Sad, but True.

[metafour 4,969]

Room for improvement then.

Or room to get even worse considering that those numbers come against two of our three cupcake opponents, a team that is 2-3, and one of the lesser teams in our Division. The road only gets harder from here.

[aubaseball 2,644]

So starting a new center, who was a starting gaurd for a fellow sec team, is inexperience? Maybe he is out of position? Maybe he should be playing gaurd? We have someone on the bench that has been in the program for three years. All we heard during fall camp was that there was a battle for center. We are young at HB. That is it. Barber,roc and jovon are all experienced or have been in the program for two and three years. Besides, if there is a position that a freshmen can play, its running back.

I'm not going to talk about defense. The problem that has been created is that JJ has not, so far, panned out like we thought he would. The coaches do not have a clue how to fix it. They put all their eggs in that basket and can't seem to develop a plan that fits the players that now are on the field. Not to mention the same set of plays on first down.

This only one guys position, but i believe they should let SW throw the ball like JJ was the first game, or put JJ back in and let him sling it. Also, have JJ get his eyes examined. Maybe that is the issue, he needs glasses

[AURealist 2,185]

So starting a new center, who was a starting gaurd for a fellow sec team, is inexperience? Maybe he is out of position? Maybe he should be playing gaurd? We have someone on the bench that has been in the program for three years. All we heard during fall camp was that there was a battle for center. We are young at HB. That is it. Barber,roc and jovon are all experienced or have been in the program for two and three years. Besides, if there is a position that a freshmen can play, its running back.

I'm not going to talk about defense. The problem that has been created is that JJ has not, so far, panned out like we thought he would. The coaches do not have a clue how to fix it. They put all their eggs in that basket and can't seem to develop a plan that fits the players that now are on the field. Not to mention the same set of plays on first down.

This only one guys position, but i believe they should let SW throw the ball like JJ was the first game, or put JJ back in and let him sling it. Also, have JJ get his eyes examined. Maybe that is the issue, he needs glasses

Glasses? What are you talking about? He can hit a safety right in the numbers at 20 yards!

[wdefromtx 3,159]

Room for improvement then.

Or room to get even worse considering that those numbers come against two of our three cupcake opponents, a team that is 2-3, and one of the lesser teams in our Division. The road only gets harder from here.

Negative much......we know we stink. Hopefully they get it straight, I think the events in the last few days are a step in the right direction.

With your attitude you might as well not watch any remaining games.

[Draven 0]

I understand your points, but disagree in part. Our "Heisman front runner and 3rd best RB in the SEC" had either very little or no D1 experience. I'd say that was all wishful thinking not entiry based of facts.

Second, our preseason expectations were out of line and solely based on coaching potential. We have a new Oline, several new receivers, a new qb and all new rbs....along with a new DC that had a HUGE mess to clean up. Add in big time injuries and you see where it leads. Name 1 school that has ever had this much uncertainty going into a season and performed like a top 10 team. I can think of zero.

Are you kidding me? Florida is 5-0 with a Redshirt Freshman QB and a brand new coaching staff altogether! Three of their starting offensive linemen are Sophomores! They start a True Freshman WR and another that is a Sophomore!

Don't you dare cry inexperience and youth. Our offensive line is experienced. What youth at receiver? Duke, Louis, and Ray (our three starters on the depth chart) are all Seniors who have been in this system for years! Jeremy Johnson who is in his THIRD year here is a hell of a lot more "experienced" than UF's Will Grier, and dozens of other inexperienced QB's who are thrown into the fire. We went into this season with an offensive core that SHOULD have been primed to fire on all cylinders...instead we look like an offense that is relegated to run left, run right, run up the middle until we have to punt. The "preseason hype" didn't materialize out of thin air; it was created because this was a team that had the pieces in place to roll out a dynamic offense with a defense that was supposed to be better. Instead we fell flat on our face. The defensive failure isn't surprising, but to suggest that we shouldn't have expected great things out of this offense is asinine. Malzahn, Lashlee, and company failed miserably.

This is comparing apples to oranges you have two different teams in VASTLY different situations. Auburn was the odds on choice to be in the playoff, win the division yada yada yada. Florida was supposed to struggle it’s a lot easier to play relaxed when your just out to have fun no one is expecting much. Its way week in and week out you see so many "TOP" programs have these nail bitter or slip up games. Take Ohio State and Ole Miss, one was close to blowing it the other did. Now with this said I am in no way saying this team didn't under perform. As cliché as it will seem a movie quote is very accurate for what we are experiencing "You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand." This impacts and undermines so much as much as football is a game of physical skill it’s a mental game especially on the offensive side of the ball.

[metafour 4,969]

This is comparing apples to oranges you have two different teams in VASTLY different situations. Auburn was the odds on choice to be in the playoff, win the division yada yada yada. Florida was supposed to struggle it’s a lot easier to play relaxed when your just out to have fun no one is expecting much. Its way week in and week out you see so many "TOP" programs have these nail bitter or slip up games. Take Ohio State and Ole Miss, one was close to blowing it the other did. Now with this said I am in no way saying this team didn't under perform. As cliché as it will seem a movie quote is very accurate for what we are experiencing "You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand." This impacts and undermines so much as much as football is a game of physical skill it’s a mental game especially on the offensive side of the ball.

We went from a team that was supposed to compete for the Playoffs to a ~4-5 win team because of mental pressure?

Well, that suddenly makes me feel soooo much better about our situation!

[Shift 350]

The time for excuses is over. At this point in the season, there should be no doubt who our starters are and the team should be hitting on all cylinders. All this meaningless banter about young vs experience players, play calling, good coaching/bad coaching and coulda, woulda, shoulda is useless.

Hope all you want. Pump all the sunshine you can find. But if we don't beat KY convincingly, and by convincingly I mean 21+ points, the fan base better warm up to a 4 or 5 win season cause that's what's gonna be.

[AUwent 3,762]

I understand your points, but disagree in part. Our "Heisman front runner and 3rd best RB in the SEC" had either very little or no D1 experience. I'd say that was all wishful thinking not entiry based of facts.

Second, our preseason expectations were out of line and solely based on coaching potential. We have a new Oline, several new receivers, a new qb and all new rbs....along with a new DC that had a HUGE mess to clean up. Add in big time injuries and you see where it leads. Name 1 school that has ever had this much uncertainty going into a season and performed like a top 10 team. I can think of zero.

Are you kidding me? Florida is 5-0 with a Redshirt Freshman QB and a brand new coaching staff altogether! Three of their starting offensive linemen are Sophomores! They start a True Freshman WR and another that is a Sophomore!

Don't you dare cry inexperience and youth. Our offensive line is experienced. What youth at receiver? Duke, Louis, and Ray (our three starters on the depth chart) are all Seniors who have been in this system for years! Jeremy Johnson who is in his THIRD year here is a hell of a lot more "experienced" than UF's Will Grier, and dozens of other inexperienced QB's who are thrown into the fire. We went into this season with an offensive core that SHOULD have been primed to fire on all cylinders...instead we look like an offense that is relegated to run left, run right, run up the middle until we have to punt. The "preseason hype" didn't materialize out of thin air; it was created because this was a team that had the pieces in place to roll out a dynamic offense with a defense that was supposed to be better. Instead we fell flat on our face. The defensive failure isn't surprising, but to suggest that we shouldn't have expected great things out of this offense is asinine. Malzahn, Lashlee, and company failed miserably.

This. So tired of some on here making excuses for this pathetic product. Remember, we had all the experience in the world last year, and what did we do? Go 8-5, that's what. Until I see evidence to the contrary, Gus is Brady Hoke 2.0 to me.

[PatBoCamRob 30]

The time for excuses is over. At this point in the season, there should be no doubt who our starters are and the team should be hitting on all cylinders. All this meaningless banter about young vs experience players, play calling, good coaching/bad coaching and coulda, woulda, shoulda is useless.

Hope all you want. Pump all the sunshine you can find. But if we don't beat KY convincingly, and by convincingly I mean 21+ points, the fan base better warm up to a 4 or 5 win season cause that's what's gonna be.

I'm kind of excited Duke's gone. So there.

[aubfaninga 16]

This is comparing apples to oranges you have two different teams in VASTLY different situations. Auburn was the odds on choice to be in the playoff, win the division yada yada yada. Florida was supposed to struggle it’s a lot easier to play relaxed when your just out to have fun no one is expecting much. Its way week in and week out you see so many "TOP" programs have these nail bitter or slip up games. Take Ohio State and Ole Miss, one was close to blowing it the other did. Now with this said I am in no way saying this team didn't under perform. As cliché as it will seem a movie quote is very accurate for what we are experiencing "You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand." This impacts and undermines so much as much as football is a game of physical skill it’s a mental game especially on the offensive side of the ball.

We went from a team that was supposed to compete for the Playoffs to a ~4-5 win team because of mental pressure?

Well, that suddenly makes me feel soooo much better about our situation!

Meta made me chuckle. That's a positive right???

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

Lol. Losing 2 games and having to get rid of a guy with a bad attitude is now "imploding".... I bet we lose 4 or 5 this year and build for next year. That is not imploding...that is called being young, having injuries, and new coaching schemes. Happens to good teams all the time. We need not give a$$clowns like van pelt the time of day.

We couldn't score 10 points against a team that single handedly got beaten by Fournette and almost lost to a FCS team. This year is horrible and I don't even believe going 10-2 would make it anything close to what we wanted it to be. Would it be good? Yeah, but the first half the season would be mired in severe atrociousness.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

The time for excuses is over. At this point in the season, there should be no doubt who our starters are and the team should be hitting on all cylinders. All this meaningless banter about young vs experience players, play calling, good coaching/bad coaching and coulda, woulda, shoulda is useless.

Hope all you want. Pump all the sunshine you can find. But if we don't beat KY convincingly, and by convincingly I mean 21+ points, the fan base better warm up to a 4 or 5 win season cause that's what's gonna be.

I'm kind of excited Duke's gone. So there.

Well, as it should, that excitement will wane and you'll come back to earth and maybe get to peep some of the other receivers that weren't even good enough to beat out a half-assing suspended Duke..

[Tiger 8,830]

Meta, what's your take on Stat's 20 and 30 game experience level on this team? According to those numbers we are much more inexperienced than any of our previous SEC championship caliber teams and relative to our division rather inexperienced also. Not trying to flame I'm just asking how you how you feel about since you have been saying we aren't inexperienced or young.

However, as AUwent said we were experienced as hell last year and still went 8-5. Although we fell apart down the stretch there were some off-field issues which seems to have contributed to that. There was still no excuse for that team to only win 8 games. We lost possibly the greatest LT in school history and an NFL starting Fullback. That's a big hit, but outside of Kozan, EVERYBODY returned on Offense and if we had just fielded a sub-par defense rather than a putrid defense we probably would've won 10 games or more.

Tangent over.

[McLoofus 35,182]

it was to show that using inexperience (which doesn't even apply to us!)

You're smarter than that.

[Draven 0]

This is comparing apples to oranges you have two different teams in VASTLY different situations. Auburn was the odds on choice to be in the playoff, win the division yada yada yada. Florida was supposed to struggle it’s a lot easier to play relaxed when your just out to have fun no one is expecting much. Its way week in and week out you see so many "TOP" programs have these nail bitter or slip up games. Take Ohio State and Ole Miss, one was close to blowing it the other did. Now with this said I am in no way saying this team didn't under perform. As cliché as it will seem a movie quote is very accurate for what we are experiencing "You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand." This impacts and undermines so much as much as football is a game of physical skill it’s a mental game especially on the offensive side of the ball.

We went from a team that was supposed to compete for the Playoffs to a ~4-5 win team because of mental pressure?

Well, that suddenly makes me feel soooo much better about our situation!

No what I am saying is no one wants to win more than the guys on the field and the coaches, not even the fans like us. You would be remiss to think that this isn't a 24/7 life for these kids, every time they go to class, in between classes, social media, etc. Everywhere they go someone is talking to them about the team and the struggles that will take a toll on an adult much less a 18/19 year old kid. It would be the same as if it would be if we were playing like world beaters, and they were getting high fives and cheers people would be afraid they will listen to the hype to much and not work as hard or be as sharp, why is it so easily dismissed that the opposite isn't true. Just look at the reactions on this site and now you have 18-20 year old kids trying to deal with that on a daily basis/ hourly basis.

[aucanucktiger 1,796]

"France is soaring glory or profound tragedy." - Charles de Gaulle

(Insert "Auburn football" for "France")

[WarDamn2010 183]

I understand your points, but disagree in part. Our "Heisman front runner and 3rd best RB in the SEC" had either very little or no D1 experience. I'd say that was all wishful thinking not entiry based of facts.

Second, our preseason expectations were out of line and solely based on coaching potential. We have a new Oline, several new receivers, a new qb and all new rbs....along with a new DC that had a HUGE mess to clean up. Add in big time injuries and you see where it leads. Name 1 school that has ever had this much uncertainty going into a season and performed like a top 10 team. I can think of zero.

Are you kidding me? Florida is 5-0 with a Redshirt Freshman QB and a brand new coaching staff altogether! Three of their starting offensive linemen are Sophomores! They start a True Freshman WR and another that is a Sophomore!

Don't you dare cry inexperience and youth. Our offensive line is experienced. What youth at receiver? Duke, Louis, and Ray (our three starters on the depth chart) are all Seniors who have been in this system for years! Jeremy Johnson who is in his THIRD year here is a hell of a lot more "experienced" than UF's Will Grier, and dozens of other inexperienced QB's who are thrown into the fire. We went into this season with an offensive core that SHOULD have been primed to fire on all cylinders...instead we look like an offense that is relegated to run left, run right, run up the middle until we have to punt. The "preseason hype" didn't materialize out of thin air; it was created because this was a team that had the pieces in place to roll out a dynamic offense with a defense that was supposed to be better. Instead we fell flat on our face. The defensive failure isn't surprising, but to suggest that we shouldn't have expected great things out of this offense is asinine. Malzahn, Lashlee, and company failed miserably.

Yep. This. Exactly. Sure, we have some young guys on our team, but guess what...so does every other team in the country. Inexperience is no excuse and it's time people start coming to terms with that. For all the hype that was put out about this team, this season has been a miserable failure in every aspect except Peyton Barber. I would like to say Auburn is going to get better, but until it is proven on the field, I just can't believe it's going to happen.

[McLoofus 35,182]

I understand your points, but disagree in part. Our "Heisman front runner and 3rd best RB in the SEC" had either very little or no D1 experience. I'd say that was all wishful thinking not entiry based of facts.

Second, our preseason expectations were out of line and solely based on coaching potential. We have a new Oline, several new receivers, a new qb and all new rbs....along with a new DC that had a HUGE mess to clean up. Add in big time injuries and you see where it leads. Name 1 school that has ever had this much uncertainty going into a season and performed like a top 10 team. I can think of zero.

Are you kidding me? Florida is 5-0 with a Redshirt Freshman QB and a brand new coaching staff altogether! Three of their starting offensive linemen are Sophomores! They start a True Freshman WR and another that is a Sophomore!

Don't you dare cry inexperience and youth. Our offensive line is experienced. What youth at receiver? Duke, Louis, and Ray (our three starters on the depth chart) are all Seniors who have been in this system for years! Jeremy Johnson who is in his THIRD year here is a hell of a lot more "experienced" than UF's Will Grier, and dozens of other inexperienced QB's who are thrown into the fire. We went into this season with an offensive core that SHOULD have been primed to fire on all cylinders...instead we look like an offense that is relegated to run left, run right, run up the middle until we have to punt. The "preseason hype" didn't materialize out of thin air; it was created because this was a team that had the pieces in place to roll out a dynamic offense with a defense that was supposed to be better. Instead we fell flat on our face. The defensive failure isn't surprising, but to suggest that we shouldn't have expected great things out of this offense is asinine. Malzahn, Lashlee, and company failed miserably.

Yep. This. Exactly. Sure, we have some young guys on our team, but guess what...so does every other team in the country. Inexperience is no excuse and it's time people start coming to terms with that. For all the hype that was put out about this team, this season has been a miserable failure in every aspect except Peyton Barber. I would like to say Auburn is going to get better, but until it is proven on the field, I just can't believe it's going to happen.

It's not just about "youth". Everybody keeps saying that Austin Golson has a full year starting, yet nobody seems to understand that the most important guy on the OL other than maybe the LT got his one year starting at a different position on a different team. The dude has never played center before. Alex Kozan is coming back from a serious back injury and his one year of starting was 2 years ago between two of the better linemen we've had in a decade. In other words, the dude had the easiest job a guard possibly could. Braden Smith played almost as much TE last season as RG. Avery Young may be a jack of all trades, but he's a master of none. Shon Coleman wasn't great last year, so I'm not sure why anybody assumed he'd be great this year. That all said, they're not doing so bad as a group.

What about our HBacks? metafour, why don't you talk about how experienced they are? Or our RBs? TEs? I guess having experience at those positions doesn't matter at all?

You can say that our lack of experience doesn't excuse how poor our play has been- it sure as hell doesn't- but it's simply wrong to say that this is an experienced offense. This season is a huge bummer, but you're not usually emotional at the expense of being reasonably intelligent, metafour.

[Tiger 8,830]

People should stop buying hype in the media and actually assess themselves. Like there were so many holes in this team we knew about before the season started. When you need a ton of question marks to go your way to reach the percieved potential chances are not all of the question marks will end up being positives.

Even going from 2013 to 2014 we only had 2 question marks on offense @ LT and H-back and just not having the same production at those spots made the offense look and feel completely different.

[keesler 5,928]

I understand your points, but disagree in part. Our "Heisman front runner and 3rd best RB in the SEC" had either very little or no D1 experience. I'd say that was all wishful thinking not entiry based of facts.

Second, our preseason expectations were out of line and solely based on coaching potential. We have a new Oline, several new receivers, a new qb and all new rbs....along with a new DC that had a HUGE mess to clean up. Add in big time injuries and you see where it leads. Name 1 school that has ever had this much uncertainty going into a season and performed like a top 10 team. I can think of zero.

Are you kidding me? Florida is 5-0 with a Redshirt Freshman QB and a brand new coaching staff altogether! Three of their starting offensive linemen are Sophomores! They start a True Freshman WR and another that is a Sophomore!

Don't you dare cry inexperience and youth. Our offensive line is experienced. What youth at receiver? Duke, Louis, and Ray (our three starters on the depth chart) are all Seniors who have been in this system for years! Jeremy Johnson who is in his THIRD year here is a hell of a lot more "experienced" than UF's Will Grier, and dozens of other inexperienced QB's who are thrown into the fire. We went into this season with an offensive core that SHOULD have been primed to fire on all cylinders...instead we look like an offense that is relegated to run left, run right, run up the middle until we have to punt. The "preseason hype" didn't materialize out of thin air; it was created because this was a team that had the pieces in place to roll out a dynamic offense with a defense that was supposed to be better. Instead we fell flat on our face. The defensive failure isn't surprising, but to suggest that we shouldn't have expected great things out of this offense is asinine. Malzahn, Lashlee, and company failed miserably.

Sad, but true.

The preseason hype was right on the mark based on JJ being in the program 2 full yrs, Duke returning coupled with Louis/Ray, and our stable of highly rated RB's. Defense got a shot in the arm with the hiring of Muschamp. So most folks, including our coaches, fans, the national media. etc. expected AU to be at minimum a conference contender and a playoff hopeful.

Sadly enough, the player development remains about like it was when Chizik was here.

[metafour 4,969]

What about our HBacks? metafour, why don't you talk about how experienced they are? Or our RBs? TEs? I guess having experience at those positions doesn't matter at all?

The RB's are performing fine, so what difference does it make if they are "inexperienced"? RB is the easiest position on the field to translate over, which is why even in our s***ty offense Kerryon Johnson is already making plays as a true freshman. Our offense doesn't stink because the RB's aren't "experienced". Our inexperienced RB (Barber) is basically our entire offense LMFAO.

TE's? We barely even use them in this offense even when we have an experienced guy (Uzomah). Again, this isn't the reason why we stink.

HB's are inexperienced, but again this is a complementary position on the field. You think this offense revolves around whether or not the HB's are experienced or not? If they aren't ready to contribute, then you do what dozens of other teams who don't even use HB's at all do: you scheme other plays around it. Do something different. Our most experienced unit on offense is the Receivers, and they barely even see the ball! This is Malzahn failing to see what he has and adjusting his offense around it. I really assumed he was more creative than this...turns out he's just a guy who's so full of himself that he believes he can just plug and play pieces and it will all work out as if the opposing defense isn't even in the equation. He appears to be beyond hardheaded. I'll repeat it for the thousandth time: we have two passing quarterbacks and a veteran core of receivers, yet the offense on the field possesses a complete inability to pass the ball at even an elementary level. This is a colossal failure.

I've been critiquing his pass offense and use of receivers for over a year now. I really believe that he has no idea how to utilize receivers in his offense, which is probably why his only significant NFL product to date is a guy who went late 3rd round based off of his athleticism alone (Coates). If he has an unstoppable running game, he can call pass plays that work...but the results are completely different when he doesn't have that insane advantage over the defense. He still hasn't developed a HS quarterback either.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Okay, so you do agree that we're not experienced on offense. I feel better now.

[metafour 4,969]

Okay, so you do agree that we're not experienced on offense. I feel better now.

Yeah brah. I can only imagine how many more touchdowns Barber would have scored against SJSt if he were only more experienced!

[McLoofus 35,182]

Okay, so you do agree that we're not experienced on offense. I feel better now.

Yeah brah. I can only imagine how many more touchdowns Barber would have scored against SJSt if he were only more experienced!

You're still being uncharacteristically dense, and now you're also being disingenuous. You previously stated that a lack of experience doesn't apply to us. It very clearly, demonstrably does. Again, it might not explain the depths to which we've sunk, but kindly remove head from ass and recognize that wasn't said.

By the way, Peyton Barber very clearly cost us a touchdown against MSU by not following his blockers. I'm sure inexperience had nothing to do with that. Good thing it wasn't a one score game, eh brah?

Oh, and congrats to Florida for doing great with their young QB. Unfortunately for your crap argument, that has nothing to do with how experienced our quarterback is.

[SouthGATiger 64]

Hard to believe that in the last 5-6 yrs,AU has been to two national championship games ..winning one.

And here we are.

Anyone remember that song.... Rollercoasterrrrr