SCTiger2011 1,277 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I realize the topic title might be a bit of hyperbole, but just curious as to the importance everyone is putting on the MSU game, both for the season and the future of the program. This is not meant to be a topic that gets into "if we get beat, then X and Y should be on the hot seat," but more of wondering if it's possible for Auburn to stop the hemorrhaging and begin to build momentum for 2016 (or the rest of 2015 if there are still some 13-1 SEC champion predictors around ). In my opinion, this game has tons of importance, especially for a team that has yet to perform to lofty expectations. A loss Saturday would eliminate even mathematical conference/national champion aspirations (again, I think most of us agree this team doesn't have a championship ceiling regardless, but I would hope at least the staff and players are preaching a lot of 2013, no matter how vastly different the two squads are) and I think with that would cause the team to lose lots of focus and risk coasting through the rest of the schedule. However, if the boys were to pull out a W Saturday, the schedule would lend itself to a possible 6-1 start (although UK gets scarier by the day...and that game on a Thursday night...YIKES) and set up a "meaningful" matchup versus Ole Miss Halloween night instead of a true "spoiler" matchup, assuming Ole Miss does its job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerOne 1,140 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 yes this is a crossroads game. If not then what is Auburn waiting for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUIH1 1,515 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 It is extremely important for the team and coaching staff to find a way to win this game then move on to San Jose. If we lose this game, then this season will continue to trend to disaster. wde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msza 228 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 No, it isn't. It is a "must-improve" game though. As long as we get better every game of the season, I'm happy to watch my team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUIH1 1,515 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 No, it isn't. It is a "must-improve" game though. As long as we get better every game of the season, I'm happy to watch my team. What is your definition of improve given what our coaching staff is paid, and the talent level of the team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Win4AU 4,052 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Difference between 8-5 and 7-6 most likely Nashville or Shreveport Johnson or White After Saturday Sean would have 2.5 weeks of practice with the first team to get the timing down before UK and Arkanslaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevenlee36 1,654 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Unless there is a complete overhaul and everything gets better we are a 4-5 win team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole256 17,039 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I wouldn't say must win but all losses aren't the same...We can't get handled like that again or the season is over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug3020 842 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I think it is a must win. If we win I see us possibly beating UK and MAYBE Arky in conference. If we lose, I'm not sure we win a conference game. Not with what we've seen thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msza 228 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 No, it isn't. It is a "must-improve" game though. As long as we get better every game of the season, I'm happy to watch my team. What is your definition of improve given what our coaching staff is paid, and the talent level of the team? You can't just throw money at something and get the result you want. Mark Richt could have been paid $100 million in 2013 and it wouldn't have prevented the Prayer at JH. College sports have a good amount of randomness to them. My expectation with this staff is that we have a competitive game going into the fourth quarter. That wasn't the case with LSU, but the jury is still out on how dominant this LSU team will go on to be. Remember, they say the most improvement happens between game 1 and 2, and we were their game 2. They go on to rock the SECW and our loss won't look as bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUIH1 1,515 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 No, it isn't. It is a "must-improve" game though. As long as we get better every game of the season, I'm happy to watch my team. What is your definition of improve given what our coaching staff is paid, and the talent level of the team? You can't just throw money at something and get the result you want. Mark Richt could have been paid $100 million in 2013 and it wouldn't have prevented the Prayer at JH. College sports have a good amount of randomness to them. My expectation with this staff is that we have a competitive game going into the fourth quarter. That wasn't the case with LSU, but the jury is still out on how dominant this LSU team will go on to be. Remember, they say the most improvement happens between game 1 and 2, and we were their game 2. They go on to rock the SECW and our loss won't look as bad. mmk. You never answered my question but I am not posting about random miracle type of plays like the 2013 uga game or Kick Six. To continue to play along, you post that the most improvement happens between game 1 and 2....LSU improved (I hope by a ton), between game 1 and 2 on their schedule. Do you think we improved between Louisville and Jax State? Did we improve between Jax State and LSU? wde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aubaseball 2,585 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 With what everyone has seen so far with auburn and the rest of the sec west teams, if we dont win this game we are fighting arkansas for last place in the sec west. And we have to go there to play them. With this effort, execution and performance thus far, AU will be manhandled by GA, T a&m, bama and ole miss. They will have to play a lot better to beat miss. state and KY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombigbeetiger 223 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I don't know, I'm too busy counting the days until basketball season starts to worry with critical thinking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msza 228 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 No, it isn't. It is a "must-improve" game though. As long as we get better every game of the season, I'm happy to watch my team. What is your definition of improve given what our coaching staff is paid, and the talent level of the team? You can't just throw money at something and get the result you want. Mark Richt could have been paid $100 million in 2013 and it wouldn't have prevented the Prayer at JH. College sports have a good amount of randomness to them. My expectation with this staff is that we have a competitive game going into the fourth quarter. That wasn't the case with LSU, but the jury is still out on how dominant this LSU team will go on to be. Remember, they say the most improvement happens between game 1 and 2, and we were their game 2. They go on to rock the SECW and our loss won't look as bad. mmk. You never answered my question but I am not posting about random miracle type of plays like the 2013 uga game or Kick Six. To continue to play along, you post that the most improvement happens between game 1 and 2....LSU improved (I hope by a ton), between game 1 and 2 on their schedule. Do you think we improved between Louisville and Jax State? Did we improve between Jax State and LSU? wde We did not look improved overall in game 2. There were some improvements but not like most of us expected. I think JJ has been improving every game. The problem is people thought game 1 was first game jitters when it was a deeper issue. But if you look at his stats he is getting better. He just may not be getting better quickly enough to stay in the game. IIRC Barber improved in game 2 then seemed to regress this week. We saw some RBs improve in game 3, and IMO our offense was falling into a groove toward the end of that game. Our D appeared to regress, though minus Fournette we only allowed 240 yards. The question is whether Fournette will be proved to be unstoppable by others or not. If he can be stopped, our D will look a lot more problematic. But I'm withholding judgment ATM. The UGA game was just an example, but fumbled kickoffs/punts, tipped balls, etc determine the outcome of games with some regularity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,818 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I'm treating this as AU has no chance because of how disinterested they looked. I'm looking for improvement. Hopefully the crowd can give the D an extra boost because Dak will be running straight at the defense and the results will be similar to Fournette's unless the D really refocuses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 If we don't win, we're probably the worst team in the West. I highly doubt we're going into Arkansas and winning any time soon. This is pretty much make or break. Edit: I don't see how LSU looked "majorly improved" between game 1 and 2. They played a worse team in game 2 than game 1. MSU had an actual offensive pulse and could force Les/Steele to hide Harris' passing and have to rely solely on the running game. LSU's game 1 and 2 was MSU and vs Florida in what is almost a month from now (South Carolina may be one of the only teams we can consider worse than us). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsterjam 107 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 JMO but I'm not as worried about a W as I am about seeing our team "put their guts on the line". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gman87 398 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 It's a must win to get to a bowl, and lord knows we need the practice so yeah, it's a must win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURealist 2,185 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I'm going to look at every game as a 'must improve' from here on out. It's all that matters at this point. And I mean real improvement, not what's been deceptively labeled as 'improvement' thus far... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey 16,550 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 This one is not a must win game. I don't think we will win it. It is, however, a must improve game. Take a step forward this weekend and we have an odd "mid season break". There is a four week span in which the only two games we play are San Jose St. and Kentucky. That's plenty of time to right the ship and finish strong and that's exactly what I think this team and coaching staff will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eibua12 81 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yes, I believe our goal should be to get to a bowl game no matter what. The game is a home game against an equally matched opponent this game is a must win. The other 5 home games Ole Miss, UGA, Bama, SJSU, and Idaho. It would also provide us with the opportunity to go 4-1 into the Kentucky game. 6 wins: UL, Jax State, MSU, UK/Arky, SJSU, and Idaho. I would prefer an 8-4 mark or better this season than a 6-6, just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
au75 75 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yes. This team could go down fast if the season is not turned around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUbooger 0 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Must-Improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 This one is not a must win game. I don't think we will win it. It is, however, a must improve game. Take a step forward this weekend and we have an odd "mid season break". There is a four week span in which the only two games we play are San Jose St. and Kentucky. That's plenty of time to right the ship and finish strong and that's exactly what I think this team and coaching staff will do. I'm not taking a Thursday night game at Kentucky for granted by any means, but I agree with Mikey's way of thinking. I'll add that I think this is a "must figure out if Jeremy is going to continue to be our quarterback" game. In fact, I would hope that decision is made for us before halftime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnthePlains 2,014 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 This one is not a must win game. I don't think we will win it. It is, however, a must improve game. Take a step forward this weekend and we have an odd "mid season break". There is a four week span in which the only two games we play are San Jose St. and Kentucky. That's plenty of time to right the ship and finish strong and that's exactly what I think this team and coaching staff will do. I like this take but I hope we speed up the improvement process by winning this one and I actually think we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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