Kirk Herbstreit weighs in on Auburn

[retirfire 5]

Auburn will be ready.  After last year, Gus will be looking to make a statement.  I believe the offense will be putting up big numbers, and the defense will be the best we'vest seen in a long time.

[75 Walk On 36]

Guess we will just have to watch and see?

[NCTiger1982 169]

When I read about realistic expectations, most realistic fans and other excuses to “accept” another year of underachievement I just think our biggest problem as a fan base is our acceptance of mediocrity. If we are committed to consistently being  an SECC & NC contender we have to stop making  excuses for poor performance trends. Some of our current bumps in the road are obviously from JJ hiring a HC with 1 year under his belt. I think Gus gets 2 more years to prove he has grown into the HC position regardless of our record this year. That said, the last place a HC should have problems for any extended period of time is the side he cut his teeth on. I am ready to see us kick some tail and also kick the excuses to the curb.

 

War Damn Eagle

 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

And, suddenly, we're one of his surprise teams and a dark horse to win the SEC...

http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Kirk-Herbstreit-picks-Auburn-as-sleeper-to-win-the-SEC-46938419?utm_source=247Sports Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=160824_105938_Auburn Tigers&utm_content=Link

[AUatHeart 624]

He's a goob

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

24 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

And, suddenly, we're one of his surprise teams and a dark horse to win the SEC...

http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Kirk-Herbstreit-picks-Auburn-as-sleeper-to-win-the-SEC-46938419?utm_source=247Sports Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=160824_105938_Auburn Tigers&utm_content=Link

"And if Malzahn were able to the Tigers back to the top in 2016, it would only be his second-most impressive turnaround as Auburn's head coach."

[AUsince72 11,084]

1 hour ago, lionheartkc said:

And, suddenly, we're one of his surprise teams and a dark horse to win the SEC...

http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Kirk-Herbstreit-picks-Auburn-as-sleeper-to-win-the-SEC-46938419?utm_source=247Sports Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=160824_105938_Auburn Tigers&utm_content=Link

The best thing about that story is the story about Stidham just below it... 

[looney 794]

Wouldn't surprise me to see him put out 7 different articles in the pre-season about who he thinks might win the SEC West.

[Rednilla 5,390]

32 minutes ago, bryanlooney said:

Wouldn't surprise me to see him put out 7 different articles in the pre-season about who he thinks might win the SEC West.

Honestly, it kinda makes sense for him to pick AU as a darkhorse. I mean, in spite of the prognostications and the struggles of the last year and a half, Auburn remains one of the three West schools to win the SEC over the last half century, and if looking outside of LSU-UAT for a winner of the division (and conference, for that matter), there are worse choices.

Besides, all we lack is stability at QB. Even with Jovon out, Kerryon Johnson is a stud who already has a year under his belt, the line is solid all the way across, and the receivers mix capable veterans with talented youth. And everyone here knows how good the defense can be. If someone steps up under center, this becomes a very dangerous test for everyone we play.

[boisnumber1 2,818]

21 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

Honestly, it kinda makes sense for him to pick AU as a darkhorse. I mean, in spite of the prognostications and the struggles of the last year and a half, Auburn remains one of the three West schools to win the SEC over the last half century, and if looking outside of LSU-UAT for a winner of the division (and conference, for that matter), there are worse choices.

Besides, all we lack is stability at QB. Even with Jovon out, Kerryon Johnson is a stud who already has a year under his belt, the line is solid all the way across, and the receivers mix capable veterans with talented youth. And everyone here knows how good the defense can be. If someone steps up under center, this becomes a very dangerous test for everyone we play.

Yep, its just a matter of getting on the field and seeing how that one major IF pans out.

[WDE Matty 30]

Hope he's right this time

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

May have already been mentioned but I think he also picked us as a sleeper in 2010 just saying maybe he is getting those vibes again

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Also be honest who thought in Aug 2010 or 2013 we would play for the title? Your probably lying if you said you did . Both years we were starting QBs that had less experience than two of our present QBs. WDE

[keesler 5,924]

Well I doubt LSU/UAT/OleMiss would be considered sleepers for the West, that leaves AU/MSU/aTm....I'd pick AU since we actually won the division twice in the last decade.  Soooo, Kirby went with the most likely "sleeper" of those three choices.

[VipersStrike1 230]

6 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

May have already been mentioned but I think he also picked us as a sleeper in 2010 just saying maybe he is getting those vibes again

He wasn't the only one. That was a heavily-laden Senior class with a friendly home schedule. The only tough road test was bammer, the last game of the season, giving the team time to gel.

1 minute ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

Also be honest who thought in Aug 2010 we would play for the title? Your probably lying if you said you did . Both years we were starting QBs that had less experience than two of our present QBs. WDE

*raises hand*

Had them going 14-0. Nope, not lying. Said our offense would break nearly every school record in the books. Yeah me, the pessimist.

Again, Senior-laden team. Experienced OL, WRs, DL and LBs.

Cam won the JUCO NC the year prior, so he had much more College experience than any current QB.

I watched all of his JUCO film available. I said he was going to be our Vince Young.

Cam's running game opened up all the running lanes for Dyer & O-Mac.

Dyer had the hype and lived up to it just enough to be a threat up the gut.

Cam made O-Mac a home run threat on the edge every carry.

Lutz was a very agile and sure-handed TE.

I also pegged Fairley as our best returning defensive player.

And again, the schedule was super friendly.

All of these factors were a recipe for a Championship team.

[Charhair 345]

He picked us to win the SEC in 2010 and had Cam as his dark horse hiesman both before week 1 in 2010. Dude does his research, at the least.

he also said he thought we'd be a "serious threat in the west if they can find a QB" before week 1 of 2013. 

He sees a top OL, top DL, good secondary, solid backfield and a bunch of talent at WR and says if we have a good QB we'll be good. Not too much of a stretch, he's just studied our depth chart and knows we are (as in pre2010 and pre2013) just a QB away.

[Tiger 8,819]

No question that there is loads of raw talent up and down this roster. We are just have a massive question mark at the one most important position. It fell favorably in our laps in 2010 and 2013, and also 2009 I'd add (let's not forget the cluster that happened in 08 -- 09 was a huge upgrade for us at the QB position). But in 2011, 2012, and 2015 our question marks flopped. So we are right at .500 right now in terms of QB question marks heading into the season in the past 7 years or so.

[VipersStrike1 230]

15 minutes ago, Charhair said:

He picked us to win the SEC in 2010

And then crapped the bed on Finebaum, picking bammer the week of the IB.

I suppose he was half right.

17 minutes ago, Charhair said:

He sees a solid backfield

We have a solid backfield?

[Woodstock Tiger 131]

50 minutes ago, VipersStrike1 said:

And then crapped the bed on Finebaum, picking bammer the week of the IB.

I suppose he was half right.

We have a solid backfield?

I would say it has POTENTIAL to be solid.  (After the way the two fullbacks ran in the spring game, I'd be happy giving those two the ball 10 times a game.  If ANY of the other 3 or 4 pan out, we may be onto something.  But that does seem an odd comment given what's transpired the last few months.)

[SumterAubie 3,031]

16 minutes ago, Woodstock Tiger said:

I would say it has POTENTIAL to be solid.  (After the way the two fullbacks ran in the spring game, I'd be happy giving those two the ball 10 times a game.  If ANY of the other 3 or 4 pan out, we may be onto something.  But that does seem an odd comment given what's transpired the last few months.)

Potential to be solid is correct. Especially considering the strength of the offensive line.

[AUwent 3,748]

1 hour ago, VipersStrike1 said:

He wasn't the only one. That was a heavily-laden Senior class with a friendly home schedule. The only tough road test was bammer, the last game of the season, giving the team time to gel.

*raises hand*

Had them going 14-0. Nope, not lying. Said our offense would break nearly every school record in the books. Yeah me, the pessimist.

Again, Senior-laden team. Experienced OL, WRs, DL and LBs.

Cam won the JUCO NC the year prior, so he had much more College experience than any current QB.

I watched all of his JUCO film available. I said he was going to be our Vince Young.

Cam's running game opened up all the running lanes for Dyer & O-Mac.

Dyer had the hype and lived up to it just enough to be a threat up the gut.

Cam made O-Mac a home run threat on the edge every carry.

Lutz was a very agile and sure-handed TE.

I also pegged Fairley as our best returning defensive player.

And again, the schedule was super friendly.

All of these factors were a recipe for a Championship team.

Not trying to prove a point or anything, I'm just curious: what were your predictions for the last 10 seasons--or, if you can't remember back that far, as far back as you can remember? If you were fairly accurate, I'm psyched...for 2017.

BTW, to think that Clemson was a dropped pass away from killing all of that...

[C'viewTiger 242]

3 hours ago, boisnumber1 said:

Yep, its just a matter of getting on the field and seeing how that one major IF pans out.

It's always about the'IF' isn't it. I mean that's why we play the games. Otherwise uat would just claim another natty every...Wait, never mind

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Viper strike to save you wasting your time replying to my quote, let me tell you a something. I truly believe you are a uat gump that likes to spend your time making comments on AU boards. I don't know if you are fooling anyone else but be assured you are not fooling me. WDE 

[austudnt23 1,432]

3 hours ago, VipersStrike1 said:

And then crapped the bed on Finebaum, picking bammer the week of the IB.

I suppose he was half right.

We have a solid backfield?

Yes we have a solid backfield. I was the first to say losing JR was a huge deal, but KP has been very solid and we all know KJ is electric. I still don't believe KJ is an every down back but with KP and KJ then add in KM we have a solid backfield. Then when you throw JF3 into the mix as a runner we are pretty dang good here. It all starts with the Oline though and imo we are very good here with the two best guards in the SEC leading the way for us. Leff is better than people give him credit and I think AG will be a good LT for us. Dampeer is my only question but I was told that he has been solid.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

2 hours ago, AU04ever said:

It's always about the'IF' isn't it. I mean that's why we play the games. Otherwise uat would just claim another natty every...Wait, never mind

  As well, I believe we have the potential...but I sure like it better when the prognosticators (and opposing fanbases) seem to have (at least publically) LOW expectations for Auburn.  It's so much fun proving them wrong.  Alas, it's probably better for fans when we do, too...not that we accept mediocrity...but that we believe our eyes, not the presses...and celebrate the strengths and good trends we see as easily as we pick apart the opposite.