Freeze obv deserves a mulligan on this season regardless, but

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,819]

Some of the personnel management and coaching hires kinda make me sit here and wonder. Like I know these are a lot of dudes he worked with before or were really cool with, and it's fine to fall back on prior experience with a new coaching gig. But I just hope he's willing to switch it up if we get more of this in the future. The fact that he even NEEDS (and he needs) to pitch in on offensive PCing so much makes me wonder what the value of Montgomery is. He's calling Freeze's scheme, with some of his own contributions, and he sucks at that. Should it be his scheme entirely or should he not be PCing at all? There's some pretty severe questions to be answered there. 

The OL looks worse than last year IMO, but it seems to be that right side specifically. They had a pretty high amount of continuity back then, and they were going to run every play regardless, so I can give some grace there. Easier situation

Jarquez simply shouldn't be the lead back at this point. I still have love for the guy, but he's been out there for like 4 games and it's fair to say he's been the third most impressive back at best. 

WRs seem like so many things. The primary reads (the main guys we focus on as casual viewers) on alot of passing plays are v unimaginative, we pass on obvious downs a lot, the QBs aren't exactly great, but they also don't seem good yknow. This was a unit we might've put the most stock in recruiting last cycle so that's unfortunate. 

I could go into the defense a bit, but I think the offensive problems, from a non-talent pov, feel more rigidly defined. I don't think we have the jimmys and joes, but I also thought part of the value of hiring the staff we got was because they were used to doing more with less. Outside of the QB position, they have about as much talent as the middle part of this conference, believe it or not. Arkansas, SCar, Kentucky, etc. these aren't dudes with much better if at all skill position talent. I'd contend we have the straight up worst offense in the entire conf. outside of Miss St. 

[DAG 34,034]

Needs to go back to what made him successful. No clue why coaches come to Auburn and want to experiment at the highest level of college football lol. 

[Old fan 47 775]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Needs to go back to what made him successful. No clue why coaches come to Auburn and want to experiment at the highest level of college football lol. 

Been saying all along, HF is nothing more than a younger version of GM. Full of himself and just very overrated as a coach. Even Harsin teams looked better prepared. HF will never return this program around to be any more than a 7-10 best team in the upcoming new SEC. Hate to think this way, but I’ve seen absolutely nothing to suggest otherwise. Poorly coached team all around so far. AU will not be relevant again for quite some time unfortunately. 

[Old fan 47 775]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Needs to go back to what made him successful. No clue why coaches come to Auburn and want to experiment at the highest level of college football lol. 

Simple. He may recruit, but he’s very overrated as a true HC. Fits the AU narrative for the last 3/4 decade. 

[AU-24 3,118]

The 11 four stars Freeze brought in from the portal weren’t rated a four-star by AU fans. They were rated a four-star by alleged national recruiting experts. Freeze beat out several power five programs for these four-star players.

SO LET’s SEE

1. The fact that our special teams didn’t need a whole heck of a lot of help.

2. We had/have at least some experienced four-star talent remaining on the team and upper three-star talent.

3. Then you throw in 11 four-stars from the portal and some higher three-stars.

4. So we all expected a better quality product on the field.

I guess, I say all this to ask the question:

shouldn’t we have in just about every position on the field an upper level three-star or a four-star athlete? If so, why do we look so bad?

We are in the middle of murderers row of an SEC schedule, so there is still hope but again I, like many AU fans, expected a better quality product on the field. Most of us of course, we’re perfectly fine with the effort last week against Georgia so again, who knows?

[cbo 7,979]

Reminder that we have the 18th most talented team in the country, according to 247 rankings. And 7th in the SEC. 

Does it look like that to anyone?

[Sizzle 3,920]

I still remember when some folks thought Jarquez was slightly better than Tank was and that was never true and those takes look even worse now. Jarquez is not a #1 back.
 

The more the season goes on Cobb will get more and more carries and not look back

[Gowebb11 9,429]

4 hours ago, AU-24 said:

The 11 four stars Freeze brought in from the portal weren’t rated a four-star by AU fans. They were rated a four-star by alleged national recruiting experts. Freeze beat out several power five programs for these four-star players.

SO LET’s SEE

1. The fact that our special teams didn’t need a whole heck of a lot of help.

2. We had/have at least some experienced four-star talent remaining on the team and upper three-star talent.

3. Then you throw in 11 four-stars from the portal and some higher three-stars.

4. So we all expected a better quality product on the field.

I guess, I say all this to ask the question:

shouldn’t we have in just about every position on the field an upper level three-star or a four-star athlete? If so, why do we look so bad?

We are in the middle of murderers row of an SEC schedule, so there is still hope but again I, like many AU fans, expected a better quality product on the field. Most of us of course, we’re perfectly fine with the effort last week against Georgia so again, who knows?

Star ratings are out the window right now. The last couple of weeks we have lined up starters from the likes of Purdue, North Texas, Tulsa, East Carolina, Western Kentucky, Vandy and Jackson St and tried to compete with programs leading the nation in putting talent into the NFL. We got tossed around physically last night. It reminded me of the early 80s when Nebraska came into Jordan-Hare and manhandled us. I thought we had it figured out after UGA when we schemed our way to run for over 200 yards on them, but we took a big step back last night. 
The stretch against MSU, Vandy and NMSU can’t get here fast enough. 

[naildawg 63]

The LSU receivers particularly seemed like men playing against boys when they got loose in the secondary, breaking several tackles on each play.. We have been hearing about the talent disparity between Auburn and the SEC big dogs but it was glaring last night. The difference between Daniels and Thorne was like comparing a Lexus to a Saturn. I think they should have let Robbie play the whole second half. 

[auburnphan 6,050]

The portal was mostly a failure from an impact player standpoint so far.  Solid depth but not any game changers, best portal players may be Harsin era guys at this point.  We are mid, mid bottom in recruiting this year in conference and the excuse was wait until they see the product on the field. We got a long road to go and while Hugh was not one of my top choices, I still believe he can make us more competitive and have the occasional great season to give us hope.  He was the safe hire Auburn always shoots for and not the home run we dream for.  He just needs more time.

on a side note is Hugh’s health good?  He seems to look less and less healthy every week.

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,322]

17 minutes ago, naildawg said:

The LSU receivers particularly seemed like men playing against boys when they got loose in the secondary, breaking several tackles on each play.. We have been hearing about the talent disparity between Auburn and the SEC big dogs but it was glaring last night. The difference between Daniels and Thorne was like comparing a Lexus to a Saturn. I think they should have let Robbie play the whole second half. 

No wonder they quit making Saturn. Who would buy THAT

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,322]

16 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

on a side note is Hugh’s health good?  He seems to look less and less healthy every week.

He dies a little every week we play offense. Can't blame him.

[bigbird 60,580]

I only watched the first qtr, had to pick my son up from a hunt.  So I can only really speak on that. 

It's the same issues.  It's the same mistakes. It's the same result. 

CHF needs to do some tough self scouting across the board--O, D, ST, Coaching , Recruiting. We need to pause, reassess, and find our footing.

I was embarrassed by the effort by the D in the first qtr. Poor tackling, poor reads, poor gap exchanges, piss poor everything. It was ugly!   We are thin everywhere but you can really see it on the defensive side late in games.  Tonight our bend don't break, broke.  The biggest complaint I have so far with CRR is he lines our S's so deep it leaves a huge hole in front of them and we're not good enough at LB to cover that. This is exactly where we were being attacked and I didn't see much, if any, adjustment to it. 

What really stood out to me was the speed and athleticism disparity between the two teams.  Some games you can tell the outcome when they're getting off the bus, LSU, TAMU, and UGA have all felt that way. Bigger, faster, stronger typically beats smart, crafty, and deceptive on the field. It's proven out this season.

We have a lot more season to improve offensively, but we knew that. Almost all the starters weren't here last year.  That said, a change needs to be made somewhere in the process because we keep producing crap.  

[Swamp Eagle 5,156]

6 hours ago, Old fan 47 said:

Been saying all along, HF is nothing more than a younger version of GM. Full of himself and just very overrated as a coach. Even Harsin teams looked better prepared. HF will never return this program around to be any more than a 7-10 best team in the upcoming new SEC. Hate to think this way, but I’ve seen absolutely nothing to suggest otherwise. Poorly coached team all around so far. AU will not be relevant again for quite some time unfortunately. 

Harsin teams better prepared? Old fan 47, methinks you need to work some crossword puzzles…exercise that old fan mind…😂

[Swamp Eagle 5,156]

25 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I really felt good going into yesterday.  There was a lot of good coming from the complex and I couldn't have ever imagined coming out of a bye and looking so completely unprepared and listless.  I let my fandom get me over my skis.  I'm not mad at that though, getting hyped is part of the fun. 

I didn't realize just how underdeveloped and ignorant our players were when CHF arrived.  It's getting better, but it's gonna take time, reps, and dedication.  

I wish I had the same tact in trying to convey this same message. All I can usually come up with in the moment is ‘single-digit football IQ’ and ‘a bunch of dumbasses.’  

[auburnphan 6,050]

21 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I really felt good going into yesterday.  There was a lot of good coming from the complex and I couldn't have ever imagined coming out of a bye and looking so completely unprepared and listless.  I let my fandom get me over my skis.  I'm not mad at that though, getting hyped is part of the fun. 

I didn't realize just how underdeveloped and ignorant our players were when CHF arrived.  It's getting better, but it's gonna take time, reps, and dedication.  

When you say underdeveloped, what are you exactly implying?

players that want to be great have developed and worked at their craft.  
 

this is a cultural issue within the program that started under Malzahn, Harsin recognized it but failed to fix it and didn’t know how to handle it.  I have been preaching for years that their was a failure to recruit guys who wanted to be great players but instead they recruited guys that were talented but just like to play football, besides offensive line, there was just failure to evaluate and recognize talent, development or evolve scheme.  Hugh, Prime, Rhule are all dealing with that challenge at their new destinations.  Getting the right staff to do it is key and I am not sure we have that yet, but hopefully they grow as a group and develop as a staff.  

[Swamp Eagle 5,156]

1 hour ago, Sizzle said:

I still remember when some folks thought Jarquez was slightly better than Tank was and that was never true and those takes look even worse now. Jarquez is not a #1 back.
 

The more the season goes on Cobb will get more and more carries and not look back

JH hasn’t looked the same since after his porn debut. I honestly think the young man is fighting some personal demons over that whole fiasco, because he doesn’t seem like he’s even tuned in on the field.

[creed 1,666]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

Star ratings are out the window right now. The last couple of weeks we have lined up starters from the likes of Purdue, North Texas, Tulsa, East Carolina, Western Kentucky, Vandy and Jackson St and tried to compete with programs leading the nation in putting talent into the NFL. We got tossed around physically last night. It reminded me of the early 80s when Nebraska came into Jordan-Hare and manhandled us. I thought we had it figured out after UGA when we schemed our way to run for over 200 yards on them, but we took a big step back last night. 
The stretch against MSU, Vandy and NMSU can’t get here fast enough. 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. We lost the line of scrimage on both sides of the ball and got smashed. Bigger, better athletes on the LOS for LSU over us. Hell their safeties were faster than our wide receivers. Actually their entire team speed was much better than ours. Big difference Auburn vs Georgia is LSU has #4 on defense. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by creed

[aucanucktiger 1,805]

8 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Some of the personnel management and coaching hires kinda make me sit here and wonder. Like I know these are a lot of dudes he worked with before or were really cool with, and it's fine to fall back on prior experience with a new coaching gig. But I just hope he's willing to switch it up if we get more of this in the future. The fact that he even NEEDS (and he needs) to pitch in on offensive PCing so much makes me wonder what the value of Montgomery is. He's calling Freeze's scheme, with some of his own contributions, and he sucks at that. Should it be his scheme entirely or should he not be PCing at all? There's some pretty severe questions to be answered there. 

The OL looks worse than last year IMO, but it seems to be that right side specifically. They had a pretty high amount of continuity back then, and they were going to run every play regardless, so I can give some grace there. Easier situation

Jarquez simply shouldn't be the lead back at this point. I still have love for the guy, but he's been out there for like 4 games and it's fair to say he's been the third most impressive back at best. 

WRs seem like so many things. The primary reads (the main guys we focus on as casual viewers) on alot of passing plays are v unimaginative, we pass on obvious downs a lot, the QBs aren't exactly great, but they also don't seem good yknow. This was a unit we might've put the most stock in recruiting last cycle so that's unfortunate. 

I could go into the defense a bit, but I think the offensive problems, from a non-talent pov, feel more rigidly defined. I don't think we have the jimmys and joes, but I also thought part of the value of hiring the staff we got was because they were used to doing more with less. Outside of the QB position, they have about as much talent as the middle part of this conference, believe it or not. Arkansas, SCar, Kentucky, etc. these aren't dudes with much better if at all skill position talent. I'd contend we have the straight up worst offense in the entire conf. outside of Miss St. 

Agree. An elephant in the corner with EVERY college football team is these 18-23 year olds is head scratching games where players just. Don't. Show. Up. IMHO we're this season having crazy numbers of players - different ones every game - sleep walk through games. Guys that CAN get it done but aren't for entire games. A couple O line guys last night, a cornerback vs UGa, a WR vs aTm, etc etc. I guess thats on Hugh's staff but for an entire game?

[auburnphan 6,050]

Just now, Swamp Eagle said:

JH hasn’t looked the same since after his porn debut. I honestly think the young man is fighting some personal demons over that whole fiasco, because he doesn’t seem like he’s even tuned in on the field.

Just reps in the system and reading his new lineman and blockers hopefully, but maybe it is one of those cases where he is pressing too hard to make things happen and not letting it develop because of his situation he went through.

[WarDamnDoc 390]

O is a complete mess right now, looks like a continuation of where Harsin lead us.  Still need a lot of new faces in WR room, at least one decent QB, and more quality OL.  Not sold on this OC, either.  Disappointed we're not seeing glimpses of improvement yet, which does worry me.  I think it's time for CHF to assume control.

D got torched by a great offense last night and the kids let the red stick corndog night swamp get in their heads... there's a reason we have one win there in the last 25 years or whatever, it's a very hard place to play.  I still think this side of the ball is good, overall.

Like it or not, we're on the CHF train and we have no choice but to ride things out for awhile and hope for the best.  His success or failure is our success or failure at this point, and we need to stay in his corner IMO.  Moving on early again is not an option.  If he can't fix our offense, I'm not sure who can.

[WarEagle231 52]

4 hours ago, cbo said:

Reminder that we have the 18th most talented team in the country, according to 247 rankings. And 7th in the SEC. 

Does it look like that to anyone?

According to the NFL draft, the Browns, Texans, and Jets have the most talented rosters in the NFL. My guess is that if you don’t have the key players in the key positions, it doesn’t matter.

[auburnphan 6,050]

6 minutes ago, WarDamnDoc said:

Like it or not, we're on the CHF train and we have no choice but to ride things out for awhile and hope for the best.  His success or failure is our success or failure at this point, and we need to stay in his corner IMO.  Moving on early again is not an option.  If he can't fix our offense, I'm not sure who can.

Yes we do, we should have been the most desirable job this off season and coaches were fleeing the job left and right.

[Eagle-1 3,821]

I'm not terribly upset that we got beat, as a matter of fact I was kind of expecting it. LSU was just better than us talent wise at every position. I'm saddened by the fact that Auburn football has come to that, but I know where to lay the blame for it, and it ain't Hugh Freeze. 

I do however feel that there will have to be some drastic changes made to the offensive staff in the off-season. I'm not at all happy with the scheme. Is that caused by limited talent personnel wise? I'm not sure, but teams with less talent than us seem to be able to at least scheme to get a receiver open by formation once in a while. I was thinking last night during the game that I honestly can't seem to remember the last time Auburn had a receiver wide open on any play, or matching up a receiver with speed on a linebacker. How much of that is a deficiency of scheme, or the fault of a bad QB read I don't know. Either way the outcome of it can justifiably be blamed on coaching. 

Hope that made some sense. 

[meh130 1,054]

The quarterback swapping needs to stop. Thorne came in to replace Robbie, and completely overthrew an open receiver. QBs need to get into a rhythm. It is one thing to bring in a short yardage or goal-line package, but realize if you are first and goal from the 2, and you end up after a TFL and a penalty third and goal from the 11, switching the QB back means you are putting in a QB that may be out of rhythm.