Only care to comment on Auburn....
Completely agree on how resilient this team is, and how watching the Iron Bowl felt. The entire watching experience was very very painful, until late in the game.
On the defense, and game plans. I don't know what their game plans are. Nobody does except the coaches and team. I doubt, that on paper, the plans are flawed from either a philosophical, schematic or technical standpoint. The execution of the plans however, is another thing. Here's what I do know: The 2008 Auburn Tigers were as dysfunctional a group as I've ever seen. They finished the year ranked #14 in Scoring Defense. This defense will finish somewhere in the low 50s. I know there's some philosophical differences in the approach to a defense on a team with a fast paced spread offense, but still...we're not good. The pass D is horrible. That said, believe it or not, the 2008 version was ranked 54th in rush D. Anyway...this 2010 version has players like Mike Blanc, Antoine Carter, Mike Goggins, Craig Stevens, Josh Bynes, Zac Ethridge, Mike McNeil, and Aairon Savage and Neiko Thorpe...all of which played or even started on that 2008 defense. None of which have gotten better, and some have regressed. That secondary was a decent secondary in 2008...and Bynes and Thorpe in particular showed great promise for young players, and neither looks like they have a clue this year, especially in the passing game. The only players named from the 2008 squad that have improved, if at all, are the DL...the LBs and DBs have regressed badly, even with lots of experience. As with most things in football, I feel that the blame lies more in individual and group coaching of fundamentals than it does in scheme and plan. I can't believe that Chizik would allow a fucked up scheme or plan to pass muster. He may not be a micromanager enough to be in a position to fix the fundamentals. I don't care about the accolades Roof gets for "adjustments". Adjustments are often nothing more than throwing out what didn't work, and doing more of what did. In the case of defense, it may be nothing more than a change in alignments, or simply playing more aggressively...taking chances you were afraid to take, but are forced in to taking. Roof has been "good enough", but I'm not sold on him, or the guys coaching the positions on D, other than Rocker, who clearly knows what he's doing.
FWIW, Randy Shannon is looking for a job, and is pretty widely respected as a Def. Coord. Just sayin'.
As I said, fans make a bigger deal about "adjustments" than coaches do. Was listening to Brother Oliver on Finebaum today, and he said he's watched tape of the iron bowl several times over. Noted all the Auburn folk around Lake Martin singing the praises of "Roof's halftime defensive adjustments". He flatly said they did nothing different at all, other than play faster, more aggressive, and more sound in their assignments.
Now, I understand there's some bad blood between Oliver and Chizik now, because apparently Oliver has had his feelings hurt over Chiz not calling him and acknowledging him, and I guess his greatness...apparently at some point Oliver was a mentor to Chizik. Oliver has also made some statements saying "I know how things have been done at Auburn for a long time" regarding this Cam deal. So thats all FWIW in his assessment. I don't see the motivation in lying about Xs and Os.
Anyway...what do you make of the defense essentially "just playing harder" to improve?
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