Arky, on O. 3 straight TDs. Kept it more conservative against UK, but didn’t really have a choice, with Todd off. D is pretty much all vanilla, all the time.
……I’m still thinking Todd is hurt. You KNOW how much we’re likely to find out from the coaching staff, on that! I jumped on my boss last week, for using “day to day.” I’ve REALLY grown to hate that phrase!
Our passing game WAS a lot more creative and difficult to figure out. The occasional passes to Eric Smith, Mario Fannin, Tommy Trott seemed to feed everything else. Well, really I guess it was the threat of where we were going to run that set that up. And all that in turn set up big plays by Zachary and Adams. Its hard to believe that our offense kind of fell off a cliff last week. We had trouble against Arkansas also, but we saw flashes of it working when we scored those 20 points in like 5 minutes. But against Kentucky, just nothing. I really hope that whatever the problem it gets fixed because I do not want to see us playing like that all season.
I keep wondering...
…where would this defense be with Blackmon, Marks, and Powers still in the lineup?
Why do I even torture myself with such thoughts?
Malzahn has to come up with a few new plays. The bad guys seem to have us figured out. Here’s what some of the purple tigers are saying
http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/65407047.html?index=1&c=y
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