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Let me waste your time to state the obvious
Posted on 9/24/24 at 5:41 pm
Posted on 9/24/24 at 5:41 pm
Was pondering our coaching and QB play and thinking about Tennessee’s long journey in the wilderness of mediocrity post Fulmer.
Granted the UT system certainly had a LOT of turmoil over the last 20 years that contributed in both dysfunction in the athletics department and university leadership. I guess it’s certainly different but AU sort of has too over the last decade.
So- Fulmer is gone 2008.
Kiffin 2009 went 7-6 in one year
Dooley 2010-12 (he had #7,# 14, #19 recruiting classes) went 15-21
Jones 2013-2017 (he had #25, #7, #4, #14 and #17 recruiting classes) went 34-27 with Dobbs 2 years account for 18 of those wins in 2 seasons.
Pruitt 2018-2020 (he had #21, # 13, #11 recruiting classes) went 5-19.
Huepel 2021- (he has had #22, #17, #10, and #14 recruiting classes) is 28-12 with two solid QBs- Hooker and Nico
The thing that stands out amid all that churn is that UT from Eric Ainge in 2007 up until Hooker in 2021 has had no good QB other than two 9-4 years with Josh Dobbs in 2015,16. Everyone else (QB wise and coach) had a losing record or close to it.
The UT recruiting classes weren’t top 5- but they weren’t awful. In some ways comparable to ours during that stretch- maybe ours were slightly better until Harsin.
Auburn looks similar- with regard to QBs and I guess most mediocre teams if compared would too. I just chose to compare to TN.
Cam (14-0) and Marshall (20-7) made Gus look brilliant. Stidham (18-9) and Cox (16-10) made things work and won some big games. Everyone else in between- is a combined sub par 23-32.
I don’t know where AU goes from here- the portal is a game changer in this age, certainly HS recruiting is key- but what seems to be the main thing is that a serviceable QB is—the buggest difference maker—-whether it be these underdogs that come in and beat us- or the successful SEC teams—-what they have is a QB that carries them.
Do you need a QB and a roster full of 5 stars to dominate year in and year out? Yes. Do you need a serviceable o line. Definitely. But you can’t beat bad teams without a QB. We would be 4-0 easily with one.
The point- I guess—-is just what everyone knows. We probably DO have the talent to win- at least 8 or 9 games IF we had a QB. Do we need better recruiting classes to elevate above that- sure.
Why? It’s not like UT has had top 5 classes recently- what they’ve had is back to back good QBs.
That has to be our focus- this year is whatever it will be—CHF and the money guys have to get one.
Granted the UT system certainly had a LOT of turmoil over the last 20 years that contributed in both dysfunction in the athletics department and university leadership. I guess it’s certainly different but AU sort of has too over the last decade.
So- Fulmer is gone 2008.
Kiffin 2009 went 7-6 in one year
Dooley 2010-12 (he had #7,# 14, #19 recruiting classes) went 15-21
Jones 2013-2017 (he had #25, #7, #4, #14 and #17 recruiting classes) went 34-27 with Dobbs 2 years account for 18 of those wins in 2 seasons.
Pruitt 2018-2020 (he had #21, # 13, #11 recruiting classes) went 5-19.
Huepel 2021- (he has had #22, #17, #10, and #14 recruiting classes) is 28-12 with two solid QBs- Hooker and Nico
The thing that stands out amid all that churn is that UT from Eric Ainge in 2007 up until Hooker in 2021 has had no good QB other than two 9-4 years with Josh Dobbs in 2015,16. Everyone else (QB wise and coach) had a losing record or close to it.
The UT recruiting classes weren’t top 5- but they weren’t awful. In some ways comparable to ours during that stretch- maybe ours were slightly better until Harsin.
Auburn looks similar- with regard to QBs and I guess most mediocre teams if compared would too. I just chose to compare to TN.
Cam (14-0) and Marshall (20-7) made Gus look brilliant. Stidham (18-9) and Cox (16-10) made things work and won some big games. Everyone else in between- is a combined sub par 23-32.
I don’t know where AU goes from here- the portal is a game changer in this age, certainly HS recruiting is key- but what seems to be the main thing is that a serviceable QB is—the buggest difference maker—-whether it be these underdogs that come in and beat us- or the successful SEC teams—-what they have is a QB that carries them.
Do you need a QB and a roster full of 5 stars to dominate year in and year out? Yes. Do you need a serviceable o line. Definitely. But you can’t beat bad teams without a QB. We would be 4-0 easily with one.
The point- I guess—-is just what everyone knows. We probably DO have the talent to win- at least 8 or 9 games IF we had a QB. Do we need better recruiting classes to elevate above that- sure.
Why? It’s not like UT has had top 5 classes recently- what they’ve had is back to back good QBs.
That has to be our focus- this year is whatever it will be—CHF and the money guys have to get one.
This post was edited on 9/24/24 at 5:45 pm
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Posted on 9/24/24 at 6:41 pm to AUmemphis
Posted on 9/24/24 at 7:20 pm to AUmemphis
quote:
Do you need a QB and a roster full of 5 stars to dominate year in and year out? Yes. Do you need a serviceable o line. Definitely. But you can’t beat bad teams without a QB. We would be 4-0 easily with one.
^ this. The talent difference on this Auburn team compared to the last few years is night and day. It’s not where it needs to be yet. That’s for sure. But it’s already a vastly improved. The one area thats lagged though is QB. And yes, that’s on Freeze. He didn’t get a QB when he should have.
Does that mean fire him? Hell no. Look at what Tennessee went through from the end of the Fulmer regime until now. Look at Florida since Meyer left. They’re still a dumpster fire. The worst thing a program can do is to keep firing coaches. If Auburn wants to turn things around, they’ve got to give a coach the time to rebuild the program.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 7:54 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
The worst thing a program can do is to keep firing coaches. If Auburn wants to turn things around, they’ve got to give a coach the time to rebuild the program.
Harsin was an anomaly. Auburn doesn't fire coaches that much. We hung on to Malzahn a few years too long which is part of the reason our roster issues are so bad. Firing Freeze now isn't the answer, but neither is pretending all of our problems are because of roster deficiencies. Most of the SEC has some level of roster deficiency and in this new game of college football, that's going to be the story going forward for most teams. Arkansas has roster problems and coaching problems and they walked into our stadium and handled us. At some point, Freeze has to be held accountable and bad coaching has to be pointed out.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 8:14 pm to AUmemphis
Heard a really good podcast yesterday with Zac Blackerby and Philip Dukes talking about the AU QB’s Dukes had a good point. If we lose to OU and UGA there’s really no point in NOT playing Walker White. Playing Thorne does us no good at 2-4. Put in some things WW can do, get in some live reps in a meaningful game and see if he can learn and develop and grow. Who cares is we lose at that point. We’ll be playing for the future and the only way to have any hope for the future, and know if WW has potential to be the guy, is to get him reps and play the long game. That way we’ll at least know what we need in the portal.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 8:21 pm to TailbackU
White clearly isn’t ready… getting shitpumped and him getting killed does no one any good. He’s running scout team for a reason.
This isn’t Xbox.
This isn’t Xbox.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 8:22 pm to AUmemphis
This game has always been about one position far and away more than any other. Quarterback. If you have one, you’ve got a chance. If yours is shite, you have no chance. It’s that simple. Hope we find one soon.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 9:40 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
The talent difference on this Auburn team compared to the last few years is night and day. It’s not where it needs to be yet. That’s for sure. But it’s already a vastly improved. The one area thats lagged though is QB. And yes, that’s on Freeze. He didn’t get a QB when he should have.
Does that mean fire him? Hell no. Look at what Tennessee went through from the end of the Fulmer regime until now. Look at Florida since Meyer left. They’re still a dumpster fire. The worst thing a program can do is to keep firing coaches. If Auburn wants to turn things around, they’ve got to give a coach the time to rebuild the program.
If I may add a thought.
Our strength on offense is running the ball. We have 3 good RBs, our OL run blocks exponentially better than it pass protects, yet we have thrown the ball 2 more times than we have run it through 4 games. We are not capable of protecting a QB for a 3-step drop/read the field type passing game.
CHF is trying to shove a square peg in a round hole by slinging it around.
If we would establish a run game the passing would open up for some easy throws without a lot of time required to get rid of the ball.
We averaged 6.5 YPC in the first half last week and outgained Arkansas by a good bit. The TOs killed us and could be mitigated by running the damn ball.
(ETA: Alston's fumble inside the 10 was solely on his poor ball security, which should be corrected by old school methods, or he can warm the bench.)
Bottom line is we "should" be 4-0 if it weren't for some poor play calling/offensive schemes, and a few very ill-timed turnovers. We are young and inexperienced. The on field coaching may look worse than reality due to mistakes made by 18-19 year old kids playing against much more experience.
In the big picture it is not as bad as it seems.
Just my 2 cents.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 9:45 pm to AU_251
quote:
This game has always been about one position far and away more than any other. Quarterback.
Depends on the offense.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 9:51 pm to tiggerfan02 2021
quote:
If I may add a thought.
It’s a very valid thought.
CHF is stubborn about his style. Consider this-
My senior year of HS- his first as head coach- he decided to sling it around. Fun and gun. Problem was we were built for running buck traps. Didn’t have a QB or WRs that even could execute pitch and catch- but he pushed it even when it was clear we couldn’t do it like it should work.
I guess my point to add to yours is “makes sense,” but CHF has never been a power running guy- from the start.
This post was edited on 9/24/24 at 9:52 pm
Posted on 9/24/24 at 9:56 pm to AUmemphis
We still have some holes in the OL and DL for,that matter. I don’t see the point in spending a shitload of,money this season for a guy to be a tackling dummy.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 10:27 pm to AUCom96
quote:
We hung on to Malzahn a few years too long which is part of the reason our roster issues are so bad
I sit back and wonder what could have been if we had Gus in the age of NIL, and could throw money at offensive linemen.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 11:09 pm to AUmemphis
Watching Aaron Murray break down our QB film from Saturday confirms this. Guys are open. Yeah, there are still some key drops and bad tips, but the QBs are just not good. None of them can stand in the pocket, go through their progressions, and deliver a catchable ball on a consistent basis. They all get stuck on their first option.
We beat Arky pretty handedly with a top tier QB.
I also agree that we should be running the ball more. Gus and Hugh both love to get too pass happy when our obvious strength is in the run game. It's like as soon as they only gain 1 yard on a rush, they abandon it for the rest of the quarter.
We beat Arky pretty handedly with a top tier QB.
I also agree that we should be running the ball more. Gus and Hugh both love to get too pass happy when our obvious strength is in the run game. It's like as soon as they only gain 1 yard on a rush, they abandon it for the rest of the quarter.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 11:38 pm to BranTheHuman2
Tennessee wised up an hired an innovative offensive mind that is also a good judge of QB talent and able to coach them up.
Auburn keeps hiring these played out coaches that much like our fans has no idea what a good QB is.
Auburn keeps hiring these played out coaches that much like our fans has no idea what a good QB is.
Posted on 9/25/24 at 7:52 am to BranTheHuman2
You think Gus, the guy who ran power dive after EVERY first down, was too pass happy? We led the country in rushing during his first year and we all begged for him to open up the offense his last few years. I don't think your memory's of the Gus O are correct.
Posted on 9/25/24 at 8:11 am to BranTheHuman2
quote:
the QBs are just not good. None of them can stand in the pocket, go through their progressions, and deliver a catchable ball on a consistent basis. They all get stuck on their first option.
I don't agree with this wrt to Hank. Thorne panics at the first hint of pressure and bails or freezes. Hank stood tall, looked to be going through his progressions, etc. He just wasn't seeing the defenders. Especially when Arkansas was in zone.
The first pick looked like he might have seen the LB, but he just doesn't have the arm strength to get that one to his target unmolested. Or it could have been he just didn't see him sitting underneath. Another one of his was bad while they were playing zone and he just threw it right to the defender. However, in the time he has played, Hank has looked MUCH more comfortable in the pocket than I've ever seen Thorne look. He is just young and lacks the legs Thorne has to escape when things break down. He doesn't have the biggest arm, but if he ever gets comfortable seeing what the defense are doing, he is definitely capable of managing a competent offense. Thorne has his athleticism to run the RPO stuff, but just isn't very accurate and is horrible under pressure. The staff is gonna have to pick one style and stick to it the rest of the season. It's the ONLY option that gives us a chance to not lose 8 or 9 games.
Posted on 9/25/24 at 8:14 am to Shankapotamous
quote:
You think Gus, the guy who ran power dive after EVERY first down, was too pass happy?
Yeah I will never forget the LSU game where we got up 17-0 or 21-0, something like that and he ran the ball like 15 or 20 times straight on first down plays.
It allowed them to come back and spoil Auburn's first win in BR since 1999. I was so damn mad at that game.
Posted on 9/25/24 at 8:21 am to IAmNERD
2017 LSU
Sickening day
Sickening day
Posted on 9/25/24 at 8:31 am to lowspark12
Not suggesting WW play for an entire game, only in spots where he has a few plays to execute. And only if we crater in the next few games. He’s either good enough to play at this level or he’s not. We’ve got 4 games to play with before he burns his redshirt. And if we’re headed toward a 3-8 season anyway, why not get some real stuff on tape he can learn and grow from.
Posted on 9/25/24 at 8:45 am to AUmemphis
Did you play for him?
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