AUAlumnTN

Good grief man, this is some "we have always been at war with Eastasia" level revisionist history. Here are the facts: 1. His freshman year at Baylor, Jarrett Stidham's completion percentage, yards per attempt, and passer rating were all significantly better than either of his two seasons at Auburn. He also threw only six fewer TDs despite only starting two full games and mostly appearing in mop-up duty. 2. Bo Nix threw for fewer yards, fewer TDs, more interceptions, and his passer rating went DOWN in year 2. 3. In 11 seasons as Auburn's HC/OC, Gus Malzahn-coached QBs finished in the bottom half of the SEC in passing yards 6 times, TD passes 7 times, and passer rating 5 times. Only twice did any of his QBs finish in the top 3 in any of those categories.

Hey, let's give ourselves a little bit of credit, this happens at more places than just Auburn. I'm pretty sure "Fire someone average to hire someone worse" is painted on the walls in the NY Jets' headquarters.

I never thought I'd watch an Auburn team that seems completely incapable of scoring more than 1 touchdown against anyone with a pulse but here we are. I think it looks like a game for about the first quarter and then reality sets in. Us - 13 Admiral Ackbars - 38

Sure and I'm saying that "no one on Ole Miss' schedule thus far could've beaten Penn State or UGA" is an extremely flimsy rationale for thinking this game will be close. Ole Miss isn't a fraud because they've won a few close games and Auburn is as bad or worse than almost every team they've played so far.

I don't think this is as winning an argument as you seem to think it is

Those roster talent rankings really don't matter all that much at a certain point. For example, LSU's roster being ranked 10 spots higher than Tennessee's certainly didn't stop them from getting boat-raced this past weekend. Ditto Texas A&M's 4th ranked roster getting splattered by Clanga's 29th ranked one two weeks ago. Ole Miss may not have "played anyone" but they've beaten everyone on their schedule, most of them soundly, something good teams tend to do. They also play solid defense, run the ball well, and score a lot of points, more things good teams tend to do. Auburn doesn't score a lot of points, can't run the ball, and plays what can charitably be called okay defense and at this point in the season, I don't think any of those things are getting better.

He did this as a coordinator too. Missouri was PUTRID on offense in 2015 (bottom 5 nationally in total and scoring offense; averaging 280 ypg and 13 ppg). Heupel arrives in 2016 and they IMMEDIATELY got better (#13 total offense and #48 scoring offense). In 2017 they were a top 15 squad in both total and scoring offense and Drew Lock set the (since broken) single season SEC record for TD passes. Dude knows what he's doing where offense is concerned.

I think this is doing a disservice to Heupel and Hendon Hooker. Heupel's managed to turn around what was one of the worst rosters in the SEC into something respectable in basically two years, in no small part due to finding guys like Hooker in the transfer portal. Hooker's having a great year but he was arguably All-SEC caliber last year too. I do agree that it's too early to tell if Heupel's the answer long-term but give the dude his props. What he's doing at UT is a much heavier lift than Muschamp and McElwain's efforts at Florida.

Seriously? There is ABSOLUTELY a difference between 8-4 and 6-6 and there is a world of difference between where Auburn was when Gus was fired and where UT was when Pruitt was fired.

You do realize just exactly how BAD UT was before Heupel got there, yeah? We haven't been setting the world on fire, no but Auburn is well above .500 with a division title and multiple wins over Alabama during that stretch. During the same span, Tennessee is 10 games UNDER .500 in SEC play, suffered multiple losing seasons, and had a three game losing streak to VANDERBILT at one point.

The history of this conference over the last decade and a half or so has been really clear on a particular point: if you're coaching for a contender and you don't get things moving in the right direction quickly, you're not going to last. The last SEC coach to win the conference without hitting 10 wins in his second full year on the job was Tubs. If you're at a Kentucky or a South Carolina or a Mississippi State, you'll get time to "build the program". Auburn has too many resources, too much brand recognition, and too significant a history (especially recent history) to require that kind of time. If you're really built for this job, it'll show by year two. Bryan Harsin is not built for this job.

I think he either gets fired shortly after the Georgia game or lasts the rest of the season. He's definitely gone one way or the other. I think the timing comes down to whether or not the administration wants a new AD in place before he gets the hook.

This roster is not well constructed. The o-line is bad, there are serious depth problems in the defensive front seven, and there's no obvious answer at QB. All that said, I think there is an alternate universe where this team is a salty, scrappy "nobody wants to play us, especially in JHS" 7-9 win team that gives everyone on the schedule all they can handle. The problem really is the coaching. Look at last year's Tennessee squad. They were in WAY worse roster shape than Auburn is now and looked like it but they clearly and consistently improved every week and clawed their way to arguably a way better season than they had any business having.

A 100% healthy, disciplined, and well-coached version of this team would've needed several miracles to upset UGA. In the absence of those things, Auburn will be lucky to lose by 30. More importantly, if the decision to fire Harsin is contingent on the outcome of the UGA (or any other) game then the decision has already been made.

This really might be worse. That 2008 squad could at least run the ball and play defense. As bad as that game against the Moo Cows was, it never felt like Auburn was really in danger of losing it. Today, on the other hand, Auburn should have lost. Period. This team does a whole bunch of stuff badly and nothing well.

This is not an "I told you so" but after today I think we can all agree that it CAN in fact, get worse.

I'm not sure week 4 is the time to be placing bets on where the floor is for a team this bad. 2012 wasn't THAT long ago.

I don't have a score prediction (other than that it will be ugly) but I will predict that Auburn will cough up the football to the bad Tigers at least once. Not that anyone needs any more ammunition but here's some anyway: Last year's LSU game is the only time under Bryan Harsin that Auburn has played a Power 5 opponent and not committed a turnover. Even better, Auburn's turned the ball over in 13 of Bryan Harsin's 16 total games at the helm.

Brandon Council's unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the first half tells you everything you need to know about our offensive line this year.

Kirby Smart hit the nail on the head last year after the Florida game when he said there isn't a coach out there who can out-coach recruiting.

On defense, we lost virtually all of our "difference-maker" type players save Derick Hall and so far, no one has stepped up to fill the void. The offense just doesn't have an identity. AT ALL. I honestly have ZERO clue what the heck we are trying to do/be on the offensive side of the football. Finally, with the exception of Ike Hilliard, every single offseason coaching change has been a downgrade. Auburn was not a well-coached team last year and has gotten decidedly worse since then.

"Popcorn in every bowl and a chicken in every pot" Freshwater for Senate 2044

Well, the last coach we poached from the Black Bears/Land Sharks/Admiral Ackbars worked out okay so why not?

I swear reading through this forum lately has been like watching a bunch of scorpions in a bucket. At the end of the day, college football is entertainment. It's supposed to be fun. I haven't seen this many people this wrapped around the axle about something that's supposed to be fun since the last Star Wars movie came out.

If the players think its cool and it gets more potential recruits' eyeballs on the program, why not?