Auburn's A-Day Game on Saturday had the potential to spark hot takes on both ends of the spectrum. The fourth spring game under Gus Malzahn received mostly glowing reviews for the defense and plenty of underwhelming feedback for the offense.
But the weekend's action from Jordan-Hare Stadium should be viewed in the proper context. A walk-on running back led the team in carries. The clock never stopped in the third and fourth quarters. It was more of a football-like substance than an actual game.
And while it's smart to avoid putting too much stock into the stat sheets and the highlights from the only televised game from now until September, reasonable takeaways can still be gleaned from A-Day. Auburn had a few trends that need to be top priorities for the rest of the offseason, starting with Tuesday's final practice of spring camp.
What should Auburn be most concerned about after its 2016 A-Day Game? Here are three main areas Malzahn's Tigers need improvement in.
Quarterback situation
Auburn's quarterback battle was never going to be decided Saturday. Gus Malzahn wasn't going to go with anything other than "vanilla" with his offensive play-calling, either.
But even though Auburn's three-way quarterback derby of former starters Jeremy Johnson, Sean White and JUCO newcomer John Franklin III was projected to continue into fall camp, the spring game didn't make things any clearer for the Tigers' situation under center.
None of the three quarterbacks impressed Saturday. White (8-of-14 passing for 125 yards) had the best numbers, but he had a back-breaking fumble inside the red zone and almost threw an easy interception. Johnson completed less than half of his attempts for 35 yards and a short touchdown.
Franklin had a 40-yard, up-for-grabs completion that fell between two defenders and into the hands of Marcus Davis for a touchdown, which Ben Bolton of AL News Network highlighted below. He completed six of his other 11 pass attempts for only 21 more yards.
As Phillip Marshall of Auburn Undercover noted, spring game statistics aren't usually reflective of how a Tiger quarterback is going to perform in the regular season:
Last April, Jeremy Johnson completed 14-of-22 passes in Auburn’s A-Day game for 252 yards and a 36-yard touchdown.
In April of 2013, Jonathan Wallace completed 18-of-26 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. ... Kiehl Frazier completed 10-of-16 for 125 yards and one touchdown.
In 2010, Barrett Trotter completed 7-of-9 passes for 154 yards, including touchdown passes of 50 and 44 yards. Neil Caudle completed 17-of-21 for 199 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown. Cam Newton? He was 3-of-8 for 80 yards and no touchdowns. ...
Way back in 1971, Pat Sullivan threw five interceptions in the A-Day game and won the Heisman Trophy the following November.
What did all those numbers mean?
Not much.
While Marshall is 100 percent correct in his charge not to look too much into spring game stats, it's still at least somewhat concerning for Auburn that none of the quarterbacks were strong or showed any sort of separation Saturday.
Some of that might be due to the "touch football" rules on the quarterbacks, which took away a huge chunk of Franklin's effectiveness as a run-first signal-caller. Maybe Auburn's first-team defense, which looked much improved, just played lights out against the trio.
Auburn didn't need to produce an answer to its quarterback question at A-Day. But if the goal of the game was to get more clarity on the all-important position in a live situation, that didn't appear to happen.
Overall offensive execution
The lack Auburn's quarterbacks producing anything impressive was part of an offense-wide problem on Saturday, particularly in the area of execution.
With a plain offense that was using a fraction of its playbook, Auburn was an abysmal 1-of-22 as a whole on third downs and only scored one touchdown in the red zone.
Some of that can be chalked up to an improved defense. But that low rate was alarming, considering the defense finished 110th nationally last season, with opponents converting 44.95 percent of their third-down tries against the Tigers. Dana Sulonen of the Opelika-Auburn News noted Auburn's red-zone concerns:
"When you rotate three quarterbacks with different groups and you have different receivers, that is a challenge," Malzahn said, per Brandon Marcello of SEC Country. "You have to give our defense some credit on that. As far as being concerned, I am not concerned at all. I thought the defense did an outstanding job and made them earn it."
While Malzahn didn't sound concerned after A-Day, one of his quarterbacks saw the glaring need for better offensive execution.
"The fluidity of the offense (is something we need to work on)," White said, per Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee. "We have to put more touchdowns on the board. I know it was a shortened game, but we have to put more touchdowns up and get the offense rolling to be back where Coach Malzahn wants it."
Auburn struggled with offensive momentum and consistency last season, and Saturday's game didn't do much to ease those concerns. Even with a limited offense and quarterbacks who weren't able to show off their mobility, the third-down woes and drive-killing fumbles were tough to swallow.
Malzahn said early in the spring that one of his goals was for Auburn to find its edge again on offense after the worst statistical season of his college coaching career. In the only totally open practice of camp, that old edge wasn't there.
Run defense
Auburn had a lot of positives to take away from A-Day on the defensive side of the ball, but it was still somewhat lacking in a specific area that hurt the Tigers last season.
The Tigers ranked 80th nationally in rushing yards allowed per attempt and 75th in rushing plays of 10 or more yards allowed in 2015. On Saturday, the two offenses combined for 318 rushing yards, with the first-choice members of the Blue Team breaking off 10.6 yards per touch on the reserve defense.
Jovon Robinson went 83 yards on just 10 carries, recording a 55-yard run. Chandler Cox and Kamryn Pettway—two fullbacks cross-training at running back this spring—had carries of 71 and 40 yards, respectively.
Those rushing defense woes highlighted a lack of depth at linebacker, which has long been a concern for Auburn heading into the 2016 season.
Deshaun Davis had a game-high nine tackles while playing for both squads, while Tre' Williams and Darrell Williams recorded six tackles for the Blue Team. Outside of those players, though, the linebacker production was minimal.
"We were pretty physical," Tre' Williams said, per Wesley Sinor of AL.com. "We gave up a few runs, and that's something we have to work on."
Auburn's defense will be able to pride itself on its depth across the front four this season, and the reserves are well-stocked in the secondary.
But linebacker is a different story, with Tre' Williams serving as the only true linebacker with meaningful game experience. The Tigers need Illinois transfer T.J. Neal to provide quality experience this fall as they continue to develop their young corps.
And whether they're on the first-, second- or third-team defenses, any Tiger taking the field at linebacker could use improvement over the rest of the offseason in limiting those explosive plays on the ground.
Stats courtesy of CFBStats.com.
Justin Ferguson is a National College Football Analyst at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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