Payton Thorne vs. Vanderbilt

[Zeek 16,660]

This is such an interesting game to me on how this team and Payton Thorne really look for the future. Thorne has looked terrible on the road to this point (and not much better at home until last week). If we see another struggling offense this week then our prospects for the remainder of the season, and our faith in these coordinators, will continue to drop. We need to see this team move the ball relatively easily and resemble the first half more than the second-half team that played Mississippi State.

At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have thought this game was a must-watch but it feels like another pivotal game in a string of winnable ones. If we go into Arkansas (5-4) with an offense finding its identity then I think we can be (6-4) heading into a home game against New Mexico State... then we're looking at (7-4) heading into an Iron Bowl against a beatable Alabama.

[woodford 3,669]

Against FBS opponents this year, the least Vandy has given up is 28 and that was against Hawaii. Vanderbilt is dreadful on defense. Auburn should score at least 30.

Vanderbilt is outside the top 110 in key defensive metrics. Opposing teams are getting successful plays on 43% of their plays. If Auburn wants to pop on offense, tomorrow is when they can do it. I don't care if it's on the road and somewhere Auburn has struggled in the past. Show these top recruits you don't mess around with an inferior opponent. Thorne's confidence needs to be through the roof after this game.

[Zeek 16,660]

13 minutes ago, woodford said:

Against FBS opponents this year, the least Vandy has given up is 28 and that was against Hawaii. Vanderbilt is dreadful on defense. Auburn should score at least 30.

Vanderbilt is outside the top 110 in key defensive metrics. Opposing teams are getting successful plays on 43% of their plays. If Auburn wants to pop on offense, tomorrow is when they can do it. I don't care if it's on the road and somewhere Auburn has struggled in the past. Show these top recruits you don't mess around with an inferior opponent. Thorne's confidence needs to be through the roof after this game.

A 45 point performance by the offense would give me LIFE

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,797]

I don’t honestly think it should be much suspense, he’ll be fine. He’s looked dreadful against semi-competent teams. Cal may not fit that description per se, but they’ve been in it against the best the PAC 12 has to offer 

He’ll be alright 

[Sizzle 3,920]

Either way it goes I won’t be surprised, with how this season has gone. 

[DAG 34,033]

I suspect he will do about right against them

[Auctoritas 2,828]

4 hours ago, Sizzle said:

Either way it goes I won’t be surprised, with how this season has gone. 

Not to mention that playing at Vandy seems to be a house of horrors for AU.

Interesting stat, though - this game is going to be absolutely dead. Vandy had a small stadium anyway, but they're renovating it and can only seat like 28.5K. It is likely to be the least number of people AU has played in front of since 1980 at TCU (not counting COVID years). It's the smallest capacity stadium since 1958 when AU used to play UGA at Memorial Stadium in Columbus, GA.

[Barnacle 9,064]

We are going to run all over Vandy, which is going to help Thorne a lot. If he struggles regardless, then God help him, but I expect our offense to have a huge day.

Don’t y’all think Freeze didn’t take to heart all the criticism about him not being aggressive in the second half. I’m predicting a very, very lopsided victory. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,797]

4 hours ago, Barnacle said:

We are going to run all over Vandy, which is going to help Thorne a lot. If he struggles regardless, then God help him, but I expect our offense to have a huge day.

Don’t y’all think Freeze didn’t take to heart all the criticism about him not being aggressive in the second half. I’m predicting a very, very lopsided victory. 

I mean he was criticized for how the offense and QB management was done for about two straight months give or take lol. He didn’t really let it affect him then, I don’t know why he’d do it now 

edit: especially when he actually even defended his logic for why he took the air out of the offense lol 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Dual-Threat Rigby

[GreenTiger 1,007]

Hoping to see the offensive staff demonstrate that they are all on the same page calling sensible plays and substitutions. War Eagle!  

[Barnacle 9,064]

5 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I mean he was criticized for how the offense and QB management was done for about two straight months give or take lol. He didn’t really let it affect him then, I don’t know why he’d do it now 

edit: especially when he actually even defended his logic for why he took the air out of the offense lol 

I don’t think it affects him, I think it motivates him.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Barnacle

[aubiefifty 17,030]

i think hunter runs wild today. unless they want the reps throwing the ball most teams would mostly run against a vandy D. they might want to get thorne more polished tho and i would love this. win or lose i have faith in coach. he left liberty in great shape and they are 8 and 0.

[Rednilla 5,397]

13 hours ago, Auctoritas said:

Not to mention that playing at Vandy seems to be a house of horrors for AU.

Didn't we play in Nashville in 93, when the defense stepped up and stopped the Commodores 3 times from inside the 5 yard line in the waning moments to hold on? It was a miserable day on offense... we might have won that game 7-3. I know we were up by 4. I watched the AttitUde tape enough times that I oughta remember...

[AUApostle 7,662]

If we play with tempo he’ll do fine.  If we slow it down it’ll be a painful game.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

1 hour ago, Rednilla said:

Didn't we play in Nashville in 93, when the defense stepped up and stopped the Commodores 3 times from inside the 5 yard line in the waning moments to hold on? It was a miserable day on offense... we might have won that game 7-3. I know we were up by 4. I watched the AttitUde tape enough times that I oughta remember...

All I knowis that the last two games there were 2012 and 2008. We are 9-0 at home, and 7-12 there or at a neutral site. 

 

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/opponent-history/vanderbilt-university/164

[Rednilla 5,397]

16 minutes ago, Auctoritas said:

All I knowis that the last two games there were 2012 and 2008. We are 9-0 at home, and 7-12 there or at a neutral site. 

 

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/opponent-history/vanderbilt-university/164

Well, my older brother went to graduate school there, and the one night I spent with him in Nashville (we were going to see the Steelers vs. the Oilers--yes, they were the Tennessee Oilers for two seasons, remember--the next day), I got to be the darling of a few extremely attractive coeds who were enamored with Cornbread's little bro. My brother was nicknamed Cornbread because his friends, who were all from up north, brought their version of cornbread to a party and were all like Hey this is your kind of food! He described it as basically a corn muffin. So he called Mom and figured out how to make her cornbread, and wowed all his Yankee friends with how good real cornbread is, thus earning the nickname.

So yeah, suffice to say my memories of Nashville are happy ones. I choose to summon those spirits to bolster our team today, rather than putting the bad juju of last-year-coaching-jobs-gone-south on this game.

[LPTiger 5,195]

35-10 AU.

[LPTiger 5,195]

Against State, in the first half, we threw it 23 times and ran it 16 times.    We scored 24 points.    I hope to again see a little more pass heavy offense.  

[Rednilla 5,397]

Just now, LPTiger said:

Against State, in the first half, we threw it 23 times and ran it 16 times.    We scored 24 points.    I hope to again see a little more pass heavy offense.  

I just want to see a comfortable victory. It'd be nice to see the passing game continue to thrive as it did in the first half last week, but that's more for recruiting purposes. 

[Rednilla 5,397]

58 minutes ago, Auctoritas said:

7-12 there or at a neutral site.

It should be duly noted that, aside from those two games in 08 and 12 when the head coach was in his final year at Auburn, the last time we lost to Vandy was in 1955. We're 6-2 in Nashville since then.

There's a reason I brought up the 93 team: that was the first year of Bowden's tenure, too. Things might be tougher today than we want them to be, but I have a good feeling about us pulling it out. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic (as I am prone to be when it comes to Auburn), but as much as this won't be a gimme, we should definitely win comfortably.

[Shadow Tiger 1,291]

2 hours ago, Rednilla said:

Didn't we play in Nashville in 93, when the defense stepped up and stopped the Commodores 3 times from inside the 5 yard line in the waning moments to hold on? It was a miserable day on offense... we might have won that game 7-3. I know we were up by 4. I watched the AttitUde tape enough times that I oughta remember...

I think we stopped them 4 times from the 1 or 2 yard line. I wanna say we won 14 to 10. 

[Rednilla 5,397]

5 minutes ago, Shadow Tiger said:

I think we stopped them 4 times from the 1 or 2 yard line. I wanna say we won 14 to 10. 

3 times inside the 5. I just looked up the AttitUde recording to check myself. Looked like 2nd down was from the 3, 3rd down from the 2, and 4th down from the 1. 

 

[Auburn93 571]

23 hours ago, Zeek said:

This is such an interesting game to me on how this team and Payton Thorne really look for the future. Thorne has looked terrible on the road to this point (and not much better at home until last week). If we see another struggling offense this week then our prospects for the remainder of the season, and our faith in these coordinators, will continue to drop. We need to see this team move the ball relatively easily and resemble the first half more than the second-half team that played Mississippi State.

At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have thought this game was a must-watch but it feels like another pivotal game in a string of winnable ones. If we go into Arkansas (5-4) with an offense finding its identity then I think we can be (6-4) heading into a home game against New Mexico State... then we're looking at (7-4) heading into an Iron Bowl against a beatable Alabama.

we won't beat arky, they will be too strong on the lines for us.

[Shadow Tiger 1,291]

41 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

3 times inside the 5. I just looked up the AttitUde recording to check myself. Looked like 2nd down was from the 3, 3rd down from the 2, and 4th down from the 1. 

 

That was a great stand by the defense. Just one of many key plays or situations that made the 93 season so special. I really thought at that time Terry was going to start a dynasty run at  Auburn like Bobby did at FSU. 

[Zeek 16,660]

The Tubbershell is back.