What Auburn Must Do to Stop Georgia's Strong Rushing Attack
AUBURN, Ala. — To Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, Todd Gurley is a time bomb.
And for the last several weeks, due to an NCAA-mandated suspension, the superstar Georgia running back has been steadily ticking off the field, waiting for his chance to explode again.
"When is he going to get that 95-yard kickoff?" Johnson said. "When is he going to hit that 40-yard run? When is he going to catch that 35-yard screen pass?"
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Following three straight weekends of lackluster defensive play, Johnson and his staff now turn their attention to containing Gurley and limiting the running game's devastation.
Georgia currently has the second-best rushing attack in the SEC, behind Auburn—and the Bulldogs have the advantage in yards per carry:
| Georgia | 2,307 (2nd) | 6.17 (1st) | 28 (1st) |
| Auburn | 2,578 (1st) | 5.93 (2nd) | 25 (3rd) |
To make matters even tougher for the veteran coach, Gurley is not alone. While the former Heisman contender was held off the field, freshman running back Nick Chubb ran for 140 or more yards in four consecutive games.
"First of all, they’ve got freshman running backs that are extremely talented, and you can definitely see that they’ve been effective," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "They have a lot of good experience this year. Of course when you add (Todd) Gurley in, he’s one of the better individual players at any position."
Here are three main areas of emphasis for the Auburn defense as it faces Gurley, Chubb and an explosive Georgia offense focused on revenge from last season's unbelievable outcome in this long rivalry:
Drastically Improve Tackling
Missed tackles have been an issue on the Plains for the last several seasons, and they have crept back after what had been a strong start to the 2014 season for the Auburn defense.
The epidemic reached a critical point in the Tigers' 41-38 upset loss to Texas A&M last weekend, a game in which the Aggies were able to turn short plays into monster gains thanks to all of Auburn's whiffs.
"I think we had 11 [missed tackles] after contact that added up to 114 yards, something of that nature, and that’s a lot of yardage," Johnson said. "Of course, you’re going to miss some on great players. But if you eliminate half of that, it will get you off the field quicker, get your offense the ball quicker, helps field position and everything."
After giving up so many yards on missed tackles to what had been a struggling Texas A&M offense, one of the nation's most explosive players is up next.
"You have got to be exactly right on him every time because he's either going to break the physical tackle, or he’s going to out run the space tackle," Johnson said. "He’s a specimen."
According to Auburn's defenders, tackling will be far and away the most important aspect of Auburn's defensive performance against Georgia.
"It's going to be key," senior cornerback Jonathon Mincy said. "That's going to be the main thing we have to come to the game ready to do. We just have to swarm on him. One person gets there, the rest of the team's got to fly around."
Cut Down on Blown Assignments
During Auburn's current slide in defensive production, players and coaches have repeatedly said their opponents' explosive plays are coming off of blown assignments.
While a lot of these miscues have come on passing plays, teams have also been able to move the ball more effectively in the running game. Texas A&M, for instance, averaged five yards per carry against Auburn.
Johnson claims the Tigers aren't making as many of these mistakes nine games into the season as they did at the beginning, but these later misses are being magnified in the box score.
"That’s the thing that’s been so frustrating," Johnson said. "The missed assignments have come down, but they always seem to be real glaring—turn a man loose in man coverage, hit a blitz and hit the wrong gap, trip up another guy, don’t get the pressure on a guy."
Gurley and Chubb are two types of players that will feast on bad assignment play by taking a small hole and turning it into a large one.
In a hostile road environment, communication and execution will be crucial for the Auburn defense.
"You kind of break it down to discipline," Mincy said. "Everybody's got to lock down on their keys. If you have man, play your man. The guys that have to be in the run fit, be in the run fit and just do your assignment."
Get off to a Good Start
After an abysmal start against Texas A&M, Auburn's defense held the Aggies to just two field goals in the second half of last Saturday's contest.
The game continued what has been an alarming trend for the Tigers, who excel at making halftime adjustments but constantly come out flat defensively.
| First | 715 | 1,281 | 7 | 12 |
| Second | 450 | 1,031 | 5 | 3 |
"Not getting off to a good start has been the thing that we’ve got to fix," Malzahn said. "Once we get into the game, especially in the second half, our guys are playing better. They’re settling down, but we’ve got to get off to a better start defensively earlier in the game."
With the way Georgia's Gurley-less offense has played recently, the Tigers must avoid falling into a big hole or letting the Bulldogs string together big plays.
For Johnson, that means eliminating the early mistakes that good offenses turn into points.
"They’re trying hard, they’re practicing hard," Johnson said. "We’re just making some mistakes sometimes that are uncharacteristic. We need to find an answer to that. We need to coach better, play a little harder, coach smarter, something. We’ve got to eliminate those six or eight plays a game where we just don’t make them earn it."
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.
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