Final thoughts from Saturday’s debacle
The issues that surfaced in the game Saturday afternoon are not independent of coaching issues. Freeze made the comment that there was only one bad call in the game and the rest was execution, however he is far from blame.
The two long term issues came to light. First, it was the decision to keep Dillon Wade on the interior until the last possible moment. The second was the failure, in the portal, to add quality tackles instead of cheap depth in the name of Percy Lewis is costing the team. Izavion Miller is dealing with a hip flexor issue and Ronan Chambers is not an SEC tackle. Wade will move back to the outside and Thornton will have to adjust the rotation to protect the B and C gaps. The other glaring issue was to move Keionte Scott to the boundary instead of keeping him at Nickel. Understandably, promises had to be mad to keep him in the first portal window with the staff turnover that was taking place. After the spring, however, it should have been clear he needed to return to Nickel where he was one of the best in the league, last season. Auburn lost Colton Hood to the portal )who likely would be starting today if Keionte was moved to his true position).
As much dismay as I have for those decisions, it’s too late now to fix them. Freeze is an excellent offensive mind but the game plan he and Derrick Nix came out with, was completely pathetic. Cal is not Alabama A&M, this team is not good enough to simply “run their stuff” and dominate a P4 opponent, and that’s exactly what they tried to do in the first half. The second half adjustments were made and they established the run, as they should have. The defense only gave up seven points the entire game, and it was the first drive. The other two scores were short fields Auburn gifted to Cal. Durkin took far too long to dial up pressure, but when he did it disrupted the flow of the offense. They finally folded and gave up a second half touchdown after an out of character fumble from Jarquez Hunter.
The issue with quarterback play has been a decisive one within the fanbase. On The War Rapport’s YouTube channel, Ike broke down the film from the game for our members. It is rather eye-opening to see exactly where the fault falls. Hank Brown is expected to get his fair share of reps at home against New Mexico this Saturday. Hank and Payton have performed well in practice, thus far. The quarterback that trots out against Arkansas won’t matter, however, if the offensive line still looks putrid in Pass Pro, if Nix and Freeze don’t properly utilize the dynamic weapons they recruited, and if the game-plan still is at the level where Philip Montgomery’s had it.
The injury report for this weekend is small but impactful. Izavion Miller was all but confirmed out by Coach Freeze in his press conference. Cam Coleman was downgraded from questionable to doubtful (he is still dealing with a shoulder injury). Keionte Scott’s status with his hamstring is worrisome; they need him 100% percent healthy for SEC play. I doubt he will play in a game they don’t need him.
To end on the recruiting effect from Saturday, not showing proof on concept against an inferior opponent does not help whatsoever. However, Cam Coleman also watched Auburn get beat into the dirt by NMSU at home last season while committed to Texas A&M. Recruits care more about the body of work of an entire season, though it certainly cost the Tigers some momentum.
You can listen to this conversation and more on the The War Rapport’s YouTube channel.
Related
