I was traveling yesterday and didn’t get to watch the game, so I just went back and rewatched this afternoon. The storyline is Brady Cook leading a comeback, as it should be, so I’m going to disregard that and give some other analysis.
-The Defense were the unsung heroes. Other than a blown safety coverage on a flood route, there were really no mistakes. They got a ton of pressure inside and limited a very dynamic rushing attack. Thorne is not a good thrower, but they also only let up a couple downfield passes the whole game.
-Young and Carnell are absolute studs. They were all over the place the whole game. Seemed like Carnell made every big tackle. Young lived in the backfield all afternoon. What a great portal pickup.
-On a concerning note, I’ll call out three players/positions. 1) the injuries at LB really hurt, frankly Hicks is not big enough for SEC play and just gets run over. Same can be said for Rodriguez, although he’s a true freshman who probably never expected to get meaningful minutes. 2) Walker has been a disappointment basically all season. I thought he was gonna be a dude this year. Even on the final drive where he got a sack, Young was also helping get pressure. 3) I respect Toriano Pride, high pedigree hometown guy, but I was hoping to see more from him this year. He hasn’t been terrible but he seems to get exposed every so often.
-On the offense, ton of respect for Cook and the absolutely gutsy performance. I really don’t have much positive to say about them otherwise - but with your starting QB in the hospital they did enough to keep us in the game and avoided costly mistakes (outside of the handoff fumble).
-Pyne is the backup as he should be based on what we all saw. However, I actually don’t think he played that bad. He was clearly rattled after the fumble and only had about three truly bad throws. Otherwise, he was under siege seemingly the entire time he played, threw a lot of dump offs and his receivers weren’t doing much to help. He’s just not as mobile as Cook and not as comfortable in the offense (he’s a first year backup), and Auburn was pinning their ears back every time he dropped back to pass.
-I question a lot of the play calling by Moore after Cook went out, he should’ve been calling more runs and getting the ball to Burden (even out of the backfield) with your backup QB playing. I do think this rushing attack is much better with Noel in the game and he was out, but really no excuses there. I know you probably aren’t as dynamic on play calling with Pyne in the game, but you can only call so many 5 yard outs before the defense catches on.
-Offensive line was very disappointing in pass blocking. Seemed like Pyne was under pressure about 75% of the time. Brady bailed them out a few times at the end but he was under pressure a lot too. In particular the left side seems weak and Auburn attacked it. Cayden Green has been underwhelming, he just looks lost sometimes.
-I won’t beat a dead horse but special teams is a huge problem. Kicking is obviously inconsistent, but beyond that I’m not sure what goes through LB3’s head sometimes on punt returns. I really just think he shouldn’t go back there at all, he will make some plays but I don’t think the risk/reward checks out. He almost cost us the game, without that finishing drive by Cook where LB3 made some nice catches I think a lot of scrutiny would be on the special teams unit (in particular LB3 and Craig). On a final positive note, Joshua Manning looked awesome on kick returns and had a great catch on third down of the first drive of the game. But in general, special teams was a clear weakness and has been for much of the season.
-The Defense were the unsung heroes. Other than a blown safety coverage on a flood route, there were really no mistakes. They got a ton of pressure inside and limited a very dynamic rushing attack. Thorne is not a good thrower, but they also only let up a couple downfield passes the whole game.
-Young and Carnell are absolute studs. They were all over the place the whole game. Seemed like Carnell made every big tackle. Young lived in the backfield all afternoon. What a great portal pickup.
-On a concerning note, I’ll call out three players/positions. 1) the injuries at LB really hurt, frankly Hicks is not big enough for SEC play and just gets run over. Same can be said for Rodriguez, although he’s a true freshman who probably never expected to get meaningful minutes. 2) Walker has been a disappointment basically all season. I thought he was gonna be a dude this year. Even on the final drive where he got a sack, Young was also helping get pressure. 3) I respect Toriano Pride, high pedigree hometown guy, but I was hoping to see more from him this year. He hasn’t been terrible but he seems to get exposed every so often.
-On the offense, ton of respect for Cook and the absolutely gutsy performance. I really don’t have much positive to say about them otherwise - but with your starting QB in the hospital they did enough to keep us in the game and avoided costly mistakes (outside of the handoff fumble).
-Pyne is the backup as he should be based on what we all saw. However, I actually don’t think he played that bad. He was clearly rattled after the fumble and only had about three truly bad throws. Otherwise, he was under siege seemingly the entire time he played, threw a lot of dump offs and his receivers weren’t doing much to help. He’s just not as mobile as Cook and not as comfortable in the offense (he’s a first year backup), and Auburn was pinning their ears back every time he dropped back to pass.
-I question a lot of the play calling by Moore after Cook went out, he should’ve been calling more runs and getting the ball to Burden (even out of the backfield) with your backup QB playing. I do think this rushing attack is much better with Noel in the game and he was out, but really no excuses there. I know you probably aren’t as dynamic on play calling with Pyne in the game, but you can only call so many 5 yard outs before the defense catches on.
-Offensive line was very disappointing in pass blocking. Seemed like Pyne was under pressure about 75% of the time. Brady bailed them out a few times at the end but he was under pressure a lot too. In particular the left side seems weak and Auburn attacked it. Cayden Green has been underwhelming, he just looks lost sometimes.
-I won’t beat a dead horse but special teams is a huge problem. Kicking is obviously inconsistent, but beyond that I’m not sure what goes through LB3’s head sometimes on punt returns. I really just think he shouldn’t go back there at all, he will make some plays but I don’t think the risk/reward checks out. He almost cost us the game, without that finishing drive by Cook where LB3 made some nice catches I think a lot of scrutiny would be on the special teams unit (in particular LB3 and Craig). On a final positive note, Joshua Manning looked awesome on kick returns and had a great catch on third down of the first drive of the game. But in general, special teams was a clear weakness and has been for much of the season.
