keesler 5,924 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. What are you talking about? LSU played a worse opponent in their game 2 than they did in their first game. And no matter what LSU does the rest of the season, they dominated AU in every aspect of the game, the loss looks BAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 And no matter what LSU does the rest of the season, they dominated AU in every aspect of the game, the loss looks BAD. That's it. That's everything. That's what's made it so hard for us fans the last 8 years, even with the occasional highs. When we're bad, we're often AWFUL. No matter how good our competition is, Auburn should never be completely owned like we were by LSU, and like we have been by them, bama and UGA more often than not for awhile now. Meanwhile, we have exactly 1 win over those 3 teams that was decided earlier than the 4th quarter since I can remember (LSU last year). Actually, we can now add TAMU to that mix, too. There's always a lot of talk before every season about an acceptable W-L record. I never think in those terms. If our schedule is really as tough as we always say it is, then we shouldn't really ever expect to win every game in a season. But we should be able to go into every individual game having a reasonable expectation of winning, yet here we are still in September and we have no logical reason to believe that we'll win more than 2 more conference games. And that's the 3rd time in 5 years it's felt that way. Sorry for the rant. If we just look like a competent football team on Saturday, that's good enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keesler 5,924 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 And no matter what LSU does the rest of the season, they dominated AU in every aspect of the game, the loss looks BAD. That's it. That's everything. That's what's made it so hard for us fans the last 8 years, even with the occasional highs. When we're bad, we're often AWFUL. No matter how good our competition is, Auburn should never be completely owned like we were by LSU, and like we have been by them, bama and UGA more often than not for awhile now. Meanwhile, we have exactly 1 win over those 3 teams that was decided earlier than the 4th quarter since I can remember (LSU last year). Actually, we can now add TAMU to that mix, too. There's always a lot of talk before every season about an acceptable W-L record. I never think in those terms. If our schedule is really as tough as we always say it is, then we shouldn't really ever expect to win every game in a season. But we should be able to go into every individual game having a reasonable expectation of winning, yet here we are still in September and we have no logical reason to believe that we'll win more than 2 more conference games. And that's the 3rd time in 5 years it's felt that way. Sorry for the rant. If we just look like a competent football team on Saturday, that's good enough for me. AMEN Brother!Auburn is the epitome of inconsistancy. I'm sorry, but this program has had a lot of "quit" in them and that attitude raises it's ugly head way too damn often, especially on defense. I don't see a team that likes to fight, get agressive, walk around like real Tigers with a chip on their shoulder. When things start going south, our team freaking gives up and lays down instead of pulling up their boot straps and take care of buisness. IMO it ALL starts and ends at the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,818 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnthePlains 2,014 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. I will also take the down years in exchange for titles but even in the down years can we get some good effort? Some fight? Some passion? Thats all I want to see Saturday is an angry football team lay it on the line for Auburn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bathel 50 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 And no matter what LSU does the rest of the season, they dominated AU in every aspect of the game, the loss looks BAD. That's it. That's everything. That's what's made it so hard for us fans the last 8 years, even with the occasional highs. When we're bad, we're often AWFUL. No matter how good our competition is, Auburn should never be completely owned like we were by LSU, and like we have been by them, bama and UGA more often than not for awhile now. Meanwhile, we have exactly 1 win over those 3 teams that was decided earlier than the 4th quarter since I can remember (LSU last year). Actually, we can now add TAMU to that mix, too. There's always a lot of talk before every season about an acceptable W-L record. I never think in those terms. If our schedule is really as tough as we always say it is, then we shouldn't really ever expect to win every game in a season. But we should be able to go into every individual game having a reasonable expectation of winning, yet here we are still in September and we have no logical reason to believe that we'll win more than 2 more conference games. And that's the 3rd time in 5 years it's felt that way. Sorry for the rant. If we just look like a competent football team on Saturday, that's good enough for me. I would agree... if you go back and look some at our wins over history of the last 5 years... we have far to many close games and "Miracle" plays to win. I think a lot of that has to do with the talent we have on our team, but when it becomes a pattern you have to worry about when that ball starts to bounce the other way. 2010: Miss State win by 3 Clemson OT uSC Come from behind to win by 8 on a SC humble inside 3 minutes left to play Kentucky win by 3 LSU win by 7 with score in the last minute of the game uAT Win by 1 in the last half of the game. 1st half we were dominated 2011: Utah State - win scoring 2 TD's in the last 5 minutes of the game needing an onsides kick revoery Miss State- Shoe string tackle on the 2 yard line to save TD in last seconds of game uSC Score go ahead TD in last 1:30 of game 2012: ULM - need over time to win 2013: Struggle to beat Washington State game 1 Miss State Score winning TD with 10 sec left aTm Late TD to win in a shootout UGA - Prayer in JH uAT - Kick Six 2014: Struggle with Kansas State Need a shoot out with uSC Ole Miss last second goal line stop to win 2015: Struggle with Louisville come from behind win against Jac State It seems or feels that we live on the edge week in and week out. Maybe it's just my "oldness" of age, but I long for the days when Auburn dominated on Defense... maybe those days are done for all schools now that we have all these HUNH teams. We seem to live and die by the production of our Offense and our Defense has become a joke year in and year out... Reality is I'm just frustrated and hope things turn around this year soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,818 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. I will also take the down years in exchange for titles but even in the down years can we get some good effort? Some fight? Some passion? Thats all I want to see Saturday is an angry football team lay it on the line for Auburn. I know exactly what you mean! It's tough but I guess the awesome feeling of when AU is great balances it out. Seriously though, when we are bad we are baaaad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,818 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 And no matter what LSU does the rest of the season, they dominated AU in every aspect of the game, the loss looks BAD. That's it. That's everything. That's what's made it so hard for us fans the last 8 years, even with the occasional highs. When we're bad, we're often AWFUL. No matter how good our competition is, Auburn should never be completely owned like we were by LSU, and like we have been by them, bama and UGA more often than not for awhile now. Meanwhile, we have exactly 1 win over those 3 teams that was decided earlier than the 4th quarter since I can remember (LSU last year). Actually, we can now add TAMU to that mix, too. There's always a lot of talk before every season about an acceptable W-L record. I never think in those terms. If our schedule is really as tough as we always say it is, then we shouldn't really ever expect to win every game in a season. But we should be able to go into every individual game having a reasonable expectation of winning, yet here we are still in September and we have no logical reason to believe that we'll win more than 2 more conference games. And that's the 3rd time in 5 years it's felt that way. Sorry for the rant. If we just look like a competent football team on Saturday, that's good enough for me. AMEN Brother!Auburn is the epitome of inconsistancy. I'm sorry, but this program has had a lot of "quit" in them and that attitude raises it's ugly head way too damn often, especially on defense. I don't see a team that likes to fight, get agressive, walk around like real Tigers with a chip on their shoulder. When things start going south, our team freaking gives up and lays down instead of pulling up their boot straps and take care of buisness. IMO it ALL starts and ends at the top. I would agree... if you go back and look some at our wins over history of the last 5 years... we have far to many close games and "Miracle" plays to win. I think a lot of that has to do with the talent we have on our team, but when it becomes a pattern you have to worry about when that ball starts to bounce the other way. 2010: Miss State win by 3 Clemson OT uSC Come from behind to win by 8 on a SC humble inside 3 minutes left to play Kentucky win by 3 LSU win by 7 with score in the last minute of the game uAT Win by 1 in the last half of the game. 1st half we were dominated 2011: Utah State - win scoring 2 TD's in the last 5 minutes of the game needing an onsides kick revoery Miss State- Shoe string tackle on the 2 yard line to save TD in last seconds of game uSC Score go ahead TD in last 1:30 of game 2012: ULM - need over time to win 2013: Struggle to beat Washington State game 1 Miss State Score winning TD with 10 sec left aTm Late TD to win in a shootout UGA - Prayer in JH uAT - Kick Six 2014: Struggle with Kansas State 2015: Struggle with Louisville come from behind win against Jac State It seems or feels that we live on the edge week in and week out. Maybe it's just my "oldness" of age, but I long for the days when Auburn dominated on Defense... maybe those days are done for all schools now that we have all these HUNH teams. Reality is I'm just frustrated and hope things turn around this year soon... We have been a fortunate program for sure and I don't have all the data you do, but we have been on the unlucky side also at times. LSU games come to mind - Vaughn missing 5 makeable FGs, the freak pass over Jarraud Powers as time was running out...or 4th down UGA conversion for them to clinch the East back in 2002 I think. There are probably more I can't think of but we have definitely had our share of fortunate events Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. We were absolutely a major power in the SEC under Tubs. From 2004-2006, we were the winningest team in the country. We just had a few heartbreaking losses (LSU in 2005 and 2007) and a few headscratchers (Ga Tech in 2005, Arkansas in 2006) along the way. He was also the best big game coach in the country until he made a career-defining bad hire in 2008. Sure, Gus has gotten us to the 'ship twice. Tubs's 2004 team would've wiped the field with both of those championship squads. Gus has also had an awful lot of balls bounce his way in those two seasons. In 2010, we won nine games in the 4th quarter. In 2013, it was six games and we lost 2 more. The national championship, in particular, was one we just gave away. Yes, it was amazing what he did both times, but in neither case did he build a foundation for continued success. Except for 2003 (Nallsminger) and 2008 (Franklin), I can't remember a Tuberville team ever having such a bleak outlook this early in the season. And I certainly never questioned their heart until 2008, when the train completely derailed. I'm stopping short of questioning this current team's heart, but clearly a significant portion of the fanbase- including some pretty rational, level-headed folks- is. If Gus fields a top-to-bottom solid football team that crushes bad teams and competes with good ones next year, then I'll relax. Until it happens, though, I'm nervous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnthePlains 2,014 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I remember the 92 Auburn team, Coach Dye's last, who struggled most of the year but dang if they didn't fight. Lost an absolute heartbreaker to UGA on a controversial call at the goal line then played the eventual national champ tide to a scoreless draw in the first half of that game. Just some fight would be nice in these losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bathel 50 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 We have been a fortunate program for sure and I don't have all the data you do, but we have been on the unlucky side also at times. LSU games come to mind - Vaughn missing 5 makeable FGs, the freak pass over Jarraud Powers as time was running out...or 4th down UGA conversion for them to clinch the East back in 2002 I think. There are probably more I can't think of but we have definitely had our share of fortunate events But that's part of what I'm saying... we don't dominate many games... we live on the edge win/lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,818 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. We were absolutely a major power in the SEC under Tubs. From 2004-2006, we were the winningest team in the country. We just had a few heartbreaking losses (LSU in 2005 and 2007) and a few headscratchers (Ga Tech in 2005, Arkansas in 2006) along the way. He was also the best big game coach in the country until he made a career-defining bad hire in 2008. Sure, Gus has gotten us to the 'ship twice. Tubs's 2004 team would've wiped the field with both of those championship squads. Gus has also had an awful lot of balls bounce his way in those two seasons. In 2010, we won nine games in the 4th quarter. In 2013, it was six games and we lost 2 more. The national championship, in particular, was one we just gave away. Yes, it was amazing what he did both times, but in neither case did he build a foundation for continued success. Except for 2003 (Nallsminger) and 2008 (Franklin), I can't remember a Tuberville team ever having such a bleak outlook this early in the season. And I certainly never questioned their heart until 2008, when the train completely derailed. I'm stopping short of questioning this current team's heart, but clearly a significant portion of the fanbase- including some pretty rational, level-headed folks- is. If Gus fields a top-to-bottom solid football team that crushes bad teams and competes with good ones next year, then I'll relax. Until it happens, though, I'm nervous. While I'm not disagreeing with you as the Tubs era, specifically the 3 year period you mentioned, was filled with good times. But the heartbreaking losses and head scratchers were what always kept AU as second tier nationally. I think Auburn's "brand" or national perception now is in a much better place by reaching the top of the college football world twice in a very short span. There are probably other factors in that like Gus being more liked by the media and whatnot but Gus has had a major hand in doubling the amount of conference titles as Tubs in roughly half the time which I think elevates AU's standing as a program higher than when Tubs was here, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Honestly, I think I'd take wild peaks and valleys with playoff appearances during the up years rather than how we were under Tubs with consistently being good but not good enough to be a major power and just 1 SEC championship in 10 years. I'll take 2 in 4 years with a terrible season in between. We were absolutely a major power in the SEC under Tubs. From 2004-2006, we were the winningest team in the country. We just had a few heartbreaking losses (LSU in 2005 and 2007) and a few headscratchers (Ga Tech in 2005, Arkansas in 2006) along the way. He was also the best big game coach in the country until he made a career-defining bad hire in 2008. Sure, Gus has gotten us to the 'ship twice. Tubs's 2004 team would've wiped the field with both of those championship squads. Gus has also had an awful lot of balls bounce his way in those two seasons. In 2010, we won nine games in the 4th quarter. In 2013, it was six games and we lost 2 more. The national championship, in particular, was one we just gave away. Yes, it was amazing what he did both times, but in neither case did he build a foundation for continued success. Except for 2003 (Nallsminger) and 2008 (Franklin), I can't remember a Tuberville team ever having such a bleak outlook this early in the season. And I certainly never questioned their heart until 2008, when the train completely derailed. I'm stopping short of questioning this current team's heart, but clearly a significant portion of the fanbase- including some pretty rational, level-headed folks- is. If Gus fields a top-to-bottom solid football team that crushes bad teams and competes with good ones next year, then I'll relax. Until it happens, though, I'm nervous. While I'm not disagreeing with you as the Tubs era, specifically the 3 year period you mentioned, was filled with good times. But the heartbreaking losses and head scratchers were what always kept AU as second tier nationally. I think Auburn's "brand" or national perception now is in a much better place by reaching the top of the college football world twice in a very short span. There are probably other factors in that like Gus being more liked by the media and whatnot but Gus has had a major hand in doubling the amount of conference titles as Tubs in roughly half the time which I think elevates AU's standing as a program higher than when Tubs was here, IMO. The media actually loves Tubs, but I agree that Gus has elevated the program significantly on that front from the Chizik days. They haaaaaaated Chizik but they are very fond of Gus for now. I also think, though, that Gus and Auburn have received the benefit of being preceded by 4 and then 7 consecutive national champions from the SEC (granted, he was in large part responsible for 1 of the 7) while Tubs was competing against far superior brand power from the other conferences until 2008. No SEC team has eclipsed the rock star status that USC held in the mid-aughts, and Oklahoma and Texas were sexier programs at the time than anything the SEC had to offer. If I remember correctly, Ohio State was supposed to blow Florida out in 2006, and then LSU backed into the title game in 2007. All ships have risen in the SEC since then. BUT... we are arguing pure opinion, and I understand and respect yours. And if Gus gets us into the playoffs every 3 years, then I'd also put up with whatever in between, I guess. But I don't think it's a sustainable model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn06 76 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yes, if we want to go to a bowl game..& for the future, to show that Auburn is not at its lowest. I just hope we can beat Kentucky.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravejd 3,270 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I would say this is a must win if we want to make a bowl. So yes....this is a must win for the year not to be a complete disaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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