Has it started?

[ToomersStreet 795]

September 13, 2015 in the  Auburn Football film room, Gus Malzahn, Rhett Lashlee, the rest of  the offensive staff the and at  least the first team offense, sat in the film room reviewing the Jacksonville State game.   It was a too close for comfort win over an inferior opponent.  Despite a 2-0 start to  the season, Jeremy Johnson's struggles and and the inability for  the offense to create a big play, an unsettling anxiety and quiet panic set in with Gus and Rhett as they realized Jeremy was not equipped  to  run the offense, and additional play makers (Duke Williams suspended for  fall camp and soon to be removed from the team) capable of making big plays were not on the offensive side of  the  ball.  Gus and Rhett struggled to  salvage the season (from what I was told the exact words Gus said while reviewing the film was "This isn't going to work.").

September 8, 2019.  No idea.  Wasn't there today.  Not going to be able to know anything for at least three or four more weeks.  QB is not the problem.  Impact players have not been benched or dismissed.  That  has been traded for an inept o-line and injuries to the receiving corp.  What do we know and what do we think?   Behind closed doors is there a since of  panic do to  a weak o-line?   Has the off season optimism turned into how can we win enough games to return next season? 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

If you're trying to say we'll go 8-5 this season, I agree.

[AUGunsmith 666]

Almost like the guy in charge isn't doing his job. 

[jptiger 481]

Almost like the man in charge can’t do the job. Some can. Some can’t. 

[around4ever 4,139]

40 minutes ago, dyehardfanAU said:

If you're trying to say we'll go 8-5 this season, I agree.

8-5?  That means we are 3-5 in conference play and get a patsy in the Birmingham Bowl.  Sorry but 3 wins in the conference, again, demands the HC be fired.   I honestly hope we can win 8 games. 

[ArgoEagle 1,784]

I think it's been obvious for several years that Gus is in over his head in this league. Yes he has pulled a couple of rabbits out of his hat in 13 and 17, but that was a mixture of excellent talent and a lot of luck (or God). I honestly believe Joey would do better in Gus' offense bc of a bad o line and a weak running game. Nix seems to do good when he's no pressured, but is way less effective when he is. That will probably change over time. Question is how many games will we lose before that happens? I believe we should at least give Joey an honest look and see if he handles the pressure any better. MHO. It's definitely on  Gus and the o line not, on Bo though, not throwing blame on him.

[ToomersStreet 795]

48 minutes ago, dyehardfanAU said:

If you're trying to say we'll go 8-5 this season, I agree.

Absolutely not!  I  am saying 6-6!

[Eagle-1 3,821]

Let's see, Ole Miss, Miss State, and Arkmart, are toss ups at this point. Florida game should be the lack of offense bowl. That one could go either way. Unless I'm missing one four SEC wins looks like the ceiling for what I've seen so far.

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

If we're comparing the 2015 season, I think the first problem was not pulling Jeremy Johnson soon enough. The second problem was not wrapping Sean White in bubble wrap. The third problem was the enigma of Jovon Robinson.

Bo Nix is young but even in a small sample size, I can't see him having the same head issues JJ had. But I will say, with our losses at wide receiver it's imperative that we find our rhythm in the run game. The ever optimist in me hopes that last night's results were because of our guys looking ahead 

Also I heard a good point in reference to the strength of Tulane's team. Had last night been against Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Vandy would we have viewed the results any different? Because most models have Tulane as the favorite over those teams. So while there wasn't much to be impressed about in last night's win, I'm not sure it's cause for worry (yet). Tulane is one of the better teams in arguably the best of the "Group of 5" conferences — not the second best team in FCS.

[tigerman1186 537]

I feel we have our  most competitive QB since Nick with Bo, it doesn't mean he's the best, but he has that 'it' factor that some of our others didn't have...with that being said, I believe it might come back to harm him as he seems to want to make a winning play every time, and some time you have to move on to the next play... a big issue is the play of our O-line....I believe we were all hoping that they would take control and open holes for the backs like we've seen by other lines in the past...I wonder if its coaching or the ability of our players???? I know it's been mentioned before, but after this year we'll have a new offensive and defensive line which makes 2020 a scary fb season.

[tbone1430 1,346]

“No doubt.”

[tigeraddikt 1,608]

It has started...Gus has started to wear his jammie shirts to press conferences.

[GoAU 1,600]

Has it started?  Did you mean “Has another thread about firing the coaching staff” started?

 

I would say say we should merge all the threads about the impending doom facing us this season, but then there’s only be a handful of threads to read here.....

[gr82be 14,423]

7 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

It has started...Gus has started to wear his jammie shirts to press conferences.

Channeling Bill Belichick? Wish he coached like him too.

 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

1 hour ago, Eagle-1 said:

Let's see, Ole Miss, Miss State, and Arkmart, are toss ups at this point. Florida game should be the lack of offense bowl. That one could go either way. Unless I'm missing one four SEC wins looks like the ceiling for what I've seen so far.

Come on. We are not going to lose to Ark or Ole Miss - they are terrible. Our defense is legit. Ms st should be a win since we are at home. FL is a toss up - on the road and they are ok. 

Tam is a Huge game for us. Huge. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

6 minutes ago, gr82b4au said:

Come on. We are not going to lose to Ark or Ole Miss - they are terrible. Our defense is legit. Ms st should be a win since we are at home. FL is a toss up - on the road and they are ok. 

Tam is a Huge game for us. Huge. 

I agree. I believe A&M decides Gus’s job. We aren’t beating LSU, UGA or bama. UF will be tough. But if he can beat the Aggies amd find a way to win at UF that’s probably a 9 win season. Despite still not competing with our rivals, he will keep his job amd the Gus crowd will deem it a success...Next year...more of the same.

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

I hope we are all overreacting. Gus likes to play with his food in these paycheck games, if we come out and push A&M around in two weeks everyone will forget we struggled against Tulane. But if this year looks like last year when it's all said and done it'll get mighty interesting around here come December. 

[AUFriction 1,179]

Is it time to for another thread where people complain about a win where we covered the spread? Is it time for another thread about how we should have beat a halfway decent team by more points? Is it time for another thread of overreacting to us not dominating a team that we were never going to lose to? Is it time for another thread where people forget that offenses in 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2017 (years that we were good) started out looking unimpressive and we had some close wins against teams we maybe should have dominated?

Dear God, I hope it isn’t time for one of those threads!

What is it time for? It’s time for people to stop overreacting. The mistakes made in this game are fixable. We’re 2-0, and our defense is going to keep us in games this season. Every one needs to chill.the.eff.out. If we lose to A&M in two weeks and look horrible doing it, we can start complaining. For now, put your big boy pants on and stop being whiners. We arguably have had the toughest two games in the SEC so far, and we’re 2-0. There are a lot of other teams that have little to celebrate at this point. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

2 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

Is it time to for another thread where people complain about a win where we covered the spread? Is it time for another thread about how we should have beat a halfway decent team by more points? Is it time for another thread of overreacting to us not dominating a team that we were never going to lose to? Is it time for another thread where people forget that offenses in 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2017 (years that we were good) started out looking unimpressive and we had some close wins against teams we maybe should have dominated?

Dear God, I hope it isn’t time for one of those threads!

What is it time for? It’s time for people to stop overreacting. The mistakes made in this game are fixable. We’re 2-0, and our defense is going to keep us in games this season. Every one needs to chill.the.eff.out. If we lose to A&M in two weeks and look horrible doing it, we can start complaining. For now, put your big boy pants on and stop being whiners.

You don’t see a pattern here bub? This season is about to go just like most of Gus’s seasons...I’m sure you were feeding us the same drivel last year and look how that one ended...Every single season but one has finished with us at 4 or more losses under Gus. Our OL still sucks, we have a freshman QB who is going to struggle in the pee wee offense we run and our poor defense will be worn out by mid season trying to carry Gus’s ass AGAIN. Writing is on the wall amd just like last year you don’t want to see it.

[AUFriction 1,179]

6 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

You don’t see a pattern here bub? This season is about to go just like most of Gus’s seasons...I’m sure you were feeding us the same drivel last year and look how that one ended...Every single season but one has finished with us at 4 or more losses under Gus. Our OL still sucks, we have a freshman QB who is going to struggle in the pee wee offense we run and our poor defense will be worn out by mid season trying to carry Gus’s ass AGAIN. Writing is on the wall amd just like last year you don’t want to see it.

Pass blocking was very good last night. They had no sacks, and only two hurried (which were both from corner blitzes). We had no holding penalties and only like 1 false start. Run blocking was inconsistent, but not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Some of that was number 77 for Tulane, who quite frankly is a beast. Some of it was play calling. We barely ran the ball inside in the first half. When we did, it was right into 77. We made an adjustment in the second half, and we ran the ball very well. Total yards and points were a little misleading because we got conservative in the fourth quarter, just trying to finish out the game with no more injuries. The last drive was almost 9 minutes long. If we had kept the foot on the pedal, we probably would have scored 2 or 3 more times. If we had kept our foot on the pedal, the final score would have been closer to 41-6, which is a solid win. But, considering our injuries, they smartly just ran out the clock. Also, the offensive game plan yesterday was VERY vanilla. The “creative” plays were the same plays we ran against Oregon. Why show anything unique against Tulane? Keep it vanilla so you can save some of the creative stuff for SEC play.

41-6 (which is what I think the score would have been if we had kept our foot on the pedal in the 4th) against a higher quality group of 5 is a solid win. So, no, I don’t think the panic is justified. But the panic stricken aren’t going to listen to facts and reason, so I might as well be saying this to a brick wall.

[Eagle-1 3,821]

7 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

Come on. We are not going to lose to Ark or Ole Miss - they are terrible. Our defense is legit. Ms st should be a win since we are at home. FL is a toss up - on the road and they are ok. 

Tam is a Huge game for us. Huge. 

I will remind you that Gus found a way to lose to Tennessee last season, to a terrible GA team a few years ago, so they're all toss ups to me. The Tennessee loss last season was with the exact same Offensive line he has this year.  The only difference is the QB from last season is now playing for the New England Patriots. Chew on that one for a while.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

After all this time, I don’t have any hope that the OL is gonna be any good this year.   

Sometimes the light comes on for Gus and he starts calling really good games after the 3rd or 4th game.   This doesn’t feel like one of those years.   It feels like another Gus-shell year.  

Our defense is championship caliber.  As long as they don’t have a game like MS St or UT last year, they will make sure we beat the teams we’re supposed to beat regardless of what the offense does.   

I don’t see us making the drastic changes needed to have a reasonable chance to beat the top 3 left on our schedule.  9-3 is the absolute best case scenario for this team.  A&M and UF will be really tough.  I’m sure they will both be favored.  We might get lucky and squeak one of them out (like A&M last year)   We should be favored against MS St but that game won’t be easy   We’ve got to do a lot better than what we saw Saturday   

Kent St, OM, Arky, and Samford are games we should definitely win.   So I put our floor at 6-6 (bowl eligible baby!!!)

So anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 seems realistic with 7-5 as our most likely destination.   

[TigerEyez13 46]

9 and 3 is attainable. We should beat aTm and Florida. It might be tough but our defense is a monster. The big three loom ominously, however. But, stuff happens. I just wish Gus would help Nix out with some throws to the tight end, and keep a blocking back nearby to pick up any defenders getting through the line, preferably a fullback/H-back who can catch and run the ball as well as block. But the HC is a stubborn mule about maintaining his tendencies. Consistency can be a bad thing, too.

 

I lost faith in Gus when he was adamant about playing Jeremy Johnson while he had Jonathan Wallace sitting on the bench or moving over to receiver. That showed me he had no clue about mental toughness and poise in the pocket. Gus can be brilliant at times, or really dumb. He fluctuates from one extreme to the other.

[johnnyAU 3,630]

For 6 out of the last 7 years, Gus has pulled one of these on the Auburn faithful. 

[DAG 33,982]

Okay I am as frustrated as anybody but people arkansas and ole miss aren’t toss up games. Have some clarity for a moment. With that being said, the quality teams will be a problem if we don’t figure out how to start games rolling and become more disciplined.