2013 Fall Camp - Practice 20 (Mon, Aug 19)

[IronMan70 3,277]

I haven't done much research on WSU but peeps need to be careful in using the way WSU played last year as an indicator for this year. That's the same mistake people make with us. Just like we aren't the same team this year as last, they aren't either.

[alexava 6,973]

I hope we are not. that is another reason I won't predict. your own logic can work against you sometimes.

[bwillaub 0]

3. We will rush for 250 yards or more against WASU.

This seems almost "mark my words"-esque as far as predictions go. Hope you're right!

Na. That would be a 15 yard flag for stating the obvious.

I like the way you think, E. Watching us pound the ball on their butts up and down the field would bring tears of joy to my eye.

Honestly, 250 sounds conservative against a relatively weak defense. I don't think we'll throw it more than 15-20 times since it's Marshall's first start and we have a plethora of options in the backfield.

15 yards is a bit harsh, E! I was being conservative. After last year's dismal display I have learned to temper my expectations. Of course I only predicted 6 or 7 wins last year.

[Rednilla 5,401]

I just don't know how you can explain Clemson's D going from top 20 to bottom 10, west Virginia's defense going from top 50 to bottom 10, and oregon's defense doing the same once Kelly took over. It's apparent that with the hurry up offense, it's nearly impossible to field a great defense, and even a competent one. I don't think we need to be so concerned with tempo on offense that we sacrifice good defense. We just won't win very much if we only have great offense.

It's this kind of mentality from Chizik that had Malzahn get run off. I think it best to let Gus run his offense the way he thinks it should be run.

As far as teams running a hurry up offense with good defense, Oklahoma seems to have had success with it, as has the aforementioned Oregon. The key is bringing in quality players and putting them on the defensive side, rather than having every playmaker on offense. Auburn may or may not be good on defense this year, but rest assured that things will get better, regardless.

[alexava 6,973]

I just don't know how you can explain Clemson's D going from top 20 to bottom 10, west Virginia's defense going from top 50 to bottom 10, and oregon's defense doing the same once Kelly took over. It's apparent that with the hurry up offense, it's nearly impossible to field a great defense, and even a competent one. I don't think we need to be so concerned with tempo on offense that we sacrifice good defense. We just won't win very much if we only have great offense.

It's this kind of mentality from Chizik that had Malzahn get run off. I think it best to let Gus run his offense the way he thinks it should be run.

As far as teams running a hurry up offense with good defense, Oklahoma seems to have had success with it, as has the aforementioned Oregon. The key is bringing in quality players and putting them on the defensive side, rather than having every playmaker on offense. Auburn may or may not be good on defense this year, but rest assured that things will get better, regardless.

that is what baffles me about chizik. Assumming this is the case why did he hire gus in the first place?

[alabamabrown14 9]

Everyone assumes the sky is falling based on what CEJ said. Coaches are not happy people. One little thing is messed up and they are not happy. The demand perfection. If that is not there they have negative comments. Look at bellicheck and parcells from the nfl. They were never happy even when they had a good defense. It is August 19 can we hold off on the sky is falling comments

Thank You!!!!!!

[Auburn4Winners 0]

Everyone assumes the sky is falling based on what CEJ said. Coaches are not happy people. One little thing is messed up and they are not happy. The demand perfection. If that is not there they have negative comments. Look at bellicheck and parcells from the nfl. They were never happy even when they had a good defense. It is August 19 can we hold off on the sky is falling comments

Thank You!!!!!!

I'll be honest.. I'd be less confident in our coaches if they came in and were happy so quickly.

[au75 75]

THE SKY IS NOT FALLING IT IS ORANGE AND BLUE. D will be ok this year.

[alabamabrown14 9]

Can't believe the season starts in 11 days..."Can't wait!!!!!"(Bart Scott voice)

[alabamapaper 0]

The defense needs to get three and outs. That simple. I don't care what type of offense you run, if you can't stop the other team from driving the ball you will have problems. Omg omg we will be without our best pass rusher from last season - we knew that all along he is with the 49ers now, also many spoke of Carl Lawson as the next All American - now he gets his chance. From all indications Garrett will be back by game 1, but he has Therzie backing him up (experienced and physical) jones injury concerns me, but he was not a starter anyway so Kam Melton your time to shine. AU will field 11 players come Aug 31, there will be some growing pains but I believe this defense will suprise many of us by seasons end. This defense will be physical and well coached, lets see the product before having meltdowns.

Does anyone here think the defense we field this year will be worse than the defense we fielded last year? I don't.

Does anyone here think the offense we field this year will be worse than the offense we fielded last year? I don't, and I honestly don't think anyone else does, either (maybe former CGC).

So, we will be better on defense and MUCH better on offense. I think it is reasonable -- even for those of us who claim to be 'realistic' rather than sunshine pumpers -- to expect 6-8 wins. I can see more, if the team really comes together.

That's pretty much the camp I'm set up in for now. I'm not one to set up serious expectations on things that I have no control. Auburn football just happens to be one of those things. Like you, I do expect to be better on both sides of the ball but have no way of knowing if that will be better than at least half the teams we play. So, 6-8 wins seems like a reasonable goal but definitely not a ceiling. Historically, funny things have happened to Auburn football in seasons just like this one. They've had a tendency to surprise on the upside when expectations are at the lowest; so, we'll see how it all unfolds.

That's what I'm thinking (hoping).

Hurry Up offenses are not new, and having solid defenses with them is not new. Bend-Don't-Break defenses and defensive philosophies do not pair well with hurry up offenses. A good strong defense that fights for every inch and turnover will do very well with Hurry-Up offenses. With a Hurry-Up offense, a team really needs a very aggressive defensive philosophy. The goal is to keep the offense on the field and let it wear down the other team. Coach Chizik seemed to want to wear down the opposition with a Bend-Don't-Break defensive philosophy and utilize a Hurry-Up offense when he wanted. To me, it was like mixing oil and water.

Johnson has always been one of the more aggressive defensive coordinators. This should mesh much better with the HUNH offense.

[Rednilla 5,401]

I just don't know how you can explain Clemson's D going from top 20 to bottom 10, west Virginia's defense going from top 50 to bottom 10, and oregon's defense doing the same once Kelly took over. It's apparent that with the hurry up offense, it's nearly impossible to field a great defense, and even a competent one. I don't think we need to be so concerned with tempo on offense that we sacrifice good defense. We just won't win very much if we only have great offense.

It's this kind of mentality from Chizik that had Malzahn get run off. I think it best to let Gus run his offense the way he thinks it should be run.

As far as teams running a hurry up offense with good defense, Oklahoma seems to have had success with it, as has the aforementioned Oregon. The key is bringing in quality players and putting them on the defensive side, rather than having every playmaker on offense. Auburn may or may not be good on defense this year, but rest assured that things will get better, regardless.

that is what baffles me about chizik. Assumming this is the case why did he hire gus in the first place?

It was part of the plan that got him hired to begin with. I would imagine the hiring committee figured that he could bring back the defense like what we had going in 04 and couple it with Malzahn's offense to provide a spark on that side of the ball. Quite frankly, it was the hiring of Malzahn and several top notch recruiters that got me on board with Chizik back when he was named head coach (I wasn't nearly as skeptical as some before that, but I had my doubts).

The problem is that he stuck to his Tampa 2 base rather than adopting a more attacking philosophy like Roof and Van Gorder would have liked. The Tampa 2 can be effective so long as you get a consistent rush from the defensive line, but when Fairley and Cam left after 2010, he handcuffed Malzahn in an attempt to salvage his defense, then tried to change the face of the program all over again last year. The power struggle we saw played out in arguments between Chizik and Malzahn on the sidelines in 2011 is what had Gus bolting for a Sun Belt team at a pay cut.

[ellitor 33,114]

The power struggle we saw played out in arguments between Chizik and Malzahn on the sidelines in 2011 is what had Gus bolting for a Sun Belt team at a pay cut.

And this after Chiz had told Gus he would not meddle anymore going into 2011 which is a big reason Gus turned down the $3.5 mil from Vandy.

[AU-Jess 0]

The power struggle we saw played out in arguments between Chizik and Malzahn on the sidelines in 2011 is what had Gus bolting for a Sun Belt team at a pay cut.

And this after Chiz had told Gus he would not meddle anymore going into 2011 which is a big reason Gus turned down the $3.5 mil from Vandy.

^^True story^^

[Auburn4Winners 0]

The power struggle we saw played out in arguments between Chizik and Malzahn on the sidelines in 2011 is what had Gus bolting for a Sun Belt team at a pay cut.

And this after Chiz had told Gus he would not meddle anymore going into 2011 which is a big reason Gus turned down the $3.5 mil from Vandy.

^^True story^^

Well I think the hiring of Gus after Chiz was fired kind of ended that argument with a solidified winner....

[PoetTiger 1,901]

I just cant bring myself to make predictions anymore. I mean I know what I think might happen, I know what I want to happen, but I cant forget what has happened(last year) so I can't make predictions. I guess im just getting old. I still like to read them.

I agree..

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,819]

I think the Chizik era was probably the most confusing, lost era in Auburn football history. We had no team identity to hold on to for a solid 4 years.

I think a lot of people might pull the Barfield era on you there.

At least they had an identity of sucking. We didn't know whether to win championships or miss a wide receiver completely on the last play of the game against a team we haven't lost to in forever AND HE WAS OPEN

[AuburnNTexas 7,198]

If we are going to make predictions. I am going for one nobody will expect. Despite the injuries I believe the defense will play well. I think we have a couple of coaches on D side of the ball that are perfectionists. These coaches do the opposite of sugarcoating it. These coaches will say we aren't that good even if we play great they will find things to improve on. To me that is a breath of fresh air. DB's will play tighter than in the past and we will blitz more than last year. We will cause some turnovers. WSU is one dimensional they don't run that will help the D -Line. If we get ahead early D-line will be able to put their ears back and come hard on every play.

O-Line will play smash mouth football rotaing in a lot of linemen so that they stay fresh. If we get turnovers early could be a quick blowout. If we don't get turnovers early will be a close game until O-Line wears out their D and we pull away.

[Guest jojo1515]

Say what you want about Chiz, he brought us a natty...something we haven't had since the 1950s. He was responsible for Gus being here and therefore responsible for Cam being here. If Gus turns out as good as some think he will, it is Chizik we can thank for bringing him to us to begin with. He definitely made some bad decisions, but I can never thank him enough for the good ones he made. 2010 was the best football season of my lifetime and no one can take that away.

[ellitor 33,114]

Say what you want about Chiz, he brought us a natty...something we haven't had since the 1950s. He was responsible for Gus being here and therefore responsible for Cam being here. If Gus turns out as good as some think he will, it is Chizik we can thank for bringing him to us to begin with. He definitely made some bad decisions, but I can never thank him enough for the good ones he made. 2010 was the best football season of my lifetime and no one can take that away.

We mostly got the natty despite Chiz. Thank God for Gus begging Chiz we take Cam,for Gus's O, for the player development from Tubs staff before they left, and for Rocker developing the D Line before he left...However you are right that he did bring us Gus. Turned out that was the 1 call he had to get right since he whiffed on most everything else.

[alabamabrown14 9]

Say what you want about Chiz, he brought us a natty...something we haven't had since the 1950s. He was responsible for Gus being here and therefore responsible for Cam being here. If Gus turns out as good as some think he will, it is Chizik we can thank for bringing him to us to begin with. He definitely made some bad decisions, but I can never thank him enough for the good ones he made. 2010 was the best football season of my lifetime and no one can take that away.

I totally agree...Chiz did make some bad decisions and led us to our worst season ever but that 2010 season and national championship outweighs it all...it seems like every game we played that season was an ESPN classic

[Guest jojo1515]

Say what you want about Chiz, he brought us a natty...something we haven't had since the 1950s. He was responsible for Gus being here and therefore responsible for Cam being here. If Gus turns out as good as some think he will, it is Chizik we can thank for bringing him to us to begin with. He definitely made some bad decisions, but I can never thank him enough for the good ones he made. 2010 was the best football season of my lifetime and no one can take that away.

We mostly got the natty despite Chiz. Thank God for Gus begging Chiz we take Cam,for Gus's O, for the player development from Tubs staff before they left, and for Rocker developing the D Line before he left...However you are right that he did bring us Gus. Turned out that was the 1 call he had to get right since he whiffed on most everything else.

Well, he was also the one that brought Rocker in. He was also a wonderful face of the program through the Cam scandal. While he was the #1 reason for his downfall, it was he who brought all the pieces together that allowed the 2010 season to happen. Dont forget we had pretty darn good RBs and special teams. His first hires minus Roof seemed to all be pretty good ones. Every hire after that however were what led us down the tubes. Either way, he brought us a natty. There is a very very high chance that, had any other coach been hired instead of Chizik, we would still not have a NC since the 50s. He paved the way for 2010, for Gus to be here now, and for whatever happens from here. I am glad he is gone, but again, I can't thank him enough.

Ok, thread hijack over lol

[doc4aday 1,887]

The best time to practice is when Coach Malzhan says so.

[PoetTiger 1,901]

Say what you want about Chiz, he brought us a natty...something we haven't had since the 1950s. He was responsible for Gus being here and therefore responsible for Cam being here. If Gus turns out as good as some think he will, it is Chizik we can thank for bringing him to us to begin with. He definitely made some bad decisions, but I can never thank him enough for the good ones he made. 2010 was the best football season of my lifetime and no one can take that away.

I agree with this sir, say whatever you want but he was in charge when we won it all, granted he might have been blind at the wheel but he was driving the car.