Knee Jerk Reactions

[Kaos]

Jay Jacobs handed Gus a raise of $500,000 a year in May.  He makes $4.75 million a year. 

Think about that a second.  That's $91,000 a week.  $14,000 a day.  If you figure 40 hours a week, that's $2300 an hour. 

For the four hours you watched Saturday night, Gus pocketed about $10,000. 

Rhett Lashlee makes half a million a year.  Yes, his wife is good looking but that's not enough.  He earns maybe $22,000 of that salary. 

The offense is completely impotent. It doesn't have to be, but once again Gus had no idea how to devise a successful strategy for a game.  There's no creativity, unless you count the goofy spin plays. Run for a loss on first down. Throw into the boundary on second. Take a sack on third.  Punt.  Over and over and over.

Over the last five or six years, Auburn has recruited as well as it ever has.  Top 10-15 talent every single season. 

And we're staring square in the face of another 2-6 SEC season and the very real possibility of either missing a bowl or becoming a permanent fixture at the Birmingham Bust Bowl. 

I've seen things for the last year and a half that concerned me.  Things about his demeanor, his behavior, his decision making.  At this point I don't think any of those things can be fixed.  I honestly think his first season went to his head and when finally faced with adversity -- the A&M meltdown in 2014 -- he didn't know how to handle it.  This has been a vastly different team since that fumbled snap.  He's been a different coach. 

I don't care what you say, the BMW is a part of it.  It is a tangible representation of how he views himself.

But he doesn't have his type of quarterback.  Tough shit. it's Year Four of his tenure.  He should have one or more who can execute the gameplan. 

It's simply not working.  This is going to be another painful season watching a talented team flounder.  We're a couple of games away from the defense giving up and spending the rest of the season going through the motions.

I look for silver linings. I look for things I can hold on to; things that are encouraging.

I don't see any.  I'm calling it.

Gus is not going to work out.  Jay Jacobs is not going to work out. He needs to go immediately.   

[eagleair89]

Just a hunch (based on watching this stuff for a few years) but we will have a new President, AD and HC by the time the MNC is played for in January.

 

[dallaswareagle]

Just a hunch (based on watching this stuff for a few years) but we will have a new President, AD and HC by the time the MNC is played for in January.

 

Only if baby Jesus is merciful

[oldautiger]

Only if baby Jesus is merciful

HE is merciful, but I ain't sure if HE is merciful to us or not.

[dallaswareagle]

HE is merciful, but I ain't sure if HE is merciful to us or not.

You may be right he handed us jay Jacobs

[oldautiger]

You may be right he handed us jay Jacobs

Then we are cursed

[dallaswareagle]

Then we are cursed

Yes with the cursed you're going to see the same offense of sh*t next weekend

[AUJarhead]

Prior to this season, I thought a 7-5 season would save Gus's job.  I think we will struggle to win 6, and I think he's gone.  If you donate to TUF, get ready for a price hike.

[Townhallsavoy]

Knee Jerk Reaction:

First play of the game we call a play that asks a right guard to pull and block the best DE in the nation. Sean White gets pancaked to the ground, and it happened so fast and so badly that the DE kinda looked like he wasn't sure if he just fucked up or not.

My reaction was "Oh wait. That game last Saturday meant nothing. This is going to be the same bullshit and we're going to lose. Fuck this."

[dallaswareagle]

Knee Jerk Reaction:

First play of the game we call a play that asks a right guard to pull and block the best DE in the nation. Sean White gets pancaked to the ground, and it happened so fast and so badly that the DE kinda looked like he wasn't sure if he just fucked up or not.

My reaction was "Oh wait. That game last Saturday meant nothing. This is going to be the same bullshit and we're going to lose. Fuck this."

2016 season motto. same as 2011,2012.2014,2015.

[Townhallsavoy]

Knee Jerk Reaction:

Briles is not a candidate for Auburn football. (Neither should Kiffin or Petrino but for other reasons). Briles was part of a scandal that involved the raping of women. Hiring him would put a very bad spotlight on Auburn and call into question why anyone would hire a guy that was part of such a thing.

Petrino is too expensive and has no reason to leave Louisville.

Kiffin is a program destroyer. Good OC. Bad HC.

[The Prowler]

It's almost as if he refuses to change things up even when the DC on the opposite sideline adjusts to what Auburn is trying to do.
Nope game plan, gonna stick with it regardless...FULLBACK SPIN 36O DEGREES, HAND OFF TO THE RB FOR A SWEEP TO THE SHORT SIDE (1 yard loss)...aight, back to the game plan (dang it, I really thought it would work). Punt, decent drive but then punt, punt...FULLBACK SPIN 360 DEGREES, HAND OFF TO THE RB AND HAVE HIM PITCH IT TO THE 2ND STRING QB (JF3). HAVE JF3 HEAVE THE BALL AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, REGARDLESS IF THE WR IS DOUBLE COVERED (Incomplete pass)...aight, back to the game plan (dang it, it honestly thought it might work this time).

It's like I said two weeks ago...it's Coach Kline

[GH2001]

When aufambly is all on teh twitters angry as hell and basically applauding those who left, then you know it's bad.

[wesfau2]

I've come around to Kaos's way of thinking ($1 to Urge Overkill.)

The ArkSt game was Gus's attempt to get the mob off his back.  That plan could have worked against A&M.  At worst we were playing a defensive chess-match for field position (it was almost Tubby-esque for 2.5 quarters).

Then Gus went all Gus with the fullback spin and the JF3 insertion.  I saw it coming with a mass AU substitution (that hadn't been done in the A&M game up to that point) that was bailed out with an A&M timeout.

We're fucked.  He's back to jamming square pegs into round holes. 

[The Six]

jamming square pegs into round holes.

People mad today. Acting like someone jammed something into their round hole.

[Kaos]

I've come around to Kaos's way of thinking ($1 to Urge Overkill.)

Welcome to the fold.  One step at a time. 

[The Six]

Welcome to the fold.  One step at a time. 

Isn't that what the HEaven's Gate guy said as he handed people their track suit and reeboks?

[War Eagle!!!]

From Jay G. Tate. Pretty spot on.

And embarrassing.

Gus Malzahn has made millions during his coaching career by being good at designing offenses, coaching offenses and calling plays in a cogent manner.

Where did that guy go?

No, really. Where is he?

The Auburn coach stood behind a lectern Saturday night and said something so odd, so self-incriminating, that even his most ardent supporters surely cringed upon hearing the sentence cross his lips.

"Right now our whole offense is a work in progress," he said.

Those kinds of statements work for a first-year coach still getting his feet wet at a new school. With new players. Instilling a new set of expectations can be messy work, as Auburn fans know, and leeway is appropriate in that situation.

But this one right here?

Malzahn is his fourth season at Auburn as head coach and seventh overall. Only a few of the Tigers' 85-ish scholarship players were signed by someone other than Malzahn. Every important player on offense was hand-picked by Malzahn to serve a role Malzahn designed. This is his baby. This is the culmination of four years of work.

Now he says it's a work in progress.

His game plan for Clemson made no sense. I know that and you know that because we saw that cornucopia of ideas patched together as served as offensive system. We scratched our heads. Malzahn later all but apologized for that misstep and promised a better performance against Arkansas State.

He came through on that count. Auburn dismantled an inferior opponent by taking some risks, calling passes on first down, giving quarterback Sean White a chance to challenge Arkansas State down the field. It worked. It all worked.

Yet Malzahn seemed to roll back into the fetal position against Texas A&M Saturday night. His play calling turned prohibitively conservative -- as if he was scared to challenge Texas A&M in the passing game. Sean White finished with 18 completions and just 126 yards.

That's less than 10 yards per completion. Why? It's because Auburn seemed content to throw balls to the flanks for meager gains, which worked against the Aggies last season. It didn't work this season, though, because A&M had a plan for that dink-and-dunk stuff.

What was Auburn's answer to that development?

Nothing. There was no answer. Malzahn pulled Sean White during the fourth quarter for reasons that had very little to do with Sean White. His blocking was not good. His receivers dropped a few balls. White sailed a few passes, sure, but he wasn't the team's limiting factor Saturday.

Make no mistake: Malzahn was the limiting factor.

He went to John Franklin III during the fourth quarter, which forced A&M to make some defensive adjustments by default. For a time, yeah, Franklin and Kam Pettway were a two-man wrecking crew.

Then came the moment of truth: A 4th-and-3 at the A&M 12. Franklin dived up the middle for a loss of one yard. It was just another read-option call, the same basic call they'd used the entire drive, and A&M isn't that hard-headed.

The Aggies knew what was coming.

So now Auburn is 1-2, its offense has no real identity and Malzahn once again has a quarterback quandary on his hands. And what about Woody Barrett? Might Auburn be willing to pull the redshirt on its freshman quarterback if LSU does bad things to the Tigers next weekend?

It's possible. Anything is possible when nothing is known.

Auburn is a work in progress after four years. Let that sink in a bit. We're three games into Malzahn's fourth season and he's not sure what he has. He's not sure how to use these guys as a group. He's not sure which plays to call, which quarterback to use.

They've recruited well, so we know this roster has talent. It's only September; there is time to take a major step forward on offense and get the Tigers back on track for a bowl game.

Then again, the head coach just said his offense is a work in progress.

[GH2001]

From Jay G. Tate. Pretty spot on.

And embarrassing.

Ughhhhh

[dallaswareagle]

If Lsu does bad things?


Shit our coach has that covered.