aucom96

We had players who could field a punt. Coaches put one in who couldn’t. We had players who had kept Milroe off balance with pressure all night. Coaching let him sit back and wait for a receiver to get open. Coaching tells a guy to let a high kickoff go so we have time for a few plays. Coaching results in a player running right at the heart of the coverage behind his 10. We had the players to win this game. We didn’t have the coaching when it counted.

How long are we going to be “ in a state of rebuilding”? We had the players to win this game. Bad plays AND bad coaching late kept that from happening. These coaches don’t deserve a pass.

Cause Auburn is special? Cursed?

10 years and four coaches later… ”We just don’t have the players. Be patient!”

Three man rush wasn’t the problem. It was playing pure contain with your line on Milroy without bringing any pressure. He was going to find a hole. Their receivers are too good. But, bottom line, Roberts has no business being on an Auburn sideline from here on.

Had no problem with him until that 4th down. Letting talent like bama has take all the time they want shows me he isn’t ready for this level. Go get a real DC.

This one is coaching. You don’t let 5 star receivers run around until they’re open, you don’t put in a guy that barely touches the ball to field a crucial kick and you do t let your team devolve into a street fight when you still have time to make a play. We played three quarters of a great , but the finish demands some significant changes. It was embarrassing.

We need a coaching overhaul. Love the fight in this team tonight, but we are fundamentally poor.

The end to Auburn's 2023 season... seen here:

I don't think anyone thinks that. However, I don't think NMSU has better overall talent than us at any position. They certainly played better and, at least Saturday, they were DEFINITELY better prepared, which is on coaching.

I just wish we'd approach a coaching hire more thoughtfully than either "this guy coached at Auburn once!" or "this guy has the secret to beating Saban!" I thought we had TRIED to do that with Harsin, but then it turned out he didn't think he had to recruit... which should have come out in interviews. I think our problem is as much with who's hiring the coaches as the coaches themselves.

We will see. We've always trailed recruiting with UGA and bama, but only since Saban and Smart have we fallen this far. That has as much to do with their ability to build a fundamentally strong program top to bottom as it does pure talent alone. We have a weak SEC roster, but we aren't a talentless team. We should handle even a strong smaller conference program like NMSU without issue or even a bottom dwelling P5 like Cal. That we didn't makes me worry that, much as with Malzahn, we've got a guy with a scheme. When the script works, it really works. When it doesn't, even the weakest dates on your schedule are worth worrying about. That lack of consistency with Gus eventually killed us in recruiting and made Auburn football progressively unpleasant to watch. I want us to be able to line up with better guys and tackle a little scrambling QB and blow their linemen off the ball. Even with what we have, we should be able to do that. That's fundamentals and we lack them. You can have great talent and still lack them, as we often saw with Gus. I don't want another Gus. One was more than enough.

This has been Auburn's long term reaction to Nick Saban's (and now Kirby's) recruiting success. It started with Tony Franklin, I thought it might end with Harsin, but it was apparent when Freeze was hired that it was still the mindset with the powers that be. Only when Dye was here have I seen Auburn act like they belonged among the best. I wish we could get back to that, but we're not the only program that has responded to Saban this way.

I would be surprised if anyone other than Freeze was seriously considered. We have boosters that think they know football making the decisions. No one outside of Auburn wanted Hugh Freeze. There were a number of coaches out there we could have thoughtfully pursued. Some were up and comers with no guarantees. Some were young P5 coaches with promising starts. We talk to them, but just like with Gus, the pick was made before the talks even began. We act like we're a conference USA team when we hire coaches and we get those kind of results. We have a big time football resume, but we have a small ball mentality from the top down. We've got Freeze. We'll hope for the best. But we can simultaneously stop acting like this guy is some top level coach and that we are incapable of attracting good coaches to this program. If we need to have booster leverage over every coach we hire, sure. Freeze is probably top value... but we overpaid.

It's useless to say fire Freeze. We've invested and will ride this out good or bad. I don't think Freeze is it. I don't think his recruiting is going to be as good as expected. He was an underwhelming hire that no other SEC program wanted. We approach every coaching search like "who wants to come here?" and then we hire someone no one wants...and we always get the same results. Stop paying top money for average coaches. Stop thinking there's a secret neato offensive scheme that's going to tip the balance. We hired another Gus Malzahn. Why?

2003... right after I'd watched USC come into Auburn and knock us out cold, those unranked street urchins shuffled over and kicked us while we were down.

The stupid thing about this is that conference, really, is going to matter less and less. The conferences are going to get bigger, the haves are going to get fewer as NIL money grows and dominates the recruiting landscape, and the playoffs will expand. Eventually, college is going to look more like the NFL and whether they call Auburn's conference the SEC, ACC the south division or whatever, what will determine our's and everyone's athletic success is money. That's it. Being in the ACC won't change that.

Sounds Harsin-esque.

Holden Geriner:

We still look lost too much of the time, we haven’t been good on the road in years and Arky has some big play ability. Arkansas - 30 Auburn. - 20

I'm interested to see Freeze evolve as the talent problem lessens. One thing that (putting tin foil hat on for a moment) makes me nervous with Auburn football is the always stated commitment "to the run" when we hire a coach, regardless of what their background is. I love Auburn's history running the ball. I love Bo, Cadillac, Ronnie, the Irons... all of it. I also think that game has run its course. The top programs throw the ball. They set up the run off the pass. Unlike Gus, Freeze made his mark in the SEC throwing the ball, but that second half looked a little too familiar for me. Yes, I realize we were trying to burn clock and yes, I know the roster needs a lot of work. I just hope when we alleviate that roster deficiency - and I believe Freeze is doing good work towards that - we're not still limiting ourselves being "committed to the run". Let Freeze be Freeze.