Way too early look at next season

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

4 hours ago, W.E.D said:

 

Just brutal . Reality bites . Not a lick of sunshine pumping can make this look better. 

[TexasTiger 12,965]

1 minute ago, JDUBB4AU said:

He may be . We just sang a song and went over the last three years records. Rough session lol . 

What song?

[Aucater 152]

5 hours ago, TigerTennis80 said:

So, Hugh turned the offensive game prep over to Montgomery while he (Hugh) focused on recruiting, & then after the game Hugh says the game plan wasn't good

I thought the same thing, maybe he thought it wasn't good after the game. Maybe a cold shower pre game should have been called for. They dang sure didn't come to win the game. I'm not sure if it was the "flu" or the squirts that they most all appeared to be recovering from. Even so the D played decent after the 1st Q. The O never got going till it was pretty much over. 
 

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

50 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

What song?

James Taylor tune 

[TexasTiger 12,965]

4 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

James Taylor tune 

Now I’m really intrigued. JT’s therapeutic. Secret of Life?

[AUwent 3,756]

10 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Yes. Playing them where we historically played them isn't why we've been below avg these last 10 years. Certainly hasn't helped since we moved the games. Just catching Ls at a different point in the season. 

To clarify, I meant playing all three of the original "Amen Corner," regardless of the timing. As down as Florida is right now, Billy should leave a pretty good cupboard and they should be a very attractive gig next year. Point is, you want rivalries with the elitist of the elite? <South Park skiing meme>

Edited January 1 by AUwent

[W.E.D 11,070]

14 minutes ago, AUwent said:

To clarify, I meant playing all three of the original "Amen Corner," regardless of the timing. As down as Florida is right now, Billy should leave a pretty good cupboard and they should be a very attractive gig next year. Point is, you want rivalries with the elitist of the elite? <South Park skiing meme>

Yes. Sign me up for UF.

[AUwent 3,756]

36 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Yes. Sign me up for UF.

[keesler 5,926]

2 hours ago, AUwent said:

To clarify, I meant playing all three of the original "Amen Corner," regardless of the timing. As down as Florida is right now, Billy should leave a pretty good cupboard and they should be a very attractive gig next year. Point is, you want rivalries with the elitist of the elite? <South Park skiing meme>

I don’t expect Auburn to become one of the elite, they haven’t been able to do it in my lifetime and I don’t expect that to change.  But it would sure be nice if they could get back to posting a threat, challenging opponents and competing for a championship every now and then.  This current rut stinks to high heaven as a fan.  Thank goodness for Bruce.

[EagleEye67 1,943]

20 hours ago, Win4AU said:

+1 to @W.E.D for the use of the word “matriculate”

Somewhere Hank Stram is smiling.

[AUwent 3,756]

14 hours ago, keesler said:

I don’t expect Auburn to become one of the elite, they haven’t been able to do it in my lifetime and I don’t expect that to change.  But it would sure be nice if they could get back to posting a threat, challenging opponents and competing for a championship every now and then.  This current rut stinks to high heaven as a fan.  Thank goodness for Bruce.

And doing that is made harder if we're getting the hardest rivals. Gus was by and large keeping us afloat and we were still miserable.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

On 12/31/2023 at 11:23 AM, Win4AU said:

Everybody excited about these freshmen wideouts.  It’s great Auburn got them but I would still assume a huge learning curve in year 1 to delay their impact.  Not to mention they’ll be playing against grown men instead of a 5’5” guy from Wedowee that runs a 5.2 40.    I bet we lose 1 or 2 of them to the portal at years end.

Especially if we don't see improvement at the QB position. 

[KillenTime 127]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:39 AM, Win4AU said:

How will year 2 look under Freeze?  
 

I think Hugh will need to get to 8 wins to keep the fan base satisfied.  Auburn will probably need to upset Mizzou, Kentucky, UGA, or Bama on the road to make that happen.  Home games against TaMu and Oklahoma will be tough.  
 

Another top 10 recruiting class is in the works.  Unfortunately it’ll be 2-3 years before Auburn reps the benefits of these classes.  
 

Even if Auburn pulls another good portal class I think best case is 9 wins.  Auburn will still lack quality depth, as we saw yesterday, that is needed to compete at the top level of college football.  
 

 

Depth?  Come on - depth didn't cost us the game on Saturday.  Motivation - can Hugh motivate a team to give effort consistently.  We had better players than NMSU and Maryland.  We were not motivated to play with the same intensity.  

[AUlax10 33]

On 12/31/2023 at 1:59 PM, Mims44 said:

Very true.

But if I order a T bone medium rare and 1 guy brings me a sirloin cooked medium well and another guy brings me some charred rat corpses. I'm gonna choose the sirloin.  

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

2025 is our year. People will just have to learn how to be at least somewhat patient.

[aucom96 1,625]

16 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

2025 is our year. People will just have to learn how to be at least somewhat patient.

How is this completely decimated roster suddenly going to have enough talent, depth and experience for it to be “our year” in a mere two seasons when we can’t even find a pulse with equal or better talent now? 
 

Do you actually think Auburn fans haven’t been patient?

[ArgoEagle 1,792]

18 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

2025 is our year. People will just have to learn how to be at least somewhat patient.

I agree with you on this. Have posted it myself.  We will compete for & possibly win the SEC at least in 2025.

But asking AU Forum members to have patience is like asking a hungry lion not to eat a dead antelope.

[ScotsAU 1,340]

I’ve noticed that the mood of this board is directly dependent on the last event. After we beat Arkansas, everyone was optimistic. After the NMSU loss, everyone got aggressively pessimistic. After early signing day, optimistic again. After the bowl, pessimistic again. Everyone’s take is extremely reactionary. I challenge everyone to step back and take a wholistic view of the program. 

[aucom96 1,625]

9 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

 I challenge everyone to step back and take a wholistic view of the program. 

Ok. We are bad on the lines, particularly offense and haven't seen much progress on repairing that. We lack a QB. Our receivers will get an upgrade in first year talent next season, theoretically, but who will throw them the ball? Running backs are decent to good. Special teams will be more of a question mark after this year. Secondary loses some players. Schedule gets tougher, conference gets tougher. Add to that we have a head coach who likes to passive-aggressively attack his own staff and shrug off responsibility. We're recruiting well, but from now on, that's only a one-year projection for any major talent. We're not doing very well in the portal, to date. 

Our own head coach has repeatedly suggested we lack leadership and I think he is a key part of that issue. Games like NMSU and Maryland are not flukes, they're warning signs and I really found Freeze's response to this bowl loss unsettling. He is going to have to demonstrate that this is HIS team, and to date I don't think he has done that. If he can change that and show some actual improvement and progress ON the field, I'll be much more enthusiastic about the direction of this team. But in this NIL/portal era, things have to turn around a lot faster than Freeze seems to count on or you're just stuck in a hole. 

[TigerOne 1,148]

On 1/3/2024 at 11:24 AM, aucom96 said:

Ok. We are bad on the lines, particularly offense and haven't seen much progress on repairing that. We lack a QB. Our receivers will get an upgrade in first year talent next season, theoretically, but who will throw them the ball? Running backs are decent to good. Special teams will be more of a question mark after this year. Secondary loses some players. Schedule gets tougher, conference gets tougher. Add to that we have a head coach who likes to passive-aggressively attack his own staff and shrug off responsibility. We're recruiting well, but from now on, that's only a one-year projection for any major talent. We're not doing very well in the portal, to date. 

Our own head coach has repeatedly suggested we lack leadership and I think he is a key part of that issue. Games like NMSU and Maryland are not flukes, they're warning signs and I really found Freeze's response to this bowl loss unsettling. He is going to have to demonstrate that this is HIS team, and to date I don't think he has done that. If he can change that and show some actual improvement and progress ON the field, I'll be much more enthusiastic about the direction of this team. But in this NIL/portal era, things have to turn around a lot faster than Freeze seems to count on or you're just stuck in a hole. 

Freeze has failed as a head coach at Auburn up to now. Recruiting has been his saving grace. No more excuses, he can either coach and develop players to  reach their potential and play for Auburn or he will be gone sooner than later. I hope he is very successful and @Auburn a long time but so far he acts like he’s just passing through like some players use the transfer portal.

[AUwent 3,756]

8 minutes ago, TigerOne said:

Freeze has failed as a head coach at Auburn up to now. Recruiting has been his saving grace. No more excuses, he can either coach and develop players to  reach their potential and play for Auburn or he will be gone sooner than later. I hope he is very successful and @Auburn a long time but so far he acts like he’s just passing through like some players use the transfer portal.

I've become as firm an advocate of getting a transfer QB as anyone--we're going to need to improve next year--but how are we going to pull ourselves up if we deem a coach a failure when their first year is inevitably rough? The goal for year one was ALWAYS to reach a bowl, period. 

Edited January 5 by AUwent

[TigerOne 1,148]

13 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I've become as firm an advocate of getting a transfer QB as anyone--we're going to need to improve next year--but how are we going to pull ourselves up if we deem a coach a failure when their first year is inevitably rough? The goal for year one was ALWAYS to reach a bowl, period. 

The goal was to be competitive and show improvement. Auburn and the coaches did neither. Freeze has said or done nothing to instill confidence .

Bowl?? Auburn got humiliated and embarrassed again and the coach claimed he wasn’t really involved.

He knows how to sell but can he produce results. Time is short

Edited January 5 by TigerOne

[NCAubs 377]

On 1/2/2024 at 4:41 PM, aucanucktiger said:

2025 is our year. People will just have to learn how to be at least somewhat patient.

Can you define “our year”?  What does that mean?  A winning record?  NY6 bowl?  Playoff?  Conference championship?   All the marbles?

[LPTiger 5,167]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:56 PM, TigerOne said:

The goal was to be competitive and show improvement. Auburn and the coaches did neither.

Harsin played UA and UGA a combined 4 times.   Our average margin of defeat was 20 points.   Only one of the four games was even competitive. The 2023 team should have beaten both of UA and UGA.  Is that not improvement?   You also have to consider the roster Harsin inherited vs the roster Freeze inherited.

[NCAubs 377]

18 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Harsin played UA and UGA a combined 4 times.   Our average margin of defeat was 20 points.   Only one of the four games was even competitive. The 2023 team should have beaten both of UA and UGA.  Is that not improvement?   You also have to consider the roster Harsin inherited vs the roster Freeze inherited.

I think that we got the usual AU rollercoaster between plays, quarters, and games this season rather than the usual national contender one year and doormat the next.  That tended itself to hyperbolic reactions from the fans that lean that way.