I disagree because Malzahn, etc. never perform the music. At best Chiz, Malzahn and the rest would be like manager Doc McGhee, who told the band where to be and when, or Richie Wise or Neil Bogart or Bill Aucoin or Bob Ezrin or Kim Fowley or Michael Bolton or Stan Penridge or Stephen Coronel or Sean Delaney or Vini Poncia or Desmond Child or Howard Marks or Bob Kulick or Pepe Castro or Tony Powers or Anton Fig or Lou Reed or Adam Mitchell or Mikel Japp or Bryan Adams or Jim Vallance or Mitch Weissman or Mick Jagger or Howard Rice or Rod Swenson or Bruce Turgen or Diane Warren or Scott Van Zen or Bob Halligan or Phil Spector ... all of whom managed KISS or wrote/co-wrote songs performed on KISS albums.
While Gene and Paul did have control over the music and image, so too did Tate and Todd have some control over how the offense was managed. Their abilities dictated what plays would be run.
You're replacing the members of the band. More interchangeable than the "founding members" of a band, yes, but you're still replacing the performers on whom the success of the songs played rested. The 2009 Auburn Tigers were, for better or worse, Todd and Tate to a large degree.
Then to me, the KISS analogy doesn't work. It puts too much responsibility/credit on the two players. Maybe Sensi's "producer" idea is closer. A good producer can make the music and plug in a lot of different performers or voices. There is a reason that certain programs with certain systems/coaches are able to keep producing year after year after year, almost regardless of who they plug in.
Occassionally someone special comes along and take it to another level. An Adrian Peterson. A Beanie Wells. A Vince Young. A Sam Bradford.
Todd and Tate are none of those guys.
Even though Todd set some records this year, most Auburn fans that look at more than just numbers, would rank him near the bottom of all the Auburn QBs over the last 20 years. I would take Brandon Cox, Jason Campbell, Patrick Nix, Ben Leard, Dameyune Craig, and Stan White over Chris Todd. To think we can replace him with someone equally mediocre is to be expected. To think someone will be a little better even has to have good odds.
For Tate, he's maybe a little harder to replace....maybe. But again, look backwards at Auburn history. We very rarely have trouble replacing productive running backs with other productive running backs. Fannin is an experienced senior, that we know, when used as an actual running back, is productive. We even know that Eric Smith can run the ball effectively. That's two guys, and doesn't count Aycock (who the coaches love) or Dyer. Again, there just isn't much reason to think that in this offense, Malzahn won't find a way to get 2,500+ yards rushing.
We're not replacing Vince Young and Adrian Peterson.
For comparison's sake, consider this.
Oklahoma rushing yards per season:2004 - 2709 (even with Peterson running 1900+ is less than Auburn ran last year)
2005 - 2126 (Peterson's sophomore year....injuries and a broken up o-line had an impact)
2006 - 2480 (year after Peterson leaves)
2007 - 2670
2008 - 2779 (two guys over 1000)
2009 - 1750 (same exact guys running as 08, but no Bradford and a new o-line)
Ohio State rushing yards per season:2005 - 2360 (Antonio Pittman 1300+)
2006 - 2208 (Pittman 1200+)
2007 - 2552 (Wells 1600+)
2008 - 2502 (Wells 1200)
2009 - 2540 (no one over 1000)
To me, the historical precedent actually leans towards supporting the idea that replacing "average" (Todd) and "good" (Tate) players is not that difficult
when all else remains relatively the same. Meaning, if the offensive line is mostly back, the coaching staff is back, etc....then getting the next QB to be average and next running back to be good is not usually that big of a challenge.
Look above. The big changes didn't come because of a change in runner. The biggest changes came in a change to offensive line more than anything. Look at both programs from 08 to 09. OSU lost a first round NFL draft pick and ran more this year with no one over 1000. 08 Oklahoma had two guys go over 1000, yet the same two guys ran for less than 800 each in 09.
We have our staff back. We have our o-line back. I expect similar running results.
66 Replies
8392 Views