aubiefifty

my apologies back to you then! and i mean that sincerely.

do you want the news or not? it will be all over the media tomorrow with folks trying to make us look bad. folks have a right to know. it does not mean you have to like it.

it was told to a guy on reddit from a booster that harsin got on corn hard for receivers not being on the field and wr spacing. it is claimed with no proof that corn told harsin to go screw himself on the sidelines using the f bomb. i was going to wait for verification but since tony had some unkind words and mistruths i decided to put a different spin out there. lets hope wde can verify this or not. and on one play with no receiver on the field when he was supposed to it cost us thirteen seconds and gave the d more time to figure out what we were doing. take it with a grain of salt but i believe it to be the truth. harsin has never fired anyone midseason. and we know what a child franklin acted like when he was shown the door.

Tony Franklin eviscerates Auburn, Bryan Harsin: ‘You hired a weak man with no backbone’ By Mark Heim | mheim@al.com 5-6 minutes The beginning of the end for Bryan Harsin has already begun. That’s quite a statement, considering the man has coached a grand total of four games at Auburn. However, the signs have already reared their ugly heads, if you subscribe to Tony Franklin’s line of reasoning. Yes, that Franklin. The former Auburn coach offensive coordinator fired mid-season by Tommy Tuberville in 2008 held nothing back when talking about the Tigers on “The Coach Tony Franklin” podcast. “You hired a weak man with no backbone who is gonna get run over by all these boosters,” he said. It’s already happened, he explained. The wheels were set in motion on Saturday, Sept. 18 in Happy Valley. Facing fourth-and-2 inside the 5, the Tigers called a questionable and unsuccessful pass play. The result: Penn State 28, Auburn 20. “You called a press fade for the inside slot receiver for your go-to play to beat Penn State?” he asked. “That’s your go to? That’s what you got? That’s what you go to?” As a result, the boo birds were out, questioning the play, from Internet trolls to big-money men, Franklin contends. So, Harsin had to give the masses something to quiet the negativity. He gave them a scapegoat, according to the former coach. On Sunday, Harsin parted ways with first-year wide receivers coach Cornelius Williams less than 24 hours after Auburn completed a come-from-behind 34-24 win against Georgia State in the team’s nonconference finale. “Four games in and you crack, and you fire your receivers coach?” he asked. “The best coached group on the field for offense was your receivers. You’re basically firing your receivers coach because your offensive line sucks. Your offensive line is bad.” The proof, he explains, was in the game against Georgia State when TJ Finley hit Shedrick Jackson for the game-winning touchdown with just under a minute to play. “The ‘great’ Georgia State team that came in and deserved to beat you,” he started. “... You had an offensive lineman who missed a block. He whiffs. Your quarterback makes a play. Then, the play of the day, your receiver, who was coached on what to do on a scramble play, makes the catch for the touchdown. “Did you fire the offensive line coach? He’s an Alabama guy (Will Friend). That would make all the Auburn people happy. Fire the Alabama offensive line coach. He started four years at Alabama, and you hired him as your offensive line coach?” Friend, for the record, had coaching stints at Tennessee, Colorado State and Georgia before landing the job at Auburn. Now, Franklin knows what you are thinking. He is bitter toward Auburn because he was fired in the middle of the 2008 season. In addition, he coached Williams at Troy, so he has a personal allegiance to the former Hoover High star. You’re right. He loves Williams, but he also loves Auburn, he said. He went on to say he “deserved” to be fired in 2008 and “is good with it.” “You showed the powers that be they run the show,” Franklin said of Harsin. “They make the calls. “If you want to blame somebody for sucking right now, the way your football team sucks, I got a great idea. Instead of firing Cornelius, or whoever the next guy is you’re going to fire, just quit. Just resign.” Franklin continued to hammer away at the Tigers, who he said are nothing more than a reflection of their coach. “The characteristics of this football team are the same as the coach: soft, soft, soft,” he said. “They aren’t a physical team. I’ve seen physical Auburn football many times in my life as a fan, as a coach.” Franklin’s zingers continued throughout his 22-minute podcast. Here are some of the more sensational comments below. On the OL “The offensive line is worse than bad. They don’t look like they know what they are doing. ... They can’t pass pro(tect). The quarterback already has the yips. I don’t think the quarterbacks are well coached either. The running backs don’t make plays in space against a good team.” On playing hard “The offense and defense are soft. They don’t play hard, and they’re not very good or talented. If they played the hardest they could play, you could be a middle-of-the-pack SEC West team. If you don’t get it fixed, I don’t know if you can win a game in the SEC.” On Georgia State “You almost lost to Georgia State? You should have lost to Georgia State. Georgia State has a better team than you do.” “The problem, no offense to everybody that was there before you, you don’t have many good players.” On Harsin being the next Tuberville “We turn into Tommy Tuberville No. 2. The thing about Tommy Tuberville is he’s gonna get some good players. Whatever it took to get him, he’s gonna get them. Now, in the end, he didn’t have good enough players. He knew (Alabama coach) Nick Saban was gonna beat his brains out, so he quit. They paid him $5 million to quit.” On competing with Alabama “You’re not in the same hemisphere with Alabama talent wise, but you are also really poorly coached. That’s a reflection of you, sir, Bryan Harsin.” Check out the Franklin podcast here.

also it is funny how you get stupid and cannot read all of a sudden. try harder winky..............

stupid statements like players talking to older players from back in the day and then questioning how people know if a player is running a wrong route is what makes you a joke. other than that mean streak with you always trying to make someone look stupid because they are not as knowledgeable to make yourself feel better. i am sorry i hurt your feelings sugar.;

if that is the receiver from jawja i thought i saw him in for one play. another person on one of our threads said he ducked from a tackler instead of going for the ball. take that with a grain of salt because i did not see it but no one called the person saying it out.

just the same ol he is not ready yet. he killed the scrubs and non starters but struggled against the starters if i remember correctly. i cannot wait to watch him play down the road.

because people have said so including wde. you said in another thread receivers talked to sammi and other players and yet you think it is a stretch for coaches to not say anything to friends? or even going to the ad with the problem and wanting to let corn go? ok winky have fun with that.

Kickoff time, TV channel options announced for Auburn vs. Georgia Updated: Sep. 27, 2021, 11:50 a.m. | Published: Sep. 27, 2021, 11:50 a.m. Auburn cheerleader waves a flag after a score against Alabama State during the second half of an NCAA football game Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)AP By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com The 126th installment of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is set. Auburn and Georgia’s annual cross-division rivalry game will kick off at either 11 a.m. and air on ESPN or at 2:30 p.m. and broadcast on CBS on Oct. 9 from Jordan-Hare Stadium, the SEC announced Monday. A final gametime and channel designation will be determined this weekend after the completion of Week 5′s games. This year’s edition of the rivalry will mark the second straight season that the game is played in early October after decades of traditionally taking place in mid- to late-November. Georgia leads the all-time series, 61-56-8, and has won four consecutive games against Auburn since the Tigers’ 40-17 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium during the teams’ regular-season meeting in 2017. The Bulldogs have won each of the last three regular-season games in the series, and they defeated the Tigers in the 2017 SEC Championship Game. Auburn is just 12-17-2 at home against Georgia all-time. Before the teams meet on the Plains this season, No. 23 Auburn (3-1) will open SEC play this weekend on the road against LSU. No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) hosts No. 8 Arkansas (4-0, 1-0) in a top-10 matchup in Athens, Ga. Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Don’t be surprised if Auburn wins at LSU By Christopher Smith 5-6 minutes I bet Auburn -27 against Georgia State last week. My wager never had a chance. To be fair, I didn’t know that Owen Pappoe would miss the game. Zakoby McClain also missed the first half due to a fourth-quarter targeting call against Penn State. The Panthers didn’t score in the second half after McClain joined his teammates. Auburn also settled for four first-half field goals. As bad as it looked, Auburn could’ve pulled away if its linebackers played all 60 minutes. If I had the guts, I’d back Auburn again this week, this time as a 3.5-point underdog at LSU. The SEC’s orange-and-blue version of Tigers are a good team outside of the forward pass. The Cajun version of Tigers are a hot mess. LSU was fortunate to beat Mississippi State. The Bulldogs outgained LSU by 143 yards, earned 14 more first downs and ran 34 more offensive snaps. LSU hit on three busted coverages, including one play in which two Mississippi State defensive backs ran into each other on a crossing route. As a result, LSU scored on touchdown passes of 64, 58 and 41 yards. LSU’s top receiver Kayshon Boutte is going to make more than one SEC defense look silly this season. All three of those touchdown passes count, and big plays are part of football. But outside of those busted coverages, Max Johnson completed 14 of 24 passes for 117 yards. After losing projected starting left tackle Dare Rosenthal to Kentucky, his backup Cameron Wire has been dealing with an injury and has played just 32 snaps. Starting right tackle Austin Deculus has played most of the team’s snaps but has shown up on a few injury reports. LSU’s offensive line is getting healthier. Perhaps it will start to improve with stability. But it has been dreadful. The Tigers are rushing for 2.9 yards per carry, last in the SEC and 124th nationally. UConn, Southern Miss and New Mexico State have better per-carry averages. Pro Football Focus also grades LSU’s running backs 120th in the country. Perhaps the offensive line shouldn’t get 100 percent of the blame. Projected starting running back John Emery Jr. is academically ineligible. If Pappoe returns this week, don’t expect LSU to run the ball with much success. Like most quarterbacks, the 6-foot-5 Johnson is accurate but not as good when you pressure him. He doesn’t stoop to Bo Nix-level struggles when pressured. But among 107 quarterbacks with 25+ dropbacks in a muddy pocket this season, Johnson ranks 63rd in NFL passer rating. He finished last season 74th out of 161 in the same stat. His LSU teammate Myles Brennan finished fourth. Get pressure on Johnson, avoid total busts in coverage and Auburn should keep LSU’s offense relatively in check. When Auburn has the ball, who will play quarterback, Nix or TJ Finley? And will the Auburn offensive line be able to protect either player? LSU leads the SEC with 18 sacks, four more than second-place Georgia. Bryan Harsin seemed to insinuate after the Penn State loss that the team’s receivers deserved quite a bit of the responsibility for a lackluster passing performance. Auburn fired receivers coach Cornelius Williams after just four games. Harsin had a ready-made replacement on staff in Eric Kiesau, his receivers coach at Boise State in 2017 and ‘18 and his co-coordinator and coordinator in ‘19 and ‘20. Perhaps the shakeup will coax a better performance out of Auburn’s pass-catchers. LSU’s pass defense ranks 98th in EPA (Expected Points Added) per snap. So if LSU’s pressure doesn’t get home, its aggressive man coverage can break down. ESPN’s SP+ would favor Auburn by 4.1 points on a neutral field as of today. The respected analytics service ranks Auburn slightly ahead of LSU head-to-head in all three phases of the game. Good bettors ignore the final score and look at the ingredients. Scores can often be misleading, or at least not as predictive as what took place on a down-by-down basis. I think that’s the case with Auburn and LSU last week. Sometimes, though, the best wagers are the ones you don’t make, even when you think you have an edge. Auburn’s team passer rating is 12th in the SEC, ahead of only Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. No matter who plays quarterback and who coaches the receivers, I’m going to have to see it to believe it with this group, at least for this week. Call Auburn +3.5 a strong lean for me this week. I may be kicking myself next week for not putting in a bet. Christopher Smith specializes in handicapping college football and basketball. He founded Sports Locksmith to share his analysis.

Auburn’s T.J. Finley guided by patience, faith as he prepares for ‘emotional’ return to LSU Updated: 9:35 a.m. | Published: 7:00 a.m. By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com T.J. Finley stepped off the bus at Ponchatoula Junior High and walked to midfield. It was familiar territory for the young quarterback, then just an eighth grader in Louisiana. He played many games on that field, guiding Ponchatoula to a district championship a year earlier. That day on Ponchatoula’s field, he had a shot at another district title — this time as a visiting quarterback after transferring to Hammond Junior High following his seventh-grade year. As he approached midfield and took in his old stomping grounds, Finley knelt and picked up a couple blades of grass. Channeling his inner Les Miles — the former LSU head coach who first offered him a scholarship as an eighth grader — Finley put the grass in his mouth and began to chew it. He turned to his mother, Dr. Shannon Finley, and nodded his head and smiled. “He had to go back to his old school, which is where his heart was, and it was like, ‘OK, here we go,’” Shannon Finley said. “He whooped his old team for the district championship…. He went to Ponchatoula and beat them on their home turf.” Six years later, Finley finds himself with a chance to repeat history, this time as a quarterback at Auburn, which opens SEC play on Saturday on the road against Finley’s former team, LSU. Whether Finley will be Auburn’s starter in Death Valley remains to be seen, as head coach Bryan Harsin faces an important decision at the position following last weekend’s dramatic comeback win. Against Georgia State, Finley replaced a struggling Bo Nix late in the third quarter and led a late 98-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown with 45 seconds to play. “It’s my homecoming, and I look forward to it,” Finley said. “… I just can’t wait to enjoy 100,000 in Tiger Stadium, and whether I’m starting or not, I just want to be part of the team and help the team win in any way possible.” Before Finley’s opportunity to return to Baton Rouge, La., this weekend, it’s important to understand how the former LSU quarterback and lifelong LSU fan got here, and why he’ll be standing on the visitor’s sideline in Tiger Stadium. *** Shannon Finley missed seeing her son smile. It started to fade sometime toward the end of his freshman season at LSU, and its absence lingered through the spring. Finley’s parents could tell something was off with their son, whose first college season both exceeded expectations and felt underwhelming at times. Here was the No. 1 quarterback in the state of Louisiana coming out of high school, a 6-foot-6, 242-pounder with a cannon mounted on his right shoulder, who started five games as a true freshman at his dream school. Yet his confidence was fleeting and he started doubting his abilities as the calendar turned from his freshman season to his sophomore spring. “As a mother, I did a lot of crying and I did a lot of praying, because it was very, very hard to see a kid that was filled with so much life when I dropped him off (at LSU) have that sucked out of him in a matter of a year and a half,” Shannon Finley said. Finley dreamed of playing at LSU since he was 8-years old, and he became the first quarterback from his high school, Ponchatoula High, to sign with the state’s premier football program. The situation at LSU, though, never lived up to those expectations he set in his mind and was sold on when he first committed to the program as a sophomore in high school. More than anything, the constant change within LSU’s offense left him feeling like he lacked consistency and structure. He signed with LSU in December 2019, when Joe Brady was the team’s passing game coordinator during its College Football Playoff championship run. But Brady left for the NFL shortly after Finley enrolled that January, and LSU coach Ed Orgeron brought in Scott Linehan to take over that role and work alongside offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger last season. In December, Ensminger moved into an off-field analyst role, and Orgeron brought in Jake Peetz — a disciple of Brady’s — to run the offense in hopes of recreating some of that 2019 magic. “We didn’t know who was calling the shots on offense,” Finley’s father, David Finley, said. “It was just a transition period there that wasn’t good for T.J.” The persistent change impacted Finley, who showed promise at times after being thrust into the starting role midway through a freshman season played against the backdrop of a pandemic. He went 2-3 as a starter and completed just 57.1 percent of his passes for an LSU team that finished 5-5, but the upside and physical tools were evident. He just needed development and direction. “It was just the inconsistency,” Shannon Finley said. “He just didn’t know what he was doing right or what he was doing wrong. He didn’t have a lot of direction at times…. There were a lot of moving parts and pieces at LSU, and we just wanted a more consistent environment and more stable environment for him.” Finley was part of a crowded competition — along with senior Myles Brennan, fellow sophomore Max Johnson and four-star freshman Garrett Nussmeier — for the starting job at LSU, but after a disappointing performance in the spring game, the writing was on the wall. Finley had to choose his best course of action. He was torn. Transferring is something he considered but leaving behind his dream school and his teammates was difficult to follow through on. Ultimately, his parents told him he needed to make a business decision and do what was best for him. That’s when the lightbulb went off. He walked into Orgeron’s office in early May, tears trickling down his cheeks, and informed the LSU coach he was transferring. “It was like you got to have some grip pliers to grip him away (from LSU),” Shannon Finley said. “You’re talking about a kid who is a Louisiana native, who bled purple and gold…. I almost had to set LSU on fire myself to get him to leave. It was extremely difficult because he didn’t see anything wrong. It was a very, very tough decision.” *** The perception in Louisiana was that Finley was running from the competition when he decided to leave LSU. It didn’t take long for that to be disproven. He raised his stock during his freshman season, and the NCAA’s one-time transfer rule meant he would be immediately eligible in the fall. He had immediate interest from major programs like Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Texas A&M within the SEC, as well as Big Ten programs Michigan and Penn State. Finley could have transferred to a school with an easy path to the starting job, but that’s not how he approached the decision. “The biggest thing for him initially was honestly getting to a place where he could be mentally free — a new environment, a new opportunity, a new school, warm embrace,” Shannon Finley said. Finley, who started college at 17 and had two SEC wins under his belt by 18, wanted somewhere he could be developed for the next level, even if it meant waiting for his opportunity. He wasn’t turned off by the prospect of sitting behind an entrenched starter for a year, so long as he had the chance to compete. That’s what Auburn coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo sold him on during their conversations over the course of Finley’s 18-day recruitment. Auburn had Bo Nix returning as a third-year starter, but they needed depth at the position, and with it being a new staff, there was no firm commitment that Nix was their guy. The opportunity was there for Finley if he proved he was the better option. “The key here is the one thing about T.J. and us: We weren’t running from competition,” David Finley said. “We went over there to compete with a third-year starter… We didn’t go there to say, ‘We know we can beat Bo out.’ No, we went to compete. There’s a lot of patience in this family.” That’s something David and Shannon Finley instilled in both their sons through faith at a young age. Their message to their children has always been to remain patient, remain humble, and know that when your time comes, God will open the door. “Now, is that time now? It could be,” David Finley said. “I don’t know, but he’s ready if it is.” *** The smile has returned to T.J. Finley’s face. He flashed it for all to see Saturday evening in Jordan-Hare Stadium as he stood atop a podium in front of Auburn’s student section and embraced the adoring cheers from his fellow students. “It’s like a stick of dynamite went off,” Shannon Finley said. “He’s so excited and explosive.” That’s because Finley’s patience and trust in himself finally paid off four weeks into the season. After arriving at Auburn this summer and absorbing Harsin and Bobo’s offensive playbook as quickly and meticulously as he could, Finley entered the season as the team’s backup quarterback. He pushed Nix throughout fall camp, as each’s presence and performance in practices caused the other to raise his game, but he never seemed to threaten for the starting job. That was Nix’s to lose. Then, late in the third quarter against Georgia State, Finley’s number was called. Nix struggled for a second straight week, and Auburn’s offense was ineffective as the team trailed by double digits in the second half at home against a Sun Belt opponent. Auburn was on the precipice of a disastrous loss, and Harsin knew the offense needed a spark. So, he turned to Finley with the team trailing by five and 3:10 to go in the period. The rest is well-documented. Finley capped the comeback with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Shedrick Jackson on fourth down with 45 seconds remaining, and Auburn escaped with a 34-24 win. “People don’t understand — coming into a game like that and not starting, just waiting a whole half or whatever it was, coming and making plays like that — that’s hard to do,” Jackson said. “He took control of the offense; he was confident, he was poised, and he was ready to go. That’s big-time.” Finley’s late-game heroics threw Auburn’s quarterback situation into question this week as the team opens SEC play. Harsin is tight-lipped about his plan, but it’s possible — and even likely — that Finley gets the nod against his former team in Death Valley on Saturday night. Whether he starts for Auburn, his teammates are using his homecoming as a rallying cry this week. Shannon Finley said after the Georgia State win, as the family left the stadium, safety Smoke Monday approached them and told them, “We’re going into Tiger Stadium with our boy T.J., and we’re about to take Tiger Stadium down” and end losing streak for Auburn in Baton Rouge that dates back to 2001. It will undeniably be an emotional day for Finley, who insists there’s “no bad blood” between him and LSU. But it will be a return to the place he always dreamed of playing and where he earned his first win as a college quarterback. “I’m sure he’ll probably have his own private moments where he goes out in the stadium and has his emotional moments,” Shannon Finley said. “He’s going to shake it off…. He’s going to do whatever he has to do to release his nerves or jitters on that field.” Just like six years ago, when he stood at midfield in Ponchtoula and chewed those blades of grass. Only this time, the stage is bigger, and the stakes are higher. Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

What new assistant Eric Kiesau brings to Auburn’s wide receivers room By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com 5-7 minutes Fresno State head coach Eric Kiesau, left, confers with quarterback Zach Kline while facing Colorado State late in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Fort Collins, Colo. Colorado State won 37-0. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)AP Bryan Harsin has turned to a familiar face to take over Auburn’s wide receivers room. After firing first-year receivers coach Cornelius Williams on Sunday, just four games into the season, Harsin elevated offensive analyst Eric Kiesau to an on-field role overseeing the Tigers’ receiving corps. Kiesau, who joined Harsin’s support staff in February, was an offensive assistant at Boise State each of the last four seasons — including the Broncos’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach last season. “I’m excited about Eric Kiesau,” Harsin said Monday. “He brings a lot of knowledge to that position. He’s coached it for many years…. He’s been around for a while and understands offense, understands developing and understands that position in particular.” Kiesau is no stranger to coaching the wide receiver position, including within a Harsin-run program. Prior to being named Boise State’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach last season, Kiesau spent the prior three seasons as the team’s wide receivers coach. During that time, he helped tutor a trio of All-Mountain West receivers in Cedrick Wilson (a first-team selection in 2017), Sean Modster (a second-team selection in 2018) and John Hightower (a second-team honoree in 2019). Hightower and Modster each approached 1,000 yards receiving in their All-Mountain West seasons, with Hightower catching 51 passes for 943 yards and eight touchdowns in 2019 and Modster finishing with 68 catches for 978 yards and eight scores. Wilson was the most prolific of the bunch, finishing the 2017 season with 83 catches for 1,511 yards — second-most among FBS receivers — and seven touchdowns. That was hardly his only experience coaching wide receivers during his now 21-year coaching career. He also coached receivers at Utah State in 2001, at California from 2002-05 and at Kansas in 2014. His resume also includes time as an offensive coordinator at Colorado from 2009-10, at Washington from 2012-13 and Fresno State in 2016, as well as a prior one-year stint in the SEC as an offensive analyst for Alabama in 2015. “I have known of him for a long time a little bit in that coaching circle,” Harsin said. “One of the things, he’s a very good teacher. He understands what we want to do. He understands how we want to do it and why we’re doing what we’re doing. He brings that experience and a level of teaching that I feel like can improve our room and help those guys understand what it is they’re trying to accomplish every play. I think he’s a good technician. He’s a very good coach. He’s very detailed. “That would be one thing I would describe him as, he’s a very detailed coach. He has a plan. He has a vision. He has things I know we’ll do at the wide receiver position that will help us improve.” That was the biggest impetus for Harsin in his decision to relieve Williams of his duties and promote Kiesau, whose coaching style and production he has seen firsthand in recent years. While Williams has proven himself as a promising young wide receivers coach — and one with deep recruiting ties to the state of Alabama — Auburn’s wide receivers have not lived up to the standard expected by Harsin this season. The receivers room had to replace its top-three players this offseason following the departures of Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove. There was minimal returning production, with no returning wideout with more than 10 career catches entering the season, but the cupboard wasn’t bare, with five former four-star recruits at the position, plus the offseason addition of Georgia grad transfer and former five-star prospect Demetris Robertson. Through four games, though, the Tigers’ wide receivers have been inconsistent, at best. The group has struggled to create explosive plays in the passing game, has been plagued by drops, and receivers have had a hard time getting on the same page as Auburn’s quarterbacks. Williams was ultimately held responsible for that, and now Harsin is hopeful the 48-year-old Kiesau will be able to get Auburn’s wide receivers up to par and consistently producing at the level the Tigers’ head coach expects of them for the offense to be successful heading into SEC play. Kiesau had his first opportunity to get hands-on leading the group on Sunday during Auburn’s clean-up practice, and he’ll pick back up Tuesday when the team begins full-on preparation for Saturday’s SEC opener at LSU. “Every player on this team, that’s a standard we all have got to live up to,” Harsin said. “Every single week we’ve got to be better. It doesn’t get easier. That’s one of the beauties of football. As the season goes on it doesn’t get easier, you should get better. That’s how it should be. There’s not less time spent getting yourself better. You’ve got sacrifice a lot and you’ve got to spend a tremendous amount of time in order to have yourself physically ready to play, mentally ready to play every single day. I think Coach Kiesau brings that to the table. He understands that.” Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

when you add players lining up in the wrong places and running wrong routes or running good routes badly i can understand why harsin let him go. the pic appears to be tj but i wonder how many times it happened with bo? as bad as i feel for the young man you cannot expect to win many games. and i doubt anyone remembers but harsin said this was a very good team and everyone thought "that guy! always clowning around". and with us having the hardest remaining schedule in football i can understand he could not wait. and lets be real harsin would lose his job over stuff like that in a new york minute and those being honest will admit it.

for what it is worth a guy on reddit posted this picture. if you look we had ten men on the field. this haappened three times. minus 1.webp

if we cannot get a passing game going we are toast. i want to beat them so bad in a night game........that is when you beat them at their best. their night games are magic to them. we force them to respect the passing game we have a chance. and the way the team seemed to come alive on offense when tj came in we might have a chance. but i just do not think we are ready. i hope i am wrong.

here is corch jays take on the game Observations Took balls by Coach Harsin to pull his QB but was the right call. I don’t know who will be the starter next week Bo and TJ are about the same player so we will see. Good call by coach Harsin to make a change and seemed to provide a spark. Like I mentioned above both QBs played about the same not much difference at all. But if the players rally behind TJ then he should be the starter. We don’t have enough information about TJ to really know what his mental make up will be. What we do know is that Bo won’t lose you many games but we also know he won’t win you games either. Back to in game observations I don’t think I have ever seen a QB benched that hasn’t thrown an INT. Just a bizarre occurrence. WR play was horrible again. The drops will drive you insane. OL - Ga state was play run all the way. Even safeties crashing the box. Their DL was slanting two gaps across the face of the OL 2 gaps not just a normal one gap and our lineman were missing assignments getting caught up in the traffic and not able to climb to the free running linebackers. They slanted almost always to the QB side anticipating the zone opposite the running back. (Want to note I mentioned we need a slasher running in our stable of backs in the recruiting thread last week this is the reason why Tank and Hunter both are cut backs but not slashers.). Anyway to adjust to that we should have had plays like the counter and toss sweep either from the gun or under center to counter that. That’s why Hunter and Tank would look like no one was even in the area sometimes running straight up the middle the DL slanted so far. Worked well for Ga state because we didn’t adjust. Wooten and Steiner aren’t McClain and Pappoe but they have to get better at run fits. Most of the big plays were missed assignments. An option(ish) team you have to stop inside out. Take the dive away, then the QB, then the pitch man. We failed on multiple occasions. The DL played average but the back 7 were really bad the first half. Something is broken in either our scheme or communication on the back end. Seems to center around safety but also seems calls are coming in to late to get lined up sometimes. Zakoby is a monster. He is t ideal size but he is a straight baller. Seemed to settle everything down with his return in thr 2nd half. We still can’t generate a pass rush but I like Eku opposite of Wooden. He plays with leverage doesn’t rush up field on pass rush and is a good mix with Hall and TD hope yo see more of him. Special teams were about the same made some big plays blocked kick for score (Congrats Caylin). To many penalties, muffed punt, missed FG. At the end of the day we stole a win. Coaches coached hard but were way to basic in the first half. Took to long to adjust. Everyone seemed to have a good play and then 2 bad plays. On to Red Stick. I have no idea if we win 8 conference games or lose 8. Hold on tight October looks brutal i have no idea why he was runnoft but i wish he was back. we seem to let one or two others back that were let go. so do not shoot me if he slapped someones mama or something and i do not want to hear any garbage because he is not able to defend himself here. and i do not know him well either but i enjoyed his takes on here.

Auburn is currently putting itself through the wringer. After a hot start at home, the Tigers fell on the road 28-20 against now No. 4 Penn State. This past Saturday, Auburn needed a come-from-behind win sparked by backup quarterback TJ Finley to beat Georgia State. This week Auburn fired their receivers coach and a quarterback controversy is beginning to brew. Not only are there plenty of off-the-field distractions for Auburn, but the Tigers still need to figure out how to adjust after giving up over 200 yards rushing and 24 points to Georgia State in the first half. Here’s a breakdown of Auburn by each position group. Quarterback: C- John Reed-USA TODAY Sports As an entire unit, Auburn is averaging 227.2 passing yards per game (eighth in the SEC). Neither Nix nor Finley have thrown an interception this season, but they haven’t been explosive either. Whoever starts for Auburn won’t blow the doors off of this LSU defense. Running Back: A John Reed-USA TODAY Sports The combination of Tank Bigsby (403 yards, four touchdowns) and Jarquez Hunter (382 yards, 2 touchdowns) is lethal. Unlike against Mississippi State, LSU will most likely opt for more down lineman against Auburn this weekend. Wide Receivers: C John Reed-USA TODAY Sports Auburn’s receiving core has been incredibly inconsistent this season. The Tigers lack a true deep threat at the position. Kobe Hudson (197 yards receiving, one touchdown) and Shedrick Jackson (166 yards, one touchdown) lead the way, but after firing their receivers coach I can’t imagine things are going to click immediately for this group. Offensive Line: B John Reed-USA TODAY Sports Auburn’s offensive line was an area of concern last season, but with five seniors on the line this year, the Tigers have been able to hold the point of attack up front. Both pass blocking and run blocking have been just fine so far this season. Defensive Line: C+ John Reed-USA TODAY Sports Auburn’s defensive line has been a mixed bag. While the Tigers have been solid at stopping the run, they gave up over 200 yards rushing this last weekend to Georgia State. The pass rush has not been particularly impressive either. That was on full display against Penn State. Linebackers: A- Chandler Wooten (32 tackles), Zakoby McClain (23 tackles), and Owen Pappoe (15 tackles) from a strong trio at the linebacker spot for Auburn. Defensive Backs: C- John Reed-USA TODAY Sports There have been blown coverages galore for this Auburn secondary. If LSU can take advantage of Auburn’s poor safety play, they will carve Auburn up. some of you will disagree with this but i think it is on point. this pretty much backs up what cole said about other aspects of the team playing badly. ed is gonna sell out to stop the run so one of our qb's needs to step up big time.i think tj should start but i want whoever gives us the best chance to win. i do like where harsin is not telling who is starting so they have to work on both but if we do not play better at qb we will lose.

people say you fired corn so lets fire mason, bobo, the d line guy, and whomever else is in the fan dog house. if we did that who is going to coach? who is going to come in and know enough about players to have them ready in a week? and if we fired all those coaches we would be the laughing stock of the country. it is pretty much impossible in my personal opinion. i understand folks are upset about corn but you are letting your emotions get to you. crain and jboy were both friends so their takes are emotional.again, in my personal opinion. bo was not getting it done but when he did throw a decent pass folks were dropping them. again too many times not enough receivers were on the field. that is very basic stuff and anyone who claims to know about coaching knows this. very basic. i hate it for corn and his family but being let go is part of the game. coaches get fired all the time including during the season. and i refuse to believe harsin did it because he is a jerk. we can do better and we should expect better. harsin moved his family across the country for his job and if things go wrong it is on him and not the assistants. he has the right to do it his way. when your qb has to tell the sideline he needs more receivers in the game is a very bad look. i just do not understand the dust up going on. we want to win right? i think his staff got the message. i excuse the d line guy because we are trying to stop folks with a three man front. that stuff needs to go away until we can realistically stop folks using it. and it hurts the secondary as well. these are new schemes and i imagine they more than a spring and four games to get it right. and sometimes you do not know what is working until it is battle tested. again i have no axe to grind with corn and i wish it had worked out because ge would have been my man crush but i am slow as always. harsin needs a couple of years and he needs to do it his way and if it does not work out then he cannot say we did not give him a chance.

i still dislike the bastard.

you mention weed like it is a bad thing.

'The bully has met his match': Trump loses NDA case against former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman Brigid Kennedy, Contributing Writer Tue, September 28, 2021, 9:10 AM·1 min read In this article: Former President Donald Trump has lost in an effort to enforce a nondisclosure agreement against former White House aide and The Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault Newman, The New York Times reports. Manigault Newman is also the author of Unhinged, an unfavorable tell-all about her time in the Trump administration. "Donald has used this type of vexatious litigation to intimidate, harass and bully for years," said Manigault Newman in a statement. "Finally the bully has met his match!" The decision, handed down on Monday, calls for the former aide to collect legal fees from the Trump campaign, which filed the case soon after Unhinged was published. The campaign claimed Manigault Newman had violated a nondisclosure agreement signed during the 2016 campaign "stipulating that she would not reveal private or confidential information about [Trump's] family, business or personal life," per the Times. However, the arbitrator in the case claimed "the definition of the type of comment protected by the nondisclosure agreement was so vague that it had been rendered meaningless," writes the Times. He went on to argue that the information Manigault Newman had shared was barely privileged, and said the agreement "effectively imposes on Respondent an obligation to never say anything remotely critical of Mr. Trump, his family or his or his family members' businesses for the rest of her life." Trump cannot appeal the decision "other than on the basis of fraud" against the case arbitrator, leaving him with little additional recourse. Read more at The New York Times.

thanx man i needed the laugh.

why would you let your opponent know who is starting when you can make them prepare for two versus one? sounds pretty smart to me.

Patience, faith prepared Auburn's T.J. Finley for 'emotional' return to LSU By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com 11-14 minutes T.J. Finley stepped off the bus at Ponchatoula Junior High and walked to midfield. It was familiar territory for the young quarterback, then just an eighth grader in Louisiana. He played many games on that field, guiding Ponchatoula to a district championship a year earlier. That day on Ponchatoula’s field, he had a shot at another district title — this time as a visiting quarterback after transferring to Hammond Junior High following his seventh-grade year. As he approached midfield and took in his old stomping grounds, Finley knelt and picked up a couple blades of grass. Channeling his inner Les Miles — the former LSU head coach who first offered him a scholarship as an eighth grader — Finley put the grass in his mouth and began to chew it. He turned to his mother, Dr. Shannon Finley, and nodded his head and smiled. “He had to go back to his old school, which is where his heart was, and it was like, ‘OK, here we go,’” Shannon Finley said. “He whooped his old team for the district championship…. He went to Ponchatoula and beat them on their home turf.” Six years later, Finley finds himself with a chance to repeat history, this time as a quarterback at Auburn, which opens SEC play on Saturday on the road against Finley’s former team, LSU. Whether Finley will be Auburn’s starter in Death Valley remains to be seen, as head coach Bryan Harsin faces an important decision at the position following last weekend’s dramatic comeback win. Against Georgia State, Finley replaced a struggling Bo Nix late in the third quarter and led a late 98-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown with 45 seconds to play. “It’s my homecoming, and I look forward to it,” Finley said. “… I just can’t wait to enjoy 100,000 in Tiger Stadium, and whether I’m starting or not, I just want to be part of the team and help the team win in any way possible.” Before Finley’s opportunity to return to Baton Rouge, La., this weekend, it’s important to understand how the former LSU quarterback and lifelong LSU fan got here, and why he’ll be standing on the visitor’s sideline in Tiger Stadium. *** Shannon Finley missed seeing her son smile. It started to fade sometime toward the end of his freshman season at LSU, and its absence lingered through the spring. Finley’s parents could tell something was off with their son, whose first college season both exceeded expectations and felt underwhelming at times. Here was the No. 1 quarterback in the state of Louisiana coming out of high school, a 6-foot-6, 242-pounder with a cannon mounted on his right shoulder, who started five games as a true freshman at his dream school. Yet his confidence was fleeting and he started doubting his abilities as the calendar turned from his freshman season to his sophomore spring. “As a mother, I did a lot of crying and I did a lot of praying, because it was very, very hard to see a kid that was filled with so much life when I dropped him off (at LSU) have that sucked out of him in a matter of a year and a half,” Shannon Finley said. Finley dreamed of playing at LSU since he was 8-years old, and he became the first quarterback from his high school, Ponchatoula High, to sign with the state’s premier football program. The situation at LSU, though, never lived up to those expectations he set in his mind and was sold on when he first committed to the program as a sophomore in high school. More than anything, the constant change within LSU’s offense left him feeling like he lacked consistency and structure. He signed with LSU in December 2019, when Joe Brady was the team’s passing game coordinator during its College Football Playoff championship run. But Brady left for the NFL shortly after Finley enrolled that January, and LSU coach Ed Orgeron brought in Scott Linehan to take over that role and work alongside offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger last season. In December, Ensminger moved into an off-field analyst role, and Orgeron brought in Jake Peetz — a disciple of Brady’s — to run the offense in hopes of recreating some of that 2019 magic. “We didn’t know who was calling the shots on offense,” Finley’s father, David Finley, said. “It was just a transition period there that wasn’t good for T.J.” The persistent change impacted Finley, who showed promise at times after being thrust into the starting role midway through a freshman season played against the backdrop of a pandemic. He went 2-3 as a starter and completed just 57.1 percent of his passes for an LSU team that finished 5-5, but the upside and physical tools were evident. He just needed development and direction. “It was just the inconsistency,” Shannon Finley said. “He just didn’t know what he was doing right or what he was doing wrong. He didn’t have a lot of direction at times…. There were a lot of moving parts and pieces at LSU, and we just wanted a more consistent environment and more stable environment for him.” Finley was part of a crowded competition — along with senior Myles Brennan, fellow sophomore Max Johnson and four-star freshman Garrett Nussmeier — for the starting job at LSU, but after a disappointing performance in the spring game, the writing was on the wall. Finley had to choose his best course of action. He was torn. Transferring is something he considered but leaving behind his dream school and his teammates was difficult to follow through on. Ultimately, his parents told him he needed to make a business decision and do what was best for him. That’s when the lightbulb went off. He walked into Orgeron’s office in early May, tears trickling down his cheeks, and informed the LSU coach he was transferring. “It was like you got to have some grip pliers to grip him away (from LSU),” Shannon Finley said. “You’re talking about a kid who is a Louisiana native, who bled purple and gold…. I almost had to set LSU on fire myself to get him to leave. It was extremely difficult because he didn’t see anything wrong. It was a very, very tough decision.” *** The perception in Louisiana was that Finley was running from the competition when he decided to leave LSU. It didn’t take long for that to be disproven. He raised his stock during his freshman season, and the NCAA’s one-time transfer rule meant he would be immediately eligible in the fall. He had immediate interest from major programs like Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Texas A&M within the SEC, as well as Big Ten programs Michigan and Penn State. Finley could have transferred to a school with an easy path to the starting job, but that’s not how he approached the decision. “The biggest thing for him initially was honestly getting to a place where he could be mentally free — a new environment, a new opportunity, a new school, warm embrace,” Shannon Finley said. Finley, who started college at 17 and had two SEC wins under his belt by 18, wanted somewhere he could be developed for the next level, even if it meant waiting for his opportunity. He wasn’t turned off by the prospect of sitting behind an entrenched starter for a year, so long as he had the chance to compete. That’s what Auburn coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo sold him on during their conversations over the course of Finley’s 18-day recruitment. Auburn had Bo Nix returning as a third-year starter, but they needed depth at the position, and with it being a new staff, there was no firm commitment that Nix was their guy. The opportunity was there for Finley if he proved he was the better option. “The key here is the one thing about T.J. and us: We weren’t running from competition,” David Finley said. “We went over there to compete with a third-year starter… We didn’t go there to say, ‘We know we can beat Bo out.’ No, we went to compete. There’s a lot of patience in this family.” That’s something David and Shannon Finley instilled in both their sons through faith at a young age. Their message to their children has always been to remain patient, remain humble, and know that when your time comes, God will open the door. “Now, is that time now? It could be,” David Finley said. “I don’t know, but he’s ready if it is.” *** The smile has returned to T.J. Finley’s face. He flashed it for all to see Saturday evening in Jordan-Hare Stadium as he stood atop a podium in front of Auburn’s student section and embraced the adoring cheers from his fellow students. “It’s like a stick of dynamite went off,” Shannon Finley said. “He’s so excited and explosive.” That’s because Finley’s patience and trust in himself finally paid off four weeks into the season. After arriving at Auburn this summer and absorbing Harsin and Bobo’s offensive playbook as quickly and meticulously as he could, Finley entered the season as the team’s backup quarterback. He pushed Nix throughout fall camp, as each’s presence and performance in practices caused the other to raise his game, but he never seemed to threaten for the starting job. That was Nix’s to lose. Then, late in the third quarter against Georgia State, Finley’s number was called. Nix struggled for a second straight week, and Auburn’s offense was ineffective as the team trailed by double digits in the second half at home against a Sun Belt opponent. Auburn was on the precipice of a disastrous loss, and Harsin knew the offense needed a spark. So, he turned to Finley with the team trailing by five and 3:10 to go in the period. The rest is well-documented. Finley capped the comeback with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Shedrick Jackson on fourth down with 45 seconds remaining, and Auburn escaped with a 34-24 win. “People don’t understand — coming into a game like that and not starting, just waiting a whole half or whatever it was, coming and making plays like that — that’s hard to do,” Jackson said. “He took control of the offense; he was confident, he was poised, and he was ready to go. That’s big-time.” Finley’s late-game heroics threw Auburn’s quarterback situation into question this week as the team opens SEC play. Harsin is tight-lipped about his plan, but it’s possible — and even likely — that Finley gets the nod against his former team in Death Valley on Saturday night. Whether he starts for Auburn, his teammates are using his homecoming as a rallying cry this week. Shannon Finley said after the Georgia State win, as the family left the stadium, safety Smoke Monday approached them and told them, “We’re going into Tiger Stadium with our boy T.J., and we’re about to take Tiger Stadium down” and end losing streak for Auburn in Baton Rouge that dates back to 2001. It will undeniably be an emotional day for Finley, who insists there’s “no bad blood” between him and LSU. But it will be a return to the place he always dreamed of playing and where he earned his first win as a college quarterback. “I’m sure he’ll probably have his own private moments where he goes out in the stadium and has his emotional moments,” Shannon Finley said. “He’s going to shake it off…. He’s going to do whatever he has to do to release his nerves or jitters on that field.” Just like six years ago, when he stood at midfield in Ponchtoula and chewed those blades of grass. Only this time, the stage is bigger, and the stakes are higher. Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.