Auburn what ifs, opinions - slow season content

[Win4AU 4,151]

It was time to go but Auburn fired Gus 1 year too soon.  Maybe 2 years too soon?  I’d argue the program would have been in better shape roster wise (definitely no worse) when Freeze was eventually brought in.  We’d be talking about a possible playoff run in year 2.  Also would have saved some people a lot of $$$.

Chizik doesn’t get fired in 2012 if he doesn’t run Barrett Trotter off.  Barrett IMO was just good enough to get that team to 5-7, 6-6.  If you remember Chizik was in good shape till the final 3 SEC games where TaMu, UGA, and Bama all destroyed Auburn.  The roster was also really young in 2012 from the 2010,2011 recruiting classes.  The 2013 roster Gus inherited was actually fairly seasoned.    Would Chizik have taken that 13 team and gotten 8-4, 9-3?

what do you guys have?

[gman87 405]

I think Chizik lost the team. We almost lost to Utah St for goodness sake. Fired Gus too early? His trajectory was going the wrong way and we hadn't recruited a good OL since who knows when. The biggest mistake we made was hiring Mr Potato head instead of a legit coach with SEC ties for recruiting.

[TheNun 30]

On 6/18/2024 at 9:17 AM, Win4AU said:

If you remember Chizik was in good shape till the final 3 SEC games where TaMu, UGA, and Bama all destroyed Auburn.  

Not too sure about that

1. we started the season 0-2

2. we had to depend on overtime to beat ULM.
3. ended September 1-3 and were a heartbeat away  from ending September 0-4

4. lost to a horrible arky team .
 

Chizik was already on his way out the door by mid October those games against A&M , Georgia and bammer just helped finalized the deal 

 

what’s crazy is if we had beaten LSU Chizik is likely still head coach in 2013

[AUFightingSoldiers 699]

I think the biggest "what if" for Chizik is "what if Russell Wilson commits to Auburn instead of Wisconsin when he left NC State."

One of the biggest what ifs for Auburn as a program has to be "what if John Vaughn hit 1/5 field goals against LSU?" Auburn is probably playing for a national title that year, giving Tubbs the 2004 season (still have us a national champs) and 2005 national title run. Auburn would be staring "DYNASTY" in the face.

[AUwent 3,817]

2 hours ago, AUFightingSoldiers said:

I think the biggest "what if" for Chizik is "what if Russell Wilson commits to Auburn instead of Wisconsin when he left NC State."

How would that have helped in 2012? Even in 2011, we probably beat Clemson but otherwise, I can’t imagine anything changing (we might play more respectably against Arky and thUGA but no one—absolutely no one—was giving LSU or UAT a game that year). 

[cbo 8,556]

What if Gus wanted Lamar Jackson? 2016 season could have been special.

[AUFightingSoldiers 699]

15 minutes ago, AUwent said:

How would that have helped in 2012? Even in 2011, we probably beat Clemson but otherwise, I can’t imagine anything changing (we might play more respectably against Arky and thUGA but no one—absolutely no one—was giving LSU or UAT a game that year). 

OC Gus coaching Wilson of the 3 we had wins the Clemson game and turns Arkansas in to a shootout. 10-3 and looking competent against LSU, UGA, and Bama gives Chizik the ability to point to 2012 as a one-off, possibly giving him another year if he gets rid of Loeffler. He still probably ends up fired after 2013 implodes, but when Gus comes back he can point to Russell Wilson and Cam Newton in the league as his success stories when recruiting QBs. It's doesn't change the trajectory of Auburn's program as a whole, but Chizik leaves in a better light.

[Win4AU 4,151]

23 hours ago, AUFightingSoldiers said:

I think the biggest "what if" for Chizik is "what if Russell Wilson commits to Auburn instead of Wisconsin when he left NC State."

One of the biggest what ifs for Auburn as a program has to be "what if John Vaughn hit 1/5 field goals against LSU?" Auburn is probably playing for a national title that year, giving Tubbs the 2004 season (still have us a national champs) and 2005 national title run. Auburn would be staring "DYNASTY" in the face.

If Auburn beats 6-6 UGA in 2016 and they would have played the SECTG for a shot at the National Championship.  That would have been 3 straight chances at a Natty.  Gotta figure they get 1?  Probably puts Tubs in Dye territory as greatest coach in Auburn history.

[AUwent 3,817]

Here’s one I haven’t seen mentioned before—what if Borges gets hired a year early?

(Granted, USCw, LSU and UG would’ve been tough outs even with a competent offensive scheme.)

[TheNun 30]

And I don’t think the offense in 2012 would’ve been any better with trotter, he was the qb for the first couple of games in 2011 and was benched by the Florida game

 

Trotter to me was just another version of Cox put him up against a good D and he couldn’t hit the deep ball

[lca408 379]

Here’s a what if I love: “what if Auburn beats Alabama in 2001?” That was a game that Auburn needed to win the West that year, and we ended up losing the other one later against LSU as well. But what if? Franchione probably doesn’t get the interest from A&M in 2002 (idk, maybe he does, Alabama was on probation but maybe they would’ve gone on the run they did anyway?)

But if Fran doesn’t leave in 2002, Alabama doesn’t go after Price, or at least waits until they fire Fran, they don’t hire Shula, and it might end the Saban trajectory before it even began. 

[WarEagle1982 491]

What if Emmitt Smith had chosen Auburn instead of Florida?

[WarEagle1982 491]

On 6/29/2024 at 4:30 PM, lca408 said:

Here’s a what if I love: “what if Auburn beats Alabama in 2001?” That was a game that Auburn needed to win the West that year, and we ended up losing the other one later against LSU as well. But what if? Franchione probably doesn’t get the interest from A&M in 2002 (idk, maybe he does, Alabama was on probation but maybe they would’ve gone on the run they did anyway?)

But if Fran doesn’t leave in 2002, Alabama doesn’t go after Price, or at least waits until they fire Fran, they don’t hire Shula, and it might end the Saban trajectory before it even began. 

What if Rich Rod had signed on the dotted line?

[aucanucktiger 1,857]

On 6/18/2024 at 4:57 PM, gman87 said:

I think Chizik lost the team. We almost lost to Utah St for goodness sake. Fired Gus too early? His trajectory was going the wrong way and we hadn't recruited a good OL since who knows when. The biggest mistake we made was hiring Mr Potato head instead of a legit coach with SEC ties for recruiting.

Utah St was a perennial conference contender when Chizik almost lost to them. Freeze just lost to one of the perennially worst programs in college football history - New Mex State. Gus's leaving was mutual my friend. He cut his throat here because he kept a coach friend as O line coach/recruiter after his chemo and AU fell years behind. Big heart, big mistake. Gus beating back to back #1s (with a piecemeal O line) may not be repeated in our lifetimes.

[Win4AU 4,151]

On 7/2/2024 at 2:08 AM, aucanucktiger said:

Utah St was a perennial conference contender when Chizik almost lost to them. Freeze just lost to one of the perennially worst programs in college football history - New Mex State. Gus's leaving was mutual my friend. He cut his throat here because he kept a coach friend as O line coach/recruiter after his chemo and AU fell years behind. Big heart, big mistake. Gus beating back to back #1s (with a piecemeal O line) may not be repeated in our lifetimes.

Also the amount of players Auburn lost from the 2010 Natty team was staggering.  Compound that with the complete loss of one of Tubs recruiting classes and you have very young teams in 2011, 2012.  Thank goodness for the portal or Auburn would be experiencing some real hard times under Freeze due to similar conditions.  

[TheNun 30]

On 7/2/2024 at 2:08 AM, aucanucktiger said:

Utah St was a perennial conference contender when Chizik almost lost to them. Freeze just lost to one of the perennially worst programs in college football history - New Mex State. Gus's leaving was mutual my friend. He cut his throat here because he kept a coach friend as O line coach/recruiter after his chemo and AU fell years behind. Big heart, big mistake. Gus beating back to back #1s (with a piecemeal O line) may not be repeated in our lifetimes.

It was a Gus offense that almost lost to Utah State

a Gus offense that almost to Jacksonville State

 

harsin almost lost to Georgia state 

 

and Chizik had to depend on overtime to beat YLM

 

bottom line auburn should never come close to losing to any of those teams regardless of who the HC is 

[TheNun 30]

Watching YouTube I’ll throw a what if at you 

what if housel hadn’t fired Terry Bowden after the 1-5 start and we were somehow able to win out do you think Terry would’ve remained with auburn for the foreseeable future or would he have eventually chose to replace his father at FSU

1998 was Terrys only bad season similar but you have to consider he was starting to lose pretty much the support of everyone by some of his off the field antics 

[TheNun 30]

Just now, TheNun said:

Watching YouTube I’ll throw a what if at you 

what if housel hadn’t fired Terry Bowden after the 1-5 start and we were somehow able to win out do you think Terry would’ve remained with auburn for the foreseeable future to see guys like jason Campbell m. Ronnie brown Carnell Williams and even Cam or would he have eventually chose to replace his father at FSU

1998 was Terrys only bad season 

 

[TheNun 30]

What if housel hadn’t fired Terry Bowden after the 1-5 start would he stay here for guys like Cadillac, Ronnie brown. Jason Campbell or even cam?

 

or would he eventually choose to replace his father at fsu

[SLAG-91 1,604]

On 6/27/2024 at 12:41 PM, AUFightingSoldiers said:

I think the biggest "what if" for Chizik is "what if Russell Wilson commits to Auburn instead of Wisconsin when he left NC State."

One of the biggest what ifs for Auburn as a program has to be "what if John Vaughn hit 1/5 field goals against LSU?" Auburn is probably playing for a national title that year, giving Tubbs the 2004 season (still have us a national champs) and 2005 national title run. Auburn would be staring "DYNASTY" in the face.

We wouldn't have been playing for a MNC in 2005 even if we had beaten LSU and won the SECCG.  It was even worse than you pointed out, as Vaughn actually missed five FGs in that LSU game, going 1-6. I can't even imagine how bad he felt.

We had already lost a game (Georgia Tech), and both Texas and USC were undefeated. That was one of the few BCS years where there was a pretty clear top two without much debate.

We would have had consecutive conference championships and maybe a 12-1 season to back up the 13-0 from '04, and maybe that impacts recruiting more favorably? 

2006...even if we had beaten Georgia, we would not have played in the SECCG, so we're probably looking at a chance to go 12-1 and string together three straight excellent seasons, assuming we're piggybacking off of the revised 2005 outcome. 

The 2006 team in retrospect did pretty well to cobble together a 11-2 season, because there had been a lot of talent lost from the '04 and '05 teams and we won a handful of close games to go with a couple of ugly losses. I don't "what-if" that team at all.

The one that still sticks in my head, 35+ years later, is 1988. If we hang on to beat LSU and have an undefeated regular season (Pat Dye never had one), there's not much doubt in my mind that we're playing Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the MNC. We were ranked #4 going into the LSU game and it would have set up an easy 1 vs 2 matchup. Would we have won it? Who knows...we didn't exactly play a murderer's row in '88, and Notre Dame beat four teams that finished in the top 10. They were very, very good. But, to at a minimum have been in that spotlight for a month and being talked about would have been a major boost for the program, and it's no secret that our recruiting tailed off in the late '80s.

Edited July 3 by SLAG-91

[IronMan70 3,321]

If Gus had stayed another year or two, the powers that be would not have aligned. We needed a "Harsin type", a total POS, taking us to rock bottom to wake them up and end the nonsense. That disaster brought clarity. Now they all seem to be pulling in the same direction.

What if, with 1 minute to go we made the sure tackle on a simple 5 yard curl for a 1st down instead of allowing that FSU receiver to get 45 yards ?

What if, we had claimed some of the NCs we earned going back as far as 1913 ? We should have and still can.

What if, we had done the JH improvements 20 years ago instead of continuing to delay it ?

 

[AUwent 3,817]

The original post reinforces my concerns about the # of seniors leaving after this year. It can take a couple years for a talented recruiting class to shine, as we saw in 2011 and 12.

This week’s Auburn Live FINALLY touched on this (30 minute mark). Edward if you’re reading this, THANK YOU!

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

12 hours ago, TheNun said:

Watching YouTube I’ll throw a what if at you 

what if housel hadn’t fired Terry Bowden after the 1-5 start and we were somehow able to win out do you think Terry would’ve remained with auburn for the foreseeable future or would he have eventually chose to replace his father at FSU

1998 was Terrys only bad season similar but you have to consider he was starting to lose pretty much the support of everyone by some of his off the field antics 

No way he was going to win out. Terry and staff needed to go for their own sake as much as Auburns sake. 
 

Will say always felt he was a great game day coach.

Edited July 4 by SaltyTiger

[MadtownTiger 363]

What if our intrepid beat writer had held his water and not reported Deshaun Watson was in Auburn for a visit.  Maybe Clemson is none the wiser, and Auburn flips him for 2014.

As a true freshman he overtakes sophomore Jeremy Johnson for the backup role, and due to Marshall's suspension, begins the 2014 season as the starter.  Either in-season or the following offseason, he  becomes the full-time starter rather than Johnson/White.  The 116 career TDs he generated might have changed our fortunes.  For comparison Johnson and White combined for 35 career TDs over that same stretch.

Who knows what could have happened if AU had a highly-productive, QB-driven offense around that time.  Maybe we sign Stidham out of HS, or different decisions are made about Lamar Jackson.

WDE!

[TeamZero77 1,908]

14 hours ago, SLAG-91 said:

We wouldn't have been playing for a MNC in 2005 even if we had beaten LSU and won the SECCG.  It was even worse than you pointed out, as Vaughn actually missed five FGs in that LSU game, going 1-6. I can't even imagine how bad he felt.

We had already lost a game (Georgia Tech), and both Texas and USC were undefeated. That was one of the few BCS years where there was a pretty clear top two without much debate.

We would have had consecutive conference championships and maybe a 12-1 season to back up the 13-0 from '04, and maybe that impacts recruiting more favorably? 

2006...even if we had beaten Georgia, we would not have played in the SECCG, so we're probably looking at a chance to go 12-1 and string together three straight excellent seasons, assuming we're piggybacking off of the revised 2005 outcome. 

The 2006 team in retrospect did pretty well to cobble together a 11-2 season, because there had been a lot of talent lost from the '04 and '05 teams and we won a handful of close games to go with a couple of ugly losses. I don't "what-if" that team at all.

The one that still sticks in my head, 35+ years later, is 1988. If we hang on to beat LSU and have an undefeated regular season (Pat Dye never had one), there's not much doubt in my mind that we're playing Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the MNC. We were ranked #4 going into the LSU game and it would have set up an easy 1 vs 2 matchup. Would we have won it? Who knows...we didn't exactly play a murderer's row in '88, and Notre Dame beat four teams that finished in the top 10. They were very, very good. But, to at a minimum have been in that spotlight for a month and being talked about would have been a major boost for the program, and it's no secret that our recruiting tailed off in the late '80s.

I'm right there with you on our 1988 team. I loved that team!! Pat Dye always said that the best team he had was that 1988 team. Whenever he would get asked about the 1983 team, he would always praise that team but he would end it by saying that his best team ever was 1988. WDE