-Interesting to listen to the radio shows early in the week. Auburn fans call in giddy. (It's almost like we're still drunk on touchdowns...and Crown). You know we're doing something right when you listen to the Crimson Nation call in to these shows. They do their best to downplay. They say it is a long season. They are right of course, but you can hear the uncertainty and frustration in their voices when they talk about Auburn. They almost seem to say "This sucks! They weren't supposed to look like this!"
-Auburn's a 6.5 point favorite going into the game with WVU. Sounds about right.
-Sifting though the WVU blogs, they sound confident about their trip to Auburn, and many feel like they beat a more talented team than Auburn in East Carolina (Here's hoping they are dead wrong). The big early concerns are special teams (sound familiar?) and penalties (WVU had 11 for 165 yards!).
-The 'Ers are experimenting with something called the "Pistol" formation that they put in only a week ago for the ECU game. After two weeks, they also still are experimenting with position changes on the O-line.
-WVU trailed early to ECU, but racked up over 500 yards of offense. Does anyone else get the feeling Saturday night could be a track meet???
.....Auburn runs "pistol" like formations, too. What it means is that the running back is behind the QB, so that when he takes the handoff, he's full speed toward the hole. Beats those awkward sideways shotgun handoffs from last season!
ReplyDelete.....Auburn's pistol is different, because there's also a wingback/H back lined up to block for it, Mario Fannin and John Douglas. And last week, even Eric Smith. Malzhan crossed Mississippi State up a few times, early, running a crossbuck play out of that formation, where the H-back got the ball going back against the grain. And then they'd fake the crossbuck play, and Todd would run the option into the vacant space. It was almost like a vertical wishbone option play.
Acid Reign
Thanks AR, I wasn't sure exactly what made a Pistol different from a Wildcat or a Shotgun. Interestingly, WVU got almost no production from that set (5 plays for 15 yards I think). Hopefully just a Red Herring.
ReplyDelete.....It depends on what the OC calls. If they go pistol, and run the ball every time, defenses will read that. That was one of my complaints on Auburn's Wildcat. Burns was keeping it nearly every time. Then against MSU, Burns did deal it off on the Stealer (handoff to the motion man), which didn't work. Then there was the pull-up pass, which had Lutzenkirchen WIDE OPEN, for the TD.
ReplyDeleteAuburn hasn't historically thrown to the tight end that much and calling on Lutz was a complete surprise to me and to MSU. I'd love to see Malzahn utilize him more in the passing game.
ReplyDeleteIf Kodi isn't able to go, I'd like to see Fannin (A QB in HS) throw a surprise pass to either Tate or Darvin Adams, either out of a reverse or something. I'd also like to see Trott and/or Lutzinkirchen involved more in the passing game. I hope the DB's don't continue to pay so soft and our special teams improve.
ReplyDelete