five points

[stateskills]

1. Auburn probably has the second best OL we’ll face all season. And our DL held their own. I’m seeing some comments about our DL being over-rated, I think we’re in good shape.

2. The young secondary played well for most of the game. Especially the second half.

3. We held Auburn and the magical mule to 17 points, that’s a victory for the defense.

4. The fumble on the QB exchange wrecked us. We were going to score on that drive in the flexbone. AU had no clue how to stop the triple option. It felt like last year – moving the ball and a stupid unforced error kills us.

5. Two minute offense should be run by Russell. Relf just lobs balls downfield and hopes for the best. The drop killed us, but Relf’s passes were all terrible on that last drive.

 

[LTblows]

[No message]

 

[mstatefan88]

1) I agree. Auburn has a great line,but without Ziemba, they are much different. Our DL just didn't get a lot of pressure, and Auburn's RB's are very well coached in picking up blitzes. They spoiled a lot of our blitzes by the RB's picking up our blitzing LB's.

2) CB's stepped up in the 2nd half. Whitley started playing well after he took an awful route to the receiver on that 1st Auburn TD. He's gonna be good once he gets more game time and gets into the flow of the SEC. Auburn did not beat us down the field but maybe one time last night. They beat us on flare screens. I think once we play an offense with a lot less of that, like LSU and Georgia, we will see what our secondary is made of. Personally I think LSU and Georgia playing drop back style plays a lot better into the hands of our blitzing defense. Tough to blitz a team like Auburn that quick passes like they do.

3)I think this was the 1st time Auburn under Malzahn/Chizik were held below 20 points. If you had told me we would hold Auburn to 17 points, I would have told you we would have won.

4) Get rid of the dumb mistakes and we win.Mullen is gonna kill this team this week. He is gonna do everything he can to eliminate those dumb mistakes. I do know the WR's better come to play next week. That crap is inexcuseable in the SEC. They blocked well, but damn they dropped a lot of balls.

5) Russell shouldn't play the rest of the year. Mullen said in the press conference that they don't change the playbook between Russell and Relf, but that just isn't true.Russell ran no option play, andhad 5 wide sets every play.Russell isn't ready to play yet because we need a dual threat at Qb and Russell is not that. To get rid of some of the mistakes from last night,Mullen needs to name Relf the starter for the rest of the season right now. He needs all the 1st team snaps to get some better flow with the 1st string.
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[stateskills]

All Relf did on that last drive was throw fades/jump balls. Just lob 'em up there and hope for the best. If my whiskey filled memory is correct, he got a pass interference call and got another lucky lobbed up completion before the drop by Berry. Berry should have bailed him out and made that catch, but you can't rely on that type of decision making and passing from your QB in a two minute drill.

Your fourth point is on the money, but it's also what concerns me the most. We said that 4 times last year! Houston, GT, LSU and Arkansas. This year was supposed to be different.

And, I completely disagree with your fifth point. Relf doesn't have the skills to be a consistent passing QB. We need to give the reigns to Russell and bring in Relf for a few series a game to run the option. I also think if Mullen is going to stay with the two QB system he needs to set it up like the Memphis game and tell the guys in advance what he's going to do so they can be prepared and not look over their shoulder the whole game. He's going to make them play scared if they don't know when they'll get to play again if they make a mistake.

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

Agree that Relf's throw to Berry was nearly perfect. If he throws that ball to the middle of the field, it's batted down or INT'd. I don't know if he did it on purpose, but he put the ball in the one place that his receiver could make the catch. Berry HAS to come down with that ball - and he knows it. Just look at him on the sideline after the game and you know who he thinks was at fault.

The onside kick and the first play of the ensuing possession were brilliant calls. If Relf makes that throw, we probably score on that drive. What I don't understand is why we went predominately pass after that. Auburn couldn't stop us on the first drive of the second half - they really couldn't stop the option all night. I'm not sure why we stopped that.

Relf HAS to get better at throwing the ball. He missed a lot of easy throws last night. Even the "jump pass" in the second half was a horrible throw. If he can't make the throws, defenses will stack against the run when he's in the game. On the flip side, we have to run the ball more when TR is in. Running empty backfield sets while TR is in is not going to work. Everyone knows he's not going to run the ball. All you have to do is send five and drop everyone else back - eventually the rush will get to him.

I thought our defense played very well - especially in the second half. We gave up one big play in the first half (screen pass for TD) and that was helped by a phenominal block by the Auburn WR. I haven't seen any yardage stats broken down by halfs, but our defense pitched a shut-out in the second half. At least we know Manny can make in-game adjustments.

Bottom line, I still think we'll win a couple of games we're not supposed to. I think we'll still start 2-2. Auburn may have been the toughest team we'll face until we go to Gainsville - and likely the best defense we'll see until we get to Tuscaloosa.

 

[SheltonChoked]

Leon Berry killed us last night. He had ZERO catches. I can think of 2 drops he had that would have led to scores.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

This is starting like last year. First let me say I am fine with a two QB system. The reason you use a two QB system is because each QB has different skills they bring to the offense. It sure seems to me that Relf brings an option offense capability. That means run the option (spread or bone) and mix in screens and play action passes. Russell seems to be more of a pocket passer. That means more 5 man in the pattern with draws and shovel passes.

So if this is the case you should use these guys based on the SITUATION. They should not be exchanged based on a series. When we get inside the 10, Relf should be in the game. When you want to kill clock in the 4th quarter down 3 points and 9 minutes to play, Relf should be in the game. When you get the ball with 2 minutes in the half on your own 20 Russell should be in the game (until you get it to the 10).

Also the play calling was questionable. You open the second half with a touchdown by mainly running the ball down their throat. You do a successful onside kick and get the ball back. You have a defense that is on there heels and you throw the ball 3 times with you less capable throwing QB? Why do you not do the same thing you just had success with?

 

[clydefrazier]

"5) Russell shouldn't play the rest of the year. Mullen said in the press conference that they don't change the playbook between Russell and Relf, but that just isn't true.Russell ran no option play, andhad 5 wide sets every play.Russell isn't ready to play yet because we need a dual threat at Qb and Russell is not that. To get rid of some of the mistakes from last night,Mullen needs to name Relf the starter for the rest of the season right now. He needs all the 1st team snaps to get some better flow with the 1st string.

WTF? Most idiotic thing I've read on here. Relf is clueless in the pocket. He drops snaps (3 tonight), he takes forever to release the ball, has no urgency. He is effective running the option and sprinting out. The two minute offense was him lobbing up fades and yes Berry should have caught it but Russell is a much much better passer if your going to run the five wide offense. Last year v UM, he overthrew 81 by 10 yards and Bumphis just happen to catch it anc score. If he can run the option with success, why quit running it. Hope Tyler gets a chance to get more snaps against LSU

 

[NapoleonDynamite]

1. Offensive Play-calling: Send Mullen to visit Ga Tech's Paul Johnson. Let Johnson convince Mullen that its perfectly okay to continue to run the ball - especially when its working. The 3rd Quarter was a complete waste of possessions after the score - and we could never "flip" the field position on them.

2. Offense: I think Vick Ballard could be a pretty darn good RB before its said and done. He's strong and can get the extra yard - "Dixon-lite". WR's had a bad nite, no doubt and Relf will never be a great passer but let him run and then call passes, don't try to throw with him on the 3 straight downs.

3. Defensive Play-calling: If I was a D-Coord. for another Auburn opponent, I'd use our 4th Qtr playbook against them. Newton was hurting us because we were getting NO pressure on him for 3 Qtrs. He was able to sit back and find an open receiver or pick out a running lane if nothing was open. Once we started pressuring him late, he got happy feet and took some big losses.

4. Special Teams: GREAT onside kick, but still some really big mistakes on coverage resulting in Auburn having great field position. Mullen has to clean that up.

5. General: I've seen some comments about Mullen's play-calling being the worst since he's been here. This game actually reminded me of Houston last year. Dixon was gashing that weak-*** UH Defense all day, but for some reason, Mullen suddenly started asking Tyson Lee to throw it downfield resulting in an interception deep in scoring territory and a few other drive killers on incompletions. Great atmosphere on TV. Cam Newton is a fantastic player - stats may not show it but he made something positive out of nothing numerous times. I doubt we'll play a better dual-threat QB this year.

 

[sardis]

Let Russell play!

 

[Agentdog]

My thoughts exactly Bruce. Switch them out based on the situation and not what seems to be randomly. However, on the final drive, I don't know if I fault Mullen on going with Relf. It seemed in the earlier series that Russell had gotten a little rattled and Mullen probably figured AU would blitz the hell out of him. But going forward, yeah. Switch them out based on situation.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Also the play calling was questionable. You open the second half with a
touchdown by mainly running the ball down their throat. You do a
successful onside kick and get the ball back. You have a defense that
is on there heels and you throw the ball 3 times with you less capable
throwing QB? Why do you not do the same thing you just had success
with?

I agree with everyone that it certainly seems more running plays are in order. I was particularly disappointed in the second offensive series of the game. The defense held Auburn inside its own 10, and the punt return gave MSU the ball in Auburn territory. First play is an empty backfield, and Relf takes the sack. Of course, MSU wound up jumping on the muffed punt return, but that series sucked.

The series after the onside kick was quite disappointing, but I really don't have a problem with calling a play action pass on 1st down. It should work, and Bumphis was open, but Relf overthrew him by a ton. Perhaps an option run on 2d down would have been preferable, but instead Relf threw two more God-awful passes, and that's what lead to the questionable decision to stick in Russell.