All the yapping about the offense, all the "this is a HS offense", all the "horrible play calling", y'all are missing the bigger issue IMHO. It's always bad play calling when it doesn't work...and I'm not saying it's all good, but it's not the real issue IMHO.
First off, the only stats that matter: 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the SEC.
In a game where the offense appeared to be horrible and inept at times, and the play-calling questionable, we managed to rack up 424 yards of total offense. That on just 61 offensive plays...or about 75% of the number of plays Malzahn wants to run. Recall that a bad day on offense under the Tubs regime could easily be half that yardage, and half the points. The worst day Newton has had so far, he still was 50% passing, and threw 2 TDs, in spite of 2 INTs, and averaged a very good 14.5 yards per attempt. McCaleb and Dyer combined for 151 yds on 26 Att. 5.8 ypa. That's quite solid. Cam added 68 yds on 17 Att. for 4.0 ypa. Again, solid. We ran the ball 47 times compared to 14 passes, which IMHO, accounts for much of the "ugliness" of the offense. We didn't think we'd see this type of offense out of "the spread". The WHY of that may be the root issue. Not real trust in Cam? No trust in our Def.? No confidence that our OL can protect? I find it hard to buy that Malzahn just suddenly went all conservative.
On a night where the Clemson Off. appeared good, and ours bad, we were still more efficient. More points 27-24, more total yards 424-414, Auburn avg'd 6.9 yards per play vs Clemson's 5.0 yards per play, better yards per attempt rushing average 4.7 to 4.0, better yards per attempt passing avg 14.5 to 6.5. In every aspect we were better on offense despite appearances, except: Turnovers: AU 2-Clem. 0, another big one in Penalties (not all on off.): AU 9-90 Clem. 5-50. They had the ball nearly 10 more minutes than we did, but IMHO, that's all but meaningless. Another biggie...3rd down efficiency: We were just 5 of 13, and that is NOT a meaningless stat. That's bad! Not horrible, but not good. The better teams will be at 45-50%, and Clemson isn't a great defense. Fortunately, Clemson was worse at 6 of 16. The Penalties have GOT to stop, and we've got to have better 3rd down efficiency, and of course no turnovers. IMHO, our problem isn't scheme, or play-calling, it's executing in critical areas like on 3rd down, and lack of discipline causing penalties. A good SEC Def. will kill us if we don't fix those two things.
I feel...IMHO, that Chiz has told Malzahn that we can't have our defense on the field all the time like last year...even though we did last night, at least in the first half, and that is contributing a lot to what folks think is bad play calling. I also think that, though Cam isn't horrible passing, he is more likely to throw an INT than Todd was, AND he has the ability to get a first down with his legs where Todd didn't...I think this too is contributing to appears to be conservative play calling.
Where we are bad, is on Def. in that we allow teams to get outside on us. I don't know much about Def. Scheme, and you can say Bynes was a monster last night, but our overall LB play isn't good, and we're getting beat to the edge over and over, whether by the run, or the little screen/flare pass.
USCe, and Lattimore will eat us alive if we don't keep him contained to the inside. We stand a chance IF we don't let Lattimore get loose to the outside. I fear that we can't, but hope we can.
I submit that when we lose, and it's coming, most likely this next Sat. if things aren't fixed, it will be because our defense can't contain, not because our offense can't score or move the ball. If we turn the ball over 2 times against SC, we'll lose by two TDs.
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