to give a opinion biased in another way . I also question Auburn's #4 rankings for next year . . I see the point that we ended the season extremely well and are returning all but 4 of our starters, but We haven't been ranked #4 since the end of the 1993 season. It is nice to see some respect, considering every previous year we start out at 60 or something. But #4 is a bit high. Auburn's primary goal next year needs to be the SEC Title - then hope for the best. I will be disappointed in next season if we don't at least play in the SECCG.
Let me ask you chuck, what will the Auburn fateful do if Auburn does not make the Title game next year ??? Will the plains start getting restless ?? It appears everyone is painting Georgia and Auburn as the SEC powerhouses next year. I am pleased about it because I like when everyone writes of LSU. This puts the pressure out of the gate with expectations squarely on Auburn. What happens if Auburn has a few bad games again, and they are watching from the couch like we did this year. Basically what will it take for Tubby to get fired Also I have found little on Auburns recruiting this year. How is the class shaping up. I have seen where the Russell thing has ruffled some feathers ??? Good to see you Chuck, congrats on the Penn State win, aside from you, Georgia, and Ole Miss the rest of us fell flat in defending our conference.
well - a few things - Tuberville - I think for the most part the end of the season (starting from halftime of the Florida game) really but people's faith back in him. He won some very big games and in our one loss we looked really strong. I believe people are starting to realize that CTT was pretty heavily handicapped by the coaching tenure of Terry Bowden - and we are really starting to see the fruits of Tuberville's labor. I have no clue when the last time Auburn won a New Years Day Bowl was before this year. If we don't get to the title game - the fans reactions will depend more on WHY we didn't. Was it a few close losses to strong opponents (LSU in BR, UGA in Athens, UT) - did a team like LSU or UGA really get on fire at the end of the season and just outplay us - or did we look like we did against Arkansas for 2-3 games? I don't think CTT can do anything other than have a losing record before we can even consider him getting canned next year - and I can assure you, its the last thing on everyone's mind. The recruiting class is a bit interesting. Rivals (the source I use as the best one) has us ranked around 26th - but our specialists feel we wil finish top 20 and really identify some key needs. Meanwhile - the insiders has us like top 15 or 10 . . Obviously the signing of Brandon Jacobs certainly helped. We are still in the running for some big name recruits also (Ernie Sims visits this weekend) and if CTT pulls of a signing day snafu like he did last year (Aromashadu, McNeil, Palmer, and Reddick) it could move us into the top 10. One of the reasons its no real high profile is b/c our needs aren't in the "glory" positions (QB, RB, WR). For instance - while we recruited Russell pretty hard and did want him - we also have 4 (Campbell, Cox, Sullivan, Hill) qb's on the roster right now and have already committed Kelsey Luke for this year. We are knee deep in RB's (Williams, Brown, Jacobs, Smith) and committed a RB out of TN who was Mr. Football for his Class. We had a huge group of WR's sign last year (Obodamu, Aromashadu, C. Taylor, Mix) so that hasn't been a huge need either. In fact - we truly did not even offer the #1 WR coming out of Alabama this year - Jason Swain. We have offered Chad Jackson - but I don't think he will come. Realistically - if I was a WR, and I wanted to see early playing time and a lot of balls - I'm pretty confident I wouldn't chose Auburn either. I posted my thoughts on the Russell issue on another thread here. Thanks for the congrats - I went down to the Cap One Bowl and had a blast - it was the first game I got to actually attend since the 2001 LSU game. So it was a much better experience. You will be happy/surprised to know that when the were announcing the Cotton Bowl score over the loudspeaker, and huge cheer came up when LSU was up in the 1st half. sorry this is so long . .
No problem I was interested in your thoughts, you are an Auburn fan who shoots everything straight.... I read about that Juco RB that is supposed to be the end all be all. Keep in touch, everytime I try to read about other school recruiting it asks me to buy a membership, so I have to count on guys like you. Bummer on Tubby !!! (just kidding) To bad Fran left he had taken over Tubbs as LSU most hated Coach. I assume Caddy will be starting RB again. Auburn will be tough next year, I am glad we got them in Tiger Stadium, and hopefully Auburns best player for them this year Marcus Randall if he plays decides to complete passes to his own team this time. Stick around !
SEC West Curse!!!! Auburn will probably be another SEC West "no show". It seems that the last few times that a SEC west team has had preseason hype they have not even contended. LSU '98 = Preseason #6 (3-8) Bama '00 = Preseason #3 (3-8) MSU "01 = Preseason ? (top ten) (3-8) Anyone else notice a trend here?
MSU wasn't ranked very high at all this season . .and actually neither was Arkansas. The highest ranked SEC West team pre season this year was LSU - I think followed by either Alabama or Auburn.
Dont know about Auburn, but I think the curse is the fact we are in the SEC. It is so hard for an SEC team to finish so high because of the calibur of teams in the SEC, when you play Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama etc etc. It is hard to get through that without one or two bad days.
I agree 100% . . It could easily be another season where the SEC West Champs have three SEC losses . .
I agree too, that is why I don't put money down on SEC West games. LSU blows out UF and then lays eggs with Auburn and Alabama yet Auburn blows it agsint Ark. You just never know in the West. If anyone could come out of the West with either one or no losses, I would put them up against anyone in the country.
