The sky is not falling!

[WillMunny 1,384]

3 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Bruce Pearl was 26-40 his first two years at Auburn. 11-20 in year two. Our patience paid off there and I believe it will for CHF. They are similar in their charisma and recruiting prowess. We are more traumatized by the Potato Head regime than we realize, which is creating accelerated (and understandable) angst. I’m ready for this team to go on a 4 game winking streak and wash off some of the stench. 

Yep.  Guys at my office were ready to throw BP out of Auburn after his 2nd year.  Even BP said he was surprised at how long it took him to truly turn things in the right direction.

I think CHF is surprised as well.  He probably needs this upcoming (supposedly) "manageable 4-game stretch" more than we do.

[ScotsAU 1,343]

I predicted 8-4 to 9-3. I thought the transfers on offense would pan out better than they did in part because freeze knows offense. 
I expected losses against LSU, Bama, and UGA (which I expected to be a blowout). I thought we’d beat Ole Miss, but I figured we’d come up on the right side of a close one at home. We ended up on the wrong side. 
The only game that I’m really disappointed in how it turned out was A&M. They aren’t very good. Away game or not, that game should’ve been closer. 
Given that are transfers did not pan out and that we still have missing talent in a few places, we aren’t far off from my expectations either. 
If we just had slight talent upgrades in about 3 places, this team would be good. But we’re just a little weak and just a little too thin in just enough places right now. Finish out strong on the field and in recruiting, and we could be there in a year or two.

[gabo4au 228]

I would be pleasantly surprised if we get to 7 wins. I think we split MSU and AR, not sure which one we win and which one we lose, but I don't think we win both.  But 6 wins is ok and gets us the extra practice and maybe we get someone we can beat in a bowl.

[1auburn1 1,120]

7-5 for this season was my pick as well.  But I assumed the players would be slightly better overall and the staff would be much better so it would lead to an upset of one of the four we just lost to.  Had no idea the O could be so embarrassingly awful.   Now we have a stretch teams that are really bad, unexpectedly bad in some cases, so we have a chance to get an ugly 7-5.  Bama, don’t see that happening.  No chance a feel good season.    Just hope for more recruiting wins.  It appears that’s Hugh’s plan anyway. 

[AUINSY 2,228]

33 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

 Had no idea the O could be so embarrassingly awful.

yeah I don't think anyone did. I'm sure that defensive coordinators and opposing defenses are licking their chops to play our offense, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by AUINSY

[Viper 3,139]

15 hours ago, AURex said:

Miss St -- W
Vandy - W
Arkansas - W

There is no way that offense wins three straight SEC games, with two of them on the road.

[HAPvsOA 339]

15 hours ago, AURex said:

 

Before the season began, I had my expectations for the first year with CHF and his staff and the totally rebuilt team consisting of a huge number of transfers. My prediction was --

UMass - W
Cal - W
Samford - W
A&M - L
UGA - L
LSU - L
Ole Miss - L
Miss St -- W
Vandy - W
Arkansas - W
NM State - W
Bama - L

So my prediction was (and remains) a 7-5 season. To me, not bad for a total rebuild after Potato Famine. I know for many here on AUF, this is not good enough, but hey, we all have our own expectations, right?

Have I been happy watching Auburn lose? No. Have I been disappointed in the play of many of the portal guys? Yes? Would I have liked better performance and more wins? Of Course!

But in terms of our W-L record, we are exactly where I expected we would be. It has been a rough few weeks and I've cried and squirmed just like everyone else here.

But the sky is not falling. I believe that Auburn will finish 7-5 in the first year of the CHF era. A bowl game is coming.

And the future -- well, yes, more rebuilding. But I am patient. Many here at AUF are not. I'm willing to give CHF his opportunity.

 

 

Good point even though the Georgia and Ole Miss games seemed there for the taking. But if we reel off 4 in a row, over half the fanbase will be backing Freeze again and predicting the iron bowl upset.

For now though, I think the non-competitive game against LSU really killed the feelings of positive momentum.  And it's just been so painful on offense, I am losing faith that Freeze is an innovative offensive coach, which was not my expectation coming into the season. It's at the point where I'll be surprised if we can actually win all 4 of those even though we may have better talent.

At least there is no public infighting that would cause our D coordinator to be let go after our D has been overperforming all season. Oh wait...... 

Edited October 23, 2023 by HAPvsOA

[PUB78 1,365]

1 hour ago, 1auburn1 said:

7-5 for this season was my pick as well.  But I assumed the players would be slightly better overall and the staff would be much better so it would lead to an upset of one of the four we just lost to.  Had no idea the O could be so embarrassingly awful.   Now we have a stretch teams that are really bad, unexpectedly bad in some cases, so we have a chance to get an ugly 7-5.  Bama, don’t see that happening.  No chance a feel good season.    Just hope for more recruiting wins.  It appears that’s Hugh’s plan anyway. 

7-5 was my goal, too, but I was hoping for 8-4. Now I will settle for 6-6 and a bowl game win.

[1auburn1 1,120]

Lose this weekend and we're probably looking at 5-7.   Arky is having their Auburn-esque midseason coaching meltdown and will probably be leveled out by the time we go there.

[AU120289 380]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

There is no way that offense wins three straight SEC games, with two of them on the road.

[KansasTiger 3,261]

People are too focused on end results and not performance. Framing it by wins and losses allows one to ignore actually addressing the major seismic issues (that could remain even AFTER a talent upgrade) plaguing this team and focus on what little positive can be spun here. Guys, many predicted we would be here by wins and losses, but no one predicted we would do it so non competitively, being so offesnsively inept, and with a coaching staff that seems to channel Gus level stubbornness into their dumb strategy, play calling, and sub decisions. You can open your eyes, or you can bury your head. This may turn around in a few years, I certainly hope it does, but dont buy the snake oil that this year is going according to plan.

Edited October 23, 2023 by KansasTiger

[Viper 3,139]

2 hours ago, AU120289 said:

Not even one out of a million.

[gman87 398]

9 hours ago, TeamZero77 said:

And quit blaming Gus and Harsin for everything that goes wrong!! That's always been the Auburn way is when things go bad, blame the previous HC. Gus and Harsin aren't calling dumbass double passes with Holden Geriner. Also, if you know anything about Freeze's playcalling everywhere he has been, that's a favorite play of his but it never works. 

All we heard was how Hugh flipped nearly the entire roster over through HS and portal recruiting. Well, if it's a talent issue, that's mainly Hugh's players he recruited. Thorne is his guy. WR's are mainly his recruits. O-Line are his recruits. DE are his recruits. 

How the heck is that a Gus or Harsin problem? It's the easy go-to excuse is all it is. Everybody needs to hold Hugh accountable for alot of this mess but he just gets passes. All we heard was Gus can't develop QB's. Well guess what? Thorne is 10x's worse under Freeze than he has ever been. But nobody blames Hugh. Our QB's are worse than when Harsin was here. Hugh's side of the ball is terrible and it's the only phase of the game he actually puts him hands on. The other 2 phases are good enough to be 6-1 right now.

Yeah, you can say that but OLines take time to sync up (pretty much new line due to talent deficiencies from previous staffs), QB's and WRs need time together to get timing down (pretty much new squad due to talent deficiencies from previous staffs), and brand new coaching staffs take time to get wrinkles ironed out (well, most do their first year, some manage to put it together much better than this goat rodeo), and teams take time to learn new schemes from said new coaching staff. 

I guess my point is there's plenty of space to blame Freeze for his share of the missteps but ample left over to remember WHY we are where we are and that's partially Gus and even more so on Harsin (who managed to run off several of the good players we ALREADY had on the team).

 

 

[WarrrEagleHey 268]

6 minutes ago, gman87 said:

goat rodeo

😅😅😅😅

[au701948 1,009]

21 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Well said. We had a 3 game stretch where we played the nations #1 and #11 teams and arguably the nations best offense in LSU. Now we’re getting ready to play the SECs 3 worst teams. We will likely be favored in our next 4 games. Make it to the Iron Bowl 7-4 and people will feel much better about things. 

I personally would be elated with 4 wins over the next 4 weeks. Maybe if the players stay focused and the ball bounced right fit us it may happen.

[keesler 5,932]

6 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

People are too focused on end results and not performance. Framing it by wins and losses allows one to ignore actually addressing the major seismic issues (that could remain even AFTER a talent upgrade) plaguing this team and focus on what little positive can be spun here. Guys, many predicted we would be here by wins and losses, but no one predicted we would do it so non competitively, being so offesnsively inept, and with a coaching staff that seems to channel Gus level stubbornness into their dumb strategy, play calling, and sub decisions. You can open your eyes, or you can bury your head. This may turn around in a few years, I certainly hope it does, but dont buy the snake oil that this year is going according to plan.

For the record, I refuse to buy the snake oil notion that Hugh is intentionally tanking the offense OR that he DGAS about this season.  

[KansasTiger 3,261]

15 minutes ago, keesler said:

For the record, I refuse to buy the snake oil notion that Hugh is intentionally tanking the offense OR that he DGAS about this season.  

Who said intentionally? He and his staff ARE contributing so far to our poor performance, but I made no mention of his intention.

Edited October 24, 2023 by KansasTiger

[keesler 5,932]

2 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Who said intentionally? He and his staff ARE contributing so far to our poor performance, but I made no mention of his intention.

You didn’t mention but a few people have insinuated that Hugh’s stubbornness relative to this frustrating offense is intentional.

[KansasTiger 3,261]

Just now, keesler said:

You didn’t mention but a few people have insinuated that Hugh’s stubbornness relative to this frustrating offense is intentional.

I'm not even going to guess intentions. No one could know that. I assume Hugh wants to succeed, which along with his early recruiting success, gives me hope for the future. But he is stubborn in his mistakes.

[AUwent 3,778]

Not sure where else to put this but does Liberty's success this year reflect well on Freeze?

[Mims44 1,896]

On 10/22/2023 at 10:35 PM, AURex said:

 

Before the season began, I had my expectations for the first year with CHF and his staff and the totally rebuilt team consisting of a huge number of transfers. My prediction was --

UMass - W
Cal - W
Samford - W
A&M - L
UGA - L
LSU - L
Ole Miss - L
Miss St -- W
Vandy - W
Arkansas - W
NM State - W
Bama - L

So my prediction was (and remains) a 7-5 season. To me, not bad for a total rebuild after Potato Famine. I know for many here on AUF, this is not good enough, but hey, we all have our own expectations, right?

Have I been happy watching Auburn lose? No. Have I been disappointed in the play of many of the portal guys? Yes? Would I have liked better performance and more wins? Of Course!

But in terms of our W-L record, we are exactly where I expected we would be. It has been a rough few weeks and I've cried and squirmed just like everyone else here.

But the sky is not falling. I believe that Auburn will finish 7-5 in the first year of the CHF era. A bowl game is coming.

And the future -- well, yes, more rebuilding. But I am patient. Many here at AUF are not. I'm willing to give CHF his opportunity.

 

 

Well, that's great for you Rex.

But I predicted an undefeated season.... for the twentieth season in a row. And I HATE being wrong!

[Dwayne Pride 379]

On 10/23/2023 at 3:52 PM, KansasTiger said:

People are too focused on end results and not performance. Framing it by wins and losses allows one to ignore actually addressing the major seismic issues (that could remain even AFTER a talent upgrade) plaguing this team and focus on what little positive can be spun here. Guys, many predicted we would be here by wins and losses, but no one predicted we would do it so non competitively, being so offesnsively inept, and with a coaching staff that seems to channel Gus level stubbornness into their dumb strategy, play calling, and sub decisions. You can open your eyes, or you can bury your head. This may turn around in a few years, I certainly hope it does, but dont buy the snake oil that this year is going according to plan.

Well said. We could win the next four games and look awful doing so. 
 

Remember when we beat Misso, ahem, Missouri lost to us.  That was the game that I knew that Harsin was on the way out.   I was thinking it before but that game was worse than the 3-2 State win.  

[FB11 5]

11 hours ago, AUwent said:

Not sure where else to put this but does Liberty's success this year reflect well on Freeze?

Well I think the product on the field looked better here last year and the product on the field at Liberty looks better this year. What does that say about Freeze?

[Shoney'sPonyBoy 351]

On 10/23/2023 at 11:26 AM, WillMunny said:

 

I think CHF is surprised as well.  

I absolutely think you're right.

[JuscAUse! 1,499]

33 minutes ago, FB11 said:

Well I think the product on the field looked better here last year and the product on the field at Liberty looks better this year. What does that say about Freeze?

It could say that HF is a joke as a coach and shouldn't have been hired at either job.

OR, it could say that the Liberty players this year have another years growth and experience, and are healthy, compared to the end of last season. And they were mostly recruited by HF. 

I guess it depends on your POV.