Auburn Depth Chart

[Cowbell]

And, again, just completely ignoring the fact that Auburn could not run the ball and had less yards than State last year with that awesome OL they had...

Agreed.

[Cowbell]

I want 2 things:

1. Be wrong on Moorhead.
2. Our fanbase to quit blaming every damn thing on fitz. Fitz was sacked almost exactly the same amount of times per pass as mcsorley, but it's fitz's slow processing to blame. Fitz faced much better defenses and had many less weapons too.

I agree that fitz is taking a lot of blame but for things that weren’t necessarily his fault. You have to admit, though, that he was not mentally readily to run this offense. Not his fault. But there were so many mistakes and breakdowns that wouldn’t happen with someone ready to run the offense.

[TrapGame]

I want 2 things:

1. Be wrong on Moorhead.
2. Our fanbase to quit blaming every damn thing on fitz. Fitz was sacked almost exactly the same amount of times per pass as mcsorley, but it's fitz's slow processing to blame. Fitz faced much better defenses and had many less weapons too.

1. I don't believe that for a second.
2. You're seriously gonna compare Fitz to McSorely? C'mon mane!

[msstate7]

1. I don't believe that for a second.
2. You're seriously gonna compare Fitz to McSorely? C'mon mane!

1. I don't care what you believe
2. I compared sacks per pass, which showed they took a similar ratio. Shotgun said the reason fitz took so many sacks is bc it was his first year in system. Doesn't compute when comparing it to sacks taken by mcsorley.

[Tbonewannabe]

I agree that fitz is taking a lot of blame but for things that weren’t necessarily his fault. You have to admit, though, that he was not mentally readily to run this offense. Not his fault. But there were so many mistakes and breakdowns that wouldn’t happen with someone ready to run the offense.

We had open guys that Fitz never even looked to. I don't think it is too much of a knock against Fitz that because of the injury he didn't get live game reps until week 2. It was a tall task to ask of someone that has never been in a pass first offense in his playing career, he was a triple option QB for 1 year in high school.

Nothing highlights that more than the flea flicker against Bama. Wide open man streaking down the field and Fitz never even threw the ball and it would have been his first option on his progressions.

[Tbonewannabe]

1. I don't care what you believe
2. I compared sacks per pass, which showed they took a similar ratio. Shotgun said the reason fitz took so many sacks is bc it was his first year in system. Doesn't compute when comparing it to sacks taken by mcsorley.

It could be just the offense. Moorhead's offense is more inclined to bigger plays so it makes sense that there is more risk. Even with the increase in sacks, we still had the 3rd highest yards per play average behind only Dak's junior and senior year.

[Jarius]

Auburn’s offensive line was absolute trash against anyone with a pulse last year. They did play well later in the year against shittier competition, minus Alabama. They did light up an atrocious Purdue defense in their bowl game so there is that.

[msstate7]

It could be just the offense. Moorhead's offense is more inclined to bigger plays so it makes sense that there is more risk. Even with the increase in sacks, we still had the 3rd highest yards per play average behind only Dak's junior and senior year.

Moorhead's offense absolutely hums when we have a decided talent advantage. Vs equal or at a talent deficit, it remains to be seen. Hopefully guys settling into it will make a difference this season

[TrapGame]

1. I don't care what you believe
2. I compared sacks per pass, which showed they took a similar ratio. Shotgun said the reason fitz took so many sacks is bc it was his first year in system. Doesn't compute when comparing it to sacks taken by mcsorley.

Whatever dude. You thrive off finding everything little thing you can wrong with Joe. Last year was the first year his offense didn't click like it has EVERYWHERE ELSE he's been THUS FAR. But, yeah, it's all Joe. Terrible hire. JoVester all the way man.

[msstate7]

Whatever dude. You thrive off finding everything little thing you can wrong with Joe. Last year was the first year his offense didn't click like it has EVERYWHERE ELSE he's been THUS FAR. But, yeah, it's all Joe. Terrible hire. JoVester all the way man.

ED fail safe tactic... when evidence is presented, completely overlook that and go after the poster. I don't resort to playground tactics. If I disagree, I do my best to present an argument.

[HancockCountyDog]

I'm really interested in who you guys blame this year if things go bad again... maybe it can still be fitz and Mullen

ETA... for reference, I looked up penn state's sack per pass the last 3 years...

2018: 1 sack per 12.2 passes
2017: 1 sack per 15.8 passes
2016: 1 sack per 13.5 passes

This offense seems to give up a lot of sacks, and the sec has the premier dlines in the country. If fitz's ratio is bad, it seems mcsorley had a processing problem too... against big10 defenses

Penn state last 3 years was sacked 1 time every 13.8 passes.

[msstate7]

Let me clarify though... I don't care if we give up more sacks to get explosive plays; I'm all for it. I just didn't like blaming all the sacks on fitz when the offense apparently has them built in

[HancockCountyDog]

It could be just the offense. Moorhead's offense is more inclined to bigger plays so it makes sense that there is more risk. Even with the increase in sacks, we still had the 3rd highest yards per play average behind only Dak's junior and senior year.

Wasn't Fitz the reason we had such a high yard per play average? I don't have the stats in front of me, but I remember a 70+ yarder against A&M, multiple 30 yard gains throughout the season. I mean, he was our biggest offensive weapon last year and it wasn't running Joe's system. When we tried to shoehorn Fitz into Joe's system, it didn't work. When we scored 7 and 6 against KY and FL, it was a realization that this offense was going to waste a great season. That is why Fitz went from running the ball around 17 times a game, to 28 times against AU.

[Tbonewannabe]

Moorhead's offense absolutely hums when we have a decided talent advantage. Vs equal or at a talent deficit, it remains to be seen. Hopefully guys settling into it will make a difference this season

This is exactly what happened to Mullen's offense. I remember a lot of years watching a QB draw up the gut on 3rd and 6 against a good defense like Bama, AU, UGA, or LSU and getting nowhere. You act like our offense never struggled before Moorhead. Anyone want to go through the 2015 season where our rushing offense was complete shit because Mullen decided to have a 150 lb feature back even though we had one of the top QBs in the country?

Mullen built our program up so we would win those games a lot more times than not but let's not make those years out to be better than they were. I will definitely take where we are now than before Mullen but Jackie showed us we could compete against ANYONE. Mullen showed us we could beat everyone that we SHOULD beat except in 2016. Mullen beat very few teams that FINISHED in the top 25.

[HancockCountyDog]

Let me clarify though... I don't care if we give up more sacks to get explosive plays; I'm all for it. I just didn't like blaming all the sacks on fitz when the offense apparently has them built in

To any objective person you've won this thread. No need to post any more, just take a knee and run out the clock. Well done.

[Tbonewannabe]

Wasn't Fitz the reason we had such a high yard per play average? I don't have the stats in front of me, but I remember a 70+ yarder against A&M, multiple 30 yard gains throughout the season. I mean, he was our biggest offensive weapon last year and it wasn't running Joe's system. When we tried to shoehorn Fitz into Joe's system, it didn't work. When we scored 7 and 6 against KY and FL, it was a realization that this offense was going to waste a great season. That is why Fitz went from running the ball around 17 times a game, to 28 times against AU.

Moorhead has said it himself that last year became a hybrid of what his system normally is. The Auburn gameplan was the headscratcher. It was more of an exception than the rule. I think after FL, Moorhead decided to take out a lot of the reads that Fitz was having problems with. LSU shutdown our running game which is what good to great defenses do. Bama was the only other team down the stretch that were able to do that.

Fitz looked decent against KSU on the road and ULL at home. Those were the only games that Fitz had before the UK and UF debacle. I think those two games gave Moorhead false hope on how Fitz could run the offense.

[NCDawg]

I agree that fitz is taking a lot of blame but for things that weren’t necessarily his fault. You have to admit, though, that he was not mentally readily to run this offense. Not his fault. But there were so many mistakes and breakdowns that wouldn’t happen with someone ready to run the offense.

I think you're probably correct. Another thing, slow developing plays, looking over to the sidelines seeing what Moorhead wants to do, walking up to the line and changing the play, making the OL stay in their stance all that time, I think caused a lot of the breakdowns.

[TrapGame]

ED fail safe tactic... when evidence is presented, completely overlook that and go after the poster. I don't resort to playground tactics. If I disagree, I do my best to present an argument.

Where has Joe's offense been so utterly anemic? Give me evidence.

[HancockCountyDog]

Moorhead has said it himself that last year became a hybrid of what his system normally is. The Auburn gameplan was the headscratcher. It was more of an exception than the rule. I think after FL, Moorhead decided to take out a lot of the reads that Fitz was having problems with. LSU shutdown our running game which is what good to great defenses do. Bama was the only other team down the stretch that were able to do that.

Fitz looked decent against KSU on the road and ULL at home. Those were the only games that Fitz had before the UK and UF debacle. I think those two games gave Moorhead false hope on how Fitz could run the offense.

Fitz went 11 for 27 against KSU. That is not decent. He looked great running the ball going for 159 yards on 19 carries.

Look - good coaches make these mistakes - hell Mullen tried to adjust his offense to fit Russell's talent in 2012. It didn't work.

Here is the bigger concern - i'm not sure if people realize that it is easier for OL to run block than pass block. I assume most people understand this, but some might not. Also, Mullen's system was all about creating angles and not having to drive people off the ball. It makes OL recruiting less important. You can have a great OL with less than NFL talent across the board. We proved that several times under Mullen. But that assumes you have a running threat at QB. The minute you take that away, all of a sudden you put tremendous pressure on your OL to pass protect in a league with elite pass rushers. Its a recipe for a disaster.

We have a good OL, but it is built to run block. I don't want our OT's attempting to pass block for 5 seconds. If we do that, we potentially expose a soft spot on our roster - OT's.

Also, now that Key is gone (potentially) we can't afford an injury. An injury to Stevens puts the entire season in jeopardy. We can't have him get hurt. That means less designed runs.

[msstate7]

Where has Joe's offense been so utterly anemic? Give me evidence.

Here.

Vs conf opponent stats:
Scoring off - 119th of 129
Total off - 119th of 129
Yds/play - 94th of 119

Sec opponents scoring def vs sec/our point totals:
Bama - 15.7/0
Kentucky - 16.5/7
Auburn - 24.5/23
LSU - 25.4/6
Florida - 25.6/6
aTm - 31.4/28
Ark - 39.9/52
OM - 41.0/35

The only opponent that we scored more than their avg was Arkansas. Defenses padded their stats vs us last season.

In Moorhead's defense, he abused OOC teams. We play 8 sec opponents though to 4 OOC

ETA... with this post, I'm putting 2018 to bed. I really do hope Moorhead proves me wrong. Last season, I was furious after Florida and Kentucky, but I started a thread giving Moorhead major props for auburn bc he used his personnel correctly. He then abandoned it, and I lost the faith I had in him. I've been wrong more times than I count though, and I hope this is another time