What's Your Real Take?

[runswithscissors 33]

i'm still trying to figure out the logic from the first question directed, i think, at me: since people played you close last year, they must be guaranteed to beat you this year?

i'll say no.

that was my whole point. people here are making assumptions that we will lose to Vandy and other teams because they played us close last season. personally, i think they are making those assumptions not because they really believe it, but just because it would make them feel so much better about life to see it happen. that was my whole point in bringing up AU's close games. afterall, if the argument applies to us, it applies to everyone else. then when i offer cold hard proof that AU got played close in all but one of their SEC wins, then a blind eye is turned. but it looks like you got my point. just because someone played you close the previous season does not mean they are guaranteed to beat you the next season.

getting back on topic, my prediction would be for a 7 or 8 win season. i really don't think we're going to see anything out of this world this season with a new offense, defense, coaches, and losing some talent and depth. i don't think we're a slouch by any means on talent, but there are a few key spots that we will miss IMHO. we do have a strong passing game and a talented receiver corps going for us though. i would be thrilled if we did better, but i believe success will be in baby steps. i don't want to get too optimistic and then get a huge letdown. its just really hard to know anything because we haven't seen anything.

[BamaGrad03 0]

back to bg's argument about overall talent, let's start on defense. arkansas is actually returning 6 guys that have been starters at some point or another. grant and hewitt (the safeties) have both been starters, they bring back one corner, another linebacker (hewitt also started at linebacker last year but got moved back to safety where he started two years ago), ernest mitchell and robinson. granted robinson was hurt in spring, but as far as i know, he'll play this fall. so that's 6 by my count; to bama's 6 (where'd the 7th come from??).

Well if you count guys who have "started at some point" then we return 11 starters. But guys who have seen CONSIDERABLE starts: Gillberry, Greenwood, Castille, Mitchell, Johnson, Carter, Hall...Saunders and Knight have plenty of experience as well.

and don't give me that "won't miss him" crap. that is so freaking alabama it's not funny. you guys are some of the most ungrateful, naysaying fans i've ever seen. have you ever graduated a player that was really going to hurt the team to lose? did you at least call chris samuels a huge loss? anyone?

Well you obviously didn't read what I posted. I already said we'd miss Dukes. Juwan didn't force a single fumble last year. He had one more solo tackle than he did his freshman year. He constantly got beaten to the corner. He over pursued like crazy. And he admitted he wasn't in the best of shape. He had better numbers when Freddie and Demeco were gobbling up all the stats. Juwan really fell off his senior year.

Anyone who says they'd take Casey Dick over JPW is obviously biased. So there's no point in me furthering this discussion. There's no reasoning with you.

[WarTiger 3,916]

back to bg's argument about overall talent, let's start on defense. arkansas is actually returning 6 guys that have been starters at some point or another. grant and hewitt (the safeties) have both been starters, they bring back one corner, another linebacker (hewitt also started at linebacker last year but got moved back to safety where he started two years ago), ernest mitchell and robinson. granted robinson was hurt in spring, but as far as i know, he'll play this fall. so that's 6 by my count; to bama's 6 (where'd the 7th come from??).

Well if you count guys who have "started at some point" then we return 11 starters. But guys who have seen CONSIDERABLE starts: Gillberry, Greenwood, Castille, Mitchell, Johnson, Carter, Hall...Saunders and Knight have plenty of experience as well.

and don't give me that "won't miss him" crap. that is so freaking alabama it's not funny. you guys are some of the most ungrateful, naysaying fans i've ever seen. have you ever graduated a player that was really going to hurt the team to lose? did you at least call chris samuels a huge loss? anyone?

Well you obviously didn't read what I posted. I already said we'd miss Dukes. Juwan didn't force a single fumble last year. He had one more solo tackle than he did his freshman year. He constantly got beaten to the corner. He over pursued like crazy. And he admitted he wasn't in the best of shape. He had better numbers when Freddie and Demeco were gobbling up all the stats. Juwan really fell off his senior year.

Anyone who says they'd take Casey Dick over JPW is obviously biased. So there's no point in me furthering this discussion. There's no reasoning with you.

Oh no, everyone, little bg is gonna take his ball and go home. Funny thing is, you accuse him of being biased because he picked someone over your precious QB, yet can't take your own blinders off when looking at the rest of the league. Everybody is automatically inferior because they don't wear the pink and white. It's more and more in your attitude every day here. uat has the best QB (joke), best OL( big joke here), now they have the best coach too. Talk about bias. There are 11 other teams in this league bg, and uat's been looking up at most of them for almost a decade.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Oh no, everyone, little bg is gonna take his ball and go home. Funny thing is, you accuse him of being biased because he picked someone over your precious QB, yet can't take your own blinders off when looking at the rest of the league. Everybody is automatically inferior because they don't wear the pink and white. It's more and more in your attitude every day here. uat has the best QB (joke), best OL( big joke here), now they have the best coach too. Talk about bias. There are 11 other teams in this league bg, and uat's been looking up at most of them for almost a decade.

Why is it all or nothing? I didn't say JPW is better than everyone. I said his assumption that Casey Dick is better than JPW shows his blatant anti-bama slant...thus making the discussion pointless. He could argue for Cox, Ainge, Woodson and whether I agreed or not, his points would have merit. But Casey Dick?

Let's see:

Casey Dick in 06:

991 Yards 9 TD 6 INT 49.2% Completion

JPW:

2702 Yards 17 TD 10 INT 57% Completion

JPW also had 290 yards rushing vs Dicks 23

The comparison isn't even in the same country. Not only that, but JPW was playing in his first year as a starter. Dick has been around for a while. He's had a hard time gaining the starting job over Mustain and Robert Johnson. The guy is not good.

So I don't understand your attitude. Like I said, a fair comparison to other capable QBs would have been fine. Saying he'd rather have Arky's RBs and their WRs vs ours is fine. But to say he'd rather have Dick vs JPW shows that he'd just rather have him because he doesn't play for Alabama.

You can't look at those numbers and say I'm being biased.

[AUesquire 1]

You said Dick and Johnson.

[WarTiger 3,916]

Oh no, everyone, little bg is gonna take his ball and go home. Funny thing is, you accuse him of being biased because he picked someone over your precious QB, yet can't take your own blinders off when looking at the rest of the league. Everybody is automatically inferior because they don't wear the pink and white. It's more and more in your attitude every day here. uat has the best QB (joke), best OL( big joke here), now they have the best coach too. Talk about bias. There are 11 other teams in this league bg, and uat's been looking up at most of them for almost a decade.

Why is it all or nothing? I didn't say JPW is better than everyone. I said his assumption that Casey Dick is better than JPW shows his blatant anti-bama slant...thus making the discussion pointless. He could argue for Cox, Ainge, Woodson and whether I agreed or not, his points would have merit. But Casey Dick?

Let's see:

Casey Dick in 06:

991 Yards 9 TD 6 INT 49.2% Completion

JPW:

2702 Yards 17 TD 10 INT 57% Completion

JPW also had 290 yards rushing vs Dicks 23

The comparison isn't even in the same country. Not only that, but JPW was playing in his first year as a starter. Dick has been around for a while. He's had a hard time gaining the starting job over Mustain and Robert Johnson. The guy is not good.

So I don't understand your attitude. Like I said, a fair comparison to other capable QBs would have been fine. Saying he'd rather have Arky's RBs and their WRs vs ours is fine. But to say he'd rather have Dick vs JPW shows that he'd just rather have him because he doesn't play for Alabama.

You can't look at those numbers and say I'm being biased.

but the thing is, bg, you say this about anybody else here that picks anybody over your precious JPW. Not long ago you practically had an aneurysm when we had this debate over Cox vs. JPW. It doesn't matter who it is, you are gonna defend JPW against anybody in the country and say how much better he is than everybody. There are other teams in the country beside uat. If he prefers to have Casey Dick as his QB, who cares.

[BamaGrad03 0]

but the thing is, bg, you say this about anybody else here that picks anybody over your precious JPW. Not long ago you practically had an aneurysm when we had this debate over Cox vs. JPW. It doesn't matter who it is, you are gonna defend JPW against anybody in the country and say how much better he is than everybody. There are other teams in the country beside uat. If he prefers to have Casey Dick as his QB, who cares.

We had a long discussion about Cox vs JPW. But they both have merits. If you came to me and said "I think Cox is better than JPW" we could discuss it. And sure, I would parry back and forth with you. Because I do think JPW is better. But not so much better that it isn't worthy of discussion.

Casey Dick is a different story. He may prove to be all world. But anyone picking him over JPW at this point...is doing it from pure anti-bama reasoning.

Why are you so hostile? And why are you putting words in my mouth? You took the logic jump from me saying JPW is better than Casey Dick to...I think JPW is the best QB in the nation? That's absurd.

Looking at the statistics with JPW vs Casey, show me where I'm wrong.

[AUmattyD 0]

Sure its enough to score, for a quality offense, not for uat's offense. officially, yes it was over with the INT. But you make it sound like the game ended with uat on the goal line about to score and that simply wasn't the case.

Yeah, it's not like we could have scored on a 50 yard pass play.

To say the game DIDN'T end when the int happened...because Alabama had a "crappy offense and was no real threat" is childish logic and you know it. The game ended when the drive stalled from the INT. Not in the 3rd quarter.

This game ended before it even started. The actual 60 minutes of competition was just the eventuality of what we all knew would happen coming to fruition.

[WarTim 3,457]

uat should NOT be ranked. (At least not in the top 25. After that, does it matter)....unless your goal is, like uat, to make it to memphis for the Holidays!

[AUloggerhead 2,253]

uat should NOT be ranked. (At least not in the top 25. After that, does it matter)....unless your goal is, like uat, to make it to memphis for the Holidays!

too much celebrating & merrymaking in Memphis is what got them fools in trouble in the first place.

[ECEstudentUA 9]

but the thing is, bg, you say this about anybody else here that picks anybody over your precious JPW. Not long ago you practically had an aneurysm when we had this debate over Cox vs. JPW. It doesn't matter who it is, you are gonna defend JPW against anybody in the country and say how much better he is than everybody. There are other teams in the country beside uat. If he prefers to have Casey Dick as his QB, who cares.

We had a long discussion about Cox vs JPW. But they both have merits. If you came to me and said "I think Cox is better than JPW" we could discuss it. And sure, I would parry back and forth with you. Because I do think JPW is better. But not so much better that it isn't worthy of discussion.

Casey Dick is a different story. He may prove to be all world. But anyone picking him over JPW at this point...is doing it from pure anti-bama reasoning.

Why are you so hostile? And why are you putting words in my mouth? You took the logic jump from me saying JPW is better than Casey Dick to...I think JPW is the best QB in the nation? That's absurd.

Looking at the statistics with JPW vs Casey, show me where I'm wrong.

Casey Dick sucks

[mcgufcm 4,107]

why are people putting words in my mouth???

first, scissors: i'm guessing you're not talking to me. i dunno why you directed that question to me, but i picked bama to win 8 games (including a bowl win), beat two teams that beat you last year, and beat vandy. are you upset because i said vandy would play you tight and could beat you with a good bounce or two? well they could. get over it. but i still think you win the game.

second, bg: what the heck were you looking at? seriously. what? i never. not once. said i'd take casey dick over johnny walker. never. here's the direct quote: "would i take wilson over him? yeah, but not because of experience." the him in the sentence if casey dick. i simply pointed out that you were completely and utterly incorrect in saying that arkansas was "breaking in a new quarterback." and you were. wilson is a better quarterback, without question, but he isn't more experienced. sorry to blow up your argument.

you're right. we are done with this conversation because i've made my point. talent-wise, you're in the middle of the sec pack (which puts you around the top 40 nationally). you're going to win anywhere between 5 and 9 games (i went with 8); both extremes are completely possible whether you like or believe it.

[BamaGrad03 0]

second, bg: what the heck were you looking at? seriously. what? i never. not once. said i'd take casey dick over johnny walker. never. here's the direct quote: "would i take wilson over him? yeah, but not because of experience." the him in the sentence if casey dick. i simply pointed out that you were completely and utterly incorrect in saying that arkansas was "breaking in a new quarterback." and you were. wilson is a better quarterback, without question, but he isn't more experienced. sorry to blow up your argument.

My apologies. I read it as "would I take him over wilson". My mistake.

I too think we are middle of the pack in the SEC in overall talent. I think we are going to have one of the top offenses in the league, but our defense will struggle.

I just think we have more talent than Arkansas. I wasn't wowed by their talent last year when we played better than them in HogLand. And the fact that they lost a great deal of what them made as good as they were...makes me feel good about the matchup.

[SouthLink02 8]

#25 is where I would put Alabama

[townhallsavoy 2]

Alabama? #35. That front seven sucks. I don't have faith in Major Applewhite's experience to win shoot outs. I really don't think the outlook is good for Alabama.

And Auburn has the genius behind LSU's success - Will Muschamp.

[runswithscissors 33]

#25 is where I would put Alabama

higher than i would put us....i just don't think you can rank a previously unranked team based on the coaches alone.

[SKCAUB 0]

#55 is where I would put Alabama

Fixed that for ya....

[SouthLink02 8]

#25 is where I would put Alabama

higher than i would put us....i just don't think you can rank a previously unranked team based on the coaches alone.

I don't believe you. I think Alabama fans know they are a #20-#25 team but are downplaying their team in hopes they can over-achieve from that "non-ranking"