Here I will try to explain why Sean White still gives Auburn football the best chance to win games this season.
There were a lot of people yelling for Sean White to be taken out late in the Texas A&M game after a couple of bad quarters of football. Gus Malzahn for once listened to the fans and made the switch going to John Franklin III in the fourth quarter.
JF3 played decently in garbage time rushing for 47 yards on 9 carries and throwing for 37 yards on 4-of-8 passing.
It’s hard to believe that I’m sitting here trying to defend Sean White as I was the one calling for JF3 before the season.
However, after seeing both of them perform, I now think Sean White is our best option this season to win games.
Don’t get caught up by what JF3 is doing in the fourth quarter of these games, defenses will figure that out quickly, as Texas A&M did Saturday night.
JF3 does have a cannon of an arm, but he’s very erratic. He was just 4-of-8 in mop-up duty Saturday night, and his only other completion before that went for negative three yards.
I think JF3 should get more playing time, and come in to get the running game going, but I don’t think he’s the answer at quarterback.
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To me, the problem at quarterback begins and ends with Gus Malzahn.
He had an entire offseason to game plan for the personnel that he has, and he came up with jack squat.
You know Sean White is not capable of running the offense you want to run, so come up with a playbook that he’s comfortable running.
I think that’s what Malzahn did against Arkansas State, and it worked out beautifully. But when you try to complicate the playbook it’s obvious that White can’t handle those plays.
I believe that if you simplify the playbook, Sean White gives Auburn the best chance to win this season.
You won’t see Auburn average over 30 points a game, and you won’t see a ton of explosive plays through the air, but the offense will at least be functional.
That was not the case against Clemson or for most of the game against Texas A&M where the offense was abysmal.
Against Texas A&M, Sean White was sacked on the first play of the game by Myles Garrett. Nothing you could do there, and that drive ended quickly.
On the next drive Kamryn Pettway opened things up with some big runs. Then Sean White completed a few easy passes within 10 yards. The offense went right down the field and scored a touchdown.
On that scoring drive White was 4-of-4 passing for 39 yards.
On the next possession, Sean White was tackled for a loss of five yards on a first down play, and then completed a six-yard pass on third-and-nine.
He didn’t throw his first incompletion until the second quarter.
His next couple of possessions he was faced with a third-and-eight, third-and-16, fumble, and third-and-nine.
He’s not going to excel when facing several third-and-long situations like that, especially against a good defensive pass rush like Texas A&M – no quarterback would.
Granted, a lot of those third-and-long situations were due to Sean White not completing passes on earlier downs.
Regardless, I still think Sean White gives us the best chance to win football games. He’s generally smart with the football, and if given the right set of plays he can move the offense.
With as well as the defense is playing, we just need an offense to be consistent.
We’ve yet to see this Auburn offense be consistent, because the play-calling has not been consistent.
Next: Auburn Football: 3 Up, 3 Down After Texas A&M Game
The early struggles of the offense are not Sean White’s fault, but the blame should be pointed at Gus Malzahn for not knowing his personnel.