MaitlandTiger

Well we have 6-7 months to figure out who gives us the best chance to win, and that player will be QB1. These kids are at an age where they can improve very very quickly. Out of our five quarterbacks, typically speaking, one will rise to the top. Pretty simple, and now we’ve got another outstanding athlete in the competition. He’s pretty big, he has a lot of athletic ability, as do at least a couple of the other quarterbacks competing for QB1. I think it’s great and I am very glad to have him. One of the five, and seemingly two of the five, are probably not cut out to be SEC starters or at least capable of consistently winning at this level. Let’s hope and pray that one of the other three remaining, are.

Unless other offensive lineman enter the portal, are we looking at the Cornell transfer and who else? Since it appears we didn’t get our other targets?

All game, every game.

Hey now, #3 UCLA just lost at home to Oregon…..

The 2010 OLine was phenomenal. I’d say spectacular. They blew open holes unlike anything I’ve seen since.

There is a whole heck of a lot of mediocre in the QB transfer portal right now.

I just have a feeling that it’s OK for us to get our hopes up. Savor the anticipation, I just have a feeling we are going to be thrilled.

I truly believe that we are in the catbird seat. Some talented offensive lineman or quarterback currently playing for a .500 mid-tier program that rarely gets TV exposure, has the chance to (more than likely) start immediately for a quality SEC team? We have to be sitting pretty. Nice climate, pretty girls galore, great campus and family atmosphere, big-time exposure….

I hope you are right, and that makes sense. 2-3 big nasties and a bonafide top tier QB, maybe a solid WR would be just what the doctor ordered. I hadn’t really thought about the timing but you are right. I still think our best hope is going to come down to a talented back up that does not feel that he is going to see the field fast enough, which is fine by me. Just a guess.

The problem is that it is slim pickens for QB and OLine in the portal. Going to need some back channel (probably unethical and I’m good with that-lol but in all seriousness) communications with some unhappy backups, or excellent talent evaluation of people that really don’t have much game film

Looking back as objectively as I can, really almost nobody, certainly nobody intelligent, is/was rooting for Harsin to perform poorly. Given the circumstances, his recruiting performance was nothing less than phenomenal, the team has clearly bought in, past players react extremely favorably, we have smartly shed some underformers/complainers, and the future looks bright. So the Bigger Picture is overwhelming positive. And it should certainly be argued that the bigger picture is far more important than what we fans had to witness to end the season. but this is a fan forum, and I hope you will always (this is Auburn, not Rutgers) hear whining when we give up 40 unanswered at home to State, lose to USCe, forget how to play special teams, and finish like we did. I think the illogical Iron Bowl near-miracle, why-can’t-we-play-like -this-every-Saturday, drove people crazy. Especially those with little-to-no football background. Bottom line is the buck stops with the HC. And while the Bigger Picture looks rosy, and the lack of talent is not Harsin’s fault, the smaller picture—the game-day questionable personnel calls and substitution/time mismanagement, sloppiness, and playcalling, left people whining. I think they are entitled to be temporarily upset. But I think both camps are correct, at the same time. It was ugly watching the last couple of months, but any rational person would agree the future looks bright under Harsin. We have the luxury of reflection now that the season is over. Human nature says the rational among us will see the bigger picture appears to be pretty exciting.

Plus, something I have to remind myself of, every time I think about the state of Auburn football, is the fact that (and this is absolutely 1000% true and you know it’s true): take absolutely ANY college football team that you do not love with all your heart, and they get a new coach. Each and every one of you (myself very much included) would say that that coach gets at least a minimum of two years, maybe three, to turn the program around. Now, when it is the only school that you love with all your heart, this rational thinking is not the case. I want wins, by giant margins, and I want them right now. LOL. And there are multiple direct and indirect signs pointing to better days ahead.

This is just a miscommunication. @Didbaand several others, are saying that because Houston was not expecting the call, and indeed, the WRs had their man beaten, it was a good call. you, I, and others, say say that because Finley (bless his heart) very rarely converts that pass, it was a bad call. I say both camps are right but we are righter. Lol.

You too! I’m a glass-is-half-full guy and I like Harsin attitude. Telling myself he is a highly-paid professional and will continue to impress in recruiting, gets a QB and OLine in portal, takes off-season to assess and implements a respectable offense next year. Just sucked to watch the last few months, with the Iron Bowl heroics making it almost worse.

I regularly freely admit my lack of playing/coaching. But I am legendary (in my tiny world) at finding and implementing workarounds. However, we can both be right. Yes, running into the loaded box was low percentage, too. I assure you there are ways to at least try to work-around talent deficiencies and we rarely attempted them, with the resulting low scoring and 5 game skid. Our play calling was pedestrian, predictable, mind-numbingly boring, high-school-at-best, with subsequent results. Example, USF put 42 on Houston a month ago. THE POWER OF DIXIELAND somehow managed to scrape together 13. There are more examples. But I’m gonna watch a Yellowstone.

I certainly agree to an extent. However, to make a blanket statement that would say that you don’t base play calling on the talent of your team would be pretty irrational though, wouldn’t it? Call a 50 yard bomb for a quarterback that can’t throw 25 yards? You’d be considered a darned fool, right? Finley is not a very accurate quarterback—never has been- and he has absolutely zero touch—never has. So I think people are upset that we consistently called plays that required accuracy and touch. It is my personal opinion that we should have gotten more creative on the playcalling. Again, just my opinion. In other words the coaches should dial up some plays that they feel confident we can execute. Low percentage pass after low percentage pass after low percentage pass when we needed one yard for the first down? Disagreeing with that is a loser mentality?

True, but what about the fact that the coaches really should have known the QB probably wouldn’t/couldn’t make the throw successfully …. Classic example of failure to call plays that are realistic. Therefore, bad play-calling.

I hear you. I think my frustration is due in large part because we just keep going back to the same old-same old. I will embarrass myself if I try to name all the different plays, quick plays, that you run when the O line can’t block… But we don’t seem to get creative enough. And it shows in the stats, and the score.

Clearly the talent isn’t there but you CAN coach to your teams abilities. At least to an extent. Some (usually) young up-and-comer will take a team of medium talent and will a bunch of big games with them, every year. It appears our coaches refuse to do that; stubbornly trying to fit the round peg in the square hole.

Been a rabid Auburn Tiger since I got to school in 1989, and 2012 was the only year that I ended up not being able to watch all of the games. I just couldn’t do it. Caught a couple of first quarter’s, then quit watching. And I wait all year for our Auburn Tigers to take the field

I hear you. I love our boys, just frustrated. But this was the Houston, (struggled to beat East Carolina) we gave up 400 yards, they blew holes open, that I could drive a truck through, and plenty of explosive passes over 20 yards, it wasn’t a masterpiece. I am a “glass is half full” guy myself, but it was no defensive masterpiece against a team that plays in a lower competitive set.

Thank you for making me laugh for the first time since the kick off. I am also pissed. The good news is, we really have nowhere to go but up

Mason—a few good games, a few bad games. Decent scoring average, lots of yardage. (400 yards today, not a shutdown by definition) On the year—Moderately high percentage 3rd downs conversions allowed. Nothing tremendous. Mediocre D stats. And a losing record. But yes, he had a couple of good games

5 losses in a row. This loss to a team that gave up 42 to USF. I understand that the talent not there on Offense. Forget about 2021, focus on improvements for 2022. But I can’t seem to get on the side of the posters who don’t want to lay ANY of the accountability on Harsin or Mason. Today we watched bad playcalling, for the most part. Yes, overthrows and drops, but still horribly pedestrian. Regardless, we just finished the season with five straight losses, and the Mississippi state meltdown was beyond unacceptable

Not what we were hoping for.