meh130

I have a bad feeling about Texas A&M. I just don't see Jimbo continuing to wallow in mediocrity given his recruiting success.

My guess is the retreat from 9 games and pods is due to the possibility of more teams joining the SEC in the future. With 9 games in a 1+8, you could get to an 18 team conference where you play every team twice (one home, one away) during 4 years.

Looking for input on W/L for 2023. My gut says there is no way we lose to Cal (which is bad). My gut says there is no way we lose to Mississippi State, which is likely to not be as good as it was with The Pirate at the helm. My gut says we beat Vandy in Nashville, which is a home stadium for every SEC team. My gut says Arkansas peaked, and is ripe for the taking. So 7-5 is my reasonable floor, but if one of the above does not happen, we are 6-6 as a base. Then there are the two intangibles. Ole Miss, which is to Freeze what Arkansas was to Malzhahn, and Bama, one only need to look to 2021. In my opinion, 8-4 is more a reasonable probability than 6-6.

Who?

Auburn got a lot tighter around branding elements and color usage. Based on the women's soccer team jerseys, the correct "Auburn Power Stripe" (aka, Northwestern Stripe) for an orange jersey would be a thick blue stripe accented by two thin white stripes. This is the opposite of the jersey in the linked video. I the current Under Armour jerseys using the orange color used on the basketball and other uniforms would look ok. I would like to see it tested during something like an A-Day game. Give the QBs green jerseys instead of the orange to indicate no contact. It people like it, then you could consider it for a real game.

I never heard this story. Dismukes must be enshrined in the Valauburn Hall of Honof fo this one.

I predicted that play. We had run it earlier in the season during a critical 3rd and medium. I had remembered Pat Dye talking about it on the review show. It was our go-to critical play, but we had rarely done it. It was a pick play. The slot WR (Gainous) went in motion, and at the snap went upfield until he was past the line to gain, then cut in on a crossing route. At the same time, the TE on the opposite time did a crossing route the opposite direction, screening the defender covering the slot WR.

Kid had a scholarship offer from Dartmouth.

My guess is most schools have some automated software to alert them when certain players enter the portal. I don't think there is some graduate assistant hitting "reload" on their browser every five seconds. Also, if reporters at the pay sites have insights ahead of time that a player is entering the portal, so do all of the big-time coaching staffs. They probably have already scouted dozens of players. I believe one of Drew Fabianich's responsibilities was to scout talent at other universities that had the potential of transferring.

In spring 2021, before NIL rules existed, when the portal was still new, and when penalty free transfers just waiting for the official ink to be dry, UGA was actively recruiting Tank Bigsby in anticipation of the penalty-free transfer rule being adopted. I asked a UGA beat writer about this, and he said Georgia never stopped recruiting Tank after he signed with Auburn. When I asked how they could get away with this, he said they did it through "back channels" that were well developed to leave no evidence trail. With all of the shenanigans in college football developed over decades, it is easy to "tamper" with the transfer portal and NIL.

Jarquez Hunter is known for wearing cowboy hats.

Yep. Incredible story. I watched the SECCG with an Auburn letterman. Once the closest moments were approaching, he asked me: "Are you going?" I think it was the next day I went on Stubhub and bought 4 tickets, one for me, one for my brother, and two for his kids. I called my brother and asked him "If you won tickets to the national championship game, would you take our kids out of school to take them to the game?" He said yes, so I bought the game tickets. I got Delta tickets to Phoenix with SkyMiles, and two nights with two rooms at a Hampton in with Hilton points. We were in a SkyClub in Hartsfield watching the storm front coming, but we made it out on time. I parked my car in the parking deck at Hartsfield on a a lower floor (so we were covered from snow and ice). H had my brother, who lives in Alabama, park his minivan in my garage so it would be safe. Arizona was great, while the deep south was under ice and snow. We spent the day around the stadium, taking in all of the events. The morning after, we were one of the few flights into Atlanta to fly on time. In the Phoenix airport, I saw Quentin Riggins waiting for his flight, and talked with him for a few minutes. I told him I thought Rod Bramblett, at times, I thought was channeling the spirit of Jim Fyffe. He said he would tell Rod, because he thought Rod would appreciate that. We got on the airplane, and the captain came on and said "War Eagle", and that he was an Auburn grad. I turned and looked back at the guy in the Oregon hat on the plane who I saw pass us earlier. He did not appreciate the sentiment in the same way. There was some concern about Hartsfield being able to accept traffic, and if we canceled, we would need a hotel room. I called, my bosses boss from the airplane on the the taxiway and asked if I could use our company's reservation system to make a hotel reservation. He said yes, and I did, on my phone app. Once we were cleared for takeoff, I cancelled the reservation on my phone app as we started our takeoff roll. We got back to Hartsfield, where only one runway was operating. We landed on time, and got to my car (a Land Rover). My Land Rover handled the ice and snow on 285 well, back to my house. The cold had wrecked my brother's minivan battery, so we drove to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a new one. We installed it, and his minivan, with much struggle, made it up the hills out of my neighborhood. And he drove back to Alabama with his kids. Because of the storm, schools in Alabama were closed on Monday and Tuesday, so my brother's kids did not miss any school. Three years later that Land Rover would help me rescue my new wife and three month old boy during the 2014 "snowmageddon." And strangely enough, Auburn would be back in the BCS National Championship Game. Here is one of my "Auburn Walls" in my home office. A lot of 2010 in that picture. The SECCG game picture (Christmas gift from my brother), a photo of us at the game and my ticket, and an autographed picture of Kodi Burns catch in the BCS NCG. To be quite honest, this was one of the best experiences of my life. It was not easy, it was not stress free, but it was magic.

I am just looking forward to a WR coach that can teach WRs to catch the ball.

Could Dye have considered an Oklahoma, Nebraska, or Texas? Possibly. But I think Dye knew Bama would enter a decline once Bear Bryant retired, and I think he felt Auburn was well positioned to take advantage of that. Recruiting was very regional back then.

8 rather than 12 team playoff. Reduce regular season back to 11 games. Quarter finals played at home field of top 4 seeds in mid-December. Losers of quarter-finals go on to bowl games, winners to semifinals. Semifinals & championship identical to current CFP.

I do think a 4-3 style front, with interior DLs one-gapping, has some advantages over 3-4 style fronts with the interior DLs two-gapping, for a couple of reasons. One-gapping is simpler for the DLs, and that means they can focus on consistency and using their physical skills rather than having to read the OL and flow to a particular gap. I would think that would help when going against HUNH offenses. Another factor is the 4 linemen in the 4-3 are each unique, with unique physical archetypes. Think Marlon Davidson as a typical strong-side DE (strong enough to stop the run, but smaller and faster than a 3-4 DE), Nick Fairley as a typical 3-Tech (tall and long), a 1-Tech NT who does not need to be the run plugger a 3-4 demands, and Carl Lawson as the weak-side DE or hybrid DE/OLB. You can usually find the right players to fit each of those four positions. It can be much harder to get the right players for a 3-4. An SEC capable 0-Tech NT can be hard to find, and 3-4 DEs which need to be as big and strong as a 4-3 3-Tech, but as quick and agile as a 4-3 SDE can be hard to find as well. That said, if you can get the personnel for a 3-4, they can easily flex to one-gap roles. Kirby Smart does this a lot, in order to put a lot of different looks in front of opposing offenses. And if your interior DLs are good enough to two-gap, it opens up the "2-4" style with two 2-Tech DTs to soak up at least one double-team and two Edge players to rush the passer against single-team blocks by the OTs.

Yes, Aranda loved to run a "tight" 3-4, with the NT in a 0 technique, the DEs in a 4i technique, and a single Edge player ("Jack") on the weak side. Although Aranda ran a base nickel and had two ILBs and an extra DB ("Star") who could also roll up to provide run support on the strong side. Aranda also had a "rabbit" package which was two DLs and two Edge players in obvious passing downs, very similar to what we ran in 2021 and 2022 when we had both Hall and Leota available. Aranda likely chose Roberts because they had very similar defensive philosophies. Roberts ran a very similar 3-4 base nickel at Louisiana. I have also read Roberts does not force players who do not fit into his system into it, but adapts his system to his players. So if he does not have a nose tackle who can play a 0-Tech, he will adjust. Let's hope we can get the right bodies via the portal, JUCO, and high school to fit the needs.

Gig 'em? No. Go get 'em. Texas A&M Aggies 2023 College Football Transfer Portal

Mods, I did not realize there is another thread on this. Please feel free to delete this thread.

Here is the article from On3: Mississippi State official addresses Mike Leach rumors as thoughts, prayers raised across country There were rumors of health issues and that Leach might retire at the end of this season, but no retirement was announced.

Just donated again.

The truth is the way to keep a man accountable is through his daughter. Especially his eldest daughter. She has loyalty to her mother, and eldest daughters are not to be messed with.

It is better to have the coach's daughter as an assistant than this:

He makes the coffee for the 8:30 am staff meetings.

Depends on his left hand. I will say that is not called 99% of the time.