My apologies to the defensive critics

[TexasTiger 14,363]

Got to be a 10 year ago Coach Malzahn out there somewhere who is as big a Defensive guru as Gus was (and is) an offensive one!

Find a young Tommy Tuberville somewhere.

The old Tuberville's team has given up 50 points twice this season. It's a different game .

[aubfaninga 16]

Got to be a 10 year ago Coach Malzahn out there somewhere who is as big a Defensive guru as Gus was (and is) an offensive one!

Find a young Tommy Tuberville somewhere.

The old Tuberville's team has given up 50 points twice this season. It's a different game .

Thank you

[AUstateGrad 0]

It seems like as a team they correct a problem and then another shows up. But they are fighters and play their best ball in the 4th,ill give them that.The thing that drove me crazy the most was penalties. I think we had close to 170 yards of them and thats alot to over come along with giving up yards. We had some chances in that first half to put up more points and holding calls kept killing the drives and along with the awful pick. Best quote i can come up with to explain is "Auburn just doesn't seem to want to make it easy,but I'm damn sure glad they at least make it.WDE"

[lbutler127 1]

Not to be an apologist, but our D looks worn down. They play a lot of plays and there is no real depth (especially in the secondary). The results are a lot of arm tackling and blown coverages. All the penalties are not helping. How can one team have 3 late hits in the same game? And 2 of them weren't even close.

[AU64 10,122]

Not to be an apologist, but our D looks worn down. They play a lot of plays and there is no real depth (especially in the secondary). The results are a lot of arm tackling and blown coverages. All the penalties are not helping. How can one team have 3 late hits in the same game? And 2 of them weren't even close.

Might add that they ran into a hot QB last night too....the Good Bo showed up and was right on target almost all night....expect some of these damaging penalties were from frustration...but AU somehow overcame 145 yards in penalties....most at critical times.

[ShugMan55 0]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

[cooltigger21 0]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

Yeah you're right. There's nothing wrong anywhere.Everything is perfect.

[ShugMan55 0]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

Yeah you're right. There's nothing wrong anywhere.Everything is perfect.

Everything is not perfect but the bane of winning is having fools say we are not winning by enough. We need depth in the secondary, this is the first year in a while that we have 2 acceptable linebackers, we miss our best edge rusher who is injured, we have been raiding the JUCO ranks trying to quickly feel what we lack. I have not forgotten that this time 2 years ago we were horrible on both offense and defense and am quite appreciative of the miraculous turnaround this coaching staff has done. Most of all, the reason for my post is in response of all of the know-nothing fans who say get rid of someone with no suggestion of who you replace them with.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Its called Whitehead in doghouse and maybe Reed I havent seen him in two weeks. We got 5 sacks,give credit to solid blocking by their recievers. Only true plays the one to Engram and that on screen pass. The 59 yd run nothing you can do,we got great pressure,he got out he got great blocks.Penalities did give them second chances.Like I said no run game or o line.I knew they would get yrs in air,good wr core.South Carolina scores on everyone,just no defense.

the reason we don't see Trovon could be because he has very good coverage. He's played the past few games, don't know why he wouldn't have played in this one. I will watch the replay and try to figure out if he was out there, but it seems like you don't WANT to know a good cornerback is out there because he maintains some lockdown coverage on his man

[cooltigger21 0]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

Yeah you're right. There's nothing wrong anywhere.Everything is perfect.

Everything is not perfect but the bane of winning is having fools say we are not winning by enough. We need depth in the secondary, this is the first year in a while that we have 2 acceptable linebackers, we miss our best edge rusher who is injured, we have been raiding the JUCO ranks trying to quickly feel what we lack. I have not forgotten that this time 2 years ago we were horrible on both offense and defense and am quite appreciative of the miraculous turnaround this coaching staff has done. Most of all, the reason for my post is in response of all of the know-nothing fans who say get rid of someone with no suggestion of who you replace them with.

We were all told and believed that we had a lot of talent that was assembled under Chizik but that they just needed coaching. Now if the talent isn't there you have to adapt to that and that is the problem I see. The defense is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Really good coaches adapt things to the players they have on hand. I'm not calling for anyones head and that isn't going to happen so somehow until they get the players they want we are just going to have to live with this as aggravating as it is.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

With Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama still on our schedule, I'm very worried. I don't see us winning all with the way Ellis' defense has been playing because thy seem to be getting worse every week.

[WarEagle84 0]

Now everyone's (hopefully) sober, I'll add my observations.

We made a conscious decision to live or die by the blitz. That resulted in a season high 5 sacks, but left our secondary vulnerable as we don't have the personnel for man coverage. Gus was as involved in this decision as Ellis, so if you wanna fire someone, start with him.

Technique was bad on too many tackles (or attempted tackles). That's gotta be a point of emphasis in practice this week.

145 yards in penalties is inexcusable. Some were questionable judgment calls, but 3 late hits out of bounds were just undisciplined play. A few (Mincy's PI on 3rd and 18 comes to mind) were a result of the defensive strategy and a player getting caught out of position. Another point of emphasis in practice.

This team continues to improve. I have faith in this coaching staff (including ole Ellis) that they will continue that trend. We are 7-1, ranked #3, and just beat the #4 team on the road. The Georgia game now looks very winnable after UF exposed their run defense. There's not a team on our schedule we can't beat, but there are also 3 we could lose to if the team gets complacent. I don't think there's much to get complacent about right now.

[bg5 536]

I have never been one to bash any part of the team but I am very frustrated with the play of the defense in the last couple of games. I do not think we are trending up. Our Def. has not played good the past couple of weeks and special teams right now is trending down. With the way we have played the past couple of weeks here is what I see unless something changes: We beat T A&M I don't know what has happened to them but they have fallen off the earth. I thought until yesterday that we would lose to Ga. but now who knows. Samford is a win. But if they continue to go in the direction they are going and we continue the way we are going the UA game could be ugly for us. We have to get better on Def. that is not whining that's just a fact.

[ShugMan55 0]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

Yeah you're right. There's nothing wrong anywhere.Everything is perfect.

Everything is not perfect but the bane of winning is having fools say we are not winning by enough. We need depth in the secondary, this is the first year in a while that we have 2 acceptable linebackers, we miss our best edge rusher who is injured, we have been raiding the JUCO ranks trying to quickly feel what we lack. I have not forgotten that this time 2 years ago we were horrible on both offense and defense and am quite appreciative of the miraculous turnaround this coaching staff has done. Most of all, the reason for my post is in response of all of the know-nothing fans who say get rid of someone with no suggestion of who you replace them with.

We were all told and believed that we had a lot of talent that was assembled under Chizik but that they just needed coaching. Now if the talent isn't there you have to adapt to that and that is the problem I see. The defense is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Really good coaches adapt things to the players they have on hand. I'm not calling for anyones head and that isn't going to happen so somehow until they get the players they want we are just going to have to live with this as aggravating as it is.

I don't know who "told you" that we had talent but talent is determined when the recruits start playing in SEC. I really don't know what you are saying. You imply our coaches are not really good as they are not adapting our round pegs to square holes and yet you admit we need to recruit players that better fit their schemes. The product of this coaching staff is taking a 3-9 team to the National championship the following year.

Again an overall 19-3 record, an SEC Championship, an appearance in the National Championship Game, and being in the hunt for another this year is not aggravating The Doug Barfield years were aggravating.

[autigeremt 7,240]

We def. need to play better on defense if we are going to make it past spuat. The turds still have that big one at home vs MSU, but I'm starting to see cracks in their armor as well (MSU). We only need to be above average on D to win this thing but I haven't seen them since the LSU game.

[autigeremt 7,240]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

Yeah you're right. There's nothing wrong anywhere.Everything is perfect.

Everything is not perfect but the bane of winning is having fools say we are not winning by enough. We need depth in the secondary, this is the first year in a while that we have 2 acceptable linebackers, we miss our best edge rusher who is injured, we have been raiding the JUCO ranks trying to quickly feel what we lack. I have not forgotten that this time 2 years ago we were horrible on both offense and defense and am quite appreciative of the miraculous turnaround this coaching staff has done. Most of all, the reason for my post is in response of all of the know-nothing fans who say get rid of someone with no suggestion of who you replace them with.

We were all told and believed that we had a lot of talent that was assembled under Chizik but that they just needed coaching. Now if the talent isn't there you have to adapt to that and that is the problem I see. The defense is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Really good coaches adapt things to the players they have on hand. I'm not calling for anyones head and that isn't going to happen so somehow until they get the players they want we are just going to have to live with this as aggravating as it is.

I don't know who "told you" that we had talent but talent is determined when the recruits start playing in SEC. I really don't know what you are saying. You imply our coaches are not really good as they are not adapting our round pegs to square holes and yet you admit we need to recruit players that better fit their schemes. The product of this coaching staff is taking a 3-9 team to the National championship the following year.

Again an overall 19-3 record, an SEC Championship, an appearance in the National Championship Game, and being in the hunt for another this year is not aggravating The Doug Barfield years were aggravating.

A men!

[bigbird 60,941]

The last two weeks we have played two of the brightest offensive minds in college football. Both have very intimate knowledge of our team. I think that it might have played a part in our defensive performance the last two weeks.

[lutzcammed 471]

I would like to say, FROST PLAYED HIS ASS OFF!

I wonder how much different this defense would be if we had Lawson.

[tiger88 934]

And we lost out on getting Muschamp today.

I would vomit uncontrollably if they let him back on campus. An average DC and a below average coach when given talent as good as anyone in the country.

[tiger88 934]

The D struggles at times and plays great at times. They get knocked a little too much on these forums.

[TexasTiger 14,363]

The D struggles at times and plays great at times. They get knocked a little too much on these forums.

Yep. CEJ "knew" how to get a pass rush last season-- have talented pass rushers. We lost our best D player for the season before the season has started, but they haven't lost a game for us yet. TOs killed us against State.

[Mikey 16,781]

The last two weeks we have played two of the brightest offensive minds in college football. Both have very intimate knowledge of our team. I think that it might have played a part in our defensive performance the last two weeks.

It's not about two weeks. Over the past two seasons we have played 17 power 5 teams and given up 496 points to them. That's an AVERAGE of over 29 points per game. All Ole' Miss did was play an average game against our defense. Giving up around 30 points is what we do.

I understand that this isn't 1957 any more when AU can shut out 8 opponents, but we should be better on D than to average giving up 29 per game.

[AUFAN78 4,161]

Now everyone's (hopefully) sober, I'll add my observations.

We made a conscious decision to live or die by the blitz. That resulted in a season high 5 sacks, but left our secondary vulnerable as we don't have the personnel for man coverage. Gus was as involved in this decision as Ellis, so if you wanna fire someone, start with him.

Technique was bad on too many tackles (or attempted tackles). That's gotta be a point of emphasis in practice this week.

145 yards in penalties is inexcusable. Some were questionable judgment calls, but 3 late hits out of bounds were just undisciplined play. A few (Mincy's PI on 3rd and 18 comes to mind) were a result of the defensive strategy and a player getting caught out of position. Another point of emphasis in practice.

This team continues to improve. I have faith in this coaching staff (including ole Ellis) that they will continue that trend. We are 7-1, ranked #3, and just beat the #4 team on the road. The Georgia game now looks very winnable after UF exposed their run defense. There's not a team on our schedule we can't beat, but there are also 3 we could lose to if the team gets complacent. I don't think there's much to get complacent about right now.

Unfortunately, it appears some are not sober yet. BTW, very good analysis.

[AUFAN78 4,161]

Why stop with firing Ellis. The buck stops with Gus and he should go too. Our 19-3 record over the last year and a half is pathetic and should not be tolerated. I don't know about you guys but a SEC Championship last year and still being in the hunt for the 4 team playoff this year is by no means enough. My God, we only beat the 3rd ranked team in the nation by 4 the road. Only 4? I don't know about you guys feel but if we cannot win by more than 4 we should just shut the whole program down.

You gotta stop bringing common sense to the party. It won't be tolerated!

[TexasTiger 14,363]

The last two weeks we have played two of the brightest offensive minds in college football. Both have very intimate knowledge of our team. I think that it might have played a part in our defensive performance the last two weeks.

It's not about two weeks. Over the past two seasons we have played 17 power 5 teams and given up 496 points to them. That's an AVERAGE of over 29 points per game. All Ole' Miss did was play an average game against our defense. Giving up around 30 points is what we do.

I understand that this isn't 1957 any more when AU can shut out 8 opponents, but we should be better on D than to average giving up 29 per game.

You insist on using the last 2 years which fails to show how we improved from last year. Why not through in the last three years for effect?