augolf1716 21,096 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 :popcorn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUwent 3,747 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 McLoofus-"Also, on the off chance that anybody is still preoccupied with the Citadel in '04: they didn't cost us a title shot. USC and Oklahoma having all the preseason love did. We never had a chance of overtaking either of them as long as they didn't lose, schedule be damned. So... if it's a tight race for the final four at season's end, any love we're getting now will only help. We absolutely want the media beating it into the committee's heads: "Auburn is a good football team."" I may be wrong (and I am told that my memory is suspect) but I think that AU overtook Oklahoma in Nov but only for 1 week and it was very close in points. The next week, AU was back to 3rd even with winning. No It never happened. USC and Oklahoma were 1 and 2 all season long until the FINAL AP and coaches poll. Auburn never overtook either USC or Oklahoma in any poll that year including the bcs. Actually, Miami overtook Oklahoma the week of Oct 17-23. But sadly, we were never #2. I really don't think it would've mattered, Citadel or not. Even though there was no excuse for letting UAT play us as close as they did, I don't think there was any margin of victory that was going to be good enough to pass the Land Thieves. Between the 2004 season, my Texas fanhood and Thayer being a fan of theirs, I hate Oklahoma. I said AUBURN never overtook USC or Oklahoma in any poll. I never said anything about any other teams so I'm not sure why you bring up Miami or why that is relevant to this discussion. My mistake for not stating it more clearly, then. I was simply responding to the underlined statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUpreacherman22 3,876 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I like the preseason hype! I hope the team stays grounded and lives up to the hype. I expect, with our current coaching staff, to have high expectations nationally year in and year out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimesAU 89 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Picking Auburn to win the SEC or win the national championship, it's like the kiss of death. I wish they would have placed us #10 or #8. Every time they pick us to win, it seems to always back fire on us. While it may not be as good as we would like it to be, its not nearly as bad as most people (you included) make it out to be. If you feel like actually learning something, read this article from Phillip Marshall from May 2014. http://www.auburntigers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/052214aaf.html It is viewed by many Auburn fans as an unhappy fact. Auburn football teams, they believe, historically don't do well when they are ranked highly in the preseason. Is it true? It is certainly true that many of Auburn's better teams have come from back in the pack. There is no better example than 2013, when the Tigers didn't get a single vote in any preseason poll and came within 13 seconds of the national championship. The 2010 national championship team started the season ranked No. 22. The unbeaten 2004 team started at No. 17. The unbeaten 1993 team was unranked. The 1957 national championship team was unranked. But that's not the question at hand. With the Tigers likely to be ranked in the Top 5 going into the coming season, the question is how Auburn historically handles high expectations. A check of history says perhaps not as well as you'd like but not as poorly as you might think. As best we can tell, preseason polls started in 1950. Since then, 16 Auburn teams have gone into seasons ranked in the Top 10. Six of those teams finished in the Top 10. Eleven finished in the Top 25. Eight of those teams went into seasons ranked in the Top 5. The 1984 team was ranked No. 1. Two of those eight teams finished in the Top 5 and four in the Top 10. It's an obvious fact for every college football team that preseason polls mean little. Polls won't win or lose a game when the action begins in August. The only benefit, really, of a high ranking is having a shorter climb to the top, and that advantage is reduced with the coming of the playoff and selection committee. The only negative is the target on your back that goes with a high ranking. Auburn will likely be ranked in the Top 5 because of what it did last season and because of the players it has returning this season. Whether the Tigers are, in fact, a Top 5 team will be settled amid the sound and fury of a Southeastern Conference season. Following are Auburn's preseason Top 10 teams, their records and their final rankings: 1958 Preseason ranking: No. 3 Record: 9-0-1 Postseason ranking: No. 4 Notes: Finished 24-game unbeaten streak. A 3-3 tie with Georgia Tech probably cost the Tigers a second consecutive national championship. 1959 Preseason ranking: No 3 Record: 7-3 Postseason ranking: No. 19 Notes: Five-game winning streak against Alabama ended with a 10-0 loss. 1964 Preseason ranking: No. 8 Record: 6-4 Postseason ranking: Unranked. Notes: All-America QB Jimmy Sidle suffered a shoulder injury in the season-opener and could no longer throw the ball effectively. Sidle was playing halfback by season's end. Auburn led the nation in total defense. 1971 Preseason ranking: No. 7 Record: 9-2 Postseason ranking: No. 12 Notes: The Tigers won their first nine games before losing to Alabama in the battle of unbeaten and to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. QB Pat Sullivan won the Heisman Trophy. 1975 Preseason ranking: No. 7 Record: 3-6-2 Postseason ranking: Unranked Notes: Coach Shug Jordan, in his 25th and final season, said later he knew his team was overrated. 1983 Preseason ranking: No. 4 Record: 11-1 Postseason ranking: No. 3 Notes: Tigers won their last 10 games to claim their first SEC championship since 1957 and first for third-year head coach Pat Dye. 1984 Preseason ranking: No. 1 Record: 9-4 Postseason ranking: No. 14 Notes: After earning what remains Auburn's only No. 1 preseason ranking, the Tigers lost their first two games - to Miami in the Kickoff Classic and at Texas. 1985 Preseason ranking: No. 2 Record: 8-4 Postseason ranking: Unranked Notes: Auburn climbed back to No. 1 after the second game but couldn't stay there, losing close games to Tennessee, Florida and Alabama before falling to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. RB Bo Jackson won the Heisman Trophy. 1987 Preseason ranking: No. 5 Record: 9-1-2 Postseason ranking: No. 7 Notes: SEC champions. Kicked a last-second field goal for a controversial 16-16 tie with Syracuse in the Sugar Bowl. DE Andre Bruce was the first player chosen in the NFL draft. 1988 Preseason ranking: No. 7 Record: 10-2 Postseason ranking: No. 7 Notes: SEC champions. Only a 7-6 loss at LSU kept the Tigers from playing for a national championship. DT Tracy Rocker became the most decorated defensive linemen in SEC history. 1989 Preseason ranking: No. 8 Record: 10-2 Postseason ranking: No. 6 Notes: SEC champions. Beat Alabama 30-20 in first Iron Bowl played at Jordan-Hare Stadium. 1990 Preseason ranking: No. 3 Record: 8-3-1 Postseason ranking: No. 19 Notes: Four-game winning streak over Alabama ended with a 13-6 loss. SEC championship streak ended at three. 1995 Preseason ranking: No. 6 Record: 8-4 Postseason ranking: No. 22 Notes: Season ended on a downer with a 43-14 loss to Penn State in the Outback Bowl. 2003 Preseason ranking: No. 6 Record: 8-5 Postseason ranking: Unranked Notes: Bobby Petrino resigned after one season. Hugh Nall was named OC and told to run Petrino's offense with Steve Ensminger calling plays. One of the more talented teams in Auburn history had an extremely disappointing season. 2006 Preseason ranking: No. 4 Record: 11-2 Postseason ranking: No. 8 Notes: Blowout home losses to underdogs Arkansas and Georgia turned a potentially great season into a good one. 2008 Preseason ranking: No. 10 Record: 5-7 Postseason ranking: Unranked Notes: Days after a 36-0 loss at Alabama, Tommy Tuberville resigned as Auburn's head coach. Ummm from 1990-present we certainly under achieved each and every time we came into the season ranked highly. 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looney 794 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I found that informative, but I'm not sure it supports Marshall's point that "it may not be as bad as you think." As Chimes says, from 1990 on looks pretty bleak. This also doesn't speak to the counter-point: that our best seasons have come when expectations are - relatively - low. (2004, 2010, 2013 most recently.) Full disclosure, I didn't click into the link to see if he expanded upon that line of thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hikerdns 52 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 McLoofus-"Also, on the off chance that anybody is still preoccupied with the Citadel in '04: they didn't cost us a title shot. USC and Oklahoma having all the preseason love did. We never had a chance of overtaking either of them as long as they didn't lose, schedule be damned. So... if it's a tight race for the final four at season's end, any love we're getting now will only help. We absolutely want the media beating it into the committee's heads: "Auburn is a good football team."" I may be wrong (and I am told that my memory is suspect) but I think that AU overtook Oklahoma in Nov but only for 1 week and it was very close in points. The next week, AU was back to 3rd even with winning. No It never happened. USC and Oklahoma were 1 and 2 all season long until the FINAL AP and coaches poll. Auburn never overtook either USC or Oklahoma in any poll that year including the bcs. Actually, Miami overtook Oklahoma the week of Oct 17-23. But sadly, we were never #2. I really don't think it would've mattered, Citadel or not. Even though there was no excuse for letting UAT play us as close as they did, I don't think there was any margin of victory that was going to be good enough to pass the Land Thieves. Between the 2004 season, my Texas fanhood and Thayer being a fan of theirs, I hate Oklahoma. I said AUBURN never overtook USC or Oklahoma in any poll. I never said anything about any other teams so I'm not sure why you bring up Miami or why that is relevant to this discussion. http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/year/2004/week/13 Overtook.... no, but did tie for #2 in AP after we beat Georgia. I was a student during all this, oh so close. Though I did win the ticket lottery for the SEC champ game and my girlfriends dad (now wife) hooked us up with box seats at the Sugar Bowl - so I'll take the consolation prize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
augolf1716 21,096 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 McLoofus-"Also, on the off chance that anybody is still preoccupied with the Citadel in '04: they didn't cost us a title shot. USC and Oklahoma having all the preseason love did. We never had a chance of overtaking either of them as long as they didn't lose, schedule be damned. So... if it's a tight race for the final four at season's end, any love we're getting now will only help. We absolutely want the media beating it into the committee's heads: "Auburn is a good football team."" I may be wrong (and I am told that my memory is suspect) but I think that AU overtook Oklahoma in Nov but only for 1 week and it was very close in points. The next week, AU was back to 3rd even with winning. No It never happened. USC and Oklahoma were 1 and 2 all season long until the FINAL AP and coaches poll. Auburn never overtook either USC or Oklahoma in any poll that year including the bcs. Actually, Miami overtook Oklahoma the week of Oct 17-23. But sadly, we were never #2. I really don't think it would've mattered, Citadel or not. Even though there was no excuse for letting UAT play us as close as they did, I don't think there was any margin of victory that was going to be good enough to pass the Land Thieves. Between the 2004 season, my Texas fanhood and Thayer being a fan of theirs, I hate Oklahoma. I said AUBURN never overtook USC or Oklahoma in any poll. I never said anything about any other teams so I'm not sure why you bring up Miami or why that is relevant to this discussion. http://espn.go.com/c...ar/2004/week/13 Overtook.... no, but did tie for #2 in AP after we beat Georgia. I was a student during all this, oh so close. Though I did win the ticket lottery for the SEC champ game and my girlfriends dad (now wife) hooked us up with box seats at the Sugar Bowl - so I'll take the consolation prize What the wife or box seats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hikerdns 52 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 McLoofus-"Also, on the off chance that anybody is still preoccupied with the Citadel in '04: they didn't cost us a title shot. USC and Oklahoma having all the preseason love did. We never had a chance of overtaking either of them as long as they didn't lose, schedule be damned. So... if it's a tight race for the final four at season's end, any love we're getting now will only help. We absolutely want the media beating it into the committee's heads: "Auburn is a good football team."" I may be wrong (and I am told that my memory is suspect) but I think that AU overtook Oklahoma in Nov but only for 1 week and it was very close in points. The next week, AU was back to 3rd even with winning. No It never happened. USC and Oklahoma were 1 and 2 all season long until the FINAL AP and coaches poll. Auburn never overtook either USC or Oklahoma in any poll that year including the bcs. Actually, Miami overtook Oklahoma the week of Oct 17-23. But sadly, we were never #2. I really don't think it would've mattered, Citadel or not. Even though there was no excuse for letting UAT play us as close as they did, I don't think there was any margin of victory that was going to be good enough to pass the Land Thieves. Between the 2004 season, my Texas fanhood and Thayer being a fan of theirs, I hate Oklahoma. I said AUBURN never overtook USC or Oklahoma in any poll. I never said anything about any other teams so I'm not sure why you bring up Miami or why that is relevant to this discussion. http://espn.go.com/c...ar/2004/week/13 Overtook.... no, but did tie for #2 in AP after we beat Georgia. I was a student during all this, oh so close. Though I did win the ticket lottery for the SEC champ game and my girlfriends dad (now wife) hooked us up with box seats at the Sugar Bowl - so I'll take the consolation prize What the wife or box seats Hah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKEEL75 2,566 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 So how could opinions be so different? SEC Media picked AU to win SEC Championship while ESPN gives us a 3% chance of winning. In fact ESPN has us behind Ole Miss, Arky & Rocky Top... Here is a link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarEagle84 0 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 So how could opinions be so different? SEC Media picked AU to win SEC Championship while ESPN gives us a 3% chance of winning. In fact ESPN has us behind Ole Miss, Arky & Rocky Top... Here is a link I believe it was a panel for ESPN The Magazine that picked us to win it all this year. Then they publish this FPI voodoo (which they won't tell you how they arrive at). Organizations like ESPN thrive on controversy, and it seems they do everything they can to create as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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