Auburn football: Three things we’re concerned about after Week 1 victory

As you’d expect in the season opener, the Auburn football team made mistakes against a very good Washington team. With what should be an easy win vs. Alabama State next week, the Tigers need to improve in these areas.

Where do we start?

• The running game was serviceable, but could have been better.
• The offense was good in the first half, but could have been much better in the second half.
• The defense bent at times — mostly on down-field passing plays — but stepped up in the red zone.
• The offensive line was solid in its debut, but has room to grow.
• The explosive offensive plays were missing, for the most part.

Let’s be clear about something right off the bat: Dissecting the Auburn football team after every game is what we’re going to do and it’s what Auburn fans are going to do. But as obvious as some things might look when reviewing the 21-16 win against No. 6 Washington, consider a few things:

1. Auburn emerged from Week 1 with a victory and unblemished record.
2. Auburn had 420 total yards and ran for 147 against a defense that allowed 298.8 total yards per game last season and just 101.7 rushing. Remember Week 2 last season vs. Clemson (117 total yards, 6 points, 38 rushing yards on 42 carries)? Or how about the season opener against Clemson in 2016 (19-13 loss, 262 total yards, 87 rushing yards on 41 attempts).

Yes, there’s room to improve, there always is after Week 1, but Auburn is in a much better spot than it was the last two years.

Don’t take the foot off the gas

Look at Auburn’s first half possessions and how they ended: touchdown, field goal, missed field goal, field goal, field goal and the last drive covered 24 yards in 42 seconds but ended with the half running out.

That’s five scoring opportunities in five chances. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Then look at the second half possessions: punt, missed field goal, punt, punt, touchdown and the last one ended the game.

Auburn had 73 total yards in the second half until its 10-play, 76-yard game-winning touchdown drive.

Credit has to be given to Washington and its coaching staff for halftime adjustments. But we’ve seen the trend too often when Auburn’s offense trails off, has too many quick possessions and leaves the defense huffing and puffing in the fourth quarter.

That nearly happened again. The difference this time: Auburn put together the drive of the game when it needed to and the defense didn’t break.

Next week against Alabama State, it would be nice to see a lot of first-half points and a good number of second-half ones, too.

The defensive backs

Raise your hand if you screamed in the stands or at your TV to at least one Auburn defensive back to turn his head when Jake Browning made a pass to one of his receivers.

That’s a lot of hands.

A couple points to this.

Yes, the Auburn defensive backs need to be more aware of where the ball is. It’s a frustrating thing to watch, but it’s easier said than done.

Auburn is playing man-to-man defense against the receivers. Remember when Auburn didn’t do that and how frustrating it was to see opposing receivers continually find openings in the zone? This is what you get when you play man.

Jake Browning made some fantastic throws to his receivers — the dreaded outside shoulder throws — and his receivers made some great catches. Not many quarterbacks that Auburn faces this season can make that throw with consistency. Keep in mind that Browning is a fourth-year starter.

Playing man forces quarterbacks to be closer to perfect with their throws. As a defense, you want to create smaller windows on passing plays and Auburn is doing that.

The other part to this situation is the pass interference calls. That’s frustrating, too, but it’s going to happen now and again. Auburn had a first-time starter out there in Noah Igbinoghene, who fought hard and overall had a pretty solid debut against a good passing team.

Auburn will get better at this throughout the season, but it’s not as bad as you think.

Getting too cute

Another question: Raise your hand if you screamed at your TV when Auburn went for the 2-point conversion after scoring the first touchdown of the game?

OK, if it worked, few would complain. But it didn’t and when Auburn fell behind 16-15, that missed point looked enormous. 

Of course, Auburn later had to go for the 2-point conversion when it pulled ahead 21-16 and Chandler Cox threw an incomplete pass. Kick both those and it’s 23-16.

But that didn’t happen and here’s our biggest gripe about the whole thing:

Why take the ball out of the hands of your star quarterback? Let Jarrett Stidham make a play instead of giving the ball to backup Malik Willis (who’s coming in cold off the bench) and to Cox (who should never be asked to throw the ball).

Daniel Carlson did not miss an extra point in four seasons. His brother, Anders Carlson, kicked three field goals Saturday but didn’t even get the chance to kick an extra point.

Expect that to change Saturday against Alabama State (and moving forward from there).