AUwent

5 minutes ago, passthebiscuits said:

Not 100% sure about what fell through with Mario. He got a little cold feet about being in the sec is what was told to me through an agent. 

This suggests that yes, our two rivals have and will continue to be a major hindrance to our job desirability. I know we made a disastrous presidential hire which screwed a lot up; but c'mon, why is it that the only two programs that have had to play both UAT and UGA over the last 15 years just HAPPEN to have had trouble with coaching searches in the same time?

On 12/27/2023 at 3:38 PM, passthebiscuits said:

No great point actually, Viper. When you think about it, just about everyone had some flaws. I think CHF’s visibility as a holy-seeking man made his transgressions the more difficult. You’re exactly right. 
 

Side note, Mario C was almost a done deal before Harsin, and Kiffin before CHF.

Is it true that Covid bumping them into teh Pac-12 title is why Mario fell through?

With Kiffin, we would've for sure gotten hooked to a Jimbo-level contract, so it was entirely understandable.

3 minutes ago, Viper said:

Early on, sure, but at bammer, he wouldn't be coming in with four other elite WRs in one class like at AU.

I'll be ecstatically shocked if he signs with AU, but I believe he'll sign with bammer.

I still say full speed ahead on his recruitment because we have nothing to lose.

If it's a competition for the NIL $ I'd rather go for a transfer QB. 🤷‍♂️

Goal should be seven. Not saying it's a guarantee, but I said before this season that the goal was to reach a bowl and then improve by one game each year for the following four. I stand by that.

3 minutes ago, AURealist said:

And it absolutely frustrates the heck out of me.  

I agree but gotta keep our precious rivalries, don't we? 😁

6 minutes ago, AURealist said:

Freeze is not the right coach.  Never was.  He's a placeholder until the coach replacement fund can be replenished and we make another bad hire.  That much should be obvious to everyone by now.  

Guys Freeze/Malzahn are likely the best we can realistically get until Dinky retires (which could be another decade), and that's if they don't land a home run replacement. The bright side is that our region has so much talent that we can absolutely land strong classes in the meantime.

Just now, StuckMic91 said:

Look at his body of work. Can he put it together? Maybe. I hope so. We don’t need another coaching search in 2 years. My guess is 8-4 next two years just enough to stick around, 10-2 year 4, extension, 8-4 again.

I stand by my belief that our goal should be to get to what OM has done the last few years (i.e., they would have qualified for teh 12 team playoffs both 2021 and 23).

Just now, Aubi1961 said:

He didn't learn a dang thing after the New Mexico St game. That tells me all i need to know.  Then disastrous loss to Bama, and then this game. He has no fire in his whole body. 

The grand irony is that UAT, UGA and OM games were exactly what you'd REALISTICALLY hope for a first year head coach inheriting this sort of situation. Like Pat Dye's first year and all.

Just now, Old fan 47 said:

I never saw the allure of hiring him, I definitely didn’t see anything spectacular this year and I have very little faith in HF even making AU a top 9 SEC program next year or 2 years from now. Mizzou is a what a well coached team looks like. 

I feel the concern but remember how Drink did his first three years.

1 minute ago, cole256 said:

No we are blaming the passing game for Hunter. They are stacking the line

Which is a big reason why we we've been excited about Cam and Perry. (I hate to ask but I remember Perry planning on being an early enrollee, is it a bad indicator that he's not now?)

3 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

And Ole Miss is blowing out Penn State so Kiffin has gotten them to 11 wins for the first time ever. Today just sucks

With Kiffin I felt like we'd have some ounce of regret whether we got him or not, given how much we would've had to pay him.

Locksley looks a little like Captain Spaulding lol.

Watching the Peach Bowl, DAE feel like Ole Miss was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Harsin error?

6 hours ago, IronMan70 said:

If ESPN wants to pay for all these minor bowls, let them. As far as a playoff system, it's fairly simple really.

8 team playoff

* Split the top level of CFB into 4 conferences of 20 teams each, using geography, like the SEC has always done.

* Split each conference into 2 divisions, let the conferences decide who goes where.

* The 8 division winners in the regular season are your 8 playoff teams and meet in the 4 conference championship games.

* The 4 conference championship games are the quarter finals of the playoff.

* The 4 conference championship winners are the 4 semi-final teams in the playoff.

* Oops, no committees needed, no polls needed, too simple.

For me, conference alignment is the hardest part of all. Ideally, you want to have SOME semblance of competitive balance between conferences, so I don't think Clemson, FSU and Miami in the SEC would be a good idea. 

IDEA 1

4 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

Trying to shoe horn the playoff into the old bowl system has ruined both the playoff & the bowl system, IMHO.  The two are just incompatible & if I had to choose ... I'd go with an expanded playoff.  Changing conference affiliations, NIL & early draft eligibility have put more daggers into the bowl system, not to mention 43 bowl games this year -- so many that teams without winning records are selected to fill them up.   

You're still going to have as many as FIVE postseason games. Who's going to be able to afford that?

40 minutes ago, AUloggerhead said:

Quit trying so hard to figure out a champion? ... Wut the actual heck?  A better idea is how about we quit trying to prop up the outdated bowl system?  This isn't the only year that bowl game venues are largely vacant and it's been going on for decades.  The TV broadcasts do all they can to avoid showing empty seats.  Only some teams travel well & fill up stadiums no matter what -- AU is fortunate in that respect.  Speaking of AU, we've been shut out of the mythical NC in '83, '93 & '04, so no thank-you to going back to that way of choosing a champion.  Let the eventual winner of the playoff games decide the champion, not a group of pencil-necked sportswriters.  The trend of players opting out of playing (meaningless) bowl games should be another clue that the draw is just not there anymore.   

Instead, why not expand the playoff system and hold all the games on the campus stadiums like the Div II & III do?  Div III has a 32-team playoff.  If they can do it, there's no reason why Div I can too.  If the current bowl venues want to host the final, they can damn well bid on it -- highest bidder gets the game.  

I just think the bowl system was a lot of fun in the pre-playoff era, and I know that it was even moreso pre-BCS. But, an 8-team playoff with every game but the last one on campus could work? I'm not kidding though, even for the playoff games you're going to have lots of empty seats towards the final two rounds.

1 hour ago, BigBlueWDE said:

Going back to the original bowl format combined with picking the 12 teams after those games are played makes everything relevant

I’ve heard this proposal tossed around, but it’s exactly my problem with a twelve team playoff—who’s going to be able to afford it? The NC game and semis, as is, are going to look like HS state championship games.

9 minutes ago, Mikey said:

My idea for the playoffs was eight teams.

I would have seeds 1 and 2 host quarterfinals in that scenario. Two NY6 games would be quarterfinals for seeds 3-6, two would be semifinals, and two would be at-large.

I still think the semis and NC would have attendance issues but at least all the quarters would be well attended. It would be MUCH better than what's being planned, the more I think about it.

(Move to Rivals if necessary, but I feel it applies here.)

I just saw how the Orange Bowl is basically going to be empty. Not a surprise, but it's increasingly obvious that fans and players are apathetic to non-playoff bowl games (imagine if our fans and players had sat out the 2004 Sugar Bowl). I've heard the sentiment that the 12-team playoff will help with this, but I've been thinking more and more about the ABSURD number of games that fans are going to have to travel to--oh, and for some teams this will be ON TOP of conference championships. I'd say a six-team playoff would be ideal from a perspective of fan affordability. Unfortunately, anything below an eight-team playoff and you'll be almost guaranteed to be forced to leave out a couple of very deserving teams--go back and look at each year since 1998, in most years a four or six-team playoff would've resulted in decisions just as controversial as this year. 

So, my question is...would bowls and college football in general be better if we quit trying so hard to figure out a champion and basically went back to the 80s and early 90s system in which the conference champions just automatically go to the assigned by conference bowl? Some of you may claim I'm lobbying for "PaRtIcIpAtIoN tRoPhYs" but there is no sport that's logistically tougher for which to organize a championship system. CFB was better when people were actually excited about bowl games and attend them, and thinking about how many empty seats the NC, semis and possibly even quarters will have is just kind of depressing.

(I know this won't happen--too much TV network $ to be made, but I just wanted your thoughts.)

3 hours ago, Viper said:

It’ll sting em, but they’ll still have the higher ranked class. Plus he’s an AU legacy. Don’t see them melting over this.

I’m definitely not counting on it but I don’t think it would be by very much. 

My reservations about him remain the same but CDS absolutely deserves credit for a three game improvement (this was nothing like 2012 Auburn or 2015 UCF) and a very strong transfer class + getting Seaton.

58 minutes ago, CR said:

Im imagining bryan harsin trying to hang out with the Thompsons. 

"Trying"

I've tried to back off of the guy the last couple years but bowl games are just not Gus's strong suit.

Their fans seem to love him and are very optimistic about the future despite looking like they'll finish 6-7 in his third year. So who knows.

Yep, looks like the Matrix Analytics were correct!

4 minutes ago, tinman1 said:

There's not a damn bit of fizzle to this class. Hell of a lot of SIZZLE though.   Look where we've come in the 15 months Freeze & staff have been here.  It's REMARKABLE!

Fo shizzle my nizzle