Scrimmage reveals some concerns on both sides of ball

The score was a lopsided 82-25, but there wasn’t an Auburn player or coach to be found Tuesday night that felt like celebrating as if the victory meant something.

This is the year of “eight ain’t it” and “good to great,” after all.

With 17 days remaining until the season opener against Arkansas State, Auburn’s players seemingly all agreed that they were not satisfied with what the team has accomplished after two weeks of camp. Coaches acknowledged the positives, but couldn’t avoid the areas that troubled them, weaknesses they’ve spotted that likely kept them in their offices well after the Tigers’ third scrimmage in six days.

“We’ve got to get better in a hurry. In a hurry,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “The good news is they’re all correctable and we’ll get that corrected.”

The offense, carriers of that whopping total of 82, maybe embodied the “good to great” mentality a little more. The defense, again without safety Zac Etheridge (neck) for the third consecutive scrimmage, had a tougher time gleaning good things from, among other things, seeing Cameron Newton connect on three touchdown passes and walk-on Jay Wisner hauling in a deep touchdown from Neil Caudle.

“You never want to end up on the losing side of a scrimmage,” linebacker Craig Stevens said. “The season is not going to be all peaches and cream. When adversity hits, we have to find a way to pick up the defense and make plays.”

Roof found one play he liked, when linebacker Daren Bates stripped the ball from Mario Fannin early in the scrimmage and picked up the defense’s lone turnover.

Of course, by doing that, he gave offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn a reason to talk less about the 82 points and more about how it could have been 100.

“The bottom line is turnovers and penalties are what we’ve been stressing,” Malzahn said. “We had three or four penalties and we had a turnover. So that ain’t good enough.”

Wide receiver Kodi Burns was the biggest recipient of unprompted praise from coach Gene Chizik. He caught two touchdowns from Newton and helped on special teams.

“I’m an athlete so I just go out there and run to the football,” Burns said. “That’s what special teams is about, it’s about running as fast as you can and not being scared to hit somebody.”

Fannin made up for his fumble — a problem he’s had in the past — by taking a short screen pass from Newton the distance for a long touchdown.

Asked about his touchdown catch, Fannin was brief. Asked about the fumble, he provided exquisite detail.

“I had it in my left arm and it slipped off my brace when I cut back across the field,” he said. “It slipped off my brace. I didn’t get hit.

“I had to do some up-downs for that one, but it was well worth it. You’ve got to have good ball protection.”

The running game as a whole, which ranked 13th in the nation last season, didn’t exactly excite Chizik or Malzahn. Fannin carried the ball “four or five” times, while freshman Michael Dyer ran it “10-15” times.

Dyer said he had “two or three” long runs and Chizik said he saw “signs of life,” but was frustrated with the push generated from Auburn’s veteran offensive line.

“We would have liked to run a little bit more than we did,” Chizik said. “But, again, us being physical up front and us dominating the in line of scrimmage, I don’t think we’re there.”

Auburn’s players are off from practice today while they attend their first day of classes, but the doors certainly won’t be locked at the Auburn Athletic Complex. Chizik and the entire staff will hold around-the-clock meetings, like they always do, to “discuss every position.”

“We’ve still got two and a half weeks left before we play, but we’ve got to make some decisions pretty quick,” Roof said. “When we start our actual game preparations for our first ballgame, we’ll be doing it with the guys we anticipate playing.”

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