TeamZero77

Whether FSU wins or not, they're not getting in over Alabama. This is if Michigan wins over Iowa. It's about matchups and TV ratings and FSU is boring as hell without Jordan Travis. The SEC is a machine that's way bigger than the ACC. If Michigan wins, it will no doubt be: 1) Michigan 2) Washington 3) Texas 4) Alabama This way you don't get a Texas vs Bama rematch and you also get a Harbaugh vs Saban storyline in the semifinals.

Oh ok. Makes sense. Seems I remember Alabama being on probation under Shula and they couldn't go to a bowl so they scheduled a 13th game versus Hawaii. Bama went to Hawaii and got their butts whooped.

Google the story from 1992 when Mississippi State was getting ready to play Texas that weekend and MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill had a farmer show up with a bull to their team meeting. Jackie was trying to motivate his team to get tough and to beat Texas so he had the Farmer castrate the bull in front of the entire team. Rumor was that Jackie also did that several times while at Texas A&M during the Texas rivalry week. Some say that Jackie castrated it but Jackie has been asked about it often and he says he wanted the Farmer to show his team the difference between a bull and a steer and that it was for educational purposes.

Tonight at 7:00 est on CBS Sports Network is Liberty vs NMSU for the Conference USA Title. Liberty has already beaten NMSU 33-17 earlier this season. Liberty is 12-0 and NMSU is 10-3 but have won their last 8 in a row. Why has NMSU played 13 games so far but everybody else in the FBS have played 12?

I watched a really good piece on Sportscenter thursday about the transfer portal and NIL. They said that 60+ QB's have already entered the portal in FBS and FCS. They also said that as of right now, 70% of the passes that have been thrown in FBS this year, have been by transfer QB's. An analyst that was being interviewed said that several head coaches told him that their philosophy going forward is to not worry about landing a QB out of high school. They want to land the QB the 2nd time around out of the portal. Their reasoning was that this way, you don't have to waste 2 or maybe 3 years recruiting the kid during high school and then if you land him on signing day, you then have to spend a year or more developing him. Their thinking is let another school and staff waste the resources and time recruiting him and developing him and then if he eventually hits the portal, get him then and you've pretty much got a turn-key QB ready to start. The piece didn't name those coaches but that kinda seems like what Lane Kiffin has started to do.

I just read an article where Matt Rhule was asked if he was bringing in a top portal QB and he said that right now, a good portal QB will cost you between $1 million to $2 million dollars. He said there are teams out here with players making $7 million per season. I've read that Caleb Williams made $10 million this year and it told all of the NFL QB's that are making less than Caleb is. I think it's no surprise that Steve Sarkisian has been a head coach at Washington, USC and Texas and had never won more than 9 games in a season. He now sits at 11-1. Texas having endless money has to play a part in Sarkisian having this breakout season and Texas having just their 2nd double digit win season since 2009. All the coaches and especially the AD's, support players making money but they just want guardrails put up so this doesn't continue being the wild west. They keep waiting for the NCAA to step in but I'm beginning to think that the NCAA is saying "Everybody wanted players to get paid. Well, they're getting paid. Be careful what you wish for."

I agree 100%. One other thing people don't really give Thorne credit for is his legs. With a good Bowl game performance, he could get to 600 yards rushing this season. He is over 500 now. So if Hugh replaces Thorne in the portal, that's something he will need to think about. Does this new QB have some wheels if things break down? In monday's presser, Hugh talked a bit about the portal and said he has no idea what he will need because he doesn't know exactly what players on his team will enter the portal. He said he never had to deal with the portal at Liberty because his players all stayed. So last year was really his first real venture into portal recruiting and he said he isn't a fan and that this first portal window is WAAAY too long. He said the NCAA should make it 1 week. He had to use it last year but just listening to him speak about it, he gives off vibes that he won't use the portal unless it's just an absolute must.

Also, look how long it has taken our QB's to even slightly grasp this RPO offense. Heck, Robby and Holden haven't grasped any of it if you listen to what Hugh says about practices. Thorne still hasn't gotten it completely down pat either. So why does everybody think Hugh will just throw Thorne away and go grab another portal QB and go through all of this mess again and HOPE that the new QB grasps this system? I have a feeling that Hugh probably stays with the veteran Thorne and hopes that with spring ball and fall camp, as well as highly rated WR recruits, the offense will run at a much higher level next year. One other thing, if we are shopping for a portal QB, it doesn't mean we have our pick of the litter. There's alot of schools that can offer what we offer but they have veteran O-Lines and senior laden offensive weapons. Cam Newton just did a new podcast and said he chose Auburn over Mississippi State simply due to Auburn having 22 seniors and a better O-Line than State had. Russell Wilson chose Wisconsin over Auburn the year after we had Cam and it was due to us losing so many seniors and Wisconsin had a great O-Line and veterans. The easiest path to the NFL, staying upright and not injured (great O-Line) still matters a ton, even more than NIL money to alot of these guys.

Freeze struggled to find a QB last year. He had to pick up Thorne late which screwed up everything because he only had fall camp here at AU. So if he struggled to land a QB last year, why does everybody think he will be able to pull a QB of his choosing this year? Think about it, last year we had alot of hype behind us when the portal opened. The talk was that Freeze, Montgomery and Kent Austin were 3 offensive geniuses and all 3 were QB whisperers and we truly thought that QB's would be lining up to play for them due to their high scoring, pass happy offenses in their past. It didn't happen and then in the 9th inning Peyton Thorne just fell into our lap. Fast forward to now; we are losing veteran O-Linemen, we are bringing in talented but young WR's and our offense absolutely sucked this year with these 3 offensive geniuses. So why would this year be so much easier to grab a really good portal QB compared to last year? I would argue last year would be the easiest because at that time nobody knew that our offense would be trash like it is. I know as Auburn fans we love to think we will be one of the top attractions for portal QB's but we haven't been. I argued back and forth last year that Freeze wasn't being "picky" when looking at QB's in the portal, he was just getting turned down. Our insiders wouldn't admit that though and kept beating that dead horse called Grayson McCall up until the last portal ended. All I'm saying is don't be shocked and hurt if we don't get a top QB in the portal or even a QB at all. Freeze hasn't said a single thing about Thorne NOT starting next season but our fans all think it's a done deal that he isn't QB1 and the fairytale portal QB will arrive to save the day.

Watching Tennessee vs UNC basketball on ESPN and the ticker across the bottom says Leonard is entering the portal and Notre Dame is his likely destination. That's the only team it mentions. I know ESPN misses on stuff but last year at this time they were pretty much nailing all of the transfer portal destinations for QB's. I remember it well because we were kinda in a panic because we waited until the 2nd portal to sign a QB, so I was reading everything they reported on portal QB's. Notre Dame got Sam Hartman last year and he he is out of eligibility so Leonard makes alot of sense.

He kept taking up for Koy, which I totally expect him to, but he mentioned a couple times that Koy has done a really good job for us this year on punt returns when Scott was injured during the season. Hasn't Koy already muffed a couple punts this year? Maybe I'm thinking of something else but it seems he has.

It really does seem like it's been forever since we played. I'm looking forward to this one tonight. Actually, I'm looking forward to 3 games. Us vs Va. Tech, Tennessee vs UNC and Arkansas vs Duke. The SEC could make a strong statement in those 3 games. I think we and Tennessee get the W tonight but Arkansas will need a miracle to pull out a W over Duke. Arky just hasn't looked all that good so far this year, imo. WDE

Coach Freeze talked about the muffed punt during his presser on monday. It's posted here on the main page. I can't remember the exact time stamp during the video but he said the reason they wanted the punt to be fielded was because they didn't want to be pinned back deep plus Alabama had 2 timeouts left which would've made it really hard to run clock. I admit, I've been down on Coach Freeze since the NMSU loss but his presser monday was the best I've seen since he arrived here. He goes through the entire decision on why they were in the defensive scheme they were in on 4th and 31. It's a good watch if you haven't seen it already. He had an answer for every single question asked regarding the Iron Bowl, the portal, the upcoming bowl practices, etc. I'm not saying I completely agree with everything that was done during the Iron Bowl from the coaching side but Hugh does make some good points during the presser.

The transfer portal, like most things in life, has it's positives and negatives. Gunner's story is definitely a big positive for the portal. By entering the portal and finding a team in a great conference that needed immediate help at his position, Gunner probably just got himself drafted into the NFL. Not saying that he couldn't get drafted out of Western Kentucky but by coming to Auburn, he got to play against the best of the best every saturday and I feel like he held his own. If Coach Saban noticed his skill, then I'm sure other coaches and NFL scouts did as well. Gunner really helped us this year when we needed it the most. And the article says that he has mentored Connor Lew this year so that's just an added bonus. I'm rooting for him to play on sundays. WDE Gunner!!

Great pickup!! This 2025 class is on point so far!! Welcome to Auburn Kalen!!! WDE

Lebby worked for Kiffin so that could possibly be a fun little rivalry to watch. I know Lebby's never been a HC but I feel like Mississippi State hired about as good a coach that they could expect right now.

So you've got Michigan, Florida State, Texas and PAC12 champ as your 4 playoff teams? You don't have Georgia getting in?

I've been watching and rooting for Auburn since I was very small in the early 80's. My top 3 in order are: 1) 2013 National Championship game loss 2) 2019 Final Four loss to Virginia 3) 2023 Iron Bowl loss Honorable mention would be the 1985 Iron Bowl loss on the Van Tiffin kick. I was only 6 yrs old but it hurt.

He would definitely recruit well and would also make our guys tough!!! I heard or read somewhere, can't remember which, that Billy Napier was contacted by Auburn when we fired Gus late in 2020. They wanted to interview him for the HC position. Napier called Muschamp who had just been fired as HC at South Carolina. Napier asked Boom what he thought about the Auburn job. Boom said you can win a Natty there because we did in 2010. He said everything is there to win and the fanbase is great but you have to have 5 certain people behind you to succeed here. He told Napier who those 5 are but where I read/heard this didn't mention the 5 names. Napier then asked Boom if he takes the Auburn HC job, would Boom be his DC and Boom said no. I'm not sure if he just doesn't want to come back for a 3rd time or if he was just fired as a HC at USCe and wanted to chill a bit.

I saw somebody post a scenario on social media that would be wild but is very unlikely to happen. It said Bama beats UGA. Texas beats Okie State. Iowa beats Michigan. Oregon beats Washington. Louisville beats Florida State. That would leave Bama, UGA, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Florida State, Michigan and Ohio State all with 1 loss. There's head to heads between a few of those teams on that list but it would still be interesting. It won't ever happen though.

I could this year going just like 2021 for Alabama and UGA. In 2021, Bama lost to Texas A&M. They got tough games that year from LSU and Arkansas. Then they came to Jordan Hare when we were on a losing streak. We had them beat all game but Bryce Young willed them to a victory in 4 overtimes which won him the Heisman. Then they blew out an undefeated Georgia by 3 TD's in the SECCG and both schools got into the playoffs with 1 loss. Then both met for the Natty and Georgia throttled Bama to win the Natty. Now Bama has a loss to Texas, then they struggled with USF and Arkansas and then pulled out the Iron Bowl at the end again. Now they face an undefeated UGA for the SEC title. I could see Bama barely winning over UGA and somehow, the committee will put in both teams because Bama will have a good loss to Texas and are SEC champs. Then Georgia will have 1 loss to Bama after 2 National titles and a 30 game winning streak. The SEC usually gets their way and this season is mirroring 2021 in many ways.

I've noticed that as well. Starting around Saban's 2nd or 3rd season, their players started looking alot bigger. Derrike Henry was a monster but Bo Scarborough made Henry look like a high schooler. Georgia and LSU have looked similar as well for several years. I'm sure most top programs have been a step ahead on their nutrition but also a step ahead on PED's and beating the testing. Even when we have won SEC titles and our 2010 Natty, our players looked like regular college athletes. Not like the Hulk like most of these Bama and Georgia players look like. Hell, Jalen Milroe looks like a dang NFL defensive end or linebacker and he's their QB.

I agree with all of this but wanted to add one thing; I've read and heard that on the punt return, somebody (not sure who) yelled for #0 to return. Koy Moore went in instead of Keionte Scott. Both are #0. That is why Freeze thought Koy Moore was Scott. Anyway, Keionte Scott was supposed to field the punt but Koy Moore ran onto the field with special teams when a coach yelled for #0 to field the punt but didn't specify the #0's name. If true, that's a cluster of all clusters.

Harsin took Bama to 4 OT's in 2021 and did it with TJ Finley on 1 good leg. See, we can spin stuff anyway we want and make something look good when it's not. Analytics said we had a 99.9% chance to win that game when it was 4th and 31. And we freaking found a way to lose. It's a different way we lose but it's a pattern in Hugh's career.

The guys on SEC Final said for the past 2 years, when a team had a 3rd and 30+ or a 4th and 30+, they were 0 for 90. It's now 1 for 91. It's pretty amazing how these last 2 games for us have had some crazy stat like I just mentioned or last week we had won 84 straight games at Jordan Hare against an unranked Group of 5 school dating back to 1991 and then lost to NMSU. We are ending streaks but in a bad way. These last 2 games have been JABA if I've ever seen JABA.