TigerTennis80

I appreciate the comments on this thread. It's been a rough 24 hours. I totally agree with gr82be that the only other time I remember feeling like this was after Van Tiffen's kick in 85. I also appreciate Gowebb11's comment about coaches who struggled in their 1st years & especially his ref to the Missouri coach (can't spell his name!). Do y'all remember how Missouri lost to us last year? I've never felt less like a winner than I did on that day, but note where Mizzou & their coach are today. Crap happens, which actually makes me wonder less about why I'm an Auburn fan & more about why I'm a sports fan. Sigh... What I'd like to contribute here is a reminder that 2 things can be true at once. In this case, I think our coaches & players were shockingly competitive in the Iron Bowl, played with heart & guts & fire (where was any of that against NMS?) & stood tall against our more talented rival. I'm really proud of them for that. AND they (coaches & players) blew it on the 1 play that would have sealed the win. Both of those things are true which has made this past 24 hours so hard. I think if I were Hugh I'd use our last 2 games as a rallying point. "The way we played against NMS & the way we lost the Iron Bowl--beginning with the bowl game, NEVER AGAIN." Or something like that. War Eagle my fellow sad Aubies.

I don't know how good or bad Arkansas is. The losses to BYU & Miss St were ugly. But the rest of their games were pretty well played, even when they lost. Did y'all hear the announcers say that Ark coaches & players said they had a great week of practice, a new pep in their step after their win in Gainsville? I did not have a good feeling about this game b/c we've just been so inconsistent, so prone to shoot ourselves in the foot, & haven't played well on the road. Sometimes being wrong is a great feeling! I hope we continue to improve & are able to hang with Bama. A big win, good recruiting news... Been a long time since I've enjoyed a football Saturday so much! Thanks Tigers!

I saw much to be encouraged about during last night's game. The 1st half in particular showed what is possible for this team. I remember thinking many times last season that we didn't finish halves well, & then we finished the 1st half really well last night. I was so pleased about that! And then... I don't know why our defense took a step back last night (& that happened after 1 of the announcers said we have a chance to have an elite defense this season). But even with the defensive issues, I think we still win the game if we don't turn the ball over as we did in the final 3-4 minutes. The bad pass on the out of bounds play after we called TO was particularly putrid &, in my mind at least, the play that gave the momentum totally to Baylor. We closed out the 1st half well, & then closed the 2nd half poorly. Ugh! If we are a mentally sharp team to go with our size & athleticism, I think we can be a great team. The 1st half showed us that. The 2nd half showed us what happens if we aren't a mentally sharp team. Here's hoping we take the lessons of this game to heart. And mind.

When I was a teenage tennis player, I wanted to hit winners on every point. Which, BTW, is so hard that even Djokovic can't do it. Nonetheless, I tried. My dad told me once that I won all the points in a match, but the problem was I won a lot of them for my opponent by going for big shots & missing. So, I had to learn not to score points for my opponent. The 1st step toward winning is don't beat myself. I had to learn the value of eliminating unforced errors & playing smart before trying to play great. I got really good at doing so (I once played a match at Auburn where I had 1 unforced error for the entire match), & it showed in the win column. All of that is to say that I find the unforced errors this team makes (drops, penalties, poor decisions, defensive busts, etc.) to be beyond frustrating. I don't know if we can beat the Hogs in Fayetteville if we play a cleaner, smarter game. But I know we cannot beat them if we make unforced errors & play stupid. Every week this season I've hoped this game would be the one where we play cleaner & smarter. After 9 weeks, my hope is pretty faint. More like a wish...

I understand a rebuild. I understand our talent issues. I did not expect to win last night. I did not expect to be other than 3-3 at this point in the season. But I do expect to see improvement. And effort. And a well-prepared team. I expect, after poor showings in our 1st two road games to be better, not worse, in our 3rd. I expect not to have to call a TO on our 3rd offensive play because of confusion, especially after 2 weeks to prepare. I expect to have to be patient during a rebuild, & I fully intend to be. But I confess that after last night my confidence that Hugh will accomplish the rebuild took a hit. It's not gone, but there's a bruise where there wasn't before.

UK looks like the "not ready for prime time players."

1971 my grandfather took me to the Auburn-Alabama freshman game in Auburn (who remembers those games?). Near halftime I looked over & Pat Sullivan & Terry Beasley were climbing the steps up the aisle past our seats headed to the pressbox to be part of the halftime show on the radio. I jumped up but couldn't get past the folks between me & the aisle to get to them before they passed us. Turns out those folks were Auburn students & 1 of them told me, "We'll stop him for you on his way back down." But then another of them said, "You ought to get his autograph, he's Terry Henley. And this is Roger Mitchell. And this is Bob Newton. And this is Bill Newton." Well, I went nuts! I got all those autographs, & just think what those guys did the following year after Pat was gone! I don't know that Terry is the 1st RB I remember, but he was my 1st favorite RB. On that particular day I didn't really know who Bob Newton was, but I would know later!! To add 1 more memory, a few years ago I spoke at a church in Martin, TN where I commented about being an Auburn grad. Afterward a woman came up to tell me she'd also graduated from Auburn & her brothers had played football at Auburn but, she said, I probably wouldn't know them, Bill & Bob Newton. I said, "Oh yes ma'am I know them! I know who blocked those punts!" And I told her about getting their autographs. That was so much fun!

Appreciate it Stat!

I agree: No corner turned, but today it feels much more like we're heading in the right direction than it did last week. Hopefully the bye week allows us to get some people healthy, work on catching balls, & identifying an outside blitzer among other things. In the appreciating progress category, I'll point out 1 penalty for 5 yards & only the 1 TO late in a near desperation situation. In the WTH category, since I mentioned our awful short yardage offense in another thread, here I'll bring up our 3rd & long defense. Why can we not stop a 3rd & long? And y'all, that's not just this year! It seems like I've been screaming about this for7-8 years! Different coordinators, different personnel, against different offenses, doesn't matter. I'm starting to wonder if there's something in the freaking water in Auburn! For years I've said I'd rather we faced a 3rd & 3 than 3rd & 12! It's just so frustrating!

Thanks for all the info to all those who provided it. I'm hoping we made some serious impressions today, both in terms of atmosphere & "you can come here & play!"

If a moral victory is when you lose but are encouraged, then I'll sure take that over last week when we lost & I was really discouraged. As others have noted, Bowers was the difference in the game. I hadn't thought about Simpson's injury maybe having an impact on covering him. I appreciated the improvement in the run game & in penalties & turnovers, & I thought we used Robby better. I agree with what y'all have said about the passing game & receivers needing to catch balls & help Thorne out. But how poor was our short yardage offense today? I don't think we converted a 3rd & short or 4th & short all day, & that was huge! We have to be able to make 3rd & 1 most of the time to win games against good opponents. I hope that's the next area where we see improvement. And like Cole & others of you, I hope we can sustain this kind of improvement & effort. War Eagle y'all!

I want to see signs that whatever has been "off" between Hugh & Monty has been fixed so that the offense makes some kind of sense. Because right now I'm baffled & really troubled by Hugh's comments about not running a single RPO last week & if we don't run some this week he's going to have a heart attack. That just raises all kinds of troublesome questions for me. Did Hugh have no input in last week's offensive game plan? Did he not notice during the game last week that we weren't running any RPOs? Because I'm pretty sure he had headphones & could have asked Monty about it during the game, but it seems he didn't. Why not? It just seems the coaching communications on offense are "off" & that needs to be fixed. What made Hugh a coach worth hiring was his offensive vision & his playcalling, but it seems he's been doing neither to this point. I mean, WTH?

I've had the same thoughts about CHF & playcalling. He made his "name" as an excellent offensive mind & playcaller. Now he's given that up, for understandable reasons, so how does he respond when the offense is so disappointing? How does he succeed as a coach when he's no longer doing the things that primarily made him a successful coach in the 1st place? I'm so hoping he has a really good relationship with Montgomery & a really good sense of himself as a head coach who doesn't call plays. If so, then things will get better, even this season. If not, this season will get rockier. Which doesn't mean he can't succeed at Auburn. But we might not see the improvement & reasons for optimism that all of us are longing to see through this season. As for me, I've not forgotten that this is a rebuilding year. But I've been hoping for those reasons for optimism: A defense that plays hard & makes some plays that excite us Aubies (check!); an offense with improved line play, improved QB play, creativity, fun... No checks there, I'm sorry to say. Not gonna lie, when we're 4 games in & lacking reasons for optimism on the offensive side, that's discouraging to me. I'm not at all getting down on CHF at this point. I'm still hoping he can be good at Auburn. But I'm discouraged, & I didn't want to be discouraged again 4 games into the season. I wanted to believe we've begun the climb back up the mountain. Today, however, I feel like we're still wandering in the valley. Rats!

I listened to the 1st Tiger Talk before the season began & came away discouraged after Hugh talked about the D. I figured after that that we'd have to outscore people to win games. So what a shock that the Offense is so so bad. The 3rd quarter offense may be the worst I've ever seen. So, what are y'all thinking? Are the individual players on the O line just not as good as we thought, or are they not playing as a unit? Is Payton just a poor QB, a poor fit for this offense, or what? He clearly seems not to be reading things as he should. Are the OC & Hugh not clicking? Or... What? Good on the D for being better than expected. I'm not surprised to lose this game. But I'm surprised at how we lost, with a completely inept offense.

Actually, I think it was 2 yards. Truly, widely, deeply awful.

I'm hoping that CHF's seeming disappointment with Thorne's decision-making is due to him having a "you're capable of much better than this!" perspective on Thorne rather than an "Oh crap I hoped you'd be better" perspective. CHF also seems to believe that Robby has skills that we need to be able to use, but we've not yet figured out how to do so. I'm guessing we figure this out pretty quickly or abandon this possibility. I was pretty disappointed in the O-line play, but some of y'all had a different take on their play. I'd be curious to hear what you saw from them that you liked (a genuine question, not a challenge). I was more concerned to hear from CHF today that he didn't call plays & would be more involved in game planning & such going forward. I'm troubled that 2 games in he isn't comfortable with what the OC did. I hope someone can tell me I shouldn't be troubled by this & why.

Good on the D. Really good on the D. Good on Thorne for the drive that ultimately was the winner. I'd say good on the RBs for some good runs when they got the chance, except fumbles by both Jarquez & Damari really hurt. So, there were some positives. But the O-line... I've seen this movie before, didn't like it then, & didn't like it last night. I've heard so much about them being really improved, so I'm not going to despair yet. But I was surely disappointed in their play. As I was in the playcalling. I didn't see much in the way of creativity or of putting our playmakers in spots to make plays. But maybe the O-line was the primary problem there. I am not panicking. I think we'll improve as the "newness" becomes less new. I hope...

Thanks for the link, Viper! I enjoyed getting a chance to listen. I thought Jason was really good! I think it'll be great fun to hear him when we play a big game against an SEC rival. I can't help but love that Cadillac, Ronnie, & Jason are all part of Auburn football Saturdays. Will Herring too!

I'm terribly superstitious about what I wear, but I never know going into a season what the superstition will be. It depends on what I might be wearing when we begin a winning streak (hmmm... been a while since we've had 1 of those). Most often it's been a particular shirt. A couple of times it's been shoes. Once it was a War Eagle bracelet. In the 2nd half of the 2010 Iron Bowl it wasn't what I wore but where I was. I watched the 1st offensive series of the 2nd half on the small TV in the kitchen (b/c I pace & wander when I'm nervous), so I went back in there to watch every time we were on offense in that half while we were making that glorious comeback. Back in the day when I was playing tennis for the O & B, if I lost a match the 1st time I wore a wristband or pair of socks, I could never wear those again for a match. I could practice in them, but not play a match. And you know, I know that what I wear or where I watch has zero impact on the game. I know this! But still, I can't NOT do these things! 😁

Thanks for that, E. And thanks to LPTiger & Bird & others who were interested & willing to hear. War Eagle y'all!

Yes, LPTiger, I played tennis at AU, actually graduated in 80. WDE indeed! Thanks to you & to the others who expressed interest in my comment about gender-stereotyping. LPTiger, you asked specifically about how one is victimized by gender-stereotyping. The best way I know to answer is to give an example. So, let's say there's a meeting of some kind in a work setting, & I'm 1 of only 2 women present in a group of, say, 10. In that meeting one of the men says something which makes me really angry (for the purposes of this example, let's assume my anger is justified--like maybe he presented my idea as his own) so that I respond forcefully in some way like, "Wait a minute, you know damn good & well that that idea came from my department!" So, what happens next? If 2 men have this kind of exchange, it's often treated as "just 2 guys having it out." But my response (the one above) may well be met by an awkward silence which is followed by comments about "inappropriate" behavior on my part because of the stereotype that "ladies" don't get angry, don't raise their voices, are always pleasant, always team players, etc. Then the focus becomes my "inappropriate" behavior rather than what the guy did that made me (justifiably) angry. Then, if it's actually me involved, things may get worse for me because when I get really angry, I may well get teary-eyed which will most likely be met with the "women are too emotional" stereotype so that now there's the chance to focus on how inappropriate women in that setting are generally. At the end of that meeting, gender stereotypes have enabled my professional presence to be undermined in that setting while the guy who actually conducted himself inappropriately walks out unscathed. There's still more. Remember I said there was another woman in the meeting? Well, she sees what happens to me when I dared to speak up, so whenever something like this happens to her down the road, she doesn't say a word. She chokes on her anger for fear that what happened to me will happen to her. Consequently, she actually contributes to the stereotyping by being quiet, pleasant, "lady-like," a team player, etc. So, she unintentionally cooperates with her own diminishment. Now y'all will have to tell me if that example does any "educating." BTW, I want to be clear that I don't equate E's comment with the example I've just given. I believe him when he said he intended it to be lighthearted. What I said in my post was that, having been a victim of gender stereotyping, I just can't find it funny or cool.

Thanks E, & I absolutely believe you had no "mean-spirited" intentions here. I'll add here, as I've said before, I appreciate & respect so much your contributions to this Board. I always note your posts & will continue to do so. And I'll also repeat that my experience of using stereotypes (I'm sorry to say) & having them used against me is that even light-hearted ones have unintended consequences. Not trying to get too serious or anything. Just having my brief say. FWIW. Now, back to recruiting news...

E (& others), just so you know... Some on here have been victimized by gender-stereotyping (including me). Once that's happened, it's never funny & never cool. JS...

E, apparently it wasn't called. I'm seeing it now in the 8th. Louisiana just hit a HR to make the score 4-2 Texas.

I would agree that we're not a stellar offense, but we're also not a terrible offense. The announcers during the SEC tournament last week called us 1 of the better offenses in the SEC (which made me wonder about SEC offenses, I must admit 😄). But as for riding 1 pitcher, Oklahoma had that girl we faced in the championship series (can't put a date on when that was but y'all remember) who pitched every postseason game for them but 1. Look, if Fouts can't pitch for Bama, they aren't the same team, but that doesn't matter. And RPI doesn't matter apparently. So what does? Ole Miss finishes 10th in the SEC & gets a 2 seed in their region while we finish 3rd (& finish the conference season strong) & beat them in the SEC tournament but get a 3 seed in our region. I'm just baffled. And pissed. I hope the girls have a bit of chip on their shoulders after this.