Sad, but True.

[tbone4jc 2,238]

I do not think we are as bad as everyone tends to think we are. I hate the term "We should have won." If you should have won, you would have won. We are about where we should be in the big scheme of things.

We are 109th in Total Offense, 93rd in Scoring Offense, 92nd in Total Defense, 75th in Scoring Defense, 91st in Time of Possession, 111th in 3rd Down Defense, and 106th in Red Zone Offense.

The takeaways from those numbers? We suck on Offense, we suck on Defense, we cant get off the field on 3rd Down, and we cant score in the Red Zone. We stink.

And yet we are a couple of bad offensive play calls away from being 4-1 in spite of those horrid numbers!

[DAG 33,955]

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.

Man, I have lurked on this site for years and I have to say thank you for these sentiments. Though you can come off as harsh and brash sometimes, you truly are frustrated because you are passionate about AU football. I have many of these same frustrations. I think many of us are frustrated because, despite the inexperience and youth of this team, they are a very talented bunch. I did not think we were a playoff team just yet, but there is no reason this team should not be top 25 caliber. We have way too many playmakers on the offensive end to be this horrid. Seriously, many coaches would be salivating at the chance to utilize the plethora of playmakers that AU fields on the offensive end. I seriously cannot come to terms with the dysfunction of that side of the ball. The defense is what it is, but I can say that at least WM is making the best of what he has and I believe when he gets the players he needs to buy into his system, it will be worth the wait....bottomline, despite the youth and inexperience, talent should still overcome adversity. I can understand struggling against the core of the SEC, but there is no reason for the struggles against JSU or SJSU.

[kevon67 2,368]

Had Duke gone to LSU he would still be on team and media forgotten.......... However, tools like paul fartbomb will keep planting seeds all the way to bank

[keesler 5,924]

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.

Man, I have lurked on this site for years and I have to say thank you for these sentiments. Though you can come off as harsh and brash sometimes, you truly are frustrated because you are passionate about AU football. I have many of these same frustrations. I think many of us are frustrated because, despite the inexperience and youth of this team, they are a very talented bunch. I did not think we were a playoff team just yet, but there is no reason this team should not be top 25 caliber. We have way too many playmakers on the offensive end to be this horrid. Seriously, many coaches would be salivating at the chance to utilize the plethora of playmakers that AU fields on the offensive end. I seriously cannot come to terms with the dysfunction of that side of the ball. The defense is what it is, but I can say that at least WM is making the best of what he has and I believe when he gets the players he needs to buy into his system, it will be worth the wait....bottomline, despite the youth and inexperience, talent should still overcome adversity. I can understand struggling against the core of the SEC, but there is no reason for the struggles against JSU or SJSU.

+1

Metafour will tell it like it is.

Frustrations are running high right now with all of us.

Youth, injuries, inexperience, bad attitudes are on every team in sports. It's how the coaching staff develops the players, gets them focused and prepared every week that shows on the field. The playcalling has been inept, communication from sideline to the field has been bad, the obvious lack of getting players prepared for the game....that's ALL on the coaching staff.

[alexava 6,973]

Had Duke gone to LSU he would still be on team and media forgotten.......... However, tools like paul fartbomb will keep planting seeds all the way to bank

no. He'd be dead or in prison.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

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.

Van Pelt is a pretty big fan of AU. His girlfriend is an AU grad. And he is right. No way should AU be in this situation.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Foundation - I agree with just about everything you said except for being a young team. We are not young, especially on defense. During the SJS game last weekend, we started 6 seniors on defense... plus Adams who is a JR. RF and TM are in their 3rd year. That is 9 of the 11 starters.

Fact is that we just are getting beat, especially at the LOS, and we are playing a ton of upper class men. The front 7, especially the DTs other than M Adams, are getting it handed to them by the likes of San Jose and Jack State. That should tell you everything you need to know.

We need DL recruits and a lot of them.