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AUBURN — It didn’t have much of affect on the final outcome, but it was still concerning to watch.
Early in the second quarter of Auburn football’s win over Samford on Saturday, the Tigers lined up to go for it on fourth down. Auburn was a yard away from the first-down marker, and quarterback Payton Thorne took the snap in the shotgun before handing the ball to running back Damari Alston.
Alston was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage, never even given a real chance to reach the line to gain. It was emblematic of what turned out to be an overall disappointing performance on the ground for the Tigers; Thorne registered a career-best 123 rushing yards, but that production came primarily off of scrambles and keepers.
Auburn’s running backs, meanwhile, combined for 86 yards on 28 carries − that’s a little less than 3.1 yards a pop against an FCS team. Far from ideal.
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“We really didn’t didn’t run the ball as well as I’d hoped in this past game,” Freeze said Monday. “But some of that (was because) they were committed to stopping the run. I mean, they were really anchored in there and bringing the safeties down to the box. Thus we got some explosive pass plays.
“But we’ve said all along we feel good about that (running back) room and I think it’s important that we keep them fresh and rotate those guys and try to play to some of their strengths. … We will continue to explore ways to to get our best guys on the field.”
Rotation is paramount for the Tigers. Between Alston, junior Jarquez Hunter, true freshman Jeremiah Cobb and South Florida transfer Brian Battie, Auburn has four more-than-capable running backs at its…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/examining-auburn-footballs-ground-attack-141335156.html?src=rss
Author : The Montgomery Advertiser
Publish date : 2023-09-19 14:13:35
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