Serious thoughts on the 2023 season

[meh130 1,043]

Looking for input on W/L for 2023.

My gut says there is no way we lose to Cal (which is bad).

My gut says there is no way we lose to Mississippi State, which is likely to not be as good as it was with The Pirate at the helm.

My gut says we beat Vandy in Nashville, which is a home stadium for every SEC team.

My gut says Arkansas peaked, and is ripe for the taking.

So 7-5 is my reasonable floor, but if one of the above does not happen, we are 6-6 as a base.

Then there are the two intangibles. Ole Miss, which is to Freeze what Arkansas was to Malzhahn, and Bama, one only need to look to 2021.

In my opinion, 8-4 is more a reasonable probability than 6-6.

[au701948 998]

2 hours ago, meh130 said:

Looking for input on W/L for 2023.

My gut says there is no way we lose to Cal (which is bad).

My gut says there is no way we lose to Mississippi State, which is likely to not be as good as it was with The Pirate at the helm.

My gut says we beat Vandy in Nashville, which is a home stadium for every SEC team.

My gut says Arkansas peaked, and is ripe for the taking.

So 7-5 is my reasonable floor, but if one of the above does not happen, we are 6-6 as a base.

Then there are the two intangibles. Ole Miss, which is to Freeze what Arkansas was to Malzhahn, and Bama, one only need to look to 2021.

In my opinion, 8-4 is more a reasonable probability than 6-6.

IF the coaches and players find common ground AND we do not lose our projected starter at RB, then I see 7-5 as possible. That probably is more my hope than maybe a reality.

[cbo 7,835]

7 or 8 wins. 

[einatlanta 502]

If this team gels we will be in every game till the clock hits 00. Looser state sniffed the playoffs the year after they re-tooled via the portal.....anything is possible.

[Mikey 16,577]

Harsin caused a lot of scholarship players to leave Auburn via the portal. Freeze & Co. have replaced them numbers-wise. How good is the quality of the replacements and how soon can they be brought together as a team? That's the question.

I'm expecting 7-5 but fear that 6-6 is a distinct possibility.

 

[W.E.D 11,070]

Most recent over/under lines....

Auburn - 7

UGA - 11.5
Bama - 10.5
LSU - 9.5

(A) Aggies - 8.5

(H) Ole Miss - 7
(A) Arkansas - 6.5
(H) Miss St - 6

8-4 means we need win our winnable home games & update Arkansas in Fayetteville unless we can pull an unlikely upset vs on of our big 3.  

7 wins seems pretty dead on. I think we can get 2/3 from that last group.  We'll see how everyone gels. 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by W.E.D

[Win4AU 4,052]

Cal may cause Auburn more trouble than people realize.  
 

I think the bottom my fall out for Moo State. 
Vandy will be better than people think.  
Arkansas and TaMu are the wildcards.  New coaching staffs and a lot of roster turnover for both.  
 

Ole Miss, LSU, UGA, Bama will be/should be good.  

[W.E.D 11,070]

23 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Cal may cause Auburn more trouble than people realize.  

 

23 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Vandy will be better than people think.  

No, just no.

Edited May 30, 2023 by W.E.D

[icanthearyou 4,462]

We win 8 (maybe 9) IF,,, we have a quality offensive line.

[AuCivilEng1 11,000]

I just don't see Ole Miss coming to Auburn and winning. And that Bama game is going to be closer to 50/50 than a lot think. If we get both of them at night, its on like donkey kong. Something would have to go weird one way or another for us to not finish the season with between 7 and 9 wins. Throw in a bowl win and Hugh is off to the races moving forward.

[meh130 1,043]

2 hours ago, Win4AU said:

Cal may cause Auburn more trouble than people realize.  
 

I think the bottom my fall out for Moo State. 
Vandy will be better than people think.  
Arkansas and TaMu are the wildcards.  New coaching staffs and a lot of roster turnover for both.  
 

Ole Miss, LSU, UGA, Bama will be/should be good.  

I have a bad feeling about Texas A&M. I just don't see Jimbo continuing to wallow in mediocrity given his recruiting success.

[Win4AU 4,052]

1 hour ago, meh130 said:

I have a bad feeling about Texas A&M. I just don't see Jimbo continuing to wallow in mediocrity given his recruiting success.

He wallowed in it pretty good last year.  Either petrino fixes the offense or Jimbo will be looking for a place to spend all that $$$

[Win4AU 4,052]

3 hours ago, W.E.D said:

 

No, just no.

Cal being the 2nd game could be bumpy. 31-21 kinda bumpy.

Vandy ended its season by beating Kentucky and Florida back to back.  Not saying Auburn is going to lose but not a game to take lightly either.  I like what Vandy’s coach has done coming into his 3rd or 4th year.

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 minute ago, Win4AU said:

Cal being the 2nd game could be bumpy. 31-21 kinda bumpy.

Cal is horrendous.  They are a below average G5 team.  We'll have more fans than them in the stadium and smoke them by 40.

1 minute ago, Win4AU said:

Vandy ended its season by beating Kentucky and Florida back to back.  Not saying Auburn is going to lose but not a game to take lightly either.  I like what Vandy’s coach has done coming into his 3rd or 4th year.

Florida is really really bad.  Their O/U this is is 5.5, sub .500.  1 fluke-ish win vs a mediocre Kentucky isn't going to convince me that a projected 4 win Vandy should give me any kind of worry

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

And that Bama game is going to be closer to 50/50 than a lot think. If we get both of them at night

Is the SEC game of the week no longer at 3:30?  It is some ABC 8pm and some 330?  Or all "game of the week" at 8pm?

We're going to start seeing more "good" games at noon.  B1G and others have started putting the #2 or #3 games there.  It's going to be a shift for a lot and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  I look forward to LSU fans crying about it the most

Edited May 30, 2023 by W.E.D

[DAG 33,977]

If we are losing or competing against cal we are in trouble. This coaching staff and individual talent should be more than enough to get in there, handle business/get out of there smoothly 

[W.E.D 11,070]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

If we are losing or competing against cal we are in trouble. This coaching staff and individual talent should be more than enough to get in there, handle business/get out of there smoothly 

Half the posters here claiming we're going to probably beat Bama b/c it is at home and the other half scared of Vandy and Cal

WIld

[Tiger 8,819]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

Is the SEC game of the week no longer at 3:30?  It is some ABC 8pm and some 330?  Or all "game of the week" at 8pm?

We're going to start seeing more "good" games at noon.  B1G and others have started putting the #2 or #3 games there.  It's going to be a shift for a lot and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  I look forward to LSU fans crying about it the most

Wait the TV schedule is starting to shuffle? What will the game tiers be? It used to be top choice CBS, 2nd ESPN, 3rd got the noon ESPN slot if I'm not mistaken then the rest got sent to ESPN2, SEC Network etc, right? How will it shake out now? 

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Wait the TV schedule is starting to shuffle? What will the game tiers be? It used to be top choice CBS, 2nd ESPN, 3rd got the noon ESPN slot if I'm not mistaken then the rest got sent to ESPN2, SEC Network etc, right? How will it shake out now? 

Best I could find is that ABC/ESPN will essentially do whatever they want.  They own all rights so all SEC games will be on ABC/ESPN/SECN as they see fit.  I haven't seen any set times for games. like you said for years past.

What I don't get is ABC also owns ACC games.  Will they ever get the ABC primetime game over the SEC?  One thing I did like about CBS was that you knew 330 on CBS was the SEC game of the week.  

[AuCivilEng1 11,000]

2 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Is the SEC game of the week no longer at 3:30?  It is some ABC 8pm and some 330?  Or all "game of the week" at 8pm?

We're going to start seeing more "good" games at noon.  B1G and others have started putting the #2 or #3 games there.  It's going to be a shift for a lot and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  I look forward to LSU fans crying about it the most

Noon kickoffs friggin blow. No time to tailgate or enjoy a buildup. If I was the SEC I’d be negotiating the prime time kickoffs to be abundant. Imagine only getting the night game for Miss St and OOC. 

[AUwent 3,748]

2 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Is the SEC game of the week no longer at 3:30?  It is some ABC 8pm and some 330?  Or all "game of the week" at 8pm?

We're going to start seeing more "good" games at noon.  B1G and others have started putting the #2 or #3 games there.  It's going to be a shift for a lot and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  I look forward to LSU fans crying about it the most

🤮

I really hope that CBS going bye bye means more night games!

Edited May 31, 2023 by AUwent

[AURex 1,994]

If Auburn goes 7-5 -- well that's a winning season, right? If Auburn wins more than 7 in CHF first season, with pretty much half the team replaced by portals (mostly 3 stars), I'd say that's better than I expect -- and I would be really happy about that!

[gr82be 14,423]

6 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

I just don't see Ole Miss coming to Auburn and winning.

Same for me. 

Hugh vs OM = Gus vs Arky

There will be a fire in those games for him. 

[aubiefifty 16,761]

i want coach freeze and company to do like tater tot his first year here.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Just get over 6.5 and I'm good!