Thoughts on Iron Bowl win and what it means going forward. (ATL and potentially CFP)

[CrimsonForce]

Hate to point to Damielson in this situation, but he's absolutely right; to beat Alabama you've got to have a hot quarterback. Marshall was throwing dimes because he had 2 things going for him. 1) he was getting great protection in the 1st half from his line. From what I saw, and I could be way wrong, they were keeping the RB and TE in to block on most downfield plays because they knew they had the size and speed to do it. 2) safety's were up in run support most of the game leaving the CB's to play one on one outside against 2 big and fast receivers. The match up was not great and Coates and Williams had a field day. I will say this; Cyrus Jones played a good game. He was physical. Eddie Jackson just could not catch up with Coates and thus the change in strategy at the half. Sylve did a great job of blanketing his receiver when needed. He's improved so much and got a chance to show it Saturday night.

The best thing though that I noticed about the defense is that they made auburn, for the 2nd half especially, use the clock. They kept everything in front of them. It was almost like a prevent, bend, don't break in the first half. When we started getting pressure (putting in Evans and Williams) on the line, the demeanor of the game changed. Thank God college football is a game of 60 minutes and not 30 minutes. Halftime adjustments are made for a reason.

Roll Tide!!
ChattTide

I'm not doom and gloom at all and am probably in the minority thinking that our defense played pretty well against AU. What I would like to put to rest is the "hot QB" theory. That could fly when Stephen Garcia was the only one on that list but now that list is probably 10 names long. And again, that's not to say our defense is bad but more so that teams throw on us more than run on us..

 

[CrimsonForce]

Take away the 3 turnovers we had on offense.. it would've been long night for Auburn. I just don't understand why we're placing blame on secondary... I mean.. Its Duke and Coates... big tall physical receivers... Even Saban knew it would be long night. I wouldn't be suprised to see Cooper, Williams and Coates taken as 1-2-3 in NFL Draft. I mean we forced them to field goals.. we had a int and almost Int that should've been called..

I can hadly tell if you are being serious in half your posts? 3 receivers going in the first 3 picks? There's a 0% chance of that happening. Probably all 3 in the first round, but no way are those three going in the top 3 picks..

 

[JustNeedMe81]

I really thought we played horrible in second quarter... but we got better in 3rd and 4th. those points in 2nd were off Eddie jackson... he didn't have speed to keep up with receiveres.. . If we had made adjustment sooner, I think we we would've been up 21-7 ... and Auburn would've had to made adjustments and could've came back in second half.. so eithe way its' catch 22 for us.

I'm not doom and gloom at all and am probably in the minority thinking that our defense played pretty well against AU. What I would like to put to rest is the "hot QB" theory. That could fly when Stephen Garcia was the only one on that list but now that list is probably 10 names long. And again, that's not to say our defense is bad but more so that teams throw on us more than run on us..

 

[92tide]

Take away the 3 turnovers we had on offense.. it would've been long night for Auburn. I just don't understand why we're placing blame on secondary... I mean.. Its Duke and Coates... big tall physical receivers... Even Saban knew it would be long night. I wouldn't be suprised to see Cooper, Williams and Coates taken as 1-2-3 in NFL Draft. I mean we forced them to field goals.. we had a int and almost Int that should've been called..

yep, you give offenses like that a short field and they will rack up a lot of points quickly

 

[92tide]

I really thought we played horrible in second quarter... but we got better in 3rd and 4th. those points in 2nd were off Eddie jackson... he didn't have speed to keep up with receiveres.. . If we had made adjustment sooner, I think we we would've been up 21-7 ... and Auburn would've had to made adjustments and could've came back in second half.. so eithe way its' catch 22 for us.

iirc, jackson bit hard on a fake/move on at least one of those and lost a step

 

[Bamaro]

What it means going forward is that we are still vulnerable to a mobile QB with an average arm, although he only rushed for 49 net yards. Marshall threw for 456yds, 10.6 yd avg and 3 TDs. Thankfully our offense responded and the defense responded on a short field by limiting Auburn production in the red zone.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

i wasn't serious... I was just making a point.

I can hadly tell if you are being serious in half your posts? 3 receivers going in the first 3 picks? There's a 0% chance of that happening. Probably all 3 in the first round, but no way are those three going in the top 3 picks..

 

[mittman]

Take away the 3 turnovers we had on offense.. it would've been long night for Auburn. I just don't understand why we're placing blame on secondary... I mean.. Its Duke and Coates... big tall physical receivers... Even Saban knew it would be long night. I wouldn't be suprised to see Cooper, Williams and Coates taken as 1-2-3 in NFL Draft. I mean we forced them to field goals.. we had a int and almost Int that should've been called..

This is the point I was about to make. Take away those turnovers, and give us the one that we probably had and we have a big blowout.

Problem is you can't take those away. They happened.

We got burned a lot with they way our defense was playing, some of that was in the 'tip your hat' category. Leaving our CB's exposed means they will happen.

If there is a takeaway from this game for our secondary it is that they kept at it. They didn't throw at Cyrus much, and a good argument could be made for Sylve to get the game ball.

What I am most excited about is the chemistry this team is showing. They seem to play for each other, and buoy each other after mistakes very well.

 

[deliveryman35]

Grateful for the win and in the end I guess that's what matters most. But echoing some of what's already been said, the Saban/Smart braintrust has yet to either figure out how to defend the hurry up spread O and/or we simply are at a disadvantage because we have not been able to recruit elite lockdown corners like Dre Kirkpatrick or Mark Barron in recent yrs. I think Oregon and TCU are both much better than the barn and that could spell trouble in a potential playoff game for us IMO. I'm old school and still think that defense is ultimately what wins championships. Yes we won a scoring contest saturday night which is an exception for us but I would not want that to be the rule when we play spread O teams.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

I don't think its more about average arm... or comparing Sims to Nick Marshall. That is completely unfair assessment Nick just had a big game against us.. because of those receivers... Simply as that.

Nick has been inconsistent all year around. Before Auburn, the highest yard he threw was 254 yards against Miss state. he has 5 200 yards plus pass yards this year. 4 100 plus rushing yards this year as well. 18 touchdowns to 7 ints.

Before Auburn for Blake, He had 9 200 + passing yards and remember he threw 445 yards against Florida earlier this season. Has 24 touchdown to 7 ints.

What it means going forward is that we are still vulnerable to a mobile QB with an average arm, although he only rushed for 49 net yards. Marshall threw for 456yds, 10.6 yd avg and 3 TDs. Thankfully our offense responded and the defense responded on a short field by limiting Auburn production in the red zone.

 

[ChattTide]

I'm not doom and gloom at all and am probably in the minority thinking that our defense played pretty well against AU. What I would like to put to rest is the "hot QB" theory. That could fly when Stephen Garcia was the only one on that list but now that list is probably 10 names long. And again, that's not to say our defense is bad but more so that teams throw on us more than run on us..

We'll have to agree to disagree here which is perfectly fine with me. What I am getting at is that Marshall had not thrown that accurate all year long on his deep outs. Yes he has hit a couple, but not near that accurate. What gave auburn steam all year was the running game. When Alabama was taking care of business and shutting down the corners on the run, auburn had Coates and Williams to go to. With safeties staying up to support the run this left the corners in one on one. With a big fast physical receiver likes Coates and Williams, it's pick your poison. Marshall seemed as though he was zoned in on the deep ball. Even the throws that were not completed (2 to Williams in the end zone and 1 to Coates) were very catchable balls. Thus the use of the "hot qb" in my opinion. It wasn't until we started to apply pressure with the speed rushers that he started to get rattled and their line started making mistakes.

BTW, NOW you have to have more than a qb in a zone. You've got to be able to stop the Bama offense as well. I agree that the list can be 10 names long (Garcia, Manziel, Mettenberger, Marshall, etc.), but that's putting a lot of pressure on 1 guy and also putting pressure on your defense to stop them. Most teams have not been up to the task.

Roll Tide!!
ChattTide

 

[KillVols]

We play pansies from here on out..... Our D is awesome! We own the spread...stopping it isnt about stopping it...its about containing it as much as possible. Oregon has not played a battle tested hard core D like ours.... they are a bunch of little people that are going to meet the giants from the west. Roll Tide!

 

[RollTide1224]

I still think the defense is good they just didn't have their best game that day. But most importantly they held Auburn to field goals in the first half which kept the game from being broken wide open.

There is no denying that Nick Marshall had a great game. When you combine the accuracy on the deep balls he had with the size/speed/talent of the WR they have it makes for a big day. Some of the plays were just fantastic throws. We also had the problem of Eddie not being fast enough to deal with Coates.

The key for me was that we shored up our run defense in the second half. They were gashing us early in the game and that was making those deep pass plays even harder to defend. I was shocked at the end of the game that we had outrushed them. They really didn't get much in the second half.

The positive takeaway for me is that we can win any type of game with this team. We can withstand a historic offensive onslaught by the other team and still win the game or we can get into a defensive struggle with a team and still win the game. I don't think we are going to face any team that presents all of the problems that Auburn did.

 

[CrimsonForce]

I know I'm not the only one who has noticed but Eddie isn't 100%. It was painfully obvious to me during the Arkansas game when the Arkansas TE outran Eddie to the end zone when they were even. Knew injuries take more than a month or two to get the explosiveness back. Eddie doesn't have it back yet..

 

[tattooguy21]

The only thing....ONLY THING.....we need to improve is a legitimate pass rusher

 

[bamaga]

One player that has played great all year had a bad game. He gave up plays that accounted for a third of Auburns yards. His replacement gave up a big play that should of been an interception. If we play a mobile spread attack again , I seriously doubt we use the same defensive game plan.

 

[81usaf92]

Bama is 5-1 this season against teams that are known for up-tempo offenses. Twist that into doom-n-gloom if you will.

Doom and gloom??? I said our secondary is weak against the spread when they can pass not that they are incapable of making key stops that could enable our offense to pull away. I think we would beat Oregon by 10 points or more because they couldn't stop our offense and we would make some timely stops against theirs,but they would get their yards and points. I think we are probably looking at scorefests like Saturday if we get into the playoffs. Just IMO, but we should win it all

 

[JustNeedMe81]

Sims Ints that lead to Auburn scoring against Alabama

1. First one, it looked like a screen pass to Jones, but for some reason he changed his mind and Whitehead was all over that play. Cooper was open , but it was too close between the Auburn Defender and that's why Whitehead jumped on that play. I can't really put that one on Sims. It was just one of the play that Whitehead figured out a little... and moved little quicker than anticipated.

2. Second one- I put this one on Sims. He overthrew the ball.

3. I put this one on Jones. It looked like Jones gave up on the route running and that's why the ball was intercepted. All of those turnovers were inside Alabama terriority

Those turnovers led to two touchdowns and a field goal. 17 points off turnovers for Auburn. It puts Auburn 33-21 up at that time. Take that away and and Take away two explosive plays from Receivers for Auburn.... it would've been blowout.. We did self-inflict ourselves with that defense miscues in second quarter.

Now, What some people fail to realize is that our red zone defense was amazing... Out of 8 possessions, it allowed 5 field goals, just two touchdowns. And forced turnover on 4th down.

Auburn was 9 out of 19 on third down against Alabama, including 5 out of 10 on 3rd and short situation. To sit there and say we have issues with our defense against spread team isn't exactly accurate. We do have few things to work on, we always find a way to improve and having Slyve in second half really helped us. I don't think we'll ever will see something like this again ( 600 plus total yard) for long time... We will be fine against Missouri and future playing opponents.

 

[cbi1972]

Texas A&M had a record setting offensive performance in a loss against the nation's top defense last year too.
It happens.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

Really... So Reed, Duvall, Tim Williams, Evans, Pettway, just to name few.... isnt enough?

The only thing....ONLY THING.....we need to improve is a legitimate pass rusher