Can Auburn rev up its running backs

[aubiefifty 18,236]

Can Auburn rev up its running backs against Ole Miss?

ByNathan King

5-7 minutes

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Biggest Takeaways From CFB Week 8 (Late Kick Cut)

 

AUBURN, Alabama — Bryan Harsin’s staff, of course, has film of every Ole Miss game this season in preparation for the matchup Saturday inside Jordan-Hare Stadium (6 p.m. CST, ESPN). But the Tigers have been focusing more on the Rebels’ recent games, particularly on defense, as opposed to their efforts early in the season.

A common knock against Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss teams the past two seasons has been that their defenses haven’t allowed Kiffin’s high-flying offenses to truly take off. And it’s true; the Rebels’ defense, for the most part of Kiffin’s tenure thus far, has been a liability.

But heading into a game where it sorely hopes to establish a consistent rushing attack, No. 18 Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC) will face an Ole Miss defense that looks to be improving in that department.

“I’ve seen them on television a few times, but now as you study them, they are getting better,” Harsin said Monday of the Rebels’ defense. “They’re improving. They have momentum. I thought the defense played really physical against LSU. LSU ran the ball early, looked physical, did some things in that first drive and then the defense turned it on.

“At the end of the day, their schemes — it’s a little bit different, unique to what they do — but their guys play hard and they play physical.”

In four games against FBS opponents at the start of the season, No. 10 Ole Miss (6-1, 3-1 SEC) allowed 34.5 points and 446.8 yards per game. In its last two outings, however, both SEC wins against Tennessee and LSU, those numbers have dropped to 21.5 points and 386.5.

Most recently over the weekend, Ole Miss, which entered the game with the nation’s No. 114 run defense, held LSU to 77 rushing yards after the Bayou Bengals went for 321 the week prior.

With the win over Tennessee also ending with a couple defensive stands by Ole Miss in the fourth quarter, Kiffin said

“We really did a good job stopping the run for a team last week (LSU) that had run the ball extremely effective against a really good Florida team,” Kiffin said Monday. “... It was an unusual-feeling game for us, in our two years here, because we were playing really good on defense.”

A matchup that, on paper, looked primed to be a cathartic outing for an inconsistent Auburn running game could instead present a decent challenge.

Since the Georgia State game, where Auburn’s offensive line seemed to be pushed around by a Sun Belt defensive front, the Tigers’ running backs are averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Auburn’s per-rush average as a team has dropped to 3.7 yards per carry in SEC play. Tank Bigsby, the SEC’s preseason first team running back selection, is averaging 3.3 yards per carry in his last four games.

Of course, as Harsin made sure to note a couple weeks ago, Auburn’s offensive game plans were altered when the Tigers trailed for more than 10 of 12 quarters played from the Georgia State game to the Georgia game. In that three-game span, Auburn’s quarterbacks averaged 45.6 dropbacks per game.

But even in its last game against Arkansas prior to the bye week, Auburn still found its most productive offense was through the air. Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter combined for 28 carries but had less than 100 yards, and Auburn had only two carries by its running backs go for double-digit yardage.

Of course, the Tigers were riding the hot hand of Nix, who put together one of the best road performances of his career in a three-touchdown outing. But the run game remained a concern for Harsin and his offensive staff heading into the bye week.

“What the bye week gives you an opportunity to do is go back and look: alright, what was good, what was bad and why?” Harsin said. “... We could say, what front, what looks are we going to get? That may change during the game; they could do whatever the hell they want to do on defense. They can give you whatever look they want. So we've got to teach guys how to handle that and still be able to run the ball. It's not like you call a play and line up a certain defense.”

If Auburn’s pass protection can put together another stellar showing (zero QB pressures allowed by an offensive lineman in the Arkansas game), and the receivers can be sure-handed again (one drop against Arkansas was the team’s low this season in a Power Five game), then Harsin and Mike Bobo will likely look to Nix again to pace Auburn’s offense against Ole Miss.

The Rebels’ run defense has been gettable this season, but certainly not last week. But as Harsin has harped on all season, Auburn can’t simply choose to abandon the run; doing so would severely limit play calling options.

“You can't just decide you're not going to run the ball; you have to know how to do it,” Harsin said. “”So we've taken advantage of the opportunity to do that (during the bye week) — kind of teach the guys the different looks we had seen.”

[gr82b4au 5,576]

If people continue to stack the box against us, we must find a way to use them in the passing game. I also really like the sweeps to the left and the right that we have been using.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

@aubiefifty I need to bring you on my next metal detecting excursion. You have an uncanny way of finding these things lol.