Reasonable expectations for a Guschamp led team

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,666]

I know Auburn fans tend go go overboard with our thoughts after Auburn contends for a championship, its just a habitual situation. But this might be our most potential on a staff in history. I don't know if really unreasonable to expect a 11-1, 12-0 season. Muschamp's defenses are USUALLY that good. A top 15 Offense and top 35 Defense is in reach...

[Strychnine 1,802]

I know Auburn fans tend go go overboard with our thoughts after Auburn contends for a championship, its just a habitual situation. But this might be our most potential on a staff in history. I don't know if really unreasonable to expect a 11-1, 12-0 season. Muschamp's defenses are USUALLY that good. A top 15 Offense and top 35 Defense is in reach...

Looking at the last two seasons, even a decent or good defense would have been good enough to beat everyone they played. A decent or good defense could have given them more time for the offense to dig them out of the holes they dug early at LSU in 2013 and Mississippi State this year. Texas A&M would not have had their field day in Jordan-Hare, and a decent defense could have stopped our contained at least a few of Alabama's streak of second half scoring possessions. A decent or good defense could have slowed FSU enough for them to hold on and win the last BCS National Championship Game.

If Muschamp is successful at moving the defense in the direction of what he is known for, then an SEC Championship Game and Playoff appearance for 2015 is not an unreasonable expectation. There is no reason to expect the offense to struggle, and a noticeable defensive improvement would make a huge difference.

[TitanTiger 20,480]

I think if Duke and/or Sammie come back, you've got to expect this offense to be explosive and hard to stop. Even without them it will be pretty potent.

If Muschamp can just get the defense up to a middle of the pack type defense in year one, you've got to think we're a playoff caliber team. Plus most of our hardest games are all at home: Ole Miss, Miss St, Georgia and Alabama.

[CJBas 4]

Not trying to be negative but we lost a lot of guys this year. I'm thinking it could take another year or so to build the depth we need to be there again but that the potential is certainly there once the depth is achieved.

[Browning4AU 405]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?

[Strychnine 1,802]

I think if Duke and/or Sammie come back, you've got to expect this offense to be explosive and hard to stop. Even without them it will be pretty potent.

If Muschamp can just get the defense up to a middle of the pack type defense in year one, you've got to think we're a playoff caliber team. Plus most of our hardest games are all at home: Ole Miss, Miss St, Georgia and Alabama.

Even more so if both come back. I do not expect either to return, but I can at least see enough reason to hope for it. Offensively, I have no reason to be concerned. I think we will indeed miss Nick Marshall and CAP, but I have faith in their successors. For that matter, I have faith that Gus will put together something that will work regardless. He sold me on his ability to do that with his debut in 2009.

A middle of the pack defense is all that is really needed, and anything better than that would just be icing on the cake. Middle of the pack defense completely changes the complexion of how 2014 played out. For that matter, middle of the pack defense completes the Cinderella story that was 2013.

[ausburn 159]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?

Who will our be our next hire after Muschamp ?......... Futurama

[PigskinPat 2,579]

I agree that all we need is a middle of the pack defense in order to contend for championships. What excites me is that if we are able to seal the deal with Muschamp, he isn't going to be satisfied with middle of the pack anything on defense. Just as Gus is driven to have an elite offense, I think Muschamp is just as driven to have an elite defense (and both coaches know what it takes to make them elite).

[msza 228]

The problem with expectations is that the SECW is so beast that if you finish first or second this that division, you are a playoff caliber team. And we expect to compete for the West every year, no matter what. So it's kind of an unnecessary question.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Some of y'all need to pump the brakes on the offense. New QB, new center, a couple other new/relocated parts on an OL that already had problems protecting the blind side, no significantly experienced RBs, no experienced pass-catching TE and we might be losing the best WR tandem this school has ever seen (and the only reasons we were even in that IB late). Yes, Gus will put a good offense on the field, and it might be even better than what we saw this year, but it's a bit naive to just assume that we are going to match the last two years.

Any assumptions now about what our record will be next year also fail to take into account what the teams on our schedule will be. We won't even know that until midseason next year.

About the only reasonable expectations you can have are that our defense will get at least a little better and that our offense will be pretty good. And, unless we make a change, our special teams will be mediocre-to-sufficient. Any expectations beyond that are unreasonable.

[gottl49129 0]

So much is going to depend on the 'redesign' of the offense. With JJ and Roc it won't be the same offense. In what I've seen, JJ is extremely potent throwing the ball, but he's not going to be as effective in the zone read as Marshall. If we lose all our best WR threats that will obviously hurt that transition. But yeah I have faith Gus and Rhett will put together something that works. We also have to develop on the OL and at FB because we never made up for Greg Robinson and Jay Prosch this year. Maybe Braden Smith is the next dominant lineman. On the defensive side of the ball, I feel like it's probably been 50% talent/depth which is only fixed by recruiting, and 50% confidence and communication, which is fixed by a competent coach who gets everyone on the same page and has them playing confidently within a system and communicating well with each other, which is going to make fundamentals like tackling look much better

Can never say 12-0 these days in the SEC but if we had played ANY defense this year we're talking at least 10 wins.

[keesler 5,924]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?

Thank you!

As per the AU mindset - we will have the greatest staff in the country with the greatest recruiters, etc, etc. (We heard the exact same stuff 2 yrs ago and here we are again in the midst of a damn coaching change) Temper the expectations, have patience and let Gus do the job he's paid millions to do.

[eibua12 81]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?

Thank you!

As per the AU mindset - we will have the greatest staff in the country with the greatest recruiters, etc, etc. (We heard the exact same stuff 2 yrs ago and here we are again in the midst of a damn coaching change) Temper the expectations, have patience and let Gus do the job he's paid millions to do.

I think the expecation with regard to the new DC is to make the playoff and win championships. If you want to discuss what this team is capable and how well think they will fair next year. I would say 10-2 --> 12-0

[collector527 0]

I think as of right now you have to realistically expect about the same year next year as this year with a possible bump. I would say that as of today we will be between 8-4 and 10-2. Regardless of who comes in to coach defense it is hard for me to believe we can increase that much in year 1. We lack proven playmakers and quality depth. Plus it will once again be a system change. The good thing is there is some young talent but again it is unproven and that's just the defense. The offense will be good but we will be starting a new QB, RBs, and possibly our top 3 WRs. The good thing is I think the offense will better with a passing QB but again If anyone thinks Jeremy will come in and be a world beater from day one is crazy. I love JJ but he will still be a first time starter. We lose CAP next year but I think in the running game we will be fine. One area I think will see a big improvement is the o-line if we can find a decent replacement for Dismukes. A lot of guys have played on the o-line this year and some of our best were hurt and should be back next year. So if we can find an adequate center I think the 0-line will be a strength. All that said I think the offense will just need time to gel and get use to timing and blocking tendencies with a less mobile QB. So I say no worse than 8-4 with a shot to be 10-2 or better if everything does click.

[WarEagle84 0]

So is 3 or 4 of the next 5 national championships an unreasonable expectation?

[msza 228]

My expectations for the Malzahn era are back to back 10 win seasons for the first time since 1989. Hopefully that will start next year.

[Strychnine 1,802]

I agree that all we need is a middle of the pack defense in order to contend for championships. What excites me is that if we are able to seal the deal with Muschamp, he isn't going to be satisfied with middle of the pack anything on defense. Just as Gus is driven to have an elite offense, I think Muschamp is just as driven to have an elite defense (and both coaches know what it takes to make them elite).

Indeed. If Muschamp does indeed end up here, I'm not placing unreasonable expectations on him in terms of immediate results. Show me some solid and consistent overall improvement and I'm happy. I think that would be enough to give Auburn a shot at beating anyone. They already had a shot at it even with the defense they had. It's a shame it cannot be a simple matter of Muschamp being able to just bring the core of Florida's defense with him.

[aucanucktiger 1,792]

An honest part of this discussion is HOW we're playing, win or lose. The team deserves an offense AND defense and with Auburn's tradition of strong defense, being below the top 30 defenses since 2008 (!) is insane...and we should EXPECT better. Something that really hacked many folks off here when we were a 1 loss team was my pointing out our defense would not escape Amen Corner playing like they did against South Carolina. Our O has had to play with a small margin of error and 44 points in a regulation time losing effort is crazy. That's on the head coach and I have no doubt Gus will hire, blueprint and help recruit us back to normal Auburn defense.

[TheBlueVue 177]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?. ive seen these coac

Thank you!

As per the AU mindset - we will have the greatest staff in the country with the greatest recruiters, etc, etc. (We heard the exact same stuff 2 yrs ago and here we are again in the midst of a damn coaching change) Temper the expectations, have patience and let Gus do the job he's paid millions to do.

I guess Im the outlier in all of this. Ive seen enough of these coach searches that now, I believe all the rumors when i see it happen. Im not particularly worried about who ends up with the job. Gus will make a good hire.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

While there will be questions on offense with a new QB and probable loss of Sammie and Duke and others Gus has pretty much always found a way to move the ball and score points regardless so to me its a matter of how far the defense can progress in one spring under the new D coordinator and in fall camp. I agree with an earlier assessment that until we know more somewhere between 8-4 and 10-2 sounds about right. We do get bama, uga and the miss schools at home but lsu, arky, a&m on the road so as always the west is tough.

[NoALtiger 3,860]

Somebody brought up depth and that's a key factor imo. We've got a lot of talent everyone knows that, but it's gonna be tough to roll like we want (the reload every year year scenario) until we can fully integrate the high talent level across the board. Look at how losing one OL this year (Kozan) has impacted the offense and that's just one example.

[Strychnine 1,802]

An honest part of this discussion is HOW we're playing, win or lose. The team deserves an offense AND defense and with Auburn's tradition of strong defense, being below the top 30 defenses since 2008 (!) is insane...and we should EXPECT better. Something that really hacked many folks off here when we were a 1 loss team was my pointing out our defense would not escape Amen Corner playing like they did against South Carolina. Our O has had to play with a small margin of error and 44 points in a regulation time losing effort is crazy. That's on the head coach and I have no doubt Gus will hire, blueprint and help recruit us back to normal Auburn defense.

Absolutely. Had anyone told me two weeks ago that Auburn would score 44 and rack up over 600 yards on Alabama, and still lose, I would have likely thought they were insane. The offense did indeed have a small margin for error. Field goals instead of touchdowns were a big problem against Alabama and Mississippi State, but the main reason for that being the big problem it was is that the defense was giving them touchdowns. That adds up at the end of the game. It's even more of an issue when playing from behind due to early turnovers.

[TheBlueVue 177]

Somebody brought up depth and that's a key factor imo. We've got a lot of talent everyone knows that, but it's gonna be tough to roll like we want (the reload every year year scenario) until we can fully integrate the high talent level across the board. Look at how losing one OL this year (Kozan) has impacted the offense and that's just one example.

Greg Robinson was a much bigger loss than Kozan

[aujeff11 6,243]

Championships every year. Next question

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,666]

Can we at least let Muschamp be hired before talking like this?

....no