2013 Auburn football's 10 things to know (SBNation)

[AUChizad]

Too much to copypasta. Do da link.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/5/21/4340494/auburn-football-2013-season-preview-schedule-roster

[AUChizad]

In summation (and a pretty good assessment, IMO)

10. Year Zero

Auburn fans aren't necessarily known for their extreme patience, but they should probably try to take a lot of deep breaths this fall.

Like Kentucky, the Tigers are likely starting from too far back to make up serious ground in 2013, but the schedule is as favorable as it gets in the SEC. That will help. Auburn begins with three home games versus teams projected worse than 50th and welcomes Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic to town in October. Win those five games, and the Tigers would need only one more win -- Ole Miss at home? Tennessee or Arkansas on the road? -- to secure bowl eligibility. I would set the bar closer to five wins, but considering how far Auburn fell in 2012, and how consistently they've been heading downhill through the years (spectacular outlier aside), even that would represent demonstrable progress.

The Gus Malzahn hire really does make sense in so many ways. He brings an identity to an offense that needs one, and while he has only been a head coach for one season, he pushed a lot of the right buttons in that one year at Arkansas State. He is a known entity in the SEC, he will keep recruiting going awfully strong, and even if he doesn't reach a bowl in his first season, he should have this team deep, experienced, competitive and fun pretty quickly.

[CCTAU]

In summation (and a pretty good assessment, IMO)

I'm not sure I agree. I'm not a kool-aid drinker by any means, but 7, maybe 8 wins is doable.

The talent is there. Last season it was as if the air got sucked out of every player. Talent is nothing without a belief that you can succeed. I think this coaching staff has brought that belief back.

With that in mind and everyone touting our mediocrity, I think we might just steal a couple of games.

I've seen AU do more with less.

[AUChizad]

I'm not sure I agree. I'm not a kool-aid drinker by any means, but 7, maybe 8 wins is doable.

The talent is there. Last season it was as if the air got sucked out of every player. Talent is nothing without a belief that you can succeed. I think this coaching staff has brought that belief back.

With that in mind and everyone touting our mediocrity, I think we might just steal a couple of games.

I've seen AU do more with less.

I think they undersold us slightly, but not by much.

I think 4 wins is 100% guaranteed, provided we don't actually regress from last year (shudder).

Mississippi State should be a solid W, but not necessarily a guarantee. I think (hope) we win it though, putting us at 5. If not, as they mentioned, perhaps we can make up for it against Ole Miss, UT, or Ark. Best case, we win all four of those, putting us at 8. I think we drop at least one (most likely Ark), and probably two.

I'm equally as confident that we beat Washington State, Arkansas State, Western Carolina, & Florida Atlantic as I am that we lose to LSU, A&M, UGA, & Bama.

So, in summation, I see an even 4 Ws, 4 Ls, and 4 toss-ups. I'm hoping for 6 wins (a bowl win would be gravy). Less than 4 would be a disaster. 4 would be pretty disappointing. 5 would not be. 6 is glass half-full, but completely doable. 7 is getting a little too optimistic. 8 would be reason to celebrate. 9 or more is impossible, given where we're coming from.

[Snaggletiger]

I'm not making any predictions whatsoever on this season.  Other than to say we should be much more competitive.  I know that's going out on a limb there, Nostra Dumbass, but the last 2 years left a real bad taste in my mouth.  (Insert gay thread hijack here)

I truly believe we have much more talent than we've shown.  Said that many times.  But, we are a complete unknown at two key positions, namely QB and WR.  After maybe sure thing, Trovon Reed, all we really have is a lot of hope.  We hope Jonathon Wallace or Kalil Frayzha will thrive in Malzahn's system...or one of the two QB's coming in will turn out to be something special.  We hope 2 or 3 guys will step up at WR and be playmakers, but right now there's not a soul in that group that we can point to and say he's going to have a big year.

And the biggest thing to me is the attitude or belief they can win. The coaches and players are all saying the right things and I think it will turn around.  But, until I see this team do something other than lay down and die when things go bad, I'm still going to be wary of predicting anything for the season.  I admit to some chub-worthy things and comments going on so far, but I gotta' see us compete first.   

[AUChizad]

And by the way, the link above is about much more than just the W/L record. Pretty interesting analysis. Charts n' graphs n' shit.

[Snaggletiger]

And by the way, the link above is about much more than just the W/L record. Pretty interesting analysis. Charts n' graphs n' shit.

And they have science to back it up. See?  Wow, science.

[wesfau2]

And they have science to back it up. See?  Wow, science.

Maybe they can finally explain to me how fuckin' magnets work.

[Buzz Killington]

I'm not sure I agree. I'm not a kool-aid drinker by any means, but 7, maybe 8 wins is doable.

The talent is there. Last season it was as if the air got sucked out of every player. Talent is nothing without a belief that you can succeed. I think this coaching staff has brought that belief back.

With that in mind and everyone touting our mediocrity, I think we might just steal a couple of games.

I've seen AU do more with less.

I agree, unless the QB play isn't any better than last season.  I see the 5 they mentioned and I think UT and OM are definitely winnable games.

[War Eagle!!!]

If Auburn does not win 6 games next year, it is a failure of a season...

[AU_Tiger_2000]

Maybe they can finally explain to me how fudgein' magnets work.

In engineering we refer to it as workin' by FM (fuckin magic)

[wesfau2]

In engineering we refer to it as workin' by FM (fuckin magic)

Not down with the clown, huh?

[WiregrassTiger]

I'm not sure I agree. I'm not a kool-aid drinker by any means, but 7, maybe 8 wins is doable.

The talent is there. Last season it was as if the air got sucked out of every player. Talent is nothing without a belief that you can succeed. I think this coaching staff has brought that belief back.

With that in mind and everyone touting our mediocrity, I think we might just steal a couple of games.

I've seen AU do more with less.

^^^^This, because if not, then we are o.k. with mediocrity. I think we should expect 7 or 8 cuz it's realistic. It's not pie in the sky. It certainly won't be easy but we have enough talent and coaching to get there.

[dallaswareagle]

^^^^This, because if not, then we are o.k. with mediocrity. I think we should expect 7 or 8 cuz it's realistic. It's not pie in the sky. It certainly won't be easy but we have enough talent and coaching to get there.

We have had talent-What I want the coaching to do is teach basic's and let their talent come through. I also want to see some heart and fire from these guys, last two years we saw mindless zombies going through the motions, and when things got rough they quit.

[Buzz Killington]

We will see an 8 win season IF:

1. Lashlee can find a servicable QB that can make the easy throws and take a shot or 5 a game deep to keep the defenses honest enough for the running game to develop.
2. Garner can light a fire under the DL to replace their rollerskates from 2012 with some damn Land Sharks and the ends can get a good rush.
3. The Guards can step up their game so that they can pull and actually put a hat on somebody.
4. Two solid receivers take over the first team and help the aforementioned servicable QB stretch the field. (This is Trovon Reed's year!!!)

[AUChizad]

^^^^This, because if not, then we are o.k. with mediocrity. I think we should expect 7 or 8 cuz it's realistic. It's not pie in the sky. It certainly won't be easy but we have enough talent and coaching to get there.

You're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Getting over .500 including a bowl game will be a success to me. Beyond that it's icing. "Expecting" 8 is guaranteeing disappointment.

[War Eagle!!!]

You're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Getting over .500 including a bowl game will be a success to me. Beyond that it's icing. "Expecting" 8 is guaranteeing disappointment.

I don't expect 8. But I damn sure expect 6. Hell, 5 of those should be fucking gimme's...

[dallaswareagle]

I don't expect 8. But I damn sure expect 6. Hell, 5 of those should be fucking gimme's...

Until we know what we have I don't think any our games will be gimme's.

[War Eagle!!!]

Until we know what we have I don't think any our games will be gimme's.

We beat the SHIT out of 3 teams last year. Last year. If they aren't gimme's this year...I quit...

[dallaswareagle]

We beat the SHIT out of 3 teams last year. Last year. If they aren't gimme's this year...I quit...

31 to 28 (Field goal in overtime) is not beating the shit out of anybody.

That is about the quietist I have ever heard the stadium after a win.