I did finish my biggest and best piece to date “Saturdays to Remember… and Forget – The Decade of the Eighties Part 1” but unfortunately I did not get it finished before practice started and now nobody will care since the offseason is over. I think I will keep it saved and work on more parts and look to release it next year.
So there you go… kids, my disorganization and a huge blog post that will not see the light of day anytime soon… that will pretty much sum up the summer of 2010 for me blog-wise.
The next question is how could I have waited this long to post? I mean the season is just about to start! Well that reason is simple when following Auburn, there is not any actual hard facts or observations to comment on. Only the football team and certain other insiders who cannot distribute their thoughts and observations know what is actually going on. All of the beat writers and blogs have no idea what is going on until the coaching staff decides to tell them.
It has just ruined the whole “preseason” for me. Fall practice just does not get me excited at all when the only thing you read about is pure speculation. I think the thing about Auburn that frustrates me the most is that they do not give out stats from scrimmages. At the very least that gives you something to talk about. I mean even the biggest control freak in the league and the guy that started no-access rules, Nick $aban, GIVES OUT STATS FROM SCRIMMAGES. At the very least that is all I ask. It is obviously not asking too much if $aban allows it. However at Auburn we are forced to try and form a picture from hearsay by the players and vague babble from the coaches. It is ludicrous. It just seems like a waste of time to try and make any conclusions based on hearsay and vague comments. There are no witnesses of the events that people are trying to draw conclusions from. I understand the need to close off a lot of things and I have heard all the good reasons but I still think a little more access could be granted for the fans.
However there are too many Auburn sites and bloggers though to let that stop them and hey I still read some of them too. However I do not get much enjoyment of it. It has pretty much gotten to the point where football season starts on Labor Day. The days of getting excited when practice starts are over for me while the practices are made “top secret”.
With that said, I was at West Point the first week of August and I did get to watch parts of Army’s first two football practice. So at least I got to see somebody practice some football this August…
Back to Auburn, I guess it is time to make some preseason predictions. Another damper for me every year is the nauseating sunshine-pumping from the various Auburn outlets. I understand some of it but it seems to get worse every year. There just does not seem to be much difference between the way Auburn and Bama fans act now. There was a time not so long ago that Auburn fans were much more objective and realistic about their team’s chances and not the complete homers that most Bama fans are. That does not seem true anymore. A spin around the various Auburn sites and you will find that Auburn is absolutely awesome, Gene Chizik is already a certified great coach and everything is great and wonderful. Now for the record things are definitely looking up for this season but I am not quite ready to go as far as most Auburn people.
First, a comment on last year. A prevailing topic since the season ended is how great the team did last year, how much they exceeded expectations, etc… I beg to differ. I would be cast as “negative” but I predicted Auburn would go 6-6 last year and 2-4 in the SEC in the regular season. Auburn ended up going 7-5 last year and 3-5 in the SEC in the regular season. I predicted we would lose to Tennessee but I predicted we would beat Kentucky so those two games were a wash. Basically the only thing last year’s team did that I did not think they would do was beat Ole Miss. Those are the facts.
Now before we crown mean Gene the greatest coach in Auburn history and anoint Gus Malzahn as the greatest offensive coach ever I think we need to actually beat Arkansas, LSU, Georgia or Bama. I think we need to avoid three game losing streaks and three game streaks of blowing 14 point leads.
Finally let us get to the actual predictions. Looking at the schedule my first take is that we will go 1-1 vs. Clemson and South Carolina, 1-1 vs. Arkansas and LSU and 1-1 vs. Georgia and Bama and win the rest. That would put us at 9-3 and maybe headed to the Citrus or Cotton Bowls. I think if this team is a little better we improve by one game to 10-2 and it is definitely possible we could also finish at 8-4. I will go with 9-3 and 5-3 in the SEC as my official prediction.
That is a two game improvement and would include a couple of wins over the four teams that we need to beat. That would definitely be a good season and show a lot of progress. However the goal every year is to win the SEC West and get to Atlanta. I believe this is Auburn’s best chance to do that for awhile. If Auburn does not do it then it is a disappointment to me.
I will say though that Auburn fans need to enjoy this season for all it’s worth. I think it will be the best season Auburn has for awhile. Auburn has TWENTY FOUR seniors leading the team this season. This includes FOUR starters on the offensive line, two of the main defensive tackles (there are only 5 legitimate defensive tackles on the roster), the two starting defensive ends, two starting linebackers, two starting safeties, two starting kickers and the starting tailback. It will take Auburn a season or more to get back to this level due to Tommy Tuberville’s last two horrible recruiting classes. This team has a lot of seniors and a lot of freshmen and not much in between.
I predict that this offense will be the highest rated offense in Auburn history, statistically. So before the sunshine-pumpers lose their minds, I, as a “negative” fan, am predicting this. Now I do not think it will be the actual best offense in Auburn history but it will be very good and like every other “spread” offense it will run up big numbers in the three creampuff out-of-conference games. I have heard the stats from last year’s team ad nauseum. The only stats that count to me are the stats IN-conference. Auburn’s 2009 SEC offensive stats were a bit more representative of how good they were.
I will also predict that Gus Malzahn will leave Auburn after this great offensive season for a head coaching job on the backs of these seniors. This will be his most marketable moment and like I said it will be awhile before Auburn will be this good again. I think that he will especially see the lack of talent he will have to work with on the offensive line next year and beyond. I believe Trooper Taylor will be promoted to offensive coordinator. He could be a great one or not. I do not know however I would not think he would be quite as good running this style of offense as Malzahn and every rookie coordinator has a learning curve.
With all this said I will venture one more prediction that nobody will agree with. I think this will be the best season Gene Chizik will have as head coach at Auburn. I hope I am wrong on this one and the other ones but that is the way I see it.
Let me turn back to the positive though. I will give Gene Chizik and Co. full credit for two things this last offseason. These two things are amazing and hardly ever happen. One, Chizik was able to hold the entire coaching staff together and that is very rare in this modern age of college football. He also brought in a full class of 25 new players in plus 5 other players that count toward last year’s scholarship count. That is simply amazing.
I hope this monster class will be the foundation for another SEC championship for the Auburn Tigers. First however let us see what this team and these seniors can do this season. I may be “negative” at times but I love Auburn football. I am looking out my window on this opening Saturday of the 2010 season and it is absolutely beautiful. I cannot wait to watch my Auburn Tigers get started tonight. War Eagle!
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