The Tragedy of Offensive Coordinator Scot Loeffler

WARNING: You may get triggered by reading this article, as it will undoubtedly describe some reoccurring frustrations you have seen with the offense.

http://www.thewareaglereader.com/2012/10/the-tragedy-of-offensive-coordinator-scot-i/#.VECO1RnD_qD

I guess I will quote some highlights, if you don't feel like reading the whole thing:

And after coming all that way and getting up early, to see this football team be so unprepared to play after a week off was staggering. We will go into detail on Loeffler below but I want to point out some specific things in the game that drove me bananas:

The useor non-useof fullback Jay Prosch is infuriating. What the heck are we doing with him???? With 40 seconds left in the first quarter we bring him into the game in the I-formation and then hand it to him. He gains a couple of yards and leaves the game. Carrying the ball or blocking, either one, Auburn ran the ball out of the I-formation with Prosch at fullback one time on Saturday. Once.

What did they do during the week off? How could this offense get worse against a defense that everyone else in the SEC tears up? And if it looks like this against Arkansas, what happens when we play UGA or bama? (Van notes: I think we all sort of know the answer to that question.)

Here is a simple question: What is Auburn trying to do on offense? We all see what the results are. But what is Auburns offensive identity supposed to be? You would think after watching every play of every game that we would all know this by now. We thought Loeffler was hired as a run-first guy but we are actually throwing the ball much more than last season. (The actual breakdown shows more run plays than passes, but when you account for all the scrambles and sacks, the numbers are much more even.) And the constant rotation of players and seemingly random play selection at times doesnt allow anyone to get a rhythm.

This offense is attempting to do way, way, way too much. And that is one of the reasons that execution is so bad. Pick a few things and execute them perfectly. We dont care if the playbook is thicker than the last volume of Harry Potter if we cant run mostor anyof them successfully or even competently. Oklahoma State is leading the nation in offense and they will often run the same play six times in a row on a drive. But they execute it well.

Teams practice so that they can execute during the game. And this Auburn offense cannot execute during the game.

Does any of this sound familiar? Was Beamer perhaps a little too optimistic on hiring an offensive coordinator coming off a historically bad year at Auburn? I'll admit, I was flabbergasted at the hiring when it was first announced. I was expecting these results, and, so far, I unfortunately haven't been surprised. I see a team that isn't taught to execute and an offense that plays to its weaknesses rather than its strengths. Now, we'll be stuck with an average to awful offense, while the defense will carry us to decent enough seasons to ensure that the needed changes on offense come way too late. I just hope that we learn from our mistakes. We could've been a powerhouse in the 2000s if we hadn't been in denial about our offense. Let's not repeat the same mistakes please, Virginia Tech football administration.