WEEKEND BACKTRACK: The Tulane Game
Auburn moved to 2-0 with its weekend victory over Tulane, but what was that really worth?
The Green Wave seem to be a fine team right now — fine for the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers' defense took control of Tulane's offense during the first quarter and rarely loosened its grip. The Tigers' offense sputtered for a variety of reasons; tailback Boobee Whitlow fumbled three times, Bo Nix missed some open throws and the offensive front simply wasn't able to clear enough creative space for Whitlow and Kam Martin to thrive.
An 18-point win is far from a loss, but this win also was far from comprehensive.
Let's take a look at the BOTTOM LINE ...
PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS GRADES: OFFENSE (at least 15 snaps played)
1. WR Will Hastings, 71.8
2. C Kaleb Kim, 70.8
3. WR Matthew Hill, 70.6
4. RG Mike Horton, 70.1
5. RT Jack Driscoll, 69.2
6. TE/H John Samuel Shenker, 66.0
7. WR Seth Williams, 64.5
8. LG Marquel Harrell, 63.9
9. WR Marquis McClain, 61.3
10. WR Sal Cannella, 59.4
• Hastings made a tremendous, spinning catch during the first half that seemed to defy the limits of human biomechanics. He's been reliable this season. I think we're all a bit skeptical about Kim's grade considering Auburn tried repeatedly to run through the 'A' gaps and couldn't get much of a push inside. It's clear that Matthew Hill, who has been a bit player to this point, probably needs a much longer look at the '2'/flanker position — his play-making ability surely surpasses that of Marquis McClain.
PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS GRADES: DEFENSE (at least 15 snaps played)
1. DE Marlon Davidson, 89.2
2. DT Derrick Brown, 81.7
3. CB Roger McCreary, 76.7
4. S Jeremiah Dinson, 75.5
5. S Daniel Thomas, 68.4
6. STAR Christian Tutt, 67.4
7. LB Chandler Wooten, 67.2
8. DT Tyrone Truesdell, 65.4
9. CB Noah Igbinoghene, 65.3
10. LB K.J. Britt, 59.4
• Davidson was named the SEC"s defensive lineman of the week after a night of hell-raising against Tulane. The Green Wave couldn't do much with him at all — he was a disruptor from start to finish. Brown forced Tulane to quit trying to run the ball inside. I'm surprised a bit to see Britt in 10th place as the top-graded linebacker considering Tulane's tailbacks gained just 66 yards on 23 carries. Somebody was fitting those runs. The Green Wave worked diligently to burn McCreary deep, but the sophomore was up to the task time and again.
ANATOMY OF PASS-DEFENSE EXCELLENCE
With a seasoned, strong-armed quarterback and a pair of all-conference wideouts, Tulane hoped that it could burn the Tigers deep last weekend. That hope turned to desperation during the second half when the visitors fell behind and couldn't make up ground on the ground.
Tulane's plan didn't work.
Quarterback Justin McMillan attempted 17 passes of at least 10 yards apiece. He completed two of them. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was proud of that — his group held the Green Wave to 2-of-17 on long passes and 2-of-15 on third down.
Steele left the stadium with a smile on his face.
Here's a look at most of those long passes — not all 17 because I missed a few balls thrown in the 11- to 13-yard range. It happens.
(The coverage was mostly tight, Auburn's pass rush was an omnipresent problem and Tulane dropped two touchdown passes.)
TROUBLE ON THE PERIMETER
Auburn's run game troubles lie mostly with the offensive line, but they don't have a monopoly on missed or incomplete blocks. On this little jet run to the field, the Tigers will need an other-worldly effort from its 'space' blockers because it's 3-on-3 outside the play-side tackle.
And, well, the Tigers didn't get much effort at all.
WR Seth Williams hits the correct man, but he doesn't come close to finishing the block and his man actually makes the stop. RB Boobee Whitlow manages to hit only one person — and that person is a teammate.
Williams' effort here is minimal. Whitlow is playing with a bit more enthusiasm, but his execution is lacking in a big way. It's tough to see Auburn suddenly taking huge steps forward in the perimeter run game with this kind of stuff happening. It's sloppy.
IRON MEN OF THE WEEK
After playing EVERY SNAP against Oregon, Igbinoghene got a breather against Tulane.
He only played 65 of a possible 67 snaps against the Green Wave. Other players who saw precious little of the sideline last week included Dinson (63 snaps played), Thomas (60 snaps) and Davidson (50 snaps).
On offense, all five linemen worked all 84 snaps. The top skill-position player in terms of snaps was wideout Sal Cannella, who logged 66.
NEW WRINKLES
Auburn dabbled with a few new run-game concepts last weekend.
The most intriguing in terms of future ramifications was the GT counter and GT counter-read. These plays involve pulling the backside tackle and guard around the horn with down blocks to the play side. None of those runs yielded an explosive play, but this was the first time Auburn has used them in a game. I'll explore these plays in more detail later in the week.
Another new-to-Auburn concept was a TE-H shift, which Malzahn used mostly during the first half to limited or zero effect. I asked him Sunday about this line of experimentation; he said that they were aiming to muddle Tulane's run fits. That didn't happen.
Here's a look at the Tigers' strangest offensive sequence of the night, which included three shifts and zero first downs:
Notice that on the 4th-down run, LG Marquel Harrell executes a skip pull (shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage) in an effort to fortify the intended 'B/4' gap. Four consecutive runs aimed inside and none of them would be considered a success.
I pressed Malzahn on this Sunday. He said he was attacking a specific element of Tulane's defense — and also stuck to these unimaginative calls to send a message to his offensive line. They must be more physical.
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