Nebraska, Tennessee, Florida State, Miami, Texas, Virginia Tech, USC

[Win4AU 4,052]

I've been saying since the end of last year when people got restless that if Harsin doesn't make it Auburn is going to be on a Florida State trajectory.  Also facilities are nice and needed but the thing that makes the wheel go round is the coach.  Get the right coach and nothing else matters.  Not saying Norvell is the right coach for FSU but he has recruited well with both high schoolers and transfers.  Auburn hasn't hit bottom yet.  It will take a huge portal haul after this season to make Auburn competitive against any team in the SEC.  Its depressing to say but Auburn has a 2 -3 year uphill climb with the right guy.  Arkansas would be another good example of what the next couple years is going to look like.  

[cole256 17,059]

11 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

No, I think you made a laughably bad point.

Some people really think Auburn is a much higher factor than it really is

[Win4AU 4,052]

3 minutes ago, gabo4au said:

We've traditionally been ahead of MS St, Ole Miss, Ark, and a bit ahead of TAMU, and maybe just barely lower than LSU. So historically 2nd or 3rd place in the SEC West, probably leaning towards 3rd on most years.

 

With NIL and how much money the other schools can bring, it'll be a serious challenge to stay there. We should be able to stay with the MS schools and Ark, a bigger task to stay with TAMU and LSU. I would just like to get back to mid-SEC West with a good run every 5-10 years.

LSU has been well ahead of Auburn since the early to mid 2000s.  They led and may still lead for most players in the NFL.  Even their bad years they are putting 5-6 guys in the pros and landing top 10 recruiting classes.  If Brian Kelly is half the coach he's proved to be at Cincinnati and Notre Dame then watch out.  TaMu is definitely on that level too.  The boob they have as coach is severely under performing with the talent on that roster. 

[auburnatl1 4,906]

IMO the primary  issue is  talent and the primary reason is UGA and Kirby. AU basketball has thrived dominating Ga recruiting.  It isn’t a coincidence that as uga rose, au fell. It wasn’t just Gus - our fall was systematically done to us by recruiting starvation.  We’d break even in Ga with mark richt but Kirby has fire walled off the state.

Bama is bama. We can and have lived with that. But the recruiting dominance of uga is new. Any new coach will have to either radically change our geographic recruiting approach, or take on Kirby with blunt force. 

[AU9377 4,929]

1 hour ago, Didba said:

What?

I wasn't suggesting Gus.  I was pointing out that what the OP described was what the prior staff was doing.  We spent $30 million to do better, not maintain the status quo.

[gabo4au 227]

On 9/20/2022 at 12:13 PM, Win4AU said:

LSU has been well ahead of Auburn since the early to mid 2000s.  They led and may still lead for most players in the NFL.  Even their bad years they are putting 5-6 guys in the pros and landing top 10 recruiting classes.  If Brian Kelly is half the coach he's proved to be at Cincinnati and Notre Dame then watch out.  TaMu is definitely on that level too.  The boob they have as coach is severely under performing with the talent on that roster. 

 

Since 2000, LSU has won 6 SEC west titles, and AU has won 5. I hear you as far as NFL Players but since 2000 LSU has just barely been ahead of AU in the SEC west on average. They have a few more National titles and they have had some great teams, but they haven't been way ahead of us in terms of the SEC west. That's why I said they were a bit ahead of us putting us at 3rd best in the SEC west since the conference expanded, but 2nd and 3rd have not been separated by a huge margin. 

 

Now, I agree that LSU has many advantages. They are the only game in the state of LA, they can pull a fair number of players from TX and probably have a better national brand,  and they have traditionally out recruited us for those reasons.

 

TAMU, on the other hand, has been about the same distance behind us as LSU has been ahead of us. That's not to say they will stay there as you point out they have a huge recruiting advantage over us.

 

So I stand by my opinion that we have traditionally been 3rd/middle of the pack in the SEC west to date. With a good run every 5-10 years that makes us somewhat relevant in the grander picture. I view us as a team the "power teams" hate to play as we have traditionally been a thorn in their side and a difficult out. I would be happy to get back to that level and remain there. I think the biggest challenge to that is getting our NIL act together. College sports has really turned into pro sports, albeit a minor league or lower league version of it. At present time with no salary caps, contracts, or franchise tags, so it's going to be dominated by whoever has the most money. To old guys like me, it's a sad state of affairs and is on the brink of driving me away. If AU drops to the bottom of the SEC west, it will certainly drive me away.

 

 

NOTE: At least I have a great degree from AU, which has opened many opportunities and afforded me a great life. For that reason I'll always be a huge AU fan. It's a unique place that is hard to explain to people who have never been a part of it.

Edited September 21, 2022 by gabo4au

[smackydoodle 200]

On 9/19/2022 at 11:27 PM, TeamZero77 said:

All of these programs were top programs and quickly fell off the face of the earth. I mentioned in another thread that I'm really worried that we could follow this trend.

Hasn't Auburn finished unranked nearly 50% of the past 20 years? One of the podcasters made mention that AU is similar to Iowa. They hover around 7 wins and have a great season a couple times a decade. The difference is AU fans think they should be holding up championships every year, and that's just not reality.

Edited September 21, 2022 by smackydoodle

[hutchids 227]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:44 AM, AU9377 said:

In other words, Gus.  That is the rub.

Gus didn't win 10 games most years. He did it twice in 8. One of those years he lost the big bowl game to a group of 6 team.

[WFE12 9,191]

Look at Tennessee. Good for them. I feel like a Vandy fan. What can be done to reverse this to dig us out of this wretched abyss… Idk. Can’t even look at programs like Mizzou and say we should win handily . We’re at the got dang bottom too

Edited September 24, 2022 by WFE12

[AU9377 4,929]

On 9/19/2022 at 10:49 PM, sevenlee36 said:

Easy to answer. It actually took years to get here and the cause was years of poor offensive line recruiting under Gus. Oh and don’t think it will be easy to go from a high school offense to a pro style offense with the players recruited to run a Hurry Up offense. It took years to get this bad… going to take time. 

That is so over sold.  This same OL was good enough to win 9 games if we had been given the 3 usual cupcakes during the covid year and they did well at times last year.  This staff has done nothing to mitigate their weaknesses and they have done nothing to get better at the position.  Blaming Gus is just old at this point.  He never fielded a team that was this poorly coached.

[AU9377 4,929]

On 9/24/2022 at 5:42 PM, hutchids said:

Gus didn't win 10 games most years. He did it twice in 8. One of those years he lost the big bowl game to a group of 6 team.

Never said he did.  He also never coached a team this poorly.  Fact.

[sevenlee36 1,654]

9 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

That is so over sold.  This same OL was good enough to win 9 games if we had been given the 3 usual cupcakes during the covid year and they did well at times last year.  This staff has done nothing to mitigate their weaknesses and they have done nothing to get better at the position.  Blaming Gus is just old at this point.  He never fielded a team that was this poorly coached.

Yeah not really. I don’t care how much you coach me up I’m not going to be a great olinemen. Gus recruited the position poorly and no one wanted to play in his system because it wasn’t going to make you NFL ready. He actually had a former player come out and say this, Braden Smith? Therefore the result is no talent to work with. Oh and if Harsin had brought in 5 good linemen last year it would still take a couple years to gain the strength needed to play in this league and for them to really gel as a unit. The guys he’s working with were brought in to run a high school offense… not going to work.

Edited September 28, 2022 by sevenlee36

[AU9377 4,929]

9 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

Yeah not really. I don’t care how much you coach me up I’m not going to be a great olinemen. Gus recruited the position poorly and no one wanted to play in his system because it wasn’t going to make you NFL ready. He actually had a former player come out and say this, Braden Smith? Therefore the result is no talent to work with. Oh and if Harsin had brought in 5 good linemen last year it would still take a couple years to gain the strength needed to play in this league and for them to really gel as a unit. The guys he’s working with were brought in to run a high school offense… not going to work.

I never said coach up.  Scheme can certainly help mitigate shortcomings.  It wasn't Braden Smith who said that, it was a writer that covers the NFL.  You seem to think that Harsin's offense is substantially different.  It isn't.  It is lacking of any schematic game planning.

With all his shortcomings, Gus would not have a losing season with this line.  Of course, Gus also wouldn't have run off the only SEC caliber QB on the roster.

Edited September 28, 2022 by AU9377

[sevenlee36 1,654]

2 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

I never said coach up.  Scheme can certainly help mitigate shortcomings.  It wasn't Braden Smith who said that, it was a writer that covers the NFL.  You seem to think that Harsin's offense is substantially different.  It isn't.  It is lacking of any schematic game planning.

With all his shortcomings, Gus would not have a losing season with this line.  Of course, Gus also wouldn't have run off the only SEC caliber QB on the roster.

I don’t see Gus winning with the current roster. I don’t see Saban winning with the current roster. That’s not to say we don’t have good players but we are missing talent at the MOST critical position on the team. Maybe Harsin can start running Mike Leach’s offense with a line that don’t block and QB that can’t throw. Or maybe we could run the triple option with a line that don’t block. I’m not sure what scheme is going to work but by all means if you have one please let the staff know ASAP.

[AU9377 4,929]

8 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

I don’t see Gus winning with the current roster. I don’t see Saban winning with the current roster. That’s not to say we don’t have good players but we are missing talent at the MOST critical position on the team. Maybe Harsin can start running Mike Leach’s offense with a line that don’t block and QB that can’t throw. Or maybe we could run the triple option with a line that don’t block. I’m not sure what scheme is going to work but by all means if you have one please let the staff know ASAP.

I agree actually.  I was just pointing out that had Harsin not ran off some key parts of the roster, it wouldn't be as bad as it is.

[sevenlee36 1,654]

15 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

I agree actually.  I was just pointing out that had Harsin not ran off some key parts of the roster, it wouldn't be as bad as it is.

Yeah but that is common when a coaching change occurs. I’d love to still have Tashawn Manning, Bro Hamm, Lee Hunter to name a few. I think losing Bro Hamm was our biggest loss and of course Nick Brahms being injured. With Bro Hamm, Brahms, Manning on the line I think we are a better run team for sure. Still going to suck at passing but if we had Bo we’d be okay. It’s all ifs-and-buts but had everyone stayed I think we’d have had an opportunity for a 7+ win season. I’d also would have loved to see Mason and Eason stay. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by sevenlee36

[Mikey 16,589]

20 hours ago, sevenlee36 said:

Oh and if Harsin had brought in 5 good linemen last year.............

But he didn't. He brought in one prospect from Auburn High School. No O-line from the portal. If a rebuilding of anything needs doing, it has to start sometime. When did/does Harsin intend to start? Next year? Two years down the road? If the O-line situation is truly as bad as some claim, either Harsin doesn't think it's all that bad or he's oblivious to the problem. He's certainly done nothing to start a rebuilding process.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

 If the O-line situation is truly as bad as some claim

Have you watched a down of Auburn football this year?  Its not even a claim anymore.  Its on display for everyone to see.

[augolf1716 21,123]

36 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Have you watched a down of Auburn football this year?  Its not even a claim anymore.  Its on display for everyone to see.

Don't waste your time 

[Mikey 16,589]

5 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

Have you watched a down of Auburn football this year?  Its not even a claim anymore.  Its on display for everyone to see.

Yes I have. Apparently I'm of the same opinion as Harsin: The raw talent isn't all that bad. That they are being coached down is where my opinion diverges from the opinion of our coach. I'm guessing he doesn't think they are worse now than they were two years ago. That they are worse now is what's on display for everyone to see.

[AU9377 4,929]

Brian Kelly replaced half the roster at LSU out of necessity.  He got it done.

[Gowebb11 9,320]

5 hours ago, AU9377 said:

Brian Kelly replaced half the roster at LSU out of necessity.  He got it done.

Good point. Makes one wonder why he didn’t pursue the AU job when it was open. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Gowebb11

[Mikey 16,589]

3 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Good point. Makes one wonder why he didn’t pursue the AU job when it was open. 

I don't think Kelly pursued the LSU job. LSU pursued Kelly with a boatload of money.

[hutchids 227]

On 9/28/2022 at 1:46 PM, AU9377 said:

Never said he did.  He also never coached a team this poorly.  Fact.

2015? 2018? 2020?

[e808 3,025]

4 minutes ago, hutchids said:

2015? 2018? 2020?

2015 was the only year 7-6, 2018 8-5, 2020 all SEC schedule 6-4