The Bodda Getta

We won't know until the Clemson game

Why we'll be better: Overall more experience, more talent, more depth and improved coaching.

Why we'll be the same: Still lack proven experience at certain positions i.e. QB, OL. Learning curve of new offense and deffensive schemes.

X-factor: we need one or more of our players to "stand-up" and be an on-the-field leader.

Glass half full view:

It is most likely that our defense will be aggressive but steady, and the offense will be simple to begin with. If we can cut down on penalties and turnovers early, our offense should be able to get a few base plays and run those with precision.

If our offense can pick up a couple of first downs on the ground on each possession at least, that will keep our defense rested and better able to stay off the field with their own play.

These new offense and defenses could possibly fix that problem we've had with slow starts in the past.

We actually didn't start that slow last year. Offensively we got worse as the year went on. I guess we got a little better defensively as the year went on, hard to say. Probably individually, but maybe not so much corporately.

For this year, it's really hard to say. I think we'll be better by the end of the year, so in that regard, yeah, I think we'll start slow. The good news is, in college football, that's kind of the case for most teams that aren't returning lots of starters, or more importantly, lots of their top talent.

There just aren't that many teams that know exactly what they have on both sides of the ball to start the year. Everyone has question marks to start...it's just how many they have and how painful the process is to figure things out.

In 2010, we took several games to figure out what Cam Newton could do. Luckily, it wasn't too painful and it didn't cost us any games. We were good enough to win at 70% and 80% and 90% of our potential until we got to 100% in the SEC title game. That was probably due to the large number of senior leaders that team had. They were experienced and smart enough to "make it work" until things really got clicking.

This year? Who knows. 70% might not be good enough to beat Clemson or win on the road at Mississippi State. But maybe we'll be 75% in game one, 80% in game two, and maybe both of those efforts are just barely good enough to win. 80% won't be good enough against LSU in week four, that's for sure. And it might not be good enough against Arkansas in game five.

So we'll just have to hope we can start off close enough to our potential, and grow fast enough to keep up with our schedule.

The question too will be, can our coaches figure out what portion of their play books we CAN do close to 100%, and make that work until we catch on to a larger part of the systems. That's really the question I think. Without the senior leadership and experience, I fear we might experience some painful growth (losses) along the way. 2010's team knew how to improvise and cope. Not sure we have enough of those kinds of guys here in 2012.

Great points on the fact there is no film to study for the opposition. That may be just the equalizer we need in the first couple games until we grow in our comfort of what the coaches are asking us to do.

Yes, he makes some valid points.

Another thing that may speed up team development is the attitude over the summer. Every person I've heard from - from coaches to trainers to players - all say this was the best summer ever.

We've always heard that the team is made in the summer. A tough first game has certainly helped the guys to the west start out good.

Add to that what I hope to be LOTS of motivation to get last year's game back from Clemson. I'm sure the coaches (position coaches at least) will show the guys the tape of Doofus celebrating the national championship after they "'stopped the longest winning streak in the nation."

With parity, 3/4 of the teams we play will have talented 1st string players. Depth is why Alabama, LSU, Orgegon, USC are able to win a lot of the games that many teams might lose on a "bad day."

Auburn is starting to build that depth. The difference THIS YEAR is that our depth is of the same talent level as the aforementioned top teams, our depth just lacks experience.

How quick the second string guys come along this year will determine our record, possibly as much as anything else. "The top teams know how to win in the fourth quarter." Reason why - they have a deeper, more experienced team.

I expect Auburn to be coached better than Clemson, but can we avoid mistakes and play consistently? Against Utah State and Miss State last year, we couldn't do that. But, we had better depth and expected to win at that point of the season.