Tajh Boyd: AU wins the west in 2020

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

17 hours ago, War to the Eagle said:

WE HAVE NO O-LINE, AND THERE'S NO HOPE IN  SIGHT.  We won't win until that changes, no matter how good Bo, Seth and our D are.  We are probably 3-4 years from that getting fixed, so settle in.

I could see it in 2 with the right combination of JUCO and HS OTs but it's definitely a rebuilding project.

[Auskip 196]

On 2/2/2020 at 1:39 PM, bigbird said:

LSU, Bama, UGA, pick 'em

I don’t put much stock in what happened last year, or the year before, or the year before that, etc.  This is college football. Each year there is an entirely new team.

The other thing that stands out to me in college football is how important the schedule is. And whether the game is home or away is a huge part of the relative difficulty of the schedule.

Last year I thought we would have a good team - and we did. However, the schedule was just BRUTAL. It was one of the most difficult schedules that I can recall us having. So last year I predicted an 8-4 or 9-3 outcome based on the difficulty of the schedule.

This year’s schedule is considerably easier. Burrow is gone; Tua is gone; and Fromm is gone. Our QB will be a sophomore and has gained some experience in the school of hard knocks. He’ll be better. In fact, like T Boyd, I believe he’ll be one of the best QB’s in the SEC.

Now what about this year’s O-line? Regardless of an easier schedule, how can we have a better team when we’re replacing 4 guys on the line? Like schedule, the experience of the O-line is usually another very important factor in the success of a team. I think we’ll be OK.  Here’s why.  First, last year’s line was probably just a notch above average. They weren’t great but they didn’t suck as much as many thought. Reaching the same standard shouldn’t be an insurmountable task. Second, once again schedule is such an important factor. The line will have 5 games  to get much needed experience. 

We’ll beat A Burrow-less LSU. Ditto for Georgia. Our toughest games will Texas A&M and the game @UAT.

I see us as 10-2 in the regular season. It’s all about the schedule.

War Eagle 🦅 .

 

[Mims44 1,867]

2 hours ago, Auskip said:

I don’t put much stock in what happened last year, or the year before, or the year before that, etc.  This is college football. Each year there is an entirely new team.

The other thing that stands out to me in college football is how important the schedule is. And whether the game is home or away is a huge part of the relative difficulty of the schedule.

Last year I thought we would have a good team - and we did. However, the schedule was just BRUTAL. It was one of the most difficult schedules that I can recall us having. So last year I predicted an 8-4 or 9-3 outcome based on the difficulty of the schedule.

This year’s schedule is considerably easier. Burrow is gone; Tua is gone; and Fromm is gone. Our QB will be a sophomore and has gained some experience in the school of hard knocks. He’ll be better. In fact, like T Boyd, I believe he’ll be one of the best QB’s in the SEC.

Now what about this year’s O-line? Regardless of an easier schedule, how can we have a better team when we’re replacing 4 guys on the line? Like schedule, the experience of the O-line is usually another very important factor in the success of a team. I think we’ll be OK.  Here’s why.  First, last year’s line was probably just a notch above average. They weren’t great but they didn’t suck as much as many thought. Reaching the same standard shouldn’t be an insurmountable task. Second, once again schedule is such an important factor. The line will have 5 games  to get much needed experience. 

We’ll beat A Burrow-less LSU. Ditto for Georgia. Our toughest games will Texas A&M and the game @UAT.

I see us as 10-2 in the regular season. It’s all about the schedule.

War Eagle 🦅 .

 

Fromm being gone isn't a good indicator for how we'll do against them, Fromm didn't do much vs AU this year. 13-28 and like 100 yards passing? Losing that isn't a game changer.

Us being able to drop 21 to 28+ on that UGA defense is what will need to be done.

[abw0004 10,110]

On 2/2/2020 at 11:22 PM, War to the Eagle said:

WE HAVE NO O-LINE, AND THERE'S NO HOPE IN  SIGHT.  We won't win until that changes, no matter how good Bo, Seth and our D are.  We are probably 3-4 years from that getting fixed, so settle in.

Take a chill pill a little there.  By all accounts from insiders on here, this year's OL will be an improvement from 2019.  We also pulled in a decent recruiting class from the JUCO ranks.  World beaters?  Maybe not, but and improvement is an improvement. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 hours ago, Auskip said:

I don’t put much stock in what happened last year, or the year before, or the year before that, etc.  This is college football. Each year there is an entirely new team

Neither did I, until I realized that last part isn't true when it comes to Gus. You should definitely put stock in what happened last year and the year before and the year before when it's the same thing every year. And that's spanning 3 different OCs.

Quote

The other thing that stands out to me in college football is how important the schedule is. And whether the game is home or away is a huge part of the relative difficulty of the schedule.

In 3 of our 4 losses, we tallied (far) fewer offensive yards than the opponent's defense allowed on average for the season. We failed to score more than 14 points in 2 of those losses and more than 20 in 3 of them. In the one game where we scored 24 points, only 17 were scored by the offense. It wasn't the difficulty of the schedule. It was the ineptitude of the man in charge of the offense. 

Quote

This year’s schedule is considerably easier. Burrow is gone; Tua is gone; and Fromm is gone. 

Two of those guys failed to score more than 23 points on us last year. The other one didn't play against us and we beat his team. It was the only big game all season where our offense significantly contributed to the win (with 354 yards and 1 more touchdown than the defense scored). 

But yes, the schedule should be easier.

3 hours ago, Auskip said:

Now what about this year’s O-line?

We have no clue. We'll have 5 new starters and a new coach. Some of those starters have likely never worn an Auburn uniform before. But there's no reason to assume they'll be better or even as "good". As you noted, last year's OL wasn't so bad that we have to assume it can only get better. It most certainly could, indeed, get worse. 

 

New OC coming off a total and complete collapse at his previous job, new OL coach who came out of nowhere, totally new offensive line composed of backups to last year's mediocre offensive line, transfers and maybe true freshmen, a QB who was mostly bad last year, one really good WR and one really fast WR who our head coach has been unable to properly utilize, a probably-good stable of seldom used and brand new RBs + the veteran who fumbles a lot, and a defense that kept us in games last year primarily with three guys who aren't here anymore. Turn all those unknowns into positives and your glass isn't just half full, it's all the way full. 

[AUsince72 11,084]

37 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

3 hours ago, Auskip said:

I don’t put much stock in what happened last year, or the year before, or the year before that, etc.  This is college football. Each year there is an entirely new team

Neither did I, until I realized that last part isn't true when it comes to Gus. You should definitely put stock in what happened last year and the year before and the year before when it's the same thing every year. And that's spanning 3 different OCs.

Thank you Loof!

Ordinarily Skip would be correct but we've watched this very same offense (with very minor difference here or there) since the latter portion of 2014.  Clearly Defensive Coordinators with comparable talent agree.

This is why "Gus bashing" is so prevalent over "discussing football".  There's nothing to objectively discuss until real change happens on the Offensive side of the ball.  Until then the final number of yearly losses are a foregone conclusion, so where's the excitement supposed to come from? 

Instead of bragging and beating our chests over one of the greatest Auburn Defenses (IMO) of all time, we just feel sorry for those young men & coaches for all they did, only to (yet.....again) get hung out to dry on multiple occasions by Gus' offensive ineptitude.

How sad is it that, if Auburn were to actually finish the 2020 season with "only" 3 losses.....it would be monumental improvement over the last.....6....... seasons.....

[countoff 331]

3 hours ago, McLoofus said:

New OC coming off a total and complete collapse at his previous job, new OL coach who came out of nowhere, totally new offensive line composed of backups to last year's mediocre offensive line, transfers and maybe true freshmen, a QB who was mostly bad last year, one really good WR and one really fast WR who our head coach has been unable to properly utilize, a probably-good stable of seldom used and brand new RBs + the veteran who fumbles a lot, and a defense that kept us in games last year primarily with three guys who aren't here anymore. 

Yeah.... I find it hard to argue with anything you've written.  I'm especially worried about the OL.  If last year's backups were unable to beat out the first team's extremely mediocre (bad) OL...., then I don't hold out much hope they will be any better than them next season.  Anyone know if we picked up some junior college OL players?

But the reason I prefer college to pro ball is that you are talking about predominately 18-22 year olds.  They have a lot of energy.  Sometimes it's negative energy.  Sometimes it's positive energy.  Thus sometimes they underachieve and sometimes they overachieve.   Here's to hoping they overachieve. 

[aucanucktiger 1,791]

Not a bold prediction IMO, LSU's O in 2020 may be shockingly avg losing so many of their productive players on that side of the ball. Bama is always beatable if you're Auburn, even in West Vance. 

[woodford 3,655]

That's rich.