OT: Auburn fans unhappy with OC Scot Loeffler
Following 13-17 loss to Vanderbilt and 1-6 start, Auburn OC Scot Loeffler is under fire by Auburn fans for his play calling. Loeffler's post game interview and Auburn fan comments here.
Auburn has lost it's starting QB (5-star So. Kiehl Frazier) to injury, and the replacements Jr Clint Moseley and Fr. Jonathan Wallace are both playing very poorly. Loeffler was hired by Chizik to install a pro-style, power run offense, scrapping the spread option shotgun offense of recent years.
Here was an interesting media interview with Loeffler earlier in the Auburn preseason - comparing Tim Tebow and Tom Brady - an usual question by the media, but anyway.
October 22nd, 2012 at 7:09 AM ^
Are you suggesting their fans should be patient because it takes time to turn around a 14-0 team? Or that wanting to get rid of the new OC, (who's led them to the #121st ranked offense), makes them fickle?
October 22nd, 2012 at 7:24 AM ^
fans should be patient because it takes time to turn around a 14-0 team
LOL ... +1 ... made my day!
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:25 AM ^
The story on THIS board seems to be that - in a win against MSU - we need to ditch both the OC and the QB. I think it's pathetic that Michigan fans could win either or both Scott Tenorman of the Week or Tears of Unfathomable Sadness when Brian writes up TWIS this week.
October 22nd, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^
Was there criticism of the ofensive performance? Sure, and much of it justified, but outside of a couple nut jobs, no one was seriously suggesting we change QB's and/or the OC at this point in the season.
Stop making a mountain out of a non-existant mole hill.
October 22nd, 2012 at 10:40 AM ^
"At this point in the season", no. But the general sentiment seemed to be that Borges is incompetent and Denard is the embodiment of yakkety sax ...
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/borges-gripes
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/moar-michiganmsu-postgame-thoughts-sunday-snowflake-thread
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/michiganmsu-postgame-actual-thoughts-thread
October 22nd, 2012 at 3:20 PM ^
yes there were a lot of complaints about the offense, particularly coming off a win, but aren't they justified?
We scored a grand total of 12 points, had no td's and Denard was held in check for the 3rd straight year against Sparty. Add in the facts that it was the 3rd poor offensive outing of the season and Denard and Borges are in year 2 together and I think it is legit to be concerned.
If the offense continues to perform at this level we will struggle mightily to beat Nebraska, OSU, Wisconsin and our bowl opponent all of whom are likely better than Sparty.
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:40 AM ^
them fickle. And (unless I'm missing something) everything I said holds: they had a successful spread team. They are trying to move to manball (opposite of the position UM was in under RR). Now they will have to be patient while they rebuild. That doesn't mean that Loeffler succeeds, of course, or that Chizik wasn't just lucky in the first place, or (least of all) that going to the spread was a good idea. (Maybe worth building around a special player?) I'm not a fan of Chizik or Auburn's/the SEC's traditional pay-to-play policies, that's for sure.
October 22nd, 2012 at 3:15 PM ^
We might have different understandings of the word "fickle". I'd say it would apply if Malzahn was still there and they were calling for his head, not for a new guy with whom they were never enamored.
Asking for patience while they rebuild begs the obvious questions. Why are they rebuilding? Why a dramatic change in offensive philophy? Should changing your offense lead to a disastrous season? Bear in mind that their QB is a very fast dual-threat guy. It seems like it's either a horrible miscalculation on Chizik's part or very poor implementation of the new offense.
October 22nd, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^
would be if Chizik had gone down for Camgate, Malzahn was made interim interim head coach for a year and then was demoted to co-coordinator when Bobby Bowden was lured out of retirement to take over the program.
That would have been fickell treatment of Malzahn.
October 22nd, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^
of philosophy--or Loeffler--to begin with then they can't be accused of being fickle. But I expect that you would also acknowledge that you probably don't get to success in a half year after such a turnabout. Now whether they have to be so terrible, you may know more than I do. From what I have read they don't have a lot of great players. Anyway, it's doubtful the Auburn admin bails on Chizik; he'll get another year.
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:41 AM ^
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:49 AM ^
Auburn is terrible..Dont have the talent for the SEC right now. Good luck with the rest of the schedule, ha..On the positive not, they do have a lot of good recruits coming in, so the checks must be clearing... Speaking of top recruits, does anyone know what happened for Z Pike??
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:01 AM ^
In the event anyone is interested in what this drop at Auburn looks like:
At the end of last season, the Auburn passing offense had gone 164 for 292, good for 56.2%, totalling 2,022 yards and amassing 17 TDs. After seven games this year, they are 96 for 164, which is actually a 58.5% completion rate, but 1,081 yards of passing offense has resulted in 4 TDs. If the current rate held (which it may not deep into their conference schedule), they would theoetically see about a 10% decrease in passing yards compared to last year and only 3 more TDs in the air in five remaining games.
The 2011 rushing offense carried the ball 536 times and managed 2,370 yards, or 4.4 YPC. To date this season, they have 856 yards on 254 carries, which is 3.4 YPC. That's actually good for a 22% reduction in the average productivity of the rushing offense, and they are on track, if the rate held, for less than 1,500 yards rushing on the year, or nearly a 40% drop, and last year's 20 rushing TDs become 10 TD this year projected.
Scoring offense will look awful as a result. Last year, Auburn amassed 4,392 yards of total offense and averaged 25.7 points per game. So far this season, they have 1,937 yards of offense and are averaging 15.7 points per game. Overall, their offensive productivity would fall by 25% or so if this kept up.
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:15 AM ^
The reality is that Auburn fans simply aren't getting their money's worth this year and they are unhappy. But who can blame them -- they invested a ton of cash into this team so they expected more than 1 win.
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:24 AM ^
Super OT
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:55 AM ^
Not really, since Loeffler used to play and coach at Michigan.
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^
Looking ahead, Borges has never been at one place more than 4 years. I've seen some posters suggest that we could "bring home" Loeffler. I'd love to think we could start looking outside the pool of individuals with previous ties to Michigan, but I think Brandon would give an OC with Michigan ties significant preference.
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^
"...start looking outside the pool of individuals with previous ties to Michigan."
Start? As in you don't think we're already doing that?
- Ferrigno
- Hecklinski
- Montgomery
- Funk
- Smith
- Wellman
And of course Borges himself. Maybe I missed something in their bios but as far as I know, of the current staff only Mattison, Hoke and Mallory had Michigan ties before they were hired...and Jackson was a grad student here. And never mind the previous staff, which was chock full of people with no previous ties to Michigan.
October 22nd, 2012 at 3:17 PM ^
Hoke is going to choose the next OC, not Brandon.
October 22nd, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^
What else would you expect? Look who he learned from. Lloyd! One of the most boring coaches ever.
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
Michigan is 900-312-36 throughout history, which is a 72.1% winning percentage.
Lloyd Carr was 122-40, which is a 75.3% winning percentage, and won a national championship.
So Lloyd Carr RAISED the all-time winning percentage of the winningest program in football history. Who cares if he was boring? Rich Rodriguez was "exciting"...and he ended his career 15-22. Carr won a LOT.
Winning = Exciting to me
October 22nd, 2012 at 10:55 AM ^
We just went 11-2 last year, 16-4 our last 20 games, and we have more than a handful of fans calling for Al Borge's head.
Conclusion: College football fans are idiots.
October 22nd, 2012 at 10:59 AM ^
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:42 AM ^
This is actually the second year in a row that Auburn's offense has been pretty weak.
Auburn's offensive numbers from 2011 (regular season only):
PPG: 24.3 (87th in FBS)
Total YPG: 328.2 (102nd in FBS)
Rushing YPG: 174.8
Rushing YPC: 4.3
Passing YPG: 153.4
Passing YPA: 6.84
Passing TD-to-INT: 17-13
3rd Down Conversion: 35.6%
Malazhn was still the OC in 2011, so it can't all be on Lefty.
October 22nd, 2012 at 2:34 PM ^
It looks like all of those guys booing Gene Chizik as he got off the plane were right.
October 22nd, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
I can't believe people are actually calling for Borges' head. I don't think he's free from criticism, but if you are calling him out for this year's gameplan against State after last year's game and what happened earlier this season, you are crazy. I would love to see more bubble screens or at least plays designed to keep the defense from stacking the box against the run, but State has a great defense and I don't expect Borges to excel in an offense he has no history in. With that said, Borges has adjusted more than the previous staff ever did, boith to his talent and in game, and that's coming from a Rodriguez apologist. Hoke and Co. are 16-4 going through a freaking transition!!! Things will improve. Enjoy the ride and quit being ridiculous.