Vicodin Diaries Volume 0
by Sparkey on Jan 15, 2012 4:00 AM CST
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I'm baaaack. Sorry for the momentary lapse in the diaries. I just didn't have the mental fortitude to write anything after losing such a close friend whom I considered more like family. In addition, I have started back teaching as an adjunct again so that keeps me really busy too. For those of you that pray, please pray for me to finally attain a full time job somewhere at a junior college in Alabama. I'm over half way done with my fourth year as an adjunct at Southern Union State Community College and the bills are mounting up with no ability to pay them from the minute amount of money an adjunct receives. I desperately want to become a full time teacher. My evaluations from my faculty are all top notch, and my student evaluations are always very high too. For Southern Union, my history classes have 40 people in each one. I know with the massive classes at Auburn this sounds like nothing, but believe me, 40 students at a community college in one class is a lot if it's not a science class.
Anyway....Let's look at the OC issues at hand with Auburn after the Jump!
Well, it pains me post this on trackemtigers.com. To all of you guys wanting Auburn to go back to the more traditional Power I and Pro Set offense, it looks like you win. Apparently, our next OC will be a more Pro-Set schematic type of coach with an emphasis on the power running game.
First off, let me say that I think it was a mistake to hire the DC before the OC. If anything, the OC needed to come before Van Gorder's hire. Don't get me wrong, I love Van Gorder and the mustache is spectacular. I'm just saying that recruiting wise we really needed an OC more because recruiting is hurt worse on that side of the ball without a coordinator.
Let's not forget, Coach Chizik was also one hell of a defensive coordinator during his time at Auburn and later at Texas. The man knows defense and recruits know that too. However, nobody seems to know what kind of scheme Auburn will be using in 2012. Considering the fact that many players either better fit a Pro Set or Spread Formation, I can see this really damaging Auburn's recruiting since the kids don't know what scheme Auburn will run next season.
Anyway, it sounds like the Pro Set will back on the Plains in September. If Auburn doesn't look great in 2012 running the Pro-Set, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work either. I readily admit an offense generally doesn't explode from the beginning though it did with Al Borges, Bobby Petrino, and Gus Malzahn. It may take time.
Folks, you do definitely seem to be conveniently picking out statistics you like when it comes to arguing against Malzahn's offense. It is strange to see the main argument against any offensive scheme being its tremendous success in the first year we saw it. I personally find that a bad philosophical argument but I suppose that's just me.
Anyway, I'm not a big fan of the Pro Set. I just don't think it's all that great of a scheme. If the Pro-Set is the end all be all some claim that it is, then it should start off great and simply dominate from there. You know, the same way the so called "spread" from Malzahn worked until SEC coaches adjusted to his schemes. He didn't even run a true spread, but that's an entirely different topic for discussion.
If it doesn't look great or help the defense rest like you guys say it will, can you guys then admit the Pro Set isn't the super potion that will fix Auburn's offense immediately? I know, you guys think that the Pro Set is what our defense needs so that guys like Craig Sanders can help pitch those shutouts against SEC offenses like LSU and Alabama.
Well, those numbers are going to be really skewed anyway because Van Gorder is a waaaay better defensive coordinator than Ted Roof. I would have loved Auburn having Van Gorder as the DC in 2010 with that offense. That team would have been crushing people instead of winning those close ones at the end of the game like that.
Now, you've probably already mistaken me for somebody who simply hates the Pro-Set and Power I formations and I want to run Spread until my quarterback's arm falls off. That's actually not true at all. In fact, I love the Pro-Set Power I stuff when it's needed like 3rd and 1 or 4th and inches. I like the spread formation when the opposing defense is trying to load the box with eight guys playing up tight. That forces the defense to adjust to your offense.
You see, I don't like any one formation, I like all of them. I want an OC who can run all formations smoothly without much drop off from one scheme to the next. Malzahn's greatest weakness was that he just could not get the short yardage to keep the chains moving. In 2010, Cam Newton took care of that problem for him. When you go up against a defense like Alabama or LSU, you have to have an offense that can give you multiple looks and run all of them at least effectively.
That's what kind of offense I hope to see next season. Let's hope for all of our sakes, 2012 will feature an Auburn offense that can adapt to whatever the defense lets them have. I really think that in any other conference, Auburn's offense would be dominate in 2012.
However, Auburn competes in the SEC, the SEC-West moreover where the greatest defenses in college football compete against each other each week. The Auburn Tigers need an offense that gives them every possible advantage to be successful against vicious leviathans like LSU and Alabama. Until next time folks, War Eagle!
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Great points. However, Not sure I agree that the OC was a more important hire than the DC
While I understand your point Sparkey I believe we were hurt more on the defensive side of the ball in the last several years over promenent recruits that chose other than Auburn. I believe many of us all felt our defense needed to at least be able to slow down the other team and keep us in the game. The turds and LSU both prove that you can be pedestrian on offense and still be a top ten team if your defense and special teams are good to great. I believe that with the Van Gorder hire and our special teams play last season we will be good in two of the three phases of the game. This will enable us to stay in games while we develop whatever offensive scheme or schemes we run under the new OC.
As for the new OC and the Scheme he brings our top priority needs to be to continue to bring in and develop top offensive line talent. I believe our offense struggled this year mostly because our line constantly got beat at the point of attack. The first two seasons under Gus we had a deeper more experienced line and it showed in the offensive numbers. Then when you add a true dual threat in the special talent that was Cam you have a great offense.
Earlier in the week Col. Angus and Acid both put forth the point that Gus’ offense did not perform very well against any of the top tier defenses unless you had Cam at the controls. I agree the statistics support this position. However, I believe if you take any of the good offenses in the country and look at their statistics you will see that against a top ten defense they all suffer. Scheme can win but talent especially on the O and D lines almost always wins.
Just my non expert opinion.
Veni vidi vici 22-19
It's more about the Jimmys and Joes...
…than the Xs and Os, or so they say! You know, the Bowden brothers ran a pro-I offense, and had the highest scoring four years in Auburn history from 1993-1996. Auburn averaged over 32 points per game each of those four years. They did it in 1994 with true freshman Victor Riley at left tackle, and true sophomore Wilie Anderson at right tackle. They did it 1995 with a pair of 190 pound true sophomore fullbacks, Fred Beasley and Kevin McCloud. The offense was successful in 1996 with a pair of freshman runners, Rusty Williams and Markeith “the Lizard” Cooper.
…..One thing about that offense is that they basically used 2 formations, the I, and the 4-wide, two to each side shotgun. Defenses could not make pre-snap reads. One of the agonizing things about the Malzhan offense is that towards the end, you could tell what play was coming from the formation and motion before the snap.
......Drowning in cool elixir.
Whether we like it or not Bama and LSU are the top dogs in the SEC
We did what we needed to do to get our talent level back to where we can compete in the SEC but being handcuffed to Gus’ system was going to prevent us from being the power, ball control offense we need to compete against the LSU’s and Bama’s.
Even with Cam, it took a 73 yard home run TD from OMac to win the game against LSU’s speedy defense. Against Bama we had to attack the edge with precision and execution to be successful because they totally own the line of scrimmage and force you to challenge their secondary. Fortunately for use we were able to do that againsty them in the second half last year.
Like Acid said, its about the players and while it would be nice to run multiple looks on offense, you only have so much time to practice, so you can’t have an NFL sized playbook. If you run too many different formations it limits what you can feasibly run in them due to the amount of practice required,…..defenses will have a pretty good idea of what you will be running.
What makes Bama and LSU so successful in recruiting, aside from them being very successful state schools, is that they run systems that will allow recruits to prepare for the next step in the NFL. Its not a hard sell to a 5 * recruit when you can say, “you will play for a champion, we will get you ready to play at the next level and you will get drefted into the NFL.”
I don’t think anybody should expect the new OC to come in and light the world on fire but the point is to not be predictable and to attack your opponents weakeness’. We have guys on hand that can do that. We have a mixture of tall WR’s, and speedy WR’s. We have scat backs in OMac and Tre Mason, versatile QB’s in Frazier and Pike and HOPEFULLY some bangers in Blakeley and Grant. Where we are hurting is the experienced big and nasty linemen, but we will get there soon.. If the new guy can coach to our strengths and limit our weakeness, he will be way ahead ot the game. We already have what it takes to win, now it is up to coaching and execution.
I love the smell of Auburn in the autumn.....it smells like....victory.
my take
I can’t say I’m sorry to see Ted Roof go, but I wasn’t calling for his head during the season. I am sorry to see Malzahn leave for Arkansas State. I thought his schemes were severely limited this year due to our o-line’s inexperience. What that led to, in my eyes, was a certain amount of resignation in our players. This is just my opinion, but what I saw was, once we were down, and the scheme wasn’t working, the execution of plays went to hell.
Last year, with Cam and Nick Fairley, there was some solid leadership and confident play. This year, there was nobody, on either side of the ball, that inspired the team to win. Is it on the coaches that no leader emerged on the field? You have to say it is, to some extent. The coaches are supposed to motivate these men. And there was little evidence to me that anyone is even in position to take that role next year. I am very happy that Omac and Lutz are coming back and I thank Darvin Adams partially for that, since his unsuccessful early exit for the draft maybe put the seed of doubt in their minds. Actually, the way the NFL is using tight ends this year, I am quite surprised that Lutz will stay. I hope it pays off for him after next year.
Damn it was fun watching Malzahn’s offense confound people. I reserve judgment about whether it could have worked against the better teams in the long run. When it comes down to it, real success is measured in wins, not how much fun it is to watch, which is kind of a shame. I mean, anybody watch Stanford’s offense play this year? BORING.
I do admit, I’m also very entertained by watching people getting the snot knocked out of them. With our new DC, I feel good about that happening soon. As far as a new scheme goes, I think it is the smart thing to do to go with a pro-style. It should help with recruiting and maybe it won’t be as much fun to watch, but ultimately I think it can and will be successful in our conference. Next year should be a good year. I expect at least 8 wins again and no more blowouts! War Eagle!
Not so sure it was the O-line
Case in point was our play against LSU, we hung steady till the end of the 1st half. We gave those two bombs are we down 21-3 and we lost confidence because we could not throw it downfield….yes, because the line couldn’t protect Moseley long enough, but what was the excuse against Uva? We came out very flat and Moseley looked overwhelmed. The O enthusiasm picked up noticably when Frazier and then Trotter came in. It was pretty clear to me that the Offensive personnell had no confidence in Moseley. I think with a spring and fall practice under Fraziers belt, we will see imporvement.
I love the smell of Auburn in the autumn.....it smells like....victory.
you have a solid point there
the being overwhelmed hurt us, and I’m no expert as to why, but it was the difference last year when we never seemed to be out of a game versus this year when things went bad, they kept going bad.
It's funny how things have come full circle.
……Al Borges was let go because we could NOT recruit skill players running a pro-style, west coast offense. Now, we’re talking about a pro-style offense helping recruiting?
......Drowning in cool elixir.
I'm NOT
It will HURT recruiting. Guys look, the spread gets the best offensive athletes. I have no issues lining up int he Pro Set and third and fourth in short yardage situation. However, as a base set it will not be as effective as the spread. I completely believe that. Auburn’s offensive recruits the last few years were top notch. It was the defense where we kept losing out on the big time recruits, not the offense. Remember, we almost brought in Marcus Lattimore along with Mike Dyer. That would have been an insane backfield had that happened. The Malzahn offense brought the best athletes in like Khiel Frazier and Trovon Reed (granted he hasn’t lived up to the hype) and several others. The Pro-Style is going to hurt Auburn. We don’t have the players to run it properly here. We don’t have true blocking tight ends we have receiving tight ends (I feel dirty saying that.) We also don’t have the essential full back. I’d like to know where you guys think the full back needed to run that kind of offense is coming from because he’s not there right now. Anybody know who our best blocking running back was? No, it wasn’t O-Mac though he was very good for such a small guy.
It's Auburn against the world. Good luck world.
For my money..
…..it was Chris Humphries, although he hardly saw the field in 2011. Looked good on A-Day, though! And guess what… he’s graduated. Lutzenkirchen sort of grew into the role, and he was pretty good the last couple of games. But, we sacrificed his receiving skills there.
…..Best case scenario for next season? Ladarious Phillips grows up, and takes the blocking and physicality seriously, as does Brandon Fulse. No, guys. You aren’t Tony Dorsett or Jay Novachek. Go out there and hammer someone on the edge!
......Drowning in cool elixir.
Yeah Chris Humphries was good...
To me, Mike Dyer was actually the best blocking running back Auburn had. He certainly helped Cam a number of times. I wonder if that started his sour grapes at Auburn? He felt under appreciated at Auburn. I realize we’ll probably never really know, I just still find that whole thing painful and I hope Dyer does well at Arkansas State. LP has all the potential in the world to be great at that spot but he’s got a few problems there. For one thing, he often played quarterback in high school. I realize how hard that is to believe but he did it several times. Plus, he was the tailback too. He was not utilized as a full back much at all. Now he also played defensive tackle and he was gifted at that position. He also came from a smaller school like Moseley did so he’s got to adjust to a much higher level of competition. In addition, high school running backs generally have the hardest time learning how to block, LP’s struggles in that area are quite normal.
It’s hard to see it that way because he is so large and yet athletic for his size. His coaches at Handley never pushed him nearly as hard as they push him at Auburn. His athleticism at his size allowed him to do very well in high school. Unfortunately for him, he’s now a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond and the growing pains he is facing are not to be taken lightly. Lastly, nobody took his ankle injury that seriously. He was severely injured and he still wasn’t the same last season either.
One thing that seriously got under my skin last season: You guys kept making excuses about youth and inexperience but you discounted that completely with LP and really the offensive side of the ball. Gus lost just as much as anybody else did but none of you guys were defending him then. Nope, he just ran a spread that can’t work in the SEC. THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE.
Back to Ladrious Phillips, He was only a Red Shirt freshman himself. His injury kept him from really benefiting from the all too over-rated “Yoxercise.” Let’s see what he looks like this year. For that matter, I think you guys will be surprised by Trovon Reed too. It’s amazing to me how every yapped and yapped about youth on the defensive side of the ball and they then chose to look the other way with offense. I find that utter hypocrisy personally. You folks defended Ted Roof until you were way past blue in the face, but Gus didn’t get that same courtesy. Why? Because, you’re biased plain and simple. You wouldn’t look at things objectively with Gus yet you defended Ted Roof to the point of emotions going beyond your logic.
It's Auburn against the world. Good luck world.
Say what you want...
Show me all these spread teams beating the best of the SEC.
We aren’t competing against FSU, Oregon, or Texas Tech….WE ARE TRYING TO BEAT LSU AND ALABAMA.
Do you want to win the SEC or put up pretty stats against Ole Miss?
Of course I’m still willing to give Cam Newton or Tebow a scholarship if we can get them on campus.
I love the smell of Auburn in the autumn.....it smells like....victory.
Cam Newton and Tim Tebow ain't coming without the spread...
Show me anybody who’s beating the SEC. Nobody is beating the SEC when it matters most and it doesn’t matter if Auburn is running the spread with Cam Newton or Florida is winning two with Tim Tebow. You are dismissing everything Gus did because he had Cam Newton one year. Keep in mind, the offense did fairly well in 2009. I realize you say it didn’t do well against elite defenses, but that wasn’t because of Gus’s scheme. He didn’t have the athletes. Show me any offense that did well against Alabama this season. Hell, LSU actually put all sorts of points on the board during the course of the season on everybody. HOW DID LSU DO AGAINST ALABAMA? HOW MANY TOUCHDOWNS IN TWO GAMES DID LSU GET AGAINST ALABAMA?
What kind of offense did LSU run mostly this season. Oh yeah, I remember now, the PRO SET. So yes, I’ll say what I will because it ain’t about schemes it’s about the Jimmy’s and the Joes.
One last point I will give you guys again, Gus Malzahn didn’t run a damned spread. I wish you and the rest would get that. It wasn’t a spread, it was a HUNH based on running it up the middle. If Gus couldn’t establish the run game, his entire offense didn’t work. I’m not saying that Gus’s offense was perfect at all. I’m just saying to be objective about things. The Pro-Set isn’t going to fix anything miraculously and it isn’t going to run the offense into the ground. The scheme doesn’t make much difference and stop calling Malzahn’s offense a spread. It wasn’t a spread.
It's Auburn against the world. Good luck world.
FTR, I thought youth played a role with the offensive line....
I’m on record for saying that numerous amounts of time, only to get hammered for ’they’re not young any more’ after 4 games or whatever……
You can’t have any running game, much less up the middle, without an offensive line. In fact it is difficult to do anything offensively without an offensive line……but if we are honest that was only part of the issue with the offense. I think why people are so quick to criticize Malzahn’s O is that out of the monster play book that we know that he has, his schemes became trite and vanilla. It’s first down is Auburn gonna run? I don’t think that he became uninspired; I think that he was working with the tools available, but as variable as his schemes could be, without the right talent they were highly inflexible……
We’ll get an OC. Chizik is making sure he gets the right guy. If he’s half as exciting as BVG, well, let the good times roll…..
"We see the door; we're here to knock it down"-Cam Newton
by Tiger on the mountain on Jan 16, 2012 3:03 PM CST reply actions
If we go to a base Pro-Style...
It will the biggest mistake of Coach Chizik’s tenure at Auburn.
It's Auburn against the world. Good luck world.
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