Auburn Football: Position Grades against LSU
Even though Auburn lost, there are some good things to take from this game. Auburn showed improvement in many aspects that were slacking. Here are my position grades from the LSU game.
Mandatory Credit: Greg Curry (The Corner)
Quarterback: B
Kiehl Frazier looked a lot better last night. Frazier was making his reads and throwing into tight spots. Loeffler came out showing that he had faith in Frazier letting him throw deep the second play of the game.
Frazier did have 2 interceptions. The first one came when Frazier was scrambling and trying to do too much with the ball. He lofted it to Phillip Lutzenkirchen and the LSU defender was able to come away with it. The 2nd came on the last play of the game.
Frazier ended the night 13 for 22 for 97 yards and 2 interceptions.
Freshman Jonathan Wallace did play some, running the wildcat. It was effective at times.
Running Backs: C+
Auburn running backs played okay. LSU has a really big and fast defense and it showed last night in the run game.
Tre Mason who didn’t see the ball as much as I would like, ran it 9 times for 54 yards. When he did carry the ball, he carried it very physical. Mason looked like he didn’t want to go down; trying everything he could to get as many yards as possible.
Onterio McCalebb ran the ball 11 times for 24 yards and scored a touchdown.
Mike Blakely did not play tonight.
Wide Receivers: B+
The wide receivers overall was disappointing. Emory Blake, Quan Bray, and Phillip Lutzenkirchen looked good, buts that’s it.
The passing game was not on last night. Sammie Coates dropped a deep ball on the second play of the game that would have been huge. It was a perfect pass from Frazier it just went through his hands.
Blake caught 4 passes for 56 yards. He hauled in a huge 3rd down conversion, showing just how good his hands are.
Lutzenkirchen ended the night with 5 receptions for 29 yards. Bray caught 2 passes for 10 yards.
The blocking from the receivers that is usually effective, was not against LSU.
Offensive line: C
The offensive line showed flashed of being good. The size difference was very noticeable. Our OL was way smaller than LSU’s defensive line, but they did a good job keeping them in check.
Patrick Miller started the game and looked very good. Showing why the coaches were raving about him during spring practice.
The reason I give it a C is because they did give up some sacks. Also the running game was not where it should have been and a lot of that is because the offensive line couldn’t open up holes.
Defensive Line: A
The defensive line finally looked like it was supposed to; especially from the defensive tackles. Gabe Wright and Angelo Blackson looked very good, getting penetration and putting pressure on the QB.
Corey Lemonier also did a great job last night. He had 2 sacks and a forced fumble.
Dee Ford, the other defensive end opposite of Lemonier, led all defensive lineman with 6 tackles.
LSU was unable to get a rushing game going, and kept Mettenberger on his heels. Those were two things that Auburn had to do to keep it close.
Linebackers: B
This is a hard grade for me. They played exceptionally well. There was just too many missed tackles still.
Jake Holland missed a sack on QB Mettenberger. Evans missed a tackle that would have stopped LSU on 3rd down, but instead they were able to convert the 1st down and keep the drive alive.
There was some good things though. Holland played good in coverage. He ended the night with 10 tackles. 2 solo and 8 assist. Holland looked good coming up to the line of scrimmage to lay a hit. He played very physical last night.
Darren Bates also played good at times. Bates took bad angles a couple times that allowed the LSU players to gain extra yards. He did good coming up and filling the holes in the run game. Bates ended the game with 9 tackles.
Defensive Backs: A
The defensive backs looked great last night. They were able to come up and make the hits that were needed after the catch.
There were also zero deep balls caught on them. The DBs looked good in coverage as well. Freshman Joshua Holsey got some action last night. LSU tried him on a deep ball and he did a great job defending it.
Demetruce McNeal led the team in tackles again last night. He ended the game with 11 tackles, one that was for a loss.
Special Teams: C
Special teams last night was nowhere near up to par. Special teams was the difference in a win or loss for Auburn.
Quan Bray muffed a punt that gave LSU the ball in great field position. That fumble led to the game winning field goal.
Onterio McCalebb had another great game as a kick returner. He almost broke one for a touchdown, but was dragged down by his jersey near the 50 that saved LSU the game.
Steven Clark had an okay game. He had some good punts, but he also had some bad punts. His average for the game was 41 yards. He did place two inside the 20; one that ended near the 10 yard line.
Cody Parkey was once against Mr. Dependable. He is starting to become the best kicker in the nation.