Silver Lining

[Tigerfinz 1,363]

It all just sucks.  Most of us liked what we were seeing and hearing from our players, coaches and folks who cover Auburn football.  We had hope that the "hard nosed, lunchpail" kind of mentality that we seemed to lose after Tommy Tubberville's tenure, was back.  It may be, however, the schemes being run, at least on offense, don't seem to be working for more than 30 min.  The defense is pretty darn good, but, linebacker play, which we expected to be much better, isn't.  I appreciate Owen's leadership and passion, but his play, compared to his ability, has left much to be desired. Steiner was so disciplined on covering his man that he let the QB run by him multiple times when he could have made a play on the ball. Puckett did the same thing on their last TD run.  Our guys just don't seem to have the "feel" for the game like the really good ones do.  I can't seem to understand.  They are intelligent young men who seem clueless way too often.  The offense is just disheartening.  I hope the next staff can work magic.  Years more of mediocrity or worse will be hard to take.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,838]

5 minutes ago, au302 said:

The team isn't untalented on the whole, but the OL, QB, and LB rooms are literally so untalented that is has dragged down the rest of the team. Finally we saw some good QB and OL play last night. LB though is horrible. 

New coach can quickly turn it around if he can convince these WR's to stay and cut everyone in the LB room and start over. OL is what it is, but Council played the best center I have seen since 2017. What this shows is that having a good center can make the rest of the OL look better. Get a good one in the portal and maybe it won't be so bad

Going over half a decade with borderline elite LB play has made me expect that to be a fixture. Didn’t realize how apparently difficult it was to find those until I saw the current crop. And Owen has just seemed broken under the current regime

[au302 2,669]

49 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Going over half a decade with borderline elite LB play has made me expect that to be a fixture. Didn’t realize how apparently difficult it was to find those until I saw the current crop. And Owen has just seemed broken under the current regime

Controversial take, but our LB corps has always struggled with stopping downhill running attacks, even when they were "good". Remember them getting gashed against Minnesota in 2019, and the announcer explaining that Steele recruited undersized linebackers that are meant for speed to stop horizontal attacks versus downhill.

Twill apparently wanted to recruit guys like him. Guys who are short, undersized, but fast. From what many have said, this can work if you hit a home run with a guy like Zakoby. But the line between that and guys like Pappoe and Steiner, who have no business out there, is super thin. Because the lack of measurables gets them exposed unfortunately.

Many say we need to recruit more traditional sized linebackers to help stop these running attacks. I tend to agree, but I don't know. I really blame both staff's for this mess. How this staff didn't realize we needed to get a MIKE in place of Pappoe and Steiner is beyond me. Horrible

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

4 hours ago, DAG said:

Sam Pittman does not make a lot of Arkansas fans happy this morning. He is being called the football version of Mike Anderson. We need someone who is going to get us over the top, not just be competitive. 

Mark my word Sam will have Arky playing for championships before long . Remember what Bret left him and where he has already taken them . Why? Because he keeps it simple. He teaches his teams about effort and hard work and they buy into it. Actually he reminds me of a young guy we hired many years ago out west. Pat Dye I believe was just name. 🤔🦅

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

5 hours ago, GreenTiger said:

You literally just described Harsin

Not even close. Harsin is just another Gus just not as good. His success came in cooking up crazy plays. They work ok in sandlot leagues but the SEC West players have way to much speed and ability. You might fool them once but not continually . Harsin is just a sandlot coach. Always has been. 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

I know this sounds crazy but if I was the president at AU I would make BP the AD. Why? Because he has the right attitude and is infectious. There have been Headcoach/ADs before. Bruce us a guy that tracks down great players because he looks at their heart as much as their talent. He could hire a FB coach that would be successful because he knows what a successful coach looks like. He could mentor them . I thought that would happen with Harsin, but Harsin is way egotistic for that. He never accepts his mistakes and because of that he never truly fixed them. Just like this week. It was about “execution” not about play calling according to him. I can tell you the reason Nick and Kirby get execution is because they hammer it home everyday in practice till it’s actually natural instinct to do it right. 🤔Won’t happen but it’s a thought anyway. Most likely we will do it what has become the “Auburn” way. Keep paying the clown to make AU look bad. We would be better off if we have to pay him to at least get him out of the way. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,838]

4 hours ago, au302 said:

Controversial take, but our LB corps has always struggled with stopping downhill running attacks, even when they were "good". Remember them getting gashed against Minnesota in 2019, and the announcer explaining that Steele recruited undersized linebackers that are meant for speed to stop horizontal attacks versus downhill.

Twill apparently wanted to recruit guys like him. Guys who are short, undersized, but fast. From what many have said, this can work if you hit a home run with a guy like Zakoby. But the line between that and guys like Pappoe and Steiner, who have no business out there, is super thin. Because the lack of measurables gets them exposed unfortunately.

Many say we need to recruit more traditional sized linebackers to help stop these running attacks. I tend to agree, but I don't know. I really blame both staff's for this mess. How this staff didn't realize we needed to get a MIKE in place of Pappoe and Steiner is beyond me. Horrible

I think you need a physical dog at middle linebacker, but nowadays, you do need those speed guys just to keep up with receivers. The problem is our fairly undersized guys (Pappoe) also suck in pass coverage. Maybe scheme is to blame, bc I don’t remember it being THIS bad before last year’s debacle with Penn St. 

 

but you are right that some of those more physical running attacks did have their way if our DL wasn’t having their usual otherworldly days that we came to expect. I seem to remember the 2018 MSU game being similar to yesterday’s in that our LBs, even when brought up to the line, just was a non-factor in containing Nick Fitzgerald on the edge or stuffing the middle  

Edited October 2, 2022 by Dual-Threat Rigby

[bigbird 60,605]

Halfway decent line and we're undefeated. The schemes and plays work but we can't run block.

There are many reasons CBH will be  replaced. The scheme isn't one of them.

[creed 1,683]

1 hour ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

I know this sounds crazy but if I was the president at AU I would make BP the AD. Why? Because he has the right attitude and is infectious. There have been Headcoach/ADs before. Bruce us a guy that tracks down great players because he looks at their heart as much as their talent. He could hire a FB coach that would be successful because he knows what a successful coach looks like. He could mentor them . I thought that would happen with Harsin, but Harsin is way egotistic for that. He never accepts his mistakes and because of that he never truly fixed them. Just like this week. It was about “execution” not about play calling according to him. I can tell you the reason Nick and Kirby get execution is because they hammer it home everyday in practice till it’s actually natural instinct to do it right. 🤔Won’t happen but it’s a thought anyway. Most likely we will do it what has become the “Auburn” way. Keep paying the clown to make AU look bad. We would be better off if we have to pay him to at least get him out of the way. 

"I know this sounds crazy but if I was the president at AU I would make BP the AD". '

 

Make somone the AD? What makes you think BP wants to be the AD? And how can you make somone be AD?

Edited October 2, 2022 by creed

[GreenTiger 1,008]

4 hours ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

Not even close. Harsin is just another Gus just not as good. His success came in cooking up crazy plays. They work ok in sandlot leagues but the SEC West players have way to much speed and ability. You might fool them once but not continually . Harsin is just a sandlot coach. Always has been. 

Go read your own post. You did not describe on field coaching abilities but described the Head Coaches overarching philosophy. You described exactly what Harsin says his program will look like. 

[Dshep4au 273]

I am not opposed to an occasional trick play but Harsin seems to have no sense of the flow of the game.  The 4th and 10- just punt them deep right in front of our student section- we were ahead for crying out loud! Just so sad for the players- they have to be second guessing his in game coaching decisions. 

[EagleEye67 1,947]

5 hours ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

I know this sounds crazy 

better to stop there

[AEAugirl 9,635]

18 hours ago, DAG said:

Sam Pittman does not make a lot of Arkansas fans happy this morning. He is being called the football version of Mike Anderson. We need someone who is going to get us over the top, not just be competitive. 

My Arkansas friends are thrilled with the direction he has the program heading…..between Bielema and Morris they were an absolute dumpser fire.  If they want anyone from that staff fired, its Barry Odom. 

They are more than willing to give Pittman time because they see he has them on an upward trajectory.  

[DAG 34,056]

Just now, AEAugirl said:

My Arkansas friends are thrilled with the direction he has the program heading…..between Bielema and Morris they were an absolute dumpser fire.  If they want anyone from that staff fired, its Barry Odom. 

They are more than willing to give Pittman time because they see he has them on an upward trajectory.  

No kidding 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

8 hours ago, Dshep4au said:

I am not opposed to an occasional trick play but Harsin seems to have no sense of the flow of the game.  The 4th and 10- just punt them deep right in front of our student section- we were ahead for crying out loud! Just so sad for the players- they have to be second guessing his in game coaching decisions. 

Not only that, but he burned a time out to come up with that decision. I wonder if Kiffin and his  analytics would have done the same thing.... With each passing day, it's more apparent to me that Deion is the right choice for AU

Edited October 3, 2022 by NWALA Tiger

[AU-24 3,121]

20 hours ago, ScotsAU said:

Time to bring in Lashlee or Steele!!

As long as Lefty is the “offensive coordinator-head coach in waiting” I’m done with it.

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

20 hours ago, NWALA Tiger said:

We COULD have won 8 games this yr with halfway competent coaching... Arky, Texas Am are both beatable. But not with this comedy hour that we call a coaching staff

I would go further than that.   bama and uga have proven they are beatable.   We should be noticeably better than everyone else on our schedule.   Down year for LSU, TAMU will always be talented and severely overrated as long as Jimbo is there.   Arky is decent but not close to elite.  MS schools are better but still MS schools.    We’re staring a 3-9 season in the face when decent coaching and a few upgrades could’ve gotten us to 10 wins.   🤦‍♂️😢

[AU-24 3,121]

21 hours ago, RunInRed said:

Auburn has had a double digit lead in the last five SEC games. Of course, we only won one (last week vs Mizzou) of them. BUT just shows we have the talent level to at least be competitive. With a decent coach, a little portal recruiting for the trenches, and we can turn it around. 

Time to right this ship.

Exactly! Another game Harsin wasn’t left enough talent to win, but somehow or another he was up by 17 points at home and blew it, to include being shut out in the second half after halftime adjustments. 

[AU-24 3,121]

3 minutes ago, AUinMS9528 said:

I would go further than that.   bama and uga have proven they are beatable.   We should be noticeably better than everyone else on our schedule.   Down year for LSU, TAMU will always be talented and severely overrated as long as Jimbo is there.   Arky is decent but not close to elite.  MS schools are better but still MS schools.    We’re staring a 3-9 season in the face when decent coaching and a few upgrades could’ve gotten us to 10 wins.   🤦‍♂️😢

If we just would’ve hired Freeze or Stoops two years ago. Oh well, can’t go back now and it is, what it is.

[alabastertiger 624]

15 hours ago, bigbird said:

Halfway decent line and we're undefeated. The schemes and plays work but we can't run block.

There are many reasons CBH will be  replaced. The scheme isn't one of them.

I would like to see just one half time adjustment before he gets fired.

[bigbird 60,605]

16 minutes ago, alabastertiger said:

I would like to see just one half time adjustment before he gets fired.

I doubt we do.

[bigbird 60,605]

It's not gonna be freeze...well, as of now it won't. 

Roberts wants a baggage free hire and the Commish has made his feeling known.  We don't need any enemy as Commish. TIFWIW 

 

[alabastertiger 624]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

It's not gonna be freeze. Roberts wants a baggage free hire and the Commish has made his feeling known.  We don't need any enemy as Commish. TIFWIW 

Nobody has mentioned Bill Clark.   Has his health situation been taken care of and would he be a possibility?

[bigbird 60,605]

3 minutes ago, alabastertiger said:

Nobody has mentioned Bill Clark.   Has his health situation been taken care of and would he be a possibility?

Bill clark will never coach at Auburn.

[EagleEye67 1,947]

We need Coach Prime.

 

We'll get Lindsey