Mad or not?

[lionheartkc 6,150]

8 hours ago, AUwent said:

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but the oft-lamented (and I agree, maddening) statistic about our "two main" rivals the last three seasons makes me wonder if we no longer consider LSU a chief rival. I've always put them right up there with Georgia, and loved those mid-2000s contests with them. So it makes 2014 and '16 (somewhat) better if you say "three main rivals." This might be silly, but the Georgia rivalry was kind of ruined to me when the SEC changed their rotation patterns--I just feel like they should be at home on even years instead of odd (realignment was fun at first but I wish TAM and Mizz didn't join).

Nah... LSU has just been conveniently left out of all commentary by the doom and gloom crowd this year, because then they would have to admit that the team could perform well against a talented opponent, when none of our key players were hurt.  They are still, very much one of our chief rivals.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

Good article.  Good perspective.

Still, as much as I like Gus, he wasted the season.  We weren't prepared from day 1.  Too much time exploring too many options.  No coherent plan.  Totally reactive.

 

[lca408 366]

30 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Nah... LSU has just been conveniently left out of all commentary by the doom and gloom crowd this year, because then they would have to admit that the team could perform well against a talented opponent, when none of our key players were hurt.  They are still, very much one of our chief rivals.

True. And I agree, LSU being left off is kinda funny but in truth, that rivalry certainly has lost a lot of it's ferocity and importance, mainly with the gradual decline of LSU under Miles. The LSU rivalry, since 1992 at least, is mainly based on the divisional importance of the game, considering that outside of Alabama, Auburn and LSU are the other 2 traditional top dogs in the West and for those years in the late 90s to late 2000s, it was THE game. Since then, Alabama emerged as LSU's big rival, both Auburn and LSU have diminished on the whole from being year-in year-out competitors for the West consistently, and as such, I think the rivalry has taken a hit. If LSU improves under Orgeron and Auburn can get it's act together, I think it'll be more important going forward.

Georgia and Alabama are the more ingrained and instinctual rivals for Auburn from the first days of AU football. That's not going to change regardless of rankings or importance of the stakes.

[AUwent 3,748]

^Yeah, it just seemed kind of weird that people here were still carping after the LSU game. I mean, I was introduced to CFB when that game had such luster. I honestly wish the SEC would drop the permanent cross-division games. 3SiO hasn't been a contest (TN briefly looked like it was closing the gap) and DSOR...yeah. :vomit:

i was hoping TAMU would blossom into a rivalry--it has all the right ingredients--but no one really seems to care about that game.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

54 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Nah... LSU has just been conveniently left out of all commentary by the doom and gloom crowd this year, because then they would have to admit that the team could perform well against a talented opponent, when none of our key players were hurt.  They are still, very much one of our chief rivals.

This is exactly the case.  At the start of the season many were saying AU had to win at least 1 if not 2 of the 3 games.  Just like political debates, now that we beat LSU and it doesn't fit their agenda, they are conveniently left out.  Yes LSU has been a great rival for many years.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

11 minutes ago, AUwent said:

i was hoping TAMU would blossom into a rivalry--it has all the right ingredients--but no one really seems to care about that game.

I blame that on Sumlin. If he made more effort to honor the culture of the school with his team, I have not doubt that a gentleman rivalry would form.

[AUwent 3,748]

Yeah. I would love it if A--the SEC dropped every year division rivalries (it would benefit us and UTK) and B--we moved A&M to that Veteran's Day weekend spot. That game has had a very (old-time) DSOR feel to it, possibly because of the away team winning every game. It would take the place of the Georgia rivalry and give us one home game per year among our last two big games.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

46 minutes ago, lca408 said:

True. And I agree, LSU being left off is kinda funny but in truth, that rivalry certainly has lost a lot of it's ferocity and importance, mainly with the gradual decline of LSU under Miles. The LSU rivalry, since 1992 at least, is mainly based on the divisional importance of the game, considering that outside of Alabama, Auburn and LSU are the other 2 traditional top dogs in the West and for those years in the late 90s to late 2000s, it was THE game. Since then, Alabama emerged as LSU's big rival, both Auburn and LSU have diminished on the whole from being year-in year-out competitors for the West consistently, and as such, I think the rivalry has taken a hit. If LSU improves under Orgeron and Auburn can get it's act together, I think it'll be more important going forward.

Georgia and Alabama are the more ingrained and instinctual rivals for Auburn from the first days of AU football. That's not going to change regardless of rankings or importance of the stakes.

Cigars, Blazing Infernos, Earthquakes...

Epic Times.

 

We're back to more mundane episodes of deforestation.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

11 minutes ago, AUinTLoosa said:

Cigars, Blazing Infernos, Earthquakes...

Epic Times.

Don't forget interceptions...

[Tiger 8,818]

LSU game/rivalrly lost it's luster not because of Les Miles or LSU but because of us.

 

It was a big game yearly because it was either us or them winning/tying for the division for a nice stretch there in the early-mid 2000s. Then we fired Tubs and we've been on a wild roller coaster ride since and Bama/LSU game consistently became more meaningful from a national and SEC viewpoint because until the last 2 years LSU was still a big power while we were either a power or mediocre.

But yes, LSU is one of our main rivals. If we are ever comparing how we do against our chief competition or rivals IMO we should look at Bama, UGA, LSU, and TAMU now. We may not have a true "rivalry" with TAMU but that game is extremely critical each year as they are on par with us from a sheer talent standpoint. The Mississippi schools and Arky are teams we should go 3-0 against each year just off of talent. JMO

[McLoofus 35,182]

The 2006 LSU game was the most beautiful, perfect football game I've ever seen. I might've even said the same thing if we'd lost. 

In addition to the aforementioned "weird" games, we had such a nice string of tight finishes in that era. '04-'07... never seen anything like it. Almost literally the last play of the game 4 seasons in a row. And good teams on both sides each time. Unreal. 

 

[keesler 5,924]

10 hours ago, AUwent said:

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but the oft-lamented (and I agree, maddening) statistic about our "two main" rivals the last three seasons makes me wonder if we no longer consider LSU a chief rival. I've always put them right up there with Georgia, and loved those mid-2000s contests with them. So it makes 2014 and '16 (somewhat) better if you say "three main rivals." This might be silly, but the Georgia rivalry was kind of ruined to me when the SEC changed their rotation patterns--I just feel like they should be at home on even years instead of odd (realignment was fun at first but I wish TAM and Mizz didn't join).

LSU-UGA-UAT are our main rivals and always will be IMO.  

In the last decade, Auburn is 3-7 vs LSU,   2-8 vs UGA,   3-7 vs UAT.   A maddening statistic indeed!

[keesler 5,924]

45 minutes ago, Tiger said:

LSU game/rivalrly lost it's luster not because of Les Miles or LSU but because of us.

 

It was a big game yearly because it was either us or them winning/tying for the division for a nice stretch there in the early-mid 2000s. Then we fired Tubs and we've been on a wild roller coaster ride since and Bama/LSU game consistently became more meaningful from a national and SEC viewpoint because until the last 2 years LSU was still a big power while we were either a power or mediocre.

But yes, LSU is one of our main rivals. If we are ever comparing how we do against our chief competition or rivals IMO we should look at Bama, UGA, LSU, and TAMU now. We may not have a true "rivalry" with TAMU but that game is extremely critical each year as they are on par with us from a sheer talent standpoint. The Mississippi schools and Arky are teams we should go 3-0 against each year just off of talent. JMO

Good post - and I've ran out of "likes" for the day.

[AU64 10,122]

2 hours ago, keesler said:

Good post - and I've ran out of "likes" for the day.

Some good points but how many schools have 4 games each season that seem to fall into the rivalry category?     JMO but AU is in a unique situation where it has so many "must win" games on the schedule against teams that are consistently in the top 15 or so. ...tremendous pressure on the coaches and the players.

[AUwent 3,748]

4 hours ago, Tiger said:

LSU game/rivalrly lost it's luster not because of Les Miles or LSU but because of us.

 

It was a big game yearly because it was either us or them winning/tying for the division for a nice stretch there in the early-mid 2000s. Then we fired Tubs and we've been on a wild roller coaster ride since and Bama/LSU game consistently became more meaningful from a national and SEC viewpoint because until the last 2 years LSU was still a big power while we were either a power or mediocre.

But yes, LSU is one of our main rivals. If we are ever comparing how we do against our chief competition or rivals IMO we should look at Bama, UGA, LSU, and TAMU now. We may not have a true "rivalry" with TAMU but that game is extremely critical each year as they are on par with us from a sheer talent standpoint. The Mississippi schools and Arky are teams we should go 3-0 against each year just off of talent. JMO

I would agree with you if we were going by the Chizik era, but during the Malzahn era we've had equal to or better seasons than LSU all but one year. If we're talking about just coming in I can understand--unranked going into 2013 and 16, 18 with stock dropping rapidly in 15. I'd also like to point out that they had a far easier bowl opponent than us. L'ville lost to freaking KENTUCKY and got beat by Houston far worse than OK did the final two weeks of the regular season.

MTBGA (Make the Tiger Bowl Great Again)!