Auburn’s performance in run game ‘says a lot’

[aubiefifty 18,398]

Auburn’s performance in run game ‘says a lot’

Posted Sep 21, 2019

4-5 minutes

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Texas A&M’s run defense was touted as one of the best, but Auburn didn’t hesitate to rush the ball over and over again against the Aggies.

In the 28-20 win over No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 8 Auburn rushed for 193 yards on 42 attempts.

In comparison, it had just 13 receptions for 106 yards.

“For us to have that many rushing yards says a lot about our offensive line and running backs,” head coach Gus Malzahn said.

The 193 yards are nowhere near the 467 yards the Tigers had against Kent State, but it was the bulk of the offensive production and carried the team to its first SEC win in 2019. By halftime, Auburn had 105 rushing yards to its 44 passing yards.

“I really felt like we won both lines of scrimmage and really felt like that was the key to the game,” Malzahn said.

Part of the Tigers success came from the different looks the offense showed the Aggies.

When the Tigers last faced the Aggies, they found little success running it up the middle. This year, the offense barely even tried to up the middle.

Auburn “felt strongly” that they were going to blitz the quarterbacks, Malzahn said, so they tried to send the ball to the perimeter.

When the Tigers found success with that strategy, the Aggies started to play “a little more base,” Malzahn said.

Auburn was also able to give Texas A&M different looks than what it would have seen on film. Rather than have Boobee Whitlow run it repeatedly, like he did in previous games, the Tigers barely played Whitlow in the first half. Instead, they had Harold Joiner and Malik Miller out there.

“We had multiple guys carry the football,” Malzahn said. “We didn’t have any turnovers, which is really hard to do.”

Auburn also mixed its wide receivers into the run game and its running backs into the receiving game. Two wide receivers, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove, had carries and one running back, Joiner, had receptions.

Schwartz’s rushing touchdown on the first drive was key to kicking off the game. Whitlow handed the ball to Schwartz on a reverse, and he kicked it into another gear for a 57-yard rushing touchdown.

““I told him on the sidelines it’s the first time I’ve ever seen world-class speed in real life,” Bo Nix said. “I mean, he was just running away from guys and it was really incredible. “

Stove also had two carries along the perimeter for a total of 13 yards, which helped the offense to stretch the perimeters.

“We know how they love to fit,” Schwartz said. “We just wanted to make them fit wrong, pretty much. If they fit inside, we run outside. As soon as we got them to stay back, that’s when we started gashing them.”

Quarterbacks Joey Gatewood and Nix added another element. Gatewood has a 100-yard rushing game against Kent State. So even though he only rushed once, when he went in, he automatically presented a running threat.

Although Nix didn’t pick up 100 yards last game, he also showed against Kent State that he could run, and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said they were preparing for it. Even with the Aggies aware of what he could do, Nix still picked up 38 yards on 12 rushes.

It wasn’t until the end of the game that the Tigers returned to its previous strategy where it let Whitlow just carry the team.

Up 21-10 in the fourth, Auburn had to kill the clock. It turned to Whitlow, who was still fresh after his limited reps in the beginning. On eight of the 12 plays, Whitlow ran the ball, and on the final play of the drive, he rushed in for an 8-yard touchdown, which was Auburn’s final score of the game.

“He really imposed his will,” Malzahn said.

“Boobee was running the ball just really hard,” Nix said. “You know that’s what you’re going to get with Boobee, and he knows at the end of a game like this, when you want to run out the clock, Boobee’s the type of guy that wants the ball.”

Malzahn said Texas A&M knew Auburn was probably going to run the ball a lot on that drive. Even with the defense expecting it, the offense still put together the type of drive that wins games, Malzahn said.

“Our team is growing up,” Malzahn said.

 

 

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

In comparison, it had just 13 receptions for 106 yards.

Now just imagine Bo connecting with the receivers on two or even all three of those overthrown deep balls.  I love the win. I feel like we left 21 points on the field with those overthrows.

AU can run and the passing will get better.  By the end of the season these Tigers might be pretty dang good.

War Eagle!

[WFE12 9,351]

Really love how all the players were utilized especially rb rotation. Very happy about that.

[AUFriction 1,179]

6 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

Now just imagine Bo connecting with the receivers on two or even all three of those overthrown deep balls.  I love the win. I feel like we left 21 points on the field with those overthrows.

AU can run and the passing will get better.  By the end of the season these Tigers might be pretty dang good.

War Eagle!

They also left 1 TD on the field. McCreary got beat on one play, and the receiver was overthrown. Still, I feel like Bo is more likely to connect on those throws as his chemistry with our receivers develops. Can't say the same for Mond. 

[Zeek 16,957]

19 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

They also left 1 TD on the field. McCreary got beat on one play, and the receiver was overthrown. Still, I feel like Bo is more likely to connect on those throws as his chemistry with our receivers develops. Can't say the same for Mond. 

True, might be an excuse but with all the injuries he’s lost some reps with the guys.