Auburn's Lack of Pass Rush Could Doom the Tigers' Playoff Hopes

AUBURN, Ala. — Before "The Kick Six" and "A Miracle at Jordan-Hare" sealed two incredible home SEC wins for Auburn last season, there was "The Skip."

On Auburn's final defensive play in a 30-22 victory against Ole Miss, freshman defensive end Carl Lawson fought through the offensive line and sacked Rebel quarterback Bo Wallace.

To celebrate his second sack of the game, Lawson bounced off the ground and promptly skipped to the sidelines, becoming an Internet sensation for a couple of days:

Auburn's defense, led by Lawson and senior defensive end Dee Ford, sacked Wallace six times last season to record one of the program's best single-game performances in that area.

A lot has changed for Auburn since Lawson skipped off the field in the win against Ole Miss last year—and not a lot of it has been positive for the Tigers' pass rush.

With Ford now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL and Lawson presumably out for the entire 2014 season with a knee injury, Auburn's pass-rushing numbers have taken a considerable hit.

Through the first seven games of 2014, the Tigers are well off the pace set last year by the likes of Ford, Lawson and the rest of the defensive linemen—several of whom are still playing this season: 

Year	Games	Sacks	Sack Yards	QB Hurries
2014	7	12	74	53
2013	14	32	223	109

The lack of a solid pass rush was a concern for Auburn's coaching staff in the offseason after Lawson's injury, and the tune has not changed seven games into the 2014 campaign.

"We definitely need to improve in that," head coach Gus Malzahn said earlier this week. "Our coaches are still working on that. At times this year, we’ve had a good pass rush and other times we haven’t. That’s going to be a big factor with these next five games."

Without a true star off the edge in pass-rushing situations, defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson has relied on blitzes in his 4-2-5 system to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

In some games, the gambles have worked, and Auburn's defense has been able to improve statistically in many areas while getting to the quarterback.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

But the reliance on blitzes turned on Johnson and the Tigers last weekend against South Carolina, when the Gamecocks gained a large amount of yardage on passes down the middle of the field and to their running backs.

This caused Auburn to move toward just a four-man rush with its line, and South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson thrived with little pressure. Auburn's defense only hit Thompson once the entire game.

"Guys still ain't getting there," Johnson said. "We did not play well in a lot of areas, but if you can get the ball out of the guy's hand or get him on the ground a few times and get him tired, it would sure help."

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Of Auburn's 12 sacks this season, a little more than half of them have come from the defensive linemen. Junior college transfer DaVonte Lambert leads the team with 3.5 sacks, but his production has trailed off from a hot start to the season.

"We need to go back to practice and start working on pass-rushing moves and line blocks," sophomore defensive tackle Montravius Adams said after the win against South Carolina. "We have to get to the quarterback."

The defensive line's inability to get to the quarterback was part of Auburn's downfall against Mississippi State, when Bulldog quarterback and Heisman hopeful Dak Prescott found a lot of time to throw the ball against a scrambling Tiger secondary.

"The one thing that continues to be an issue right now is we're not getting any pressure on the quarterback with four people," Johnson said after the loss. "It looks like pass skeleton back there, frankly. Until we started bringing some people and getting in his face, [Prescott] was making good throws."

Todd J. Van Emst/Associated Press

If Auburn is going to stay alive in the race for the SEC championship and the College Football Playoff, the defense will need to find a way to get more pressure on the quarterback—and that starts this Saturday against Ole Miss.

Even with all of his problems under pressure, Wallace has done a remarkable job for most of this season at getting the ball out of his hand quickly and carving up defenses:

Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
151	242	62.4	2075	18	7

"[Ole Miss'] timing on [pass plays] is just unbelievable," Johnson said. "I don't mean to say pass rush is not important, it always is. But it won't be the same type of game in that you have a guy dropping back in the pocket, throwing the ball downfield on combination routes, and you've got to generate some pass rush on the quarterback."

Auburn has tried out several new faces off the edge during practice and in certain game sets, from an undersized, yet effective veteran in Brandon King to a speedy and lengthy true freshman in Raashed Kennion.

But with just five games left in the regular season, Auburn's coaches know they won't magically find the pass-rusher it has been looking for since Lawson underwent surgery.

Production, Johnson said, needs to improve from the current cast, or else this year's game against the Rebels "will be completely different."

"Guys have to step up," Johnson said. "We don't have a waiver wire, and we can't trade any of them. But we've got to get some guys to put in some production on the field."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.