msza

54 minutes ago, DAG said:

Like I said , I think Deion has the most upside . He would be my number #1

kiffin and Freeze are interchangeable for me afterwards

Rhule 3rd

 

 

Grimes if everyone said no.

 

All of these guys can be successful here in my opinion.  How many can get us over the hump is a different story. 

I'm in general agreement.

I'm sure it's just a failure of imagination on my part, but I have a hard time imagining Kiffin lifting a national championship trophy as a head coach. I can see it with Deion and I can see it with Freeze (even though I'm not in the pro-Freeze camp for other reasons). 

I would be thrilled if we go with Deion.

My main concern though would be whether his recruiting mojo could survive a couple of seasons of 7-5/8-4ish results, which would probably be more realistic than not for a newcomer to the SEC (I'd love to be wrong, of course).

1 minute ago, fasttimes said:

see, i see prime as low risk, especially compared to what we just had. there is not ceiling and honestly could he really do worse than harsin?

Not sure if Harsin should be a reference point for a future coach's performance.

59 minutes ago, Mikey said:

The media intentionally over-blows the question of Auburn boosters. People who donate millions to AU do NOT go around trying to sabotage the athletic department. For example, the situation last February legally required an investigation by AU authorities and one was conducted. Evil boosters were not the cause of that that, facts were.

I've never heard anyone with any credibility suggest that the boosters intentionally sabotage the program. 

The pervasive rumor is that boosters sometimes butt heads with coaches, ADs, etc, over the direction of the program, and that the boosters have more recourse than many do at other programs to get their way.

Of course, we've heard some counter-arguments in this thread.

15 minutes ago, AEAugirl said:

Who do you think writes the big checks?  The boosters.  That is the situation.

Its the same at every single college in America.  Auburn’s are no better nor worse than any other school.  The legend of Auburn boosters stems mainly from the days of Bobby Lowder yielding his power, and Jetgate kinda put it in the public eye. 

The people that tote the “meddling boosters” line never have an explanation as to why they don’t “meddle” in Bruce’s program nor can they say HOW they meddle.  

Interesting.

Greg McElroy (who I've always respected as an analyst) said as recently as yesterday that the AU "power brokers" have more power than the university president (around the one minute mark): 

Not discounting what you're saying but for the sake of conversation, this is a recent example of the spectre of the Auburn boosters.

Auburn's "booster situation" is a curiosity to me. Can someone explain explain it or point me to an explanation.

I know Jimmy "Yella Fella" Rane is the richest man in the state, contributes millions of dollars to the program, and is on some of the boards.

But apparently he has a significant amount of influence over the football program, and apparently that is unusual.

How unusual is this? Is he the only booster with this sort of power at Auburn? How many other big time programs have this sort of issue/arrangement?

This "booster situation" is often mentioned as a negative by the media and even on these boards. If it's truly a negative, why doesn't the school do something about it? How far would the program fall without the financial support of the infamous 'meddlesome boosters'? Or is it not so clear cut whether it's a negative or positive?

Lots of questions!

Edit: sorry, I accidentally posted before I was done writing.

This is worse than 2012. 

I can tell because I know I'd be happier right now if we had won a Natty two years ago.

1 minute ago, Taker said:

So your saying there's a chance

It's sad when "not quite doubled up" seems like a close one.

AU football: Where it's garbage time all the time!

When someone pointed out our poor second half stats, Harsin said, "yeah sure no problem I can do that in the first half, too."

On 10/17/2022 at 1:48 AM, Systems said:

It took me at least 2 minutes to figure out the potato reference... I can't take this chiz any more. Someone fire this guy so I get on with my life. #WDE

I see what you did there.

Great choice. 2013 is my favorite season as well.

I remember the Tennessee game as the moment when I realized there was something special happening. Going off memory, didn't we only throw like 10 passes during that UT game or something crazy like that?

edit: it was 7 pass attempts in the game!

I don't care if it's Prime Time or Grime Time as long as we reset the clock!!

I don't think we are comparable to what Tennessee has gone through in recent decades. 

Since 2000 UT has logged 9 losing seasons under God knows how many coaches. We could feasibly have a winning season next year if we make the right hire.

Hey, at least we, uhh, scored in almost every quarter this game?

7 minutes ago, metafour said:

So your friend believes that if we theoretically lost every remaining game and go 3-8 this season, that he comes back next year because there is "no plan"? Your friend has no idea what he's talking about.

Seriously.

I can see, like, a bad manager at a Pizza Hut eeking by for an extra fiscal quarter because of poor planning in upper management, but we're talking about one of the highest paid public officials in the State of Alabama.

Harsin trying to prove the naysayers wrong by showing he can lose in blowouts AND close ones.

At least we're a second-half team...

I suppose the thought process is, "God knows we're not gonna score in the second half so we've gotta give ourselves one more shot now."

Not sure if PSU knows this, but Auburn also has a 50-50 record when it's fans wear their lucky underwear.

2 minutes ago, AUIH1 said:

I posted earlier that it was the best game AU has played since 2013.  Heck, after thinking about it, I think todays game was the best game AU has played in Gus' entire time as HC including 2013.

wde

Good point. Obviously 2013 had some dramatic finishes, but as far as 'best game' from an analytical standpoint, this must be it. 2014 LSU was another big one, and the 2013 Tennessee game is a sentimental favorite for me, but yeah this was probably Gus's finest achievement.

1 hour ago, oracle79 said:

Has the Sugar Bowl ever featured a 4 loss SEC team?

 

Edit: Just checked the site: All-State Sugar Bowl

From my glance, we are indeed the first ever team with 4 losses to play in the Sugar Bowl.

Florida State was 9-4 going into the 2003 Sugar Bowl (and lost).

That's the only other time it's happened in the past 30 years -- didn't check beyond that.

Yeah, the SEC is down a bit this year, but, speaking objectively, it's about time. You should always assume a regression to the mean. The surprise is that it took this long.

No matter which player/team/conference is 'up' one year, the safest assumption is that they will regress toward the pack the next year. That's why it's so rare to see yearly contracts -- the admin wants time to see a regression to the mean after a stellar season. Hence yearly bonuses, which work to the advantage of the contractor.

No team in the history of college football has managed to maintain a win percentage equal to a 9-3 year. Think about that for a second, especially if we end up 9-4 this year. Any better and we'd be at a level of success year-in and year-out has proven to be unsustainable for anybody. 

EDIT: my math was a little off.

1 hour ago, StatTiger said:

 The key to the success of the play was Gus Malzahn approaching an official just before Auburn ran the play to remind them the formation they were about to see was a LEGAL formation. Auburn has run a similar play in the past without success and were flagged for an illegal formation when it wasn't.

Wow, interesting. I bet Gus isnt a favorite among refs because he makes them think too hard.