Auburn Tigers Football: 5 Changes Needed Before Week 4

Auburn played one of the worst defensive games in recent program history with their abysmal performance this past Saturday at Clemson. The Auburn offense had a moderately better performance, but there was nothing special about their showing either. Changes have to be made immediately if the Tigers plan on winning more games than they lose in 2011.

How the Tigers made such seemingly huge steps backwards in a week is still a question that goes unanswered. The Utah State game showed some holes that needed to be filled and adjustments that needed to happen but the Tigers looked fixable.

Against Mississippi State, Auburn looked like they had corrected most of the major issues but still had struggles defensively against the run. There was marked improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, but Week 3 brought a storm of change and a flood of reality.

Auburn walked into Clemson with a sure fire swagger that led to a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter. The Tigers were effective offensively and appeared that they may have become aggressive and focused on defense.

Somewhere midway through the first half, the Auburn Tigers lost the edge. Clemson found a spark, and the Tigers from the Carolinas started to punish Auburn with their own fast attack offense. Once Clemson took the momentum, they never let go.

The loss to Clemson brought numerous concerns and relit fires that were expected to have been put out. Auburn looked lost on defense and ineffective, the special teams looked less than special and the offense couldn’t convert crucial downs and lacked consistency.

Pushing through the wealth of concerns to find a fixable focus, there are five key areas that could help the Tigers immediately. Fortunately, the Tigers are facing one of the worst offenses in the country this week, but don’t expect the Owls to look bad. They may not look like conference contenders at finish but the Tigers should be able to find a win.

Defensive Identity

Auburn has struggled on the defensive side of the ball since the arrival of Gene Chizik. Mean Gene was a nationally recognized defensive coordinator in his career prior to taking the head coaching reins at Iowa State. Defensive coordinator Ted Roof was known as a defensive genius after his stints with Georgia Tech, Duke and Minnesota. Put two great defensive minds together, and you should get award winning defense. Instead, Auburn has looked its worst defensively in recent history.

There is a glaringly obvious issue, but the question is, how? How can two excellent defensive minds create such terrible results?

There are a lot of theories that go into why the Tigers are not stopping opposing offenses, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter why they aren’t but how they are going to get the issues fixed. These coaches aren’t bad; they have won a national title, but they haven’t found a way to get these guys to make plays just yet.

The defense has struggled mightily against the run, and the Tigers also appear to have a lack of defensive leadership. There have been some corrections on the field, but for the most part, the Tigers are playing almost independently.

The Tigers have to find an identity on defense. Last season, it was that the Tigers played tough. They would give up yards in the air, but at the end of the day, you knew you played Auburn in 2010, and they killed against the run. For this year’s set of Tigers to succeed, they have to find themselves quickly.

Tackling with Purpose

The Auburn Tigers looked absolutely terrible in the second half of the game this past Saturday. The defense looked to be sluggish and lacked aggression at the point of contact. There were times that defensive veterans were making true freshmen at Clemson look like Heisman candidates.

Auburn has seemingly lost its ability to tackle this season. There is no apparent reason for the clear drop off in tackling form but this year has been a how to on how not to attempt tackles. Everything has been bad from form to pursuit angles.

The fundamentals of tackling are pretty basic and simple instructions. Find the target and track to the ball. Keep your eyes up and plant your facemask in the chest of the ball carrier. Drive your feet and thrust your hips through the ball carrier until they are on the ground.

Simple strikes and easy tackles are being missed by these guys. There is no rhyme or reason for the severe lack of tackling discipline, but the Tigers coaches and players must find a fix to the fundos quickly.

If they don’t find an answer before the trip to South Carolina, Marcus Lattimore may run for 250.

More touches for Dyer

Michael Dyer was an unstoppable weapon against the Clemson Tigers on Saturday. Dyer averaged 9.2 yards a carry and scored twice in another huge day for the sophomore running back. The question that came after the box score finished was, why did Dyer only carry the ball 16 times?

There were numerous occasions that Dyer was nowhere to be found on the field and Onterio McCalebb was carrying the ball between the tackles. McCalebb is a great runner with a ton of speed, but he is only 175 pounds, far from your ideal inside runner.

Dyer was extremely effective on the Tiger sweep play that takes him to the right on a zone read. It was so effective that it seemed insane not to run the same play over and over until Clemson could find an answer.

Dyer is a workhorse and has deceptive speed and quickness. If the plan is to have consistency in the running game, the Tigers need to feed the ball to their workhorse 20 plus times in the future.

Focused Quarterback Play

Barrett Trotter has done a manageable job on most every occasion in the past two weeks. He was able to execute game plans and even orchestrate a comeback in the first week against Utah State. The second chance he had to make an amazing impact late, he threw an interception in the red zone.

For the second week in a row, Trotter has thrown an interception that was so obvious that a second string defender could have made it off the sideline and scored the pick. Trotter missed numerous plays to the middle of the field in an attempt to force a deep route at times.

There were some points where man coverage was played and the Tigers had a great route called, but Trotter simply missed the throw. Trotter is in only his fourth start this coming Saturday, so there is something to say for his lack of experience, but down the stretch, his focus has to improve.

Trotter needs improve his focus and not telegraph his throws in the future. The defenses are only going to get stronger and faster as the weeks progress.

Never Ending Effort

The Tigers were not only out of position on numerous plays defensively but they also appeared to lack effort. One of the most important factors with a young team is keeping the momentum. Auburn had the momentum throughout the first quarter, but then lost it shortly into the second.

Auburn started to lose ground on the scoreboard and eventually fell behind. With the loss of momentum and the loss of a lead, the young Tigers looked to lack effort. There were times that tackles should have been made, but the Tigers simply got outplayed.

When a senior strikes a true freshman and the freshman wins, there are some apparent issues that need to be corrected. Sure, Auburn played hard and went to the end and all of that feel good stuff, but at the end of the day, they lacked a violent and tenacious effort that wins football games.

Coach Chizik is a very passionate guy; there isn’t a doubt that the intensity level has increased this week. Keeping the focus is a must, and this young Tigers team has to learn to weather these storms and keep on pushing.

At the end of the day, the Tigers have a wealth of talent on the team. Execution is a must, however, and no matter how talented you are, if you don’t execute, you lose the game. Auburn is a good team, but they played really bad this past week. Returning to the drawing board and reiterating the vision is a must this week. Look for the Tigers to respond and to be successful if these five changes are made.