The preseason expectations thread

[HAYinthemiddleoftheBARN 296]

To be optimistic I say 0 losses. To be pessimistic I say 4 losses. To be realistic I say WAR EAGLE!!! I don't give a rip about predictions, I just wanna see our players play for glory, never quit on a play, smash their opponents heads like a grape, produce nightmares for opposing defenses & their coaches, & exit the locker room knowing they gave everything they had for all 4 quarters.

[Weegle777 78]

Cracks me up how some of you go into great detail how we will lose to UGay, the corndogs, and UThug, but are just so non-chalant about how we will beat the #1 team in the country. Funny stuff.

[AUBourne 425]

1 in SEC offensive rushing yards per game with CAP leading the way.

8 in rushing defense

4 in passing defense

ALL SEC: Dee Ford (1st team), Jay Prosh (1st team), Nick Marshall (2nd team), Reese Dismukes (2nd team), Justin Garret (2nd team), Cody Parkey (2nd team), Steven Clark (2nd team), Cameron Artis-Payne (2nd team)

Washington State - W

Ark State - W

MSU - W

LSU - L

Ole Miss - W

Western Carolina - W

TAMU - L

Fla Atl - W

Arkansas - L

UT - W

UGAly - L

UAT- L

7-5 regular season

Music City Bowl

That is more than double the wins from 2012. I think our offense must have a great game for AU to beat good teams. I am just guessing on which rb gets the most yards/carries. Sounds like CAP is the best blocker and pass receiver out of the backfield plus he can run between the tackles all day long.

[amsterjam 107]

7-5 maybe 8-4. Until I see or at least hear about much improved play from the front 7 it's hard to get my hopes up too high.

[AubTigers 25]

Until I see the team play I'm gonna go with 6-6.

[bikeriderga 135]

Sabear is worried about Malzahn at Auburn. The teams that Sabear has trouble with are the HUHN teams.

He also knows Malzahn is going to be able to recruit top offensive talent with this system. Once our Defense Clicks under Ellis Johnson, Sabear knows he is going to have competition for recruits in this state.

Getting beat by Auburn will always put pressure on an Alabama coach.

If Sabear was not worried, he would not have made a big deal about the HUHN. Even Gene Stallings disagrees with Sabear.

[CJBas 4]

Here's a prediction, but no numbers. I predict this year, for the first time in 3 years, everyone on Auburn's team and staff will be doing the best they can. We've been through two yers without that and we've seen where it lead. I can accept whatever these guys come up with so long as it's the best they can do, and this year I expect it will be.

[Deckhead 6]

I was looking for 8+ wins with a huge win vs either LSU, GA, or Bama, but the QB position has me a little worried. When I hear things like "when he knows what to do, then he outperforms the competition", or that the part of the o that he is most comfortable with is the read-option, I get the feeling we are going to see a bunch of WR screens and jet sweeps this year. It seems we have 2 burners at WR, and I would hate to see them go to waste.

So I am curtailing my optimism at this time by saying worst is 6-6, with a best of 8-4 (coin-flip games being Miss St and Ole Miss)

[Threedog79 0]

Four cupcake games = 4 wins; Four toss up games = 2 wins (split); Four tough games = 1 upset. 7-5. The team plays hard for four quarters in all of the games. We go bowling and beat Northwestern again.

[war eagle6 0]

We will be better than what some of u guys think! Smh

[cehuff21 0]

-Harvey Updyke makes a celebrity appearance on the bammer campus then elected mayor of Tuscaloosa.

-Bammers caught trying to poison UGA the mascot.

-Bammer tries to create a Nick Marshall scandal just before the iron bowl and fail.

-Auburn Undefeated National Champions.

-Nick Marshall wins the Heisman.

-Gus Malzahn coach of the year.

-By order of the Tulscaloosa Mayor, Saban takes on new full time position as Mayoral Puppet.

[Threedog79 0]

-Harvey Updyke makes a celebrity appearance on the bammer campus then elected mayor of Tuscaloosa.

-Bammers caught trying to poison UGA the mascot.

-Bammer tries to create a Nick Marshall scandal just before the iron bowl and fail.

-Auburn Undefeated National Champions.

-Nick Marshall wins the Heisman.

-Gus Malzahn coach of the year.

-By order of the Tulscaloosa Mayor, Saban takes on new full time position as Mayoral Puppet.

you forgot that Saban is finally elected to head up the lollipop guild and starts repairs on the yellow brick road.

[gravejd 3,304]

Really not sure what to expect this year. Our offense will be better but i'm just not sure if it will be good enough to offset the defensive troubles i'm expecting we'll have. I think we'll have a solid to great running game this year but i'm thinking our passing offense is going to struggle from a mixture of Marshall not being a great thrower and the receivers haven't shown they can get open. The OL will take a big step forward this year but will that be enough? I'm very curious to see who the starters on the OL turn out to be. Whoever it is we will still be very young and fairly inexperienced at 2 of the OL spots. Hopefully Greg, Dismukes, and Slade have stepped their game up enough to make up for the other two spots.

Defense has me all kinds of worried though. Johnson is really going to be working hard to earn his paycheck this year. Why am I so worried about the defense? Glad you asked.....we'll just start on the DL and move our way back.

DE - we have no all around players at this position. Egue, Carter, and Sanders are all run stuffers. Ford is a pure pass rusher and he is the only proven one we have that can get pressure. Lawson and Daniels are being counted on to provide pass rush opposite Ford and anyone who truly follows college football will tell you that if you are "counting" on Freshmen then you are in trouble. Its ok to hope and expect them to contribute, but if you're depending on them you are in big trouble. We'll see if Owens can provide some additional pass rush but seeing as how he asked to be moved to another position and then found himself back at DE tells me to not expect a whole lot here.

DT - I really think we could have a solid 2 deep at DT with Blackson, Wright, Whitaker, and Bradley. These guys should all be solid players but can any be playmakers? Can any of them get the consistency that Garner is looking for or will it always be flashes of great plays here and there and then you don't notice the guys for 3 out of 4 quarters? Normally its icing on the cake if you have a DT that is a playmaker but will lack of proven playmakers anywhere else on the front 7 somebody has got to take that role. If a couple people want to take that roll then even better! Maybe Monty (see this is where one should discuss Freshman, at the end of the breakdown!! lol) can step in occasionally and provide a spark.

LB - No idea. That about sums it up. Holland is the only one with much expeirence and he hasn't played up to the level of a starting LB too often in his career at AU. I personally don't think that is all his fault, but the fact remains. Cass. showed some grit last year but has he got his assignments down now and do the coaches trust him? Is this Frost kid ever going to show that 5 star potential, was he ever meant to be a MLB in the first place? The next LB in line I believe is Mitchell and he seems awfully small to be player MLB in our scheme. Maybe Tony (true MLB) can give us some good reps. I'm really concerned I haven't heard more about Flowers this fall. I hope the coaches have been reserving praise so he'll sneak up on the competition....i hope.

Star - We'll see....I like what i have heard out of Garret and i've been waiting on Thereizie to get more playing time since '11. Intersted to see this position in action this year.

CB - I think Davis and Mincy are going to be realy solid corners for us this year. It unfortunate that we only have one backup at CB (Jones) and the other is now the starting safety (Hosley). I love the front line folks here but depth is a concern.

Safety - This and last coaching staff loved Whitehead so that is a good sign. I think Hosley will be good here too, but will he be good immediately? No depth at Safety and I mean none. If Fisher is getting lots of snaps we're in trouble. What you say a guy who just started at that position 1 week ago is going to make the two deep.....oh dear...... . Hope those Freshmen are ready to play!!

Given all this information comes from a combination of seeing last years results and hearing the bits a pieces coming out of spring and fall camp. I guarantee a player we never thought about is going to ball out this year and fill some of the holes. I think there is a chance our offense could be dominant if the OL gels and Marshall gets a full understanding of Gus' O. I have no doubt if we get good OL and QB play that we can find some WRs to step up. I'm going with 7-8 wins this season including the bowl. I hope we can upset at least one of LSU, A&M, Bama, and UGA. I fully expect us to drop at least one of Arky, Miss ST., Miss, and Tenn. I'm really excited to see my tigers take the field in a couple of weeks and I hope they blow me away!! War Eagle!

[Auburn4Winners 0]

We will win 10+ games.

[SummerTiger 0]

Overall an improvement over 2012, getting back to winning most of the games that we are supposed to win. Our running game will be good against bad teams and struggle against the best teams (LSU, UA, UGA), forcing us to pass and leading to turnovers. Our passing game will be fairly simple, screens and deep balls.

Our defense will be able to keep us in games against one-dimensional teams, but will struggle against teams that can both run and pass. The D-line will again be a point of frustration. Ben Bradley will end the year as the best DT. Justin Garrett will lead the team in tackles. The results:

WSU - W

ASU - W

MSU - W

LSU - L

Ole Miss - L

West Carolina - W

Texas A&M - L

FAU - W

Arky - L

UT -W

UGA - L

UA - L

That's a 6-6 regular season that is likely capped with a bowl win.

I also predict that I will start a thread to brag about my predictions when I am right.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1) Don't get blown out in any game (more than 10 points)

2) Run the ball at least 65% of the time

3) Hold opponents to about 24 points per game (not including Western Carolina or FAU...expecting those games to skew numbers)

4) Beat at least one of these four: LSU, A&M, UGA, Bama

5) 6-6 season at worst, 9-3 at the absolute best

[FHeal 4]

-Harvey Updyke makes a celebrity appearance on the bammer campus then elected mayor of Tuscaloosa.

-Bammers caught trying to poison UGA the mascot.

-Bammer tries to create a Nick Marshall scandal just before the iron bowl and fail.

-Auburn Undefeated National Champions.

-Nick Marshall wins the Heisman.

-Gus Malzahn coach of the year.

-By order of the Tulscaloosa Mayor, Saban takes on new full time position as Mayoral Puppet.

oops this might belong ^{in here}> mark my word 2013

[IronMan70 3,322]

The DTs are my biggest concern again this year. If they can't at least hold their own, they will have an overall negative effect on the rest of the defensive groups. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Bradley and Adams starting at DT before the year is out.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,091]

-Harvey Updyke makes a celebrity appearance on the bammer campus then elected mayor of Tuscaloosa.

-Bammers caught trying to poison UGA the mascot.

-Bammer tries to create a Nick Marshall scandal just before the iron bowl and fail.

-Auburn Undefeated National Champions.

-Nick Marshall wins the Heisman.

-Gus Malzahn coach of the year.

-By order of the Tulscaloosa Mayor, Saban takes on new full time position as Mayoral Puppet.

If this happened, Malzahn would be getting called by the Panthers in a millisecond and Marshall would be a first round pick

[war eagle6 0]

Why do so many people think we will lose to arky?

[subterranean_jack 113]

Why do so many people think we will lose to arky?

It is a road game. But, Arkansas is in the midst of a change in offense like Auburn was last year, so I'm predicting Auburn to win.

[subterranean_jack 113]

I'm predicting 7-5 with a Liberty Bowl win over Tulsa to reach 8-5. If we can manage to upset Ole Miss or LSU, then I'll go 8-4 with a Music City Bowl win over North Carolina.

The defense and the passing game will have to improve A LOT to even get bowl-eligible. Improving more than 4-5 games in the SEC West isn't going to happen very often.

[amsterjam 107]

The DTs are my biggest concern again this year. If they can't at least hold their own, they will have an overall negative effect on the rest of the defensive groups. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Bradley and Adams starting at DT before the year is out.

I agree with all of this.

[JamesG 0]

We will go 6-6. Offense will be much improved. Marshall will be well above average and the O Line will be the strength of the team. The defensive line will not lay a finger on the opposing QBs. I thought this BEFORE the Dee Ford injury. We will give up a ton of points and will have to outscore teams for the win. This will work vs teams with inferior talent but no one better than us. I was going to predict a 7-5 season but the injuries have screwed us.

[ellitor 33,884]

After getting a co-sign from ellitor (so this thread doesn't get closed), there aren't any of these yet. So here you can post your record, stats rankings, in depth game expectations, so forth and so forth.

I'll start off

11-2 (or higher)

I say Marshall is third in passing, and 1st in rushing in the SEC for QBs

I'll say Tre Mason has 1473 yards and CAP has 800+ with Marshall having 1000+

Gus is head coach of the year

Warning this is not bold predictions this is regular predictions

lol. I thought you were talking about a recruiting predictions thread when you PMed me. I have no say on what happens in the football forum. I am a recruiting mod only. I will say this though. There is at least 1 if not multiple prediction threads for this season. Whether an all site mod merges these threads I do not know but since the thread has gotten to page 9 it does not look like it.