Alex C

This week, I have been thinking about the growth of the OL and QB, as well as many stud players having another year(almost) of experience. Not looking past the Aggies, but thinking about how we have been building for this year.... and how (relatively) young we are. In the past 2 drafts, we have had double digit players drafted. This year, i could see only a handful and those will be impacted by underclassman decision. (Taaffe and Burke are the only seniors I think will for sure get drafted- other possibilities will be listed below). In the past 2 years, we have had 5 first rounders, 5 second rounders, and 13 later round picks (and Isiah bond who should have been drafted if not for legal troubles). What this looks like to me is we have the most returning talent in the past few years. We have the portal to fill in some gaps like the IOL, but the future for these players and the incoming recruit looks as bright as ever. I know this is a couple weeks early for offseason talk, but the early season Arch turning into mature experienced Arch and the young DBs playing have me thinking about what is possible. Outgoing Seniors (starters and key contributors) OL- Hutson and Campbell DL- Burke, Shaw, Trey Moore, DB- Taaffe, Guilbeau Draft Eligible Juniors- Expecting Goosby and some others that could work themselves into draft as staying at the moment) LB- Hill DB- Manny M, Jelani I am absolutely baffled by how little turnover might occur is we can keep players like Ant Hill and Manny, and the amount of talent coming in. This is where the Sark talk seems silly. Yes we need to win big games, but to see how the roster management is looking and how many SO and FR are ready to have big seasons in the next ear or two is absolutely huge. Excited to see Littleton, Phillips, Jackson, January, Ffrench, Lockett, Terry, and so many more grow up and make an impact on the 40 acres.

Oh sure there are some things that I think we can adjust a bit, but I don't know If I think Day or Kiffin are any better than Sark on offense, maybe they are a wash, in reality. But seeing as their overalls are the same is a point of emphasis for me. Outside of Kirby (and maybe Marcus Freeman, but he only has a couple years as HC) there is not a lot of separation for a lot of those coaches. And I think my hypothetical is- Is there was no money implication, how would you trade Sark for straight up that would be an improvement? My answer is pretty much nobody because the improvement for anyone but Kirby or pulling Saban out of retirement would be a benefit and there would be costs short term to make a switch. TLDR: I like having Sark as the coach and need him to figure it out so he does not become Stejames Sarkfranklin.

Is this a product of the time to fire (TTF- a new metric in the NIL era!) being quicker over the past few years in the 12 team playoff cycle? The fact that Lane was the definitive "Hot" coach always seemed weird to me as he is slightly better than average in a P4 setting, in my opinion. I wonder how much the retirement of Saban plays a role, too, as there were always coordinators in his org that were in the mix with up and coming head coaches. Knowing the coaches that were "poachable" were Kiffin, Rhule, Drink, and Sumrall makes it seem a bit of a letdown compared to previous cycles. (And maybe its the money keeping many names like Lanning, Cignetti, Smart, Day, etc completely out of consideration) Thoughts @Jeff Howe?

I thought a lot about that, too. I tried to remove recency bias of his last few years where the team got soft. If I look at the number of NFL players that were on the early to mid 2000s teams, the recruiting was good but those players who stuck around 3 or 4 years got better and played on Sundays.

I have been hearing and thinking about the travels of Lane's family and he has been around a bit. He has Ole Miss working and is the son of a legendary coach in Monte. Here begins what I do not understand. Why is he the top candidate for so many searches? He has a longer history that is neutral or bad- Tenn, USC, the Raiders to name a few.... But he was a Saban rehab project (so is Sark, but when we hired him there were not schools and NFL teams clamoring for him, although Lane had 2 stops as a HC between the 2 events) Here is where that thinking took me- coach rankings based on some categories. These are my impressions and and totally subject to my biases (which I lay out some below). But it also made me think about James Franklin and Sark. Penn St knew who Franklin was. I do not know if there is someone ready to be better. So I decided to rank some known current coaches and some Championship winners to try to keep in context Sark is a great coach (I am no Sark hater, so I continue to root for him) and the number of truly great coaches that are proven and can repeat success is small. I welcome banter/ comments/ feedback or any challenge on how I rated them. My ultimate conclusion was: I would not want to be looking for a coach right now. Some assumptions: 1) Some of these coaches have long runways and some are short. I am not giving a lot of benefit of the doubt to the unproven side 2) I watch Texas religiously, and then the SEC some, and don't watch much from other conferences 3) These are gut reactions and may be a little nuanced by coordinators, schedules, etc, and are my interpretation on how i would rank them in a coaching search. (I don't claim to be right- for instance if Kirby has had more top 5 defenses than Venables) Here is my ranking list:

So it looks like he is planning to commit tomorrow between UT, Duke, and Arizona. Is it safe to say we don't feel good about our chances with how little I am hearing about him on OTF videos and forum?

Lol. Thanks CJ. I obviously don't follow LSU enough but sounds like he saw this coming, huh?

So, the way Kenny B has recruited both in the portal and HS is probably the best thing going for this team. That deep group in both edge rushers and interior dline has proven to be a great strength. Kanu, Shaw, Watson, January, and Terry are all making plays and seem to compliment each other well. I am not saying we should have any regret about Bo Davis leaving. I am, however, wondering how much Bo Davis regrets leaving to jump on a disasterous sinking ship.

Right. Because a championship level team regularly doesn't show up for 3 quarters and needs heroics to beat a team that isn't the same talent profile. I love the coaching staff. I want them to execute. We have a high bar after 2 straight CFP runs. Looking like a team this disorganized is not living up to the standard

The problem is, he ain't wrong. We look bad in ways that are unimaginable for the top preseason team. I am glad we escaped the past 2 weeks but they need to double or triple the sports psychologist staff and make sure Sark is getting his therapy, too. Love these boys, but man they need fundementals and consistency.

This. Aged well. In all seriousness, tough game to watch. I still don't know if this team can compete with Texas 8&4 and Georgia or if we will lose to Rice on any given Saturday. I guess we will find out.

I know that MVP odds will favor Josh Allen and Mahomes, but if Bijan can lead the Falcons to the playoffs.... With Penix at QB..... Bijan deserves that MVP. He looked awesome on a couple plays with his speed and elusively and got close to 250 total yards. Hook em!

I hope they hire Bill Belecheck away from UNC!

I wouldn't normally post this, but I found it wild. Played through a freshman year Road to Glory and after Arch won the natty while I took a redshirt year, in the off-season, Sark left for Michigan, and lane kidfin became the coach. Wow. Go home EA, you are drunk!

I assume if we sign a kicker, Auburn has no choice but to transfer our. But with our new punter, Kern may be able to stay and redshirt next year. It's tough because this year was rough, but with more time to develop and start later..... Would he stay?