speaker-0: What's going on everybody and welcome to another episode of the Auburn Today podcast. As always, my name is Noble. I'm joined here with my co-host Wheeler. And today we have a podcast that is all too familiar to us. Breaking down another Auburn loss by one possession. Auburn fell forty-four to thirty-nine against Florida this past weekend. And it feels like the fan base is just flat out done with it. to this team and and if anything I think that this team is actually giving us something different, losing in a different way. But ultimately you could just tell, man. I mean, how quick people left. Just just by looking at the captions to Instagram posts after the game. I mean it's it's people now they expect to lose. The mindset is completely broken. Auburn fans walk into the game thinking, we're going to lose this game. And then the second you go down It's like, all right, well, it was fun while it lasted, but it's just another loss, and that's just what people view Auburn football as. And it it's it's truly, it's it's heartbreaking. You absolutely hate to see it.
speaker-1: I think there's a lot going on here. There's a lot of there's a lot of anger. There's a lot of resigning to the rest of the season. And I don't think that that's fair to the team. I don't think that that's fair to the current coaching staff. I think that you have a fan base who has had six years of losing and the hopes and fears of all of those years got put on to the Florida game and you lost the game. You lost the game by five. I think a lot of people left when you went down seventeen, so a lot of people feel like you lost the game by seventeen and that you're a mile and a half away. It's not good to lose. It's not there's no moral victory. There's no
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: a special reason that you would feel hopeful. But I also don't think that it's nearly as bad as people think it is.
speaker-0: Well so okay, so let's let's break it down. And I will say, I'll I'll be the first to say, we have been wrong. I would say probably twice on this podcast about the quality of opponent that we're playing. I think Baylor was better than we expected. I think Florida was better than we expected. Florida is a good football team. They are. And and I I don't think that we still know a lot about Florida. Their defense left a lot to be desired. I think their defense is gonna have some trouble stopping Ole Miss this weekend. You have a quarterback in Aaron Philo that I still don't we really didn't make him do a whole lot. I don't know if that was I think he's a good quarterback. He made some good decisions, he made the plays he needed to have, he missed some throws, and he was throwing to some pretty, pretty open guys all night long. So I think Florida is a very good football team. Now the problem with that is Florida being a good football team does not negate the fact That Georgia and Alabama and LSU and Ole Miss are probably all maybe
speaker-1: And Mr. B shape. Yeah.
speaker-0: even Mississippi State are all probably the same level, if not a higher level. So when I said all off season, when I said last week this is the most important game for Alex Gullish on the schedule, I completely still stand by that statement. And if you had won on Saturday, the mindset goes we might win eight games. We might win nine games. The mindset with a loss is we would be lucky to win seven. The expectation is that you probably win five. The hope is, the prayer is that you win six. And I and I will say, winning six games today in today's SEC is just not the same as winning six games five, ten years ago. And The reason of that is if you are close in some game, it's so much easier to turn your roster around around quickly that it's so much more about do you show flashes, who do you beat, do you show a proof of concept that what you're doing can work? And you look at someone like Hugh Freeze. Hugh Freeze never was successful at Auburn, never won many games, had one of the most talented rosters in college football in the year 2025. Now What what that is, is that if you can show guys, hey man, it's a proof of concept, we are turning this program around and you're the guy that can do it, that works. And you can sell guys on that and at the end of the day, if you have money, you can get guys. And we'll talk about this later, but one of the big things is Hugh Freeze did not try to save money. He spent the money he had and I think that maybe not spending every single dollar that he has might be costing Alex Golish a little bit. So when we look at this Auburn, Florida game, Auburn really didn't do anything on offense in the first quarter. Really the defense didn't do a whole lot. The defense did get a really big turnover and set the Auburn offense up on the eight-yard line. Auburn proceeds to go back about twenty yards and have to kick a field goal. I would say that that is probably one of I would say that is the one of the biggest moments of the game. I would say not getting off the field on third and twenty and allowing a touchdown was another one and the missed throw to Keyshawn Singleton. I'd say all those I'd say those are the three biggest, followed by the third and eleven wide open touchdown and the fourth and one, where Jaden Ball scores fifty three yard touchdown. So let's let's let's talk about it in order. Let's start with how the game went. And let's start with the offense. All right. Whether what were your thoughts on Auburn's offensive performance? What were your thoughts about the line, the receivers, the quarterback, the running backs, the play calling, and everything in between?
speaker-1: I think outside of the first quarter they were really efficient and I think that the only reason that I'm not totally down and out on this team is what the offense did. I mean, they scored thirty nine points, they continued to move the ball when the other team knew what they were gonna do. And I think that people think of that in terms of running the ball of, you know, we're gonna run the ball right here and you're not gonna be able to do anything to stop it. Same thing applies for passing. When the other team knows that you have to pass the ball and you still throw all over the yard, that's encouraging. and I think if you go and listen to Golish's press conference from today, and this was recorded on a Monday, I mean he basically said, Yeah, I I liked our plan that we had to get Byram going and I mean if you look at it from a planning perspective, you had a drop on the first drive and then You throw a pass that schematically, schemed wide open, throws it to the wrong shoulder, throws a pick. That's that's not a coaching issue. That is a quarterback who gets paid a lot of money to not throw it to the wrong shoulder. Throwing it to the wrong shoulder. I think that Byrum showed flashes. I was happy to see that Byrum played somewhat well. I would say he played well for three of the quarters. I am concerned he is still not at that elite level that he is being compensated with. And the reason that I'm concerned of him measuring up to the level of compensation that he has is I think that the rest of the roster is somewhat a reflection of having an elite quarterback. You look at Ole Miss, they spent all of their money not all their money, but they spent a good chunk of money on Kewan Lacey and Trinidad Chambless. Because they said these are two elite players that are gonna help fix the gap between, you know, some other not talented players. You're paying Byron Brown like he is gonna be that guy. Right now, Byron Brown is a mid tier SEC quarterback. And I think that's somewhat breaking Auburn fans' brains and it kinda broke my brain because I've seen at Auburn I've seen top level quarterback play and I've seen absolutely terrible quarterback play. And it's probably been sixteen, seventeen years since we had mid tier SEC quarterback play. And so it's really hard as an Auburn fan because we're so used to the peaks and valleys that you see like an upper middle tier quarterback and you're like, I don't know what to think here, because this guy's not elite, but he's not just absolute garbage either. So I think that thirty nine points is nothing to sneeze at. And that's thirty nine points None of which were scored on defense or special teams. That is a legitimate thirty-nine points against a real defense.
speaker-0: He had three points on special teams. He had a field goal.
speaker-1: Okay. Okay. Thank you, Noble.
speaker-0: You you said no special teams. I'm I'm just I'm just keeping you keeping you accountable here. That's true.
speaker-1: No punt returns, no kick returns.
speaker-0: That's true. But but even then, I mean
speaker-1: Thirty six points.
speaker-0: Yeah, a and and look, I and I agree with the point about the quarterbacks and we had talked about that in the stadium last week is and and I think this is a problem not just with Auburn fans but with college football in general. You know, you've got guy you've got talking heads just being like, Man, Byron Brown is just not the guy, he's bad, he's w when when someone says that he's bad Okay, and and you've even got fans in the comments calling for him to get benched. It's like, look, guys, twenty for thirty-five, three hundred and what is it, three hundred and thirty six yards, four total touchdowns and an interception. That th in no way is that bad. In no way is that bad. Got sacked seven times, threw a pick, fifteen incompletions. Is it elite? Probably not. No. Trinidad Chambless is a guy where you watch him and he has some elite stat lines. But Byron's somewhere in the middle. And and this is what we had talked about. Yeah, like I I would say He's on the side of
speaker-1: I'd say upper middle. He's on the good side.
speaker-0: the He is in the he is in the top five for passing yards. Like that's that's that's good. You know, I and that's the thing that I I think he is a good quarterback. He's not a great quarterback, he's not a bad quarterback. Now, something that we talked about before in one of the preseason podcasts. is one of my fears from Byron Brown is that it was going to take him a while to get into the groove of SEC play and that by November he was gonna be playing really well, but it was going to be too late. And I I it would not surprise me if the guy that you see at quarterback for Auburn in November, you're like, Man, if we had this guy all season, it would have been a lot different. And and that's the story of Auburn football for the past five years. You know, th there it's just if, ands, buts, man If this happened if this happened, if this
speaker-1: I will say though, if you have a quarterback who starts to turn it on towards the end of October and end of November, that gets you some actual wins on the field that maybe you it probably does that you probably wouldn't get right now. And all you need to do, you just need to win.
speaker-0: If you if you win six games and if or if you win seven games or six games counting a bowl win and one of is Alabama on the road, and I'm not even saying this from an Auburn perspective of you wanna win the Iron Bowl, it looks good in college football. If Alex Golish and Byron Brown co into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama in their house for the first time since Cam Newton in twenty ten You're all over ESPN. Everyone's talking about you. And all of a sudden, people are talking about Auburn football again. So when you go to replace Byron Brown with a quarterback in the transfer portal this cycle, you can get a good player. Because you have proof of concept and you've shown, hey, my quarterback put up good numbers. My receivers put up good numbers. And you're not pitching, man, throw to Cam Coleman and throw to Eric Singleton. Because, yeah, those guys are talented. But when you're pitching, throwing to guys that have already done it. Keyshawn Singleton's going to be here next year, and if he has nine hundred yards receiving, a thousand yards receiving, you're like, look, I know what I'm doing, and if I bring in a good quarterback, we are going to win football games. That's what you have to do, and that's why winning games is ultimately the most important thing. But going back to Saturday against Florida, I agree. I thought Byron played well. I think that he still has a A problem hanging on to the ball for a little too long, but I think that some people are overblowing that because if he was quicker with the ball, maybe he goes into that upper echelon, that elite category. Right now, he's a good solid quarterback who has been making plays. When the offense was getting first downs, the offense couldn't be stopped. When the tempo got going, Florida had no answer for it. And that was when they were running the ball well. When Auburn's offense was in its normal flow, and even later in the game when Florida was backing off a little bit because they knew there's not going to be a run play, Byron Brown was still able to maneuver that. And the the thing that I really want to focus on is that Auburn's quarterbacks could not do that. Under Hugh Freeze and even a little bit under Brian Harson, the second a two minute drill happened, the second that the defense knew there is zero chance that they run this ball. Buddy, it was it was sacks, it was turnovers, it you did not get first downs. I if I went back and took every two minute drill from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five, I think that you probably have more sacks than first downs in all of them combined. And that is in, you know, with that's what, twelve one possession games in that span. So I I was I was pleased with that aspect. Offensively, I I really don't think that you can be that frustrated. I I I really don't. You
speaker-1: If you score thirty nine you should win the game.
speaker-0: Yeah. If you play in the SEC and you score thirty nine
speaker-1: It's kinda it's it's the exact opposite of what we said in every game last year where we said if you hold the other team to in whatever score it was, you should win the game. If you it was like if you hold the team under twenty four points, you should win the game. Offenses to w if you score over I would say if you score over thirty eight, there is no reason that you should ever lose. I would say that if you score over thirty one, you should win a lot of your games. And that's just the reality of the situation. Yeah. I mean the the defense for all that they had going in. And I also think everybody is getting really mad at DJ Durkin. Like the same people that wanted him to be the head coach. This was not a DJ Durkin fault game. I mean you c you can clearly see DJ Durkin did not miss tackles. You know, I mean th there was so much going on. And I also I think that at the end of the day, there was a lot going on fit wise with the defense, and it just kept perpetuating upon itself. And I think that that's a credit to F Florida. I think that Buster Faulkner, going into the game, everybody said, Bus for Faulkner, great offensive coordinator, one of the best offensive coordinators in the country. They have a really good running back. Reminds you exactly of Gus Malzon with Darren McPad. Gus Malzon with Darren McPadden came in, beat Auburn by 17 at home in a year where Auburn was good. You can have a really good defense. If you are playing against a good offensive coordinator and you have a game changing athlete on the other side of the field, you're going to make good defenses look bad.
speaker-0: Yeah, I I I think that there is a deg that yes, Florida has Florida has a good offense, Florida has a great offensive mind. I'm I'm with you on all that. I Auburn lost this game because flat out they were outmatched in where where it mattered the most. Auburn's defensive line was not physically capable of winning that matchup. Yes, sir. And because of that You rely on y yeah, you talk about twenty four missed tackles, and yes, there were a lot of missed tackles. There were a lot of tackles that should have been made. However, if you're looking at that if you're looking at a defense that has twenty four missed tackles, you think, Man, that those guys didn't do anything right. That's what it should be. You look at a defense that gives up forty four points, has that many missed tackles, doesn't really get that much for you, you think that was a bad defensive performance. If you watch the game There were an unbelievable amount of really great tackles by Xavier Atkins, great tackles by Elijah Melendez, great tackles by Sylvester Smith. When you look at that, yes, those guys miss tackles. I I'm I'm not saying that, but when you're asking guys in the linebacker in the secondary spot to make that many good plays, at the end of the day, you're you're not gonna make that many good plays. No no one's good enough in college football to make as many good plays. as Auburn's defensive line was requiring the guys behind him to make. And and that's a problem. A and that's the most position the most important position in the SEC that if your defensive line just can't get a push, there's nothing you can do. A and that's you know, a lot of people complain about the amount of blitzing. It's like, look, if Auburn wants a pass rush, they have to blitz. Because the defensive line i is not going to get not going to get that push. I thought Cody Sigler played all right. I thought he was the only Really the only defensive lineman that I thought played well. And even then, like he he played well being like he made a tackle or two. You know, he actually got through he was a defensive lineman that actually made a tackle at one point by himself. So y you know, that that's a frustrating thing because I think that we all looked at this defensive line and thought that's going to be a weak point. And I thought that DJ Durkin didn't call a bad game whatsoever when it came to to defense. I thought that he called around what he usually does. And if you look at the position that he put his guys in, if you make the tackle that I mean, Womac has him in his sights come just straight miss tackle on a running back when you're a starting defensive end in the SEC. That should never happen. If you make that tackle, that instead of seven points for Florida, that's three. Third and eleven. Champ Anthony just blows his assignment. Guy runs right by him. Touchdown. Take seven off. If he if he covers that guy, take seven off, maybe put three on. All of a sudden, just with those two plays, that DJ Durkin had his guys in the right spot and the players missed their assignment, the players did not execute. That all of a sudden is Florida has thirty six points instead of forty four. So that's different. Not even You know, not even mentioning you have a fourth and one. You have all these little plays, the the double pass where Anquan Fagans just cuts down way too quick and the guy runs by him and he doesn't follow him. Like all all there were so many plays that DJ Durkin actually did have guys in the right position, but ultimately the the the defensive line did not play well in the slot. That was the worst showing from an Auburn defensive line I think I have seen in I I mean in in a Really, really long time. Maybe twenty twenty against Georgia was the last time an Auburn defensive line just got manhandled that badly.
speaker-1: To your point, I mean, Cody Siegler is the only Auburn defensive lineman that had a tackle for loss. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, and it and it happened in the first quarter. And
speaker-1: I mean, I'm going back now. Doesn't look like you're getting a lot of in any game. I mean, Baylor, same thing. So I mean defensive line is the biggest concern to me of the entire team. I think that the offensive line is concerning from a physical standpoint. Everybody's seen the video of Joe Simmons getting Ragdoll.
speaker-0: Not it's not every play. Like there but you have yes, you have the problem.
speaker-1: It's happening enough.
speaker-0: But you have never had the attack. But you have you have plays like that, but then there are multiple times where Byron Brown is sitting in the pocket and he can't find someone and he still has protection. He still has four seconds to throw the ball. Like the the the offensive line is not exactly just road graders, but there are times in Pass Pro where you're like, they are doing their job and they're doing it well. The defensive line. I I mean how many r how many plays can you think of against Florida where you thought, man, the defensive line got a push there? None.
speaker-1: No
speaker-0: None. Not a single one. Even when on the play that Sigler broke through and got a tackle for loss, the play where Melendez gets hit, like it's always an individual effort. It's never man, there were three guys in the backfield and it just got swallowed up.
speaker-1: Yeah. No, the defensive line was bad. They
speaker-0: Yeah, it it's awful and they and
speaker-1: might be terrible.
speaker-0: And and that's the problem is you don't have you don't have many game changers on that defensive line. And that goes to something, you know, when when when you when you look at it, when Alex Golish gets hired, and it looks like from what we've heard the stories that were floated around, is it looks like Golish has the quote of, Man, the most dangerous thing you can hear is well, this is how we've always done it. And he starts looking, man, you're paying that guy how much for what? You're paying your third string edge rusher how much? And it's like, well, coach, you don't realize like this guy's pretty dang good. And it's like, well, he doesn't have the production, we're not, we're not paying this guy. But does Auburn win that game with Malik Blockton? J just Malik Blockton? Maybe. if you put one of the better defensive tackles in the SEC and you might get more of a push, if you have a Morris Williams and Malik Blockton, starting on that defensive line with Cody Sigler and with Jared Smith, maybe you might win that you might win enough reps to win that game. And I that's I think that that's my thing is that the one critique that I have, the primary critique I have against Goalish, is he and Durkin did not bring in a defensive line that was quality enough. And they knew. They knew that this defensive line was not going to be that great of a unit. And people don't even realize we fought we fought the the NCAA legal system trying to find a couple loopholes to get Dallas Walker back on this team, to get Chris Murray back on this team. R I mean what what happens if if you don't have what if you have your starting nose tackle, if all of a sudden he's not there anymore? How much worse does it get? If you you have Saint Ferrier playing instead of him like that's it it's a guy that didn't even play against Florida. And you're taking the guy that probably played the second most snaps on the interior defensive line, and if he's not there, and that was almost what they had. And I and I in my opinion, that is the biggest critique I have of this coaching staff, is that they did not prepare this defense personnel wise to be successful.
speaker-1: And I think that the frustrating thing that's why people are frustrated with Byrum, because the reason you don't have Amoris and Malik Blockchain is because you're
speaker-0: Sure.
speaker-1: paying four million dollars for a quarterback but you're getting one million dollar production out of your quarterback. He he is an average quarterback. He's a million to a two million dollar quarterback and you're paying him four million dollars. Right. And so if you're if you're going to command four million dollars, you have to have that elite impact because that's where it comes back around. That's where it comes back to well, we could have had two dudes on the defensive line and we say we score thirty instead of thirty nine, but Jaden Ball can't just run all over you. You don't need to score thirty nine.
speaker-0: Right.
speaker-1: So I I think that's where
speaker-0: But it's a it's a catch twenty two because the past couple years you've had a defense that keeps really good offenses to under twenty points, but you don't have a quarterback that can do anything. You don't have an offense that can do anything. So y you know, i so that that makes the question.
speaker-1: At the end of the day, what's happening at the quarterback position has been and it goes right to what Gowler says, be who you say you are. Be what your production says you should be. If we're paying you to be an elite quarterback, be who you say you are. Go and be an elite quarterback. Don't be an average quarterback or an above average SEC quarterback. Go and be the elite quarterback. Same thing. If you are going to say that about your defensive line, who did they think these guys were going to be?
speaker-0: Yeah, I I mean.
speaker-1: Seriously, your best your best guy is supposed to be Cody Siegler? I mean
speaker-0: It that's hard. It's
speaker-1: I just ain't gonna get it done.
speaker-0: hard to look at a guy who is transferring from Arkansas State, taking a step up in quality of football, and this is no knock on him. He has been like I said, he has been the best defensive lineman on the team. And he is still an and he is
speaker-1: He's not he's not
speaker-0: he has been a good SEC defensive lineman. He should
speaker-1: What would be the best defensive lineman Auburn University has?
speaker-0: No, but if he is your third he could be the third best defensive lineman on a really good SEC defensive line. And and and he could be and he could be the second best on a fine D SEC defensive line. The problem is when he is the only guy that's really disruptive, the only guy that's really explosive, it it calls
speaker-1: It just thought Jared Smith was gonna do something.
speaker-0: Yeah, and and I don't think again, but I it goes back to your point. I don't think Jared Smith has been bad. I don't think Jared Smith has been very solid. He's been better than Womack, but he has not been a he has not been a five star. Jared
speaker-1: I like Womac better. I think that
speaker-0: Smith has been a shirt he he has been good he's been good tackling, he's played a lot of snaps, he's been on the field, he just hasn't been playing like a five star sophomore.
speaker-1: Exactly. Womac you say, Okay, I'm gonna bring in a solid guy that's gonna bring me some production and I would say comparable seasons between Jared Smith and Womac.
speaker-0: I I'd give the nod to Jared Smith. I I feel like Jared Smith's made a lot more a lot less mistakes.
speaker-1: I think Womac's better in the pass rush.
speaker-0: Well we ha how much have we seen that? But
speaker-1: Well, I still think he's better.
speaker-0: who who's our bet who is our best pass rusher? It's Xavier Akins. And maybe Elijah Melendez behind them. So if you're saying, well, yeah, he's the he's better in the pass game, well, the linebackers are the best pass rushers on the team. So so all like the the defense is just lacking it they're just lacking the guys on the defensive line and we saw that against like Florida j they they manhandled them. And and part of that is because ball is very good. So ball ball adds to the difficulty. He's gonna break more tackles. He's gonna make it look worse than it is. But there are a lot of offensive lines that are gonna be able to do the exact same thing to Auburn.
speaker-1: I think the same thing happened in Baylor though. I mean you had a quarterback with one leg and you still didn't sack him. He
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: couldn't go anywhere.
speaker-0: Unless you're blitzing.
speaker-1: No no but I'm saying like he can't run away from you. And when we didn't blitz there wasn't an inkling of pressure.
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: And that makes it r people get mad about the third and longs being given up. When you have to bring six people, you're gonna have holes in the back. Like it's just
speaker-0: It it is.
speaker-1: When you have to bring second level defenders on every single play there's gonna be holes
speaker-0: I yes, and I think it's frustrating but also there's no excuse to give up as many third downs as Auburn has been giving up.
speaker-1: No, no, no, no, there's not an excuse, but I'm just saying the defensive line is just bad.
speaker-0: I th they're not I that's not I I think that
speaker-1: There's nothing they can remedy now.
speaker-0: it it felt to me watching the game against Florida it felt like there was it there was a talent gap in just in the wrong spots. And I thought it that the the frustrating thing was that Auburn's offense was it it really was moving and it really was playing very well. once you had the second, third, and fourth quarters, they were they were very good. And you know, a lot of people talk about that that they're discounting that Auburn scored late in the game, that it really didn't matter. I I just I don't buy that. I think that's ridiculous. Auburn's offense was scoring against Florida starters. And when you are scoring against the starting defense and you you have a chance to kick an onside kick and win the game, you you're playing real football. so I so I don't I don't buy into that at all. I mean Auburn Auburn scored Auburn had a really good offensive day against a starting caliber defense. I mean, I thought Keyshawn Singleton and Chaz Nimrod were both very, very good players. I thought that Nimrod you know, we talked you talked about Nimrod last week about not really not really showing it as much as you would have hoped in the first two games. I thought he was phenomenal against Florida. But Singleton showed that he is going to be he he's gonna be a receiver that can get open against anybody. So so there's encouragement there. There's encouragement from Byron throwing for two hundred and seventy one and rushing for sixty five. He he made some really good plays. It's just you miss on third and long, you miss you miss a wide open touchdown to Keyshawn Singleton. And it it that's just a that's just an absolute backbreaker. And
speaker-1: That goes back to the being elite. I mean elite players
speaker-0: Gotta hit those guys.
speaker-1: why do yeah. 'Cause in the SEC you're just not gonna get that many chances at that.
speaker-0: Yeah. You you got you gotta hit it?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah. Touchdowns. And and and that's and and that's the thing though, is it it feels like that just goes back to what we saw all last year, where you're pointing to just a couple plays, well, man, if this if this just goes differently, if this goes differently, if this goes differently. The fact of the matter is, it's not going differently. And it's unfair I do agree it's unfair to put the past six years of frustration on a staff that's been there for six months or for nine months. But I do think that Golish is back into a corner to where he is going to be coaching in an unfair situation. And do you think that if he I mean, I if he drops next week, I I think that it's it I mean, it is panic alarms going off everywhere. There is no reason to lose next week. So let's say he wins next week, he buys himself some time, but it but October's looking rough. And you've got you've got Tennessee, you've got Georgia, you've got L S U, you've got oldness. I mean that that's a really rough thing that most coaches I don't think anyone's gonna predict Auburn to win a game in that span.
speaker-1: But you have to
speaker-0: You you do have to. You do have to. But do you
speaker-1: You can't you don't get thirty million dollars to spend on a football roster.
speaker-0: I I agree. And five plus million a year. You need you need to win one of What my question to you is, at what point does the heat get turned up on Alex Golish? And at what point does the heat get really turned up on John Cohen? Because you're starting to see it right now. And you're starting to see some some smaller voices come out against John Cohen. And it is abundantly clear, in my opinion, that unless Alex Golish goes to the playoffs in year one or year two, John Cohen will not be making the next football coach higher. A
speaker-1: No, no.
speaker-0: and and I I don't think that there's any confusion about that. So I guess what what has to happen for we talk a lot about what has to happen for Alex Golish to be safe and successful. What has to happen for Alex Golish to start not not necessarily be on the hot seat but to not have a whole lot of support. And what has to happen for John Cohen To lose all of
speaker-1: if the football team wins four games, which we had talked about being a realistic scenario, football teams wins four games and you lose any of your non conference basketball, even against a good team. Let me tell you this. Paul Feinbaum went on jocks this morning in Birmingham and blamed John Cohen for the loss. And if you think that Paul Feinbaum just decided to go rogue on his own and just start thrashing the Auburn Athletic Director without hearing from some donors that John Cohen he's on the way out just go ahead and get your pot shots in now, this is what you do, you're deceiving yourself. Yeah. That means that the money people are just as frustrated with the man as we are. The thing about it, what does it change? Right now I I mean if th
speaker-0: It does it right now.
speaker-1: At this point it doesn't change anything because you're stuck with you're stuck with your current and here's the thing, I like Alex Gullish and I think that at some point you just have to say, Alright, you know what? We've made this decision, we need to ride with this guy.
speaker-0: Well no, I I'm I'm all good riding with Alice Goldshaw I I like
speaker-1: There's no there's nothing that he could do this year that makes me think we need to fire Alex Golish. no Okay.
speaker-0: Disagree with that. And that's not good. You don't want to do that. But you you can't win you can't win three games with with this roster. Like we we w I know we just started talking about how bad the defensive line like this team is way too talented to win three games is unacceptable.
speaker-1: I would agree with that. Four The most likely scenario is that we will have three wins by the by this time next week. I mean, most likely we're gonna be three and one going into the Tennessee game. Yes. Then you have to win in I think you need to be competitive in every game in October and you probably need to win a couple.
speaker-0: There is zero ch Okay, l let's real quick. Zero chance you should lose to Vanderbilt. Whatsoever. Zero chance you should lose to Armansol.
speaker-1: A ten point favorite at home to Vanderbilt this week.
speaker-0: Arkansas might be the worst Arkansas is the worst team in the SEC. I the only might be the worst power four team.
speaker-1: The only way that I see you losing to Arkansas is you lose Elijah Melendez and Byron Brown and maybe Xavier Atkins.
speaker-0: Okay, yeah, and if all those guys are hurting I'm giving Alex Golish a pass if his three best players that are all or the two defensive guys that are all American candidates are hurt. we can we'll talk about that. Stamford, obviously, you're not losing that one.
speaker-1: So that gets you.
speaker-0: That gets you to five. Okay. And then you have a game against Mississippi State. Winnable. You have a game against LSU. Winnable. You have a game against Alabama. Winnable. Like th there are games where it's like, look It it is, but but ultimately it's like you have five games that you have zero excuse to lose. Unbelievable unbelievable train wreck if you lose one of those games I just said. You have to make a bowl. You have to. You have to beat one of those teams. Whether it's Tennessee on the road, whether it's Alabama on the road, whether it's LSU at home, whether it's Ulma like you have to win at least one of those. Yeah. And if you do, and if you win six games And if you win the Birmingham Bowl, who gives a crap? You won seven games. You won seven games in year one. The A D's probably getting fired. You have a new A D coming in, and you're pitching a new era. You have some money behind you because a new A D is gonna rile some people up, especially if you hire someone from inside the program that already has existing relationships with a lot of the donors. I'm just saying a a new A D can that that invigorates the program, not as much as a new football coach, but enough to where you're getting You're getting some advantages, okay? And that's what you have to if you can win seven games and you get an influx of money, year two can be successful. Yeah. But you have to do it on the field. You have to win a big football game. You have to. And and I just don't know I I just don't know exactly where that happens.
speaker-1: I don't think you and I I think we're still we're still forecasting. I don't view the team any more negatively now than I did before this game.
speaker-0: in if anything, I I be the offense possible.
speaker-1: I view the offense more positively. And I mean, did I get the score away wrong? Yes. Did I think that Auburn was going to lose? I said Auburn was gonna lose by four. Mm-hmm. They lost by five. So again, it stings when you see it. And
speaker-0: And when you watch it.
speaker-1: when you watch it, but it's like, okay, going into the game realistically, when I was sitting there on Thursday and I'm watching all of these college football people and they're all picking Florida, I like, Yeah, I picked Florida too. I think they'll win by four. I think we'll be competitive. I think they'll win by four. There's going to be a game that we eventually feel like, okay, this is the one that you go get. I don't know if Tennessee is gonna be that game. It could be that game. I think Tennessee's shown that they're pretty good. But again, eventually, like you said, you've gotta win the game. I don't sit here looking at this Vanderbilt game like I looked at the Kentucky game last year.
speaker-0: no no
speaker-1: I not in the terms of somebody's getting fired. I mean like when I was looking towards the Kentucky game, I was like, man, that is a not very talented team and I know that we're going to get into an absolute rock fight with them that we should not be in. Because we're better than this
speaker-0: The thing is
speaker-1: Vanderbilt game, I'm like, okay, we're gonna give up some passing yards. Okay.
speaker-0: I don't think we're gonna give up that many points.
speaker-1: I don't we're I don't think we're gonna give up that many points. I think we're gonna win by two touchdowns or more.
speaker-0: And and here's another thing. You look at
speaker-1: And think about this, okay. Everybody we're all in the negative frame of mind. It's almost like we've just like taken all the emotions like this game happened the week after the Iron Bowl. How different does this podcast sound next week? If Florida beats Ole Miss, who they're now favored to favored against, and Auburn beats Vanderbilt by two touchdowns.
speaker-0: It it definitely looks different.
speaker-1: What different do you frame it of like we're three and one, we just won by two touchdowns against an SEC team, the team that we lost to by five just beat, you know, a playoff contender. Florida all of a sudden is then a massive playoff contender. Yeah. Which everybody's gonna say, You're one, you know, John Summer all got him there. Listen, guys, the Florida roster and the Auburn roster that they inherited, not the same roster.
speaker-0: It I think he I I would I will push back on that. I think that the roster that they inherited were similar levels of talent, maybe Auburn even having an edge. The rosters that they started this season with because Sumeraw was able to keep more of that Florida talent than Goish was. For one reason or the other, Golish did not bring back a lot of the talented guys that could have been back.
speaker-1: I but but the thing is, and I know that we just said the thing about Malik Blockton and Amaris Williams, and those are great what ifs. If you look across the country at guys that left Auburn, it seems like they made the rock right call on a lot of them. On a lot of them, yeah. But that's what I'm saying. I I think that Florida had more guys who were panning out talent, whereas Auburn had
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: Is Auburn had a lot of hype talent. Cam Coleman has not done anything at Texas. Perry Thompson has not done anything at Minnesota. Jackson Arnold has not done anything at UNLV. Ashton Daniels has not done anything at Florida State. You look at all of these guys that left. Jake Crawford. Kate
speaker-0: Jay Crawford's been good.
speaker-1: Okay, so you've had one guy leave who was I mean
speaker-0: I would say that there are guys that have left that have been good. But I'm I'm fine, honestly. Like the the cornerbacks y like okay, does Jay Crawford being on this team win you the game? No. No I don't think so. Like Jay Crawford might yeah, Vernel Brown might not have as big of a game. Someone else would have. Yeah. Like you're just beating Ray Sean Pleasant instead of Andre Jordan. I mean you look at that all missed secondary is awful, except for Jay Crawford. Yeah. And they're just like, Fine, y'all have a first round pick at corner, we'll just throw it to the other side and we'll beat those guys. So that would have happened at Auburn. But that's
speaker-1: That's what I'm saying. I mean, a lot of the talent that walked has not been that productive. So I think that overall I don't know that Auburn Charlster last year was really as talented as we thought it was.
speaker-0: I I think it I I I disagree with that. I think that if you put this year's offense on with last year's defense, this team would have I I think they would have walked Florida. Won by multiple touchdowns.
speaker-1: Yes, but last year's defense had the the the key to last year's defense was
speaker-0: Keldrik and Kiro.
speaker-1: Yes, we were in the NFL now. They they didn't go to Texas and
speaker-0: Yeah, they didn't just transfer. But I I I think I don't know man, when I when I look at this team, it is nice to watch your team losing a different way. And when the offense takes the field you think, man, we're losing by seventeen but I'm I'm staying. I Yeah, I did I I'm cap I believe this offense can score some points. And even then like you when when they score the touchdown and you're kicking the onside, you're like, Hold up, man. If we get this onside, th there's a chance, you know, like because they have not stopped our offense. So if we if we get this ball and we score and it's a three minute game, three minutes left and we're down by three, and then you just hope the defense can get a stop, and then it's kinda like, you know, the the rolls reverse. You're watching like, man, maybe the offense can do something. But and and and obviously if you're having to rely on onside kicks and if you're kicking two onside kicks in the same game, it probably means that you're coming from behind. But this offense was a good unit. This offense will be successful against a lot of teams. A and that was something that was a question that I did not know. Going into this game, I was like, man, I don't know how good this offense really is. This offense is gonna put up some points.
speaker-1: Also, I don't know why people are so mad at the distribution of run and pass. I
speaker-0: Okay. It's four thirty nine points. I don't give a
speaker-1: care th if we score thirty nine points, Jeremiah
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: Cobb only gets nine carries. Sorry. I care about scoring.
speaker-0: Yeah. And and also i it's it's a tough situation. You go down early, so you're trying to run your offense, but a lot of your offense is putting the ball in Byron Brown's hands. A lot of the passes were there, and then, you know, Cobb probably had I mean, a lot of those carries he had at halftime, and then you your offense goes three and out, misses a wide open touchdown, so then you get the ball back, you're down seventeen. All right, man, we're not we're not running a lot. So at that point you you're just not gonna run the ball as much. So I I don't know. But go going back real quick, I want to talk about this. You pose the question if Florida beats Ole Miss and Auburn beats Vanderbilt. I think that the mentality does shift a little bit if Auburn beats Vanderbilt and looks good while doing it. How does Byr does Byron look good or does Byron look really good against Vanderbilt? Because Vanderbilt's defense is not not a whole lot. They they are probably maybe the second worst defense that Auburn will play this season, outside, you know, excluding Sanford. But I I would say Arkansas is probably the only unit that's worse than this Vanderbilt defense. They really haven't looked great in any any game this season. They shouldn't have beaten NC State.
speaker-1: How about Austin Pete a nine point?
speaker-0: Yeah, okay. And so the Delaware scored twenty six on and then NC State scored thirty one. I mean, and even then, like CJ Baxter, if he doesn't have just an unbelievable fumble if NC State doesn't throw that game away. Vanderbilt loses that game and they're coming into Jordan Hare two and one. this this should be a win. Auburn's a ten point favorite. Byron Brown should be able to light these guys up. Or Jeremiah Cobb should light these guys. Like someone on Auburn's offense should have an unbelievable day. Auburn should put up well into the thirties. Like th this should not be a game I don't think that's super close in the fourth quarter. Auburn should win this game convincingly. And I think if Auburn does, and Florida looks good, even if they don't win, if it's a close game against Ole Miss, people will respect Florida in the playoff conversation. And people look at Auburn as okay, that's a it's a good SEC team. They're fine. They lost to Florida by five. They looked good against Vanderbilt. But if you if you're in a rock fight against Vandy this week, it's it's looks like it's gonna be tough sledding against Tennessee and Georgia and and that slate that you have coming
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, Delaware scored twenty six and had three turnovers.
speaker-0: I mean that's that's absurd. That is Can you name a single player that has ever played for the University of Delaware?
speaker-1: Delaware seems like one of those spots
speaker-0: Didn't Joe Biden go there?
speaker-1: I don't know, you would know that better than me.
speaker-0: I don't know man. Who knows? okay, I mean C or sorry, I didn't said CJ Baxter. CJ Bailey, twenty-five for thirty-seven, two hundred and seventy-five passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception against Vanderbilt.
speaker-1: Joe Flacco pointed Del. Typical
speaker-0: Did he really? Yeah. Look at that.
speaker-1: of you to know Joe Biden, over Joe Flacco. You schmuck.
speaker-0: Sorry, he was a President of the United States, how dare I know who he was.
speaker-1: Joe Flacco with a CTE, still doing better up top.
speaker-0: Hey man. Yeah, but yeah, I mean CJ Bailey put up over three hundred total yards against Vanderbilt's defense. Like that that's a good quarterback. That's not a great quarterback. That's a solid quarterback. Byron Brown should do the exact same thing as CJ Bailey. If not better. And you would like to see him not throw an interception. That would be that would be ideal to go a game against a real team without throwing.
speaker-1: effect. Yeah. And w without throwing like a bad one. Cause that's the thing. Is it's not like he It's
speaker-0: They've all been pretty bad.
speaker-1: not like they're tip balls. I mean they are just dead on to the
speaker-0: I mean yeah that the the pick against Florida to Cormonty McClain, it was just like, man, throw that throw that on the other shoulder. It's a first down. Yeah, I mean you threw it. You you
speaker-1: Yeah, but instead you just
speaker-0: threw it right down. Don't make your receiver play D B.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: It's it's it's not that hard. Just don't make your guy play D B. So yeah, so ultimately we're frustrated. It's not it's not a great it's not a great game from last week. It's not It doesn't make you happy. It makes you very angry with where we are at Auburn football that what you're doing. Wheeler's looking up where Joe Biden went to college right now and I believe fill in the blank for us.
speaker-1: Big Biden guy, Noble, was right.
speaker-0: He went to the University of Delaware. So that's a trivia question. If any of you guys are going to play trivia. Going to play if anyone's going to play trivia this week, Joe Biden went to the University of Delaware. Just like Joe Flacco, the two Joes.
speaker-1: JOJA
speaker-0: Joe and Joey, they're in Delaware. But ultimately, very frustrating game against Florida. But Auburn did give you something to get excited about if they can win next week. So we'll just have to wait and see what Auburn team we see next week. And like we said, I think by the end of this either Florida or Vanderbilt game, we will know what team we have. And and I completely agree with that sentiment. If Auburn the the team that we see after we see against Vanderbilt, I think that we will be able to accurately predict roughly what the rest of the season's gonna look like and we will know what kind of team we have.
speaker-1: Give me a score prediction for Auburn Vanderbilt.
speaker-0: I I feel I feel solid. I'm gonna say I think it is a convincing thirty-four to thirty-four to seventeen.
speaker-1: wow. I'm gonna go thirty-eight twenty-eight.
speaker-0: Okay, so you feel it you feel like Vanderbilt's offense is gonna move the ball.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I I don't know. I I really I don't know. I I don't know how sold I am on Jared Curtis. I I I think Auburn's defense bounces back. I think that DJ Durkin gets the guys to to confuse a freshman quarterback. I I I feel better. I feel better about the defense against Vanderbilt. I don't Now that is that is very true. So I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how Auburn's defense fares, how Auburn's offense does, and we'll be back next week to break down what is hopefully an Auburn win for the first time that we have been favored by ten against an SEC team in what feels like a very long time. But as always, thank you guys so much for listening and War Eagle. War Eagle.
speaker-1: I think there's a lot going on here. There's a lot of there's a lot of anger. There's a lot of resigning to the rest of the season. And I don't think that that's fair to the team. I don't think that that's fair to the current coaching staff. I think that you have a fan base who has had six years of losing and the hopes and fears of all of those years got put on to the Florida game and you lost the game. You lost the game by five. I think a lot of people left when you went down seventeen, so a lot of people feel like you lost the game by seventeen and that you're a mile and a half away. It's not good to lose. It's not there's no moral victory. There's no
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: a special reason that you would feel hopeful. But I also don't think that it's nearly as bad as people think it is.
speaker-0: Well so okay, so let's let's break it down. And I will say, I'll I'll be the first to say, we have been wrong. I would say probably twice on this podcast about the quality of opponent that we're playing. I think Baylor was better than we expected. I think Florida was better than we expected. Florida is a good football team. They are. And and I I don't think that we still know a lot about Florida. Their defense left a lot to be desired. I think their defense is gonna have some trouble stopping Ole Miss this weekend. You have a quarterback in Aaron Philo that I still don't we really didn't make him do a whole lot. I don't know if that was I think he's a good quarterback. He made some good decisions, he made the plays he needed to have, he missed some throws, and he was throwing to some pretty, pretty open guys all night long. So I think Florida is a very good football team. Now the problem with that is Florida being a good football team does not negate the fact That Georgia and Alabama and LSU and Ole Miss are probably all maybe
speaker-1: And Mr. B shape. Yeah.
speaker-0: even Mississippi State are all probably the same level, if not a higher level. So when I said all off season, when I said last week this is the most important game for Alex Gullish on the schedule, I completely still stand by that statement. And if you had won on Saturday, the mindset goes we might win eight games. We might win nine games. The mindset with a loss is we would be lucky to win seven. The expectation is that you probably win five. The hope is, the prayer is that you win six. And I and I will say, winning six games today in today's SEC is just not the same as winning six games five, ten years ago. And The reason of that is if you are close in some game, it's so much easier to turn your roster around around quickly that it's so much more about do you show flashes, who do you beat, do you show a proof of concept that what you're doing can work? And you look at someone like Hugh Freeze. Hugh Freeze never was successful at Auburn, never won many games, had one of the most talented rosters in college football in the year 2025. Now What what that is, is that if you can show guys, hey man, it's a proof of concept, we are turning this program around and you're the guy that can do it, that works. And you can sell guys on that and at the end of the day, if you have money, you can get guys. And we'll talk about this later, but one of the big things is Hugh Freeze did not try to save money. He spent the money he had and I think that maybe not spending every single dollar that he has might be costing Alex Golish a little bit. So when we look at this Auburn, Florida game, Auburn really didn't do anything on offense in the first quarter. Really the defense didn't do a whole lot. The defense did get a really big turnover and set the Auburn offense up on the eight-yard line. Auburn proceeds to go back about twenty yards and have to kick a field goal. I would say that that is probably one of I would say that is the one of the biggest moments of the game. I would say not getting off the field on third and twenty and allowing a touchdown was another one and the missed throw to Keyshawn Singleton. I'd say all those I'd say those are the three biggest, followed by the third and eleven wide open touchdown and the fourth and one, where Jaden Ball scores fifty three yard touchdown. So let's let's let's talk about it in order. Let's start with how the game went. And let's start with the offense. All right. Whether what were your thoughts on Auburn's offensive performance? What were your thoughts about the line, the receivers, the quarterback, the running backs, the play calling, and everything in between?
speaker-1: I think outside of the first quarter they were really efficient and I think that the only reason that I'm not totally down and out on this team is what the offense did. I mean, they scored thirty nine points, they continued to move the ball when the other team knew what they were gonna do. And I think that people think of that in terms of running the ball of, you know, we're gonna run the ball right here and you're not gonna be able to do anything to stop it. Same thing applies for passing. When the other team knows that you have to pass the ball and you still throw all over the yard, that's encouraging. and I think if you go and listen to Golish's press conference from today, and this was recorded on a Monday, I mean he basically said, Yeah, I I liked our plan that we had to get Byram going and I mean if you look at it from a planning perspective, you had a drop on the first drive and then You throw a pass that schematically, schemed wide open, throws it to the wrong shoulder, throws a pick. That's that's not a coaching issue. That is a quarterback who gets paid a lot of money to not throw it to the wrong shoulder. Throwing it to the wrong shoulder. I think that Byrum showed flashes. I was happy to see that Byrum played somewhat well. I would say he played well for three of the quarters. I am concerned he is still not at that elite level that he is being compensated with. And the reason that I'm concerned of him measuring up to the level of compensation that he has is I think that the rest of the roster is somewhat a reflection of having an elite quarterback. You look at Ole Miss, they spent all of their money not all their money, but they spent a good chunk of money on Kewan Lacey and Trinidad Chambless. Because they said these are two elite players that are gonna help fix the gap between, you know, some other not talented players. You're paying Byron Brown like he is gonna be that guy. Right now, Byron Brown is a mid tier SEC quarterback. And I think that's somewhat breaking Auburn fans' brains and it kinda broke my brain because I've seen at Auburn I've seen top level quarterback play and I've seen absolutely terrible quarterback play. And it's probably been sixteen, seventeen years since we had mid tier SEC quarterback play. And so it's really hard as an Auburn fan because we're so used to the peaks and valleys that you see like an upper middle tier quarterback and you're like, I don't know what to think here, because this guy's not elite, but he's not just absolute garbage either. So I think that thirty nine points is nothing to sneeze at. And that's thirty nine points None of which were scored on defense or special teams. That is a legitimate thirty-nine points against a real defense.
speaker-0: He had three points on special teams. He had a field goal.
speaker-1: Okay. Okay. Thank you, Noble.
speaker-0: You you said no special teams. I'm I'm just I'm just keeping you keeping you accountable here. That's true.
speaker-1: No punt returns, no kick returns.
speaker-0: That's true. But but even then, I mean
speaker-1: Thirty six points.
speaker-0: Yeah, a and and look, I and I agree with the point about the quarterbacks and we had talked about that in the stadium last week is and and I think this is a problem not just with Auburn fans but with college football in general. You know, you've got guy you've got talking heads just being like, Man, Byron Brown is just not the guy, he's bad, he's w when when someone says that he's bad Okay, and and you've even got fans in the comments calling for him to get benched. It's like, look, guys, twenty for thirty-five, three hundred and what is it, three hundred and thirty six yards, four total touchdowns and an interception. That th in no way is that bad. In no way is that bad. Got sacked seven times, threw a pick, fifteen incompletions. Is it elite? Probably not. No. Trinidad Chambless is a guy where you watch him and he has some elite stat lines. But Byron's somewhere in the middle. And and this is what we had talked about. Yeah, like I I would say He's on the side of
speaker-1: I'd say upper middle. He's on the good side.
speaker-0: the He is in the he is in the top five for passing yards. Like that's that's that's good. You know, I and that's the thing that I I think he is a good quarterback. He's not a great quarterback, he's not a bad quarterback. Now, something that we talked about before in one of the preseason podcasts. is one of my fears from Byron Brown is that it was going to take him a while to get into the groove of SEC play and that by November he was gonna be playing really well, but it was going to be too late. And I I it would not surprise me if the guy that you see at quarterback for Auburn in November, you're like, Man, if we had this guy all season, it would have been a lot different. And and that's the story of Auburn football for the past five years. You know, th there it's just if, ands, buts, man If this happened if this happened, if this
speaker-1: I will say though, if you have a quarterback who starts to turn it on towards the end of October and end of November, that gets you some actual wins on the field that maybe you it probably does that you probably wouldn't get right now. And all you need to do, you just need to win.
speaker-0: If you if you win six games and if or if you win seven games or six games counting a bowl win and one of is Alabama on the road, and I'm not even saying this from an Auburn perspective of you wanna win the Iron Bowl, it looks good in college football. If Alex Golish and Byron Brown co into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama in their house for the first time since Cam Newton in twenty ten You're all over ESPN. Everyone's talking about you. And all of a sudden, people are talking about Auburn football again. So when you go to replace Byron Brown with a quarterback in the transfer portal this cycle, you can get a good player. Because you have proof of concept and you've shown, hey, my quarterback put up good numbers. My receivers put up good numbers. And you're not pitching, man, throw to Cam Coleman and throw to Eric Singleton. Because, yeah, those guys are talented. But when you're pitching, throwing to guys that have already done it. Keyshawn Singleton's going to be here next year, and if he has nine hundred yards receiving, a thousand yards receiving, you're like, look, I know what I'm doing, and if I bring in a good quarterback, we are going to win football games. That's what you have to do, and that's why winning games is ultimately the most important thing. But going back to Saturday against Florida, I agree. I thought Byron played well. I think that he still has a A problem hanging on to the ball for a little too long, but I think that some people are overblowing that because if he was quicker with the ball, maybe he goes into that upper echelon, that elite category. Right now, he's a good solid quarterback who has been making plays. When the offense was getting first downs, the offense couldn't be stopped. When the tempo got going, Florida had no answer for it. And that was when they were running the ball well. When Auburn's offense was in its normal flow, and even later in the game when Florida was backing off a little bit because they knew there's not going to be a run play, Byron Brown was still able to maneuver that. And the the thing that I really want to focus on is that Auburn's quarterbacks could not do that. Under Hugh Freeze and even a little bit under Brian Harson, the second a two minute drill happened, the second that the defense knew there is zero chance that they run this ball. Buddy, it was it was sacks, it was turnovers, it you did not get first downs. I if I went back and took every two minute drill from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five, I think that you probably have more sacks than first downs in all of them combined. And that is in, you know, with that's what, twelve one possession games in that span. So I I was I was pleased with that aspect. Offensively, I I really don't think that you can be that frustrated. I I I really don't. You
speaker-1: If you score thirty nine you should win the game.
speaker-0: Yeah. If you play in the SEC and you score thirty nine
speaker-1: It's kinda it's it's the exact opposite of what we said in every game last year where we said if you hold the other team to in whatever score it was, you should win the game. If you it was like if you hold the team under twenty four points, you should win the game. Offenses to w if you score over I would say if you score over thirty eight, there is no reason that you should ever lose. I would say that if you score over thirty one, you should win a lot of your games. And that's just the reality of the situation. Yeah. I mean the the defense for all that they had going in. And I also think everybody is getting really mad at DJ Durkin. Like the same people that wanted him to be the head coach. This was not a DJ Durkin fault game. I mean you c you can clearly see DJ Durkin did not miss tackles. You know, I mean th there was so much going on. And I also I think that at the end of the day, there was a lot going on fit wise with the defense, and it just kept perpetuating upon itself. And I think that that's a credit to F Florida. I think that Buster Faulkner, going into the game, everybody said, Bus for Faulkner, great offensive coordinator, one of the best offensive coordinators in the country. They have a really good running back. Reminds you exactly of Gus Malzon with Darren McPad. Gus Malzon with Darren McPadden came in, beat Auburn by 17 at home in a year where Auburn was good. You can have a really good defense. If you are playing against a good offensive coordinator and you have a game changing athlete on the other side of the field, you're going to make good defenses look bad.
speaker-0: Yeah, I I I think that there is a deg that yes, Florida has Florida has a good offense, Florida has a great offensive mind. I'm I'm with you on all that. I Auburn lost this game because flat out they were outmatched in where where it mattered the most. Auburn's defensive line was not physically capable of winning that matchup. Yes, sir. And because of that You rely on y yeah, you talk about twenty four missed tackles, and yes, there were a lot of missed tackles. There were a lot of tackles that should have been made. However, if you're looking at that if you're looking at a defense that has twenty four missed tackles, you think, Man, that those guys didn't do anything right. That's what it should be. You look at a defense that gives up forty four points, has that many missed tackles, doesn't really get that much for you, you think that was a bad defensive performance. If you watch the game There were an unbelievable amount of really great tackles by Xavier Atkins, great tackles by Elijah Melendez, great tackles by Sylvester Smith. When you look at that, yes, those guys miss tackles. I I'm I'm not saying that, but when you're asking guys in the linebacker in the secondary spot to make that many good plays, at the end of the day, you're you're not gonna make that many good plays. No no one's good enough in college football to make as many good plays. as Auburn's defensive line was requiring the guys behind him to make. And and that's a problem. A and that's the most position the most important position in the SEC that if your defensive line just can't get a push, there's nothing you can do. A and that's you know, a lot of people complain about the amount of blitzing. It's like, look, if Auburn wants a pass rush, they have to blitz. Because the defensive line i is not going to get not going to get that push. I thought Cody Sigler played all right. I thought he was the only Really the only defensive lineman that I thought played well. And even then, like he he played well being like he made a tackle or two. You know, he actually got through he was a defensive lineman that actually made a tackle at one point by himself. So y you know, that that's a frustrating thing because I think that we all looked at this defensive line and thought that's going to be a weak point. And I thought that DJ Durkin didn't call a bad game whatsoever when it came to to defense. I thought that he called around what he usually does. And if you look at the position that he put his guys in, if you make the tackle that I mean, Womac has him in his sights come just straight miss tackle on a running back when you're a starting defensive end in the SEC. That should never happen. If you make that tackle, that instead of seven points for Florida, that's three. Third and eleven. Champ Anthony just blows his assignment. Guy runs right by him. Touchdown. Take seven off. If he if he covers that guy, take seven off, maybe put three on. All of a sudden, just with those two plays, that DJ Durkin had his guys in the right spot and the players missed their assignment, the players did not execute. That all of a sudden is Florida has thirty six points instead of forty four. So that's different. Not even You know, not even mentioning you have a fourth and one. You have all these little plays, the the double pass where Anquan Fagans just cuts down way too quick and the guy runs by him and he doesn't follow him. Like all all there were so many plays that DJ Durkin actually did have guys in the right position, but ultimately the the the defensive line did not play well in the slot. That was the worst showing from an Auburn defensive line I think I have seen in I I mean in in a Really, really long time. Maybe twenty twenty against Georgia was the last time an Auburn defensive line just got manhandled that badly.
speaker-1: To your point, I mean, Cody Siegler is the only Auburn defensive lineman that had a tackle for loss. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, and it and it happened in the first quarter. And
speaker-1: I mean, I'm going back now. Doesn't look like you're getting a lot of in any game. I mean, Baylor, same thing. So I mean defensive line is the biggest concern to me of the entire team. I think that the offensive line is concerning from a physical standpoint. Everybody's seen the video of Joe Simmons getting Ragdoll.
speaker-0: Not it's not every play. Like there but you have yes, you have the problem.
speaker-1: It's happening enough.
speaker-0: But you have never had the attack. But you have you have plays like that, but then there are multiple times where Byron Brown is sitting in the pocket and he can't find someone and he still has protection. He still has four seconds to throw the ball. Like the the the offensive line is not exactly just road graders, but there are times in Pass Pro where you're like, they are doing their job and they're doing it well. The defensive line. I I mean how many r how many plays can you think of against Florida where you thought, man, the defensive line got a push there? None.
speaker-1: No
speaker-0: None. Not a single one. Even when on the play that Sigler broke through and got a tackle for loss, the play where Melendez gets hit, like it's always an individual effort. It's never man, there were three guys in the backfield and it just got swallowed up.
speaker-1: Yeah. No, the defensive line was bad. They
speaker-0: Yeah, it it's awful and they and
speaker-1: might be terrible.
speaker-0: And and that's the problem is you don't have you don't have many game changers on that defensive line. And that goes to something, you know, when when when you when you look at it, when Alex Golish gets hired, and it looks like from what we've heard the stories that were floated around, is it looks like Golish has the quote of, Man, the most dangerous thing you can hear is well, this is how we've always done it. And he starts looking, man, you're paying that guy how much for what? You're paying your third string edge rusher how much? And it's like, well, coach, you don't realize like this guy's pretty dang good. And it's like, well, he doesn't have the production, we're not, we're not paying this guy. But does Auburn win that game with Malik Blockton? J just Malik Blockton? Maybe. if you put one of the better defensive tackles in the SEC and you might get more of a push, if you have a Morris Williams and Malik Blockton, starting on that defensive line with Cody Sigler and with Jared Smith, maybe you might win that you might win enough reps to win that game. And I that's I think that that's my thing is that the one critique that I have, the primary critique I have against Goalish, is he and Durkin did not bring in a defensive line that was quality enough. And they knew. They knew that this defensive line was not going to be that great of a unit. And people don't even realize we fought we fought the the NCAA legal system trying to find a couple loopholes to get Dallas Walker back on this team, to get Chris Murray back on this team. R I mean what what happens if if you don't have what if you have your starting nose tackle, if all of a sudden he's not there anymore? How much worse does it get? If you you have Saint Ferrier playing instead of him like that's it it's a guy that didn't even play against Florida. And you're taking the guy that probably played the second most snaps on the interior defensive line, and if he's not there, and that was almost what they had. And I and I in my opinion, that is the biggest critique I have of this coaching staff, is that they did not prepare this defense personnel wise to be successful.
speaker-1: And I think that the frustrating thing that's why people are frustrated with Byrum, because the reason you don't have Amoris and Malik Blockchain is because you're
speaker-0: Sure.
speaker-1: paying four million dollars for a quarterback but you're getting one million dollar production out of your quarterback. He he is an average quarterback. He's a million to a two million dollar quarterback and you're paying him four million dollars. Right. And so if you're if you're going to command four million dollars, you have to have that elite impact because that's where it comes back around. That's where it comes back to well, we could have had two dudes on the defensive line and we say we score thirty instead of thirty nine, but Jaden Ball can't just run all over you. You don't need to score thirty nine.
speaker-0: Right.
speaker-1: So I I think that's where
speaker-0: But it's a it's a catch twenty two because the past couple years you've had a defense that keeps really good offenses to under twenty points, but you don't have a quarterback that can do anything. You don't have an offense that can do anything. So y you know, i so that that makes the question.
speaker-1: At the end of the day, what's happening at the quarterback position has been and it goes right to what Gowler says, be who you say you are. Be what your production says you should be. If we're paying you to be an elite quarterback, be who you say you are. Go and be an elite quarterback. Don't be an average quarterback or an above average SEC quarterback. Go and be the elite quarterback. Same thing. If you are going to say that about your defensive line, who did they think these guys were going to be?
speaker-0: Yeah, I I mean.
speaker-1: Seriously, your best your best guy is supposed to be Cody Siegler? I mean
speaker-0: It that's hard. It's
speaker-1: I just ain't gonna get it done.
speaker-0: hard to look at a guy who is transferring from Arkansas State, taking a step up in quality of football, and this is no knock on him. He has been like I said, he has been the best defensive lineman on the team. And he is still an and he is
speaker-1: He's not he's not
speaker-0: he has been a good SEC defensive lineman. He should
speaker-1: What would be the best defensive lineman Auburn University has?
speaker-0: No, but if he is your third he could be the third best defensive lineman on a really good SEC defensive line. And and and he could be and he could be the second best on a fine D SEC defensive line. The problem is when he is the only guy that's really disruptive, the only guy that's really explosive, it it calls
speaker-1: It just thought Jared Smith was gonna do something.
speaker-0: Yeah, and and I don't think again, but I it goes back to your point. I don't think Jared Smith has been bad. I don't think Jared Smith has been very solid. He's been better than Womack, but he has not been a he has not been a five star. Jared
speaker-1: I like Womac better. I think that
speaker-0: Smith has been a shirt he he has been good he's been good tackling, he's played a lot of snaps, he's been on the field, he just hasn't been playing like a five star sophomore.
speaker-1: Exactly. Womac you say, Okay, I'm gonna bring in a solid guy that's gonna bring me some production and I would say comparable seasons between Jared Smith and Womac.
speaker-0: I I'd give the nod to Jared Smith. I I feel like Jared Smith's made a lot more a lot less mistakes.
speaker-1: I think Womac's better in the pass rush.
speaker-0: Well we ha how much have we seen that? But
speaker-1: Well, I still think he's better.
speaker-0: who who's our bet who is our best pass rusher? It's Xavier Akins. And maybe Elijah Melendez behind them. So if you're saying, well, yeah, he's the he's better in the pass game, well, the linebackers are the best pass rushers on the team. So so all like the the defense is just lacking it they're just lacking the guys on the defensive line and we saw that against like Florida j they they manhandled them. And and part of that is because ball is very good. So ball ball adds to the difficulty. He's gonna break more tackles. He's gonna make it look worse than it is. But there are a lot of offensive lines that are gonna be able to do the exact same thing to Auburn.
speaker-1: I think the same thing happened in Baylor though. I mean you had a quarterback with one leg and you still didn't sack him. He
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: couldn't go anywhere.
speaker-0: Unless you're blitzing.
speaker-1: No no but I'm saying like he can't run away from you. And when we didn't blitz there wasn't an inkling of pressure.
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: And that makes it r people get mad about the third and longs being given up. When you have to bring six people, you're gonna have holes in the back. Like it's just
speaker-0: It it is.
speaker-1: When you have to bring second level defenders on every single play there's gonna be holes
speaker-0: I yes, and I think it's frustrating but also there's no excuse to give up as many third downs as Auburn has been giving up.
speaker-1: No, no, no, no, there's not an excuse, but I'm just saying the defensive line is just bad.
speaker-0: I th they're not I that's not I I think that
speaker-1: There's nothing they can remedy now.
speaker-0: it it felt to me watching the game against Florida it felt like there was it there was a talent gap in just in the wrong spots. And I thought it that the the frustrating thing was that Auburn's offense was it it really was moving and it really was playing very well. once you had the second, third, and fourth quarters, they were they were very good. And you know, a lot of people talk about that that they're discounting that Auburn scored late in the game, that it really didn't matter. I I just I don't buy that. I think that's ridiculous. Auburn's offense was scoring against Florida starters. And when you are scoring against the starting defense and you you have a chance to kick an onside kick and win the game, you you're playing real football. so I so I don't I don't buy into that at all. I mean Auburn Auburn scored Auburn had a really good offensive day against a starting caliber defense. I mean, I thought Keyshawn Singleton and Chaz Nimrod were both very, very good players. I thought that Nimrod you know, we talked you talked about Nimrod last week about not really not really showing it as much as you would have hoped in the first two games. I thought he was phenomenal against Florida. But Singleton showed that he is going to be he he's gonna be a receiver that can get open against anybody. So so there's encouragement there. There's encouragement from Byron throwing for two hundred and seventy one and rushing for sixty five. He he made some really good plays. It's just you miss on third and long, you miss you miss a wide open touchdown to Keyshawn Singleton. And it it that's just a that's just an absolute backbreaker. And
speaker-1: That goes back to the being elite. I mean elite players
speaker-0: Gotta hit those guys.
speaker-1: why do yeah. 'Cause in the SEC you're just not gonna get that many chances at that.
speaker-0: Yeah. You you got you gotta hit it?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah. Touchdowns. And and and that's and and that's the thing though, is it it feels like that just goes back to what we saw all last year, where you're pointing to just a couple plays, well, man, if this if this just goes differently, if this goes differently, if this goes differently. The fact of the matter is, it's not going differently. And it's unfair I do agree it's unfair to put the past six years of frustration on a staff that's been there for six months or for nine months. But I do think that Golish is back into a corner to where he is going to be coaching in an unfair situation. And do you think that if he I mean, I if he drops next week, I I think that it's it I mean, it is panic alarms going off everywhere. There is no reason to lose next week. So let's say he wins next week, he buys himself some time, but it but October's looking rough. And you've got you've got Tennessee, you've got Georgia, you've got L S U, you've got oldness. I mean that that's a really rough thing that most coaches I don't think anyone's gonna predict Auburn to win a game in that span.
speaker-1: But you have to
speaker-0: You you do have to. You do have to. But do you
speaker-1: You can't you don't get thirty million dollars to spend on a football roster.
speaker-0: I I agree. And five plus million a year. You need you need to win one of What my question to you is, at what point does the heat get turned up on Alex Golish? And at what point does the heat get really turned up on John Cohen? Because you're starting to see it right now. And you're starting to see some some smaller voices come out against John Cohen. And it is abundantly clear, in my opinion, that unless Alex Golish goes to the playoffs in year one or year two, John Cohen will not be making the next football coach higher. A
speaker-1: No, no.
speaker-0: and and I I don't think that there's any confusion about that. So I guess what what has to happen for we talk a lot about what has to happen for Alex Golish to be safe and successful. What has to happen for Alex Golish to start not not necessarily be on the hot seat but to not have a whole lot of support. And what has to happen for John Cohen To lose all of
speaker-1: if the football team wins four games, which we had talked about being a realistic scenario, football teams wins four games and you lose any of your non conference basketball, even against a good team. Let me tell you this. Paul Feinbaum went on jocks this morning in Birmingham and blamed John Cohen for the loss. And if you think that Paul Feinbaum just decided to go rogue on his own and just start thrashing the Auburn Athletic Director without hearing from some donors that John Cohen he's on the way out just go ahead and get your pot shots in now, this is what you do, you're deceiving yourself. Yeah. That means that the money people are just as frustrated with the man as we are. The thing about it, what does it change? Right now I I mean if th
speaker-0: It does it right now.
speaker-1: At this point it doesn't change anything because you're stuck with you're stuck with your current and here's the thing, I like Alex Gullish and I think that at some point you just have to say, Alright, you know what? We've made this decision, we need to ride with this guy.
speaker-0: Well no, I I'm I'm all good riding with Alice Goldshaw I I like
speaker-1: There's no there's nothing that he could do this year that makes me think we need to fire Alex Golish. no Okay.
speaker-0: Disagree with that. And that's not good. You don't want to do that. But you you can't win you can't win three games with with this roster. Like we we w I know we just started talking about how bad the defensive line like this team is way too talented to win three games is unacceptable.
speaker-1: I would agree with that. Four The most likely scenario is that we will have three wins by the by this time next week. I mean, most likely we're gonna be three and one going into the Tennessee game. Yes. Then you have to win in I think you need to be competitive in every game in October and you probably need to win a couple.
speaker-0: There is zero ch Okay, l let's real quick. Zero chance you should lose to Vanderbilt. Whatsoever. Zero chance you should lose to Armansol.
speaker-1: A ten point favorite at home to Vanderbilt this week.
speaker-0: Arkansas might be the worst Arkansas is the worst team in the SEC. I the only might be the worst power four team.
speaker-1: The only way that I see you losing to Arkansas is you lose Elijah Melendez and Byron Brown and maybe Xavier Atkins.
speaker-0: Okay, yeah, and if all those guys are hurting I'm giving Alex Golish a pass if his three best players that are all or the two defensive guys that are all American candidates are hurt. we can we'll talk about that. Stamford, obviously, you're not losing that one.
speaker-1: So that gets you.
speaker-0: That gets you to five. Okay. And then you have a game against Mississippi State. Winnable. You have a game against LSU. Winnable. You have a game against Alabama. Winnable. Like th there are games where it's like, look It it is, but but ultimately it's like you have five games that you have zero excuse to lose. Unbelievable unbelievable train wreck if you lose one of those games I just said. You have to make a bowl. You have to. You have to beat one of those teams. Whether it's Tennessee on the road, whether it's Alabama on the road, whether it's LSU at home, whether it's Ulma like you have to win at least one of those. Yeah. And if you do, and if you win six games And if you win the Birmingham Bowl, who gives a crap? You won seven games. You won seven games in year one. The A D's probably getting fired. You have a new A D coming in, and you're pitching a new era. You have some money behind you because a new A D is gonna rile some people up, especially if you hire someone from inside the program that already has existing relationships with a lot of the donors. I'm just saying a a new A D can that that invigorates the program, not as much as a new football coach, but enough to where you're getting You're getting some advantages, okay? And that's what you have to if you can win seven games and you get an influx of money, year two can be successful. Yeah. But you have to do it on the field. You have to win a big football game. You have to. And and I just don't know I I just don't know exactly where that happens.
speaker-1: I don't think you and I I think we're still we're still forecasting. I don't view the team any more negatively now than I did before this game.
speaker-0: in if anything, I I be the offense possible.
speaker-1: I view the offense more positively. And I mean, did I get the score away wrong? Yes. Did I think that Auburn was going to lose? I said Auburn was gonna lose by four. Mm-hmm. They lost by five. So again, it stings when you see it. And
speaker-0: And when you watch it.
speaker-1: when you watch it, but it's like, okay, going into the game realistically, when I was sitting there on Thursday and I'm watching all of these college football people and they're all picking Florida, I like, Yeah, I picked Florida too. I think they'll win by four. I think we'll be competitive. I think they'll win by four. There's going to be a game that we eventually feel like, okay, this is the one that you go get. I don't know if Tennessee is gonna be that game. It could be that game. I think Tennessee's shown that they're pretty good. But again, eventually, like you said, you've gotta win the game. I don't sit here looking at this Vanderbilt game like I looked at the Kentucky game last year.
speaker-0: no no
speaker-1: I not in the terms of somebody's getting fired. I mean like when I was looking towards the Kentucky game, I was like, man, that is a not very talented team and I know that we're going to get into an absolute rock fight with them that we should not be in. Because we're better than this
speaker-0: The thing is
speaker-1: Vanderbilt game, I'm like, okay, we're gonna give up some passing yards. Okay.
speaker-0: I don't think we're gonna give up that many points.
speaker-1: I don't we're I don't think we're gonna give up that many points. I think we're gonna win by two touchdowns or more.
speaker-0: And and here's another thing. You look at
speaker-1: And think about this, okay. Everybody we're all in the negative frame of mind. It's almost like we've just like taken all the emotions like this game happened the week after the Iron Bowl. How different does this podcast sound next week? If Florida beats Ole Miss, who they're now favored to favored against, and Auburn beats Vanderbilt by two touchdowns.
speaker-0: It it definitely looks different.
speaker-1: What different do you frame it of like we're three and one, we just won by two touchdowns against an SEC team, the team that we lost to by five just beat, you know, a playoff contender. Florida all of a sudden is then a massive playoff contender. Yeah. Which everybody's gonna say, You're one, you know, John Summer all got him there. Listen, guys, the Florida roster and the Auburn roster that they inherited, not the same roster.
speaker-0: It I think he I I would I will push back on that. I think that the roster that they inherited were similar levels of talent, maybe Auburn even having an edge. The rosters that they started this season with because Sumeraw was able to keep more of that Florida talent than Goish was. For one reason or the other, Golish did not bring back a lot of the talented guys that could have been back.
speaker-1: I but but the thing is, and I know that we just said the thing about Malik Blockton and Amaris Williams, and those are great what ifs. If you look across the country at guys that left Auburn, it seems like they made the rock right call on a lot of them. On a lot of them, yeah. But that's what I'm saying. I I think that Florida had more guys who were panning out talent, whereas Auburn had
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: Is Auburn had a lot of hype talent. Cam Coleman has not done anything at Texas. Perry Thompson has not done anything at Minnesota. Jackson Arnold has not done anything at UNLV. Ashton Daniels has not done anything at Florida State. You look at all of these guys that left. Jake Crawford. Kate
speaker-0: Jay Crawford's been good.
speaker-1: Okay, so you've had one guy leave who was I mean
speaker-0: I would say that there are guys that have left that have been good. But I'm I'm fine, honestly. Like the the cornerbacks y like okay, does Jay Crawford being on this team win you the game? No. No I don't think so. Like Jay Crawford might yeah, Vernel Brown might not have as big of a game. Someone else would have. Yeah. Like you're just beating Ray Sean Pleasant instead of Andre Jordan. I mean you look at that all missed secondary is awful, except for Jay Crawford. Yeah. And they're just like, Fine, y'all have a first round pick at corner, we'll just throw it to the other side and we'll beat those guys. So that would have happened at Auburn. But that's
speaker-1: That's what I'm saying. I mean, a lot of the talent that walked has not been that productive. So I think that overall I don't know that Auburn Charlster last year was really as talented as we thought it was.
speaker-0: I I think it I I I disagree with that. I think that if you put this year's offense on with last year's defense, this team would have I I think they would have walked Florida. Won by multiple touchdowns.
speaker-1: Yes, but last year's defense had the the the key to last year's defense was
speaker-0: Keldrik and Kiro.
speaker-1: Yes, we were in the NFL now. They they didn't go to Texas and
speaker-0: Yeah, they didn't just transfer. But I I I think I don't know man, when I when I look at this team, it is nice to watch your team losing a different way. And when the offense takes the field you think, man, we're losing by seventeen but I'm I'm staying. I Yeah, I did I I'm cap I believe this offense can score some points. And even then like you when when they score the touchdown and you're kicking the onside, you're like, Hold up, man. If we get this onside, th there's a chance, you know, like because they have not stopped our offense. So if we if we get this ball and we score and it's a three minute game, three minutes left and we're down by three, and then you just hope the defense can get a stop, and then it's kinda like, you know, the the rolls reverse. You're watching like, man, maybe the offense can do something. But and and and obviously if you're having to rely on onside kicks and if you're kicking two onside kicks in the same game, it probably means that you're coming from behind. But this offense was a good unit. This offense will be successful against a lot of teams. A and that was something that was a question that I did not know. Going into this game, I was like, man, I don't know how good this offense really is. This offense is gonna put up some points.
speaker-1: Also, I don't know why people are so mad at the distribution of run and pass. I
speaker-0: Okay. It's four thirty nine points. I don't give a
speaker-1: care th if we score thirty nine points, Jeremiah
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: Cobb only gets nine carries. Sorry. I care about scoring.
speaker-0: Yeah. And and also i it's it's a tough situation. You go down early, so you're trying to run your offense, but a lot of your offense is putting the ball in Byron Brown's hands. A lot of the passes were there, and then, you know, Cobb probably had I mean, a lot of those carries he had at halftime, and then you your offense goes three and out, misses a wide open touchdown, so then you get the ball back, you're down seventeen. All right, man, we're not we're not running a lot. So at that point you you're just not gonna run the ball as much. So I I don't know. But go going back real quick, I want to talk about this. You pose the question if Florida beats Ole Miss and Auburn beats Vanderbilt. I think that the mentality does shift a little bit if Auburn beats Vanderbilt and looks good while doing it. How does Byr does Byron look good or does Byron look really good against Vanderbilt? Because Vanderbilt's defense is not not a whole lot. They they are probably maybe the second worst defense that Auburn will play this season, outside, you know, excluding Sanford. But I I would say Arkansas is probably the only unit that's worse than this Vanderbilt defense. They really haven't looked great in any any game this season. They shouldn't have beaten NC State.
speaker-1: How about Austin Pete a nine point?
speaker-0: Yeah, okay. And so the Delaware scored twenty six on and then NC State scored thirty one. I mean, and even then, like CJ Baxter, if he doesn't have just an unbelievable fumble if NC State doesn't throw that game away. Vanderbilt loses that game and they're coming into Jordan Hare two and one. this this should be a win. Auburn's a ten point favorite. Byron Brown should be able to light these guys up. Or Jeremiah Cobb should light these guys. Like someone on Auburn's offense should have an unbelievable day. Auburn should put up well into the thirties. Like th this should not be a game I don't think that's super close in the fourth quarter. Auburn should win this game convincingly. And I think if Auburn does, and Florida looks good, even if they don't win, if it's a close game against Ole Miss, people will respect Florida in the playoff conversation. And people look at Auburn as okay, that's a it's a good SEC team. They're fine. They lost to Florida by five. They looked good against Vanderbilt. But if you if you're in a rock fight against Vandy this week, it's it's looks like it's gonna be tough sledding against Tennessee and Georgia and and that slate that you have coming
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, Delaware scored twenty six and had three turnovers.
speaker-0: I mean that's that's absurd. That is Can you name a single player that has ever played for the University of Delaware?
speaker-1: Delaware seems like one of those spots
speaker-0: Didn't Joe Biden go there?
speaker-1: I don't know, you would know that better than me.
speaker-0: I don't know man. Who knows? okay, I mean C or sorry, I didn't said CJ Baxter. CJ Bailey, twenty-five for thirty-seven, two hundred and seventy-five passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception against Vanderbilt.
speaker-1: Joe Flacco pointed Del. Typical
speaker-0: Did he really? Yeah. Look at that.
speaker-1: of you to know Joe Biden, over Joe Flacco. You schmuck.
speaker-0: Sorry, he was a President of the United States, how dare I know who he was.
speaker-1: Joe Flacco with a CTE, still doing better up top.
speaker-0: Hey man. Yeah, but yeah, I mean CJ Bailey put up over three hundred total yards against Vanderbilt's defense. Like that that's a good quarterback. That's not a great quarterback. That's a solid quarterback. Byron Brown should do the exact same thing as CJ Bailey. If not better. And you would like to see him not throw an interception. That would be that would be ideal to go a game against a real team without throwing.
speaker-1: effect. Yeah. And w without throwing like a bad one. Cause that's the thing. Is it's not like he It's
speaker-0: They've all been pretty bad.
speaker-1: not like they're tip balls. I mean they are just dead on to the
speaker-0: I mean yeah that the the pick against Florida to Cormonty McClain, it was just like, man, throw that throw that on the other shoulder. It's a first down. Yeah, I mean you threw it. You you
speaker-1: Yeah, but instead you just
speaker-0: threw it right down. Don't make your receiver play D B.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: It's it's it's not that hard. Just don't make your guy play D B. So yeah, so ultimately we're frustrated. It's not it's not a great it's not a great game from last week. It's not It doesn't make you happy. It makes you very angry with where we are at Auburn football that what you're doing. Wheeler's looking up where Joe Biden went to college right now and I believe fill in the blank for us.
speaker-1: Big Biden guy, Noble, was right.
speaker-0: He went to the University of Delaware. So that's a trivia question. If any of you guys are going to play trivia. Going to play if anyone's going to play trivia this week, Joe Biden went to the University of Delaware. Just like Joe Flacco, the two Joes.
speaker-1: JOJA
speaker-0: Joe and Joey, they're in Delaware. But ultimately, very frustrating game against Florida. But Auburn did give you something to get excited about if they can win next week. So we'll just have to wait and see what Auburn team we see next week. And like we said, I think by the end of this either Florida or Vanderbilt game, we will know what team we have. And and I completely agree with that sentiment. If Auburn the the team that we see after we see against Vanderbilt, I think that we will be able to accurately predict roughly what the rest of the season's gonna look like and we will know what kind of team we have.
speaker-1: Give me a score prediction for Auburn Vanderbilt.
speaker-0: I I feel I feel solid. I'm gonna say I think it is a convincing thirty-four to thirty-four to seventeen.
speaker-1: wow. I'm gonna go thirty-eight twenty-eight.
speaker-0: Okay, so you feel it you feel like Vanderbilt's offense is gonna move the ball.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I I don't know. I I really I don't know. I I don't know how sold I am on Jared Curtis. I I I think Auburn's defense bounces back. I think that DJ Durkin gets the guys to to confuse a freshman quarterback. I I I feel better. I feel better about the defense against Vanderbilt. I don't Now that is that is very true. So I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how Auburn's defense fares, how Auburn's offense does, and we'll be back next week to break down what is hopefully an Auburn win for the first time that we have been favored by ten against an SEC team in what feels like a very long time. But as always, thank you guys so much for listening and War Eagle. War Eagle.
