AU wins in 13. What is different?

[GwillMac6 20,671]

I WISH I could of worded it how I really wanted to which would of been if AU won it all in 2013 how different is our program BUT THE MOD NAZI's HATE long formed titles! lol that is the best I could do. Sorry guys I just am in desperate need of some good ol fashion football talk. This is the one I always come back to specifically for us. How different is our program if we close out fsu LIKE WE SHOULD OF!? I think about this game every day. I find myself staring out in to space replaying certain plays in my head. Usually the fake punt and the missed tackles our guys had on the final drive for fsu among other ones. The worst what if is the what if Tre Mason goes down and does not truck that guy and score? do we win then? sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think this REALLY even more legitimizes our program. 2 Natties in 4 years would of been a huge freaking deal. It would of vaulted us inside the top 10 programs nationally and not always hovered on the outside. This is the toughest loss for me personally I have ever endured as a Auburn fan. WE HAD IT. Another Natty. The greatest turnaround season in college football history. It was the storybook ending. I tell everyone a real legit hollywood movie would of been made about this team if we closed it out. SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....... 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

I don't think the program would be any different.  We might have a smaller group of doom and gloomers in the fan base, but we would probably also have a larger group of fans with way too high of expectations.

Nationally, I think it would have made no difference one way or the other.  We are going to always be an outsider looking in, because we aren't a University of ____ program with a multi-decade pedigree like the bamas, Michigans, Notre Dames, etc of the world.

[1auburn1 1,110]

Yes, those two plays plus the pulled hamstring and Flowers I believe it was inexplicably running to the middle of the field instead of covering his lane which led to the KO return TD.   Bigger picture, AU needs to get into the playoff soon to be seen as legitimate.   Per the media, '13 was a fluke (it wasn't), '10 was a $cam (it wasn't) and I'm sure the next one will be delegitimized somehow but Gus needs to get this program back into the championship picture once again.    Frankly, AU makes and spends too much money on the program to slump like we have the last 3 years.    Since we have been recruiting really well but still falling into 4th or 5th place in the SEC in the recruiting rankings, player development must improve if this is to happen.    We'll see if Lindsey can (or be allowed to) create a juggernaut O and if Steele can take what he gets and makes it much better.   These guys hold the keys to Gus' legacy, IMO.    

[Charhair 345]

It would have given us a nicer recruiting pitch and given our fanbase higher annual expectations, like lionheart said. 

Personally, the biggest thing about it for me was that I felt like our 2013 really deserved that NC. The way the preseason expectations (all the way up until post-LSU, really) compared to where we sat a week after the Iron Bowl was amazing. Watching the other teams lose to make way for us to earn a bid to the BCS as we beat the brakes off of Mizzou in the SECCG. I'm amazed it doesn't still keep me up at night. 

[oracle79 3,569]

Fake punt killed us.  5 billion people knew it was coming, but we didn't.  Total momentum shift, plus changed the halftime lead by at least 10 points.  But, it's over and probably for the better.  I can't even imagine the size of GM's ego and feeling of genius superiority if he had come back to Auburn and won the mythical BCS in his first year.  Had that happened, he would have never been open to changing anything.  As it is now, he's been humbled and is open to change and growth.  Depending on how this year turns out, it may have been the best thing to happen to Gus in his coaching career.

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,297]

47 minutes ago, oracle79 said:

Fake punt killed us.  5 billion people knew it was coming, but we didn't.  Total momentum shift, plus changed the halftime lead by at least 10 points.  But, it's over and probably for the better.  I can't even imagine the size of GM's ego and feeling of genius superiority if he had come back to Auburn and won the mythical BCS in his first year.  Had that happened, he would have never been open to changing anything.  As it is now, he's been humbled and is open to change and growth.  Depending on how this year turns out, it may have been the best thing to happen to Gus in his coaching career.

Spot. On. Bravo! You and @lionheartkc nailed it.

[AURex 1,994]

If "ifs and buts" were candy and nuts. Speculating about maybes and might-have-beens is a waste of the hours remaining in one's lifetime. The past is past. I'm more interested in the future.

 

[augolf1716 21,109]

but

[bigbird 60,512]

9 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

butt

Yes you are

[McLoofus 35,182]

Should HAVE, could HAVE, did not

[corchjay 5,311]

We would still have the old man defensive coaching staff... about the only difference I think.  Still wouldn't have made JJ6 any better or Sean any less fragile.  We would be just over paying coaches more. 

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

I cry hmmmm, once a week. 

[Rednilla 5,390]

There's really no way to know how it would have affected the program. On the one hand, as has been mentioned, it might well have solidified Malzahn in his ways, making him less able to adapt to the constantly changing college football landscape. And it assuredly would have raised the expectations of the fan base, particularly since that would have put us just one NC shy of Alabama between 09 and 13. We'd undoubtedly have had more bandwagon fans latch on, fans who would undoubtedly become very loud if we performed the same way in the following three seasons as we have without winning it all in 2013.

On the other hand, it might have made a difference in the way the 2014 team carried themselves. Maybe Nick Marshall doesn't fumble twice in critical situations against Texas A&M, we win that game, and finish the season with confidence (and perhaps another title). It most likely WOULD have made a difference in recruiting, telling every high school football player in America that Auburn is the real deal even without the greatest QB of a generation. Maybe it gets our foot in the door for a couple other QB prospects so we don't have to roll the dice with JF3, and a competent backup saves our season last year. 

The butterfly effect that winning the NC in '13 might have had is unknowable, because it didn't happen. Things could have gone in either direction very, very easily. However, as much as it can be positive to reflect on the past to learn from it, it can just as easily be damaging to languish in the what-could-have-been scenarios. Every now and then, I still wonder what might have happened if I had not been in the four wheeler wreck that left me comatose at age 13. Could I have built myself into enough of an athlete that I played college baseball or football? Or maybe I would have learned the work ethic necessary for academics in college, and not had the troubles I did, thus putting my life on a better trajectory than the one I'm on now? ...Or perhaps I would have done well enough in high school with such ease that I grew a big head, and failed spectacularly when I hit the real world, instead of clawing my way through as I have been.

Take my word for it when I say thinking about the what-ifs can be far more detrimental than the actual outcome of that game. There are too many variables at play for anyone except God to understand them all, so at the end of the day, the outcome is simply unknowable, and floundering about with wondering what, why, when, where, or how is ultimately pointless. Gotta keep your eyes forward...and the good news is that there is a great deal of positive potential on the Plains right now. What happens if we win it all THIS season? Does 2013 then become just a near miss in a powerhouse program's beginning of dominance? Do we reach that pinnacle of success where even the bammers of the world are forced to recognize they share the state with a truly formidable foe? Again, right now, that is unknowable, and getting too far ahead of ourselves can be just as detrimental as living in the past (where have you heard that before?). Still, if you want to think about possibilities, I would suggest that you focus on those of the present and the future, because the past isn't going to change whether we like it or not.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Jacobs gives out way too much money to Malzahn for this program to fall like it has during the past 3 years. 12-2, 8-5, 7-6, 8-5 = 35-18 overall in 4 years. However, we're just 23-16 in the last 3 years.

[augolf1716 21,109]

42 minutes ago, auburn4ever said:

Jacobs gives out way too much money to Malzahn for this program to fall like it has during the past 3 years. 12-2, 8-5, 7-6, 8-5 = 35-18 overall in 4 years. However, we're just 23-16 in the last 3 years.

Copy and paste copy and paste much a4e

[Win4AU 4,052]

I don't know if winning the NC would have added that much to recruiting.  Gus was one of the hottest coaches in the country after the turnaround in year 1.  Cowherd had his famous quote about Gus being better than Saban which hasn't come true yet.  I think most teams need at least 4 years under a coach to become consistent.  Saban's worst season other than his first was 2010.  Dabo is the same.  He was almost fired after his 3rd or 4th season and then started his run of 10 win seasons.  Last season could have been special if Sean and Bubba don't go down.  This season could be the beginning of a long string of 9-10 win seasons with special ones mixed in.