Is '8-5' Gus Malzahn due for a big year?

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,665]

46 minutes ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Or if that Miss St game went our way last year. That was piss poor officiating at its finest.

I dont think officiating had anything to do w how impotent they were run defense wise 

[Zeek 16,650]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Been consistent and clear. Need to have at least 9 victories and I think he will get it. Anything less will be disappointed 

I think 8 saves his job if the 4 are competitive games but I won't be pleased.

9 with this schedule and a true freshman at quarterback would be a solid showing if the offense is clicking. If the defense is carrying the team while Gus is 100% running the O then it's even more apparent he shouldn't be a part of the future for Auburn football. 10+ is what should happen with this roster and it still wouldn't guarantee anything for Gus; by that I mean that if next year he's back in that 6-8 win range then having one good year doesn't save him.

I personally have a hard time finding 9 wins.

Tulane, Kent State, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Samford are games I expect to win (putting us at 7 wins). Though most would argue Florida should be a "toss-up" game I really think we win that one by more than 10.

My two "maybe" picks are LSU (we should have clapped them last year and we definitely should this year but we haven't won at their stadium in forever) and Oregon (you never know with the first game, I'm still surprised by the Washington opener).

I'll be floored if we beat Georgia, Alabama, or Texas A&M. Of those three TAMU is the most likely but I picture Gus being out coached despite having two warm up games before playing the Aggies.

[Zeek 16,650]

10 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I dont think officiating had anything to do w how impotent they were run defense wise 

Agreed, that was an absolutely pathetic defensive game for us. They ran three plays and we did nothing to stop them, absolutely pathetic.

Now the LSU game is one I lay at the feet of the refs. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times but the refs absolutely r**** us on national television and there's nothing we could do about it. They made damn sure LSU got within a chip shot of field goal range.

[TexasTiger 12,847]

1 hour ago, doverstutts said:

if malzahn wins 9 regular season games, i'm off his butt forever, and you can write that down....but, he won't...the bright side of it all though, is after each game, its one week closer to basketball season

If he wins 9 I’m off him for 9 months.

[aujeff11 6,243]

2 hours ago, RunInRed said:

He pointed to “the best defensive line in the country” and “one of the best defenses in the country” he calls better than Alabama. Add that to an experienced offensive line, and Sheridan says, “they just need someone to put it together.”

Here is his wiggle room aka escape hatch. He propped us up on the pedestal so that he could watch the fall from it, and claim another disappointing season. 

 

Although I must say, even the outsiders seem to respect a job on the line Gus. 

[WDE0007 166]

The last time I felt this good prior to the season was 2013...I certainly didn't think that season would go the way it did, but how many fans did?  

Gus has the No. 1 dual threat QB in the country, which everybody keeps forgetting! He does best with a mobile QB who can throw, and he has that this year. So that, plus the loaded defense and offense...there's no reason for us to be 8-5. A 9-10 win season is definitely realistic. But we'll see how Oregon goes first. The 2016 season opener (Clemson) was the only time we lost the first game of the season in the Gus era (war flashbacks...*shudders*), so I feel good about it for the most part.

[DAG 33,981]

4 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I think 8 saves his job if the 4 are competitive games but I won't be pleased.

9 with this schedule and a true freshman at quarterback would be a solid showing if the offense is clicking. If the defense is carrying the team while Gus is 100% running the O then it's even more apparent he shouldn't be a part of the future for Auburn football. 10+ is what should happen with this roster and it still wouldn't guarantee anything for Gus; by that I mean that if next year he's back in that 6-8 win range then having one good year doesn't save him.

I personally have a hard time finding 9 wins.

Tulane, Kent State, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Samford are games I expect to win (putting us at 7 wins). Though most would argue Florida should be a "toss-up" game I really think we win that one by more than 10.

My two "maybe" picks are LSU (we should have clapped them last year and we definitely should this year but we haven't won at their stadium in forever) and Oregon (you never know with the first game, I'm still surprised by the Washington opener).

I'll be floored if we beat Georgia, Alabama, or Texas A&M. Of those three TAMU is the most likely but I picture Gus being out coached despite having two warm up games before playing the Aggies.

I hope 8 doesn’t. I really don’t. IMO, there isn’t a reason with the amount of games we play that we shouldn’t be able to win 9 games annually and consistently. I get 8 if it is a total rebuild but he already has lost the benefit of a doubt in those cases. 

[AUsince72 11,084]

1 hour ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Or if that Miss St game went our way last year. That was piss poor officiating at its finest.

I thought that was the LSU game...

[DAG 33,981]

2 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

If he wins 9 I’m off him for 9 months.

[AUsince72 11,084]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

I hope 8 doesn’t. I really don’t. IMO, there isn’t a reason with the amount of games we play that we shouldn’t be able to win 9 games annually and consistently. I get 8 if it is a total rebuild but he already has lost the benefit of a doubt in those cases. 

I agree. 

....and this is decidedly NOT a rebuilding year.

[aujeff11 6,243]

8 minutes ago, DAG said:

I hope 8 doesn’t. I really don’t. IMO, there isn’t a reason with the amount of games we play that we shouldn’t be able to win 9 games annually and consistently. I get 8 if it is a total rebuild but he already has lost the benefit of a doubt in those cases. 

Gus needs to win 9+ or less than 8. If he wins less than 8, at least we will know. 

8 is going to be a tough call, but idealistically we shouldn’t reward 8 win seasons. 9 either, but the SOS/ TF QB compromise can make 9 more reasonable.

[AUFriction 1,179]

24 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Injuries have robbed Auburn and Gus a couple times as well.  2015 and 2016 you could add the Georgia game to the win column if Sean White and all the running backs aren’t hurt.  Auburn moves right down the field against Oklahoma before Sean White breaks his arm in that game.  2016, 2017 could have been the allusive back to back 10 win seasons.  That leaves 2015 and 2018 as the only seasons most Auburn fans would have been disappointed by.  Hypothetical 12-2, 8-5, 7-6, 10-3 or 9-4, 10-4, 8-5.  I think most Auburn fans would feel better about that run.  

Also, I don't think anyone could have predicted the utter meltdown experienced by Jeremy Johnson. If he'd been a confident quarterback, I think the game would have slowed down for him more and that season would have been 10+ wins instead of 7.

[Zeek 16,650]

1 minute ago, aujeff11 said:

Gus needs to win 9+ or less than 8. 

8 is going to be a tough call, but idealistically we shouldn’t reward 8 win seasons. 9 either, but the SOS/ TF QB compromise can make 9 more reasonable.

This. Again, if he survives this year with 9 I think 9 is the minimum for the following year as well.

[IronMan70 3,277]

The defense will be very good. The offense has a Senior OL, some stud RBs and some impressive WRs. If a HC is going to start a TFr QB, that is the kind of talent he wants around the Freshman. However even though Nix is talented, he is still a TFr and Freshmen are Freshmen. With the talent Gus has available on offense and defense this year, wins should be anywhere from a minimum of 9 up to 10 or 11. The performance at the QB position will be the key. So is Gus due ? Hope so but who knows.

[AUFriction 1,179]

28 minutes ago, Zeek said:

I think 8 saves his job if the 4 are competitive games but I won't be pleased.

9 with this schedule and a true freshman at quarterback would be a solid showing if the offense is clicking. If the defense is carrying the team while Gus is 100% running the O then it's even more apparent he shouldn't be a part of the future for Auburn football. 10+ is what should happen with this roster and it still wouldn't guarantee anything for Gus; by that I mean that if next year he's back in that 6-8 win range then having one good year doesn't save him.

I personally have a hard time finding 9 wins.

Tulane, Kent State, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Samford are games I expect to win (putting us at 7 wins). Though most would argue Florida should be a "toss-up" game I really think we win that one by more than 10.

My two "maybe" picks are LSU (we should have clapped them last year and we definitely should this year but we haven't won at their stadium in forever) and Oregon (you never know with the first game, I'm still surprised by the Washington opener).

I'll be floored if we beat Georgia, Alabama, or Texas A&M. Of those three TAMU is the most likely but I picture Gus being out coached despite having two warm up games before playing the Aggies.

Honestly, I think everything kind of hinges on A&M. If we lose to Oregon, we have 2 games to fix whatever went wrong. But TAMU starts a difficult month of road games. If we fail to get healthy and fix whatever weaknesses are discovered in week 1 leading up to A&M, I could see us going 2-4 between Kent State and UGA, which would likely leave us at 5-7 on the year. I think Gus will know the gravity of that game, especially if we lose to Oregon in week 1. 

I'd agree that Tulane, Kent State Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Samford should be wins regardless. From a momentum standpoint, I'd worry about MSU and UF if we lose to A&M. If we get past A&M, I think we will win both. That would put us at 8-1 or 9-0 (depending on the Oregon game) going into LSU. If we are doing that well by the LSU game, I like our chances against LSU. IF that happens, we'd go into Amen Corner with no more than 1 loss, and we'd have a chance in one or both of those games. So 10-12 wins is absolutely doable. But (I think) a lot of it rides on that A&M game.

[mustache eagle 2,399]

I don’t give a rip what the reasons are ... Gus is in his 7th year as Auburn’s head coach.  We should be a perennial 10 win team.  Anything less than that is a failure on his part.  He’s in charge.

[DAG 33,981]

1 minute ago, AUFriction said:

Honestly, I think everything kind of hinges on A&M. If we lose to Oregon, we have 2 games to fix whatever went wrong. But TAMU starts a difficult month of road games. If we fail to get healthy and fix whatever weaknesses are discovered in weak 1 leading up to A&M, I could see us going 2-4 between Kent State and UGA, which would likely leave us at 5-7 on the year. I think Gus will know the gravity of that game, especially if we lose to Oregon in week 1. 

I'd agree that Tulane, Kent State Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Samford should be wins regardless. From a momentum standpoint, I'd worry about MSU and UF if we lose to A&M. If we get past A&M, I think we will win both. That would put us at 8-1 or 9-0 (depending on the Oregon game) going into LSU. If we are doing that well by the LSU game, I like our chances against LSU. IF that happens, we'd go into Amen Corner with no more than 1 loss, and we'd have a chance in one or both of those games. So 10-12 wins is absolutely doable. But (I think) a lot of it rides on that A&M game.

Honestly MSU should be a win regardless of UF, but they have been our Arkansas in the Gus Malzahn Era. Honestly, this weekend will tell a whole lot about UF. They lose to unranked Miami and that changes a lot of perspective. 

[AUFriction 1,179]

Just now, DAG said:

Honestly MSU should be a win regardless of UF, but they have been our Arkansas in the Gus Malzahn Era. Honestly, this weekend will tell a whole lot about UF. They lose to unranked Miami and that changes a lot of perspective. 

I agree with you. I could just see a let down after a loss to A&M. It feels a little bit like a trap game. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

7 minutes ago, DAG said:

Honestly MSU should be a win regardless of UF, but they have been our Arkansas in the Gus Malzahn Era. Honestly, this weekend will tell a whole lot about UF. They lose to unranked Miami and that changes a lot of perspective. 

Eh, Gus is 4-2 against 'em. I don't think they're necessarily a thorn in our side. I'm not buying Florida, but that seems to be a popular pick for a bust team. I agree, this weekend will say a lot about where UF is. 

[DAG 33,981]

3 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

Eh, Gus is 4-2 against 'em. I don't think they're necessarily a thorn in our side. I'm not buying Florida, but that seems to be a popular pick for a bust team. I agree, this weekend will say a lot about where UF is. 

I pretty sure Gus is equal with them. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

I pretty sure Gus is equal with them. 

Ah, you're correct, it's 3-3... I was counting 2014 for AU before I realized what game that was

[beaumak 174]

All I say is if he does have a big year, just don't give him any extensions or raises. He already inherently makes enough for a perennial football playoff coach.bonuses will suffice as they theoretically get to championship and playoff levels.

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

2 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

Eh, Gus is 4-2 against 'em. I don't think they're necessarily a thorn in our side. I'm not buying Florida, but that seems to be a popular pick for a bust team. I agree, this weekend will say a lot about where UF is. 

2013 vs MSU - W 24-20
2014 vs MSU - L 38-23
2015 vs MSU - L 17-9
2016 vs MSU - W 38-14
2017 vs MSU - W 49-10
2018 vs MSU - L 23-9

[DAG 33,981]

Just now, beaumak said:

All I say is if he does have a big year, just don't give him any extensions or raises. He already inherently makes enough for a perennial football playoff coach.bonuses will suffice as they theoretically get to championship and playoff levels.

Our AD has already put out fliers in regards to spending. I don't think that is happening

[beaumak 174]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

Our AD has already put out fliers in regards to spending. I don't think that is happening

well greene better keep green in his pocket.