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Here are some grades for the Auburn Tigers’ 2014 season:
OFFENSE: B
It took the Tigers a few weeks to hit its rhythm, struggling to put a full game together until Week 5 in a 41-7 drubbing of LSU. The late-season play of quarterback Nick Marshall validated the balanced offense claims head coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee spewed all offseason. Auburn ranked 25th in the FBS in scoring offense, averaging a tick more than 35 points per game. Cameron Artis-Payne anchored a run game that ranked No. 13 nationally with a per-game average of 255.5 yards per game. The culmination of Auburn’s offensive prowess came in the season finale against Alabama when Marshall set a school record for single-game passing yards while the Tigers rolled up more than 600 yards of total offense.
Marshall, Artis-Payne and wideout Sammie Coates — who was hampered through the first half of the year — all had huge seasons in their final curtain calls on the Plains. Auburn showed signs of greatness on offense in 2014, but earned a solid passing grade.
DEFENSE: F
Where to begin? After a pretty decent start on the defensive side of the ball — the Tigers allowed just 14.4 points per game through its first five games — the pieces fell apart for Auburn down the stretch. The defense surrendered at least 31 points and more than 400 yards of offense per game in each of its last eight games against FBS opponents, including the bowl loss to Wisconsin. Injuries and a lack of continuity played a role, but Auburn was abysmal on defense during the back half of the season and showed a glaring inability to make adjustments. The stretch was worse than any other in program history and led to Ellis Johnson’s firing.
No one around the program would say it, but the defensive failures late led to the destruction of a playoff contender. Auburn lost five of its final eight games to finish a mediocre 8-5.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B+
Daniel Carlson was fantastic in the kicking game all season for the Tigers, absent the two missed field goals against the Badgers in the Outback Bowl. Auburn finished fourth in the FBS in punt returns, averaging 17.8 yards per punt return. Senior Quan Bray had a great season returning punts; he returned two for touchdowns this season.
COACHING: C
Gus Malzahn and Rhett Lashlee had a good season calling the offense, though the Tigers were a bit more conservative throughout the course of the season. One of the few trick plays Auburn ran this season backfired late in the game against Wisconsin. The Tigers struggled to run at the tempo at which Malzahn likes to operate. The defensive coaching staff failed in 2014, bringing this grade down, unable to plug the leak that sank the Tigers this season.
OVERALL: C-
There’s no way around it: 2014 was a disappointing year two for the Auburn Tigers under Gus Malzahn. His first-year successes sent the expectations though the roof and, with the defensive lapses, injuries and inconsistencies, Auburn could not overcome a bevy of issues. Many questioned a lack of leadership, and while that’s tough to judge, Auburn took a step back this season and now enters a crucial year three under Malzahn on the Plains.
After living in Birmingham, Ala., Jordan left the ground zero of SEC Nation to head south to Florida to tell the unique stories of the renowned tradition of SEC football. In his free time, his mission is to find the best locales around.
