IF. IF. IF. Why can't every team in the SEC say that? If South Carolina's offense could improve just a little, they won't be 7-6 every year. If UT could get just a little better QB they won't be 7-6 every year. They could be in the hunt for the SECC.
Wait. What did you say towards the end of the previous paragraph? Same concept, only you're replacing "offense" with "defense and special teams". Did we not hear the same thing in 2007? 2008? And now 2009? "Man, only IF we could _____________, we would be in the hunt for the west."
So now we're basing it on some kids straight out of high school that aren't even on campus yet. Gotcha. Nearly your entire argument is based on things that haven't even happened yet, or things that might potentially happen. It is also based on nothing changing. Under your scenarios, you consider no improvement by an opposing team either. You simply look at it in black and white. Its not as simple as plugging in assumed improvement and backdating that to the 2009 season, and voila, AU wins the west. Thats a sad mistake made by our fanbase when Shula was the coach. Some of our fans always thought we were on the cusp of greatness because we were only losing games by a TD or less. All we needed was that little something extra to make us great. All kinds of bullpoop.
RWS, I'm not sure why, but you are unusually missing the entire point here. You do know that we are discussing Malzahn and Auburn's offense right? How are you missing this? I'm addressing the question you asked about if we would be happy to be 17th in scoring, but going 8-5.
This started based on the raise given to Malzahn and if it was warranted. You keep referencing 8-5 and asking if we'd be happy being 17th in points per game and also being 8-5 on the year. My point was that we would NOT be 8-5 if we had a good defense and special teams. That "IF, IF, IF" had nothing to do with Malzahn and the offense....which, again, is my entire point. The "ifs" were connected to the defense and the special teams.
NO, we would not be happy being 17th in points per game
AND going 8-5....but again, the point was that if we had a good defense and decent special teams (notice I didn't mention an "if" in conjunction with the offense)....thanks to being 17th in points per game, we would NOT BE 8-5.
How are you not comprehending this? I'm trying not to say condescending things, because I know you're not an idiot. But this seems so simple to follow. Your last post was so disjointed from what we were even talking about. Do you not see that if Auburn continues to be one of the top offenses in the country (as they were in 2009)
AND improves the other parts of the team, we will not continue to be 8-5? Do you notice that the point to saying that is to point out that the OFFENSE is
not one of the three phases of the game that needs vast improvement to improve on the 8-5 record? Do you know that Malzahn runs that offense, the one that, if it continues with the same production, is among the most productive in the country?
Again, the answer is NO, we do not wish to continue going 8-5. Do you understand that in order to improve on that 8-5 record, the
DEFENSE and the
SPECIAL TEAMS are what need improvement....NOT so much the offense?
We went 8-5
IN SPITE of the defense and the special teams. The offense was the only thing noteworthy in 2009.
And what am I tying to kids out of high school? Recruiting? Yeah, I'm tying our recruiting class ranking to the kids we just signed out of high school? Is that not a normal thing to do? What kids do you base your recruiting success (on signing day) on? Transfers? JUCO kids? I'm not sure I follow. Malzahn's offense was very much responsible for us attracting a lot of the offensive recruits that we did. What is it you find confusing about this statement? I'm tying some of his value to the program is in recruiting, if that's what you're confused about. But isn't that a big part of a lot of coaches value? The ability to recruit well?
Anyway, I'm a little confused about what you're missing here or what it is you think my point is. You somehow wandered off the Malzahn part of the discussion and context and started making "ifs" about being better than 8-5 the main point of the discussion.
Again, if Malzahn and his offense were coupled with a top 25 defense and competent special teams...based on what we've seen, a team like that would not be 8-5.
Maybe look at it like an equation..if that helps you.
A- (offense) + D+ (defense) + C- (special teams) = 8-5 season
So we can project...
A- (offense) + B (defense) + B+ (special teams) = > 8-5 season
This equation exists because you asked the question about being an A- offense that goes 8-5 every year...as if our offense is what equals the 8-5 record. Hopefully the visual aid above makes some sense.