boggsjr944

"Even if his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers soured, what he did at Oregon was stunning." I believe this should be "Even though..." "Even if" is reserved for hypotheticals that have yet to take place. I know this may seem minor and pedantic, but I had to re-read the line a few times because it threw me so hard. Otherwise, I agree with this article. Tennessee only became a premiere destination because of its on-the-field success. Over a decade of no real success does seem to damage that perception.

Saying that a one-score loss to the number two team in the country is a more quality loss than a loss to an Oklahoma team that just lost to Iowa State is not the same as being proud of the loss or of the eleven sacks given up during that loss. Stop conflating two issues just to make yourself look clever. It just doesn't work that way. Is Auburn the best one-loss team? Maybe. But maybe not. Gus hasn't proven that he can handle winning big games consistently, and I think the next three weeks will be very important for this team. LSU, Arkansas, and Texas A&M may look down, but that doesn't mean they don't have fight in them. We will know more about this team come time for the UGA game. But right now, Auburn does make a strong case for being the best one-loss team in the country. Auburn possesses one of the nation's top defenses (despite playing Clemson and Ole Miss) and has hit their stride in recent weeks. Sure, Missouri and the Mississippi schools aren't elite, but the offense is obviously better than it was in the first few weeks and is making strides.

Auburn isn't in the top four, though? lol

I seriously think this is overblown. They lost several players from one of the best defenses of all time and then five more to injury, and you're worried about their play in an audition-type game against a weaker opponent? Especially when the defense already smothered Florida State? Calm down. lol

This is completely theoretical, but what happens to Missouri if several coaching vacancies arise in the SEC this year? Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Auburn could all have vacancies, as could Ole Miss and Arkansas. If this turns out to be the case, who can Missouri hire? It might be hard for Missouri to get out of this situation, but it seems unreasonable that anyone could be as bad as Odom.

USC in the top four? lol

"All this other talk about defensive mysteries is not in concert with the simple history of the games." Wait, what? The simple history is that Missouri's defense helped allow over 70 points in just two games, one against an FCS squad coming off a losing season. There's nothing more to it. You are the one overthinking it, if I may be frank. There are clearly issues with the Missouri defense that need some serious fixing.

Agreed. I'm not sure Clemson will play so well against a Louisville team that hasn't played well thus far this year. I'm not saying they will lose, just that I wouldn't be surprised if it's closer than most people think. I might be biased as an Auburn fan, but I do believe Clemson would have lost that game had Auburn had at least an inkling of competence on offense. They just don't seem championship caliber this year to me.

It's hard for me to imagine this team getting much better under Gus because I just haven't seen it. An offensive line this bad can't be a simple fix. At least the defense is good, but that only goes so far.

I've known it for years. Gus is just not that good. He's consistently lost to weaker UGA teams, can't win bowl games, can't develop quarterbacks, etc. I had high expectations coming into the season, but with the way the team is playing this year, it's more reasonable to expect more of the same or perhaps even worse. Our o-line has no chance against the better SEC defenses (Alabama, LSU, UGA, etc.) I'm not sure we will ever have a complete team with Gus around.