How Gus Malzahn's Play-Calling Cost Auburn the Game vs. Mississippi State
In a game that featured two teams desperately trying to give the game to each other, it was No. 3 Mississippi State that prevailed over No. 2 Auburn 38-23 in Starkville.
The Bulldogs have Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn to thank.
The Tigers' second-year head coach didn't strike when the iron was hot, got away from his bread and butter in the middle and didn't trust the hot hand when one surfaced early in the first half.
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Where did Malzahn go wrong?
Early Momentum Left on the Table
Auburn turned the ball over on its first two plays of the game, which led to the 21-0 hole it found itself in at the end of the first quarter.
However the Bulldogs set the Tigers up for a fast comeback as they gave the Tigers the ball and good field position four straight times. Surprisingly, the mighty Auburn offense could only notch 13 points off these opportunities.
It could have cashed in much more, if Malzahn had not gone ultraconservative with his play calling.
After Mississippi State punter Logan Cooke threw an interception to Johnathan Ford on an inexplicable fake, Auburn quickly put itself into a 1st-and-goal situation from the 7-yard line, down 21-0.
Four plays to get seven yards isn't too tall of an order, even against Mississippi State's rush defense.
On 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line, you'd figure—down 21—Auburn had two plays to get four yards.
Wrong.
Malzahn called a reverse pass with tight end C.J. Uzomah—who played quarterback in high school—which Mississippi State covered beautifully, forcing Auburn to settle for a 21-yard Daniel Carlson field goal.
Allie Davison of AuburnSports.com questioned the curious reverse pass on third down:
If you run into a situation like that after a huge momentum swing, you handle it with another in mind on fourth down to cut the lead to two touchdowns. At that point in the game, Auburn desperately needed seven, not three.
Later, Jonathan Jones picked off Bulldog quarterback Dak Prescott on the next drive near midfield. After driving down inside the 10-yard line, wide receiver Sammie Coates stepped out of bounds and was called for illegal touching on what would have been a touchdown on 3rd-and-5. The Tigers settled for another chip-shot field goal.
It was a different situation than the previous drive, but with two downs to get five yards, leaning on Auburn's rushing attack is the safest and most responsible course of action.
In that situation, on the road in a hostile environment, Auburn got too cute. It might have cost the Tigers the national title.
Auburn played not to lose early, which is a big reason why it lost late.
Pass-Happy Game Plan
Auburn's entire goal this offseason was to be more balanced, but on Saturday, it seemed forced.
Quarterback Nick Marshall was 17-of-35 for 209 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on the day. More balance? Certainly. The Tigers ran 43 running plays (55.1 percent), which is more balance than last year, when they ran on 71.9 percent of their plays.
Why force it, though?
Marshall is at his best when he's operating the zone read and using tempo to his advantage. Does the absence of tackle Greg Robinson and running back Tre Mason hurt? Sure, but Shon Coleman is more than capable of filling in at left tackle, and Auburn still has a stable of running backs.
In the third quarter on Saturday, Auburn got the ball, down eight, with a ton of momentum. After a completion to D'haquille "Duke" Williams got Auburn near midfield, Marshall threw three straight incompletions before the Tigers punted.
Malzahn defended the decision after the game, according to Brandon Marcello of AL.com:
The next drive, it was more of the same. Marshall threw an incomplete to Quan Bray on first down and got Auburn's offense off-schedule. The Tigers are at their best when they can get into 2nd-and-6-type situations. In the slop, on the road, Malzahn didn't give his team much of a chance to do that.
It seems like Auburn tried to overcorrect this offseason and force a new identity on this offense, rather than letting one develop on its own. It cost them on Saturday.
Do You Smell What the Roc Is Cookin'?
Freshman running back Roc Thomas has essentially been a backup for the first five games of the season, but there he was in Starkville in the biggest game of the college football season getting significant carries on Auburn's fourth drive of the game, rushing three times for 36 yards to get Auburn inside the red zone.
He had three carries over the final three-and-a-half quarters.
Known as more of a mix between bruiser Cameron Artis-Payne and speedster Corey Grant, Thomas showed in the first quarter that he has the moves to make defenders miss in space and keep plays alive when Auburn needed it most.
Where did he go?
Auburn has a pretty good rotation working at running back with Artis-Payne and Grant, but why stay married to it if the freshman shows he can handle more responsibility in a tight spot?
Some of those five-yard gains could have turned into 15-yard chunks, which could have drastically changed the game.
At times on Saturday afternoon, both Auburn and Mississippi State did what they could to hand the game to the other team. Auburn didn't take it, mostly because Malzahn's play-calling was uncharacteristically suspect.
Luckily for Auburn, considering the way this season has gone around the country, it's down but not out.
Barrett Sallee is the Lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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