Samford vs. Auburn: Game Grades and Analysis for the Tigers

After a two-game losing streak, the Auburn Tigers looked to get back on track against the Samford Bulldogs at Jordan-Hare Stadium. They really didn’t get back on track, but the Tigers did win 31-7. Here’s a look at the final box score thanks to NCAA.com.

Auburn trailed 7-0 early in the second quarter. But the Tigers did go on a 31-0 run to win their eighth game of the year.

As good as the Tigers looked in the second half, they still have a lot of things they need to work on before they face off against Alabama in the season finale because they are not the same team that was blowing out LSU and defeating Kansas State on the road.

Here are game grades and analysis for the Tigers in their win against Samford.

Positional Unit	First-Half Grade	Final Grade
Passing Offense	D	B
Running Offense	C	B+
Passing Defense	B	B
Running Defense	A	A
Special Teams	B-	B-
Coaching	D	C+

PASSING OFFENSE

Nick Marshall picked things up in the second half when it came to the passing game, but he did not look as comfortable in the pocket as he had in previous games.

Marshall is still raw at the position, so he’s not the most accurate passer in the league, and he does not have the best pocket presence either. The one thing he needs to work on is getting the ball out faster because Samford was able to apply pressure on him constantly due to him not making quick decisions.

RUNNING OFFENSE

It was a productive day for the ground game as the Tigers rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns. Cameron Artis-Payne was big for the Tigers with 129 yards and one touchdown, while Quan Bray had 52 yards and a score.

The Tigers have had better rushing days, but they wanted to throw the ball more in this game because of the defense the Bulldogs were running. Had they made more of an effort to get the run game going in the first quarter, the score probably would have been 51-7.

PASSING DEFENSE

The Tigers defense did not apply too much pressure on Samford quarterback Michael Eubank, but it did force him to make constant mistakes in the ballgame. Kris Frost and Jonathan Mincy were all over Eubank as each player notched an interception.

Eubank did have some good throws, but due to the coverage of the Tigers secondary, he was not as accurate as he would like to have been.  Also, credit goes out to Auburn defensive tackle Montravius Adams for getting some good pressure on Eubank in the second half.

RUNNING DEFENSE

But Adams was also great in run defense as he had four tackles in the win. In fact, the Tigers only allowed 98 rushing yards on 36 carries and zero touchdowns. This was a game the Tigers needed to prove they can stop the run. They did not do it against Georgia, and they will have a hard time doing it against Alabama. But a game like this will help the Tigers learn from what they are able to work on moving forward.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Special teams have been a problem for the Tigers this season, but they were OK against Samford. The one thing that needs to be said, though, is Bray needs to be more careful returning kicks. He is very talented, but he makes too many mistakes and almost made one against Samford. Other than that, the special teams did a good job as Daniel Carlson made his lone field goal, and he also averaged 44 yards per punt.

COACHING

This game was a challenging one for Gus Malzahn because the Tigers just came off a tough loss to Georgia, and they have Alabama next week. So his team was going through the motions to start the game. But Malzahn and his coaching staff made the adjustments and got things going in the second quarter.

Still, the coaches should have made sure the players were on top of their game from start to finish, and they did not do it, at least in the first quarter. They will need to be ready next week because Alabama has not forgotten what happened last year.