Auburn did not play anywhere near its best offensive game of Gus Malzahn’s tenure on Saturday in the Georgia Dome, but offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee believes the Tigers learned some lessons that can help them down the road.
“Anytime you can win and have a lot of things to correct and clean up, it’s a whole lot more fun than doing it after a loss,” Lashlee said on Sunday. “I think sometimes the first game of the year, you’re trying to learn your new team and how everybody is going to come together and how guys are going to respond to certain situations. We saw a lot of different things last night; a lot of different pieces of adversity hit us … I think it will be good for us down the road that we’ve experienced those things.”
One of the more troubling aspects of the offensive performance for most Tiger fans was the play of new starting quarterback Jeremy Johnson. Johnson entered the season with high expectations but struggled against Louisville, tossing three interceptions and throwing only 11 completions for 137 yards.
Despite the performance, Lashlee is not worried about Johnson moving forward.
“Jeremy’s going to be fine,” Lashlee said. “I’ve got as much confidence, if not more, today in Jeremy than I had before the game. Jeremy was pressing; he was trying to make some plays. That happens. He did make several uncharacteristic decisions of himself. He knows that cost us and we can’t do that. There’s nobody more disappointed and ready to atone for that than Jeremy.”
Lashlee said Johnson was “pressing,” but he recognized his mistakes in the game and is ready to improve and move forward.
“It’s just a matter of him trying to do too much and just trying to make a play that’s not there instead of making the easy play,” Lashlee said. “No one knows more than him that we have to protect the ball better moving forward.”
Auburn saw two of its running backs, Roc Thomas and Jovon Robinson, limp off the Georgia Dome turf on Saturday. The two backs are “day-to-day,” according to Lashlee.
“[They] should be fine, nothing major,” Lashlee said. “They just weren’t able to go back in last night, but we’re not concerned at all long-term with those guys.”
With the other two backs out, sophomore Peyton Barber emerged for Auburn, carrying the ball 24 times for 115 yards.
“We’re going to need them all, but I was really proud of Peyton,” Lashlee said. “He was going to play anyway, but he really stepped in and carried the load.”
Freshmen Chandler Cox and Kamryn Pettway played at H-back against Louisville, and Lashlee was “pleased” with the performance of both.
“Mentally, we didn’t have a lot of missed assignments and mistakes in that regard,” Lashlee said. “It’s a lot of technique, or just over time becoming more physical. For that being both their first college game, we got a good foundation to build on.”
Looking forward to this week in practice, Lashlee said the team is focused on improving itself and getting ready for FCS foe Jacksonville State, not on the Tigers’ bout versus LSU in Baton Rouge on Sept. 19.
“Zero preparation for LSU,” Lashlee said. “That’s just not how we work … It’s going to be a whole lot about us and trying to improve. Usually you make a lot of improvements from game one to game two. We’ve got a lot to correct from an offensive standpoint.”
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