Lost Spirit for AU

[autigeremt 6,657]

October 23rd, 2017

Auburn University, AL

   It's a Monday following a big win v/s Arkansas 52-20....doubling the line before the game and embarrassing another SEC foe with whom we've had trouble with in the past. And yet......ho hum. Another day at the park....another day on the Plains. At least that's the case in 2017. Not just at Auburn...but across the SEC for the most part. You have traditional powers like Florida barely hanging on (trending downward), Tennessee in a dumpster fire (after losing 11 straight to Alabama) and looking to replace a head coach. Multiple teams losing by huge margins week to week with just a few programs boasting winning seasons and a ranking in the polls.

There are two programs at the "top" with Alabama dominating the conference and Georgia trying to keep pace as they look for a spot in the final hour. Texas A&M is showing signs of improvement after blowing a 30 point lead to start the season, South Carolina is playing better than expected, LSU seems to be rebounding from a loss to Troy at home and yet things at Auburn (6-2, 4-1) feel like we belong more with Ole Miss Vanderbilt than the top of the conference. The loss to Clemson took preseason hype and twisted it into post season possibilities. The loss to LSU took that and set the place on fire. Gus being Gus has taken it's toll on Auburn and the Auburn Family. The Spirit That's Not Afraid looks more like the spirit that doesn't really care right now. We're just showing up. Fans and Alumni are just following the team instead of being hyped up about the next game. People are trying to reach from within and get excited but they can't. The two biggest rivals are number 1 and 3 (and undefeated) and await the Tigers down the line. Auburn just lost a game to their 3rd largest rival after  blowing a 20 point lead and seemingly in control of the game. If Auburn were to win out would an SEC title game appearance (and a rematch with Georgia) help? Would Auburn make it in the 4 team playoff were they to beat UGA twice, TAMU on the road and Bama at home? Does this question even matter anymore????? Only time will tell but here's something I have noticed with my own feelings the last three years. I've lost something. I don't feel the way I used to. And I know what it is!

I've lost my spirit. I've allowed a head coaches decision making, the actions (or inaction) of our AD and the performance of our rivals erode my spirit when it comes to Auburn Football and Auburn Athletics. I've also allowed the mistreatment of people at Auburn University by their superiors affect all of this as well. And that my friends is unacceptable.

Moving forward I hope everyone is able to maintain their "spirit" for Auburn. I know I want it back for myself. I'll deal with it in my own way but I see a lot of issues at Auburn right now and it is really starting to show with people that love Auburn and Auburn Athletics. I don't think the season is going to end well. I could easily see us going 1-3 over the last four games...even if the injured players are able to return 100%. I believe that can be justified by how the past three seasons have played out and I can't control that.

What I can control is my spirit....and I need to make sure that it's unafraid and back to where it needs to be. Enjoy the bye week my Auburn Family. War Damn Eagle!

[triangletiger 1,599]

I believe if we can manage to win the next 2 games, people will start queuing up to get back on the Gus bus.  Not actually climbing aboard, mind you, but at least standing at the bus stop.  If we manage to pull the upset over Alabama, Gus will, by and large, be back in our good graces.  I know that your post was about more than football, but I think winning will heal much of our spirit of apathy.

 

Of course (alas!), most of us are not expecting that to happen. 

[aubiefifty 16,846]

when you have auburn fans saying they hope we lose to arky so gus will be gone is probably one of the lowest things i have heard on here. that sort of thinking just blows my mind. real fans never pull against their team.

[jared52 4,354]

I think I have lost a lot of fire for college football as a whole. The NCAA has allowed an unlevel playing field that takes the uncertainly out of a lot of big outcomes. I am starting to feel for college football the way I feel about the NFL. There are those who spend the big money and get the big outcomes, those who are just on the cusp, and those you wonder why they even have a team. College football isn't fun anymore. Yeah, some of it is Gus and his strangeness. Some of it is JJ and his lack of leadership. But really, it's just fact that college football is a pro farm league now. It's outrageously expesive to go to the games now. We went to the MSU game, and had a great time, but it cost me almost $500 for my family of 4 to drive down from the Birmingham area, get 4 tix at slightly below face ($250 for 4), eat lunch at Niffer's (because you have to), get a shirt for my wife, a couple of cokes at the game, popcorn, pretzel, a couple of shakers, and a dozen Krispy Kremes for the way back. Yeah, we could have done without some of that, but just the tickets alone are just hard to stomach more than once a season.

But I know people will and do pay it because JHS is almost full every game, so economics says charge $75+ for an SEC game. But it's so much not about football any more, it's about money. And it just takes away the luster for me. I've grown to love the non-revenue sports more (soccer, softball, etc) because it still feels like a game, and not an enterprise.

[gravejd 3,270]

I can only speak for myself but i just don't have any trust what so ever in the coaching staff. I'll be really happy if we beat UGA or Bama this year but i don't expect it. I expect us to lose to A&M, UGA, and Bama. We'll finish the season 8-5 again. Gus will still be our head coach next year and we'll rinse and repeat. So its really hard for me to get pumped about beating the arkies and ol miss' of the world while i'm waiting for the yearly collapse to occur. Hell we could come out and beat A&M by 40 points and i'll still be expecting a beatdown by the pups and bammers. Just no faith what so ever that Gus is moving the program forward. 

[corchjay 5,311]

I’m not disagreeing with anyone that has already responded to the OP but I see it a little differently.  This has been a growing trend since 2004.  It gained even more traction after 2010 and 2013.  It’s either all or nothing for our fan base.  The general consensus is for us to have expectations like bammer.  Well we have them now.  How does it feel?  Soulless? Like the OP described.  Can’t enjoy a win because we worry what will happen the next week.  

I agree college football is a big business but that’s a totally different topic.

To put it into simple terms this was/is a 4 game season.  Clemson, LSU, UGA, and Bama.  We are 0-2 on the season.  If we were 2-0 everyone would feel much different. 

[alexava 6,973]

2 minutes ago, corchjay said:

I’m not disagreeing with anyone that has already responded to the OP but I see it a little differently.  This has been a growing trend since 2004.  It gained even more traction after 2010 and 2013.  It’s either all or nothing for our fan base.  The general consensus is for us to have expectations like bammer.  Well we have them now.  How does it feel?  Soulless? Like the OP described.  Can’t enjoy a win because we worry what will happen the next week.  

I agree college football is a big business but that’s a totally different topic.

To put it into simple terms this was/is a 4 game season.  Clemson, LSU, UGA, and Bama.  We are 0-2 on the season.  If we were 2-0 everyone would feel much different. 

1-1 would have worked. 

[AU64 10,122]

5 minutes ago, alexava said:

1-1 would have worked. 

Only if the win were Clemson...

[Deemer 47 74]

For all the O did against Arkansas, it still felt a bit strange. There is a plethora of talent, but I believe much of it is not being utilized correctly. NCM and even Kam Martin are almost ignored. Kam is almost a clone of Mcaleeb and should be seeing the field much more. Weather  Gus is too stubborn or just plain stupid to get out of the way for play calling is part of what may do him in. I think we squeak by A&M, give UGA a game but lose and actually give Bama a game but come up short. So I see a 8 to 9 win season, which has become all too familiar with Malzahn. The University needs to start by getting rid of Jacobs and go from there. Watching malzahns pressers after games are the same as repeat TV with the name of the opponent changed. No excuses now w 2 weeks to game plan and prep for A&M. 

[AUGunsmith 666]

51 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

when you have auburn fans saying they hope we lose to arky so gus will be gone is probably one of the lowest things i have heard on here. that sort of thinking just blows my mind. real fans never pull against their team.

For the players, I never want them to lose, however getting excited over beating an inferior team while losing badly while looking inept to teams of equal talent is the reason were are in this spot. 

Yea it sucks to see AU lose to anyone, but I'll take a losses now for the betterment of the program. 

Elite teams don't get excited for beating up on nobodies, they get excited for the games against the Bamas,  UGAs, Oks, FlSts, LSUs, etc. Beating Arkansas, miss, miss st should be happy, but business as usual. 

[lca408 366]

4 minutes ago, corchjay said:

I’m not disagreeing with anyone that has already responded to the OP but I see it a little differently.  This has been a growing trend since 2004.  It gained even more traction after 2010 and 2013.  It’s either all or nothing for our fan base.  The general consensus is for us to have expectations like bammer.  Well we have them now.  How does it feel?  Soulless? Like the OP described.  Can’t enjoy a win because we worry what will happen the next week.  

That's a direct result of Saban being at Alabama and having the success he's had. You start comparing yourself to another team, in this case, your bitter rival, and you get antsy. Auburn's had as much, if not more success than any other SEC team in that time span. The reason fans are upset is because we followed up 14-0 2010 with 7-5 2011 and eventually 3-9 2012. We followed up 12-2 2013 with 8-4 2014 and so on. Auburn fans can be appeased with 8-4 or 9-3 averages as long as UGA and UAT are being beaten regularly. Tubs did it for like 80% of his time at Auburn. Note that I said appeased, not necessarily pleased or excited. Of course you want to get to the mountaintop - who doesn't? What you don't want is the wild swinging inconsistency that we've seen in the program since Tubs left. If Auburn followed up 2013 with a 9-3 or 10-2 season that didn't make the playoff or Atlanta but made a big bowl game, Auburn fans would be okay, especially if one of those additional wins was over UGA or UAT.

I guess my point is, 8-4 is not a horrible record for a single season. It's better than a lot of SEC teams will have. But if you don't beat one of your rivals in that 8-4 season, and it just so happens to be the 4th year in a row that you lose to said rivals, there's gonna be a whole bunch of gnashing of teeth and it would be perfectly justified. I'd be okay with an 8-4 season as long as it was clear that Auburn was moving in the right direction and there was every indication that the team would be better the following year. 2017 was supposed to be that year for Auburn, especially with the returning talent and experience on defense, Stidham at QB and a deep RB backfield, Carlson back at kicker, etc. So far, it looks like another 8-4 season. Again, if that's taken on it's own, it doesn't have to be the end of the world. But you put that in the context of Malzahn's career at Auburn and things look bleak.

[AUMASTERS 555]

I don't lose my spirit until I log on this site every day; I don't expect us to lose to any of our remaining games, and am looking forward to the next one. While we should be unbeaten right now, and at the most had one loss, I know we also have the talent to play with anyone (if Gus will stay out of the way). I think there will be a lot of disappointed fans at the end of the year when you find out that Gus will be back, there are too many teams that are a lot worse off than us right now., and I believe we will win at least one of the Ga./bama games.

[AUIH1 1,515]

10 minutes ago, AUGunsmith said:

For the players, I never want them to lose, however getting excited over beating an inferior team while losing badly while looking inept to teams of equal talent is the reason were are in this spot. 

Yea it sucks to see AU lose to anyone, but I'll take a losses now for the betterment of the program. 

Elite teams don't get excited for beating up on nobodies, they get excited for the games against the Bamas,  UGAs, Oks, FlSts, LSUs, etc. Beating Arkansas, miss, miss st should be happy, but business as usual. 

I agree except that I never want us to lose.  Gus' inadequacies will continue to show against teams with equal talent.

wde

[ArgoEagle 1,792]

I believe what is holding the spirit down is the disappointment with turning the talent on our team into wins. If you compare our talent to the top 5 teams in the country, we are right there with them. The difference is they are undefeated and we lost 2 games we shouldn't have lost due to poor coaching decisions and lack of coaching straight up. We can't enjoy the games we are supposed to win handily b/c we know in the back of our minds that Gus is going to do something stupid as the hc to keep our season from being as good and successful as it should be. Frustration abounds so there's no joy.

[keesler 5,928]

1 hour ago, corchjay said:

To put it into simple terms this was/is a 4 game season.  Clemson, LSU, UGA, and Bama.  We are 0-2 on the season.  If we were 2-0 everyone would feel much different. 

Well hell yeah, we'd be sitting pretty at 8-0, ranked right up there with UAT/UGA in the top 5 and AU Tigers would be plastered all over the headlines as a true contender.  

As it stands though, AU is right back where we were this time last year and 1 win better than they were at this time in '15.  It was 100% on Gus to change the trend, and so far it looks the same.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

54 minutes ago, lca408 said:

I guess my point is, 8-4 is not a horrible record for a single season. It's better than a lot of SEC teams will have. But if you don't beat one of your rivals in that 8-4 season, and it just so happens to be the 4th year in a row that you lose to said rivals, there's gonna be a whole bunch of gnashing of teeth and it would be perfectly justified. 

All he had to do was beat uga last year. They were the worst uga team in a decade and we lost...again. That is all he had to do get people off of his back. 

[johnnyAU 3,635]

I agree with everything but the performance of our rivals part.  My frustration has nothing to do with the success or failure of Bama, UGA or LSU.  It all has to do with coaching stupidity and ineptitude at AD. 

[DAG 34,002]

3 hours ago, triangletiger said:

I believe if we can manage to win the next 2 games, people will start queuing up to get back on the Gus bus.  Not actually climbing aboard, mind you, but at least standing at the bus stop.  If we manage to pull the upset over Alabama, Gus will, by and large, be back in our good graces.  I know that your post was about more than football, but I think winning will heal much of our spirit of apathy.

 

Of course (alas!), most of us are not expecting that to happen. 

Doubtful . 3 games will impact how most fans feel about Gus. He has already fudged one of them 

[wareagle7298 126]

I just don't know, but my Saturdays now are a lot different than my Saturdays up to 10 years ago.  Probably like many fans, 2010 took a big monkey off my back that had been on there ever since I started watching football as a kid in the early 80s. I just have a lot of disappointment.  I feel like I will go through my entire lifetime never seeing Auburn have two truly great seasons in a row. Its rare for most teams, but it just seems like we always have the potential and never live up to it.  We could have gone 15-0 this year, and you could probably bet your house in Vegas that we would not win more than 8 games next year even if we had 85 players coming back.

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 hour ago, corchjay said:

I’m not disagreeing with anyone that has already responded to the OP but I see it a little differently.  This has been a growing trend since 2004.  It gained even more traction after 2010 and 2013.  It’s either all or nothing for our fan base.  The general consensus is for us to have expectations like bammer.  Well we have them now.  How does it feel?  Soulless? Like the OP described.  Can’t enjoy a win because we worry what will happen the next week.  

I agree college football is a big business but that’s a totally different topic.

To put it into simple terms this was/is a 4 game season.  Clemson, LSU, UGA, and Bama.  We are 0-2 on the season.  If we were 2-0 everyone would feel much different. 

Disagree. That feeling doesn't come from raised expectations or what is going on at other programs. It comes from having a coach who is willing and able to beat up on poor teams but who goes full chicken sh** when he faces a real team, or even a crap team that he really *needs* to beat. (See: UGA the last 3 years) It comes from having a coach who refuses to put any trust in any players except for a few in his trusted inner circle. It comes from watching talented players limited by their leadership year after year after year. 

[johnnyAU 3,635]

Not all spirit is gone, but it's on the down slope. I saw plenty of good Auburn folks in Auburn this weekend.  Most were having a good time. Though there was one truck driving around with a Fire Gus banner. 

 

[ToraGirl 5,498]

1 hour ago, lca408 said:

That's a direct result of Saban being at Alabama and having the success he's had. You start comparing yourself to another team, in this case, your bitter rival, and you get antsy. Auburn's had as much, if not more success than any other SEC team in that time span. The reason fans are upset is because we followed up 14-0 2010 with 7-5 2011 and eventually 3-9 2012. We followed up 12-2 2013 with 8-4 2014 and so on. Auburn fans can be appeased with 8-4 or 9-3 averages as long as UGA and UAT are being beaten regularly. Tubs did it for like 80% of his time at Auburn. Note that I said appeased, not necessarily pleased or excited. Of course you want to get to the mountaintop - who doesn't? What you don't want is the wild swinging inconsistency that we've seen in the program since Tubs left. If Auburn followed up 2013 with a 9-3 or 10-2 season that didn't make the playoff or Atlanta but made a big bowl game, Auburn fans would be okay, especially if one of those additional wins was over UGA or UAT.

I guess my point is, 8-4 is not a horrible record for a single season. It's better than a lot of SEC teams will have. But if you don't beat one of your rivals in that 8-4 season, and it just so happens to be the 4th year in a row that you lose to said rivals, there's gonna be a whole bunch of gnashing of teeth and it would be perfectly justified. I'd be okay with an 8-4 season as long as it was clear that Auburn was moving in the right direction and there was every indication that the team would be better the following year. 2017 was supposed to be that year for Auburn, especially with the returning talent and experience on defense, Stidham at QB and a deep RB backfield, Carlson back at kicker, etc. So far, it looks like another 8-4 season. Again, if that's taken on it's own, it doesn't have to be the end of the world. But you put that in the context of Malzahn's career at Auburn and things look bleak.

The emboldened sounds like the definition of either schizophrenia or whiplash, and I believe that truly is the underlying feeling of many...most?...at least me.  Losing winnable games hurts.  The method of losing hurts.  It does sour the winning...and although we represent a wide range of opinion regarding the pattern...PATTERN...we are seeing...there is definitely a clear and present pattern.  When you don't know what to expect, it's hard to have a center...and sometimes it's time to find a new one...for the time being.

I HATE that I hate to have any qualms about putting on my Auburn gear...but if I am honest, I admit I do, right now.  That's what repeated rival losses does...we don't get ragged by an occasional loss to someone far away.  It shouldn't matter, but of course it does, seeing as we choose what to support with whatever leftover energy we have just living at an increasingly insane pace, managing funds that are ever-increasingly hard to stretch.  Some of us (not me) pay a huge amount for this "hobby".  You want, you need your hobbies to energize you.  Having inferior talent and being unable to compete is one thing.  Having the right tools with the seeming unwillingness or ineptitude to use them in a way to build something successful is something else.  I WANT to support.  I WANT to believe.  Right now, I just believe in AUBURN--the school, my alma mater, Dad's profession, our hometown...itself.  I've enjoyed being "sunshine", and I won't quit, but in order to be so, I have to believe in what I am supporting.  There is a nerve that has been struck among us, because this "record" is a different sort of head-scratching.

Always Auburn....but passion is definitely on hold.  

[DAG 34,002]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Disagree. That feeling doesn't come from raised expectations or what is going on at other programs. It comes from having a coach who is willing and able to beat up on poor teams but who goes full chicken sh** when he faces a real team, or even a crap team that he really *needs* to beat. (See: UGA the last 3 years) It comes from having a coach who refuses to put any trust in any players except for a few in his trusted inner circle. It comes from watching talented players limited by their leadership year after year after year. 

Thank you . It’s never been about all or nothing . How hard is it to go 50-50 with your premier games ? 

 

Tally up Gus’s record against Clemson , UGA and LSU as a HC. I won’t even include Bama just to save face 

[bigsixfive 328]

Man I thought the eagle died based on the title. 

[BigWhiskey91 632]

59 minutes ago, DAG said:

Thank you . It’s never been about all or nothing . How hard is it to go 50-50 with your premier games ? 

 

Tally up Gus’s record against Clemson , UGA and LSU as a HC. I won’t even include Bama just to save face 

By saying what I am about to say, I am definitely not giving Gus a full pass on the losses, but it does suck that the last two years we havent had our starting QB healthy for UGA or Alabama. I think that hurt us for both the UGA games, but I dont think it would change much in the Iron Bowls. The 2016 game might've been able to take advantage of the short fields special teams and turnovers gave us. 

However, the reason why I dont give a pass is because in garbarge time, we dont rep our backups.