Auburn Football: Grading the Tigers' Performance Against No. 1 LSU

Auburn walked into Death Valley on Saturday as a 21-point underdog to the No. 1 LSU Tigers. Before the first snap, most expected Auburn to walk away with a loss, but the 21-point line seemed to be a bit lofty of a goal for the Bayou Bengals to achieve. Goal accomplished.

There were numerous breakdowns across the board for Auburn, but there was absolute playmaking by LSU at times as well. The front four for LSU made the Auburn offensive line look like high school players for the majority of the game.

The Auburn defense played decently well in the game, but they allowed the LSU Tigers to rush for 174 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. They gave up 219 yards through the air and three touchdowns from two quarterbacks. The Tigers have to stop big plays in the future.

Overall, the Tigers were blasted on both sides of the ball and looked overmatched on the offense often. LSU showed its strength by playing extremely dominating defense. Looking back at the loss, here are the grades for the Tigers by position in their loss against LSU.

Quarterback: B

This was the toughest grade to determine after this week of all the positions. Clint Moseley was facing his first start as a Tigers quarterback and had the task of doing it on the road. On the road to LSU, what an extremely tall task for a sophomore with nine total passes is his career.

Moseley was constantly blasted by rushing LSU Tigers from all directions. LSU brought linebackers and defensive backs consistently on blitz packages, and the defensive line for the Tigers destroyed Auburn up front. It is a difficult game to judge a quarterback’s performance because the offensive line was so porous.

What was noticed was Moseley maintaining composure in a terrible situation and still managing to complete 60 percent of his passes and gain 145 yards through the air. Moseley also showed an ability to move around in the pocket and create plays, which is a new look for the 2011 season.

Kiehl Frazier also played for the Tigers in the Wildcat role, gaining 31 yards rushing and 16 passing. Frazier’s appearances when the game mattered were virtually a wasted play and terribly ineffective against LSU.

Running Back: C

Is it the chicken or the egg that came first? Remind me again please, because whether it was the terrible blocking up front or the inability to break free from tackles, the rushing attack was virtually non-existent. Not to say that Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb didn’t run hard, but there was nowhere to go, and LSU wasn’t letting go once they made contact.

McCalebb carried the ball only three times and managed 32 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while Dyer added 12 carries and 60 yards to the total. Auburn finished with only 87 yards in the rushing column, however, as Clint Moseley was sacked six times and finished with minus-44 yards on the game.

The Tigers were limited in their carries against LSU, as the Tigers jumped to an early lead forcing the Tigers to play catch up. The running backs still missed some key blocks in the passing game and struggled to make it to the second level at times on Saturday. 

Receivers: B

All things considered, the Tigers receiving corps actually had a decent day against the LSU secondary. Auburn had six different receivers with multiple catches. The Tigers showed the ability to find open space often when Moseley had to escape the pocket.

The Tigers also found ways to get behind the LSU secondary, but Moseley rarely had the time to attempt a downfield throw. The Tigers had a rough day offensively, but the receivers appeared to be one of the few bright spots.

On the few screen passes that were attempted, the Tigers receivers were able to make it up field after the catch and divert some of the pressure from the center of the box early in the contest. Auburn has missed Emory Blake in the past two games, but against LSU, he wouldn’t have likely made a sizeable difference in the outcome. 

Offensive Line: F

The offensive line played against the best defensive front in the country this past Saturday. They looked like they were the worst offensive line in the country in the contest. There was nothing good about the offensive line play in Baton Rouge.

The Tigers gave up six sacks in the game and constantly allowed pressure on Clint Moseley in what was one of the worst pass protection attempts that Auburn has had in a long time. The Tigers offensive line didn’t appear this bad even during the transition year of 2009.

The Tigers did lose a bit of senior leadership when Jared Cooper fell to injury last week, but losing one player is no excuse for a total breakdown on the line that was witnessed on Saturday. The Tigers line had been a surprisingly effective group so far this season, but against the aggressive attack that the Bayou Bengals brought, the Auburn Tigers looked like cubs.

Defensive Line: D

The defensive line for the Auburn has made major strides throughout the season and has become a decent squad up front. They played pretty well against LSU, getting a steady pass rush and holding up at times when they were needed.

The Tigers did still allow 174 yards rushing and were called for a host of penalties throughout the game. The defensive front was flagged twice for face-masking in the backfield on plays that would have stalled LSU scoring drives.

Auburn showed their youth upfront with stupid mistakes that led to extra yardage that shouldn’t have been given away. The Tigers also allowed themselves to be pushed around late and failed to execute against simple dive calls.

Typically, the excuse would be time of possession, but the two Tigers teams finished within 50 seconds of each other in ball ownership. Stupid mistakes upfront hurt the Tigers, and the youthful mistakes must diminish if success is to be had to close out the season.

Linebackers: B

The linebackers for Auburn actually played a complete and good game against the LSU Tigers. They filled gaps well and wrapped up on their tackles, not allowing LSU to earn a ton of additional yardage after contact.

For a squad that struggled to make plays early in the season, performing as well as they did against the No. 1 team in the country was a positive sign. The Tigers were able to bring pressure to the quarterback from the linebacker position and were successful by slowing down the short passing game of LSU.

The effort and execution from the linebacker position has been improving and reached the next step to success this past Saturday. In no way is this wholesale endorsement that the Tigers' mid-level of defense has arrived, but it is impossible to deny the Tigers have improved drastically in their tackling and execution. The Tigers played one of their better games of the season in Baton Rouge.

Secondary: D

The Tigers secondary allowed three touchdowns through the air this past Saturday against LSU. Two of the touchdowns came courtesy of Reuben Randle, as he blew past the Tigers on a fly route and hauled in a touchdown catch from each quarterback.

The secondary also faced some penalties with a crucial pass interference call on Chris Davis on a third down that would have ended with a fourth down and assumed punt, but instead led to a Tigers first down and eventual touchdown.

Auburn covered decently well throughout the game, but on the few challenges that were received, they failed to win time and again. Auburn has seen a youth movement in the secondary this year with numerous freshmen and sophomores getting playing time, but no matter their class, these players have to step up and execute more consistently in the future.

The Tigers did play themselves into position for a few turnovers, but were unable to make the plays. It is a difficult task to be successful when the ball hits you in the hands and you drop it, no matter the position. 

Special Teams: D

Steven Clark returned to his 2010 form with some serious struggles in the punting game this week. Clark only managed to average 35.1 yards a punt against LSU. He was terribly inconsistent and had some issues getting the ball down field on his sky high punts.

Cody Parkey played well, making his one field goal attempt and clearing his extra point attempt. He also managed a touchback on one of his kickoffs.

The coverage units played decently well against LSU, but the return teams had some serious issues. The kickoff return team especially showed some holes. The Tigers return men got absolutely walloped on a few of the returns, surprising the masses when they hopped up off the turf under their own power.

LSU looked as if they had a straight, unchallenged line to the return man. The Tigers have to get better in the punting game next week and have to form up better on kickoff return if they plan on keeping their returners alive for the remainder of the season.

Coaching: C

This was the second toughest grade to give behind the quarterback decision after this game. The Tigers coaching staff appeared to run a vanilla offense that did not set up the Tigers for consistent success. Of course, when the Tigers attempted to run a traditional pass, Moseley was swallowed by the LSU defensive line.

The defense did play decently well, and the game plan appeared to be effective as well. The Tigers just got outplayed at certain times throughout the contest and gave up the big plays that you can’t scheme for.

Chizik and his staff know how to be successful and will need to tap into those past experiences to guide these young Tigers towards the winners circle more often in the future.