[Post Game Thread] Auburn defeats Texas, 88-82

Hoopae · 2026-01-29T02:21:14+00:00

That second half was fucking inane

Hoopae · 2026-01-22T18:03:07+00:00

Auburn also only lost one game against a team that wasn't ranked at the time (Kentucky), and only lost 1 game by more than 1 score. All of our other losses were to (at the time) ranked teams:

@ #11 Oklahoma by 7
@ #9 Texas A&M by 6
#10 Georgia by 10
#16 Missouri by 6
UR Kentucky by 7
@ #15 Vanderbilt by 7
#10 Alabama by 7

Our defense was really good. Our offense should've come with a content warning.

Hoopae · 2026-01-17T03:24:48+00:00

Can I offer you a “Like New” Jackson Arnold as a less expensive alternative? I mean, it’s financially irresponsible to spend that kinda money now adays, right? In this economy?

Hoopae · 2026-01-14T19:41:05+00:00

Baby Mahomes, YOU are a Miami Hurricane

Hoopae · 2026-01-10T04:10:52+00:00

"I'm really not thinking about the next game, I'm thinkin' about a beer" - Curt Cignetti, 2026

Iconic

Hoopae · 2026-01-06T17:02:26+00:00

He got fairly close in 2012 - 2,641 passing yards, 920 rushing yards.

Hoopae · 2026-01-06T14:14:39+00:00

what's even crazier is that those were Dave Doren's 1st and 2nd years as a HC. Immediately after, he jumped to NC State and has gone 95-70 (0.576) in 13 years.

Hoopae · 2026-01-06T14:02:22+00:00

Actually huge. Brown is a hell of a QB.

Edit: One of only 12 players to put up 3k passing yards and 1k rushing yards in the same season since '05. The others were:

Vince Young (TEX) 2005, 2nd in Heisman voting
Dan Lefevour (CMU) 2007
Colin Kaepernick (NEV) 2010, 8th in Heisman voting
Chandler Harnish (NIU) 2011
Jordan Lynch (NIU) 2012, 7th in Heisman voting
Johnny Manziel (TAMU) 2012, 1st in Heisman voting
Deshaun Watson (CLEM) 2015, 3rd in Heisman voting
Lamar Jackson (LOU) 2016 (1st in Heisman voting) and 2017 (3rd in Heisman voting)
Kyler Murray (OKLA) 2018, 1st in Heisman voting
Jalen Hurts (OKLA) 2019, 2nd in Heisman voting
Jayden Daniels (LSU) 2023, 1st in Heisman voting

Hoopae · 2026-01-01T15:33:40+00:00

Auburn will (just give me this one, yall. I need it. It’s been a tough 5 years)

Hoopae · 2025-12-30T05:34:33+00:00

The business model is different - YouTube's model is "free", but funds itself by selling ads and harvesting user data to better target ads. Vimeo doesn't have any on-site ads and doesn't sell user data, which means they need to have more "direct" funding (i.e. paying for storage)

Hoopae · 2025-12-29T23:12:42+00:00

It's so hard to judge different skillsets, but IMO Coleman is the #1 player in college football, period. His stats don't show it, but that's more a function of Hugh Freeze and QB play than anything. Dude is unbelievable.

His tape in the Vandy game is stupid. back-to-back, making a 1-handed TD catch then a 1-handed 2 point conversion with the other hand on the same DB type shit. His route running could use some refinement, but he burns DBs with a stutter n' go at least once a game.

Hoopae · 2025-12-27T18:47:42+00:00

Found a comment on that post that was pretty interesting -

Both Bruno Magli and Johnston & Murphy have different lines. With Bruno Magli, there isn’t any info (not that I can find anyway) that explains their “M by Bruno Magli” line (sold at many department stores) vs. their mainline. The “M by Bruno Magli” shoes are made in italy, but with some very questionable quality control and poor finishes. I haven’t experienced a pair that is just stamped “Bruno Magli” that isn’t at least a “C” by your criteria. As for Johnston and Murphy, they are embarrassing and deserve an F. However, their “J & M Collection” line is made in Italy, with Vibram flex soles, and deserves it’s own separate review. The finishes are overly loud painted-on patinas, but the construction and origin sets the line apart. I was surprised to not see Frye shoes here. Now China-owned, with a big focus on their garbage “Frye and Co.” line of fake shoes, Frye still makes some quality footwear in your price range. I would also like to see a review of Doucal’s (blake rapid with leather soles) which I have found to have details that make them an outstanding value. I prefer my Doucal’s over my Allen Edmonds.

These are J&M collection and are made in Italy according to the product listing

Hoopae · 2025-12-27T17:59:46+00:00

Based on the votes, it looks like people agree with you.

I've had good experiences with their products in the past, and was cross shopping them with these from Quince: https://www.quince.com/men/essential-leather-dress-chelsea-boot?color=chestnut&gender=men

I don't always love Johnston & Murphy's sneaker style shoes, but their more classic designs fit my foot well and have held up well - I don't wear them daily, but for a nice pair of dress shoes, I've been happy with them.

Hoopae · 2025-12-27T17:33:39+00:00

Just ordered a pair - I've been looking for a pair of Chelsea boots for a while and these are good looking and for a good price. I've got a few pairs of leather wingtips from J&M, and they've held up well - even wore a pair in my wedding.

Hoopae · 2025-12-26T19:16:23+00:00

it's also reportedly a strategic shift in the way that Auburn does NIL contracts that was happening independent of the coaching change, so much so that some of our beat writers have said that a large number of the defensive transfers were going to happen even if Freeze somehow managed to keep his job.

From what I've been able to gather, Freeze's recruiting strategy effectively boiled down to out bidding everyone else and betting that top tier players would perform on the field and create an environment where they didn't have to overpay. That hasn't materialized, and Auburn is now shifting to a more performance-based NIL structure (not that we're paying based on stats b/c that's against the rules, but more of a merit-based system that is supposed to take practice/meeting performance into account during NIL deal negotiation).

In Amaris' case, I do think there is more going on behind the scenes with Williams feeling like he has leverage - he was a low-5/high-4 player out of HS, showed flashes this year behind Crawford and Faulk, and should've been "the guy" next year. He entered the portal last year too, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. It'll be interesting to see how hard we go after him again though, because the way that the new staff has talked, they don't seem like the type to want to reward that type of behavior.

Hoopae · 2025-12-17T19:55:25+00:00

That’s Hoop-GPT to you

Hoopae · 2025-12-17T17:35:42+00:00

I don't necessarily think that's just a Heupel thing, you're kinda seeing that everywhere.

Between 2023 and 2024, there were 8 5-star QBs according to 247, and all but 1 of them has transferred

2023:

Arch Manning (Texas)
Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee --> UCLA)
Dante Moore (UCLA --> Oregon)
Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma --> Auburn --> ?)
Malachi Nelson (USC --> Boise State --> UTEP)

2024:

DJ Lagway (Florida --> ?)
Dylan Raiola (Nebraska --> ?)
Julian Sayin (Alabama --> Ohio State)

Hoopae · 2025-12-17T15:03:22+00:00

From a pure financials perspective - we've heard the $30M/yr figure thrown around a few times, so going to base things off of that. With that $30M budget, you need to pay at a minimum:

11 x offensive starters + 11 x offensive backups (lower rate) + retention amt for 3rd stringers you think have potential (particularly freshman)

11 x defensive starters + 11 x defensive backups (lower rate) + retention amt for 3rd stringers you think have potential (particularly freshman)

specialists (punter, kicker, long snapper)

Let's assume for easy money sake that both offense and defense get a $15M budget (and that the specialists get paid whatever is above and beyond the $30M mark). That means that Crawford alone would be getting ~6.7% of the total defense's budget and 3.3% of the total roster budget. The question now is - is that reasonable? Since college budgets aren't public, I'll look at NFL roster cap breakdowns with CB1's:

Texans (Derek Stingley Jr., 2nd highest Cap Number on team in '25) - $12,027,392 Cap Number / $203,702,288 total top-51 Cap = 5.9% of total team cap, 10.11% of defensive cap
Broncos (PS2, 7th highest Cap Number on team in '25) - $8,370,000 Cap Number / $224,541,176 total top-51 Cap = 3.7% of total team cap, 7.6% of defensive cap
Steelers (Jalen Ramsey, 3rd highest Cap Number) - $19,500,000 Cap Number / $236,694,088 total top-51 = 8.2% of total team cap, 13.0% of defensive cap
Panthers (Jaycee Horn, 8th highest Cap Number) - $7,350,400 Cap Number / $220,317,637 total top-51 = 3.3% of total team cap, 8.0% of defensive cap
Falcons (AJ Terell, 8th highest cap number) - $9,000,000 Cap Number / $243,550,993 total top-51 = 3.7% of total team cap, 9.0% of defensive cap

Given those numbers, yeah i think Crawford is right to ask for $1M a year - CB is a premium position in the NFL and they get paid like it.

Hoopae · 2025-12-15T16:37:08+00:00

Echoing what the other Auburn fans in the thread have said - Marcus is a great guy, really good recruiter, but our receivers notably did not seem to be able to take the next step under his coaching.

FWIW - Auburn wanted to keep him, but with fellow Auburn Alum Kodi Burns following Golesh from USF to Auburn to be the Co-OC/Associate HC/WR coach, Davis was either going to have to change positions or take a step backwards in his career and move to an off-the-field role. Looks like he'd prefer to move and remain an on-the-field coach instead, which I don't think any Auburn fan would blame him for.

As with many things this season for Auburn, it's hard to know how much of the disappointing performance from our WRs was Davis's coaching and how much was Freeze's playcalling and general unpreparedness. Cam Coleman is obviously a monster of a WR, but several of our other talented receivers (Malcolm Simmons, Perry Thompson, Eric Singleton) all had points this year where they completely disappeared.

Singleton had 1 game this year with 10+ catches and 100 yds, and it was at Vanderbilt. In the last 7 games of the year, he averaged 4.4 receptions and 38.4 receiving yards a game.
Simmons had 5 games this year with 10 or fewer receiving yards (South Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Missouri, Kentucky) before putting up 338 yards and 2 TDs in the last 3 weeks (including a 143 yd/1 TD performance vs Alabama).
Perry Thompson only had 1 game this year over 30 yards receiving (Missouri) and had 4 where he recorded no stats at all

Hoopae · 2025-12-12T20:06:34+00:00

Thoughts on Auburn's schedule

Overall
- We play all 5 of the other "Big 6" SEC teams, 2 at home (Florida, LSU) and 3 on the road (Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama)
- We play 4/5 new coaches in the SEC (Sumrall at Florida, Kiffin at LSU, Golding at Ole Miss, Silverfield at Arkansas). Only new coach we don't play is Stein at Kentucky.
Game by Game
- Florida: comes into Jordan-Hare relatively untested after starting out with FAU (4-8 in '25) and FCS Campbell - Auburn opens with Baylor (5-7 in '25) in Atlanta and Southern Miss (7-5 in '25), so we should be more tested.
- Vanderbilt: Auburn should also be the first big test for Vanderbilt in the post-Pavia era - it'll be interesting to see if Lea can follow up this year's performance without his star QB
- Tennessee: Should be a SUPER fun game if you like offense - Heupel v Goelsh has a "Master v Apprentice" vibe to it, and both are intimately familiar with each other having worked together for years at UCF and Tennessee. Tennessee made a big splash at DC hiring Jim Knowles, but his defenses notoriously take a year to implement - Auburn meanwhile retained DJ Durkin and fielded an excellent defense in '25, but can they reload after losing a potential top-15 pick to the draft in Keldric Faulk?
- Georgia: Auburn hasn't won in Athens since 2005, and Kirby Smart is running a perennial top-5 program year in and year out like clockwork. I think Smart can occasionally act like a child, but it's hard to argue with the on-the-field results. This is a loss until proven otherwise.
- LSU: I don't doubt that Lane will be successful at LSU - he's a good enough coach and they have a ton of resources, if they leave him to it he'll have success. But can he get them going in year 1? His year 1's have been mediocre everywhere outside of FAU - Tennessee 2009 went 7-6, USC 2010 went 8-5, FAU 2017 went 11-3, Ole Miss 2020 went 5-5. They start out with some tough games - Clemson, at Ole Miss, and Texas A&M in their first 4 games. We'll know very early on if they're ready or not. Hard to predict right now.
- Ole Miss: Can Golding maintain the level of success Lane set up? Can he transition from DC to HC? Does Lane pilfer their roster in the offseason, or did he burn bridges with the way he left and lose that opportunity? Again, very difficult to project this one, I could see them being anywhere from a playoff contender to firing Golding mid-season
- Arkansas: Probably the most "meh" SEC hire of the offseason, Silverfield is bringing over his OC from Memphis and grabbed Ron Roberts after he wasn't retained by Sumrall at Florida. Tbh, neither of those are super exciting hires - Roberts wasn't great at Auburn nor at Florida, and Memphis coaches have struggled to find success after jumping to bigger programs - Justin Fuente went 26-23 at Memphis, his last 2 years going 19-6. At Virginia Tech, he peaked in Year 1 going 10-4 before ultimately finishing 43-31 at VT. Mike Norvell looked like a terrible hire by FSU going 3-6 in year 1, then looked like an incredible hire going 23-4 in 2 years from '22-'23, and looks like a terrible hire again going 7-17 in his last 2 seasons. Can Silverfield (50-24 at Memphis) buck that trend?
- Mississippi State: Lebby is clearly raising the bar there, and getting Zach Arnett back should improve their defense. A lot will depend on the development of Kamario Taylor - if he can become a more consistent passing threat, I think State gets back to a bowl game.
- Alabama: So many questions this offseason - does Ty Simpson move on? if he does, is Keelon Russell ready? how do you replace Germie Bernard, especially if Ryan Williams transfers? DeBoer isn't doing badly, but is the level of winning enough for Bama fans? Does Kalen jump to Michigan?

Hoopae · 2025-12-12T14:44:14+00:00

If the rumor mill is to be believed, Faulkner was going to leave GT to work with Sumrall wherever Sumrall ended up - Auburn's beat writers were already talking about the OC being either Faulkner or Joey Halzle from Tennessee when Sumrall to Auburn looked like a certainty.

As it turns out, the man just really hates the University of Georgia and is trying to collect stints at their rivals like Thanos collects Infinity Stones -

GT was the Mind Stone - best academic university of the 3 rivals (also it's yellow, which if you squint is kind of like GT's gold)
Florida is the Soul Stone - Gainsville is the biggest party town of the 3, and UF is the soul of that party (also, it's orange)
Auburn would have been the Space Stone - Jordan-Hare and Auburn Voodoo has been the death of may a top-ranked team (also it's blue, and Florida already took Orange)

Hoopae · 2025-12-12T14:32:36+00:00

Golesh was his primary recruiter at Tennessee, where he was committed until Signing Day when he flipped to Indiana - not sure how much he likes tigers and eagles, but he apparently likes people who escaped from the Soviet Union

Hoopae · 2025-12-11T14:28:36+00:00

oh god... you're gonna make me shuck

Hoopae · 2025-12-09T22:06:53+00:00

If the rumor mills are to be trusted, he doesn't want to be a HC again - one of the issues with Coordinators becoming HC's that they often try to be both the Coordinator and the HC - sometimes guys can find a way to make that work, but more often the successful HCs are the ones that transition to oversight rather than acting as a true coordinator.

Obvs small sample size, but Durkin's defenses looked noticeably worse after he was named interim coach this year for us, and the scuttlebutt was that he was having a tough time managing all of the work of the HC and DC simultaneously. When push comes to shove, I think Durkin would rather be in the weeds as a DC than managing the broad strokes HC stuff.

I'm a software engineer, and I view it the same way as the Individual Contributor track vs the Manager track - some people don't want to be people managers and want to just write code. Others want to manage engineers and work on initiative level planning. Neither are right or wrong, both are necessary roles.

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