This game seemed to change the perception of how people view Auburn's potential for the rest of the season.
Today we are going to break down some film to see why this may have been Gus Malzahn's best-coached game in a while, and why Auburn was able to, at times, dominate a formidable opponent.
Auburn started the game off in the fastest possible set with Shivers in the backfield. This is fairly new play that Malzahn has not called a lot this season. This inverted veer play is usually a play that Joey Gatewood would run as he is seen as more of a power runner than Nix.
A&M seems to fully expect Shivers to get the ball, seeing Marquel Harrell pull. The left side of the offensive line blocks off any contact to Nix for nearly a 10-yard pickup.
In the above clip Anthony Schwartz takes off on an untouched 57-yard run. The defense is completely expecting a buck sweep, which would make sense. In Malzahn's tenure buck sweeps on short-yardage situations have always been his go-to.
This play does not happen without two crucial players. First, Bo Nix makes a soft block that secures Schwartz some open field to get going. Secondly, Sal Cannella runs his defender inside and helps sell the fake for Schwartz, then turns downfield for the deep safety.
This play is nothing too fancy, but it shows why the Gatewood is effective. Gatewood could have pulled this ball and also got a first down just as easily as Stove could have. Bo Nix is lined up at the bottom, which could add another wrinkle to this play in the future.
If anybody was missing the explosiveness of Schwartz, then you got a good helping of it in his first game without a cast. We see Malik Miller in the game, who makes a crucial block right after Schwartz receives the shovel toss from Nix. Seth Williams then guarantees a first down with a block on the corner.
From the very beginning this play is going to be a throw all the way, no way around it. John Samuel Shenker knew the throw would be there but the defense had the opposite opinion. The defense has not seen Gatewood throw all season, so they go all in on him trying to run it in. If this was somehow picked up then Gatewood had a wide-open Cannella also in the back of the end zone.
Auburn runs a classic GT counter that Gus likes to use quite often. Whitlow is showing that his patience is increasing even though he shoots for the hole before Jack Driscoll can finish his block. It is always a good thing though if a hole is there and the offensive lineman didn't have to block anyone.
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