SEC QBs who beat Auburn in 2018 discuss what Justin Herbert, Oregon must do in season opener https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/20...-herbert-oregon-must-do-in-season-opener.html THIBODAUX, La. — If Oregon is going to return to national prominence this fall, beating Auburn in the season opener will go a long way to making that happen in a hurry. Daunting as the Auburn defense is — the Tigers tied for 14th in scoring (19.2 points per game) last season — particularly along what might be the best defensive line in the country with Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe, the group was still part of a team that went 3-5 in SEC play last season. Three of the five SEC quarterbacks who defeated Auburn last season, LSU’s Joe Burrow, Tennessee’s Jarrett Guarantano and Georgia’s Jake Fromm, offered insight while at the Manning Passing Academy into what makes Auburn’s defense unique and challenging and what Justin Herbert and Oregon must do to be be successful in the Aug. 31 season opener. “The best part about their team is their defensive line,” said Guarantano, who went 21 of 32 for 328 yards with two touchdowns while leading a stunning 30-24 Vols upset at Jordan-Hare Stadium last season. “Derrick Brown came back and they have a lot of big bodies defensive line-wise. Hard to move them, they’re space-eaters and they’ve very strong, good athletes. Being able to get vertical in the run game with them is going to be difficult. “You’ve got to be able to tell your receivers, ‘There’s not a lot of work to be done. You got to get past them, you got be able to break off your routes.’ Justin does a very good job of getting outside the pocket and that’s definitely going to help contain the rush.” Tennessee mustered just 68 rushing yards on 36 carries against Auburn, which lost despite allowing its fewest rushing yards in SEC play due in large part to offensive turnovers and Guarantano being able on touchdown throws of 25 and 42 yards. “We had a lot of jump ball guys, we had a lot of big-body guys," Guarantano said. "So being able to put the ball on top of their helmet, being able to box them out and being able to high-point the ball was our thing we did very well against them.” Like Guarantano, Burrow also didn’t throw an interception while leading LSU over Auburn, 22-21. Though Burrow was just 15 of 34, his throws were for 249 yards and a touchdown, he was sacked just once and engineered a game-winning drive at Auburn. “They’ve really physical," Burrow said. "I think they have just about all of their D-line returning and they’re really, really good players. Quick twitch, big, strong and they have some really underrated linebackers as well. They defense all around is fast, strong, tough. That was one of the better defenses we played all year.” Auburn was called for a pair of pass interference penalties that helped LSU move downfield for a game-winning field goal. While the Tigers ranked just 58th in pass defense last season, a big drop from 18th the year before, those numbers don’t tell the entire story. The opponent’s passer rating against the Tigers was 31st last season and former secondary coach Wesley McGriff returns after a two-year stint as defensive coordinator at Ole Miss and he helped Kevin Steele turn the Auburn defense around in 2016. Other than cornerback Jamel Dean, who left for the NFL, the rest of the Auburn secondary all returns. Safety Daniel Thomas had a grade of 86.0 from Pro Football Focus last season, second among returning SEC safeties, and his 29.7 coverage snaps per reception as best in the SEC. Fellow safety Jeremiah Dinson allowed a passer rating of 66.5, fourth among returning SEC safeties, per PFF. “Those defensive backs are really physical, they play tough at the line of scrimmage,” Burrow said. “So you have to have tough receivers for sure. If you don’t have tough receivers you’re going to have a tough time getting open on those guys.” Fromm went 13 of 22 for 193 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while helping lead Georgia to a 27-10 win over Auburn. The Bulldogs ran for over 300 yards, but Fromm also managed to connect on throws of 25, 32 and 38 yards, the last of which was a touchdown. Those were two of 23 passes of 30-plus yards allowed by Auburn last season, which tied for 96th nationally. “Auburn’s physical, really big, really talented up front on defense,” Fromm said. “Those (cornerbacks) were younger guys last year. We kind of got some complicated sets, I believe, and got them off their toes a little bit. Really good players, should be even better this year.” truthfully, I was feeling a lot better about the matchup before I read this article
Typically, when I see Aubarn in an article and the article says Tigers, and it ain't us, I go take a duece, flush 4 times because it's a REAL long way to jordan hare, and take a shower. You ducks should flush 5 times, beins who you are.
Really excited waiting on August 31st,..Coach Cristobal's been saying he wants us to become alabama-west, (a term that hasn't really flown here), I like what I see, we are much bigger and more physical now, our defense should be strong, but we need to regain our identity on offense. Oregon is being touted as a top 10 team, tho we have a lot of talent, we've really done nothing to merit that ranking,.. the jerryworld game means a lot to us,.. it will show who we are and how we measure up,.. besides, udub couldn't beat Auburn last year, if the Ducks do, we can rub that in their furry dog faces.
