Auburn Football: Grading the Tigers Week 4 Performance Against FAU

Auburn marched to their third win of season this past Saturday with a win of Florida Atlantic. It was a game that did little to squelch concerns that have carried over for the past four weeks but the Tigers did earn the win.

Auburn started the game by allowing the Florida Atlantic Owls to score three points within the first five minutes of the game. The Owls had scored three total points in two games before this weekend.

The Auburn offense was held to a less than impressive offensive total of 315 yards and allowed the Owls to own almost 10 more minutes of clock throughout the game. Auburn has got to get better in every facet of the game or the coming weeks will be much worse on the Tigers than anyone expected.

Taking one final look back at this past Saturday, here are the grades for the Tigers at every position. 

Quarterback: D

Barrett Trotter entered the season surprising many with his comeback performance against Utah State. He then followed up with a solid showing against Mississippi State and helped guide Auburn’s offense to a win there as well.

Against Clemson, Trotter took large strides backwards and he reached stagnation this week against Florida Atlantic.

Trotter started the game by telegraphing his first throw, again, and pitched the ball to the Owls on the first offensive play from scrimmage. Trotter continued to struggle in the game and finished with 16 completions after 28 attempts. That is terrible. Trotter completed less than 60 percent of his passes against one of the worst passing defenses in the country.

Trotter seemed to hold onto the ball for extended periods of time as well at points during the game. He had time, he just wouldn’t put the ball in the air. For Trotter to lead Auburn to victories against good teams down the road, he has to come loose and let go of the football.

Keihl Frazier also saw some time against FAU. He received the most snaps so far of his young career and also managed a pass. On the ground, he carried three times for 30 yards averaging 10 yards a carry.

Running Backs: C

Auburn was able to tally a measly 137 rushing yards against FAU Saturday. That total is laughable considering the wealth of talent that fills the backfield. Michael Dyer received the majority of the carries totaling 14 carries, but only managed 68 yards on the ground.

McCalebb had a modest four carries from the backfield but made a huge catch for a touchdown out of the backfield. Outside of that one big strike play, the Tigers were very limited in their success from the backfield Saturday.

Auburn attempted versions of the Wildcat with little to no success with Quan Bray, but Bray finished the game with negative six rushing yards in the box score. Tre Mason received one carry and didn’t do much to shake up the game.

Auburn has to get better out of the backfield and the Tigers need to feed Michael Dyer. The biggest issue for the fourth week in a row appears to be the lack of touches for the most effective back.

Some carries this week may have been avoided because of the opponent, but Auburn has to lean on Dyer in the future if they want the rushing attack to be effective. Averaging 15.5 carries a game with Dyer will not cut it if the Tigers want to establish the run.

Receivers: C

The receivers have been one of the consistent bright spots for the Tigers so far this season until this week. Emory Blake made play after play ending with five catches and 78 yards, but that was about the limit for the Tigers through the air.

Trovon Reed got some catches on screen plays and there was some good perimeter blocking but there were numerous dropped passes as well. The Tigers also either had a ridiculous inability to shed the FAU defensive secondary or they were missing their cues down field. Something appeared to be keeping Trotter from releasing the football.

Auburn has some very talented skill players on the outside but the terrible inconsistencies are what are hurting the production. Inconsistent downfield blocking has hurt the running game and the screen plays. The Tigers have also struggled with separation in the secondary.

Things need to change before the Tigers hit the heart of conference play this coming weekend.

Offensive Line: C

The Tigers are starting to come together as a unit up front, but there are still times where there is more pressure on the passer than Tigers fans would like. There are also busts in run blocking from time to time.

The offensive line was supposed to be the largest Achilles heel for the Tigers this fall but they have performed better than expectations. There were some penalties as well for pre-snap movement, all of which came from two of the three senior starters. Veterans can’t make those mistakes.

Auburn held the pocket for three seconds or longer at times and did make some good rushing lanes but at the end of the day could use another week of improvement. After four weeks however, the last concern for the Tigers offensively appears to be the offensive line.

Defensive Line: C

This is the highest grade the defensive line has received so far this season. Don’t look for it to mean that there was an epic leap in improvement but there was some much better play. Auburn appeared to get to the quarterback more often than in weeks past and the line managed decent penetration throughout the game.

The defensive ends kept outside containment much better this week and some of the ends even made some big plays for a change. Ladarius Owens was a player that showed a lot of tenacity from the end position and had a lot of fire when he reached the ball carrier.

There is still a ton of work that has to go in before next week as the Tigers face one of the best backs in the country in Marcus Lattimore.

Linebackers: C

Auburn has struggled mightily at the linebacker position this season. This week there was some growth but the opponent was less than stellar. Daren Bates has been a questionable player this season but had a much better performance against FAU.

Jake Holland made some plays from the center of the field and even managed to get a very strong lick on the ball carrier early in the first half. Jawara White earned the first start of his young career and looked every bit the part of a dangerous pursuit backer.

Auburn was able to strike with their heads up this game and actually drove through the ball carrier. That basic principle was a big leap forward in the world of tackle football for these Tigers. Auburn has to find continued consistency at the backer position and the expectation would be that the younger Tigers will continue to see time as the season progresses.

Defensive Secondary: B

The defensive secondary played better than they have all season against Florida Atlantic. Granted, the opposition was not the most efficient in the country but the Tigers were able to make some plays and finished with three interceptions.

Two true freshmen really stood out in this weeks contest as Jermaine Whitehead took one interception to the end zone and Robenson Therezie looked like the best player on the field making five consecutive plays at one point.

Neiko Thorpe continued to tally tackles and didn’t give up any major plays. Auburn also covered screens much better against the Owls, seeing the play and shucking tackles faster than they have all season. Auburn has a bright future in the secondary.

I would expect more playing time from the fearless freshmen as Therezie, Whitehead and Erique Florence have looked better than most in the secondary.

Special Teams: C

The special teams struggled at times against FAU this past week. There wasn’t a lot of opportunity for kickoff return team to make a splash as the Owls sent mortar kicks downfield to avoid a return. The punt return team looked lost at times with an inability to hold blocks.

The one bright spot was that the Tigers did cover kicks pretty well, but there was a few times that FAU had better field position than they should have because of missed tackles.

The special teams has room to improve entering the gauntlet that will be October but the gap from better to best is minimal. This is one of the few areas on the Tigers team that has depth and experience. I would expect big plays again in the future.

Coaching: C

There are still some issues on the coaching front for Auburn after this week. Some of the play-calling offensively was sketchy at best, like a 4th-and-2 pass call, but overall it had improved from the Clemson week.

Auburn looked sounder with their tackling and looked to be in place on their pursuit angles which was a good change for the Tigers over weeks past. Look for the adjustments to continue this coming week as the Tigers take on a much better team in South Carolina and will need to improve in every facet this week.

The defense seemed to have a better plan this week even though they gave up some yards to the worst offense in college football. It will be interesting to watch if the Tigers will be able to show marked improvement week after week as the competition continues to get more difficult.