I will admit it...

[War Eagle!!!]

I was wrong about this game. Completely wrong. There are still some glaring weaknesses, but the guys showed heart. They played hard and didn't let LSU come in and intimidate them. They played how I expect an Auburn team to play. I honestly thought LSU would score 40 on us. Offensively we are bad, but I really think that is because Keihl sucks. The o-line played pretty well and gave Keihl some time...he just can't pull the trigger. All we would have had to have is one nice completion at the end for a chance. Or a clean catch from Quan and defense maybe holds LSU to 9.

I can live with that though. We ARE still young and we DO have a new QB and we DO have 2 new coordinators. There are going to be mistakes. I just expect Auburn to come out, play hard and have a chance....and that is what happened last night.

If we play like this, we will have a shot at a big upset this year and that excites me.

[Kaos]

I was wrong about this game. Completely wrong. There are still some glaring weaknesses, but the guys showed heart. They played hard and didn't let LSU come in and intimidate them. They played how I expect an Auburn team to play. I honestly thought LSU would score 40 on us. Offensively we are bad, but I really think that is because Keihl sucks. The o-line played pretty well and gave Keihl some time...he just can't pull the trigger. All we would have had to have is one nice completion at the end for a chance. Or a clean catch from Quan and defense maybe holds LSU to 9.

I can live with that though. We ARE still young and we DO have a new QB and we DO have 2 new coordinators. There are going to be mistakes. I just expect Auburn to come out, play hard and have a chance....and that is what happened last night.

If we play like this, we will have a shot at a big upset this year and that excites me.

The killing mistakes:

1) Dance around too long, get a safety.  That close to to the goal, you should just dive forward.
2) Drop a nicely thrown ball on the opening play. 
3) Penalties. Extended LSU drives, killed our own.
4) First down plays.  Offense is going to suck when you lose three to five yards on first down -- which happened a lot.
5) Fucking up the punt.  Get the ball there and LSU never comes close to scoring.
6) Blowing the fucking wheel route (my favorite of all time when it went to Ronnie Brown).  Had time, had the guy open by ten yards and you throw the fucking ball eight yards into the sidelines and ten yards over his head?  That's not a quarterback not suited to the Pro-Style offense, that's a SHITTY quarterback.  Moseley, as shitty as he is, would have made that throw.
7) Whiffing the third down tackle on LSU's last drive. 
8) Punting with less than five minutes remaining in the game.  Boo.
9) The fairy floater pass that Frazier threw, after which he went full tard and could not pull the trigger.  Again, not the product of a pro-style offense, the product of SHITTY quarterbacking skills.
10) The timeout after the injury timeout that fucked more than two minutes of clock away. 

And did I hear the announcers say that LSU's defense had seven freshmen/redshirt freshmen on the field in the fourth quarter? 

[Yoda]

While mistakes were made that could have changed the outcome I also think Chizik made some. 

Defense played extremely well, Chizik plays field position, that's fine but when you realize the offense is worse than stagnant, you have to try to block some punts.  Also I think he should have went for it on 4th down on our last two offensive series.(not counting the series that ended the game)

[Townhallsavoy]

And did I hear the announcers say that LSU's defense had seven freshmen/redshirt freshmen on the field in the fourth quarter?

Yes. 

[Buzz Killington]

Yall thought I was crazy with my purrdiction...but it was damn close.

[Kaos]

Yes.

Well that must be it then.  They're young.  It will be three to five years before LSU is any good. 

Wait... huh?

[Tiger Wench]

Here's the thing for me.  If the team that showed up last night had been present in the first three games, I might be more accepting.  Play hard, learn from your mistakes, and do better next time.  Give us a reason to think "Yep, growin' pains/new coordinators , etc., but we'll get better."  But we didn't see any of that, and had no reason to believe. Nothing to hang our hat on, much less cattle to herd.   It was the glaring lack of heart and effort that did me in and made me upset. 

You can coach technique, you can coach scheme, and if you have talent, it will all fall into place eventually.  But you can't coach leadership and you can't coach heart, and if you don't have that, you are DONE.

We'll see in two weeks if the lessons from the LSU game stuck or not.  Kind of wishing we didn't have the off week right now.

[The Prowler]

The killing mistakes:

1) Dance around too long, get a safety.  That close to to the goal, you should just dive forward.
2) Drop a nicely thrown ball on the opening play. 
3) Penalties. Extended LSU drives, killed our own.
4) First down plays.  Offense is going to suck when you lose three to five yards on first down -- which happened a lot.
5) Fucking up the punt.  Get the ball there and LSU never comes close to scoring.
6) Blowing the fucking wheel route (my favorite of all time when it went to Ronnie Brown).  Had time, had the guy open by ten yards and you throw the fucking ball eight yards into the sidelines and ten yards over his head?  That's not a quarterback not suited to the Pro-Style offense, that's a SHITTY quarterback.  Moseley, as shitty as he is, would have made that throw.
7) Whiffing the third down tackle on LSU's last drive. 
8) Punting with less than five minutes remaining in the game.  Boo.
9) The fairy floater pass that Frazier threw, after which he went full tard and could not pull the trigger.  Again, not the product of a pro-style offense, the product of SHITTY quarterbacking skills.
10) The timeout after the injury timeout that fucked more than two minutes of clock away. 

And did I hear the announcers say that LSU's defense had seven freshmen/redshirt freshmen on the field in the fourth quarter?

#1 there wasn't any dancing around in the endzone, Prosch got knocked down into Mason, then Mason tried to dive out of the endzone but fell short.

[Saniflush]

  Moseley, as shitty as he is, would have made that throw.

Well sure cause that would be a bomb to him.

[AUChizad]

I fully and completely expected a 52-0 type of blowout.

Had awesome seats, but thought it would be like having great seats to your grandmother's rape.

Turned out to be electric in Jordan-Hare. Was having flashbacks to the 2001 Florida game.

We led at the half, and held LS-fuckin-U to only a field goal for the following half.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but we had so many opportunities that could have won that game for us.

I fully expected to come into the office full of corndogs today wrought with utter shame. Not the case. I can look people in the eye and say, "Yeah, it was a great game. If only we had capitalized on an opportunity here or there, we should have beaten you guys." Unfathomable before kickoff Saturday.

That's all I could reasonably expect, and then some. My pitchfork is down, for now. It's not stored away where I can't get to it, but I'm not grasping it tightly today.

The Mississippi State game was abysmal and inexcusable. Fortunately, we have shown progress from that rock-bottom performance since. And if this is where we're at? I can live with it.

The youth excuse, for the most part, is garbage. Teams can and do often easily overcome that. However, it can also be a factor, and it certainly appears to be with our team. They're maturing. The defense certainly flipped a switch this weekend. That's encouraging. Can the offense do the same at some point this year? The first drive, despite going 3-and-out, consisted of 3 good passes from Frazier. The one to Lutz, was a bit behind him, but certainly catchable, especially by Lutz in the past. The other two were automatic first downs, including a 70ish yard bomb, both between the numbers. Can't ask for more than that. Coming up short on plays like that doesn't wear well on the confidence of a young QB having obvious problems as it is.

All I'm saying, is, while I'm not quite in Prowler's camp (but, honestly, what sane person is?), you're not going to hear me bitching about how the program is in complete disarray, demanding for heads to roll. Not after that game. If another MSU game happens, then we can revisit.

Assuming we don't regress again, I see definitely five, and probably six more wins. If the defense keeps doing what it's doing, then possibly even a shocking upset against the dawgs, or if the stars align just right, and karma pays me back for rescuing a baby from its death or something, we could have Bama on the ropes in the same way we just had LSU.

It's been said before that this team is very reminiscent of the 2003 team. The talent is there, they're just still too green and haven't gelled yet, for whatever reason. The USC game is our Clemson, except we didn't get blown out 0–23. The Mississippi State game is our Georgia Tech of that year.

If we go on to six more wins, as I've stated I'm expecting, and we win our bowl game, we'll be pretty much exactly where we were last year. So far, at least, the losses to our rival(s) have not been complete anal rapings.

I had hoped to build more from last year, but realistically, I can accept a 7-8 win season. It still would be Chizik outperforming the expert predictions, for the fourth year in a row.

[AUJarhead]

I fully expected to come into the office full of corndogs today wrought with utter shame. Not the case. I can look people in the eye and say, "Yeah, it was a great game. If only we had capitalized on an opportunity here or there, we should have beaten you guys." Unfathomable before kickoff Saturday.

The line I got from people was "wow, I'm going to be up late wondering how far LSU will drop."

To which I replied, "You sure it's not the realization that ULM has a better offense than you guys that's keeping you up at night?"

[wesfau2]

I fully and completely expected a 52-0 type of blowout.

Had awesome seats, but thought it would be like having great seats to your grandmother's rape.

Turned out to be electric in Jordan-Hare. Was having flashbacks to the 2001 Florida game.

We led at the half, and held LS-fuckin-U to only a field goal for the following half.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but we had so many opportunities that could have won that game for us.

I fully expected to come into the office full of corndogs today wrought with utter shame. Not the case. I can look people in the eye and say, "Yeah, it was a great game. If only we had capitalized on an opportunity here or there, we should have beaten you guys." Unfathomable before kickoff Saturday.

That's all I could reasonably expect, and then some. My pitchfork is down, for now. It's not stored away where I can't get to it, but I'm not grasping it tightly today.

The Mississippi State game was abysmal and inexcusable. Fortunately, we have shown progress from that rock-bottom performance since. And if this is where we're at? I can live with it.

The youth excuse, for the most part, is garbage. Teams can and do often easily overcome that. However, it can also be a factor, and it certainly appears to be with our team. They're maturing. The defense certainly flipped a switch this weekend. That's encouraging. Can the offense do the same at some point this year? The first drive, despite going 3-and-out, consisted of 3 good passes from Frazier. The one to Lutz, was a bit behind him, but certainly catchable, especially by Lutz in the past. The other two were automatic first downs, including a 70ish yard bomb, both between the numbers. Can't ask for more than that. Coming up short on plays like that doesn't wear well on the confidence of a young QB having obvious problems as it is.

All I'm saying, is, while I'm not quite in Prowler's camp (but, honestly, what sane person is?), you're not going to hear me bitching about how the program is in complete disarray, demanding for heads to roll. Not after that game. If another MSU game happens, then we can revisit.

Assuming we don't regress again, I see definitely five, and probably six more wins. If the defense keeps doing what it's doing, then possibly even a shocking upset against the dawgs, or if the stars align just right, and karma pays me back for rescuing a baby from its death or something, we could have Bama on the ropes in the same way we just had LSU.

It's been said before that this team is very reminiscent of the 2003 team. The talent is there, they're just still too green and haven't gelled yet, for whatever reason. The USC game is our Clemson, except we didn't get blown out 0–23. The Mississippi State game is our Georgia Tech of that year.

If we go on to six more wins, as I've stated I'm expecting, and we win our bowl game, we'll be pretty much exactly where we were last year. So far, at least, the losses to our rival(s) have not been complete anal rapings.

I had hoped to build more from last year, but realistically, I can accept a 7-8 win season. It still would be Chizik outperforming the expert predictions, for the fourth year in a row.

Spot on.

I do think that the "light came on" for the defense.  We still got gashed up the middle (hey, Jake!), but we attacked and disrupted...and...gasp...TACKLED.

Frazier looked better.  His first half line was pretty impressive when you consider the opposition.

[dallaswareagle]

If we go on to six more wins, as I've stated I'm expecting, and we win our bowl game, we'll be pretty much exactly where we were last year. So far, at least, the losses to our rival(s) have not been complete anal rapings.

Yea us, year 5 of rebuilding next year.

[Townhallsavoy]

If we go on to six more wins, as I've stated I'm expecting, and we win our bowl game, we'll be pretty much exactly where we were last year. So far, at least, the losses to our rival(s) have not been complete anal rapings.

You're right.  That's exactly what I was expecting before this season as well.  8-5, about the same as last year, and competitive with our rivals.

But.  We lost to Miss State.  We struggled and nearly lost to LA Monroe.  We are no lock to beat any team on the rest of our schedule except for New Mexico State Tech A&M Institute and Alabama Black College.  The defense could be lights out differen the rest of the year, and we could still miss a bowl game.

Soooo...yeah.  Hand is still gripped on the pitchfork.  However, I will ease up on the torch just a bit. 

[AUChizad]

You're right.  That's exactly what I was expecting before this season as well.  8-5, about the same as last year, and competitive with our rivals.

But.  We lost to Miss State.  We struggled and nearly lost to LA Monroe.  We are no lock to beat any team on the rest of our schedule except for New Mexico State Tech A&M Institute and Alabama Black College.  The defense could be lights out differen the rest of the year, and we could still miss a bowl game.

Soooo...yeah.  Hand is still gripped on the pitchfork.  However, I will ease up on the torch just a bit.

Eh.

I'll have to consult with Prowler to determine the exact degree of good that ULM is, but I want to say they are at about a "Pretty good". Certainly above "Kinda-sorta good."

They should have beaten Baylor this weekend. Not that they are a powerhouse themselves, but it would have been impressive, and they were pwning them for the majority of the game. And they beat Arkansas. And that's all we have to measure them by. I can live with the idea that we may have been looking past them on to LSU, so long as we didn't come out with the L, which we didn't.

Really, it's that MSU game I can't get past or get my head around, but the larger the sample size becomes, the more it becomes apparent that that game was more of an anomaly than this LSU game was, IMO.

That being said, I do not think LSU is the 2nd, or even 3rd best team in the nation, I do think that Bama will beat the brakes off them. But they are solidly in the "Pretty damn good" category, for sure.

[AU_Tiger_2000]

Eh.

I'll have to consult with Prowler to determine the exact degree of good that ULM is, but I want to say they are at about a "Pretty good". Certainly above "Kinda-sorta good."

They should have beaten Baylor this weekend. Not that they are a powerhouse themselves, but it would have been impressive, and they were pwning them for the majority of the game. And they beat Arkansas. And that's all we have to measure them by. I can live with the idea that we may have been looking past them on to LSU, so long as we didn't come out with the L, which we didn't.

Really, it's that MSU game I can't get past or get my head around, but the larger the sample size becomes, the more it becomes apparent that that game was more of an anomaly than this LSU game was, IMO.

That being said, I do not think LSU is the 2nd, or even 3rd best team in the nation, I do think that Bama will beat the brakes off them. But they are solidly in the "Pretty damn good" category, for sure.

And MSU might not be as bad as usual this year is another possibility.  They might finish 3rd in the West (depending on their game against A&M), they could probably finish 3rd in the East.  They haven't played anybody yet (including us) and won't until they play UT in 2 weeks.  But still, they lead the nation in turnovers and turnover margin (with a big assist from us), top 20 in pass efficiency D, and top 20 in scoring D.  It was an ugly loss, but I don't think we should keep pointing at it as the downfall of western civilization.  It's just a young team looking ahead to the big matchup with ULM.  Could happen to anybody.

[Snaggletiger]

We need a quarterback

[Kaos]

Really, it's that MSU game I can't get past or get my head around, but the larger the sample size becomes, the more it becomes apparent that that game was more of an anomaly than this LSU game was, IMO.

Seriously? 

Three years and four games in and the result against LSU was without question the anomaly.

AU gives up 26 ppg.  In four years not counting cupcakes we've had three games and one half of successful defensive effort.  And that's the recurring trend? 

I'm all for sunshine and rainbows too, but I for damn sure don't see any developing trend at this point.   

[Godfather]

We need a quarterback

hey hey, ho ho, say say, no no
tackle tackle tackle tackle tack tack tack
show those other boys what they lack lack lack
if i gave you a dollar, you could keep most of the change

[Townhallsavoy]

Eh.

I'll have to consult with Prowler to determine the exact degree of good that ULM is, but I want to say they are at about a "Pretty good". Certainly above "Kinda-sorta good."

They should have beaten Baylor this weekend. Not that they are a powerhouse themselves, but it would have been impressive, and they were pwning them for the majority of the game. And they beat Arkansas. And that's all we have to measure them by. I can live with the idea that we may have been looking past them on to LSU, so long as we didn't come out with the L, which we didn't.

Really, it's that MSU game I can't get past or get my head around, but the larger the sample size becomes, the more it becomes apparent that that game was more of an anomaly than this LSU game was, IMO.

That being said, I do not think LSU is the 2nd, or even 3rd best team in the nation, I do think that Bama will beat the brakes off them. But they are solidly in the "Pretty damn good" category, for sure.

I've been catching up on The Walking Dead this week, and I think you've been bitten by a Prowler.