View from a Pessimist

[lost 452]

If you have read my posts on here you probably already sense I am more a pessimist than optimist.  Starting the season I had picked AU to garner 8-9 wins.  I know it is early in the season and we have have won both games so far.  We beat a good Oregon and good Tulane team.  That should have settled any doubts, but the way we won have caused my pessimistic side to rise up again.  Now i wonder if we are able to win 8?  I realistically see 5 losses possibly in the future, starting with the Aggies.  

I think we have the weapons offensively to win 9 games, even with the ones hurt.  I don't think we have a coach who is willing to step out of his comfort zone and use them in the proper manner.  To have Shiver, Boobee, Martin, Miller and Joiner available and only be willing to use them in packages is ridiculous.  Everybody in the stadium knows the play when they trot in.  To have 2 qb's and refuse to allow BOTH free reign of the offense , or again to bring one in and only allow him to run a set play is cancer to your offense.

I believe Bo is a very capable qb,WHO  in a top offense , would be a superstar.  But Gus may ruin him if he does not allow him to grow.  The playcalling has been awful, and even his own team called him out against Oregon.  If there is no change and he( Coach Malzhan) continues to believe he can run 3-4 plays and do what he did in 2013, we will lose 5 games and he will be gone.   I believe Gatewood has superb talent and it needs to be utilized also with Bo.

[Auctoritas 2,826]

I'm glad someone finally started a thread on this.

[CodeRocket 410]

42 minutes ago, lost said:

we will lose 5 games and he will be gone

Have you looked at the buyout at the end of this season plus the money owed to assistants? We may well lose five games but I think he will be back in (2020). My guess is that a new facility, the existing staff financial obligations, and the cost of a new coaching staff might be north of (90) million. Yikes!

[toddc 13,194]

Nothing new here that hasn’t been beaten to death! Stop with the new threads on things said in literally every other one!

[Carnell 592]

59 minutes ago, lost said:

If you have read my posts on here you probably already sense I am more a pessimist than optimist.  Starting the season I had picked AU to garner 8-9 wins.  I know it is early in the season and we have have won both games so far.  We beat a good Oregon and good Tulane team.  That should have settled any doubts, but the way we won have caused my pessimistic side to rise up again.  Now i wonder if we are able to win 8?  I realistically see 5 losses possibly in the future, starting with the Aggies.  

I think we have the weapons offensively to win 9 games, even with the ones hurt.  I don't think we have a coach who is willing to step out of his comfort zone and use them in the proper manner.  To have Shiver, Boobee, Martin, Miller and Joiner available and only be willing to use them in packages is ridiculous.  Everybody in the stadium knows the play when they trot in.  To have 2 qb's and refuse to allow BOTH free reign of the offense , or again to bring one in and only allow him to run a set play is cancer to your offense.

I believe Bo is a very capable qb,WHO  in a top offense , would be a superstar.  But Gus may ruin him if he does not allow him to grow.  The playcalling has been awful, and even his own team called him out against Oregon.  If there is no change and he( Coach Malzhan) continues to believe he can run 3-4 plays and do what he did in 2013, we will lose 5 games and he will be gone.   I believe Gatewood has superb talent and it needs to be utilized also with Bo.

You stated we dont have a coach willing to step out of his comfort zone.  I say we have a coach that does not know how to step out of his comfort zone.

[lost 452]

13 minutes ago, toddc said:

Nothing new here that hasn’t been beaten to death! Stop with the new threads on things said in literally every other one!

Thanks Todd.   Oh to have your wisdom and knowledge.  I could be a bama fan with that wit.  Unfortunately I have not had time to read every post on this board.  And these things were very concerning to me.  Enough to start a new thread.  Delete it if you feel you must.  I don't care.  I got it out and said

[abw0004 10,102]

1 hour ago, lost said:

If you have read my posts on here you probably already sense I am more a pessimist than optimist.  Starting the season I had picked AU to garner 8-9 wins.  I know it is early in the season and we have have won both games so far.  We beat a good Oregon and good Tulane team.  That should have settled any doubts, but the way we won have caused my pessimistic side to rise up again.  Now i wonder if we are able to win 8?  I realistically see 5 losses possibly in the future, starting with the Aggies.  

I think we have the weapons offensively to win 9 games, even with the ones hurt.  I don't think we have a coach who is willing to step out of his comfort zone and use them in the proper manner.  To have Shiver, Boobee, Martin, Miller and Joiner available and only be willing to use them in packages is ridiculous.  Everybody in the stadium knows the play when they trot in.  To have 2 qb's and refuse to allow BOTH free reign of the offense , or again to bring one in and only allow him to run a set play is cancer to your offense.

I believe Bo is a very capable qb,WHO  in a top offense , would be a superstar.  But Gus may ruin him if he does not allow him to grow.  The playcalling has been awful, and even his own team called him out against Oregon.  If there is no change and he( Coach Malzhan) continues to believe he can run 3-4 plays and do what he did in 2013, we will lose 5 games and he will be gone.   I believe Gatewood has superb talent and it needs to be utilized also with Bo.

I actually didn't think this was that pessimistic.  Just cautious.  Either way I think you did a good job explaining your viewpoint.  My only question is when did Gus' own team call him out against Oregon?

[Mikey 16,540]

1 hour ago, lost said:

I believe Gatewood has superb talent and it needs to be utilized also with Bo.

On this point, the old adage "If you have a multiple QB system it means you don't have a first team QB" seems to apply. They are both raw. One or the other of them needs a bunch of snaps to gain experience and Nix has been chosen to be that one.

Considering the schedule, a 9-3 season would be a remarkable accomplishment. I'm expecting no worse than that.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Turn that frown upside down. 

[1auburn1 1,104]

I thought everybody was happy with Gus.......

[Carnell 592]

19 minutes ago, CodeRocket said:

Have you looked at the buyout at the end of this season plus the money owed to assistants? We may well lose five games but I think he will be back in (2020). My guess is that a new facility, the existing staff financial obligations, and the cost of a new coaching staff might be north of (90) million. Yikes!

Instead of just looking at the buyout a cost analysis of keeping vs firing gus.  We should look at what is happening to our branding, if were continue to go 7-5 we will end up with more 11 am games vs 2:30 and 6 PM games.  In addition, the cost of playing in the birmingham bowl vs the playoffs. 

While I was not for hiring gus either as an OC or HC, he is the coach now and the decision to retain or fire should be carefully analyzed and as a contingency possible replacements should be obtained.

[lost 452]

7 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I actually didn't think this was that pessimistic.  Just cautious.  Either way I think you did a good job explaining your viewpoint.  My only question is when did Gus' own team call him out against Oregon?

Halftime    The offensive line told him. coach, just let us run the ball.  We can run the ball

[abw0004 10,102]

2 minutes ago, lost said:

Halftime    The offensive line told him. coach, just let us run the ball.  We can run the ball

I don't think that is calling anyone out, nor did they say that.  I know they said after the game they knew they had to do better at halftime running the ball and wearing them down.  Is that what you meant?

[lost 452]

9 minutes ago, Mikey said:

On this point, the old adage "If you have a multiple QB system it means you don't have a first team QB" seems to apply. They are both raw. One or the other of them needs a bunch of snaps to gain experience and Nix has been chosen to be that one.

Considering the schedule, a 9-3 season would be a remarkable accomplishment. I'm expecting no worse than that.

I have no problem with that.   What i have a problem with is the other coming in with 8 plus minutes left and running read option, and running the ball all the time and not allowed to throw the ball, or using him in some sort of formation either as a decoy or weapon with Bo

[lost 452]

Just now, abw0004 said:

I don't think that is calling anyone out, nor did they say that.  I know they said after the game they knew they had to do better at halftime running the ball and wearing them down.  Is that what you meant?

They did say that.  I can look it up and find it, but it is a direct quote

[lost 452]

MALZAHN: We got a senior offensive line. They told me at halftime, Coach, let’s run the football. Let’s try to run over them. We’re ready.

Transcript from his press conference

[GreenDrazi 24]

5 minutes ago, lost said:

MALZAHN: We got a senior offensive line. They told me at halftime, Coach, let’s run the football. Let’s try to run over them. We’re ready.

Transcript from his press conference

That’s not even remotely “calling him out.”

From your OP:  "... even his own team called him out against Oregon"

[auburnphan 6,050]

@lost I AM GONNA ADD THIS TO YOUR THREAD AS I see it fitting without creating a new one to ruin Todd’s day! 🥳

I have repeatedly see posters say that we are purposely running a vanilla offense.  Having watched every game numerous times that Gus has coached I really have not notice a difference.  Lots of the same plays at the same time, formations and motion giving away plays.  Besides some of his Waterboy-esque trick plays which role out through the season.  How has his play calling been vanilla and different from any other game?

@bigbird what have u seen?

[BigWhiskey91 632]

5 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

@lost I AM GONNA ADD THIS TO YOUR THREAD AS I see it fitting without creating a new one to ruin Todd’s day! 🥳

I have repeatedly see posters say that we are purposely running a vanilla offense.  Having watched every game numerous times that Gus has coached I really have not notice a difference.  Lots of the same plays at the same time, formations and motion giving away plays.  Besides some of his Waterboy-esque trick plays which role out through the season.  How has his play calling been vanilla and different from any other game?

@bigbird what have u seen?

I don’t think it was vanilla but I do think the approach to the game was more like a scrimmage. 29 pass attempts in the first half and 13 rush attempts. No effort was made to establish the run and when we did run the ball, we constantly were running behind the weaker side of the line. 

It is clear they are trying to give Nix as many reps as possible. He missed some reads and there were a few drops but also some great catches too. Simply put, no attempt to establish an offensive identity was made and the results show. I do not expect it to stay that way either. 

[lost 452]

12 minutes ago, GreenDrazi said:

That’s not even remotely “calling him out.”

From your OP:  "... even his own team called him out against Oregon"

Funny.   Most everyone i have talked to called that calling him out.  The coach, offensive coordinator having to be instructed by the line to allow them to "run" the ball?   That is about as close to calling out as you can get.  Especially a coach who is known for not trusting his players.  I am not a Gus hater  I have always backed him and still do.  But he is stubborn, uncommonly so.  We have compared him to Saban, but he does not have the success to back up that stubbornness

[Tiger 8,817]

I don't buy this "we're playing vanilla" stuff. We use that excuse every year with Gus and he keeps this vanilla schtick up until UGA/Bama when our seasons are so far gone and he tries stuff we have never worked on in games and it fails with the exception of 2017. 

Coaching peeps on here, what is more advantageous? Showing that the offense can and will do a bunch of different things and forcing the D to prep for all of it or busting out something you've never done before on gameday and running the risk of failing to execute it because, ya know, they've never done it before

[lost 452]

Just now, Tiger said:

I don't buy this "we're playing vanilla" stuff. We use that excuse every year with Gus and he keeps this vanilla schtick up until UGA/Bama when our seasons are so far gone and he tries stuff we have never worked on in games and it fails with the exception of 2017. 

Coaching peeps on here, what is more advantageous? Showing that the offense can and will do a bunch of different things and forcing the D to prep for all of it or busting out something you've never done before on gameday and running the risk of failing to execute it because, ya know, they've never done it before

He is still believing he can win on 3-4 basic plays like 2013

[Tiger 8,817]

Just now, lost said:

He is still believing he can win on 3-4 basic plays like 2013

This is also unfortunately part of it. I know he wants to be labeled a genius but it ain't genius if you only have a few plays. His genius was tied to Greg Robinson and Jay Prosch blocking the snot out of any and everyone in their vicinity

[leglessdan 1,934]

5 minutes ago, Tiger said:

I don't buy this "we're playing vanilla" stuff. We use that excuse every year with Gus and he keeps this vanilla schtick up until UGA/Bama when our seasons are so far gone and he tries stuff we have never worked on in games and it fails with the exception of 2017. 

Coaching peeps on here, what is more advantageous? Showing that the offense can and will do a bunch of different things and forcing the D to prep for all of it or busting out something you've never done before on gameday and running the risk of failing to execute it because, ya know, they've never done it before

Not a coach, but I'd say the more looks and complexity you show would translate to more information the opposing team has to decipher and retain. All while being tired and emotions running high, crowd noise etc. I'm of the mind that running more plays in games is essentially practice. Perfecting the execution and implementation in an imperfect environment. Running the plays in practice while in a comfort zone among your own team is completely different than in a uncomfortable environment against another team. My 2 cents.

[toddc 13,194]

38 minutes ago, lost said:

They did say that.  I can look it up and find it, but it is a direct quote

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. You run some base stuff that can have new wrinkles added in that the big teams you play haven’t seen yet.