This is the play where Hunter ripped off a nice huge run. They are in cover 1, they have 7 guys in the box. Auburn runs zone read/RPO, so the guy on the edge doesn't have to be blocked. So they got 6 blockers, to get 6 guys, and they do exactly that. Hence the big gain.
Two plays later:
They are in cover 0, and look at how many people are on the line. 8 in the box and 6 of them on the line. That is not at all a good look to run the ball against. This is the play where Thorne and Lambert-Smith were not on the same page. I have no idea who's fault it actually was, you'd have to probably be on the team/staff to really know. But you got one on one, you gotta make those plays.
For whatever it's worth, the 1st down play between these 2 plays, there were 7 guys in the box, but they actually blew up the blocking relatively well. And Coleman was wide open on the RPO, which Thorne missed.
The real problem here is simple, failing to hit the open guy on the 1st down, and screwing up communication on the 2nd down when you got one on one across the board for your receivers. You have to make those plays to win. Sadly, Auburn did not.
There were times where Auburn was running all over Oklahoma, and times where they were throwing the ball over Oklahoma. So Auburn was very capable of taking advantage of them in both areas. I actually like the 2 back personnel, that leaves both options viable, depending on how the defense lines up.
I hate the pick six play call. Why empty with Thorne? They had the perfect call that was haunted Thorne his whole time at Auburn, he sucks at seeing defenders dropping into coverage that were on the line. They lined up in blitz and dropped them and he didn't see it at all.
Granted, later they tried 7 man protection, and Thorne got sacked anyways. But I don't think you necessarily gotta straight up pass there. I think an RPO would've been fine. But then again, Auburn was screwing up the RPO's earlier, as highlighted above.
At the end of the day, Auburn did not execute well down the stretch.
Oh, and the field goal try sucked. I would sort of get it, if it made it a 3 score game. But it's still a 2 score game if he makes that. So I say punt it. I thought for sure they were gonna punt it too, was shocked when they sent out the field goal unit with the struggling kicker.
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