Nowhere to run, for much of the day.
(John Reed-USA TODAY Sports)
War Eagle everybody. It’s time now for the Acid Reign Report on Auburn’s 29–16 loss to Texas A&M. On one sticky night in Auburn, dreams of playing for any championships all but went up in smoke, as the Aggies whipped the Tigers up front and disrupted the Auburn offense. The Auburn defense kept the Tigers in the game till the 4th quarter, but they spent way too many long stretches on the field.
Myriad problems returned on the offensive side of the ball, none more glaring than on the offensive line. It did not take long to figure out that the Aggies were going to need to be double-team blocked. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just superstar end Myles Garrett. The Aggies were able to wreak havoc inside and opposite Garrett. Auburn tried to help the offensive tackles by pulling guards and getting them to attempt chip blocks, but these developed way too slow. And if the other team runs a stunt, it appears that our guys don’t even know how to switch off. If you’re on the O-line in pass protection, and you stand there without even getting contact on a passing down, something is very wrong.
As bad as the pass blocking was at times, the run blocking was decent. Auburn backs regularly got swallowed up, but 5 linemen can’t block 7 or 8 defenders in the box. The same scheme problems from last season cropped up. The Auburn quarterbacks weren’t going to get time to throw. And yet, time and time again, the offense spread the field and tried to run it up the middle. Following last year’s pattern, productive players are benched in the second half. Auburn’s best running option in the first half was Kamryn Pettway. The coaches promptly parked him on the bench in the 3rd quarter and watched the offense flounder. The game was out of reach before Pettway returned.
The receiving corps took a step back with several critical dropped balls and a lost fumble. However, the biggest problem seemed to be with the design of Auburn’s routes. Way too many times, Auburn quarterbacks were dumping the ball off on 3rd and long to guys on short routes that had no chance of picking up the first down. When Auburn did have the ball in 3rd and medium, receivers consistently ran routes short of the first down marker. That needs to be corrected in a hurry!
Defensively, Auburn played well enough to win. We’d have liked to have seen some turnovers, but credit the Aggies for taking care of the ball. Auburn did give up an ugly 89-yard touchdown run late. Take that one out, and the defense held the Aggies to 3.9 yards per carry. Trevor Knight only hit 20 of 40 passing attempts for 6.1 yards per pass. Few teams this year will hold down the talented Aggie offense like this.
It’s rare to see Auburn’s special teams matched, but it happened this game. The culprit was the punting game this time. Auburn kicked way too many short punts after the offense had wilted. Both Kevin Phillips and Ian Shannon were guilty of this. Meanwhile, the Aggie punter Shane Tripuka frequently flipped the field with booming kicks.
I’m not going to spend too much time bashing individual units. There was bad play to go around to most units, but I fault the coaches. Grades after the jump!
Defensive Line: B. For the most part, these guys filled gaps and took running lanes away, but they only got the Aggie quarterback on the ground once on an early sack by Montravius Adams.
Linebackers: B. For the first time in a while, a couple of linebackers led the team in tackles rather than a host of secondary folks. Tré Williams and Deshawn Davis had 6 tackles apiece.
Secondary: A-. These guys did a great job battling a star-studded receiving corps. Aside from a late hit flag late, these guys did a pretty good job.
Punting: D+. As stated above, there were way too many short punts. A lot of high school punters average better than 37.2 yards per punt.
Punt Returns: C+. This isn’t a knock on Marcus Davis. He continues to be steady and does not turn the ball over. I felt like Auburn had a pretty lackluster day trying to block the Aggie gunners. The gunners regularly got in Davis’ face well before the ball arrived.
Kick Returns: A. Auburn had only one shot at this as the Aggies were booting nearly all touchbacks. Kerryon Johnson broke a 34-yard return, the first decent return of the season.
Place Kicking: A+. There was a failed onside kick late, but I didn’t count off for that. Those are very low-percentage plays, especially when the coverage knows it is coming. Aside from that, Daniel Carlson hit every kick asked of him and kicked his other two kickoffs for touchbacks.
Offensive Line: D+. Before the season, I was worried about having a converted center at left tackle, and a center and right tackle that had not started before. It turns out that I wasn’t worried enough.
Running Backs: A-. If these guys just get a little blocking, they are dangerous. Unfortunately, that did not happen enough in this game. We are three games into the season, and a running back has yet to fumble the ball.
Receivers: B. I’m not going to fault the receivers for poor route design on various plays. That is on the coaching staff. I did count off for some dropped passes.
Quarterback: B. Time and time again, passes were dumped short of the stake, but other than that I can’t really blame either quarterback that played. When Sean White had time to throw, he made accurate throws, often into tight windows. Give how poor the pass protection was, these guys did not commit a turnover.
A single loss in the SEC opener isn’t the end of the season, of course. It’s how the game was lost that worries me. Looking ahead on the Auburn schedule, I see only Louisiana Monroe and Alabama A&M, where Auburn’s offensive line looks to have the advantage. I see bad mismatches ahead against LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama. Even Vanderbilt has the manpower and defensive expertise to give this line fits. If improvement doesn’t happen, Auburn will be lucky to win 4 games this season.
The offensive brain trust deserves some criticism, too. We saw the single-wing offense broken out again, during Auburn’s 3rd quarter of futility. News flash! Basically, there are no receivers in that look. Everyone is either a blocker, or a misdirection ball carrier. Any defensive coordinator worth his salt is going to bring the house, and disrupt the running lanes. Let’s retire that one, please? The fact that this coaching staff keeps trying to run with no lead blocker much of the time baffles me. It is clear now that they are not going to change that philosophy, and it may well lead to their doom.
The post Aggies Dominate the Tigers (Grading Auburn’s 29-16 loss to Texas A&M) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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