🏈 Auburn: Phillip's (Marshall) unhinged thoughts

[Max]

Phillip's unhinged thoughts, Aug. 28 edition
hot - Replies: 22 - Views: 2136 - Started By: PhillipMarshall +23 from 23 users
PhillipMarshall 46878 posts
18 hours ago
VIP

Maybe I’ll be called a grumpy old man, and maybe I am. But here are some things I could do without:

Analytics. I don’t pay any attention to them or care anything about them. They might mean a little more in pro sports because professional athletes are more consistent, but there is no mathematical formula to determine how a college kid is going to respond on any given game day.

“Hot takes.” To me, that term means someone is just throwing an opinion out there based on nothing. I’m a sports writer. I’m not a coach or an evaluator of coaches. Nothing in the world is easier than waiting to see if something works and then going off on someone if it doesn’t.

Sometimes the other coach wins the chess match. Sometimes players mess up. Sometimes the other team’s players are better than your players. Which one is it on any given play? I don’t know, and neither does anyone else who isn’t on the inside.

“Bluebloods” and “brands.” I don’t like either term. Every season should stand alone. What you did last year of 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 100 years ago should not have any impact on the way you are viewed.

The “eye test.” I said when that term surfaced at the start of the College Football Playoff that it would be a disaster. It’s been a disaster. When how you look becomes more important than what you’ve done, that’s a big problem. At least it is in my mind.

--“Outcoached.” How does anyone know that watching from afar? More than teams get outcoached, they get outplayed.
That’s probably enough grumpiness for one day. Moving on:

--The more I read up on Washington’s football team, on the starters it has returning, on Chris Petersen’s record in big games going back to his Boise days, the more impressed I am. If most any SEC program recruited on the level Washington does, based on rankings, there would be massive hand-wringing. But these Huskies are good and won’t easily be beaten.

--Auburn had no quarterback race for this season. It was Jarrett Stidham’s job, and nothing short of an injury was going to change that. Next season, assuming Stidham heads for the NFL, Malik Willis, this season’s backup, will take the first snap next spring. After that, who knows? True freshman Bo Nix, Joey Gatewood and former professional baseball player Cord Sandberg will all have their chances.

--One of the cool things about most quarterback races I’ve seen is the way those competing for the position support each other. That’s not an easy thing, because quarterback is unlike any other position. The guy who wins the job might take every meaningful snap for the entire season.

--It truly is striking to hear Auburn offensive linemen talk about the focus on fundamentals under J.B. Grimes, who returned after last season for his second tour of Auburn duty. Texas made a big deal about hiring away Herb Hand after last season. Who got the best end of that?

--Pretty shocking news that Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald will be suspended for the season-opener against mighty Stephen F. Austin. I laugh when I hear praise for coaches because they suspended players. Most suspensions of a full game or longer happen because of athletic department or university policy, not a tough head coach.

--Sneak preview: I’m going to pick Auburn to beat Washington, but not by much and not with all that much confidence in that pick.

--A prediction: LSU is going to beat Miami on Sunday, and it might not be all that close. Miami would be high on my list of overrated teams.

--I saw a tweet the other day from someone trying to lure subscribers to some web site. The tweet had three vulgar words in the first sentence. There are other publications that do that. I’m all for free speech and anyone’s right to use whatever words they want, but I don’t get it. What is the purpose? What does it accomplish?

--Auburn should have the best basketball team it’s had in a while, but it has the most challenging schedule it has had in a while, too. In addition to some tough nonconference games, it’s Auburn’s turn to play Kentucky twice in the coming season. That’s never something you really want to do.

Quote of the day: “The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.”–Jesse Owens

 

[50+yeartidefan]

This AU writer has Bama on his mine....

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

This AU writer has Bama on his mine....

"Here's a twenty, bury two." Coach Bryant -- After being asked to chip in ten dollars to help cover the cost of a sportswriter's funeral.

 

[OldPlayer]

The “eye test.” I said when that term surfaced at the start of the College Football Playoff that it would be a disaster. It’s been a disaster. When how you look becomes more important than what you’ve done, that’s a big problem. At least it is in my mind.

The "eye test" has nothing to do with how a team looks. It's about what people see you've done and how you've done it.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

And football getting ready to kickoff and AU sports writer is already talking about basketball
Maybe the anticipated fall and getting another year of "Malzaned"

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Ole yaller teef is still kicking around. I really hadn't seen anything from him in quite a while. Rambling as usual

 

[TerryP]

The “eye test.” I said when that term surfaced at the start of the College Football Playoff that it would be a disaster. It’s been a disaster. When how you look becomes more important than what you’ve done, that’s a big problem. At least it is in my mind.

The "eye test" has nothing to do with how a team looks. It's about what people see you've done and how you've done it.

The entire sentence makes no sense to me.

"How you look becomes more important than what you've done while we were looking at what you were doing?" How does this work?