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Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn walks off the field with his team after the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan Hare Stadium. Texas A&M defeated Aubrn 29-16. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Here we take a look at three areas that improved for Auburn against Texas A&M, and three areas where Auburn football took a step back.
Auburn football doesn’t have much to hang its hat on after a poor performance against Texas A&M, but there are several things they can improve on going forward.
Gus Malzahn and the team seemed to take significant strides against Arkansas State. However, they took significant steps backwards against Texas A&M.
You got the same feeling watching the Texas A&M game as you did against Clemson. The offense was all out of sorts, and the defense eventually got tired.
After such great play-calling against Arkansas State, Gus Malzahn reverted back to his play-calling against Clemson.
Certainly the level of competition had a lot to do with what happened against Clemson and Texas A&M, but the execution of the offense was much different in both of those games.
As an Auburn fan you’re just looking for some level of consistency. So far through three weeks the offense but has been anything but consistent.
A lot of that has to do with the stubbornness of Gus Malzahn. He has to realize that defenses have figured him out. Plus, he has to realize that Sean White can’t run the entire playbook.
He was at his best against Arkansas State when he kept the play-calling simple. I’m not sure why he got away from that against Texas A&M.
With that, let’s get into this week’s three up, three down.
Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Kamryn Pettway (36) scores a touchdown during the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
3 Up
Kamryn Pettway
Kamryn Pettway was the lone bright spot on offense Saturday night rushing for 124 yards on 20 carries for an average of 6.2 yards per carry.
That’s two weeks in a row now that he’s topped 100 yards and led Auburn in rushing.
The only bad part of all this is that for some reason he disappeared during the second and third quarters of the game.
On Auburn’s second drive he basically carried the team down the field and into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season.
He had five carries for 26 yards on that first drive, and then received seven carries the rest of the first half. Then he got two carries in the third quarter.
With 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter and John Franklin III in the game, Pettway got six carries on Auburn’s next drive and ran for 52 yards.
He had one carry that went for negative yardage, and most of his carries went for at least three yards. I don’t know why Gus Malzahn didn’t continue to lean on him in the second and third quarters.
Still, it’s good to see that Pettway had another great game after his performance against Arkansas State.
Tony Stevens
Speaking of backing up good performances, Tony Stevens had his second straight good game catching 8 passes for 86 yards against Texas A&M.
This comes after catching 4 passes for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns against Arkansas State.
I’ve been looking for someone to step up as a reliable wide receiver, and it looks like Stevens could be that guy.
On a night where the wide receivers definitely didn’t help their struggling quarterback, Stevens was the one guy we could count on.
This will definitely be something to keep an eye on going forward if Stevens becomes the go-to guy at receiver.
Marlon Davidson
I’ve really been impressed with freshman defensive end Marlon Davidson early on.
I think he has the chance to become one of the best defensive ends Auburn has ever had.
With the struggles of Carl Lawson continuing, he might be the best defensive end on this team.
He had a solid game against Texas A&M recording 4 tackles and 0.5 tackles for a loss.
He continues to show the speed and quickness to not only get in the backfield, but run down runners on the outside.
It’s scary to think that he’s just a freshman, and I can’t wait to see how improves throughout this year.
Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn gestures as he speaks to officials about adding time to the clock during the second quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
3 Down
Gus Malzahn
I hate to be so hard on someone, but the talent is there, therefore you have to blame the coaching staff.
You had all offseason to figure out what you have on offense and build a game plan around those players. Instead, it seems like Gus Malzahn is still confused about what to do on offense with this group of players.
He tried to make things too complicated against Clemson and that backfired. He dumbed it down against Arkansas State and the world was right again. He started out simple against Texas A&M, but then tried to make things too difficult again.
As a coach you have to know what plays your personnel is capable of running, and it’s obvious that Sean White isn’t able to run the plays Gus Malzahn is calling.
He’s got to keep the game simple for Sean White. If he can, I think this offense will be fine. It won’t be the explosive offense we’re used to seeing, but it’s better than what we’ve seen the past two years now.
Marcus Davis
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Coming into this season I really thought Marcus Davis had a chance to step up at wide receiver for Auburn.
Through three games I’m beginning to think that’s not going to happen.
He was virtually invisible on the field most of Saturday night. The only significant play I remember from his was a dropped pass at a crucial point in the game.
It was not a great throw by any means, but he got his hands on it and could have helped his quarterback out.
He did end up catching 3 passes against Texas A&M, but hey went for just 23 yards. In the past two games now he’s caught 5 passes for 27 yards. In the first game of the season he had 5 catches for 56 yards.
It seems like Davis is starting to take a back seat to Tony Stevens and some of the younger receivers.
The Secondary
I knew going into the Texas A&M game that the secondary would be an area the Aggies would look to exploit.
It paid off for them as Trevor Knight threw for 247 yards and a touchdown.
Texas A&M’s big receivers simply out-physicalled Auburn’s defensive backs.
Josh Reynolds was a nightmare for the defense all night finishing with 7 catches for 98 yards. Ricky Seals-Jones had 3 catches, and Christian Kirk caught five passes.
Of course, it didn’t help that Kevin Steele had Carlton Davis on Speedy Noil all night instead of switching him to Reynolds or Kirk.
It wasn’t just in the passing game where the secondary got exploited, they missed several tackles.
Tray Matthews got absolutely shook out of his shoes on that last Texas A&M touchdown run that sealed the game.
Joshua Holsey, Stephen Roberts and Johnathan Ford were the top tacklers in the secondary with 5 tackles each.
You expect at least one of them to be close to 10 tackles, especially with how many times Texas A&M got to the second and third level.
This was a tall task for this secondary, and I didn’t think they played their best game. I expect them to bounce back against LSU.
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