Defense Wins By Scoring System

[AUChizad]

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1238919334296830.xml&coll=2

Defense wins by scoring system, but Auburn offense cries foul
Sunday, April 05, 2009
CHARLES GOLDBERG
News staff writer

AUBURN - Quarterback Kodi Burns and running back Ben Tate registered mock protests Saturday after Auburn coach Gene Chizik ordered his offense to slow down to allow his defense to catch up.

"If you're keeping score, let us go," Tate said. "He was giving them an advantage right there. I was getting mad there at the end once we lost. I was like, `That's not fair.'"

Fair or not, the defense won the first scrimmage of the spring 45-40 thanks to a complicated scoring system that rewarded big plays. The upshot of it all: Everybody paid attention in the scrimmage that was designed to be physical. To make that happen, 66 percent of the plays were runs and Chizik took the unusual step of making his quarterbacks live targets in the second half of the drill.

The 90-play scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium was closed to the public and media, and statistics were not provided. Several players said running backs Eric Smith and Onterio McCalebb had big plays and Burns and Neil Caudle each threw a touchdown pass.

Chizik said putting Burns, Caudle and Barrett Trotter in harm's way was a risky venture, but something that was needed.

"You've got to be able to have a gauge when you're trying to measure two or three close guys in a battle," Chizik said. He added it's hard to separate quarterbacks in "two-hand tag."

"When the offensive line knows the quarterback's live, I think that changes a little bit of their mentality. It's a little risky and we know that, but we've got to get some separation here and we're halfway through spring practice."

Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was happy to see the no-holds-barred action.

"When you're truly competing, we want our quarterbacks to have that hard edge, too," Malzahn said. "I'm able to evaluate a lot clearer when you do that."

Offensive lineman Lee Ziemba said the offense ran 55 plays in 20 minutes. That was such a fast pace that the defense was having trouble finding the proper alignment, and that's when Chizik stepped in.

"We're not trying to trick anybody right now," Chizik said. "The pace of the offense is different. We're just trying to keep the pace that's conducive to what we're really trying to do."

The scoring system was based on things like turnovers, negative plays, holding the offense under five yards on 1st down and three-and-outs for the defense etc., and the offense scored points in the traditional manner plus got bonuses for things such as gaining more than five yards on first down and big plays of 15 yards or more.

Chizik is also quoted as saying: "I think it's just a great measuring tool. Any time we step out on this field or any other field, there's always going to be a winner and a loser. I think every day, you have to be able to point back to what caused you to be a winner or what caused you to be a loser."