Will we beat Clemson this year?

[Charhair 345]

No idea. Should we? Yes. 

Past few seasons have taught me that I know nothing when it comes to predicting how well Gus's teams will perform. 

Having a (possibly) new QB, (possibly) banged up 2nd RB, (possibly) without who many assumed would be WR 1, welcoming in a GT OL and a 5* OT for fall, etc, makes it even harder. 

I'm looking for defensive consistency. Replacing Mont, Carl and Rudy seems like the biggest turnover we've had defensively in terms of "big name" players since 2010. I could be wrong there, that's off the top of my head/opinionated. 

If our defensive is able to pick up where they left off last year, for the most part, we should be able to stick around in any game this season. With how our QBs and offense looked with last years starting QB and RB sitting on the sideline, we should be able to win shoot outs too. But of course, I thought the same thing about the 2015 offense. 

 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Their defense is going to be very, very good. It may be better than ours. I would say it would be equivalent to the top 1/3 of the SEC. Their offense should be decent but not great yet. It will take a great game by our boys to win on the road in a top 10 match-up. 

 

[AUwent 3,747]

1 hour ago, Charhair said:

No idea. Should we? Yes. 

Past few seasons have taught me that I know nothing when it comes to predicting how well Gus's teams will perform. 

Having a (possibly) new QB, (possibly) banged up 2nd RB, (possibly) without who many assumed would be WR 1, welcoming in a GT OL and a 5* OT for fall, etc, makes it even harder. 

I'm looking for defensive consistency. Replacing Mont, Carl and Rudy seems like the biggest turnover we've had defensively in terms of "big name" players since 2010. I could be wrong there, that's off the top of my head/opinionated. 

If our defensive is able to pick up where they left off last year, for the most part, we should be able to stick around in any game this season. With how our QBs and offense looked with last years starting QB and RB sitting on the sideline, we should be able to win shoot outs too. But of course, I thought the same thing about the 2015 offense. 

 

'18 is gonna be a rebuild on the OL. NO EXCUSES for this years unit to suck. Not sure if KD was expected to be #1. In any case, NCM and ED say hi. I'm done with the "let's be realistic guys...". NO DAMN EXCUSES this year. 10 wins AT LEAST. If Herb screws it up with more cutesy mix and match...:banghead:

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

Their defense is going to be very, very good. It may be better than ours. I would say it would be equivalent to the top 1/3 of the SEC. Their offense should be decent but not great yet. It will take a great game by our boys to win on the road in a top 10 match-up. 

 

before or after the game?

[GwillMac6 20,656]

This clemson team feels a little like that 2011 game where no one knew who Tajh Boyd was.. until he played us and absolutely eviscerated us. I have learned to never doubt dabo now as much as I despise him. He reloads not rebuilds now like other top programs. They are a recruiting machine. They sign smaller classes but absolutely nail most of the blue chippers they zero in on. They on paper do not have the same firepower as the last 2 years but they can easily still beat us since it is a home game for them. Unlike that 2011 game our offense will be a lot better and have the firepower to go in there and get a early season defining win.

[WFE12 9,191]

As long as we can survive the summer without the "auburn player gets arrested for something stupid" crap and every one is healthy for the first game and plays we WILL be ready from that tune up game. Bring it on Yabba Dabba!!!

[AUpreacherman22 3,879]

I like our chances. And I definitely like that we get them early.  

It could be a signature win early that builds the confidence needed for a playoff run. #sunshinepump

Or it could be a character building loss that motivates the team for a playoff run. #silverlining

[AUwent 3,747]

41 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

This clemson team feels a little like that 2011 game where no one knew who Tajh Boyd was.. until he played us and absolutely eviscerated us. I have learned to never doubt dabo now as much as I despise him. He reloads not rebuilds now like other top programs. They are a recruiting machine. They sign smaller classes but absolutely nail most of the blue chippers they zero in on. They on paper do not have the same firepower as the last 2 years but they can easily still beat us since it is a home game for them. Unlike that 2011 game our offense will be a lot better and have the firepower to go in there and get a early season defining win.

I expect us to be a lot better than we were in 2011.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

45 minutes ago, AUinTLoosa said:

before or after the game?

I would not be surprised if we are ranked pretty darn high in week 2 especially if we crush our opening opponent (which we should). Top 10 is not out of the question. People think very highly of our team (see the ESPN preseason FPI where we are ranked 5th). Since we are playing the ACC, we may be the ABC 2:30 game of the week (i would imagine the Oklahoma-Ohio State game will be the night game). Or ESPN may want us for the night game. 

 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

3 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I expect us to be a lot better than we were in 2011.

Agreed. We have a good QB, a good defense, and the best kicker in the country. That makes us dangerous. Most years when we are good, we are REALLY good. I hope this is one of those years. But this Clemson game, like 2010 when we barely won, is crucial for momentum. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

29 minutes ago, WFE12 said:

As long as we can survive the summer without the "auburn player gets arrested for something stupid" crap and every one is healthy for the first game and plays we WILL be ready from that tune up game. Bring it on Yabba Dabba!!!

Can't even find any Fulmer Cup interim standings yet. By my count, we're not even eligible yet.

[GwillMac6 20,656]

11 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I expect us to be a lot better than we were in 2011.

lol I said that in my post. OUCH.

[augolf1716 21,101]

6 hours ago, thaitopher said:

None of Clemson's quarterbacks this year really scare me that much...except for Hunter Johnson, a five star recruit who will be a true freshman in 2017, but was an early enrollee. He was the #30 ranked player in the country and the #2 ranked Pro style quarterback recruit in the 2017 class. If he does play, then it is definitely a good thing that Auburn gets Clemson early in the season because it will probably take him a few games to really get his feet wet.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/2/9/14461272/hunter-johnson-clemson-qb-deshaun-watson-2017

Agree they have no set QB at the moment and all 4 looked good and bad in their spring game.....as for their defense they will be very good imo

[TigerWar 82]

9 hours ago, thaitopher said:

That was EXACTLY what we said when we played them last year. If you remember, they lost a LOT of defensive starters after the 2015 season so Auburn assumed that we had a really good chance to beat them. There is even a thread on it that is like 50 pages or something. Little did we know that they had a TON of really elite defensive talent coming in that didn't start the prior year. I think the same can be said of their new offensive players. Their new QB was a highly rated recruit who has now had some time under his belt to learn the system. He may not be a Deshaun Watson, but with the defense they have, he doesn't need to be.

We almost beat them with the worst offensive gameplan in the history of football.

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

13 hours ago, abw0004 said:

We lost in the very last seconds and would have won if Sean White played the whole game.

Why is this a common belief? Didn't Deshaun Watson lead his team to 4 TDs in the 2nd half against the #1 defense in the country? Didn't he drive his team 68 yards in 2 minutes to beat the #1 defense in the country with one second left for the national title? Hell, he almost pulled it off the year prior (3 TDs and 2 FGs in the 2nd half).

But no way he could have mustered half that effort against us if needed?

[abw0004 10,109]

8 hours ago, Scotty2Hotty said:

Why is this a common belief? Didn't Deshaun Watson lead his team to 4 TDs in the 2nd half against the #1 defense in the country? Didn't he drive his team 68 yards in 2 minutes to beat the #1 defense in the country with one second left for the national title? Hell, he almost pulled it off the year prior (3 TDs and 2 FGs in the 2nd half).

But no way he could have mustered half that effort against us if needed?

Did you not watch our game?  And you are trying to talk about a different team that was not us.  We had a different game plan defensively than Alabama, and ours worked.  We just did not have an offense that was clicking in any way, shape, or form.

You are more than welcome to look at that many threads from last year that discussed this, but the subject has been beaten to death and explained many times.  Welcome to the forum, by the way.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

I remember us having a close game with alabama in 15, and a close one with both alabama and clemson in 16. With that said those auburn teams had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We lulled those teams to sleep with our terrible offense. The opposing coaching staffs played conservatively because they knew we weren't going to be much of a offensive threat and they didn't need to take big risks on big plays. If either offense had to turn it on to beat us they would have done so more than likely. 

 

This game with clemson is different. They know we will be a huge threat this year and will play their best game against us. However, I think we pull out the victory in a close one.

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

56 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

Did you not watch our game?  And you are trying to talk about a different team that was not us.  We had a different game plan defensively than Alabama, and ours worked.  We just did not have an offense that was clicking in any way, shape, or form.

You are more than welcome to look at that many threads from last year that discussed this, but the subject has been beaten to death and explained many times.  Welcome to the forum, by the way.

Of course I watched all the games. Did you? We were not going to beat Clemson with White or anyone else playing all game, not with Deshaun Watson on the other bench.

[bigbird 60,439]

14 minutes ago, Scotty2Hotty said:

Of course I watched all the games. Did you? We were not going to beat Clemson with White or anyone else playing all game, not with Deshaun Watson on the other bench.

If we had started and played Sean the whole game last year against Clemson, we would've won. Period.  As is, with the most absurd cluster of a game plan and some of the most baffling play calling ever, we were 1 play away from winning.  

[Strychnine 1,802]

23 minutes ago, bigbird said:

If we had started and played Sean the whole game last year against Clemson, we would've won. Period.  As is, with the most absurd cluster of a game plan and some of the most baffling play calling ever, we were 1 play away from winning.  

 

I would have thought that still obvious to everyone.  The nature of how winnable that game remained all the way to the end is why the QB truffle shuffle gameplan was even more infuriating that it would have been otherwise.

[abw0004 10,109]

46 minutes ago, Scotty2Hotty said:

Of course I watched all the games. Did you? We were not going to beat Clemson with White or anyone else playing all game, not with Deshaun Watson on the other bench.

As you can see from the responses to your post, I was trying to help you in recommending you look at the previous threads on this so you can see why I was right.  Was not trying to be a jerk, just knew what the outcome would be on this forum.

[DAG 33,957]

51 minutes ago, AU80cruiser said:

I remember us having a close game with alabama in 15, and a close one with both alabama and clemson in 16. With that said those auburn teams had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We lulled those teams to sleep with our terrible offense. The opposing coaching staffs played conservatively because they knew we weren't going to be much of a offensive threat and they didn't need to take big risks on big plays. If either offense had to turn it on to beat us they would have done so more than likely. 

 

This game with clemson is different. They know we will be a huge threat this year and will play their best game against us. However, I think we pull out the victory in a close one.

 

This is pretty spot on accurate. Except, I do think in 16 we had a legitimate defense which caused serious problems for Clemson.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Last year was the best defense we have had in over a decade. Agree that is why we were in just about every game last year (minus the bowl). Hopefully we will once again have a good defense that will be combined with a great offense. 

[Beaker 2,457]

We win by 10 I believe.  One caveat - we must play to our strengths and don't try to outhink/outcoach ourselves or Sweeny.  Pat Dye style - line up and play ball.  

[oracle79 3,569]

On 4/10/2017 at 0:17 PM, AUBwins said:

Georgia Southern can give you fits.

Yep, not the brightest scheduling move (but not surprising given our AD).  I'm sure most have seen it but it deserves another listen.  I don't like this game at all.