So many great stats in this game it was sometimes hard to choose. But here they are and the reason for them.
Biggest concerns. Before going out Weigman often seemed out of sync with his receivers today. If he is able to continue starting, they need get on the same page.
While the defense was disruptive credit the Auburn offense for often being flat out self destructive with dropped passes and horribly overthown passes that could have exploited our few defensive mistakes. They also had a lot of penalties, though as discussed above, credit the defense for some of that.
- Defense allows zero TDs. Gave up one field goal and it was a long one. Reason I picked this stat: I still had great doubts about the defense after the Miami debacle. Today made me feel better.
- Back up QB comes in with the game on the line and goes 5/5 for two TDs. Reason: These drives took over the game. It should be noted that after this hot start Johnson was much colder. Overall the offensive line in those first possessions gave Johnson a lot of time, he stood in the pocket and shredded them. There were times he could have paused to get someone pregnant, and still throw the ball, but the TV would have had to look away.
- Auburn comes out in the second half receiving the kickoff in a close game. In its first four second half possessions, four in a freaking row, the Aggie defense sends them packing three and out. In those four three and outs Auburn's offense had a combined minus 11 yards. Talk about making things easy for your backup QB coming in.
- Seven sacks. Want something arguably even more spectacular? An incredible 15 tackles for loss. Auburn had 64 plays on offense. That means nearly a quarter of them lost yards. I'd like a stat for total lost or no-gain plays. That's not easily found, but Auburn at 9/23 passing had 14 incompletions. That means there are at least 29 of 64 plays that either lost yards or gained no yards. Just throw in a few zero gains on passes or runs and half their plays were in that category. You get numbers like that and it leads to other good things, like holding calls against the offense, which Auburn had a fair number of. Those are negative plays too, the defense just doesn't get credited for them in the stats.
- Running game actually out gained the passing game today, 209 to 193. Armani Daniels' 79 yard run played a large part of that. But don't regard that as a fluke. He ran through a hole a 65 year old beach tennis player from The Villages could have run through (note: it is stipulated that said, hypothetical, beach tennis player would have pulled a hammy 10 yards downfield and had to be carted off the field under the influence of so much morphine that he eventually dies by drowning in a puddle of his own drool).
Biggest concerns. Before going out Weigman often seemed out of sync with his receivers today. If he is able to continue starting, they need get on the same page.
While the defense was disruptive credit the Auburn offense for often being flat out self destructive with dropped passes and horribly overthown passes that could have exploited our few defensive mistakes. They also had a lot of penalties, though as discussed above, credit the defense for some of that.
