This interception by Jarrett Stidham is as ugly as it gets.
This Auburn trick play is great, but Tennessee demonstrates how to blow it up
The Tigers have a Wildcat play that is devastating when it hits, but it didn’t against Tennessee for a very specific reason.
But if it surprises you that Tennessee was able to blow it up the way they did, it shouldn’t. Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has seen this before ... because the Tigers torched his Alabama defense with it during the 2017 Iron Bowl.
This time, Pruitt’s defense was ready.
This is one of Auburn’s pet trick plays.
It’s a flea flicker lookin’ thingy, that has two options off of it for Stidham to hit.
When it works, here’s what it’s supposed to look like:
The motioning player who flips Stidham the ball (Stidham’s the blue arrow above) ends up going on a wheel route up the sideline. And there’s a slot receiver on a vertical route who can get behind the defense which is preoccupied by all the motion.
Stidham can either hit the deep slot guy, if he has enough time to set and fire, like he did against Mississippi State in 2017 for a big gain ...
... or he can throw to the motioning pitch guy, like he did against the Tide last season.
Auburn used this gain to ice the Iron Bowl and win the SEC West in the process.
Pruitt’s defense defended things differently this time around.
In the ‘17 Iron Bowl, Bama has a perimeter defender who ends up coming for Stidham — forcing the Wildcat QB to block — but it’s on a delay. This time, the Vols send a corner immediately into the backfield, he blows by the Wildcat QB, and puts pressure on Stidham.
And you can see Pruitt realize what’s happening and send his DB on a blitz at the last second.
This play is slightly different because the motioning player doesn’t immediately wheel up the sideline, he leaks out into the flat then turns around for the ball. Stidham’s just trying to make a play, and ends up making the bad throw.
The Tigers also put this on tape the week before, when they ran it again against Mississippi State for the second year in a row against the Bulldogs. It only failed because Stidham overthrew his slot receiver.
At this point, the play might just be a staple of Auburn’s offense — the Tigers are known to take a whirl at other flea flicker style trickerations. But either way, maybe don’t try it against a Pruitt defense again.
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