Strychnine

On 5/8/2024 at 3:53 PM, TitanTiger said:

But Robby also has had certain people close to him in his ear telling him how amazing he is and that the coaches don't see it or whatever.  No coach has given him a fair shake, no one has really developed him, so on and so on.  And "you can be the star QB" is what he wants to hear so he discounts what everyone else tells him.

One would think that by the time he is at his third university, and backing up a freshman, some of that previous advice to change positions might finally start to resonate.

6 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

The shame of it is, the kid is an outstanding athlete.  He's just never been able to be consistently accurate or consistently and calmly stay in the pocket, read a defense, and deliver it to the right person.  He'll show flashes but then revert to bad habits.  And he's now a senior.

I think if he would embrace a move to WR or DB, he could be a serious weapon for an SEC level team.

I feel like he had to have received advice from more than one coach to change positions.  Was playing QB just the hill he wanted to die on?

15 hours ago, au701948 said:

Rotating 4 QB’s for the entirety of the “scrimmage” surely made things more difficult than normal. To add to the problem, each QB was playing with a different set of players.

i think the coaches worked to allow most everyone to participate at this point in Spring (or so it seemed to me) to maybe reward all for Spring Practice.

i genuinely do not think much was attempted to be shown given the parameters. There were a few highlights. However, not much continuity for lots of reasons. JMO

2010 and 2013 taught me to not draw many conclusions from A-Day.

On 1/24/2024 at 11:16 AM, aujohnson said:

To go from 800k to 50k it has to be something like a way to maintain insurance or achieve pension goals. I know he most likely has plenty of money aside from this salary but 50k from the level he was at is most likely not worth leaving the house for. 
Im shocked that almost any level of support staff would make that little especially with his experience and resume. 
Maybe he’s working 4 hours a week. 🤷🏻‍♂️

After Florida and South Carolina buyouts, I seriously doubt the man is very worried about his paycheck.  This is a WFH job that he can basically do in his leisure, and he can evaluate football film in his sleep.

On 1/8/2024 at 10:13 PM, keesler said:

I’d love to see Chiz headlining as an ESPN analyst now that the SEC is tied solely to ESPN.  Chizik is the best analyst in the business IMHO.  He does his homework, he’s unbiased and has a great way of breaking down the game to an elementary level without being condescending. 

To take that further, I would like to see more former coaches working games as commentators.

7 minutes ago, PigskinPat said:

many “experts” picked us to win

Any experts picking Auburn to win were making their picks by throwing darts blindfolded.  In the last 3 games alone, Auburn went to Arkansas and set off a nuclear weapon, then went back home and got rolled by New Mexico State, then nearly beat a Playoff team.  If anyone can predict the 2023 Auburn Tigers with any reasonable degree of accuracy, hire that person to pick you lotto numbers.

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

Same reason we got restless when someone like Mark Stoops were bought up here. I don’t look at records at a vacuum. I think context matters in these things. It’s easy to say, well he won at such and such place with limited vices, so that will translate but that is not the case. But that is the way of life for fanhood. 

I do not look at records in a vacuum either.  I tend to assume that if someone had success, at a program that does not generally enjoy success, then they probably have some correct answers.  Anyone posting a winning record at Kentucky within the last century is notable, and that is not just Kentucky notable, it is college football notable.

14 minutes ago, DAG said:

the fans are getting restless over there

Restless for what?  He is the first coach that has produced two 10 win seasons there.  Over the last century, the list of coaches that have had much success at Kentucky is a lot shorter than the list of those that have not.  He has a winning record.  You have to go back to the 1950s to find another coach that can claim that at Kentucky.  The last person that won more games than he lost at Kentucky, did it before Mark Stoops was born.

14 minutes ago, DAG said:

I don't think so. I tend to believe Hugh is so over this group that he has been spending all his waking moments setting up for the future and it clearly shows, if we get what some are assuming we get.

If I were in his position, that is what I would be doing, especially at this point.  He knows he gets a pass for his first season, but has to do something.  What to do?  Pull your hair out trying to improve this team, or work to build a future?  There are only so many hours in the day, and the latter is apparently more likely to be successful.

10 minutes ago, DAG said:

hopefully promising them future early PT

Any 4-5* recruit sees the potential for early PT on offense, at all positions.  The only questions would be "will these coaches be here 2 years from now", and "can they develop me into an NFL player"?

1 hour ago, Maverick.AU said:

I don't mind a 2 qb system but this may be the worst I've ever seen it run.

I do mind a 2 QB system, but I also accept that there is not a QB on the roster that Freeze is 100% sold on.  If he thought Thorne could get the job done with his arm, or that any defense might think Thorne could, he would not consider bringing in a runner to take snaps.  If he thought Ashford could get the job done, he would be taking the starting snaps.  He seems to think that a 2 QB system gives them the best chance to succeed, but is not even 100% sold on that either.  At this point, I think he is not far from throwing things at the wall, to see what sticks.

44 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Those who know me know I am a glass half full guy.   But, for the life of me, I can't figure out why we are playing Robby.   He is a career, over 250 attempts, 50% passer.   His running numbers show he is average.   I know we don't have a good roster.   I know we haven't recruited well.  I know it will be years before we are SEC competitive.   BUT, there is NO reason we can't look at the numbers and make better decisions NOW.     

I think the coaches started the season without being 100% sold on any QB on the roster, and that situation has not improved.  It might be that they thought if Thorne felt some pressure, as if Ashford was nipping at his heels, it might motivate him to step up.

8 minutes ago, fishepa said:

I mean the 2010 MNC game against Oregon was fun. 

I think the most entertaining game I have ever watched was the 2013 SEC Championship.

2 minutes ago, bostic up the middle said:

visual trends (they line up with success on the field too). I'll update that data in the next few weeks.

 

While I trimmed the graphs, I would say those largely look like good indicators of forward progress.

5 minutes ago, Didba said:

I don’t know what I did to this guy. 

Whatever it was, dude acted like you hit him in the face with beer bottle.

Just now, SurfingTiger said:

Okay. Get ******* challenged and back down. No reference.

You are on a message board, not fighting for your life against a horde of Nazi zombies.

Just now, abw0004 said:

Dude, relax.  

You might as well be asking water to not be wet.

3 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

quarterback play is atrocious and affects everything

Including playcalling.  If plays are there be made (open receivers), and are not made consistently, can we really blame playcalling?  A one-dimensional offense has to be really good at that one-dimension in order to be consistently successful, otherwise that one-dimension ends up getting shut down too.  There is no evidence that the offense is good enough at rushing to overcome being one-dimensional, against a defense that has a pulse.  Freeze and Montgomery cannot really playcall their way around that, or harness sorcery to field a QB that can consistently make throws that are there to make.

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

I actually don’t think so. I just watched the HF presser. That opening question and answer session made it sound like he was highly upset that we could not hit open receivers. I think we are seeing his confidence in Pt plummet.

…but I agree with the overall premise of what you said. It doesn’t matter.

I am not convinced that he was ever entirely confident in Thorne, just that he might have been the best of bad options.  He showed up at Auburn knowing that he needed to import a starting QB, and I suspect he still feels that way.

2 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I get that, but Prime is still such a massive, massive, MASSIVE risk. I don't think people can grasp how catastrophic it would be if he took a job elsewhere. He does not appear to be the type who has loyalty to any given place.

Do head coaches frequently leave Auburn for greener pastures?

In the last 20 years, that program has won more than five games in a season four times.  After winning one game last year, they are already 3-0 in what is effectively a complete reboot.  In September, they are 3 wins shy of making their season notable by Colorado standards.  People are talking about Colorado football, where no one talked about Colorado football before.  Players will flock to it, as they should.  They had a former 5* recruit playing defense and offense, and excelling at it.  Why ride a bench at Alabama, when you can compete for starting reps as a freshman at Colorado?  Last year, that question would have sounded ridiculous.  This year, not so much.

29 minutes ago, Randman5000 said:

I want a win more than anything

This.  I will be perfectly content with a scoreboard that reads 0:00, with Auburn 35 and A&M 31.  The sequence of events that leads to that can be as ugly as it needs to be.

Since he is what the coaches consider their best option for throwing the ball, I was immensely nervous when he started attacking Samford like he was Cam or Nick.  He made it even worse when he was willing to drop his shoulder and take hits to pick up yards/first downs/TDs. I think he is settling any need to bring Robby in to run, by marching it in himself.  That said, I do not want to see the offense where he is injured.

11 minutes ago, e808 said:

Yes they are real team but no different than Auburn playing at Cal. This years TCU can’t be given credit off what lasts years team did . They could end up 500 or worse for all we know 

So could UGA.  The point is that TCU is a real team, and Colorado went on the road to beat them.  They may not be national championship contender TCU from 2022, but they are still a P5 win.