Rewatched the Auburn game.........(WARNING: TL;DR)

I'm going to limit this to 1st half observations on defense, as Auburn went pretty conservative in the 2nd with the big lead. Usually, rewatching the game gives me a lot of new perspective that you just miss watching a game live.

This was an exception to that rule for the most part.

All of the problems on defense start up front, which most of us have known for quite some time.

The DTs are simply not playing well. I really don't understand why there isn't an almost constant rotation of bodies seeing as how the starters simply aren't playing well enough to justify keeping others off of the field to see what they can do.

Lacouture has been extremely ineffective. He is almost never double teamed, and is taken out of plays by only one blocker on virtually every play. I obviously don't know what coaches see in practice, but he just doesn't appear to have the strength to fight off blocks in the SEC at this point.

Despite that, he played every snap until the Auburn drive that started at 4:53, when Bain spelled him for what ended up being a quick 5 play TD drive with the Jeremy Johnson long pass to Coates to set up Marshall's TD run. Bain actually looked pretty solid and at least was able to get into the backfield.

On Marshall's long TD run at the end of the half, Lacouture was the only DT in a three man front and just ran off to the side against a single blocker that barely even seemed to have to do anything, leaving a MASSIVE hole in the middle of the D that Marshall simply jogged through before juking Beckwith and Martin out of their shoes 10 yards downfield and he was off to the races. Lacouture REALLY should not be playing as many snaps as he is. While not terribly effective even early in the game, when he gets tired he is REALLY not effective. I don't see how any of the guys on the bench could do any worse, especially at that point.

Godchaux started at the other DT spot and looked good in spots. Despite looking like he still has weight he could put on, he commanded double teams on several plays, and was in the backfield a few times. He also overran some plays and took himself out of some plays, although the fact that he is a true freshman makes that understandable. He looked a bit worn down and played the entire first quarter and into the second.

He was spelled early in the 2nd by Frank "Finally" Herron, who looked like he had some jitters. He is taller than I thought from camp photos and looks a little lean actually imo. He didn't have much of an opportunity to do a whole lot honestly, but certainly didn't do anything that would indicate he isn't ready to at least see snaps on a regular basis.

Bain really was the most impressive guy I saw honestly. Made some solid plays on his second drive in the middle of the 2nd, holding his sand and disrupting AU's line, even against double teams.


It's more and more obvious as well that the DEs are just as ineffective as the DTs. Rasco and Hunter are both pretty solid in run support actually, especially since the DTs so rarely command double teams, but for over a year now, they simply cannot get any sort of consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Auburn isn't a traditional drop back passing team, but both starting ends and Bower are very slow to read and react in play action.

Losing Dwayne Thomas really hurts because he was a guy we could use to get creative pressure, which we really need. We need to find another guy to use in that role, Adams or someone because the ends simply leave our secondary hung out to dry on nearly every passing play.

As for the secondary, it's hard to judge them imo, as the play upfront makes their job very difficult. Adams is a true athlete and will be a great one, and Collins continues to be one of the truly reliable guys on this D.

LBs have been well documented. Beckwith should be starting. I don't think too many people disagree with that at this point. It's hard to say to many positive things about LBs when a D gives up almost 600 yards and over 6 yards a run, but again, the front four really makes their jobs difficult imo. Kwon still appears fast, but you don't see him making a lot of plays because offenses can just attack wherever they want really. Louis has been a non-factor, and I'm really not sure why Debo can't see the field more. He's always been pretty disruptive when he's in the game, but his snaps just keep going down.


In all fairness, MSU and Auburn are just very good offenses, and with a front four that just gets pushed around, those two offenses were always going to make us look really really bad. Hopefully we can make some strides against a much more limited Gator offense this week, then begin a slow incline over the next three weeks at home against Kentucky, then a mainly passing team in Ole Miss, leading to Bama, because as of now the Bama offense would drop another 40 on us easily.

We really need to start mixing up personnel up front if we want to avoid several more embarrassing outings this year.


On offense, I was bashed pretty hard last week for saying that starting Harris was a mistake, and I think it was pretty clear that it was. He simply wasn't ready for that environment, and waving for the crowd to get louder before the first snap was as clear a sign as any that he didn't know what he was getting into.

It was even more frustrating because the offensive line actually looked pretty darn good. Much better than they did against MSU and even Wisconsin imo. Fournette and Williams are really coming along nicely, and Dupre showed his explosive ability with a great adjustment on the long catch.

For all the talk about our predictable play calling and formations, first downs were EXTREMELY effective, and the stat they showed about midway through the 2nd quarter proved it perfectly. At that point, we had 108 total yards, 107 of which came on first down.

107 of 108 yards on first down. Unreal.

LSU was consistently in 2nd and short, but mistake after mistake kept pushing us back, and Harris was a big part of that. The fumbled snap, miscommunication, not knowing the play, rolling out when there was no pressure, and just plain missing wide open receivers with awful throws.

On the last drive of the half, he was 3/10 for 58 yards, 52 of which came the one long pass to Dupre.


I completely agree with everyone on here that Harris has more upside and is the QB of the future, but I think Miles made a clear mistake in crumbling to the pressure from rantards booing Jennings and calling for Harris.

Harris wasn't ready, and there were plays there that could have been made by a QB with a bit more poise.


I still think Jennings should have started out this road trip with Harris coming off the bench, and then turn the ball over to Harris in a home start against Kentucky.

Hopefully Miles will go back to that approach this week at The Swamp to avoid giving away a game that is actually winnable with our D and really is a must win imo.

Oh, and I love Miles as much as anyone, but he clearly didn't know we had a timeout at the end of the half. Making it worst by trying to explain away a clear mistake like that is just really ill advised and gives the bashers ammo.

Oh, and has anyone filed a missing persons report on Desean Smith yet? I think he may still be in Houston after dropping the only ball he's seen in two years.