Guest Graphs: Minnesota stomps Auburn in the Outback Bowl

While the Alabama Crimson Tide was busy dispatching the Michigan Wolverines in the 2020 Citrus Bowl, the Auburn Tigers lost 24-31 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Yep. And the thing is ... the score looks a lot closer than the results appear to be. Auburn did their usual routine of playing up for Bama, then running out of luck—and losing to a relatively talent-deficient opponent—when they leave their home field.

By now, you know the drill on Guest Graphs: it’s not a Tide game so commentary will be limited, but I’ll hop in to laugh with you a time or two here.

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Team Success Rates (cumulative)

There you have it: the simplest representation of the Golden Gophers’ dominance in this one. The War Tigers got close late in the 3rd quarter, but were the considerably less efficient team all game long.

Success and Explosiveness by Quarter

Yep, nice work on that 3rd quarter, Bo and co.!

Play Map: Yards and Result by Play

Minnesota shows some pretty nice distribution outside of a lull in the 3rd quarter.

Auburn put up a hilariously bad distribution, though: they didn’t play very many plays, and didn’t do much with the ones they did. That’s a total of five explosive plays (15+ yards gained), with a long of 37 yards. Turns out when the other team (and the sky) don’t gift them a few TD’s this team looks a little different.

Success and Explosiveness by Play Type

Gophers > Tigers. You mean, running the ball? Yes. Also passing.

Success and Explosiveness by Down

The Gophers and Tigers both did fine on 4th down, but it’s very Auburn to also get an explosive play out of their 4th down attempt. I didn’t get to watch this whole game, but maybe that’s part of why the score looks as close as it does ... despite the obvious dominance in the numbers here.

Success and Explosiveness in the Red Zone

Well well, the Red Zone stats strike again! This was a stat that (of course) popped for the Tigers in the Iron Bowl (60% SR in the Red Zone), but there was a strong regression here. Shame we can’t see this out of them in Jordan Hare stadium every once in a while.

Rushing rate (cumulative), Minnesota

RTDB? Roll Darn Gophers.

Rushing and Passing Success (cumulative), Minnesota

It wasn’t extreme, but the Gophers ran and passed the ball reasonably well.

Rushing rate (cumulative), Auburn

Why was Auburn trying to pass so much?

Rushing and Passing Success (cumulative), Auburn

HAH! That’s why they were trying to pass so much! The Tigers didn’t have a successful run during the entire first half. Oh wow.

Top Runners, Minnesota

Another delightful chart: I don’t know who any of these players are, but Gopher RBs Mohamed Ibrahim and Rodney Smith seem to have done very well for themselves.

Top Passers, Minnesota

And speaking of the QB: when Tanner Morgan was actually passing, he fared well with a 53.3% passing success rate.

Top Receivers, Minnesota

Again, I’m unfamiliar with these players but at least a few seem to have done very well against the more-talented Tigers. In this chart, it’s receiver Tyler Johnson.

Top Tacklers, Minnesota

Top Runners, Auburn

Jatarvious Whitlow (aka, Boobie), and co. fared poorly.

Top Passers, Auburn

Actually Bo Nix didn’t do as poorly as I would have expected: a 48.3% SR and 13.7% XR isn’t bad!

Top Receivers, Auburn

The usual suspects here, with some pretty good balance outside of Seth Williams.

Top Tacklers, Auburn

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This was a fun one to review. Roll Tide.