JessN: Auburn, Arkansas taking divergent paths in new SEC

JessN

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Auburn, Arkansas taking divergent paths in new SEC
by Jess Nicholas
TideFans Editor-In-Chief
December 4th, 2012 11:55 PM

Dec. 4 was a busy day in the SEC. First, Arkansas announced it had swiped Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema to be its successor to Bob Petrino. Then, Auburn hired Gus Malzahn instead of Bob Petrino (or Kirby Smart). . Tennessee’s job opening lingers, with the Volunteers [...]

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GrayTide

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I think you hit those two situations spot on. I must say I thought Petrino was their man, but I also thought Malzahn might still be in play. It would appear we were the big winner yesterday.
 

Bad Pony

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It's quite humorous the way Bielema was running down the SEC and now he has joined the fold. I'm not sure I could ever trust a person doing such a seemingly about-face....
 

B1GTide

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Auburn seems capable of pulling in great recruiting classes. I wonder at their decision to go in this direction, but perhaps it is because they believe that their greatest chance at success when facing Alabama with Nick Saban is to implement a system other than a pro-set offense. After all, Alabama seems to feast on teams that try to beat them at their game.
 

TideEngineer08

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Auburn seems capable of pulling in great recruiting classes. I wonder at their decision to go in this direction, but perhaps it is because they believe that their greatest chance at success when facing Alabama with Nick Saban is to implement a system other than a pro-set offense. After all, Alabama seems to feast on teams that try to beat them at their game.
They struggle with recruiting because they are forever second fiddle in their own state, and the talent that they are closer to (Georgia, Florida) already lean to the powers in those states (Bulldogs, Gators, Seminoles). It's no coincidence that their greatest sustained success has come when Alabama was down for whatever reason, and especially when either Florida or Georgia was also struggling.

I agree with Jess's last paragraph. I think the Malzahn hire was a clear signal of surrender for this round. They will resign themselves to waiting until Nick Saban retires and hoping that we screw up the replacement, or that they can dig up some dirt on us (an old tactic).
 

Tide1986

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Jess, what do you mean by this next to last statement in the article?

If the Tigers are going to close the gap between themselves and the Crimson Tide, it won’t be done by conventional means.
It would seem that Gus is an unconventional hire running an unconventional system. Do you mean something else?
 

dvldog

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I suspect this Auburn hire was initiated to try and ensure the current recruiting class stays together as most of those prospects will remember Gus's success and not his failures. Plus, there as still a lot of current players recruited to run his offense. So in the short term these objectives may be met but your comments are prophetic when considering the aspects of longer term failure.
 

rgw

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I said it in another topic:

Arkansas and Auburn were at watershed moments because it is apparent that the pecking order in the West division has been disrupted by the Aggies.

Arkansas doubled-down on power running and a look resembling the traditional SEC contender.

Auburn decided to become the Texas Tech of the SEC.
 

Ole Man Dan

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It's quite humorous the way Bielema was running down the SEC and now he has joined the fold. I'm not sure I could ever trust a person doing such a seemingly about-face....
And in Wisconsin the line from an old song was: 'Go on, take the money and run'...
 

MBA_99

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Great read! One plausible explanation is that they plan to pay players whenever possible, now that they've established that the NCAA (individual investigators and/or the entire institution) is afraid of being sued in an Alabama court by Alabama lawyers. If you believe they did this before and plan to continue, there's only one candidate they could've called to execute that plan.
 

JessN

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Jess, what do you mean by this next to last statement in the article?



It would seem that Gus is an unconventional hire running an unconventional system. Do you mean something else?

The systems. They're not going to beat Alabama playing Alabama football at this point. To that end, the Malzahn hire makes sense. The problem for them is, gimmick offenses have a finite shelf life.
 

92tide

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The systems. They're not going to beat Alabama playing Alabama football at this point. To that end, the Malzahn hire makes sense. The problem for them is, gimmick offenses have a finite shelf life.
i think the expiration date was on January 8, 2011 ;)
 

MarkW

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I am interested to see how Gus does at Auburn. He may fall on his face, or he may be the next Chip Kelly. In any event, I certainly don't think he will beat us on a regular basis. As Stanford proved with Oregon this year, great defense wins.
 

GeorgiaTider

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Auburn will see success next year. It will take them several years to realize Gus is an 8 win coach with every 3 or 4 years pulling out 10 wins much like Nutt was.
 

marcusroby

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I think way too many people will see the TAMU game as a blueprint of how scheme against our defense. Auburn ran the same type tempo offence , but without a Johnny Football, it won't be as effective. Auburn will have to recruit really well and get lucky. No doubt that it will be addressed by Coach Saban going forward.
 

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