Auburn Football: 5 Things the Tigers Learned from Last Year

The Auburn Tigers head into the 2012 season with more than a few lessons learned carrying over from last season. The Tigers entered 2011 with the youngest roster in college football, but along the way that youth battled through adversity and learned how to win.

As spring approaches, the Auburn coaches and players have to apply the lessons from last season to this year’s team if they want to produce more than mediocre results.

Auburn battled a quarterback fiasco, offensive issues and a host of problems on defense that must be resolve before the season kicks off in Atlanta against a very talented Clemson team. Moving into spring, these are the five things that the Tigers learned from the 2011 season.

A Quarterback Controversy Must Be Avoided

Auburn cannot afford issues this season with quarterback play. Last year saw inconsistency and injury lead to multiple looks from the Tigers under center. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for the better.

Auburn will enter spring training with three scholarship quarterbacks on roster, two of which saw time last season. Clint Moseley is the labeled returning starter, but Kiehl Frazier was the only quarterback of the three that took snaps last season that played in every game for Auburn.

Moseley fell to injury against Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, forcing former starter Barrett Trotter into action. The problem there goes beyond injury, as Trotter looked like a world burner compared to the performance given by Moseley prior to the injury in the game and weeks prior.

Frazier hasn’t necessarily been a stellar option for the Tigers with a 41.7 percent completion rate in his rookie season. He did manage to add 327 yards on the ground, adding to the options that he brings to the table for the Tigers offense.

For Auburn, this will not be an easy transition. Not only are the Tigers learning a new scheme and coordinator, but they also must find a starting quarterback from options that haven’t lived up to the billing just yet.

Finding a starter by the end of spring is a must for the Tigers. At this point, Frazier gets my nod as his athleticism trumps anything that Moseley currently offers. Zeke Pike, the third scholarship quarterback, is not likely to compete to heavily as he will have the biggest learning curve of the group.

The Offense Needs Multiple Looks

Auburn ran into a number of issues last season offensively. The offensive line could not stay healthy or find continuity, the quarterback performance was a tossup and the receiving corps struggled to not only find open space, but also to hold onto the football.

With the line issues and quarterback problems that plagued Auburn, it appeared that the playbook had been watered down by seasons end. Auburn appeared to lack options, and it led to five nasty losses for the Tigers.

When offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler was added to the Tigers staff, an immediate change to the offensive philosophy occurred. Loeffler has been a part of numerous styles of offense in his coaching tenure, which has led him to use a multiple look throughout a game.

This will benefit Auburn greatly for a number of reasons, most importantly putting the best athlete in position to make a play. Even though the Gus Malzahn offense was supposed to fit playmakers into the scheme, it showed its huge gaps last season, as the Tigers were seemingly unable to make plays.

Auburn will hope to find space with multiple formations adding confusion for opposing defenses with the Loeffler offense. Using the I-formation at the goal line will also be a welcomed change for the Auburn faithful this fall. 

Third-Down Defense Has to Be a Focus

Last season, the Auburn third down defense was absolutely abysmal. The Tigers battled consistency throughout the season, unable to stop opposing offenses once they hit the third-down mark.

Auburn finished the season with a 48.39 percent third down conversion on defense. Allowing the opposing offense to convert nearly 50 percent of the time does not breed good defense.

Auburn seemed to be able to stop opposing offenses consistently last season for the first two downs, but for some reason always appeared to come up short on third down. Allowing the opponent to convert 50 percent of the time on third down deflates a defense, and it showed a year ago.

The Tigers must find a way to stop opposing offenses on third down. The majority of the issues with last season’s defense was the inability for the Tigers to make it off of the field. If Auburn wants to make it back to championship level, they have to improve the quality of defense this season.

Aggressive Defense Has to Return

Auburn has lacked an aggressive defense since the arrival of Gene Chizik, surprising every fan that witnessed his tenure as Auburn's defensive coordinator. Chizik brought Ted Roof with him to Auburn, hoping to build a formidable defense, but Roof could not muster a defense that met expectations in his three seasons on the plains.

Gene Chizik recently hired Brian VanGorder from the Atlanta Falcons, bringing an experienced and aggressive coordinator back to Auburn. In the bowl game against Virginia, the Tigers defense appeared to have a new swagger. They played hard and fast, giving Virginia more than they could handle for four quarters.

Auburn will look to springboard off of that success into the coming season with the help of VanGorder. One thing is certain, the addition of VanGorder to the staff will bring passion and aggression back to the Tigers defense. It will be a much needed and welcomed change.

Uniform Changes Aren’t Welcomed Everywhere

The Auburn Tigers opened last season with a tough game against Utah State that saw the Tigers require an onside kick to earn the win. Despite the tough game that the Tigers faced against Utah State, the chatter surrounding the first game was the uniform changes.

Auburn went into the season with a few tweaks to the uniform, but nothing major or even comparable to the likes of Oregon.

The Tigers had smaller lettering for their names, added “War Eagle” to the back of the pants and changed the leg stripe to come to a point on the side of the leg, all minor tweaks that took major criticism.

Auburn's fan base does not easily adaptable to change, as the changes were destroyed by the fans. Auburn has not announced any new changes to the uniform for the coming season, so the assumption is that they will stay the same this year.

One thing is certain, the only changes that would need to happen to the uniform is a revert back to the 2010 style. If Under Armour wants to sell more merchandise, go back to the solid stripe and big lettered name ways.