How do you think our 2016 will go? 9 wins seem plausible?

[thaitopher 807]

With solid QB play, you could potentially be looking at another 2013 season. With poor QB play you could be looking at last year all over again. To many question marks at this point to even remotely have a clue.

[cammycam2 173]

I don't see Clemson taking that much of a dip down on defense. I've been seeing many state that and i understand it b/c they have lost a lot of talent the last two years but they also have recruited very good talent. I don't see them taking as big of a dip down as LSU defense did. I think they'll still be pretty strong on the DL. It's the CBs where their biggest questions are.

I know they recruit a lot of talent but sometimes those defensive ends can be a nightmare to replace

[logan adams 333]

15 wins is our first choice. Any other is, at best, settling for second best. If Auburn cannot pull out 15 wins, it is a failure. That's how I see it.

Amen.

[Tiger 8,833]

lol 15 wins a failure, huh?

Yeah, 14-1 would really suck after last year. Success is directly correlated with expectation and you guys are just setting yourselves up to be pissed every season. Only 6 teams in the history of college football have finished with 15+ wins. And they were all before the 1900s.

I just hope we win the West. If we position ourselves to get to Atlanta after the regular season we are going to be in good shape.

[logan adams 333]

lol 15 wins a failure, huh?

Yeah, 14-1 would really suck after last year. Success is directly correlated with expectation and you guys are just setting yourselves up to be pissed every season. Only 6 teams in the history of college football have finished with 15+ wins. And they were all before the 1900s.

I just hope we win the West. If we position ourselves to get to Atlanta after the regular season we are going to be in good shape.

I think you understand where the expectations are.. 15-0 should be a goal. Why want anything less than greatness and perfection? Do I expect it? No. If you don't have a goal to make it to the National Championship year in and year out, why even play the game?

[Tiger 8,833]

lol 15 wins a failure, huh?

Yeah, 14-1 would really suck after last year. Success is directly correlated with expectation and you guys are just setting yourselves up to be pissed every season. Only 6 teams in the history of college football have finished with 15+ wins. And they were all before the 1900s.

I just hope we win the West. If we position ourselves to get to Atlanta after the regular season we are going to be in good shape.

I think you understand where the expectations are.. 15-0 should be a goal. Why want anything less than greatness and perfection? Do I expect it? No. If you don't have a goal to make it to the National Championship year in and year out, why even play the game?

Obviously that's the goal. I think everyone on here can agree to that. We are now a program that can realistically shoot for national titles. But...

Are you considering a season ending in an SEC Championship a failure because we end up, say 10-2 at the end of the regular season? The way The Freak put it, and I perceived your "Amen." as being in full agreement, by saying anything less than 15 wins is a failure so I was going off of that.

[AUpreacherman22 3,892]

Goal = 15-0

Expectation, from a fan's perspective = 8 or 9 regular season wins would be a pretty good season.

JMHO.

[AUCoop79 1]

Plausible , yes. I think 7 regular season wins is more likely.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

15 wins is our first choice. Any other is, at best, settling for second best. If Auburn cannot pull out 15 wins, it is a failure. That's how I see it.

Amen.

Was this quote from today? I remember this quote from 2014.

[aucanucktiger 1,805]

We have a knack for producing top 5-caliber football teams every 3 years or so. Last time was 2013.

[alexava 6,973]

Hell yes 9 is plausible.

[VipersStrike1 230]

LSU is more of a threat than clemson imo. I have a lot of faith going into the clemson game just because they lost so much on defense.

Couldn't disagree more. Pre-season 2015, everyone said (including myself) Clemson won't be a factor because they lost too many on defense.

Venables is a Top 3 DC because of what he has done the last two seasons. He will simply reload again with a respectable D.

Combine that with an offense that returns the most playmakers since 2005 USC and they are going to be a juggernaut.

We will need to score at least 38 to beat Clemson...in our first game with a completely rebuilt offense.

24 can beat LSU. Plus we get 3 games to gel for LSU. Plus Les Miles plays his worst in J-H. He has averaged 13 PPG in J-H. He's never won @ J-H by more than 5 points...beat 2008 AU by 5 and 2012 AU by 2...his only two victories in J-H...by far our two worst teams in the last 17 years.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

The iron bowl can ALWAYS go either way. I don't care what the situation is, I firmly believe a 5-6 team can beat an 11-0 team in the iron bowl.

I think 9 wins is certainly plausible. I'd say huge things are possible if John Franklin III turns out to be all world. Best case scenario I'd say we could be a great team. We've got the experience to do it. If we have a qb who fits in with the system and just meshes from the beginning, we will be very good.

[SCTiger2011 1,297]

No clue, but I'm usually Mr. Optimist on these things and go with "9 at MINIMUM, 11-12 if the breaks fall our way." So this year, I think I'm going to go with...I see us right back in Birmingham again at the end of the year. Gus throws JF3 out there as the final piece of the puzzle to recapture a Nick Marshall type situation, it fails miserably (not dissing JF3, but not many guys can plug-and-play directly into an SEC offense), and we're left with another wonderful October-November arguing over who the QB should be, who the coaches should be, why Rodney Garner is a god, why Rodney Garner is a high school coach, why it's all Jay Jacobs fault, why Gus needs a DT QB, why Gus doesn't need a DT QB, why we run essentially an inside draw every first down for two yards, why all our top 10 recruiting classes can't develop, and finally, why in the heck did they close Supper Club and Bank Vault in the same year so we can't drink our sorrows away as efficiently on game weekends...

[AUCoop79 1]

The iron bowl can ALWAYS go either way. I don't care what the situation is, I firmly believe a 5-6 team can beat an 11-0 team in the iron bowl.

I think 9 wins is certainly plausible. I'd say huge things are possible if John Franklin III turns out to be all world. Best case scenario I'd say we could be a great team. We've got the experience to do it. If we have a qb who fits in with the system and just meshes from the beginning, we will be very good.

The favored team generally wins the IB. There are exceptions, but not many.

[AUCoop79 1]

LSU is more of a threat than clemson imo. I have a lot of faith going into the clemson game just because they lost so much on defense.

Couldn't disagree more. Pre-season 2015, everyone said (including myself) Clemson won't be a factor because they lost too many on defense.

Venables is a Top 3 DC because of what he has done the last two seasons. He will simply reload again with a respectable D.

Combine that with an offense that returns the most playmakers since 2005 USC and they are going to be a juggernaut.

We will need to score at least 38 to beat Clemson...in our first game with a completely rebuilt offense.

24 can beat LSU. Plus we get 3 games to gel for LSU. Plus Les Miles plays his worst in J-H. He has averaged 13 PPG in J-H. He's never won @ J-H by more than 5 points...beat 2008 AU by 5 and 2012 AU by 2...his only two victories in J-H...by far our two worst teams in the last 17 years.

He's 2-3 in JH. We beat him with Cam (barely) and Nick Marshall and a great 2006 team that never fully recovered from that game. That game was a bloody fist fight.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

He's 2-3 in JH. We beat him with Cam (barely) and Nick Marshall and a great 2006 team that never fully recovered from that game. That game was a bloody fist fight.

The scoreboard may show barely in 2010, but we owned them in that game. That was one of the few games that year where I never felt like we could lose.

[autigeremt 6,776]

Auburn is going to beat Clemson 48-38. A lot of losses off that defense and their first test will be on the road in a hostile environment where the other team is looking to make a statement. After that it gets tricky.

After that we see LSU looming but until they have a good QB they are beatable...especially at JHS. The games that bother me are the typical Amen corner and MSU. I think Ole Miss will be a test as well.

[VipersStrike1 230]

LSU is more of a threat than clemson imo. I have a lot of faith going into the clemson game just because they lost so much on defense.

Couldn't disagree more. Pre-season 2015, everyone said (including myself) Clemson won't be a factor because they lost too many on defense.

Venables is a Top 3 DC because of what he has done the last two seasons. He will simply reload again with a respectable D.

Combine that with an offense that returns the most playmakers since 2005 USC and they are going to be a juggernaut.

We will need to score at least 38 to beat Clemson...in our first game with a completely rebuilt offense.

24 can beat LSU. Plus we get 3 games to gel for LSU. Plus Les Miles plays his worst in J-H. He has averaged 13 PPG in J-H. He's never won @ J-H by more than 5 points...beat 2008 AU by 5 and 2012 AU by 2...his only two victories in J-H...by far our two worst teams in the last 17 years.

He's 2-3 in JH. We beat him with Cam (barely) and Nick Marshall and a great 2006 team that never fully recovered from that game. That game was a bloody fist fight.

Point is, regardless of how strong or weak our offenses have been, Miles has averaged 13 PPG in J-H, which includes against 2008, Ted Roof, 2012 and Ellis Johnson.

[keesler 5,932]

I'm getting ready for another bloody fist fight with CU. Their offense is top shelf and they are returning a lot of the same ammo we saw them fire at one of the best defenses in the country back in January.

AU's defense will be improved but it won't be able to hold up against Watson & Co. So we have to hope one of the best DC's in the country (Venables) will have a slump so that our offense can find a way to outscore them in JHS. It will take 35+ pts for us to have a chance of winning. AU scored more than 35 pts only once last year it took us 4 OT's to do it and still ended in a loss.

[VipersStrike1 230]

Auburn is going to beat Clemson 48-38. A lot of losses off that defense and their first test will be on the road in a hostile environment where the other team is looking to make a statement.

Auburn has scored 48+ in its opener ONE time in the last 26 years, but we'll do it against Clemson? Guess who was our QB that ONE year. You get one guess.

If we score FOURTY-EIGHT points in our opener against a Venables defense and out-score THAT offense by two scores...no need for a Playoff...just hand us the trophy that night.

[Tiger 8,833]

I'm getting ready for another bloody fist fight with CU. Their offense is top shelf and they are returning a lot of the same ammo we saw them fire at one of the best defenses in the country back in January.

AU's defense will be improved but it won't be able to hold up against Watson & Co. So we have to hope one of the best DC's in the country (Venables) will have a slump so that our offense can find a way to outscore them in JHS. It will take 35+ pts for us to have a chance of winning. AU scored more than 35 pts only once last year it took us 4 OT's to do it and still ended in a loss.

ughhh

[Win4AU 4,055]

I'd be happy with 9 wins and a Sugar Bowl berth like Ole Miss had last year. Get this team ready for 2017 and the home and home with UGA/Bama. ATL championship game too

[subterranean_jack 112]

No clue, but I'm usually Mr. Optimist on these things and go with "9 at MINIMUM, 11-12 if the breaks fall our way." So this year, I think I'm going to go with...I see us right back in Birmingham again at the end of the year. Gus throws JF3 out there as the final piece of the puzzle to recapture a Nick Marshall type situation, it fails miserably (not dissing JF3, but not many guys can plug-and-play directly into an SEC offense), and we're left with another wonderful October-November arguing over who the QB should be, who the coaches should be, why Rodney Garner is a god, why Rodney Garner is a high school coach, why it's all Jay Jacobs fault, why Gus needs a DT QB, why Gus doesn't need a DT QB, why we run essentially an inside draw every first down for two yards, why all our top 10 recruiting classes can't develop, and finally, why in the heck did they close Supper Club and Bank Vault in the same year so we can't drink our sorrows away as efficiently on game weekends...

Hope naturally springs eternal in the spring, but reality is going to set in like a thunderclap by fall.

The hope is more than a few of the "maybes" and "long shots" will pan out. The reality is this team is short on experience, depth, and, yes, talent, at several key positions.

It is fine to hope for 15-0, but to expect anything remotely close in 2016 is denying clear evidence that there are huge problems which must be overcome to even reach bowl-eligibility. These are too numerous to list in any great detail, and there are plenty of other threads for these in-depth discussions.

But, just to provide some basic evidence, on offense, the QB situation is a mixed bag, and, unfortunately, we may be stuck waiting for Woody to develop. On defense, LB is also a mixed bag. There may be some answers on the roster, more talent will certainly be arriving in 2017, and the position may even become a strength, but that is simply going to take time.

Patience is hard, very hard, especially when the reining champion is just across the state, but, really, there is no other road before us, except for more scorched earth.

None of us are Auburn fans because it is easy. We earn everything we celebrate. There is no reason to expect that it will be any different this time around. Adversity builds character and makes success all the more sweet. Each of us longs for consistency and to get away from the emotional roller-coaster we've been on for more than a decade. We can all agree on that.

The rest of the SEC West has their own set of problems, but few of our rivals have as much uncertainty at as many key positions as we do. Trying to predict a win total for the upcoming season is just setting ourselves up for disappointment, just like last season.

Instead, let's try taking a little pressure off of Gus, the players, and ourselves, and just expect improvement over the many failures of 2015. You have to start winning the little battles before you can win a war or even a football game. If Gus can show us some light at the end of the tunnel, then I think most can be patient while the young players develop. If not, then we're facing another complete rebuild, and I doubt any of us want to go through that again. Not saying it may not be necessary, but, for the time being, let's focus on building a foundation for lasting success instead of Hail Mary seasons.

I know which way I'd like this thing to play out, and it is going to be mighty hard for Gus to keep his job as it is without dealing with so many unrealistic expectations. Yes, he kind of set himself up for it last season, but, if he is the coach many think he is, then Gus has learned a hard lesson. I expect to see evidence of it in 2016.

We should expect improvement, maybe not across the board, but some clear evidence that the coaches have a road map for long-term success. Having witnessed the rebuilds of the early Dye and Tuberville years, those kind of measurables rarely show up in the win column when a program is dealing with so many challenges.

If we see better leadership and execution at QB and a continuation of the on-going improvement on defense, then I will be satisfied, for now.

And, that, my friends, is as far as my forecast goes for the 2016 season.

[weagl1 1,789]

I think we will have a solid team. Defense will be much better, OL will be fine, kicking game will continue to be good. Everything is on the QB play. If we get good QB play we win 9+ games. If there is a repeat of last year under center the record will be a repeat of last year.