To say I'm concerned is an understatement. I'm seeing things on the field that weren't there the first 5 weeks of the season.
Auburn...
- Are we uninspired? If so, that's coaching.
- Are we unprepared? If so, that's coaching.
- Are we missing assignments? If so, that's coaching.
- Are we weak, slow, and overwhelmed physically? If so, that's coaching.
- It's the coaching. The last two weeks are solely on the coaching staff's ability to have our players prepared to play. As a coach, it's your job to put your players in a position to succeed. The coach puts them there, the players finish the play. Yes, I'm quoting Nick Saban's philosophy on football.
- The coach should put the quarterback in a position to succeed: Gus Malzahn has effectively tarnished Chris Todd's ability. Sure, Todd has made a few mistakes as he has all season. However, our play calling was abysmal last night. It was awful last week as well. I'm worried it's Malzahn's philosophy.
- Here is Malzahn's offense so far:
1. Weird, unorthadox motions and formations and then run a regular running play. The motions worked at first because defenses weren't sure if we were going to run the reverse or the option or pitch it. It was brilliant. Then defenses realized Ben Tate was still going to get the ball. They realized that, sure, we might run the reverse and get 15+ yards but most of the time the running back was getting it up the middle. Naturally, the defenses have decided to focus on our running backs and make us throw it to keep them honest.
2. After running the ball a few plays, throw it deep. I like the idea. Stretch the field. Hit a bomb. 93 yard touchdown passes demoralize a defense. But what happens when the running game isn't dominating? The defense can send some more pressure and/or the defensive ends can speed rush. Especially when they KNOW it's going to be a pass. Then Chris Todd doesn't complete the pass. Then the defense doesn't have to stretch out. They can stay up front.
3. Rinse and repeat. We don't seem to have that short yardage passing game, so we keep trying to motion receivers and run up the middle. Then we go deep. When it doesn't work, we panic. Chris Todd doesn't look like he knows how to truly read defenses. He's a drone, a robot. He's programmed to throw it deep or hand it off. This is why I knew without a shadow of a doubt that with 3 minutes left in the game, we would not march down the field to tie it. Kentucky played the deep ball and the defensive line took off. I liked Chris Todd on the draw, but Todd can't do that often.
- Gus Malzahn isn't putting our offense in a position to succeed. 6 penalties on ONE drive that could have put the game away is inexcusable. That's players not ready to play. That's players that aren't prepared.
- Ted Roof/Gene Chizik/Tracy Rocker isn't putting our defense in a position to succeed. It starts up front. And it's bad bad BAD up front. Antonio Coleman, our star, hasn't made a significant play in three games. I'm not so sure about last night, but I know he didn't have a tackle against Tennessee or Arkansas. From Coleman's attitude in recent media articles, I don't blame his ability or effort for his lack of tackles/sacks.
- The defensive line is getting reached. For those of you who don't know much about football, there are gaps that must be filled when playing defense. Everyone, whether blitzing or rushing, is responsible for a gap. Our inside lineman are getting reached every play. There are wide open gaps that aren't being accounted for, and the opponent's offense is gashing us to bits. It's been happening all year. Every game.
- The next line of defense is the linebackers. I don't blame Adam Herring, a fill in player because of Eltoro's primadonna attitude, but I do blame Bynes and Stevens. They aren't tackling. They're arm tackling because they aren't reacting to the play fast enough. They're getting out of position. When you play linebacker, you don't sprint your ass off to where a ball carrier is at a given point. You sprint to a spot, slow down, meet the ball carrier, and finish the tackle. Sprint, slow down, meet - those three should be taught by the coaches. Finishing the tackle is on the players.
- The secondary is getting out run because they're slow. Etheridge was juked. Thorpe was out of position. Bates looks for the big hit. The inconsistency out of this group is killing us. Kentucky, a bottomfeeder playing their 2nd and 3rd string quarterbacks, ran all over us.
- Special teams looked better, I guess. We still don't have any kind of return game to speak of.
- The outlook is grim. Very grim. I thought Chizik looked disconnected on the sidelines. Either he was fed up with the way the game was going (which isn't an excuse to quit) or he was clueless. If Chizik wants to be a successful head coach in the SEC, he's going to have grab this team by the balls and force them to do what he wants to do. What's the blueprint say to do next, Coach? Because if the players aren't doing it, it's your responsibility to get the ship back on course.
Kentucky...
- Enjoy your victory while you can. Kudos. I'm sure you had fun.
- I thought Kentucky looked like a two man show. Cobb and Locke are big time play makers, but they should have been tackled. Their offensive line looked slow and had poor feet. They were better than our guys, though. And then, whenever we did get a hand on Cobb or Locke, it didn't matter as we're weak, slow, and overwhelmed.
Alabama...
- (Yawning sound). "What time is it, honey?" "6:00am. We need to get up." "What for?" "It's time to go back to work. Christmas break is over." "What, really? I thought it was October! What the hell did I miss?!?"
- "Well honey, you missed..."
1. Alabama won the national championship.
2. Mark Ingram won the Heisman trophy.
3. Nick Saban won coach of the year.
4. Alabama won the SEC championship.
5. Alabama has 4 five star commitments along with a slew of other nationally coveted recruits.
- It's a freight train travelling 75 miles an hour and the only thing standing on the tracks is a rather large man named Tim Tebow. Alabama's defense is one of the best I've ever seen. No one has done ANYTHING against this juggernaut all year, and I don't think it's going to change any time soon.
- Mark Ingram (this is especially for those saying he's overrated) deserves the Heisman. Not one player in the country is playing better than him. He has been the offense for Alabama the last two weeks. 246 yards rushing with 100+ after contact against a stout South Carolina defense. He's just a sophomore, so expect the same kind of Tim Tebow hype when he goes for a second next year.
- Greg McElroy might try to lose the game next week. Two straight weeks he has underperformed. Part of that is experience. I think he might be getting tired of the season's grind, but luckily he's surrounded by an Oscar worthy supporting cast.
South Carolina...
- Hey OLD ball coach, RETIRE!!! It is absolutely despicable to just give up in a nationally televised game. 5 and a half minutes left, down two touchdowns, and you run the clock out? Were you afraid of giving up more points to Bama? Why? Did you or your friends put money on Bama NOT covering the 17 point spread? Cause it sure as hell looked like that to me.
- To make matters worse, Garcia, hobbled leg and all, marched right on down the field. Maybe, probably could have scored if he felt like they were trying to make a comeback. With two NFL caliber receivers, there's no reason to think they couldn't have pulled off some kind of miraculous comeback.
- As for the rest of the game, I thought South Carolina fought hard. I missed a good bit of it since Auburn was on at the same time, but from what I saw, despite Ingram's reign of terror, South Carolina put up some good stops and gave themselves a chance to win.
Florida...
- Should not be #1 right now. However, I think they've had their epiphany moment. That moment Florida had last year when they realized they should be clowning every team they play.
- Florida needs to throw the ball deep. They don't need to run Tebow 20 times a game. Let Tebow use his arm to stretch the field. When you have 10+ sub-4.4 guys who can catch, you should be putting up 49 points a game. If you need to pound it, run Moody.
- Defensively, I thought Florida took a step back. They were out manned by Arkansas's tall receivers. If they want to beat Bama or Georgia or win their bowl game, they need to use proper technique to defense those deep passes to tall receivers.
- Their tackling was about as bad as ours. Wrap up and bring the big guy down. No excuse when you have 11 future NFL players playing defense.
Arkansas...
- You weren't supposed to be good. Petrino is supposed to be overrated. That's my prediction. Way to go, Hogs. You're going to prove me wrong over the next few years.
Notre Dame...
- The worst USC team in seven years, and you couldn't win. You did a good job trying. You made a game of it. But you still lose. Time to fire Charlie Weis. Why anyone would argue otherwise is beyond me.
USC...
- Your worst team in seven years, and you're still going to win the Rose Bowl. Why doesn't USC start pandering for a playoff? They'd be the favorite every year. Instead, they allow the Pac 10 to keep this Rose Bowl tie-in, which surely is getting boring to win year after year after year after year.
Final Thought...
- I've decided to watch the LSU game. But I'm going to be watching for different reasons. We're going to lose. We're probably going to lose badly. But I want to see if our coaching staff is trying anything different. Keep these questions in mind:
1. Does the play calling look better than last week? Are we varying up the playbook at all?
2. Is the defense practicing better tackling techniques?
3. Are the defensive tackles getting reached? If so, are they shedding the blocks to get back into the play?
4. Are the punt/kick returners running up field and looking for holes?
5. Is Chris Todd scanning the field and reading the defense, or is he going for a preplanned pass? And if his first option isn't available, is hitting other receivers?
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