AUBourne

LSU has a vaccination/covid test requirement to get in Tiger Stadium.  I don't see that helping them. 

I was in the lower bowl. I agree the speakers were to loud and over used. Thing is PSU doesn't have much variety in band songs or cheers so to cover the dead periods when Auburn wasn't lined up over center they pipe in cover noise. They have their sing alongs during TV time outs, team time outs and quarter changes. 

PSU views atmosphere as a key recruiting tool because most B1G stadium's don't have a counter.  So they constantly use hyperbolic propaganda about the whiteout.  Almost all their fans believe it as gospel. 

In the SEC atmosphere is a competition.  Everyone has a good one. PSU also has a good one.  But it is no better than a orange out, red out, strip out or black out that we see in other SEC venues. UF and LSU are both louder. PSU is louder than Auburn. But for big games the atmosphere at Auburn is better. 

Auburn has a losing record to Alabama. But Auburn is 10-5 vs Bama at Jordan-Hare. That is a home field advantage.  We almost  never out rank Alabama or have more talent. We have Jordan-Hare though. 

They had the same attitude in 2003. But this time they should feel confident.  That road victory at Wisconsin is impressive.  Plus a night game in the 2nd largest stadium in the country.  And from their view Auburn is a 2nd or 3rd tier SEC program that recently got blasted by Northwestern. Auburn has lost something like 9 straight road games against top 10 teams. 

In reality looking at 247 recruiting rankings Auburn and Penn State rosters are closely matched. I remember Franklin at Vandy and was never impressed with his decision making. I believe AU could win Saturday. But to many questions to expect a win. 

Yeah doubt seriously if it is louder than Gainesville.  Looking at pictures the stadium design is more typical and not straightup and hoveringover the field. But that was a day game at UF and it was really hot and sunny.  The atmosphere was kind of average. I think noise and atmosphere is going to be like a Neyland game in the 80s. I'm with you though.  Seeing the team being prepared for the noise at PSU and staying poised is important.  

It will be interesting to see how leadership impacts the way Auburn handles the energy and momentum that PSU will have from being at home. That trip to Gainesville scarred me. I can't imagine how it sits in the minds of the team. 

3 hours ago, W.E.D said:

It will be, yes.  But at the same time it's not like our team hasn't play at Bama/UGA/LSU and places that match it.  It's not going to be new

Just now, fredst said:

Those were a bunch of really bad kids they were studying 

Haha you got that before I fixed it. You are fast on the draw. 

Huge difference in being an anti vaxer and not 100% trusting the Covid Vacine.  I got the Moderna shots as soon as it was available to me even though I'm not obese (78% hospitalized for COVID-19 in US were obese). I may have paid that price when I got a chest infection then a collapsed lung starting two weeks after my 2nd shot. But maybe it was just weird timing. Still I am glad I'm vaccinated and I think all adults should be. Of course my wife and most adults had no complications from the vaccine. But the numbers and science say it would be a greater risk to get the vaccine for my children (such as myrocarditis) not to mention the longterm effects are unknown.  Healthy fit minors getting COVID-19 are at a much lower risk of hospilization than healthy adults and that number is already very low.  The mortality rate for healthy children in a study of 48K cases was zero. If the vaccine stopped the spread of COVID-19 that would change my opinion.  But it doesn't and that seems to be a point of confusion in this thread for many. At this point I just feel more confident in my children, and other healthy, fit, young people, to develop antibodies naturally. More time and research could change that opinion.  

Evidence for children getting vaccine.

18 hours ago, gravejd said:

Ok so NIL is about the players being able to sign endorsement deals and make money off their likeness. Its not a free for all for boosters and people to start funneling money to the players under the table. So the scenario that you outlined above is still just as against the rules today as it was last week. 

 

There is no way to control boosters under these rules. For example Matt Corral (Ole Miss) is charging $10K an hour via Dreamfield. Every high school recruit will be looking for similar.  They can sell blocks of time to "hang out" or play video games and any amount of payoff is fair game. 

5 hours ago, gravejd said:

Ok so NIL is about the players being able to sign endorsement deals and make money off their likeness. Its not a free for all for boosters and people to start funneling money to the players under the table. So the scenario that you outlined above is still just as against the rules today as it was last week. 

And its not just about the size of the alumni base and the town the school is located in. It will be based on which schools have the most invested fans. Thats great if UCF has 5 million alumni and resides in a town of 2 million people...if they have 10k showing up for football games each Saturday are you really worried about their players getting better deals than ours when we have 70k fans showing up every Saturday? Marketing is about reach and there has to be interest to get the reach. If i'm deciding who to invest in i'm investing in the product that has the most eyes on it. 

And you know what....if UCF businesses start investing money to pull better recruits and the team gets better and builds a fan base and they start to compete for national championships then great for them!! I don't see the problem there. If they are taking recruits from my team then that just means we have to step it up. 

I'm sure there will be bad situations that come out of this. Players that sign places cause they got paid and it doesn't work out. What happens when a 5* signs a deal and does not play immediately and gets dropped?? That will be a bad look for all involved. Lots to be worried about with this but AU becoming irrelevant is not at the top of my lists of worries. 

Nah putting their faces on advertising, on the tickets, commercials, etc and getting paid for the use of their likeness to market is what they were given. The University and boosters can't give money directly is the biggest restraint. But bending that rule is so easy. 

BTW UCF fan support is really good for the competition they are bringing in. With the new playoff coming it sets up nicely for them.

51 minutes ago, gravejd said:

 

To conclude......IT'S ALL GOING TO BE OK 😁

I dont think anyone is defending the NCAA in how they arbitrarily hand out punishment. In fact the criticism is just growing.  The intent of the organization is to make sure college sports is fair competition.  They can no longer even pretend to do that. 

When the rules were that players had to be amateur the NCAA had an actual measurement to apply.  

  Any plan that AU can come up with can be copied and doubled by schools like Texas, UCLA. Florida, Penn State, Ohio State or Central Florida that have more alumni, businesses etc. People thinking that a handful of elite boosters are going to sustain the program by paying hundreds of thousands dollars to each of the 85 football players and 15 basketball players every year are still thinking like it's 1980. Gone are the days of buying a 5 star QB and 5 star DL with a one time payment to a coach or parent and then building a class around them. 

Every university has rich mega donors that will cancel each other out.  But not every school has 50 thousand students and is surrounded by millions of people to sweeten the pot.  And not every school is the one and only power school in state. Thus the sponsor money is not equal.  Imagine for example Florida Gator Lottery tickets that every UF player gets a share of. How does Auburn counter? 

Bless your heart. 

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Based on what you are trying to communicate , I realize why this wouldn’t compute to you . 

1 hour ago, DAG said:

 

 

Is she on her knees looking for Mayor Brown? If so this gif makes sense. 

47 minutes ago, Maverick.AU said:

The point was that ncaa has never been fair, look at the guys in years past that got waivers to play Bc they were big time, guys that were moving closer to hone to be close to badly ill family members got denied. The ncaa has never been fair. I’m against college players getting salaries but being able to market themselves and make $ on their own accord is long overdue 

I dont care if college athletes are amateur or not. But if every player is a bidding war then I don't expect Auburn to have a top 20 program. Maybe that's okay but probably something many current TUF members would no longer want to keep investing time and money in to support.  

2 hours ago, cole256 said:

Nothing is as simple as your NCAA is fair and blah blah blah. They are so fair the Supreme Court unanimously voted against what they've been doing......get real

You seemed to be very confused.  The fairness aspect is in regards to competition between teams.  Keeping a level playing field. Where teams succeed based on things other than who can pay the most. So yeah that is simple. Making it happen and enforcement of rules has never been clear or equal.

The NCAA will still try and control and stop a direct pay to play system. But the way unscrupulous boosters and coaches act won't change. To think otherwise is hilarious.  They just made it easier. 

Yeah they are not only toothless but corrupt, and constantly playing favorites. And it has always been that way. There will always be those bending and breaking rules. A free for all though is not better in my mind. 

2 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

It's done a pretty poor job!

A person would have to incredibly simple to think that is true. 

2 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Does the thought of now that kids can get some money we don't have to worry as much about the under handed stuff?

28 minutes ago, gr82be said:

To a point you're right but it's never been fairly regulated. Schools and rogue boosters are doing what they could get away with for the most part anyway. The players being allowed to make a deal is not a concern of mine, I'm all for that. I just hope it doesn't detract from attention to detail over the long haul. Suddenly getting money if you haven't been can make some heads spin. 

It's only going to get worse. Bending the rules to advantage isn't going away. 

12 minutes ago, DAG said:

That might be their mission in wording, but I go off of actions, which you can google too. It’s hilarious how fans want to say the NCAA goal is for fairness, but let them do something that might bring an advantage for a rival opponent. I guarantee you that stance will change. 
 

as an example see NCAA ruling on UNC infractions, but they are totally fair. 

I'm not worried about strengths and merrits of punishment. I'm more worried about the future of the Auburn program in recruiting.  While Auburn fans are discussing $100 handshakes at Toomers others are looking at long-term,  sustainable practices.  Like a steady avenue to luxury cars, homes, vacations and 4 year packages that include 5 figure endorsement deals. I don't see Auburn being capable of offering the same type of packages that will allow them to remain competitive at the upper tier. For example UCLA got more than double the money per year from Under Armor that Auburn got.  How is Bruce going to recruit against that? 

1 hour ago, DAG said:

You can disagree and say the NCAA is corporation with the only goal of making money or w/e conspiracy are out there . But it is in fact a body financed and ruled on by the vote of the coalition of universities. And the purpose and mission statement is available with a Google. 

“Our mission, or core purpose, is to regulate intercollegiate athletics in a manner that enhances the role of US higher education as a critical national enterprise in a competitive global environment; ensuring that competition is fair, safe, sportsmanlike

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

It's a free for all. There's nothing to stop any player from making any deal he can make.

There will be no fairness, it's now become a bidding war. First place this will be noticed is in recruiting.

The NCAA has no control, the Supreme Court is in charge.

 

The whole reason the NCAA exists is to insure fairness. So something has to change. In 10 years college sports will look nothing like it does today. Maybe Auburn gets to restart their rivalries with Tulane and Suwanee and we can finally stop worrying about Alabama. 

Is this a free for all or is controls in place? What is to stop every signed player from getting a NIL deal with the teams clothing provider?  If the deals are standardized then wouldn't it stand to reasons that programs that make more on sponsorship deals will also get more for their players? So thus by default going to UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas or Alabama means more sponsor money than going to Oregon State, Indiana, Texas A&M, or Auburn? How is the NCAA going to control fairness? 

Until I attended a game at UF I always thought atmosphere was more important than noise level. Now I think it is subjective.  I would put the big game atmosphere at Jordan-Hare up against any stadium.  There is a reason so many magical games happen for AU at home.. But JH stadium design is not conducive to trapping noise. On the other hand BHG was a very average atmosphere but when our offense couldn't communicate it had a real impact. Hopefully the new staff is more prepared for a venue like Beaver Stadium than our previous staff was.

Beaver Stadium ranking

Interesting comments on PSU atmosphere and stadium design.  Not sure if the author has been to Ben Hill Griffin which is the steepest and loudest venue I have been to but he compared Beaver Stadium to Tiger Stadium.  I can handle crowd noise levels like at LSU. But I really hope it is not as loud as Florida. 

From the article:

I’ve been here three times and I can point to a time in each where I could have been wearing noise-canceling headphones and still not be able to hear myself think.

The past two times I’ve visited Happy Valley have been nighttime whiteouts, and each was more insane than the last. At its loudest in my times there, I could be yelling at the top of my lungs and still not be able to hear myself — it’s that loud. Beaver Stadium is also a behemoth, housing nearly as many as The Big House, while also being a gargantuan, built upward instead of out.

The only place I can imagine to be as intimidating to visit would be LSU’s Tiger Stadium, but that’s it. Ohio Stadium is close, but there’s nothing like Penn State when it comes to being a stadium that road teams dread playing in.

Kind of the perfect match up for an OOC game IMO. You get the credit for going on the road against a top 25 power five team, in a hostile 106K seat stadium, and you got a solid chance to win. And Auburn should be favored to win the return game at home. I suspect all B1G and SEC fans will be tuned in. Now nobody can complain that Auburn is afraid to go North to play. I feel like Beaver Stadium is much closer to an SEC environment than any other B1G stadium with the exception of maybe Camp Randal so it should be fun for the visiting fans. 

I agree about the advance scheduling. Helps with planning. I want to go to the Bahamas to watch the MBB team but that's an expensive trip with little notice so I know it's probably not happening.  But I got plenty of time to plan out the trip to Cal and I'm grateful for it. 

25 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Other than the whiteout aspect, there’s nothing interesting about Penn St to me 

They’re like the 4th or 5th best program in their conference historically and don’t have 1/4th of the relevance of peak U at their peak. A good Miami will also move more seats and do more numbers in the media than a comparable PSU (that’s not just an opinion). But that’s just my opinion