AUwent

3 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

He had one bad year in HIS FIRST YEAR! He is NOT responsible for the four years prior. He is not responsible for what GUS or Harsin did. 

Year one was always going to be rough. At the end of the day the goal was to just make a bowl and we did that. Now in year two and three, of course improvement should be expected/demanded and then in year four a playoff run.

TIL that college basketball didn’t exist prior to November 2017.

7 hours ago, AURex said:

I don't remember any spring practice as closed off as this year. After all of the great recruiting and the returning guys, it's like sleepy corner here, like nothing being reported.

Is this because CHF wants to try to keep our opponents from catching on to some super secret players? Or just not wanting to let Auburn faithful build up expectations?

I dunno. I find this peculiar.

 

Bball + Joker’s philosophy among insiders (which, mind you, I completely understand)

A quick gander around the webs suggests we’re not the only ones BTW. Sorry to be depressing here but I can’t help but wonder if people in general are apathetic to CFB with all the changes.

2 hours ago, TigerOne said:

Freeze could learn a lot from Bruce. 
His honeymoon is over.

This reminds me of when I saw someone wish we had hired Sark midway through last year. Did you not see how Bruce’s first three years here went? I’m not saying that we should tolerate three years of 6-6 from CHF but this is absurd.

A much needed pickup!

I know losing him sucked but…we’re still in the top 10 on 247 and just outside it on On3, and in the top 10 in average ratings of both. I really don’t see the cause of panic here?

16 hours ago, shabby said:

I thought we were losing stutts Britton and Jones and returning wade and Wright....  evidently i'm not seeing the whole picture

We return Lew, Wade and “Too Tall” Miller this year. As I said, next year we should return Lew and Wright/Muskrat.

2 hours ago, shabby said:

Aren't we losing four starters on the offensive line? Next your offense line will have less Collective years of experience

Are you talking 24 or 25? I’m so confused!

We return three starters in 2024 incl. a pretty damn good transfer who will enable one of those returning starters to move in a position he’s more comfortable with. In 2025 we should return two, since apparently Wright and Muskrat (only one of which should start in 2024) are juniors.

Ridiculous to say inexperienced. 🤷‍♂️ 

Schrodinger’s NIL, simultaneously one of the best and worst!

On 3/2/2024 at 11:10 PM, TigerOne said:

Already making excuses yeah we got it.

Honeymoons over Freeze. You fail this year and your time is limited.

As long as we meet my sig’s requirements things should be hunky dory.

3 hours ago, DAG said:

I agree with a lot of this. I will say I don’t see the win loss category changing drastically this year. 7-6 (with the addition of a bowl win is what I am thinking). I hope I am wrong.

Then we’d better be starting lots of freshmen. If we’re starting 13 seniors and you’re correct, we can expect the same result in year 3. I realize this is exactly how it played out with Drinkwitz at Missouri but cmon, there’s no way players like Coleman would stay through that.

We’d better see improvement in record. Going 6-6 again with only 9 starters returning next year is unacceptable. There is just very little reason to start Thorne.

But yes, our losses do need to be way more like the games against UGA UAT and OM and not like…well, the others.

7-5. Gradual improvement…

I looked it up too and couldn’t find anything else. SI at this point is one step above FanSided, so 🤷‍♂️ .

Nothing about Devin Williams’ commitment? Solid pickup, I’d say.

2 hours ago, DAG said:

Alabama being worse means absolutely nothing because they still have a quality coach , like the Aggies with more than enough talent to match. Kentucky is a toss up. Missouri will probably be favorites. Then you still have UGA, Oklahoma. Those are six games that are either toss ups or teams who absolutely can match us in talent. Then , BECAUSE I KNOW OUR MEMORIES ARE SHORT, you absolutely cannot overlook a single team, whether that be Cal or Louisiana-Monroe. This team is not good enough top to bottom to do that. 

And, given all that, one more win in year 2 shouldn’t be too much of an ask. Unless we’re committing to starting a LOT of underclassmen to set up a big jump in year 3.

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Going to have to over achieve then because I see us having the same regular season record with gradual improvement hinging on the bowl game. Don’t think we see a true 180 until after this upcoming class. 

49 minutes ago, DAG said:

We will but it’s not hard being better than a team with a losing record. The fact of the matter is the other teams we are playing will also be better and the schedule as a whole is tougher. 

I think it’s about equal…the two toughest teams on schedule last year were at home. *At least in theory*, I feel like in a rebuilding process it’s better to get the teams that you’d have a better shot at beating on a neutral field anyway. Put it this way—all other things being the same would you want a presidential candidate from whatever largest state is opposite your party (CA or TX) or from a swing state?

But if you’re correct and we have as many senior starters as we’re projected to, that would be COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. 

8 hours ago, bigbird said:

Me too!

 

I think our upcoming season, more than any other in recent memory, is the most unpredictable we've seen.  

I just want one more (reg season) win—if not we’d BETTER be starting at least 15 players who will be back next year.

Should we be worried? I know it's super duper early but it just seems like we're on a bit of a cold streak with regards to targets naming their favorites.

Sorry to double post, but Edward nails it here.

2 hours ago, aujohnson said:

I think the easy answer is the guys we are bringing in have a higher ceiling than the guys we are losing. To plug depth holes, I think we will continue to add to both lines through the portal based on what we’ve seen so far. The optimism though is from our recruited high schoolers. 

Yeah, I think year 4 is really when we make a run. But we're going to have to show improvement between that--can't be like, say, Drinkwitz's first three years.

Gonna be honest, a little frustrated no one has addressed my question earlier. -.-

17 minutes ago, NCTiger1982 said:

When Freeze was hired I considered him producing 1 win more than Gus per year and another JABA hire our BOT could control. I just think about Cole Cublic saying our BOT would rather go 8&5 and get to roam the sidelines than stay in their box seats and compete for NCs. My HOPE is Freeze has evolved and will continue to evolve as a HC. I hate using Saban as an example but he went outside his comfort zone several times and especially on O to develop his craft. 
Freeze’s recruiting has been stellar and offers hope. I just hope our blind squirrel leadership found a nut by mistake. I have NOTHING against Freeze and he has done his penance. I hope he ends up with multiple NCs and shocks the CFB world. 
 

WDE !

By no means do I like big money donors having such a say over a program. I'm just sick of people (in our own fanbase and outside of it) acting like we're the only program where that happens.

Alright, this seems to be the most active thread on the subject. So with that in mind, I looked at how ESPN ranked six of our opponents in its early top 25. I'm not mad that we're unranked, my focus here is more on the sentiment that year 3 is when we take a leap. But how are we going to do that if we're full of seniors this year? For example it's hard for me to be enthusiastic about that Lewis guy for this very reason.