Hoo Boy. These guys have a lot to live up to. They are going to be good but, damn, one loss and those fans buying into all this hype are going to be after Tubby's head. Reminds me of Bama a few years ago. Hyped up to be an NC contender, returns the season opening kickoff for a TD then all downhill after that. If a very good USC team beats them in game 1, the season's a failure. For now, give me a pre-season #15.
I personally would much rather a climb to #1 then being put there. To me, it doesnt matter if an SEC team is pre-season #1 or #5,000. If they go undefeated in the SEC and thru their OOC schedule, they will play for the title.
Well, just to keep you cajuns honest...you guys think because this ill-informed magazine puts us at the top of their own little poll that EVERY SINGLE AUBURN FAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH is EXPECTING a MNC in '03. I haven't seen/heard/read ANY Auburn fan say that they will be pissed if we don't win it all. TSN just wants to sell some magazines, that's all. Auburn isn't the best team in the country. Auburn hasn't earned that title yet. As far as I'm concerned we're number 14 or 16 or wherever we ended last season after beating Penn St if we really want to keep up with polls. So please spare us the Bama of '00 talk and all that. We'll be just fine, especially when we come to lsu...you guys still playing that Randall quarterback?
s/ Whoa now. I said THOSE AU fans that are buying into the hype...not ALL Auburn fans. Your situation would be common to any school getting a lot of preseason play. I do take exception to your "they are just trying to sell magazines" comment. Auburn is not exactly a metropolis. If their intent was to pick a #1 whose fans would scarf up all the copies of the magazine they'd pick a team like Texas or Ohio State. Seriously, though, I wasn't sniping but rather sympathizing somewhat.
Wasn't Mauck a SEC champ game MVP? I think that he'll start the first half the season if not all. In the next three years I don't think anyone will have any trouble remembering the LSU QB's name. Hell, if you live in Ala. you should be able to tell me more about our new QB than I could tell to you. Where did Jah Russel go to high school?
Not necessarily. I think they figured if they pick a #1 that not really many people expected to see #1 by their name, people might want to pick up the mag to find out what all the buzz is about that team...that's how I took it. I don't know...I have an engineering background, not a marketing background.
I don't think any fans expect to win the national championship. However, when you're ranked in the preseason top 5 it crosses your mind. Also, it almost makes it where you expect to win the SEC West with a better than average chance of winning the SEC title. This is where the high expectation can hurt you. For example, if Auburn ends up being co-West champs again (which is considered a pretty good year) and even wins the tiebreaker to get to the SEC Championship game, many Auburn fans might look at it as a dissappointing season. If Auburn doesn't even get to the SEC Championship game, Tubby will be under fire. In contrast, if Ole Miss is co-West champs and doesn't even make the SEC championship game, Eli is considered a savior.
Look at it this way. You're at the airport newsstand and see a magazine with Cadillac Williams on the cover and another one with NC State QB Rivers and the headline Surprise #1! Which one are YOU, an AU fan, gonna buy?
