confrontation with reality

[CR 2,448]

Bryan Matthews has stated the contract has been bad for Gus and Auburn. Auburn has overpaid and is tied to a huge buyout and Gus has faced raised expectations due to the salary increase and has not produced at his salary level, thus leading to a lot of disgruntlement from the fanbase. 

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

3 hours ago, ChltteTiger said:

Probably not but either of those two would probably have found a way to coach AU to victory in the 2017 SECCG.

Why would you think Riley could of done it? He couldn't get it done with a healthy OU team in 2017 in the playoffs.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,827]

3 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

We could have won in ‘14 for sure- we could have also lost ‘13 just as well. Kinda cancel each other out. Either way the record is what it is. I wasn’t even gonna bring LSU up because it really starts to make the ROI look bad when that factors in and that’s not my intention. I like Gus a lot, just not his contract. 

I’m just gonna be honest, if you could translate his results for just about every program in the conference other than UA and MAYBE UGA/UF,  they’d probably keep him around. The Eastern conference teams would likely see a 1-2 win bump easily with him not having to play Bama and only sporadically playing LSU. Him getting his ass kicked vs MSU every other year is weird but they’re still better than everyone else in the East aside from UGA and UF this decade. Even LSU, they’d hate the lack of consistency but two, could be 3 wins vs Bama? That’d have them at a remarkably different place than they are now. Plus a program that recruits itself along the trenches and secondary, it’d be something to see. 

I hate the bad years as much as anybody, but there’s really not more than 8 or so active names I’d take to replace him

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,827]

3 hours ago, Texan4Auburn said:

Why would you think Riley could of done it? He couldn't get it done with a healthy OU team in 2017 in the playoffs.

2017 Auburn didn’t have literally the worst playoff contending defense. Guy eviscerated UGA’s defense in the first and the second they stopped scoring consistently, UGA points came in droves. He also is reminiscent of the type of offense Stidham worked in at Baylor 

[JDUBB4AU 5,138]

Two words :

 

Turner Gill

 

your welcome Chuck. 

[aucom96 1,644]

I don't think "we could do worse" is an endorsement. There are positives with Malzahn. If he has the right pieces, he can be formidable but I don't think he has been a very good strategist off the field. To his credit, he's built a defensive staff that knows their business and they have recruited and developed a strong and reasonably deep unit. Offensively, we always seem a bad game or two away from a disaster. His offense is a bit archaic and it really is amazing the success he has basically ignoring half the playing field. He hasn't put a priority on recruiting line and we have yet to see the worst from that. We recruit well at receiver but see very little turnaround in gameplay. Considering how key the running game is in his offense, his recruiting in the backfield has been underwhelming and we still tend to come into games looking soft and unprepared. I'm encouraged at the chemistry I saw late in the Oregon game and the faith Gus showed in his QB, but I still think he needs to get better coaches on the offensive side of the ball who can help him develop a coherent recruiting strategy or we're going to continue to be a roller-coaster in the win-loss column.

[DAG 34,045]

3 minutes ago, aucom96 said:

I don't think "we could do worse" is an endorsement. There are positives with Malzahn. If he has the right pieces, he can be formidable but I don't think he has been a very good strategist off the field. To his credit, he's built a defensive staff that knows their business and they have recruited and developed a strong and reasonably deep unit. Offensively, we always seem a bad game or two away from a disaster. His offense is a bit archaic and it really is amazing the success he has basically ignoring half the playing field. He hasn't put a priority on recruiting line and we have yet to see the worst from that. We recruit well at receiver but see very little turnaround in gameplay. Considering how key the running game is in his offense, his recruiting in the backfield has been underwhelming and we still tend to come into games looking soft and unprepared. I'm encouraged at the chemistry I saw late in the Oregon game and the faith Gus showed in his QB, but I still think he needs to get better coaches on the offensive side of the ball who can help him develop a coherent recruiting strategy or we're going to continue to be a roller-coaster in the win-loss column.

His post was not an endorsement . Just a dose of reality. He even says winning a championship with Gus is slim. 

[DKW 86 7,493]

16 hours ago, doverstutts said:

I just realized that AU does not have it so bad with our present HC.   We could do much better, but damn, we could do much worse.  I did not want this guy to be hired, I did not want him retained when him and Sexton took advantage of a ********* president, with no insight from an AD at the time, but after listening to UT and USCe fans today, I guess I might as well face reality and leave well enough alone.   What I have listened to today is scary, and I did not realize that every Saban assistant  but one (K. Smart) has been a disappointment as a HC.   I did a lot of message board reading today, also.   Any chance of winning a championship is slim with Malzahn, but the reality is that there are just not many quality hires that ANY school could make right now.  I guess I will just have to live with Malzahn and his goofy-assed playcalling and decision making.   It could be Pruitt,Muschamp, Strong,Taggart, etc.  Its hard to believe how Vol fans have lost all hope, and I mean every single one.  Real eye-opening day for me.  I won't ever trust Malzahn, but I will learn to live with it

Kudos. I did the same thing. Pruitt, Muschamp, Strong, Taggart they could be all gone by EOY. Pruitt's loss is being called the worst loss in UT history by more than one writer and org. They lost to a 2-10 essentially DivII school, one that hasnt got 10 years of tradition. GA State got their Program Defining Win as well. Makes it even harder for me to swallow our losing to UT last year at home by two scores.    If Pruitt doesnt get that win, he is 4-8 and very much on the hot seat this year. On Volchat and Volnation there are some extremely well known posters there calling Pruitt essentially a Bama Plant, a traitor to all things Vol. Some are calling for him to be fired now, and those are the UT Fans folks listen to and have a long history with. 

CWM: He is finally out of a job at USCar. He has the toughest schedule in the nation and is out his #1 QB for weeks. He is almost certainly going to be on Kirby's staff next year. 

Taggart: his grace period is now gone with the Garnet and Gold Crew.

It is sad but some of these losses are just too hard to accept. USCar, if they cant beat UNC, they might as well quit. Clemson, UGA, UF is going to own them for years. Losing to UNC means they wont even be able to recruit worth a damn soon. 

[AU64 10,122]

12 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

He’s in the process of delivering his third straight 11+ win season, and almost a lock for his third straight trip to Atlanta. And he has multiple 5 stars in backup roles. He’s set up for a very dominant run. As long as we can’t consistently beat him (we haven’t had a good run the last 15 years against them) his path is even easier. 

Probably true but with that schedule and talent he can point to a couple difficult games and coast on most of the rest. Until Kirby beats bama a couple times I'm not envious... He blew two games against bama when Georgia was in a strong position to win.

[AuMarine 1,372]

9 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Clemson is working the media and the recruiting circuits, they've just made sure to establish their reputation as being lowkey, homely, and I dont mean to make this about religion or anything, but they've used certain buzz words to explain their success that you might notice next time you listen to a Dabo interview. This combination of things makes it hard to call them out, because they move so smooth, but I've heard quite a few rumblings that there's rampant dirty money. 

 

And I dont care about any of this personally, it's just a damn shame that a program that has less money than us has been able to do what they've done. 

Clemson, Bama, UGA all have one thing in common.. paying players or at least giving benefits to players. They all do it (maybe Auburn does too??)  It is about big boosters who are willing to shell out money and benefits to players at the direction of the coaches. bama doesn't have to hide it.. uga learned from bama.. and dabo knew if he wanted to compete he had to join that circle. That is really what it is all about. 

In staying with the SEC, who does bama play from the east?  What if they had to play UGA every year like we do..??  And I think the same can be said for UGAs schedule. They have an advantage in the SEC because of their scheduling. 

I have been on the "buy him out" bandwagon for a long time. honestly, who would we bring in that could or would compete with bama and uga in the SEC? and deal with Clemson in recruiting? Auburn would be in my opinion the toughest job in football because of the factors I mentioned.. also add in the fans.. and whoa.. it would be tough. Are we willing as fans to go the route of bama, UGA, and clemson and win at no cost ..and by that I mean providing benefits and money to get the top players? Because that is what will have to happen.. I am not sure the NCAA would turn a blind eye to Auburn.  At this point, we have a coach that "can" win big games (sometimes) and lose the ones we should win. He motivates the players and obviously they love playing for him.. I feel like this is a "catch 22"

[gulftiger66 166]

13 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Right won 10 or more games 9 of 15 years at UGA. I would love for us to have that kind of consistency. 

UGA plays football in the SEC East.  Apples and oranges.

[Gowebb11 9,472]

8 minutes ago, gulftiger66 said:

UGA plays football in the SEC East.  Apples and oranges.

Regardless of where UGA plays, my point is that it’s past time for AU to be more consistent. It’s been 30 years since we’ve had back to back 10 win seasons. That’s ridiculous.  And Richt was 10-5 against us, so he did okay versus the west. 

[DAG 34,045]

37 minutes ago, AuMarine said:

Clemson, Bama, UGA all have one thing in common.. paying players or at least giving benefits to players. They all do it (maybe Auburn does too??)  It is about big boosters who are willing to shell out money and benefits to players at the direction of the coaches. bama doesn't have to hide it.. uga learned from bama.. and dabo knew if he wanted to compete he had to join that circle. That is really what it is all about. 

In staying with the SEC, who does bama play from the east?  What if they had to play UGA every year like we do..??  And I think the same can be said for UGAs schedule. They have an advantage in the SEC because of their scheduling. 

I have been on the "buy him out" bandwagon for a long time. honestly, who would we bring in that could or would compete with bama and uga in the SEC? and deal with Clemson in recruiting? Auburn would be in my opinion the toughest job in football because of the factors I mentioned.. also add in the fans.. and whoa.. it would be tough. Are we willing as fans to go the route of bama, UGA, and clemson and win at no cost ..and by that I mean providing benefits and money to get the top players? Because that is what will have to happen.. I am not sure the NCAA would turn a blind eye to Auburn.  At this point, we have a coach that "can" win big games (sometimes) and lose the ones we should win. He motivates the players and obviously they love playing for him.. I feel like this is a "catch 22"

Most people would take winning over anything which is why we have these insane contracts and big stadium renovations. So the simple answer is yes. You and I included as we are here still supporting and debating all things Auburn. 

[Gowebb11 9,472]

45 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Probably true but with that schedule and talent he can point to a couple difficult games and coast on most of the rest. Until Kirby beats bama a couple times I'm not envious... He blew two games against bama when Georgia was in a strong position to win.

It will interesting to see how it unfolds. He is doing everything Bama does, except the championship part. How long will UGA support that, even with otherwise huge seasons. That said, I really wish we could stop the bleeding in the UGA series. It’s been painful the past few years. 

[abw0004 10,134]

You know I was thinking, if we had the same set up as Notre Dame, we would have been in the playoffs in 2017.  Think about it.  They do not play a conference championship and we were playoff bound going into our SEC Championship.  If we didn't play that, we were in.

And for this reason I will never give Notre Dame credit because they are taking the easy way every year.

[AUGunsmith 666]

This is such a defeatist loser attitude. 

[DAG 34,045]

Where the hell is @aujeff11 , I would like to hear is input on this 

[lost 452]

There is a lot of talk of "others" but i want to go back to us.  I am so proud we won.  I was not happy with the play calling.  I was not happy at some of Gus's reactions and decisions.  I felt he put Bo in a no win situation in the 1st half.  He took a true freshman , and somehow ascertained that the most successful approach was to put everything on his shoulders?  This to me was destined to fail, especially with Oregon's defensive approach.  Thank goodness our defense stepped up, and common sense prevailed.  I would like to know if it is true that the offense went to Gus and said let us run the ball, we can do this.. We all know Gus's biggest problem is to trust his team.  

But Gus is the Coach.  I love the Ride for the Brand, and it is all about the A and not me the little u.....   I think Gus has to make the same adaptations that other good/great coaches make as football changes....  Either he adapts or he gets left behind.  His offense will work, just not like it used to...  

[AU64 10,122]

23 minutes ago, lost said:

I was not happy at some of Gus's reactions and decisions.

I realize this is about Gus...but have you ever seen a game when a coach did not make some crazy calls?   Calls look crazy when they don't work...and look like genius when they catch the other guys napping.     Football is about tendencies, odds, etc. and plays and series of plays are based on what coaches see the other side doing but the players have to execute...sometimes they do, sometimes not..

Meanwhile, bet ole Cristabol is catching it over that 4th and a foot call run from the shotgun.....and how many passes did their QB complete for less than 5 yards.....so why, with an NFL QB was he just throwing stuff like that?  

It was not Bo who was in a "no win situation"......it was Gus....half the fan base complained when he was trying to run the ball and half are unhappy because he was asking Bo to make some passing plays to back their defense up.   JMO but Hastings was the only guy to run his routes like he wanted to get open....most of the other times the receivers looked more intent on getting to a certain spot on the field to wait on the ball. Kodi has some work to do IMO.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Kodi has some work to do IMO

Between him and Gus, I remain very concerned about the job they're doing of designing plays that get receivers open and/or coaching those receivers to correctly run the routes they've been assigned. There is simply no excuse with the amount of talent we've recruited at the position. 

As for Gus's play calls, even he said that he didn't do a good job for much of the game. We got the win so great, but that coaching job will not win games against the better teams in our conference. It's encouraging that Gus acknowledged this and seems ready to tweak some things. 

[lost 452]

3 minutes ago, AU64 said:

I realize this is about Gus...but have you ever seen a game when a coach did not make some crazy calls?   Calls look crazy when they don't work...and look like genius when they catch the other guys napping.     Football is about tendencies, odds, etc. and plays and series of plays are based on what coaches see the other side doing but the players have to execute...sometimes they do, sometimes not..

Meanwhile, bet ole Cristabol is catching it over that 4th and a foot call run from the shotgun.....and how many passes did their QB complete for less than 5 yards.....so why, with an NFL QB was he just throwing stuff like that?  

It was not Bo who was in a "no win situation"......it was Gus....half the fan base complained when he was trying to run the ball and half are unhappy because he was asking Bo to make some passing plays to back their defense up.   JMO but Hastings was the only guy to run his routes like he wanted to get open....most of the other times the receivers looked more intent on getting to a certain spot on the field to wait on the ball. Kodi has some work to do IMO.

I don't claim to be the most knowledgeable.  I am a baseball player, just played flag football.  But i was told, and it looked to me that in the the 1st two or three possessions three receivers most of the time went out and no one to check down to and Oregon was bringing pressure constantly from the right side with no one there to pick it up either?

[AU64 10,122]

7 minutes ago, lost said:

I don't claim to be the most knowledgeable.  I am a baseball player, just played flag football.  But i was told, and it looked to me that in the the 1st two or three possessions three receivers most of the time went out and no one to check down to and Oregon was bringing pressure constantly from the right side with no one there to pick it up either?

That could be true....but also AU was keeping lots of guys to try and protect Bo...kind of a max protect.    They knew Oregon would be going after Bo and the need was to keep the rush off him and hope the route-running receivers could get open...not  sure who might have been available to be the check down receiver.

Generally Bo did not have a lot of time to look beyond the first or second receiver.   Failure to pick up the rush on the right could have been Bo's fault for not setting the backfield correctly....and we saw some backs have trouble getting the blocks.  

Whatever, Bo did a good job of not getting sacked.....and probably his legs were his "check down".   He did a very good job of handling the rush, did not panic and did not take sacks.   Very impressive IMO.

[im4aual 489]

Auburn and Tennessee played in the 2004 SEC championship game, Tennessee hasn't been back since.  In 2008, both programs took a nosedive and fired their coaches, both with at least ten years at the helm.  The difference between the two programs since then has been Gus. He was there for the three best years of the Chizik era, and came back and instantly made Auburn relevant again when the bottom fell out in 2012.  Tennessee is on their 4th coach in that time frame - none as successful as Gus at Auburn.  

I live in Chattanooga, grew up here, and returned after graduating from Auburn.  In my sixty years, I've never seen Vol fans this down.  They would kill to have Gus as their coach, and many have said so.  I know we lost to them last year, and it hurt, but most here in Tennessee see that as a fluke day where we played our worst and they played their best.

I honestly think that Fulmer hired Pruitt instead of a more qualified coach as a way of finding a back door to be the Tennessee coach again.  I think he'll let him flounder through the difficult first half of the season (Georgia, Florida, & bama), fire him and appoint himself as the interim head coach for the less difficult last part of the season (UCSe, Vandy, & Kentucky plus a homecoming patsy).  When the team looks better against weaker competition, he'll be the coach again.  If you think that this is too far fetched, remember how he got the head coaching job the first time when Johnny Majors was out for heart surgery.  Fulmer is a snake.

 

 

 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, AU64 said:

That could be true....but also AU was keeping lots of guys to try and protect Bo...kind of a max protect.    They knew Oregon would be going after Bo and the need was to keep the rush off him and hope the route-running receivers could get open...not  sure who might have been available to be the check down receiver.

Generally Bo did not have a lot of time to look beyond the first or second receiver.   Failure to pick up the rush on the right could have been Bo's fault for not setting the backfield correctly....and we saw some backs have trouble getting the blocks.  

Whatever, Bo did a good job of not getting sacked.....and probably his legs were his "check down".   He did a very good job of handling the rush, did not panic and did not take sacks.   Very impressive IMO.

Same discussion, new year. Probably 90% of all current offenses use short passes- drags, slants, climbs, maybe others- to mitigate a pass rush. Oregon's offense is one of those 90% and destroyed us with it in the first quarter. Gus's offense is one of the other 10%. 

[AUGunsmith 666]

Kodi never deserved this job at all. He only got it as a gus yes man. His development of receivers has been no existant. His experience at developing a passing attack are zero outside of being a Gus underling, yet he is the assistant OC/passing game coordinator. 

I love kodi for how he handled his time here, but he has no business being a coach at Auburn at this point.