Auburn Football 2010: Thoughts After Five Games Are Promising

There was very little to be learned from this week's game other than Auburn’s scout team is better than the opposition faced. Auburn only ran 50 offensive plays and averaged 10.1 yards per play.

Coach Malzahn decided to tether Cameron Newton’s feet and make him win with his arm. He responded with three touchdown passes with a 12.9 yard per pass average and one interception.

He completed passes to nine different Auburn receivers; three different receivers had touchdowns. It would certainly seem there is another Heisman candidate on the plains. If a team decides to make Newton beat them with the pass, they will be in a world of hurt.

Interesting Comparisons

Coach Chizik was the defensive coordinator of the undefeated 2004 Auburn team. With the 2009 team now undefeated, many have asked questions of comparison. This section will deal with that on an average per game basis.

Statistic	Auburn 2010	Auburn 2004
Total Offense	475.4 yards per game	420.69 yards per game
Average Per Play	7.25 yards	6.35 yards
Rushing Offense	269 yards per game	183.31 yards per game
Average Per Play	5.8 yards per carry	4.31 yards per carry
Passing Offense	206.4 yards per game	237.38 yards per game
Average Per Attempt	10.75 yards per attempt	10.02 yards per attempt
Pass Efficiency	188.82	173.61
Scoring Offense	36.6 points per game	32.08 points per game
Total Defense	334.6 yards per game	277.62 yards per game
Average Allowed Per Play Defended	4.6 yards allowed per play	4.63 yards allowed per play
Rushing Defense	92.8 yards per game	104.15 yards per game
Average Per Attempt Defended.	2.64 yards allowed per attempt	3.28 yards allowed per attempt
Pass Defense	241.8 yards per game	173.46 yards per game
Average Per Attempt Defended	6.43 yards per attempt	7.06 yards per attempt
Pass Efficiency Defense	122.5	110.88
Scoring Defense	18.8 points per game	11.31 points per game

The 2010 Tigers are allowing 56.98 more yards per game and 7.49 more points per game, but gaining 54.71 yards more and scoring 4.52 more points per game so far.

Observations

Missed tackles and missed assignments in the secondary are improving with each game. The defense is preventing big plays extremely well this year, mostly due to a change in defensive strategy.

Coach Roof has implemented a strategy of taking away the inside run and long impact plays. This has resulted in many improvements this year.

Teams are being forced to earn their yards on the perimeter for both rushing and passing. This has made teams opposing Auburn one dimensional and drastically reduced their yards gained per play.

This defense is allowing 4.6 yards per play against it. The 2009 SEC Champion allowed 4.05 yards per play. The 2008 SEC Champion allowed 4.46 yards per play, and the 2007 SEC Champion allowed 4.42 yards per play.

The offense is gaining 7.25 yards per play. The 2009 SEC Champion gained 5.96 yards per play. The 2008 SEC Champion gained 7.13 yards per play. The 2007 SEC Champion gained 5.84 yards per play.

Auburn faces the toughest passing opponents left on the schedule in the next two weeks. Kentucky is averaging 7.85 yards per attempt and Arkansas is averaging 10.14 yards per attempt. Auburn is allowing 6.43 yards per attempt against them.

These teams will pose the most serious challenge to the Auburn defense of the teams left on the schedule.

Stopping the Auburn Offense

Auburn’s offensive production has been increasing exponentially with each quality opponent played; fans can expect this to continue for some time. This offense has not hit its stride yet.

Auburn fans can expect for the multi-faceted rushing attack to continue until some team is able to stop it. When and if they do, there is certainly a powerful and effective passing attack to back it up.

For the most recent games, the offense has attacked every portion of the field and had success doing so. No defense on the schedule has shown any ability to stop this kind of offensive assault.

Outlook

While no win is assured, every future opponent on the schedule has faced substantial opposition. It is much easier to access their abilities now than it was to begin the season. Auburn has the ability to win every game left on the schedule.

It is unlikely Auburn will be the underdog in any future game this season as long as they continue to win. While there is always the chance that some team will improve, Auburn is and should continue to improve as well.