Preparing for Auburn’s defense hasn’t been an easy process for Bobby Petrino.
The biggest reason? Petrino isn’t exactly sure what to expect from Will Muschamp, Auburn’s new defensive coordinator.
To be sure, Petrino is familiar with Muschamp’s body of work as DC at LSU, Auburn and Texas and head coach at Florida the past few years. He has a sense, at a general level, what to expect from a Muschamp defense.
But Petrino doesn’t have any live game film to study with Muschamp directing Gus Malzahn’s Auburn players. That reality has caused Petrino to work overtime preparing his offense for what he expects them to see from Auburn’s defense Saturday.
“You have to watch twice as much video,” said Petrino. “(We’re) watching two types of video, one from what they did at Florida and schematically what we think they will do.
“They will always do something different so we will have to adjust quickly on the sideline during the game. (We’re) watching the bowl game (against) Wisconsin, a couple of games from last year and their spring game to understand their players and understand their talent on defense.”(We upgraded so much on defense talent wise from Wisc, ADay until now, Lawson nor Lambert played against Wiscy or ADay either. Not to mention the addition of Countess and the #1 overall recruit in Cowart)
Muschamp was hired to fix an Auburn defense that allowed foes to score 34 or more points six times last season. The Tigers allowed nearly 27 points and 400 yards total defense in 2014.
“(Muschamp) does a really great job of getting (players) to play fast and physical,” Petrino said. “I think that is the thing when you watch all of his defenses throughout the years they play with a lot of speed, they play very physical, play with emotion.”
Besides a new DC, Auburn also expects to play a bunch of true freshmen — possibly eight in total — against Louisville, including three or four newcomers in a reloading secondary.
“I think the key to us is to keep them on the field, we have to get first downs and keep them on the field and make them play when they are tired,” Petrino said.
Petrino is imploring his offensive players to play smart, eliminate costly penalty and minimize turnovers against the Tigers.
“I think it’s real important to eliminate stupid penalties (so) we don’t go backwards,” said Petrino. “As long as you are moving forward offensively you always have a chance to get first downs, move the sticks and keep them on the field. That is what you try to do, keep their defense on the field and you can’t do that if you are hurting yourself.”
Petrino’s also hoping for a few quick strikes against Auburn’s inexperienced secondary. (Where is the rolling smiley when you need it) Louisville’s wide receivers made big plays in the final two preseason scrimmages and Petrino appears to have weapons to exploit Auburn’s backfield defensively.
“We need to be able to take care of the football, making sure that we don’t turn it over and get some chunk plays,” Petrino said. “That was the fun thing about last Friday (scrimmage), our receivers made a lot of what we call chunk plays which are big plays. Whether it was going up and catching balls or running after the catch, they all did a nice job of it and some of the young receivers really showed out so it was fun to see.”
The biggest reason? Petrino isn’t exactly sure what to expect from Will Muschamp, Auburn’s new defensive coordinator.
To be sure, Petrino is familiar with Muschamp’s body of work as DC at LSU, Auburn and Texas and head coach at Florida the past few years. He has a sense, at a general level, what to expect from a Muschamp defense.
But Petrino doesn’t have any live game film to study with Muschamp directing Gus Malzahn’s Auburn players. That reality has caused Petrino to work overtime preparing his offense for what he expects them to see from Auburn’s defense Saturday.
“You have to watch twice as much video,” said Petrino. “(We’re) watching two types of video, one from what they did at Florida and schematically what we think they will do.
“They will always do something different so we will have to adjust quickly on the sideline during the game. (We’re) watching the bowl game (against) Wisconsin, a couple of games from last year and their spring game to understand their players and understand their talent on defense.”(We upgraded so much on defense talent wise from Wisc, ADay until now, Lawson nor Lambert played against Wiscy or ADay either. Not to mention the addition of Countess and the #1 overall recruit in Cowart)
Muschamp was hired to fix an Auburn defense that allowed foes to score 34 or more points six times last season. The Tigers allowed nearly 27 points and 400 yards total defense in 2014.
“(Muschamp) does a really great job of getting (players) to play fast and physical,” Petrino said. “I think that is the thing when you watch all of his defenses throughout the years they play with a lot of speed, they play very physical, play with emotion.”
Besides a new DC, Auburn also expects to play a bunch of true freshmen — possibly eight in total — against Louisville, including three or four newcomers in a reloading secondary.
“I think the key to us is to keep them on the field, we have to get first downs and keep them on the field and make them play when they are tired,” Petrino said.
Petrino is imploring his offensive players to play smart, eliminate costly penalty and minimize turnovers against the Tigers.
“I think it’s real important to eliminate stupid penalties (so) we don’t go backwards,” said Petrino. “As long as you are moving forward offensively you always have a chance to get first downs, move the sticks and keep them on the field. That is what you try to do, keep their defense on the field and you can’t do that if you are hurting yourself.”
Petrino’s also hoping for a few quick strikes against Auburn’s inexperienced secondary. (Where is the rolling smiley when you need it) Louisville’s wide receivers made big plays in the final two preseason scrimmages and Petrino appears to have weapons to exploit Auburn’s backfield defensively.
“We need to be able to take care of the football, making sure that we don’t turn it over and get some chunk plays,” Petrino said. “That was the fun thing about last Friday (scrimmage), our receivers made a lot of what we call chunk plays which are big plays. Whether it was going up and catching balls or running after the catch, they all did a nice job of it and some of the young receivers really showed out so it was fun to see.”
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