AU Toughest Schedule in the Nation

[AU-24 3,063]

Toughest overall Power 5 schedule

A handful of schools could make cases, particularly South Carolina, but nothing rises to the level of the gantlet staring Gus Malzahn and Auburn in the face this season. The Tigers face six of the top 12 teams in ESPN's latest Way-Too-Early preseason rankings, and four of those games are away from home. The Aug. 31 opener is against No. 10 Oregon in Arlington, Texas, followed by true road games against No. 12 Texas A&M on Sept. 21, No. 8 Florida on Oct. 5 and No. 9 LSU on Oct. 26. Of course, the "good news" is that Auburn returns home for its November grind ... against No. 3 Georgiaon Nov. 16 and No. 2 Alabama on Nov. 30. The proverbial hot seat has become all too familiar for Malzahn. When is it not for the head football coach on the Plains? But with a schedule like this, Malzahn's seat just got hotter -- if that's possible.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27019455/college-football-schedule-superlatives-2019-season

 

[Auctoritas 2,826]

[EagleEye67 1,937]

Could be a gauntlet....but could also be a ready-made excuse.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

AU is going to have a tough schedule every season, it's always been that way.  We're in the SEC.

[ellitor 33,062]

1 minute ago, dyehardfanAU said:

AU is going to have a tough schedule every season, it's always been that way.  We're in the SEC West.

FIFY.

[oracle79 3,569]

17 hours ago, EagleEye67 said:

Could be a gauntlet....but could also be a ready-made excuse.

I maybe misinterpreting your post, but this is YEAR 7, and Gus is calling plays.  There are no more excuses.

[EagleEye67 1,937]

1 hour ago, oracle79 said:

I maybe misinterpreting your post, but this is YEAR 7, and Gus is calling plays.  There are no more excuses.

I agree with you, but I meant that those who look for any excuse to excuse him for non-performance will seize on the schedule as another reason.

[AU-24 3,063]

I really had no intentions on turning this thread into yet another Gus bashing contest.

Also, it was not posted to make excuses for the upcoming season. I was simply pointing out, what even the national media realizes... our beloved Auburn Tigers have the toughest schedule in the entire country!

With that said, I guess you may resume the bashing.

[AU-24 3,063]

21 hours ago, dyehardfanAU said:

AU is going to have a tough schedule every season, it's always been that way.  We're in the SEC.

Toughest schedule in the SEC to include, the SEC East’s toughest teams: Georgia and Florida. Don’t forget we open with another Top 10 team; on a neutral field in Texas.

[aubiefifty 16,695]

i am going to throw loof a bone here. i forget which two years but there was a two year period in Gus's tenure that he only won two more games than he lost in that period. there are other bad periods. mr street had that nugget in his mag that just came out. i will pull for gus and the team with all my heart but it is do or die time. if he only wins eight or nine games but fights like hell in all of them i am good. but if he has another embarrassing game like the lus game or that awful ga game when they were pitiful. my heart wishes gud will wake up and be the coach we think he can be.

[auburnphan 6,050]

Toughest PRE-SEASON Schedule.  Really don’t care.  

[AUcivE09 582]

FWIW - I do not believe FL to be a top 10 team. Being in the East will get them some wins and hopefully pad our resume! I doubt they beat LSU or UGA or AU. 

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

1 hour ago, AU-24 said:

Toughest schedule in the SEC to include, the SEC East’s toughest teams: Georgia and Florida. Don’t forget we open with another Top 10 team; on a neutral field in Texas.

I find it hard to believe that Oregon will be pre-season top 10. They went 9-4 last year and didn't finish in the final top 25. Why would voters who didn't even put them in the top 25 at the end of last year suddenly push them all the way to the top 10 in the pre-season this year? 

Oregon will likely be ranked when we play them but top 10? No way, I just don't see that.

[Sizzle 3,909]

15 minutes ago, Auburnfan91 said:

I find it hard to believe that Oregon will be pre-season top 10. They went 9-4 last year and didn't finish in the final top 25. Why would voters who didn't even put them in the top 25 at the end of last year suddenly push them all the way to the top 10 in the pre-season this year? 

Oregon will likely be ranked when we play them but top 10? No way, I just don't see that.

They’ve got a projected top 5 player for next years draft at QB and if I’m not mistaken most of their important players offensively and defensively are coming back.  Their last recruiting class was good too especially with adding the #1 overall recruit in last years class. So the hype is understandable 

[AU-24 3,063]

13 hours ago, auburnphan said:

Toughest PRE-SEASON Schedule.  Really don’t care.  

Then why are you on here commenting? 

[auburnphan 6,050]

Just now, AU-24 said:

Then why are you on here commenting? 

just trying to slow down the excuse making for the sunshine pumpers.  and pointing out how stupid pre-season schedule ranking is.  Also I thought this was a discussion board where what you do is comment, so I thought I can have an opinion without needing your approval.

[Slammer1 409]

I totally agree that we have the toughest schedule of any of  the Power 5 leagues. And for all you Gus bashers out there here is a little stat that I looked up. Only two AU coaches post WWII have a better winning percentage than Gus, they are Pat Dye and Terry Bowden. Not Shug Jordan, Tommy Tuberville or Gene Chizik and as I have said in an earlier post Gus is still learning how t be a head coach. For his time at the helm he is way ahead of what the midget across the state accomplished during the same period of time. I think it has finally hit Gus that in order to keep his job he must be the play caller. But just remember he has one hell of row to hoe and let's see how the season progresses and .if he still blows it by making stupid mistakes then a search for a new coach might be warranted. Personally I think we have a great team and I know we will probably  lose a few but let's just see what happens. Ok, just my two cents worth.

WDE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Auburn_Tigers_head_football_coaches

[McLoofus 35,182]

28 minutes ago, Slammer1 said:

And for all you Gus bashers out there here is a little stat that I looked up.

We are all aware of his overall record. We are all aware of what previous coaches did.

Neither are germane to the discussion of whether or not he should be retained. 

[Slammer1 409]

7 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

We are all aware of his overall record. We are all aware of what previous coaches did.

Neither are germane to the discussion of whether or not he should be retained. 

Ok, McGoofus if you say so

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, Slammer1 said:

Ok, McGoofus if you say so

Haha, really? Wow. Okay.

So what does Gus's record in 2013- his first season, with another coach's players, and the tentpole for his 6-year win percentage- tell us about his job performance the last 4 years? What does it tell us about his ability to competently coach this football team in 2019?

What do Pat Dye's and Gene Chizik's overall records tell us about what kind of program we want Auburn to be, and how many games we should hope to win on average year-in, year-out?

Let's have a conversation! 

[gr82be 14,401]

41 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Haha, really? Wow. Okay.

So what does Gus's record in 2013- his first season, with another coach's players, and the tentpole for his 6-year win percentage- tell us about his job performance the last 4 years? What does it tell us about his ability to competently coach this football team in 2019?

What do Pat Dye's and Gene Chizik's overall records tell us about what kind of program we want Auburn to be, and how many games we should hope to win on average year-in, year-out?

Let's have a conversation! 

It doesn't have a thing to do with it and most know that. It's just more of the same logic that Auburn had always been a 8 win team so we'll always be an 8 win team. Several problems with that reasoning. The biggest is that 8 wins when you played 10 games is different from 8 wins when you play 13. The bar must be raised to be in a serious discussion about championship programs. A .700 winning percentage won't cut it. It's going to have to be .850 minimum now which is 11 games. It's simple to identify, harder to get there. Just because Gus is ballparking with Dye and Bowden doesn't mean crap. They didn't win a national championship either. 

[Mikey 16,545]

On 6/27/2019 at 5:35 AM, auburnphan said:

just trying to slow down the excuse making for the sunshine pumpers.  and pointing out how stupid pre-season schedule ranking is.  Also I thought this was a discussion board where what you do is comment, so I thought I can have an opinion without needing your approval.

It is a discussion board, but when you type in "Really don't care" the question of why you responded becomes legitimate.

[McLoofus 35,182]

6 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Just because Gus is ballparking with Dye and Bowden doesn't mean crap. They didn't win a national championship either. 

Bowden actually had a very similar arc. Even had the 5th-year blip that made it look like he was back in business. To be fair, Gus probably has the program in much healthier shape. 

Right now is when Gus could actually try to replicate what Dye did. Just hard to imagine when we know that, at a minimum, we replace 8 of 9 starters on the O and D lines in 2020. 

No matter what, though, it's like you said. Who cares what Auburn usually is and has historically been? Isn't it about what we want to be? And I've never even asked for a certain win total. I'm talking about having a good team consistently playing at least close to the best of its abilities. We haven't even approached that in 6 years. No, 2017 doesn't even come close because of the early season embarrassments in two massively important games. 

By the way, why on earth did we hire Bruce Pearl? We're not a Final Four basketball school. Never have been. Batting .850 two seasons in a row gets your name on a building at Auburn. Sonny Smith, Jeff Lebo... those guys were more our speed. Not sure why we went away from what we'd always done. 

[TigerFanAU 586]

On 6/27/2019 at 6:35 AM, auburnphan said:

just trying to slow down the excuse making for the sunshine pumpers.  and pointing out how stupid pre-season schedule ranking is.  Also I thought this was a discussion board where what you do is comment, so I thought I can have an opinion without needing your approval.

I don't see the rankings being that far off, with maybe the exception of Oregon and LSU.  But Dan Mullen won 10 games in his first year at UF last year, so they'll be better, UGA and Bama are annual powerhouses, Jimbo will have TAMU in better shape this year.

Oregon: 

[AU-24 3,063]

On 6/27/2019 at 6:35 AM, auburnphan said:

just trying to slow down the excuse making for the sunshine pumpers.  and pointing out how stupid pre-season schedule ranking is.  Also I thought this was a discussion board where what you do is comment, so I thought I can have an opinion without needing your approval.

Best of luck in ENG 101.