What is Auburn's football program capable of?

Expect 9 wins a year and having a real shot at the SEC Championship 1 out of 4 years.

We should be able to get to at least a Wisconsin or Michigan State (sans this year) level of success.

We make average a verb.

Competitive in every game. Beat UGA at least every other year. Beat Bama at least 1 out 3.

Auburn has a history of recruiting the panhandle of Florida and the state of Georgia. We've had pipelines to major programs in South Florida as well.

Alabama as a state puts out a good amount of talent for its population. We've always been able to snag a few top recruits here and there.

Biggest difficulty for Auburn (and many SEC schools) is bringing in top flight quarterbacks, but I don't think Auburn really needs a 5 star gunslinger to be successful.

We are a storied program and are tied in the league for most Heisman winners (Florida - 3). Alabama would have to win Monday night to tie us in most undefeated seasons as an SEC school since 1980. We have rich traditions and fierce, reputable rivalry games. We have a history of putting players in the NFL. You can find numerous quotes from over the years about how intimidating Jordan Hare is and how loud our passionate fanbase is.

We have the money for top facilities and are starting to build towards being a top tier program in that regard.

Auburn should win the SEC West once every 4 years and win 9-10 games every year. Maybe a 7-8 win season once in a blue moon in obvious rebuilding years. More so, we should be a competitive, competent, and intimidating team to play every week of the season. Every team should expect a 60 minute battle with us.

I sincerely believe that if Auburn ever got a "Saban" level coach, they could experience a similar level of success that Alabama has right now. I also think LSU, Florida, and Georgia are other programs that could as well if that counts for any measuring sticks.

EDIT - Just realized that if you go back to 1979, Alabama and Auburn are tied with 3 undefeated seasons. But I made the cutoff at 1980 because frick them, that's why.

quote:

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We've never been consistent enough to know our ceiling.

Which may mean our ceiling is inconsistency

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Best answer really.

Maybe we have been seeing our ceiling? Not bad to win and go to a second NC game and two SEC's. A lot of teams never even see it. Many teams in the SEC don't even have a SEC championship.

I know I would love to be a consistent 9-11 win team with a Championship every so often.

It's obvious our offense needs an elite QB to attain any type of big success under Gus.

I am not going to jump into the melt and call for this change and that change. I will let those that are carry that pail. I really enjoyed the players this year. They played hard and showed some significant improvement on defense. That was fun to watch again despite the bowl results. OU put together one hell of a game plan, and that damn QB was a greased pig.

Their backs were very good. Regardless of Mixon's deplorable off the field acts he is as elite as I have seen. Speed, size, catching ability. We played a very good team and they beat us all over the field.

Are their things to be critical of? Sure and I say go for it if you wish to.

Pat Dye is still involved and his puppet Jacobs has been around since the 1980s. Jacobs has a longer tenure as AD than Dye did, which must make him feel legendary. I don't think we can reach our full potential until changes are made at the top.

ETA: the power grip a few have on Auburn is our biggest burden. It took the Great Recession for Bobby Lowders bank to collapse and for him to become inconsistent. Dye is old but still dabbles in our current affairs and Jacobs seems to be invincible.

9-11 wins a year. With an SEC Champ every 3-4 years. Is that too much to ask for?

Honestly, Gus needs to go, but firing and hiring every few years couldn't go over well with potential replacements. Our ceiling right now depends solely on our HC. I don't feel optimistic about that.