Future Spring Opponents

[AUght2win 6,881]

Freeze is a big advocate for teams playing other schools in spring games and I think it’s only a matter of time before it happens. 

How do you think this takes shape and who do you think we’ll play?

Aside from the obvious qualifiers - no teams we would face in the fall and no SEC teams, I think the first element is geography. Nobody is getting on a plane to play a spring game (at least I wouldn’t think). The second is competition level. I imagine the sweet spot is a G5 school who can hang with P5 talent. FCS would be too much of a mismatch for a no-stakes game designed for teams to get better. A G5 team would also be more willing to travel for a spring game every year because their intrasquad gates are nothing, and most SEC schools reel in decent crowds. So I could see G5’s agreeing to travel.

That formula doesn’t leave a ton of options in terms of who Auburn could play. I think the candidates would be Southern Miss, Troy, USA, Tulane, UAB, and Jacksonville State. I’d be fine with any of these. 

But as a fan, what I would like to see and what would be more lucrative for Auburn, would be to use the slot to restore old rivalries.

We could play Georgia Tech or Florida State annually. Just a few hours drive for either.

Now this would likely result in Auburn traveling every other year for A-Day. But I think playing either of these two would be a blast for the fans, and the games would be a much more revealing Litmus test. Out of the two, playing GT would particularly be beneficial to us. We likely dominate this matchup almost every year, and for recruiting, a game in the ATL area every other year would be huge. With GT being such a classic rival, that’s the route I would go.

What do you guys think?

[AUGnome 91]

3 hours ago, AUght2win said:

Now this would likely result in Auburn traveling every other year for A-Day

Fail. Don't see that happening

[AUght2win 6,881]

8 minutes ago, AUGnome said:

Fail. Don't see that happening

Could always do a mid-spring Orange/Blue game in JHS for fans as a tune-up. They do several scrimmages in spring. Just open one to the public.

[Mikey 16,776]

Tech won't do it. Cowardice is in their genes.  FSU or Clemson would be good.

[NoALtiger 3,873]

I don’t think AU traveling is what Freeze had in mind. It’s still just a glorified scrimmage at best and many years it even isn’t that good. I’d lean more towards the UT-Chattanooga, Jax State, or a HBCU route. Anything to make it a little more interesting for fans while making it pretty hassle free for AU. Would have to be win/win for all parties involved. 

[bdc81 90]

Think you would want what you see at A day.  Some full speed reps for guys in the playing rotation.  Mop up duty for guys eager to shine.  Minimize risk of injury to the starters.  Fans would want to see the new players on the depth chart.  Money game for a FCS school.  Think they should limit the regular season to 11 games, A Day would be part of season ticket package.  Think the extra week off during the season would be a benefit to the players.  This game would be more interesting to fans than playing a FCS game during the regular season.  I would want to know what the players think.

[gr82be 14,495]

I’d be fine with us playing Troy, Alabama A&M or another school along those lines but why did we drift away to the pitiful excuse of an ADay that we play now anyway? Reduced game time, weird scoring or spotting the defense points. Just put the first team offense and second team defense against the first team defense and second team offense and play the game as it used to be played. Trying to fix what is broken when you’re the one who broke it shouldn’t be that hard. 

[AUght2win 6,881]

13 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

I don’t think AU traveling is what Freeze had in mind. It’s still just a glorified scrimmage at best and many years it even isn’t that good. I’d lean more towards the UT-Chattanooga, Jax State, or a HBCU route. Anything to make it a little more interesting for fans while making it pretty hassle free for AU. Would have to be win/win for all parties involved. 

I don’t think either school benefits from this scenario. The reason for an actual opponent is more fan interest and more of a competitive challenge. Playing UTC isn’t going to push Auburn players to get better. Our second and third teamers are just as good, and they’ll be sitting the bench instead of playing. And fans might even be less interested in a homecoming opponent than the traditional Orange-blue game. 

I think you at least have to go FBS or it defeats the purpose. High schools have spring jamborees and NFL teams have combined practices to get a good litmus test. 

[JerryAU 1,693]

22 hours ago, AUght2win said:

Freeze is a big advocate for teams playing other schools in spring games and I think it’s only a matter of time before it happens. 

 

I haven't paid much attention, what other head coaches are advocating for this?    There would have to be a pretty large contingent of HC's lobbying for this before the conference ever put it on the agenda for discussion. 

[Eagle-2 255]

As long as it's not New Mexico State I'm all for it.

[aubiefifty 17,030]

15 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

I don’t think AU traveling is what Freeze had in mind. It’s still just a glorified scrimmage at best and many years it even isn’t that good. I’d lean more towards the UT-Chattanooga, Jax State, or a HBCU route. Anything to make it a little more interesting for fans while making it pretty hassle free for AU. Would have to be win/win for all parties involved. 

i would love them to play jax state.

[drɘxɘl 69]

I'd love to see 1 or 2 joint practices, even intraconference.  If the NFL can go make use of joint practices practices, then CFB can do it too. 

[AUght2win 6,881]

32 minutes ago, drɘxɘl said:

I'd love to see 1 or 2 joint practices, even intraconference.  If the NFL can go make use of joint practices practices, then CFB can do it too. 

With the SEC expanding it might honestly make sense to have SEC scrimmages between teams that aren’t going to play for the next two seasons. 

[weagl1 1,789]

As soon as a starter blows out a knee we would all be talking about how stupid it was to be doing crap like that in the spring.

Edited May 14 by weagl1

[NoALtiger 3,873]

5 hours ago, AUght2win said:

I don’t think either school benefits from this scenario. The reason for an actual opponent is more fan interest and more of a competitive challenge. Playing UTC isn’t going to push Auburn players to get better. Our second and third teamers are just as good, and they’ll be sitting the bench instead of playing. And fans might even be less interested in a homecoming opponent than the traditional Orange-blue game. 

I think you at least have to go FBS or it defeats the purpose. High schools have spring jamborees and NFL teams have combined practices to get a good litmus test. 

I think it will still be what it is, a scrimmage, either way. We’ve got 14 practices, I doubt Hugh would be putting in an actual gameplan and all. As someone else said, first time a player who is gonna be counted on for meaningful snaps goes down during a completely meaningless scrimmage the fanbase will come unglued. Bring in a small fcs or HCBU, pay’’em a little $$, let their players experience a stadium like JHS. Let our guys bang on someone not wearing a AU uniform and call it a day. It can be win-win for all. 

[TigerPAC 983]

With the NIL free agency crap, there is NOT one paid athlete/student? that’s gonna agree to play a competitive spring game against another team.  Draw up contracts, then a different story

Edited May 14 by TigerPAC

[AURex 2,040]

I really do not see this happening unless the athletic department is willing to PAY teams to come play a spring game in Jordan Hare. It woukd end up being kinda like a Fall game against a lower level opponent like Troy, Jax State, some directional school.

I do not think any G5 team would be interested even if it as home and home. Why? Because even though it woukd be a Spring game, it would affect media perceptions and preseason rankings.

Would Auburn want to pay a lower level team megabucks to come into Jordan Hare for a Spring Game? Personally, I'm skeptical of the entire idea.

Would I pay to attend? Nope. Would it really turn out to be a good workout for our depth players? I'm not sure of any real benefit.

 

Edited May 14 by AURex

[AUght2win 6,881]

50 minutes ago, AURex said:

I really do not see this happening unless the athletic department is willing to PAY teams to come play a spring game in Jordan Hare. It woukd end up being kinda like a Fall game against a lower level opponent like Troy, Jax State, some directional school.

I do not think any G5 team would be interested even if it as home and home. Why? Because even though it woukd be a Spring game, it would affect media perceptions and preseason rankings.

Would Auburn want to pay a lower level team megabucks to come into Jordan Hare for a Spring Game? Personally, I'm skeptical of the entire idea.

Would I pay to attend? Nope. Would it really turn out to be a good workout for our depth players? I'm not sure of any real benefit.

 

The number 1 reason I think this has legs is it’s just free money for the TV networks and therefore conferences. Spring games currently do nothing in terms of viewership, outside everyone’s respective fanbases watching. 

But Auburn-Clemson? Bama-FSU? Tennessee-Virginia Tech? In the middle of April? That’s interesting and going to attract way more eyeballs. Preseason rankings would be on the line. New coaches would get to unofficially debut. It’s such an easy enhancement for CFB to make that would net a lot more money. 

And honestly, this may also be a good way to hold onto OOC matchups since the mega-conferences teams are all going to have 9-10 conference games. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,892]

On 5/13/2024 at 1:53 PM, Eagle-2 said:

As long as it's not New Mexico State I'm all for it.

Still too soon😰😵

[woodford 3,669]

I like the idea. Rotate between Samford, JSU, Troy, and USA. 

[JuscAUse! 1,485]

Yeah. That actually could work. Split the take with the opponent and I bet it would bring more folks to the game. And fans like my family might be able to afford to go and get home before 2 AM.