Will we beat Clemson this year?

[ToomersStreet 795]

2 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Regarding your 2nd paragraph it's certainly possible I confuse our 3rd quarter ineptitude on offense as trying to pump the brakes and an attempt to take the air out of the ball and just coast to a win. But I do think you're right about the HC in training comment and that costs us big time. But unfortunately we knew we were in for this type of thing when we hired a guy with a whopping 12 games of experience under his belt as a HC.

That is just as likely.  Reality is we don't know.  I think Gus doesn't make good adjustment but maybe he is pumping the breaks. 

[oracle79 3,569]

26 minutes ago, ToomersStreet said:

Last year MSU 34-14?

I really hope you're right about him learning his lesson, but this isn't the game to reference.  We were up 35 - 0 at halftime!  I was LIVID after the 2nd half of that game; probably moreso than any loss we had last year.

If we are up by whatever score, every coach in the room at halftime best be in GM's ear saying don't let up, keep pouring it on.

[doc4aday 1,887]

There will be a lot of pent up frustration that will be taken out on a Clemson team whose talent may be rather good, but nowhere good enough to beat an Auburn team loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. You will see an Auburn team that will run it down Clemson's throat and will pass the ball with precision at will.

Revenge is a just one of the many words used to describe the final outcome of this game. I see an Auburn team starting the first snap whose mission is to make believers out of each opponent that confronts us. Good times are just around the corner for Auburn Football folks. Enjoy what is coming your way folks!  It will be far better than you imagine folks!

[AUIH1 1,515]

We have the talent to compete just like last year but Clemson has a better coaching staff (especially at HC and DC) and they are playing at home so they have the edge going in.

[McLoofus 35,182]

17 hours ago, Tiger said:

Regarding your 2nd paragraph it's certainly possible I confuse our 3rd quarter ineptitude on offense as trying to pump the brakes and an attempt to take the air out of the ball and just coast to a win. But I do think you're right about the HC in training comment and that costs us big time. But unfortunately we knew we were in for this type of thing when we hired a guy with a whopping 12 games of experience under his belt as a HC.

Gus's offenses have also sucked in the 3rd quarter in close games and games we were behind in. Not every game, but in too many of them. I don't think he's been misguided or inexperienced enough to pump the brakes that early in a game on purpose. He just hasn't shown himself to be a halftime wizard. 

Great point from Toomers, though, about the learning on the job thing. It's something we knew when he was hired, but it doesn't really make it less frustrating to watch it play out. We can only hope that he is actually learning from his growing pains. 

[bigbird 60,498]

I wish Gus could have the halftime adjustments that Roof did/does

[abw0004 10,110]

17 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I wish Gus could have the halftime adjustments that Roof did/does

Well isn't that what Borges is for now?  Helping us fix mistakes quickly and adjusting if Chip and Gus miss something down on the field?

I know I am a huge Gus fan, but every deficiency we have bashed him for last year, he has managed to fix heading into 2017.  Defense was terrible, and had a revolving door of coaches?  Brought in Kevin Steele who said he would like to retire here and stay for the long term.  Needs to be more of a CEO, and not micromanage everyone?  Lets Kevin Steele go out and hire his own DB coach in Greg Brown.  Need a QB guru who can air it out?  Hires Chip Lindsey.  Need another stud recruiter?  Hired Porter.  And lastly, Gus has the inability to adjust at halftime?  Find an overqualified Al Borges who can do that.  I think Gus has finally put the pieces together on learning his strengths, recognizing his weaknesses, and finding people who can take over those weaknesses.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Saban.  If you recall my thread about Saban's early coaching years, he was not successful for about 5-7 years.  Looking forward to good days ahead of us ladies and gentlemen.  

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

25 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I hope Chip is as good at halftime adjustments that Roof did/does.

fify 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

1 minute ago, abw0004 said:

Well isn't that what Borges is for now?  Helping us fix mistakes quickly and adjusting if Chip and Gus miss something down on the field?

I know I am a huge Gus fan, but every deficiency we have bashed him for last year, he has managed to fix heading into 2017.  Defense was terrible, and had a revolving door of coaches?  Brought in Kevin Steele who said he would like to retire here and stay for the long term.  Needs to be more of a CEO, and not micromanage everyone?  Lets Kevin Steele go out and hire his own DB coach in Greg Brown.  Need a QB guru who can air it out?  Hires Chip Lindsey.  Need another stud recruiter?  Hired Porter.  And lastly, Gus has the inability to adjust at halftime?  Find an overqualified Al Borges who can do that.  I think Gus has finally put the pieces together on learning his strengths, recognizing his weaknesses, and finding people who can take over those weaknesses.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Saban.  If you recall my thread about Saban's early coaching years, he was not successful for about 5-7 years.  Looking forward to good days ahead of us ladies and gentlemen.  

I'd pump the brakes on how big of a role Al will have on the offense. Just sayin. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, abw0004 said:

I know I am a huge Gus fan, but every deficiency we have bashed him for last year, he has managed to fix heading into 2017.  

He has addressed his deficiencies. It remains to be seen whether he has fixed them, and whether or not he will revert to old tendencies when things get hairy. 

Quote

And lastly, Gus has the inability to adjust at halftime?  Find an overqualified Al Borges who can do that.  

I think you're making a big leap there. As WDEWDE said faster than I evidently can, Borges might not be the guy to do that. Also, there's no guarantee that he *can*. His last good SEC offense happened 11 years ago.

Quote

If you recall my thread about Saban's early coaching years, he was not successful for about 5-7 years.  

And then after he learned how to be successful, a school of Auburn's caliber hired him. 

[abw0004 10,110]

15 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

And then after he learned how to be successful, a school of Auburn's caliber hired him. 

The only problem with waiting like that is another school can come along and hire him and do whatever it takes to keep him, then you miss out.  It's a risk/reward with people like Gus Malzahn, Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffen, etc.  For me, it is worth the risk with Gus.  And I hope 2017 will show why my thinking is correct.  He has made all of the right moves so far this offseason.  Even some moves most people did not think could even happen.

[Tiger 8,819]

18 hours ago, WFE12 said:

I don't know if I can say that I have confidence in Gus right now even with all the moves that he's made, but if whoever got him to make those moves gets it in his head to keep a lead foot on the pedal I'm all in the season. If he changed the other stuff this is another blatant issue that he should see that needs to be solved.

I don't blame you. I'm in the same boat. Gus has lost some of that prior trust with me (lol that ever so valuable trust from me) and there's only one way to find out! September can't get here soon enough.

[McLoofus 35,182]

20 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

The only problem with waiting like that is another school can come along and hire him and do whatever it takes to keep him, then you miss out.  It's a risk/reward with people like Gus Malzahn, Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffen, etc.  For me, it is worth the risk with Gus.  And I hope 2017 will show why my thinking is correct.  He has made all of the right moves so far this offseason.  Even some moves most people did not think could even happen.

All fair and good points. 

But I do understand and sometimes indulge in the frustration of watching our guy learn on the job while the other guy rewrites history. 

[Tiger 8,819]

18 hours ago, ToomersStreet said:

That is just as likely.  Reality is we don't know.  I think Gus doesn't make good adjustment but maybe he is pumping the breaks. 

It could even be a combination of both.

[Tiger 8,819]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Gus's offenses have also sucked in the 3rd quarter in close games and games we were behind in. Not every game, but in too many of them. I don't think he's been misguided or inexperienced enough to pump the brakes that early in a game on purpose. He just hasn't shown himself to be a halftime wizard. 

Great point from Toomers, though, about the learning on the job thing. It's something we knew when he was hired, but it doesn't really make it less frustrating to watch it play out. We can only hope that he is actually learning from his growing pains. 

That's a good point. I guess I still have thoughts of Tubs' goal of getting to 17 pts in the 1st half then trying to bleed the other team out the rest of the game. Gus definitely struggles to make game-changing adjustments at the half. Hoping CCL helps with this.

Spot on about us knowing what we were getting into but that not making the deficiencies any less frustrating.

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, Tiger said:

That's a good point. I guess I still have thoughts of Tubs' goal of getting to 17 pts in the 1st half then trying to bleed the other team out the rest of the game. Gus definitely struggles to make game-changing adjustments at the half. Hoping CCL helps with this.

Spot on about us knowing what we were getting into but that not making the deficiencies any less frustrating.

Yeah, I definitely believe it was a conscious decision with Tubs. 

[ellitor 33,085]

2 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I'd pump the brakes on how big of a role Al will have on the offense. Just sayin. 

I'd pay attention to this statement. Just sayin.

[CCslim 56]

Looking at the Clemson spring game, they are struggling on offense particularly at the QB spot.

they have a lone way to go over the summer 

[thaitopher 807]

1 hour ago, CCslim said:

Looking at the Clemson spring game, they are struggling on offense particularly at the QB spot.

they have a lone way to go over the summer 

That's probably because they played the first team defense which might even have a better defense than Bama this year.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

On 4/15/2017 at 11:45 AM, thaitopher said:

That's probably because they played the first team defense which might even have a better defense than Bama this year.

No, they actually weren't that good in the spring game. I expect them to be better though by fall so its really a moot point on my behalf. 

[C'viewTiger 242]

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:49 AM, lionheartkc said:

I would argue that, across the board, Gus is slow to react. He's the kind of chess player who has to really think through each move. That's why it takes 2-3 games for him to determine the team's identity and a whole quarter to adjust to his opponent's adjustments.  Hopefully Chip and a more open offense will speed all of those things up.

It seems to me that if he made half time adjustments you would see them in the 3rd qtr.  If it takes seeing them in the 4th qtr then it seems like he's making 3rd qtr adjustments to the other team's half time adjustments. 

Very rarely, have I seen Gus make changes that were reflected in the 3d qtr success against a quality team.  I definitely don't see him as a chess player as they always seem to be able to anticipate what the opponent is doing. Gus seems to have to react...

[AUIH1 1,515]

On 4/14/2017 at 10:05 AM, bigbird said:

I wish Gus could have the halftime adjustments that Roof did/does

If only Roof could have the D prepared to start the game.  Him and Pelton are not exactly blazing a trail of good D at GT.  I will give him credit for making halftime adjustments though.  That he was so good at that just intensified my frustration with him.

 

wde

[bigbird 60,498]

6 minutes ago, AUIH1 said:

If only Roof could have the D prepared to start the game.  Him and Pelton are not exactly blazing a trail of good D at GT.  I will give him credit for making halftime adjustments though.  That he was so good at that just intensified my frustration with him.

 

wde

1st half D was an amalgam of Chizik, Bolt and others. 2nd half was all TR.  Every DC we had prior to Gus taking over had a lot of help given to them.

[augolf1716 21,109]

24 minutes ago, bigbird said:

1st half D was an amalgam of Chizik, Bolt and others. 2nd half was all TR.  Every DC we had prior to Gus taking over had a lot of help given to them.

yep hate to agree with young feathered one but he's correct

[AUIH1 1,515]

25 minutes ago, bigbird said:

1st half D was an amalgam of Chizik, Bolt and others. 2nd half was all TR.  Every DC we had prior to Gus taking over had a lot of help given to them.

I know that you and austudent22 from the ITAT board are fans of Roof (and I respect that), but I never was a huge fan of Roof as a DC.  I do think he was better than Ellis though.  FWIW, the fact that Bolt had any input at all is reason enough to question the Chizik hire by the PTB.  

 

wde