Good Evening Fellow Barners!
Game week is here for Zan’s 7th season to kick off, and it is with great pleasure that I take this board down memory lane to my previous 4 years of predictions. I essentially nailed Auburn’s record for 3 straight years from 2015-2017, but last year I must confess was quite the debacle for my standards. I should have known better.
2015 Prediction: Regular Season Record: 4-8 (predicted JJ getting benched for White AND Duke Williams getting tossed from the team).
2015 Actual Record 6-6: JJ was indeed benched and Duke Williams did indeed get tossed.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/detailed-2015-season-prediction.42381/#post-593580
2016 Prediction: Regular Season Record 8-4 (predicted the season to crumble in the latter half due to Sean White getting hurt).
2016 Actual Record: 8-4: Sean White did indeed get hurt leading to a late season meltdown
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2016-predictions.224777/#post-3229429
2017 Prediction: Regular Season Record 10-2 (predicted no SEC championship, frustrating end to the season, Sumlin & Bert getting fired for losing to Gus).
2017 Actual: 10-2 SEC west champs who choked against UGA and didn't win any real championship. Also, Sumlin and Bert were both blown out by Gus and fired.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2017-season-outlook-update.294669/
2018 Prediction: Regular Season 11-1 (With Stidham progressing, and Zan somehow not tripping over himself with the favorable mid season schedule. Also, predicted Tua is the next Jeremy Johnson, all in all bad year for the oracle).
2018 Actual: 7-5 Dumpster Fire that almost led to Zan getting the can even when owed 30+ million. I really messed up this prediction, but I did at least say the following quote in my prediction last year “I'm sure Gus will find a way to screw up our favorable mid season schedule” and he did.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2018-4th-annual-season-outlook.952824/
See below for the oracle’s presentation of the 2019 Auburn football season:
Aug. 31 Auburn 24 Oregon 20
Auburn outlasts Oregon in Dallas for an exciting week 1 win (on ABC!). This is a tough one, but I am going with history here. Zan is undefeated in openers other than the Clemson loss in 2016. And honestly, Zan still almost won that game behind one of the most hapless offensive football strategies I have ever witnessed. Anyways, the D-line will be a theme this season. The linebackers and secondary will be OK, but the D line will keep us afloat in this game. Nix makes just enough plays to maneuver us to a couple TD drives (one of which will be capped off by a Goatwood plowing his way into the end zone). For those of you actually reading this, you honestly do NOT want the barn to win this game in blowout fashion. The media will jump aboard our hype train and curse us the rest of the season. We need to somehow win this one flying under the radar.
Sept. 7: Auburn 38 Tulane 14
Not much to say here except that this week and next week will provide solid reps for Bo Nix going into the A&M game. Nix struggles with turnovers early in this one, but eventually Cord and co end up closing out this blowout.
Sept. 14: Auburn 41 Kent State 7
Again, this game provides more reps for Bo and that’s about it. A key stat to take away from this game will be it will be one of only 2 games all season where Zan eclipses 40 pts on offense.
Sept. 21: Auburn 17 Texas A&M 31
The pitchforks are starting to come out now. One loss on the road at A&M is the first block to fall from the giant jenga set. Zan simply can’t get it done from a playcalling standpoint without a dual threat QB. Nix shows some flashes of promise on the road in this one, but Auburn’s glaring lack of an intermediate passing game ends up dooming them to their first loss of the season. Whitlow and Shivers are completely bottled up the majority of the game, and the deep ball threat is covered up by Jimbo. Last season was a fluke for Jimbo to lose to Gus like that. I sometimes think it was a troll to Auburn. Jimbo will not take closing this one out lightly, and will take the ball out of Kellen Mond’s hands if necessary to seal it. The defense will contain Mond for 3 quarters, but our secondary will give up 2 too many plays in the end.
Sept. 28: Auburn 30 Mississippi State 24
The defense makes a stand late in this Jordan Hare classic. Reeling from their first loss, Angry Zan gets back to the basics, connecting on a triple statue of liberty pass to Gatewood for a TD, and pounding Whitlow for 34 carries to wear down State’s D. Auburn has only lost to State at home 1 time since Zan joined the staff in 2009, and this trend will continue here.
Oct. 5: Auburn 27 Florida 24
This one is a little unfair because I got a sneak preview of UF against Miami this weekend. What a bunch of frauds. Zan’s bag of tricks is wearing down by now, and he has completely begun to ignore Cadillac’s advice to share the RB carry load. It is a thing of beauty to watch the man call the shots. Regardless of offensive ineptitude from Zan, Nix is a better QB than Franks and he shows that “IT” factor so many say he has in gritting out a tough win in Gainesville. Some would call this a “trap” game given it is 1 week before Zan’s super bowl, but I don’t think it matters given Florida’s ineptitude.
Oct. 19: Auburn 48 Arkansas 17
The super bowl has arrived. Zan gets wild in this one. Touting a 5-1 record and top 10 ranking, Zan starts to get too big for his britches (and the media’s attention) after this route of an improved Razorback squad. Shivers will score after crouching behind the line, Gatewood will catch a TD pass, the list goes on and on. I have grown to get most excited to watch a confident and angry Zan go against Arkansas like his job depends on it. This performance will be no different than the past 3 years.
Oct. 26: Auburn 24 LSU 31
Coach O owns Zan. Period. The fact that Zan found a way to lose to him the previous 2 years given the leads blown and momentum captured, there is no way in hell Zan wins this game. It will be entertaining though. Auburn will come in confident at 6-1 and ranked #8, while LSU will be similarly positioned. It wont matter. Joe Burrow will do his thing and weasel a few unfortunate TDs, and again, Zan’s ineptitude at drawing up passing plays other than reverse statue of liberty deep balls and quick screens will be glaring. This one will be tough for the Auburn family to swallow as this game was the last hurdle to make it past in order to play UGA with only 1 loss. Additionally, the streak of losses in Baton Rouge will hit 20 years. What a disaster.
Nov. 2: Auburn 35 Ole Miss 24
This one will be closer than the experts think, but in the end Nix will continue to improve, and Zan will continue to throw the playbook as now he is simply fighting for his job. The Defense has been worn down by the offense all season, and that shows even in this one.
Nov. 16: Auburn 17 Georgia 24
I am incredibly tempted to pick Auburn in this one, but I just don’t see it. Our offensive line has proven in the previous 2 losses they are not elite or even great. The O line has a tremendous amount of experience, but ability continues to be lacking even with a relatively injury free season thus far. Zan typically plays UGA well at home and this game is no different. It will sting all the worse though as #18 Auburn goes into half time touting a 17-14 edge on UGA. The second half will be similar to the 2016 game in Athens. Zan will do the opposite of get wild, and go full braindead. It will be a thing of beauty to join the Bunker at half time of this game and watch the threads roll in while you munch on popcorn. Kirbear get’s Zan’s goats for the 4th time in 5 tries.
Nov. 23: vs. Samford
7-3 Barn takes care of business here to solidify Zan’s 6th season of at least 8 wins. Quite an accomplishment given the win total eclipses Gus’s entire playbook each year. Not much news to report from this game.
Nov. 30: Auburn 21 Alabama 42
I would paint this game as similar to the 2018 iron bowl. Competitive in the first half, and the doors get blown off in the second. As I type this, I legitimately feel sorry for our veteran defensive line. They have carried us for 4 years, and continue to here, only to be let down by putrid offense, and mediocre secondary play.
This rounds out the magical 8-4 destiny we all expected from Zan. And to my delight, Zan will keep his job after this season. 8 wins and an end of season top 25 ranking in hand, Zan will tout how they were a “Young team” and the “future is very bright” (even though the O line and D line are all comprised of 5th year seniors).
The X-factor this season is obvious. Bo Nix. His talent is there. But I cant shake the fact that he doesn’t fit the system. Zan had some success with Stidham in 2017, but besides that year he was unable to string much of anything together against elite opponents without a dual threat QB. 2019 will be the same. It honestly is a fireable offense to only win 8 games with such a veteran D and O line, but it is what you get with Zan these days. I will close by saying hold onto your hats for the 2020 season. It has potential to be 2012 or 2015 level dumpster fire as the cupboard on the offensive and defensive lines will be completely bare and Zan will finally get caught with his pants down for such putrid Oline recruiting dating back to 2015.
Wish I could say more positive things. All I can say is it will be entertaining. Just wait for the UGA and Bama games with Gus on the hot seat. Must see, booger pickin’ TV right there.
War Eagle.
Game week is here for Zan’s 7th season to kick off, and it is with great pleasure that I take this board down memory lane to my previous 4 years of predictions. I essentially nailed Auburn’s record for 3 straight years from 2015-2017, but last year I must confess was quite the debacle for my standards. I should have known better.
2015 Prediction: Regular Season Record: 4-8 (predicted JJ getting benched for White AND Duke Williams getting tossed from the team).
2015 Actual Record 6-6: JJ was indeed benched and Duke Williams did indeed get tossed.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/detailed-2015-season-prediction.42381/#post-593580
2016 Prediction: Regular Season Record 8-4 (predicted the season to crumble in the latter half due to Sean White getting hurt).
2016 Actual Record: 8-4: Sean White did indeed get hurt leading to a late season meltdown
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2016-predictions.224777/#post-3229429
2017 Prediction: Regular Season Record 10-2 (predicted no SEC championship, frustrating end to the season, Sumlin & Bert getting fired for losing to Gus).
2017 Actual: 10-2 SEC west champs who choked against UGA and didn't win any real championship. Also, Sumlin and Bert were both blown out by Gus and fired.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2017-season-outlook-update.294669/
2018 Prediction: Regular Season 11-1 (With Stidham progressing, and Zan somehow not tripping over himself with the favorable mid season schedule. Also, predicted Tua is the next Jeremy Johnson, all in all bad year for the oracle).
2018 Actual: 7-5 Dumpster Fire that almost led to Zan getting the can even when owed 30+ million. I really messed up this prediction, but I did at least say the following quote in my prediction last year “I'm sure Gus will find a way to screw up our favorable mid season schedule” and he did.
https://auburn.forums.rivals.com/threads/barnfest-2018-4th-annual-season-outlook.952824/
See below for the oracle’s presentation of the 2019 Auburn football season:
Aug. 31 Auburn 24 Oregon 20
Auburn outlasts Oregon in Dallas for an exciting week 1 win (on ABC!). This is a tough one, but I am going with history here. Zan is undefeated in openers other than the Clemson loss in 2016. And honestly, Zan still almost won that game behind one of the most hapless offensive football strategies I have ever witnessed. Anyways, the D-line will be a theme this season. The linebackers and secondary will be OK, but the D line will keep us afloat in this game. Nix makes just enough plays to maneuver us to a couple TD drives (one of which will be capped off by a Goatwood plowing his way into the end zone). For those of you actually reading this, you honestly do NOT want the barn to win this game in blowout fashion. The media will jump aboard our hype train and curse us the rest of the season. We need to somehow win this one flying under the radar.
Sept. 7: Auburn 38 Tulane 14
Not much to say here except that this week and next week will provide solid reps for Bo Nix going into the A&M game. Nix struggles with turnovers early in this one, but eventually Cord and co end up closing out this blowout.
Sept. 14: Auburn 41 Kent State 7
Again, this game provides more reps for Bo and that’s about it. A key stat to take away from this game will be it will be one of only 2 games all season where Zan eclipses 40 pts on offense.
Sept. 21: Auburn 17 Texas A&M 31
The pitchforks are starting to come out now. One loss on the road at A&M is the first block to fall from the giant jenga set. Zan simply can’t get it done from a playcalling standpoint without a dual threat QB. Nix shows some flashes of promise on the road in this one, but Auburn’s glaring lack of an intermediate passing game ends up dooming them to their first loss of the season. Whitlow and Shivers are completely bottled up the majority of the game, and the deep ball threat is covered up by Jimbo. Last season was a fluke for Jimbo to lose to Gus like that. I sometimes think it was a troll to Auburn. Jimbo will not take closing this one out lightly, and will take the ball out of Kellen Mond’s hands if necessary to seal it. The defense will contain Mond for 3 quarters, but our secondary will give up 2 too many plays in the end.
Sept. 28: Auburn 30 Mississippi State 24
The defense makes a stand late in this Jordan Hare classic. Reeling from their first loss, Angry Zan gets back to the basics, connecting on a triple statue of liberty pass to Gatewood for a TD, and pounding Whitlow for 34 carries to wear down State’s D. Auburn has only lost to State at home 1 time since Zan joined the staff in 2009, and this trend will continue here.
Oct. 5: Auburn 27 Florida 24
This one is a little unfair because I got a sneak preview of UF against Miami this weekend. What a bunch of frauds. Zan’s bag of tricks is wearing down by now, and he has completely begun to ignore Cadillac’s advice to share the RB carry load. It is a thing of beauty to watch the man call the shots. Regardless of offensive ineptitude from Zan, Nix is a better QB than Franks and he shows that “IT” factor so many say he has in gritting out a tough win in Gainesville. Some would call this a “trap” game given it is 1 week before Zan’s super bowl, but I don’t think it matters given Florida’s ineptitude.
Oct. 19: Auburn 48 Arkansas 17
The super bowl has arrived. Zan gets wild in this one. Touting a 5-1 record and top 10 ranking, Zan starts to get too big for his britches (and the media’s attention) after this route of an improved Razorback squad. Shivers will score after crouching behind the line, Gatewood will catch a TD pass, the list goes on and on. I have grown to get most excited to watch a confident and angry Zan go against Arkansas like his job depends on it. This performance will be no different than the past 3 years.
Oct. 26: Auburn 24 LSU 31
Coach O owns Zan. Period. The fact that Zan found a way to lose to him the previous 2 years given the leads blown and momentum captured, there is no way in hell Zan wins this game. It will be entertaining though. Auburn will come in confident at 6-1 and ranked #8, while LSU will be similarly positioned. It wont matter. Joe Burrow will do his thing and weasel a few unfortunate TDs, and again, Zan’s ineptitude at drawing up passing plays other than reverse statue of liberty deep balls and quick screens will be glaring. This one will be tough for the Auburn family to swallow as this game was the last hurdle to make it past in order to play UGA with only 1 loss. Additionally, the streak of losses in Baton Rouge will hit 20 years. What a disaster.
Nov. 2: Auburn 35 Ole Miss 24
This one will be closer than the experts think, but in the end Nix will continue to improve, and Zan will continue to throw the playbook as now he is simply fighting for his job. The Defense has been worn down by the offense all season, and that shows even in this one.
Nov. 16: Auburn 17 Georgia 24
I am incredibly tempted to pick Auburn in this one, but I just don’t see it. Our offensive line has proven in the previous 2 losses they are not elite or even great. The O line has a tremendous amount of experience, but ability continues to be lacking even with a relatively injury free season thus far. Zan typically plays UGA well at home and this game is no different. It will sting all the worse though as #18 Auburn goes into half time touting a 17-14 edge on UGA. The second half will be similar to the 2016 game in Athens. Zan will do the opposite of get wild, and go full braindead. It will be a thing of beauty to join the Bunker at half time of this game and watch the threads roll in while you munch on popcorn. Kirbear get’s Zan’s goats for the 4th time in 5 tries.
Nov. 23: vs. Samford
7-3 Barn takes care of business here to solidify Zan’s 6th season of at least 8 wins. Quite an accomplishment given the win total eclipses Gus’s entire playbook each year. Not much news to report from this game.
Nov. 30: Auburn 21 Alabama 42
I would paint this game as similar to the 2018 iron bowl. Competitive in the first half, and the doors get blown off in the second. As I type this, I legitimately feel sorry for our veteran defensive line. They have carried us for 4 years, and continue to here, only to be let down by putrid offense, and mediocre secondary play.
This rounds out the magical 8-4 destiny we all expected from Zan. And to my delight, Zan will keep his job after this season. 8 wins and an end of season top 25 ranking in hand, Zan will tout how they were a “Young team” and the “future is very bright” (even though the O line and D line are all comprised of 5th year seniors).
The X-factor this season is obvious. Bo Nix. His talent is there. But I cant shake the fact that he doesn’t fit the system. Zan had some success with Stidham in 2017, but besides that year he was unable to string much of anything together against elite opponents without a dual threat QB. 2019 will be the same. It honestly is a fireable offense to only win 8 games with such a veteran D and O line, but it is what you get with Zan these days. I will close by saying hold onto your hats for the 2020 season. It has potential to be 2012 or 2015 level dumpster fire as the cupboard on the offensive and defensive lines will be completely bare and Zan will finally get caught with his pants down for such putrid Oline recruiting dating back to 2015.
Wish I could say more positive things. All I can say is it will be entertaining. Just wait for the UGA and Bama games with Gus on the hot seat. Must see, booger pickin’ TV right there.
War Eagle.
