Talent

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I’ve seen several people post that we should beat Cal because we are more talented. Maybe… but if you look closely: 

Our OL is made up of transfers from Tulsa and other non-P5 schools or Juco. WR- Hooks from Fcs, Shorter from north Texas. Fairweather from a non P5 school. Our QB is a former 3 star from MSU. Our RB room- stacked with talent. 

Our defensive backfield is super talented (no doubt haha). Up front I think we are starting guys from Uab, Purdue, Vandy, and a freshman. At LB we are starting a north Texas guy and possibly a UNC guy.

I have no idea what is on their roster, but ours is still TBD. 

[TexasTiger 13,340]

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

I’ve seen several people post that we should beat Cal because we are more talented. Maybe… but if you look closely: 

Our OL is made up of transfers from Tulsa and other non-P5 schools or Juco. WR- Hooks from Fcs, Shorter from north Texas. Fairweather from a non P5 school. Our QB is a former 3 star from MSU. Our RB room- stacked with talent. 

Our defensive backfield is super talented (no doubt haha). Up front I think we are starting guys from Uab, Purdue, Vandy, and a freshman. At LB we are starting a north Texas guy and possibly a UNC guy.

I have no idea what is on their roster, but ours is still TBD. 

Been a lot of non-P5 talent in the NFL. And check out our basketball roster.

[AUINSY 2,228]

Both valid points. If they’re the best of Tulsa, North Texas, FAU, Vandy, Purdue, UAB, UNC, etc., and they’ve been competing all offseason, spring, summer, and coached up by actual coaches, surely they’ve improved and are the best of the players from those areas. If not, I guess we’ll see soon enough.

[maryland tiger 616]

We have more talent than Colorado and you see what they did TCU. I believe TCU is better than Cal. If the coaching is good, Auburn will win. 

[creed 1,694]

I’d be very cautious of this game.  I saw some softness in last week’s game that I wasn’t expecting.  Not a lot but enough to make me hesitant in predicting a win. 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

22 minutes ago, maryland tiger said:

We have more talent than Colorado and you see what they did TCU. I believe TCU is better than Cal. If the coaching is good, Auburn will win. 

True, but Colorado now has an elite QB and that changes everything. We have seen that first hand here over the years. You take average talent and add an elite qb -you win. 

[SuperAUsome09 738]

6 minutes ago, creed said:

I’d be very cautious of this game.  I saw some softness in last week’s game that I wasn’t expecting.  Not a lot but enough to make me hesitant in predicting a win. 

Yep. The main worry I have is Ott vs our run defense. Run D was concerning against UMASS. 

[HAPvsOA 341]

2 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

I’ve seen several people post that we should beat Cal because we are more talented. Maybe… but if you look closely: 

Our OL is made up of transfers from Tulsa and other non-P5 schools or Juco. WR- Hooks from Fcs, Shorter from north Texas. Fairweather from a non P5 school. Our QB is a former 3 star from MSU. Our RB room- stacked with talent. 

Our defensive backfield is super talented (no doubt haha). Up front I think we are starting guys from Uab, Purdue, Vandy, and a freshman. At LB we are starting a north Texas guy and possibly a UNC guy.

I have no idea what is on their roster, but ours is still TBD. 

 

ESPN's FPI predictor has the same thoughts with Cal a 2 point favorite, while their SP+ predictor has Auburn by over a TD. I think that the offenses may be closer than some predict, but that we win based on our defense talent and scheme making a few more stops than theirs.

Foremost, I am concerned about our LB play, but as long as no other LBs get hurt, hopefully that improves from last week. Ron Roberts knows how to dial up some crafty blitzes as well, so as long as none of those bite us too hard, I think we win this game in a close one. 

Current line: Auburn -6.5 | SP+ projection: Auburn by 7.5 | FPI projection: Cal by 1.9

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 hour ago, maryland tiger said:

We have more talent than Colorado

Maybe?  But not for certain.  We don't have a better QB.  Travis Hunter is better than any WR we have.  He's as good as any CB we have.  Their RB is pretty good, but we might when when Hunter comes back.

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 hour ago, SuperAUsome09 said:

Run D was concerning against UMASS. 

One single drive.  The 1st drive of a brand new staff and countless new starters.

The rest of the game we shut them down and held them to like 70 yards on 25 carries.  People are blowing 1 drive waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the water

[Viper 3,148]

3 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

I’ve seen several people post that we should beat Cal because we are more talented.

I don’t believe it’s because we’re more talented in the 1st string. It’s the depth where we’re more talented. And in this game where both teams run the HUNH, depth and fatigue will be tested on both sides. 

[bigbird 60,624]

45 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

One single drive.  The 1st drive of a brand new staff and countless new starters.

The rest of the game we shut them down and held them to like 70 yards on 25 carries.  People are blowing 1 drive waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the water

I almost posted the exact same thing earlier. Glad you did 

[bigbird 60,624]

I'm expecting another Purdue game. I could be wrong but Yogi doesn't scare me. 

[bostic up the middle 80]

I think we are good talent-wise, it's the gellin' of first time teammates I'm worried about

[ellitor 33,212]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

The rest of the game we shut them down

Not entirely. They busted 1 ot 2 big runs later in the game.

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

People are blowing 1 drive waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the water

Concern is not based solely on 1 drive. We heard all Fall Camp the Run D was our weak spot. Asante being out for a while adds to the concern.

[ellitor 33,212]

21 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I'm expecting another Purdue game

???

[bigbird 60,624]

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/opponent-history/purdue-university/125

[ellitor 33,212]

Just now, bigbird said:

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/opponent-history/purdue-university/125

I forgot we played them.

[bigbird 60,624]

42 minutes ago, ellitor said:

I forgot we played them.

So did they

[AUpreacherman22 3,904]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

I'm expecting another Purdue game. I could be wrong but Yogi doesn't scare me. 

I would be shocked if we curb-stomped them to that degree!!!   I would love it!  But I would be very surprised!

[AuburnNTexas 7,226]

They have a solid RB and a mobile QB so we will have a chance to find out if adjustments we made after first UMass drive is why we looked better or if it was the injury to the QB. I think it was a little of both so this should be a good test. The time difference also works in Cal's favour.  I expect good things from our run game and RB's and I hope to see more of our offense including passing to TRE's and RB's along with better reads between the QB and the WR's.  

 

I think it might be close for a while but I think we pull ahead as the game goes on. I believe we have more talent then Cal. Saturday night will go a ways to determine how much better we are then last years team.

[AUINSY 2,228]

Didn’t their (UMASS) mobile QB get injured at the end of that first drive? I think that’s why some are putting that much stock into that 1st one UMASS gashed us in. Not that I agree with it, just explaining why others are saying that. Hopefully it was a bit of a smelling salt / wake up call for coaches/players. 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,332]

1 hour ago, AUINSY said:

Didn’t their (UMASS) mobile QB get injured at the end of that first drive? I think that’s why some are putting that much stock into that 1st one UMASS gashed us in. Not that I agree with it, just explaining why others are saying that. Hopefully it was a bit of a smelling salt / wake up call for coaches/players. 

Yep. This is the reason for so much concern. If the UMASS QB doesn't get hurt when he did I think the game is much closer than it ended up being.

[DAG 34,086]

We love putting fear in our own hearts. Some were doing it before the UMASS game. I expect us to handle them efficiently and without scare. If we can’t find that against Cal, we are going to be in a world of trouble come SEC play. 

[toddc 13,194]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

We love putting fear in our own hearts. Some were doing it before the UMASS game. I expect us to handle them efficiently and without scare. If we can’t find that against Cal, we are going to be in a world of trouble come SEC play. 

I hate to think what SEC play will look like if we don’t beat them pretty convincingly.