JessN: Auburn wrap-up: Another miracle finish, because Alabama couldn’t finish

[RTR91]

Re: offensive gameplanning in general, I do think we tend to get a bit infatuated at times with imposing our will on opposing defenses up front, almost to a fault. That's obviously great when it works, but when it doesn't, I think we do get a bit stubborn at times and insist on continuing to attempt to break through with the interior running game, instead of going to something else. Although that happened on Saturday, I don't think that's necessarily something that is unique to that one game.

This is where CNS's "every play is successful if everyone does their job" mindset fails. Rather than being stubborn, we should have mixed up the plays.

FWIW, I thought we should have essentially went with the 2011 BCS Championship gameplan, i.e. passing on early downs, and especially involving Howard to take advantage of the Auburn linebacker corps. Auburn has a fine defensive line and a weak back-seven, so I have no idea why we wouldn't choose to attack the intermediate-to-deep passing game more than we did, and we instead chose to try to establish the interior running game and work the short passing game as a complement. Basically, I think we came out and ran what Ellis Johnson probably hoped we would run, and obviously we didn't change that strategy down the stretch.

I have felt like Bama didn't fully utilize OJ much this season. There were some flashes, but he never was used like he could have been this season.

Saban has certainly talked a lot publicly about how he feels McCarron is very underrated, but really there was little, if anything, in our gameplan on Saturday that could be considered an endorsement of his abilities. I'd say actions speak louder than words in that regard. If there was a game on the schedule this season where you could say it would really make sense to go a bit pass-heavy and turn McCarron loose, it was the Iron Bowl, and the staff basically said, "Ah, no thinks, we'll give it to Yeldon."

Not letting AJ throw more hurt. Not using another RB when TJ was gimpy hurt more.

 

[Con]

we seemed to be interested in throwing the ball in the first quarter and we kept dropping passes and stalling drives. that may have had something to do with it.

I was wondering if we were dropping the passes because when AJ would begin the pass, he was in the shade and the receiver was in the sun. It seemed like we started catching more consistently when the sun went down below the stadium or when we changed sides of the field in the 2nd quarter.

 

[BigEasyTider]

we seemed to be interested in throwing the ball in the first quarter and we kept dropping passes and stalling drives. that may have had something to do with it.

Again, that was all short passing game, and almost no downfield attempts. The opening two drives, for example, had three passes on eight plays -- a WR screen to Cooper and then two short slant passes, one to Cooper and another to Norwood.

If you go back and look at the film, in total in the first quarter we had 8 runs and 6 passes. Five of those six passes were short throws -- I believe a screen, two underneath crossing routes, and two slants -- and all together you're basically talking either a run or dink-and-dunk passing on 13 of the 14 offensive plays we ran in the first quarter. Only the long flag route to Cooper at the very end of the quarter was the exception (which admittedly would have been a score with a good throw, but an underthrow caused an incompletion).

I'm not trying to beat on a dead horse because it's all over now anyway, but again I think our offensive gameplan was just what Auburn hoped we would do. Ellis Johnson had to be sitting in the booth grinning from ear to ear about what we were trying to do.

Finally, I don't think we actually had any drops in the first quarter. The only one I recall that could qualify was Norwood on the slant, but that ball was pretty badly behind him, and that would have been a very tough play (though he did almost make it).

 

[BigEasyTider]

I have felt like Bama didn't fully utilize OJ much this season. There were some flashes, but he never was used like he could have been this season.

I don't have any real complaints as to how we used Howard throughout the season as a whole -- he was a true freshman, after all, and it took him a while to get going -- but for the life of me I can't figure out how our staff didn't just drool at the prospect of consistently getting him matched up on McKinzy and Jake Holland.

 

[imauafan]

I don't have any real complaints as to how we used Howard throughout the season as a whole -- he was a true freshman, after all, and it took him a while to get going -- but for the life of me I can't figure out how our staff didn't just drool at the prospect of consistently getting him matched up on McKinzy and Jake Holland.

This ties in with a similar discussion on another thread (the postgame thread, I think) about how we do not pinpoint a weakness in the defense and continue attacking it until they fix it. I still have nightmares of Rohan Davey-to-Josh Reed in the 2001 LSU game so we know that CNS has done this in the past. They ran the same play over and over and over and over.............

 

[JDCrimson]

Going into the game I thought all of our TEs would have a big game due to the weakness of their LB core but that was not exploited for some reason. Honestly, our gameplan didnt seem to respect Auburn's ability despite they had imposed their will offensively against every team they had played except maybe UGA but still found a way to win that one. Fact is I think we were trying to save ourselves emotionally for the SEC Championship.

I agree with a lot of Jess's comments on the lack of emotion factor as it pertains to Auburn. Most coaches, commentators, and fans discount emotional play in the 1st quarter because execution takes over. But I will say this, in a close game, if you are playing an emotional team in the 4th quarter you have got a problem. Emotion is a critical ingredient in winning and it ebbs and flows throughout the game. My coach in HS many times would often call a timeout (or other stoppage of play) around the beginning of the 4th quarter and inspire us to "to dig deep men... your momma/daddy is in the stands watching you give everything you've got for them..." We were constantly coached to find something emotional to play for in the 4th quarter because for us it was usually all we had left to give. It worked too - we lost only 3 games in my last 3 yrs of HS to teams that were truly better and deeper than we were.

Auburn is/was a dangerous team because they are riding an emotional high that can be sustained over several games given their trials from last year and their success and luck this year. We discounted their emotion and seem to each year. And if we were to be real for a moment they are usually always more emotional in their play and atmosphere. The little brother psyche is powerful and competitive thing.

Coach Bryant made his legacy on this one speech on the little things and that something a little extra... Maybe this is a little something missing in our preparation.

 

[trenda]

And that what's baffling. But it is not hard to see how they're doing it. They load the box and dare us to pass. Did it the entire game.

And in 3rd/4th and short situations, it's not difficult to figure out what we're going to do. Majority of the time, we're going to run; and it's going to be between the tackles.

 

[Tradition4ever]

I agree with the suggestion that our offensive gameplan was lacking. I will say, though, that our pass protection seem to break down as the game went on, especially in the fourth quarter. I seem to remember AJ having to escape the pocket quickly in the 4th very often, and there seemed to be a lot of pressure right up the middle over and over again.

One thing I've noticed over the years as Saban has built this program, offensively, especially concerning quarterbacks, the avoidance of turnovers (interceptions in this case) seem to be the central theme to what our goals are offensively (along with dominating the LOS). I first noticed it with McElroy, and now with AJ, it seems like our QB's are coached to avoid throwing to a receiver who is covered. Most of the time that is a sound decision to make. However, there are games in which our QB's need to make, and complete those kind of throws. We saw it a few times this year when AJ went to Norwood in coverage and Norwood made the play. But, in a game like this, where Auburn was loading the box and putting their DB's on islands against our receivers, we need to make them pay for it, even if our guys are covered. The WR's need to step up and make that play. Our offense has trouble against dynamic D-lines, yes, but it's more than that. Our offense seems to struggle at times with man coverage. Our passing game shreds zone coverage, when our receivers are in space. But the offense seems reluctant to take chances in man coverage. Beating the man coverage is how you get these defenses to relax back off of crowding the LOS. Consistently beat the man D, make them hesitate on crashing up front. As has been said in this thread, Ellis Johnson has had particular success against Bama in the last few years. In every case, he's had a deep, dynamic d-line, and aggressive back 7's. Not necessarily the best statistical defenses, but they seems to cause our O all kinds of fits. Sometimes, our O just can't dominate at the point of attack. Maybe our O philosophy needs to be tweaked a little bit to account for when our O-line can't dominate. We have the athletes to open the gameplan up. Put it on the players shoulders. Let them know that they have the trust of the coaches to execute any gameplan we need to implement.

 

[BigEasyTider]

I will say, though, that our pass protection seem to break down as the game went on, especially in the fourth quarter. I seem to remember AJ having to escape the pocket quickly in the 4th very often, and there seemed to be a lot of pressure right up the middle over and over again.

Again, I think that ultimately goes back to play selection, in that those passes were coming on obvious passing downs after Yeldon runs on the earlier down(s) went nowhere. Look at the down-and-distances of the passing plays we had in our three full fourth quarter drives:

2nd and 10
3rd and 10
2nd and 10
3rd and 12

The only early down we threw on in the fourth was the 99-yard TD bomb to Cooper, where the pass protection held up superbly even in the end zone with an extra rusher. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying pass protection couldn't have been better in the fourth, but again a lot of that has to be with unfavorable down-and-distance situations. It's a heck of a lot harder to pass block on a 3rd and 12 than it is a 2nd and 5, just because the defensive response is vastly different.

 

[BigEasyTider]

This ties in with a similar discussion on another thread (the postgame thread, I think) about how we do not pinpoint a weakness in the defense and continue attacking it until they fix it. I still have nightmares of Rohan Davey-to-Josh Reed in the 2001 LSU game so we know that CNS has done this in the past. They ran the same play over and over and over and over.............

I must have missed that discussion, but I don't know if the two situations are all that similar. Keep in mind that 2001 LSU with Rohan was a lights out passing game whose offense was predicated upon throwing the football deep down the field. I think the fact that they threw it all day against us in '01 is more arguably more indicative of it being what they wanted to do, as opposed to attacking a specific weakness in an opponent.

It wasn't like they ran three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust all season and then showed up in Tuscaloosa doing their best Daryle Lamonica impersonation.

 

[marcusroby]

It appeared to me that the playcalling went ultra conservative after the long bomb. Especially the runs into tackles with a full box. Not the best game by the staff but I guess they were do a bad game. I just wish they would quit being so stubborn.

 

[imauafan]

I must have missed that discussion, but I don't know if the two situations are all that similar. Keep in mind that 2001 LSU with Rohan was a lights out passing game whose offense was predicated upon throwing the football deep down the field. I think the fact that they threw it all day against us in '01 is more arguably more indicative of it being what they wanted to do, as opposed to attacking a specific weakness in an opponent.

It wasn't like they ran three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust all season and then showed up in Tuscaloosa doing their best Daryle Lamonica impersonation.

The way I remember it Davey hit Reed in the gap between the LBers and the safeties over and over. it was the same play and we never stopped it. That's what I was alluding to, that in past years a Coach Saban offense would attack a weakness and continue to attack until adjustments were made.

 

[B1GTide]

I must have missed that discussion, but I don't know if the two situations are all that similar. Keep in mind that 2001 LSU with Rohan was a lights out passing game whose offense was predicated upon throwing the football deep down the field. I think the fact that they threw it all day against us in '01 is more arguably more indicative of it being what they wanted to do, as opposed to attacking a specific weakness in an opponent.

It wasn't like they ran three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust all season and then showed up in Tuscaloosa doing their best Daryle Lamonica impersonation.

As I remember it, when Saban arrived he preached taking what the defense gives you. He followed that mantra for the first few years, but then changed in 2011. Beginning in 2011 he started his "impose your will" mantra. That works great when you have the best O-Line in the history of college football, but not so great when you only have a very good o-line.

I believe that every team should be willing to take what the defense gives you. Don't run the ball into a 9 man front - EVER. Don't throw the ball deep when they have both safeties back and your receivers bracketed - EVER. What Saban tries to do at times approaches arrogance.

 

[92tide]

It appeared to me that the playcalling went ultra conservative after the long bomb. Especially the runs into tackles with a full box. Not the best game by the staff but I guess they were do a bad game. I just wish they would quit being so stubborn.

i just wish we would've run right on the 4 and 1 instead of left. they had all of the left side gaps plugged and they were stacked heavy to that side, but the right side gaps looked plenty loose and yeldon could've easily made 2-3 yards.

 

[imauafan]

i just wish we would've run right on the 4 and 1 instead of left. they had all of the left side gaps plugged and they were stacked heavy to that side, but the right side gaps looked plenty loose and yeldon could've easily made 2-3 yards.

It seemes to me that most of the year we've had more success running to the right side than to the left.

 

[TexasBama]

i just wish we would've run right on the 4 and 1 instead of left. they had all of the left side gaps plugged and they were stacked heavy to that side, but the right side gaps looked plenty loose and yeldon could've easily made 2-3 yards.

IIRC he bounced left and got stacked. There was a yard that could have been made at the two gap.

 

[JDCrimson]

IIRC he bounced left and got stacked. There was a yard that could have been made at the two gap.

Yes the yard he needed was right in front of him. All he needed to do was run up in the hole and fall down and it would have been a first down. I think Yeldon has developed a habit of bouncing to his left unintentionally.

 

[graydogg85]

I must have missed that discussion, but I don't know if the two situations are all that similar. Keep in mind that 2001 LSU with Rohan was a lights out passing game whose offense was predicated upon throwing the football deep down the field. I think the fact that they threw it all day against us in '01 is more arguably more indicative of it being what they wanted to do, as opposed to attacking a specific weakness in an opponent.

It wasn't like they ran three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust all season and then showed up in Tuscaloosa doing their best Daryle Lamonica impersonation.

The way I remember it Davey hit Reed in the gap between the LBers and the safeties over and over. it was the same play and we never stopped it. That's what I was alluding to, that in past years a Coach Saban offense would attack a weakness and continue to attack until adjustments were made.

Bear in mind that Jimbo Fisher was Saban's offensive coordinator at the time...a man to whom he supposedly delegated more offensive control than any other playcaller he's employed, and a man who is known to be very aggressive in the downfield passing game.

 

[mittman]

I have waited to post on this after reading ALL of the comments. Trying to take emotion out of it. I also appreciate Jess's take and willingness to discuss. This is however the first time I fully disagree with him. IMO it is way too harsh. I get the points, I understand the reasoning, and in some cases agree, but I do not put this one on Coach. He has done a great coaching job, and there are multiples of things that would have meant this discussion and that column would not have been written.

Coach has been beating this into everyone all year long. Warning us that breakdowns and missed assignments will get us beat. That is part of what happened. Sometimes no matter how much you say and how hard you try it does not connect until it actually happens.

IMO the biggest things that lost the game we cannot put on coach:
A.J. had at least a bad start, and really a bad day for him.
Cade had a horrible day as has been discussed ad. museum.
IMO C.J. did not have his best day either.
Auburn played very well and did not give up when we really had them.

What can be:
We had some missed assignments, some that were capitalized on.
He probably shouldn't have had all fat guys on the kicking team. Makes me think that Cade may have actually made a difference if he was kicking that last one.

Even those that can be, do not solely rest on him. With all that happened we were up on them and had them beat with < a minute left.

I do not think for a minute that he underestimates the importance of this game. OK MAYBE at first, but he has been here long enough. I think he gets it. That does not mean he is going to (or should) change his core principles. They have worked very well. What I have seen and believe about Coach is that he WILL adjust. In fact he already is recruiting different types of players especially on the d-line to adjust. As I said in another post. There will be no second guessing from me. Those that are doing it are rubbing me pretty raw. Even more that the Auburn fans.

</end rant>

 

[TexasBama]

Yes the yard he needed was right in front of him. All he needed to do was run up in the hole and fall down and it would have been a first down. I think Yeldon has developed a habit of bouncing to his left unintentionally.

All his extra blockers were on the left so it probably makes sense to go that way.