Changes Ahead for Auburn

You can be completely negative and say that changes must come after a humiliating loss to your in-State rival. Anyone can do this. But then you start to look at what pundits said about AU before the beginning of the season. We were picked dead last.

There is good news: we didn’t finish last. We didn’t finish second to last. We were the middle of the heap. And that in and of itself is something to note. We could be Ole Miss. Next, you must consider that many pundits expected AU would be beaten like the 2008 game where we wouldn’t score a point. We did manage 14 points. That’s something too. We need to be grateful and show bama the respect they earned on Saturday. Truth is they could have beaten us by 90 points. And there was nothing Auburn could do about it. Humility is never easy.

Still. We knew this was coming based on our performance at Clemson. Arkansas. LSU. And the worst of them all… Georgia. We knew the other three were bad. But Georgia? If you can’t get up for the oldest rivalry in the South… here is a news flash: what makes you think you can get up for bama?? No amount of “nutting up” was going to close the distance on the lack of progress.

I am surprised on many levels about this coaching staff’s performance this season:

1) Its been poor from the start.

2) There has been zero improvement.

3) This staff is starting to remind me of the Tommy Tuberville era. And not the good stuff either. We are talking the Tony Franklin debacle. And Gene Chizik is starting to sound eerily like, you guessed it… Tommy Tuberville. And that isn’t good either.

4) And I have my own self to blame for this mistake: I made them out to be super human. News flash: this staff is very human.

5) I think folks figured out Gus (and Roof) and know that there was very little ability fielded… and took advantage of it.

I have said this from the start – I don’t look at placing blame on players. That could be my son out there. And folks need to pause and think about it when they start maligning one of these kids who are doing the best they can. Just remember – they aren’t paid money contrary to common belief about Auburn. The guys wearing the headsets are… and frankly I am not impressed with any of them. The honeymoon is over.

I will go one step further, while not calling for folks to be fired, I will say that these same people who won the National Championship a year ago… need to understand… have another season like this one… and they will be a footnote in AU history just like all the rest. You can’t whiff against teams like UGA and bama. It’s not good for your professional health.

Now the thing that concerns me is that after spending several seasons in building recruiting players to support a specific system – are we now going to walk away from it with the departure of Ted Roof or Gus Malzahn?? We have done this before… it wouldn’t be the first stupid move by folks in charge.

Gene Chizik has had the luxury of being able to blame the lack of performance on his young team. The fact that he had no leadership or bench to back up the ability of the coaches to run the systems being used. Well, change us now and you will pay the price. Not Tommy T. We are moving into year four of your tenure. This now belongs to you regardless of how you look at it. Blame it on anything you want… it won’t matter.

I want success for Auburn. But the funny thing that happens when it finally comes… we start getting bigger than our britches can hold. I am not sure that folks understand what a big salary does to a person. I personally think it conducts a lobotomy on their common sense.

Let us hope common sense returns to Auburn. Because if it doesn’t… change will indeed come to Auburn. And it will be sweeping change.

WDE

….the first thing that comes to mind is can someone else that we would potentially bring in do a better job?
On defense I think the answer is an unequivocal yes. We certainly have the talent, although young, that can be the foundation of a potentially dominant defense. Just taking a look at the defensive line the first glaring thing that you see is a rotation of almost exclusively freshman and sophomores. In the SEC that is unheard of. Those guys typically need at least two years in the weight room to be physically mature enough to compete in the trenches week in and week out in this conference. While we certainly need some more size at the LB spots (we do have some bigger guys coming in), if your front 4 in the 4-3 is physically able to do what they are supposed to do, you can still be very successful with a more speed over size core of LB’s. I definitely like the progress that our secondary made this season both in talent added to the depth chart and the evolution of their technique from last season. Last year we could not get a DB to turn around and play the ball on man coverage at all. It started out that way again this season, but as the season progressed we were getting it together much more regularly. That is the key though. We need defensive coaches who are not only good recruiters, but great teachers as well. You can bring in all of the highly touted star HS athletes that you want, but if you can’t teach them the proper techniques to use on the field, you will never have a top level SEC defense.

Offensively, I have some serious reservations about philosophy. The one thing that I do not like is the fact that GM is clear that in running his style of offense that the defense will always suffer some lumps due to fatigue. My issue with this is that I do not like the idea of having one side of the ball have such a huge effect on the other. Basically you are saying that of the offense struggles, you have little chance of winning the game. In the SEC you need to be able to win a game with both units. There are days when it will be the defense and there will be days when it is the offense, but going ‘all in’ on a system on either side that can potentially doom the others effectiveness to hold there own is irresponsible at best as far as I am concerned. Yes you can be successful in a league like the PAC12, where defense is an afterthought on nearly every campus on the left coast, as Oregon has so demonstrated the past few years, but not in the SEC. It would take a super human QB to make that work as we well now from last season. I’m not saying that we should completely can the spread. Florida ran the spread for years and was still able to field a good to dominant defense for quite some time. It is doable. We just need to be on the same page as a team and make it happen. I think it is a forgone conclusion that Gus is headed to the Tar Heel state to take the UNC job, so Gene’s search for his replacement needs to start with someone who is on the same page with winning the day on both sides of the ball.

It looks awful…..pathetic and impotent. As bad as the defense has been, I can see improvement here and there and with an infusion of depth at the LB position I can see that group getting better if our line can add some heft and strength.

What concerns me about the offense is that we should be able to compete. We have three upperclassmen on the line with a standout Frosh in Dismukes. Two of the best RBs in the SEC that are home run threats every time they touch the ball…we have two of the best receiving options in the conference in Blake and Lutzy…..and we didn’t even THREATEN to score offensively againt the Tide. We were shut down out side of the scripted plays against LSU and UGA and were plain sluggish and sloppy against Clemson and Arky.
And thats just the losses.

As much as Roof and Chizik have struggled on the defensive side, Malzahns slide into ineptitude is especially troubling because we should have the bullets to put up a fight even against even the best defenses. Yes the line has struggled mightily but I haven’t seen much of a gameplan to minimize our weakeness there and even more importantly it seems like the more our QBs play, the worse they get. That means they are confused about what to do and aren’t learning from their mistakes. Thats not good if you’re a LB….. but its deadly if you’re the QB. The QB handles the ball on every snap and if he isn’t comfortable running the offense, we are going to have incapacitating problems….which is what we have.
What concerns me the most is we feel tied to Malzahns system and it appears obvious to me we don’t have anyone to run it. So instead of adopting your offense to what we SHOULD be able to do, we keep trying to mash the square peg in the round hole. I don’t get that and never will. I know that means admitting your offensive philosophy is a failure ,but whats worse….. admitting you can’t make your offense work with the talent available??… . OR PROVING its a failure on a national stage where recruits get to see how ineffective it is against your biggest rivals. Boy Howdy….I know I’d swallow my pride REAL friggin quick if that was my choice. And if Malzahn can’t adapt his offensvie to suit his talent, he shouldn’t be an OC or Head Coach….at any level.
So to be clear….I’m not saying Malzahn needs to go, but he needs to take a LOOOONG look in the mirror and figure out how we are going to compete against the best in the SEC with the talent we have. If that means putting CJ Uzomah at QB and hoping he turns into Cam Jr so be it. OR maybe you put Trotter under center and run Dyer out of the I formation with Phillips or Fulse as a FB.
I want Malzahn to be successful and run and offense that is fun and exciting to watch…but I also want to beat our rivals…..I hope he gets things figured out….and soon.

Yes, this year has been bad as far as getting blown out, but scores aside, we actually exceeded expectations as far as wins, and those blowout losses were to the #1, #2, #8, #14 & #20 ranked teams in the nation, four of which were on the road. It was that brutal schedule coupled with possibly the most attrition by any team ever that had the experts picking us to finish last in the SEC-W, and to be lucky to win 5 games.

Also, there were glimmers of hope in the IB. If we pick up that 4th down (or better yet, get a decent spot on the 3rd down preceding it) who knows. We even held Bama on the next possession and forced a punt, but then the pick-six took all the wind out of the sails.

That game did show us a few things though. It showed that AU has a spectacular kicking game, with possibly the best kick-off man and best punter in the nation. We’re loaded with 4-star and above rated RB’s, linemen, DB’s, & LB’s. WR is a concern, but the talent’s there. QB is the biggest question mark, as I don’t think Moseley is the answer. Still, with all that talent maturing and getting bigger and stronger in the off-season, and with a schedule that brings most of the big games to JHS next year, I still think this coaching staff can lead us to another trip to Atlanta.

The defense has drastically underachieved every season since he arrived. He coaches LBs and the LB core has been horrendous every year (except Bynes, who didn’t need coaching). Player techniques have been bad and most game schemes have been awful. Heck, the 2010 defense was super talented and senior laden, yet still played awful for half the season.

I’m all for staff continuity, but Roof is obviously not the answer for DC. Maybe his hands were tied by Chizik. Maybe he coached well and the players didn’t perform. Either way, the defense is broken and he can’t fix it.

NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME FOR A NEW DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR! The entire defense is young and needs a new motivation! Chizik should fire Roof today and he should coach the defense through the bowl game. This makes the statement to players that their lack of success is not acceptable. Chizik can have a new DC in early 2012 and start anew.

Haven’t had a chance to come over here since the game, so I wanted to say good luck to the Tigers in their bowl game. I definitely think ya’ll have most of the pieces in place to make a run next year. Might not mean much coming from a Bama fan though…Now, that’s over with….I hate your team…..lol

glad Lutz is ok too. Dude’s got skillz.

It’s looking like he’ll be at Auburn again in 2012. So, let’s all hope that the offense hasn’t been figured out and that Gus’s system does still work. If it doesn’t, we’re not going to have a good year next year either. Guys, I also hope this isn’t true, but I keep seeing persistent rumors that Dyer will not be back for next year. I hope this is all wrong and conjecture, but I’ve been hearing that a lot from a few pretty reliable sources. When I get inside information, I always pass it along but these rumors may not have any truth to them at all either. It’s just something that keeps being brought up time and time again.

You guys are assuming too much. That won’t be why he wouldn’t play next season and it might only be conjecture what I’m hearing too. I’m not giving any sources away. I just figured I’d let y’all know what I’ve heard. There are some pretty reliable people out there that say Dyer may not be back next year-from what I can tell, it’s not a done deal as of yet.