Grading Auburn’s 24-16 win

[Hank2020 3,357]

13 minutes ago, GoAU said:

I appreciate the way you post articles to start conversation- thanks.  I think some people may mistake that these are your thoughts versus an article some times.  
 

like many others, I feel these grades are pretty generous.  
 

Pros:

1). the team didn’t get rattled, they settled down, went to work and dug themselves out of the hole they started.  

2) The defense battened the hatches and stood strong in the red zone a couple of times

3)  Some adjustments were made at the half. We realized we needed to assert ourselves physically and dominate SJSU at the line

 

Cons:

1). Just lining up overpowering the other team won’t work next week or in the SEC - gotta execute the scheme better

2) Penalties we’re horrible.   Enough said there.  

3) Turnovers - 2 bad picks, one from each QB.  And still none on the defensive side.  Need to improve both of those.  

Good objective take .

[Didba 5,510]

41 minutes ago, fredst said:

Yep. Under Steele it was all press man all the time it seemed. What I’ve seen mostly so far (in limited sample size) is a zone that has left us vulnerable in the middle. I hope to start seeing more complexity and a resultant improvement as we move into the next few games. Pretty underwhelmed with every aspect of the team thus far

We ran zones last year that covered the middle so I dunno why we didn't do it yesterday

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

41 minutes ago, au302 said:

QB- C. Awful start, but Finley played well the rest of the night. 

RB- B. Would be A if not for Jarquez'a boneheaded play at the end. They follow the scheme better this year. Can't get over Quez's mistake though. That's just poor coaching and falls on both Harsin and Cadillac.

WR-B. Hard to judge this group besides Var, who is really good. They at least seem to line up better and catch what hits them in the chest, so that's good I guess.

TE- F-. About as bad of a game as a TE can have from Shenker last night. Single handily destroyed our first two scripted drives. Deal with a weak drop. Just all around pitiful. Bedell needs to light them up today in meetings, as most of the issues were focus and poor discipline by Shenker and Deal. They can bounce back by locking in.

OL-C. Seemed to struggle in first half, but made holes in the second. The left side is definitely the better side, with Zierer being our best lineman. 

Offensive coaching: D. The first half was a **** show due to how disorganized we looked and dumb penalties by veteran leaders. However, according to Pink on On3 they switched things in the run game in the second half, going out of that single back set, which he says totally changed things and helped the OL out. 

DL- B. Very solid group in the run game. Have trouble getting home in the pass, but the SJSU and Mercer QB's are Nix-esque with escapability, and their OC's are combating Eku/Hall with quick passes. Good news here is that Joseph and Bragg seem solid, which is more than we expected.

LB- C-. Riley apparently got hurt and missed some tackles. Pappoe has simply been a major disappointment. He has never been great, but he is not good at MIKE. But in fairness to him that's not really his natural position either. Steiner played well though. I think he needs to push OP for that spot.

CB- C-. The scheme sucked, but we are also starting the wrong guys here. James and Scott are still inconsistent, but they are more talented than Simp/Pritch. If we switch that room up it can improve, but I'm afraid they won't.

S- C. Admittedly didn't focus on them much. So busy watching CB's get lost. Don't recall any huge busts over the top, but we also can't defend the middle. I guess that falls on a Safety. Not sure.

Defensive coaching- D. Schmedding=Mason. Expected him to live more on the edge. Not helping his corners out with the soft zone stuff. I don't know, maybe he's been trying to be vanilla. But all offseason I wanted him to go big or go home and either look like an idiot or a genius. Instead, like Mason, he just seems "ok" at best and frustrating as hell at worst with the stuff he runs.

 

Special teams-B. I love Anders, but the man needs help. It's not his fault, as he had a huge injury in addition to losing confidence last year. Think they need to make Mcpherson the kickoff man or we'll get burnt due to Carlson not being able to kick it through the back of the EZ. Overall though, so far, this unit looks better coached. Let's see if that continues.

Good post. I agree with pretty much everything you said. Question though, and forgive I have only watched the game once, and was working on the side so didn't get my full attention every single snap if I am being honest, but What did Hunter do? You mentioned he made a critical mistake? I either missed it or can't remember lol. 

As for LB, Riley didn't play near as well as last week, but I still think he will be solid. Pappoe played somewhat better, but I agree he is equally not living up to his hype and ability and playing out of position. I really wish Steiner would come on and take over the Mike and then we would have Pappoe and Reilly switching for the Will or have the option to have both on the field at the same time in situations. Pappoe has not been great in run fits his entire career. He has not been great in coverage. Honestly, his best skill is rushing the passer IMO. 

It is mind blowing to me (my brother brought this up last night...Shout out Ken-tucky, or Ken-ta Kunte) that we can't get a 5 star that actually lives up to 5 star billing. Nix, Pappoe, Cowart, Ashley, etc. The list goes on. Yes there are exceptions like Derrick Brown, but dang I wish we had a higher success rate with the few 5*s we do get.

On the secondary, I am kind of shocked. Myself, as well as @bigbird I know expected to big things from this group. I still fully believe the talent is there. I think it's part scheme and part possibly having a hard time figuring out the best combination to keep out there. Pritchett has been the biggest dissapointment to me thus far, but I know he has the talent. Maybe he gets it together. Simpson has been pretty solid. I need to rewatch last night's game to better grade them out. I know he got hit with the back shoulder a couple of times but he was in good position. Perfect throw beats perfect coverage everytime. Scott is baller and needs to be on the field. James has looked solid but he has also been out of position a few times last night. As for the middle of the field, I think more of it is on our LBs. Last night..one play in particular Pappoe and Reilly were both in zone coverage and dropping back. They were 20 yards back by the time the ball was thrown and standing 5 yards apart. One or both should have picked up the underneath crossing pattern and been able to make a play. It was a bad play. 

I wonder if CJM is kind of keeping things vanilla maybe to no give Penn St any thing to work with? This probably my brain trying to give me hope lol. I still think we can be a decent team. If TJ can avoid those 2-3 bad choice/throws a game, and We lean on our run game with all 3 backs, WRs play steady, and the secondary improve we can have a good season. We MUST win this week. If we lose to Penn ST I don't know if Hars keeps the wheels on. 

[Didba 5,510]

52 minutes ago, Tigerpro2a said:

Good post. I agree with pretty much everything you said. Question though, and forgive I have only watched the game once, and was working on the side so didn't get my full attention every single snap if I am being honest, but What did Hunter do? You mentioned he made a critical mistake? I either missed it or can't remember lol. 

As for LB, Riley didn't play near as well as last week, but I still think he will be solid. Pappoe played somewhat better, but I agree he is equally not living up to his hype and ability and playing out of position. I really wish Steiner would come on and take over the Mike and then we would have Pappoe and Reilly switching for the Will or have the option to have both on the field at the same time in situations. Pappoe has not been great in run fits his entire career. He has not been great in coverage. Honestly, his best skill is rushing the passer IMO. 

It is mind blowing to me (my brother brought this up last night...Shout out Ken-tucky, or Ken-ta Kunte) that we can't get a 5 star that actually lives up to 5 star billing. Nix, Pappoe, Cowart, Ashley, etc. The list goes on. Yes there are exceptions like Derrick Brown, but dang I wish we had a higher success rate with the few 5*s we do get.

On the secondary, I am kind of shocked. Myself, as well as @bigbird I know expected to big things from this group. I still fully believe the talent is there. I think it's part scheme and part possibly having a hard time figuring out the best combination to keep out there. Pritchett has been the biggest dissapointment to me thus far, but I know he has the talent. Maybe he gets it together. Simpson has been pretty solid. I need to rewatch last night's game to better grade them out. I know he got hit with the back shoulder a couple of times but he was in good position. Perfect throw beats perfect coverage everytime. Scott is baller and needs to be on the field. James has looked solid but he has also been out of position a few times last night. As for the middle of the field, I think more of it is on our LBs. Last night..one play in particular Pappoe and Reilly were both in zone coverage and dropping back. They were 20 yards back by the time the ball was thrown and standing 5 yards apart. One or both should have picked up the underneath crossing pattern and been able to make a play. It was a bad play. 

I wonder if CJM is kind of keeping things vanilla maybe to no give Penn St any thing to work with? This probably my brain trying to give me hope lol. I still think we can be a decent team. If TJ can avoid those 2-3 bad choice/throws a game, and We lean on our run game with all 3 backs, WRs play steady, and the secondary improve we can have a good season. We MUST win this week. If we lose to Penn ST I don't know if Hars keeps the wheels on. 

Hunter ran out of bounds with a 1:30 seconds left on the clock, if he sits down SJSt has to burn their last timeout.

[gr82b4au 5,576]

TE F (3 holds)

DBs F

Coaching D (Even though we were favored by almost 4 touchdowns we did win.)

Special teams and RBs - B.

Everything else was average, probably a C. 

My orange and blue glasses lead me to believe that we did not practice or prepare this week for this team. We have been practicing and preparing for Penn State. I expect a completely different game plan next weekend, a lot of blitzing, and better play calls. 
 

we will see… 

[aubiefifty 18,248]

15 hours ago, GoAU said:

I appreciate the way you post articles to start conversation- thanks.  I think some people may mistake that these are your thoughts versus an article some times.  
 

like many others, I feel these grades are pretty generous.  
 

Pros:

1). the team didn’t get rattled, they settled down, went to work and dug themselves out of the hole they started.  

2) The defense battened the hatches and stood strong in the red zone a couple of times

3)  Some adjustments were made at the half. We realized we needed to assert ourselves physically and dominate SJSU at the line

 

Cons:

1). Just lining up overpowering the other team won’t work next week or in the SEC - gotta execute the scheme better

2) Penalties we’re horrible.   Enough said there.  

3) Turnovers - 2 bad picks, one from each QB.  And still none on the defensive side.  Need to improve both of those.  

they are very generous in my thinking as well

[GoAU 1,694]

20 hours ago, Didba said:

Hunter ran out of bounds with a 1:30 seconds left on the clock, if he sits down SJSt has to burn their last timeout.

Kind of reminds me of a recent iron bowl….