The Auburn QB rotation against OM

Never question the Offensive Guru

That was bizarre

AUBURN — It was a festive Halloween atmosphere at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn fans were dressed in a variety of costumes. Some ghoulish, some not.
So a burial at midfield seems appropriate. How about putting Gus Malzahn’s moniker to rest? You know the one I’m talking about? Offensive genius …
The one he deserved as offensive coordinator in stints at Arkansas, Tulsa and Auburn (you still got to love what he did with quarterback Chris Todd in 2009). But those days are gone.
An array of bizarre decisions by the Tigers’ head coach in a 27-19 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday – the team’s seventh loss in its last eight SEC games – only seems to have solidified that point.
Let’s take a look at a few of them.
First, the play call on fourth-and-two near midfield in the first half.
I have absolutely no problem with his decision to go for it. Auburn led 10-3 and Malzahn said he wanted to be aggressive.
OK … do it. Do something to upset the ranked team? So what play does he call?
He puts his gimpy quarterback Sean White in the shotgun in an empty set backfield. Auburn doesn’t even give the illusion it might run the ball for the first down … of course that helps the defense decide what it needs to do.
White’s pass in the right flat to Marcus Davis – where he is bracketed by two Ole Miss defenders – sails high and is incomplete.
“There’s no doubt it was a big play,” Malzahn said.
Second, Auburn is trailing 13-10 in the third quarter. The Tigers unleash an impressive drive with the running of lightly-used back Jovon Robinson and a big 44-yard completion to Melvin Ray.
Auburn faces a first-and-goal from Ole Miss’s 4-yard line.
The first play, Robinson loses two yards. You got to like the running call, just maybe not Robinson carrying it. He just had back-to-back carries of 22 and 11 yards and basically everyone could guess that he needed a breather.
But the next two are the baffling ones.
He brings in quarterback Jeremy Johnson in a five-wide receiver set. In normal circumstances, if Johnson was your starter and playing every down, it might have made more sense. But not with what Malzahn had already done.
Because of the offense Malzahn had employed from the start of the game, every time Johnson came into the game … he was to run the ball when White couldn’t. Talk about telegraphing your intentions.
Then, on third down, White – the same one who later lost his knee brace on a 10-yard run and if he were a horse in the backstretch on the play you would have shot him – rolls to his right and looks to find a receiver.
There was no way possible he could run it in.
He limps out of bounds for a three-yard loss and Auburn settles for a field goal.
Third, after an Auburn interception, Malzahn calls a play for Johnson to throw into triple coverage – where have we seen that before – but this time Tony Stevens makes a great catch and the Tigers have a first and goal at the Ole Miss 3.
This is where Auburn takes the lead with a touchdown to go up 23-20.
This where the crowd can get in the game and make its presence felt. But that’s not what happened.
On first down, Malzahn runs Peyton Barber for a loss of one yard. Again, normally, not a bad decision.
Barber has been gold in the red zone this year. But he’s hurt.
Malzahn knows he hurt. Barber had not carried the ball the entire second half.
In the first half, Barber had only seven carries for just 18 yards.
But he doesn’t go back to Robinson, who at that point in the second half, has nine carries for 62 yards.
After a penalty on second down, White fails to connect with Ricardo Louis. Then, on third down White throws a screen pass to Roc Thomas – who even if he caught it – would never have been able to go nine yards for the touchdown.
“We score a touchdown on one of those drives instead of a field goal,” Malzahn said. “It’s a different game.”
No kidding. But he’s as much to blame for the failure as any player.
Heading into the game, Auburn ranked second in the SEC in red zone touchdown efficiency with 19 touchdowns on 28 attempts.
Last week, when people questioned offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee on why White did not have any touchdown passes yet, he didn’t seem concerned.
“We’re getting in the red zone and we’re running the football well,” Lashlee said. “It has been weird but the fact that we’re punching it in, I’m not concerned.”
So why go against what one of the few things successful for this team this year? You have to ask Malzahn.
The entire game plan, it was almost as if he was outsmarting himself.
Rather executing a play instead of doing something to catch Hugh Freeze off guard. He also went with two injured players in White and Barber rather than having the next man stand up in Johnson and Robinson.
What message are you bringing to your team? Your lack of confidence? You don’t think the Auburn team on its first series were thinking: “The other team knows when Johnson comes into the game he’s going to run the ball because White can’t.”
Auburn shouldn’t be surprised. They’ve seen this transformation before. When Gene Chizik was at Auburn and Texas he was a pretty good defensive coordinator.
As head coach at Auburn, his defenses were pathetic. Now, at North Carolina, Chizik is a good defensive coordinator again.
Maybe it’s too many responsibilities as head coach. Maybe he’s overthinking every situation? Who knows?
But Auburn’s offense under Malzahn as a head coach doesn’t even resemble the units he put out on the field as an offensive coordinator. And, it’s not just talent (go back to Todd reference 2009). It’s the guy with the play sheet.
Auburn stayed in the game Saturday in spite of its head coach, not because of him.
Offensive genius? May it rest in peace, buried at Jordan-Hare on Halloween 2015 …
And, the only guy who can come and dig it back up is Malzahn himself.
If he doesn’t soon, Auburn will be looking at many more painful defeats just like Saturday.
Brad Zimanek is sports editor for the Advertiser. He can be contacted at bzimanek@gannett.com and (334) 261-1586. Follow him on Twitter @bzimanek.
2 CONNECT 3 TWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
....................................................

Seems like a lot of folks would like to know.

He can no longer use smoke and mirrors to score points. Auburn will have to replace his arse next year if he happens to not get the boot this year.

These decisions sound so much like OM's offensive play calling in the red zone that it's bizarre.

quote:

---

These decisions sound so much like OM's offensive play calling in the red zone that it's bizarre.

---

Is it bizarre? Freeze runs Gus' system. They have the same issue when the field shrinks because it eliminates the deep pass. ON has Tredwell which helps.


Plus Gus and Freeze exchange 'hold my beer and watch this' type plays in the offseason

quote:

---

Plus Gus and Freeze exchange 'hold my beer and watch this' type plays in the offseason

---

Those are fun to do at barbecues. Plus the beer gets the creative juices flowing.

an Arky fan trying to act like they dont know what shitting the bed looks like. everybody knows wtf he was doing. he better go ahead and hire a gd sports psychologist while he can still save this thing. Gus has been reduced to a head case.