aubiefifty

The 'different challenges' of stopping the run in today's SEC ByNathan King 5-7 minutes Midterm Report Card: Biggest Disappointments So Far In 2021 (Late Kick Cut) Sam Pittman’s late father, Donald Pittman, was a longtime high school football coach in Oklahoma. Born and raised in the Sooner State, Sam, now in his second season leading the Arkansas football program, picked up more than a few coaching tidbits, of course, over the years. One of Don Pittman’s biggest coaching pillars was success and multiplicity in the running game — something his son is upholding quite efficiently at the moment with the Razorbacks. “My dad was an old coach, and his big deal was, ‘Where’s the football?’” Pittman said Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference. “If they don’t know where the football is, you have a lot better chance of having success running it.” There are plenty of modernized approaches for a rushing attack, with tempo and creative schemes to get athletes in space, but they’re also stirred with simple misdirections, like Pittman described. Blend with a talent pool that seems to get better and better as the years go by, and the SEC is currently carving up opponents in the run game at a rate that could end up being historic. The SEC currently has four teams averaging at least 240 rushing yards per game. If that figure holds — which is a big “if,” considering the majority of remaining games at this point are conference matchups, after some easier, non-Power Five opponents buoyed offensive outputs earlier in the season — it would be the first time in SEC history that at least four offenses have posted an average of at least 240 yards on the ground over a season. The season to beat is likely 2017, which ended with three teams — Georgia, Mississippi State and Alabama — finishing with an average of at least 250 rushing yards per game. 2021 SEC RUSHING LEADERS (THROUGH WEEK 7) • Ole Miss: 262.83 YPG • Florida: 252.29 YPG • Tennessee: 249.14 YPG • Arkansas: 243.0 YPG A common denominator for the league’s best running games is a quarterback that can be equally as dangerous and provide another running threat for defenses. Pittman, for example, mentioned his big, athletic QB as the first reason for the Razorbacks’ success in the run game, which went for 232 yards in a losing effort against Auburn last weekend. “I think a lot of it, too, has to do with KJ Jefferson, with his ability to run the ball,” Pittman said. All four of the SEC’s best aforementioned rushing attacks boast a quarterback who contributes with much more than his arm — with at least 50 yards per game on the ground. In some cases, the quarterback is a scrambler. In others, he’s a central part of an zone-read scheme, easily getting to double-digit carries a game. If that figure holds, it will be the first season since 2016 with four SEC quarterbacks averaging 50-plus rushing yards. 2021 SEC QUARTERBACKS RUSHING YPG (THROUGH WEEK 7) • Matt Corral (Ole Miss): 75.0 YPG • Emory Jones (Florida): 70.57 YPG • Hendon Hooker (Tennessee): 55.71 YPG • KJ Jefferson (Arkansas): 55.14 YPG “It’s becoming more of that, where, week to week, you’re getting different challenges,” Auburn linebackers coach and defensive run game coordinator Jeff Schmedding said this week of game-planning for SEC rushing attacks. “The league has spread out, too, so now you’re having to make space tackles, which is the biggest difference in that sense. It was somewhat typical on the west coast, but it’s gotten into the SEC. And you do that with even better players, those missed tackles on the perimeter and out in space become explosive plays." Luckily for Auburn, which has the SEC’s fifth-best run defense through seven games, only one of the SEC’s top seven rushing offenses is left on the schedule. Unluckily, it’s the best one. The Tigers’ coaching staff is glad to have extra prep time in the bye week for Ole Miss, which has not only the league’s best run game, but also presents the No. 2 overall offense in college football and the No. 3 rushing offense in the country. The Rebels hung 52 points on Auburn’s most recent opponent, Arkansas. Lane Kiffin loves his tempo, and Auburn saw plenty of that in Fayetteville, too. Schmedding said not only do modern defenses need to slow traditional handoffs, they also have to account for short but efficient elements of the passing game. Those, too, usually fall on the front seven and defensive backs in shallow coverage to make quick stops. In the SEC, that means quick stops against top-shelf athletes. “A lot of the screen game, the RPO, they’re just extensions of the run game,” Schmedding said. “So, really, they’re making you cover the whole entire field.” A defensive performance like the one Auburn closed the game out with in the Arkansas win — the Tigers allowed one touchdown, forced two punts, forced a fumble for a touchdown and got two fourth-down stops on the Razorbacks’ final six drives —would go a long way in securing a victory over Ole Miss in what looks to be an important matchup in the SEC West race. Kickoff on Oct. 30 inside Jordan-Hare Stadium is set for 6 p.m. CST on ESPN.

Auburn Wire Roundtable: College football during the bye week Zac Blackerby 3-4 minutes It’s going to be a slower weekend of college football for Auburn fans. Auburn is on a bye week and the rest of the SEC slate is pretty grim and leaves a lot to be desired. The off week comes at a great time for the Tigers as they heal up and get ready for the final leg of their SEC schedule. In this week’s Auburn Wire Roundtable, Lance Dawe, JD McCarthy, and I look at some questions that are happening throughout the SEC and what Auburn’s season looks like after the bye week. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics Zac Blackerby: Get Owen Pappoe healthy. Auburn’s going to need a healthy Pappoe to have a shot at slowing down the Ole Miss offense. Lance Dawe: Working on the running game. Auburn needs to be able to be versatile in how they operate so teams don’t hone in on stopping just one thing. The passing game won’t be as good as it was against Arkansas. JD McCarthy: Get healthy for the final stretch of the season. Chandler Wooten has played great but getting Owen Pappoe back would be a huge boost to the defense. Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports ZB: Ole Miss vs LSU. Not even close. That Bama/UT “rivalry” is not it. LD: LSU vs Ole Miss. Matt Corral isn’t 100%, and if he doesn’t play, LSU may have a legitimate shot to win. JDM: Ole Miss vs. LSU. LSU is coming off a huge win and announcing that Ed Orgeron will not be back next year, in interested to see how this team plays the rest of the season. Also, Ole Miss is always entertaining. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert ZB: Colby Wooden has been a freak. His ability to push the pocket from the interior defensive line has been a treat to watch. LD: Jarquez Hunter. Auburn needed stability in the backfield outside of Tank Bigsby, and they’ve got it in Hunter. He’s really impressed me and I can’t wait to see what his future with the Tigers holds. JDM: Bo Nix, when Nix was pulled against Georgia State, I thought things could get ugly for the offense. Nix instead bounced back with a huge performance against LSU and one of his best games ever against Arkansas. Those were the performances you expect from a veteran quarterback in the SEC. Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports ZB: Hunter’s run against Georgia State was historic. Seeing a play that will live on in the record books for a long time is a pretty special thing. LD: The Bo Nix scramble touchdown on fourth and two. Finding Tyler Fromm in the back of the endzone. JDM: The insane throw from Nix to Tyler Fromm. That play showed why Nix was such a huge recruit and was a reminder that he can do special things on the football field. Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports ZB: 8-4 LD: 10-2 JDM: 7-5

Were Auburn fans spoiled by Kevin Steele's defense? Lance Dawe 2-3 minutes Auburn’s defense has been somewhat of a “bend don’t break” kind of unit. The team has occasionally felt like it has bled yardage against its competition, even though Auburn is (usually) holding teams out of the endzone. Are Auburn fans spoiled after having one of the best defenses in the nation during the Kevin Steele era? Justin Ferguson of the ‘Auburn Observer‘ joined Zac Blackerby and the “Locked on Auburn Podcast” to talk about why this Auburn team is different and how fans should meter their expectations in year one of the Bryan Harsin era. I think there is so much that’s unknown with this team… I just think (the Harsin era) is going to be different. Auburn fans for years never had a defense that they liked, and then they got a stretch with Kevin Steele where they were playing dominant defense. I think this year’s denfese has talent, and Derek Mason has done a good job making adjustments in game and closing well in the second half. But this is a very different type of defense, and sometimes it may look like ‘oh, they don’t have any answers. They can’t stop Treylon Burks.’ The start at LSU was the same way, so you’re riding that momentum wave because things look different. I think you look at the way this team is playing, with it being year one, as they are learning about things, they’re going to be riding the wave a little bit. I think fans will get more used to it as time goes on. However, I think the schedule combined with the fact that we are still learning how this team wants to run what they want to run will cause moments where the fans are like ‘oh, this is realy unexpected,’ but you can’t judge this team and make the same assumptions that you did in the Malzahn era… and I think it’s hard to break those habits. Contact/Follow us @theauburnwire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion.

Zakoby McClain named Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist Last Updated 20 hours ago 5-6 minutes Oct 16, 2021; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Zakoby McClain (9) between Auburn and Arkansas at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics The Tigers’ defensive leader in total tackles is one of twenty NCAA players named to the quarterfinal list for the Lott Impact Trophy. Now in its 18th year, the trophy goes to the student-athlete who portrays the characteristics closest to Ronnie Lott both on and off the field of play. Lott is a former corner and safety who spent 14 seasons in the NFL after attending the University of Southern California where he was named a consensus All-American. His name resides in both the NFL Hall of Fame as well as the College Football Hall of Fame. The IMPACT acronym in the trophy’s name stands for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. It wasn’t that long ago when an Auburn player won the award for the first time in over a decade. Former Auburn defensive tackle and No. 7 overall draft pick Derrick Brown was the last Tiger to be recognized for his efforts both on and off the field in 2019. Semi-finalists for the award will be chosen out of the twenty-man group in late November, with four finalists picked in December. The four final players will be invited to the annual Lott IMPACT Trophy award show on Dec. 12, 2021, in Newport Beach, California. NFL and CFB Hall of Famer Charles Woodson will be guest speaking at the event. Sign up for our newsletter Get The Plainsman straight to your inbox. The 2021 Lott IMPACT® Trophy Quarter-Finalists: Alonzo Addae, CB, West Virginia Thomas Booker, DE, Stanford Coby Bryant, CB, Cincinnati Damone Clark, LB, LSU Yusuf Corker, S, Kentucky Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia JoJo Domann, LB, Nebraska Kyle Hamilton, S, Notre Dame Tre’vius Hodges-Tomlinson, CB, TCU Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan Drake Jackson, LB, USC Josh Jobe, DB, Alabama George Karlaftis, DE, Purdue Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah Zakoby McClain, LB, Auburn PJ Mustipher, DT, Penn State Bumper Pool, LB, Arkansas Mike Rose, LB, Iowa State Kayvon Thibodeaux, DE, Oregon Zach VanValkenburg, DE, Iowa Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman. Support The Plainsman Larry Robinson | Sports Writer Larry is a junior studying journalism with a minor in sociology. He is from Enterprise, Alabama and is in his second year with The Auburn Plainsman. Twitter: @ReportingLarry

i am gonna dress up like al.com for halloween and go scare a few auburn fans. grins

most of my friends love it. i can enjoy jacks lemonade because it tastes like the fresh made kind sold at big trade days. do you drink milo's teas with lemon? i have never tried that and it might make a difference. i can drink milo's but i do not buy it.

i understand believe me. i have had my behind kicked at the sonic too many times over al.com from unhappy posters. gina or it might have been gena was gold to us for a fact.

here's to hoping you guys do not run me off for posting this. but i am pretty sure they understand auburn fans do not care for al.com. hell goodman pretty much apologized before he moved on. and the gina girl that moved on was really good to us. but do not change your minds on my account but al.com is one of the few non pay sites i can get any info from and i like to try and think i am helping the board. i am not posting their articles to make anyone mad for the record. and if anyone has any idea's or things you would want to see and i can do it with my poor puter skills i will try my best. if i had my way aufam would be a one stop shop where you could get it all without have to search the net. i will take complaints if they are not insulting and they are fair. again i just want to help the board.

Welcoming Nubyjas Wilborn to Auburn sports By Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com 4-5 minutes My name is Nubyjas Wilborn, and I’ve joined AL.com to cover Auburn sports alongside Tom Green. Before we get started, the correct way to say my name is New Buy Us. Think of it as going to Publix and buying something new for us. With that out of the way, let’s get into why I’m moving to the Plains during a pandemic to cover Auburn. Before, AL.com I had stops at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Marietta Daily Journal, Fox Sports South, Cleveland.com, plus bylines in Sporting News, the Athletic, and Boston Globe, to name a few. All good, right? Not so fast, my friend. I wasn’t always highly regarded. I made mistakes. I failed. I was ready to get out of journalism. Thankfully, so many people never stopped rooting for my success. One of my biggest supporters was my brother James Wilborn. Don’t get me wrong, there are so many people who let me sleep on their couch on road trips or bought me a meal, but if I named everyone here, I’d crash the servers at AL.com. I wanted to focus on my brother because when I was going through what I believed was the most tumultuous year of my life, he had two strokes in a six-month time frame. The roughest part is my brother was only 31 with a daughter, a son, and another son on the way. My brother’s resolve to fight congestive heart failure forced me to challenge myself. If he can overcome a heart operating at 10 percent function, I can continue to pursue storytelling. MDJ editor and UAB alum John Bednarowski called me. He needed a reporter to cover the Atlanta Braves. Yes, the job didn’t pay a lot, but you take it when you get a chance to cover a pro ballclub. I met Bednarowski through Tommy Deas, who I met through Tim Stephens. I met Stephens because I applied for a job when he was the sports editor at the Orlando Sentinel that I didn’t get. Stephens connected me with Deas, who was working as a sports editor in Tuscaloosa. Through those connections, I’d eventually meet Larry Graham and Lisa Wilson. Graham runs some excellent programs to help connect newsrooms with journalists from diverse programs. Graham has worked as a sports editor in San Diego and several other places. Wilson is an NFL editor at the Athletic and president of Associated Press Sports Editors. What does all of this do with why I’m covering Auburn football? I’m here because of people like Tyler Batiste, who gave me a chance to cover the Pittsburgh Pirates for a major outlet. Batiste helped me transition to reporting on Penn State football, which reignited my passion for college sports. I’m here because the best college athletics are in the SEC. No offense to my old friends in State College. I’m here to honor the craft and all the people who’ve poured into me. I’m here to learn from top-flight reporters such as Mike Rodak, Michael Casagrande, Roy Johnson, Joe Goodman, Izzy Gould, and Shauna Stuart. I’m also here because my brother is still in Atlanta, recovering from a heart transplant. Getting an opportunity to be closer to him and my niece and nephews matters, especially as we all try to figure out what’s next. I’m excited to learn more about head football coach Bryan Harsin, hoops coach Bruce Pearl, and athletic director Allen Greene. I want to learn everything I can about Auburn sports. I’m not an alum or a fan. I have no emotional investment in wins and losses. That’s what happens when you grow up watching Atlanta teams break hearts. However, I am passionate about the stories. Auburn fans deserve unbiased truth. If the team is good, I’ll tell you why. If they’re bad, well, some readers may not like me as much. It’s okay, we’ll learn together. I’ll be at the games and covering the press conferences, but the press passes belong to the people. The Alabama Media Group hired me. However, I work for the readers. My email is nwilborn@Al.Com, and my Twitter is @nwilborn19. Feel free to reach out if there’s a story you feel should be told. Reach out if I get something wrong. Reach out if you have a restaurant recommendation. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as an Auburn beat writer. Next Saturday, I look forward to meeting some of you as the Tigers take on Ole Miss in a pivotal matchup at Jordan-Hare. Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group

well if i misread your post i will say i am sorry. i figured you wer trolling me like you normally do. so i apologize. better?

Jabari Smith sets high expectations for Auburn hoops By Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com 3-4 minutes A disappointing 13-14 record and 7-11 in SEC contests in 2020-21 and the cloud of an ongoing NCAA investigation into allegations against the program hasn’t dampened Bruce Pearl’s optimism about his No. 22 Auburn Tigers’ heading into this season. Confidence is more accessible when five-star freshman Jabari Smith joins the team. “He’s real easy to root for,” Pearl told reporters earlier this week. He’s led by example, and for him to come in as a freshman and be our hardest working player on the hardest working team I’ve coached. And, all of it is it’s just about his discipline, it’s about his consistency, it’s just about his makeup.” The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 23.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game as a senior last year at Sandy Creek High School on his way to becoming a McDonald’s All-American and Naismith first-team All-American. Smith is the highest-rated prospect in Auburn basketball history. Rivals had Smith as their No.4 player. ESPN and 247 Sports had him No. 5 in the rankings for the 2021 class. Acclaim for basketball exploits follows Smith to Auburn. He got named to the Preseason Second Team All-SEC Tuesday, and on Thursday, he made the 2022 Karl Malone Award Watch List by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Malone award goes to the best power forward in college basketball. Malone is in the pro basketball hall of fame and was recently selected to the NBA All-75 team. Pearl wasn’t shy when describing what makes Smith unique on the court. Jabari’s an elite jump shooter, and he can put the ball down on the floor and create,” Pearl said. “He’s got a great assist-to-turnover ratio. He rebounds his position. He’s just been a lot of fun to coach. That’s why he’s going to be a pro -- because he trains like a pro, and he acts like one, and he wants to be coached.” Winning won’t be easy for the Tigers. They’re ranked 22nd in America, but they’re fifth in preseason SEC polls. Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee are slotted before Auburn. Vanderbilt might have the best player in the league in Scottie Pippen Jr. “You know, if you’re good enough to finish in the top five in our league, you’re good enough to get to the Final Four, and we proved that a couple of years ago,” Pearl said. I think there are legitimately nine or 10 teams in our league that are good enough to make the tournament, and I believe there are legitimate, I want to say, seven or eight teams that are going to make the tournament.” Auburn starts its season with a home game on November 9 against Morehead State. Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nwilborn19. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

i do not like milo's tea or lemonade. the tea is way too strong. i never had one of their burgers.

so a gilr gets beat up and dragged by her hair? you are special. as big a moron as you are even you do not deserve that.

i replied to my own topic and added it loof. first reply after the original post.

i have to say a lot of it is over my head but then i was born a blonde until my hair changed color..........grins. but i was very impressed. i hope you guys can enjoy talking about the ins and outs of it. for an old grouch with a temper i just want to make people happy so thanks for approving the article.

i wake and bake a lot but i have yet to partake today. i just keep getting bad news. a friend up north has a son addicted to drugs and he jumped off a bridge into oncoming traffic. he was wickedly funny. but i will smoke one in your honor sir! you are a favorite poster of mine for not talking to you much. have a great weekend and go watch dune. high if you can....grins

that is weird because it still works for me. i got it on reddit on an auburn board. it wanted to pay four hundred bucks for some kind of clinical trial concerning the effects of drinking. my apologies but i have no idea why it will not show. it even had the email addy. beer.webp

i clicked on the link before i posted it and it worked for me.

i do not remember seeing you before but i have a really bad memory. anyway i just wanted to say welcome to the FAM. there are some super people on here. be warned i have very little filter.............just enough to hopefully keep me from getting banned. lol

i agree. i cannot stand mullins after the cam thing but if he had a great D guy his record is probably better. but then again i read he would have never started trask if others had not been hurt. he sure is quick to blame his current d guy but he did it last year as well and still kept him. i hope he loses his job. i would not buy a pencil from him if he was sitting on a street corner with horrible injuries selling them. he smeared auburn and made us look bad nationally with him and his wife's lies. i was raised better but auburn is more than special to me. i say screw him and let him eat fish heads. no offense to fish heads of course.........lol

lame. you did not even read it. here is the fun part of your link. Instead, the judge agreed that the foundation — through the fundraiser and the subsequent grants to veterans groups (which were announced at campaign events) — was illegally used for political activities. Scarpulla wrote that a “review of the record, including the factual admissions in the Final Stipulation, establishes that Mr. Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation.” “Mr. Trump’s fiduciary duty breaches included allowing his campaign to orchestrate the Fundraiser, allowing his campaign, instead of the Foundation, to direct distribution of the Funds, and using the Fundraiser and distribution of the Funds to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign,” the order noted. While the state argued that the judge should order Trump to pay $2.823 million in damages based on the fundraiser matter, Scarpulla set the amount at $2 million. The Trump Foundation agreed in late 2018 to dissolve as part of the settlement with the state. The foundation agreed to donate its remaining assets of $1.78 million — along with the newly announced $2 million in damages to be paid by Trump — to eight reputable charities. they did not shut down trumps charities for eating fish sticks. and before you bring up the agreed i am sure they had no choice. but you keep thinking trump is a an honorable and stand up guy. you just wasted my time doode.................

i might have been suckered but it looks legit..................