Auburn Tigers

[AlabamAlum]

If you want to change your name to Bo Jackson, do so. It's none of my business. Although, I'd probably still just call you dumbass.

[The Gray Ghost]

Bo Jackson is an apostate preacher? who knew?

[Professor Tiger]

If you want to change your name to Bo Jackson, do so. It's none of my business. Although, I'd probably still just call you dumbass.

http://alabama.arrests.org/Arrests/Thom ... _23001849/

http://alabama.arrests.org/Arrests/Mars ... _23099732/

http://alabama.arrests.org/Arrests/Aman ... _22868988/

[Professor Tiger]

Looks like our best player and one of the top WR's in the country - Duke Williams - is in some serious hot water.

And so begins my annual fall "Gentlemen, Auburn is in Trouble" essay, soon to follow.

[Professor Tiger]

There is some crazy rumor out there that the 2015 Auburn football team will be an SEC title contender. Whoever is spreading those rumors is either on drugs or a provocateur of a rival program.

To start with, a champion team requires a champion QB. We don't have one. Jeremy Johnson is a returning backup, not a returning starter. He does his best, and he has shown flashes of competence in his limited spot duty under center, but there is no evidence to suggest he can go to Baton Rouge and College Station and eke out a win.

Also, we have been read-option option offense that Nick Marshall ran to perfection. But Johnson is a passing QB. For him to succeed, we need solid receivers. Those are few and far between in Auburn right now. We had Sammy Coates, but he is in the NFL now. We still have Duke Williams, but he has been in and out of trouble the past year. His disciplinary problems kept him out of the bowl game last year. His problematic history indicates we can't count on him to last this season. Behind him, we have nobody.

The running game looks solid, with 5 star Roc Thomas and #1 JUCO RB Jovon Robinson. But without a passing game (see above), defenses can stack the box, and nullify an otherwise potent ground attack.

A championship team requires a championship defense. We don't have one. In fact, our defense has been dismal under three straight failed defensive coordinators (Roof, Van Gorder, Johnson). Muschamp is an excellent hire, and has the potential to bring our defense back to adequacy. But even Boom can't perform miracles in one preseason. I'm just hoping the holes in our swiss-cheese defense are somewhat smaller this year.

We only have one star on defense - Lawson - and he sat out last year with a torn ACL. They say he's healed, but there is no guarantee. The rest of the D-line couldn't get a pass rush on anybody. The linebackers aren't SEC talent level, and show the cost of not signing Foster and Evans out of Auburn high. The secondary spent most of last year chasing opposing receivers all the way to the endzone. We are so thin there that we had to call up Trey Matthews - a DB from our farm club, the Georgia Bulldogs. And even Matthews is currently injured.

The schedule is brutal as always. We start against a tough Louisville team, so our many flaws will be exposed early by the Cardinals. At least we get UGA and Bama at home. Maybe that will keep our losses to them respectable and not the usual blowouts. We travel to Arkansas - the most up-and-coming team in the SEC - and to Baton Rouge, where our poor record will likely continue. Then there's aTm, who blew us out last year even worse than Bama and Georgia usually do.

If the ball bounces our way, we might struggle to a winning season, but that's about all we can reasonable hope for. Shreveport is a nice place, after all.

GENTLEMEN, AUBURN IS IN TROUBLE.

[Professor Tiger]

P.S. Our O-line will be visibly weakened by the graduation of Reese Dismukes. You just don't immediately replace a Remington award winning center.

[Jungle Rat]

AA would be proud.

[Professor Tiger]

He sets a high bar for the rest of us.

[Jungle Rat]

True. Can't wait to hear once again how Bama is only 4th best in their division. Fun times.

[Professor Tiger]

It's always a privelege to watch the master of sandbaggery practice his craft. The rest of us can learn and treasure these moments.

[Professor Tiger]

Another reason that, gentlemen, Auburn is in trouble: Our top ten ranking to start the season. Anybody who follows Auburn football for any length of time knows that, when we are predicted to be good, we turn out to be bad, and vice versa.

Scarbinsky hits the nail on the head:

Check the stats between 1950, when the AP started its preseason poll, and 2014. They're not as ugly as Auburn's 2014 defensive numbers, but they don't add up to a program comfortable with great expectations.

Did you know that when Auburn starts a season in the AP top 10, it's more likely to finish unranked than it is to improve that ranking by season's end? It's true. Here are the numbers prior to this year.

Read 'em and weep, Aubie.

Number of times Auburn was ranked in the preseason top 10 of the AP poll: 17.
Number of times Auburn started and finished the same season in the AP top 10: 6.
Number of times Auburn started the season in the AP top 10 and finished the season with a higher ranking: 3.
Number of times Auburn started the season in the AP top 10 and finished with a lower ranking: 14.
Number of times Auburn started the season in the AP top 10 and finished unranked: 6.

So, historically speaking, when the Tigers begin the season in the top 10, they're twice as likely to finish out of the rankings as they are to finish higher than they started.

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index. ... cart_river

[Jungle Rat]

Bravo

[hedge]

Anything to this, Prof?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-auburn-a ... 8?mod=e2tw

[Professor Tiger]

Our jock major used to be sociology. That's what Cam Newton studied. My niece was in his class.

When I was a student, the jock major was early childhood education. That was Bo's major. Some of the kids had to help him out with some of the longer words in the textbooks.

[Professor Tiger]

As if there was any doubt left that Auburn is in trouble this season...

The SEC Coaches announce their All-SEC Team.

http://www.secsports.com/article/134997 ... -announced

First team selections by team:

Ole Miss - 4
LSU - 3
Alabama - 3
Georgia - 3
aTm - 2
USCe - 2
Miss. St. - 2
Florida - 1
Auburn - 1

Second Team Selections:

Arkansas - 4
Alabama - 3
LSU - 3
Florida - 2
Mizzou - 2
Georgia - 2
Tennessee - 2
Auburn - 2
aTm - 1
Miss. St. - 1
Ole Miss. - 1

Those who know the players in the conference best - the coaches - agree: Gentlemen, Auburn is in trouble.

[Jungle Rat]

There is no I in Team.

[10ac]

team.jpeg (77.39 KiB) Viewed 2629 times

[hedge]

I think somebody told that to Michael Jordan one time, he said there might not be an "i" in team, but there is "m-e"...

[Professor Tiger]

Auburn barely escaped an unranked Louisville team in an ipso facto home game. Lawson is hurt. Matthews is hurt. Johnson is a bad QB. The defense looked great - for a half. We only won because Petrino pulled a Mark Richt clock management tactic.

G, AIIT.

[dave_rickart]

naw, that was straight out of Tommy West's playbook