offensive line prepares for Minnesota

[aubiefifty 18,230]

al.com

Auburn offensive line prepares for Minnesota

Posted Dec 29, 2019

3-4 minutes

The seniors on Auburn’s offensive line are not going to end their career with an easy win.

They’ve been scouting out Minnesota’s defensive front, and they know they have a challenge waiting for them on New Year’s Day. While Auburn is ranked higher than its Outback Bowl opponent, Minnesota is a solid team who presents a serious threat. It has 10 wins in a Power Five Conference, which Auburn knows is not an easy feat.

Overall, coach Gus Malzahn described the Golden Gophers as a well-rounded, disciplined team. Those qualities definitely extend to the defensive line.

“They play hard to the whistle,” right tackle Jack Driscoll said. “They all have good motors. They're not going to quit until that final whistle is blown.”

That means Auburn is going to have to do the same. Driscoll said the line is prepared to play until each play is over. They’ve been focusing on their fundamentals because they know they’re going to have to execute cleanly. If they don’t, Minnesota will.

“They don’t shoot themselves in the foot,” Driscoll said. “They’re not going to make mental mistakes.”

Minnesota is one of the cleanest teams in the country when it comes to penalties. It’s tied for the 11th least penalty yards nationally and is second in the Big Ten to Iowa. Its 38.4 penalty yards per game is lower than all SEC teams.

Minnesota’s defensive line threatens Auburn’s offense with more than just discipline.

“Those guys are very physical, talented, quick, athletic,” left guard Marquel Harrell said. “They have some really good guys in the front seven.”

The Gophers are averaging 2.17 sacks per game with 26.0 total sacks. While there aren’t two players who dominate the statistics with sacks like Auburn has, 12 defensive players have helped make a sack and eight have two sacks or more.

The line is filled with experienced players. The two defensive ends, Winston DeLattiboudere and Carter Coughlin are a redshirt senior and a senior. The tackles, Sam Renner and Micah Dew-Treadway are also in their final years of eligibility. Among all the defensive starters, there are only two sophomores and one junior.

Schematically, Minnesota will present a challenge because it’s very different from anything Auburn has faced so far, quarterback Bo Nix said.

“They mix up their fronts on the defensive line,” Nix said. “That's just, in itself, just different.”

All the coaches in the SEC stem from the same coaching tree, so there are a lot of similarities in what they do, Nix explained. Minnesota doesn’t have that connection. Coach P.J. Fleck has never spent time in the SEC. He played for Northern Illinois and then coached there, as well as at Ohio State, Rutgers and Western Michigan before going to Minnesota. He also spent time in the NFL.

As much film as Auburn’s offense has watched, it still won’t be completely ready for Minnesota, left tackle Prince Tega Wanogho said. The Gophers have had weeks to prepare for the Tigers, and they’re not going to show them the same things they did all year.

“Coming over here and playing us, we know they’re going to actually make a few tweaks and stuff, too,” Wanogho said. “But I feel like we’re ready and I feel like we’ve actually faced tough defenses, so we’re going to be fine.”

[Win4AU 4,182]

I wonder if Kim would have played if he wasn’t injured?  Brahms pretty much locked that spot down against UGA and Bama.