PERFECTION: Auburn's INCREDIBLE Weekend Came at an INSANE Time

0:00This weekend was absolutely perfect for the Auburn Tigers. You are locked on Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on into locked on Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast on your host, Zach Blockerby. Thank you so much for making locked on Auburn, your first list in every single day. Lindsey Crosby of the barn Auburn.com and a million other places hanging out with us as we recap and discuss an incredible, incredible week at man so much can change in five days. Goodness gracious as well as a roster or I guess a coaching move is an important or is it interesting? We'll get to that and also kind of an interesting take on Auburn's schedule in 2026. Lindsey, we needed this so bad.

1:04We needed this so bad after Auburn blowing and totally collapsing against Mississippi state in the midweek, also Auburn getting absolutely blasted by Cincinnati in the midweek Auburn basketball mix, a tremendous statement, dramatic fashion, LOL at Kentucky. Kentucky fans are melting down before our eyes. And of course Auburn baseball beats two ranked teams. They go perfect three in O in Arlington. We needed this. We needed this so, so bad. One, I Kentucky. This is what it's like when you have to face one of the blue, blue, blue buds of college basketball. That's what they're saying. This is what you have to just learn to understand. You don't have a chance when you face one of the blue bloods in this case, Auburn Tigers. One day Kentucky will get to that point where you guys just understand a legacy of success. Sure.

2:05It was Auburn basketball was in a bad place. I'll get the base one a minute because trust me, I can talk about all that. Auburn basketball is in a bad place like this was always going to be a transition year. Like always was you brought in so many new faces. You had guys who needed to grow, right? You're dealing with injuries, even if even if Bruce were still here, this was Bruce coaching this team, it was going to be a transition year. But this transition year combined with the change to Steven Pearl, I feel like made a lot of people immediately assumed that the program was collapsing and going to be in the depths for years and years. And I think this game on Saturday, this win over what has traditionally been a decent team in Kentucky, you know, I'm not going to give too much credit here. I kind of shows people that know this is just growing pains for a coaching staff for a very new and young basketball roster and that they still have the pieces to beat anybody on any

3:10given court and better days are ahead. I think that's kind of the big takeaway for me from that win on Saturday. Yeah. And I mean, we've seen him go to Florida and win. We saw them beat Kentucky. We've now seen, you know, we saw them beat Arkansas earlier in the year. Like this is a team that can compete for sure. It was just a brutal, brutal stretch. And look at this point. I don't really care about the seed anymore that you're probably going to get in the insane turn of it. I think they could get up to a seven, maybe in a perfect world there are six. I think we're dreaming and I think we're dreaming a little bit there. They're probably going to be an eight or a nine. They also could be a 10 depending on how these final few games go. But what happened on Saturday gives you a shot, which is great. And it comes at a time and it gets a perfect opponent for you to turn things around on just because the meltdown that's happening on the other side of this, think Auburn fans really feed off of that and can all kind of bond at Kentucky people just totally,

4:11totally losing their mind, Mark Pope, losing his mind. I mean, it was, it was beautiful. It was beautiful in every, every single angle that you want to look at it. But I, I hope this does settle us down a little bit. Not just as a basketball fan base, but just as a fan base of the Auburn tigers and as Auburn athletics as a whole, because last week was a brutal week when you lump in, you know, the disappointment of, you know, Auburn baseball losing the Cincinnati, because like Auburn baseball is kind of busting into the scene saying, like, well, we're going to be the team that's competitive this year. And I still think they will be. And I think this week improve that Lindsay and I went live on Sunday. Check that out if you missed it. If you want more of the baseball stuff, because there's a lot of good to talk about. But the, I mean, just all the talk about, oh, my goodness, you know, Auburn sabotaging itself with, you know, resources given to basketball. And they're giving it all to football. Like, that's just not true. Like you can look at the roster.

5:12And if you think about how all these guys were required and the NIL and the money that's tied to like getting these guys on the roster, like it just doesn't make sense. If you think about common sense for all of this. Now we're some of those guys worth what they paid. That's a different discussion. But to say resource and support is not there for Steve. And I think would be a little bit silly to say, I think the timing of Auburn winning in basketball and sweeping in baseball couldn't come at a better time because I do think I don't want to say there was panic, but I do think I do think there was a little bit of panic going into this. And so that's exciting that I do think it's allowed us to have a collective. You know, all right, it's not as good as it can be, but it's not as bad as we thought it was just a few days ago somewhere. I think the big, the big, I'm going to call it the core competency of Auburn over everybody else in the SEC in just about any sport is no matter what Auburn fans show up.

6:17It doesn't matter the record. It doesn't matter the time of day. It doesn't matter the weather Auburn fans attend their sporting events. Because they love Auburn, Auburn fans love Auburn. And things like this, if you think about this from the outside, I weekends like this, I think are really helpful for a fan base that has been through more tough times than they probably deserve in recent seasons, whether it is just massive underperformance, like football, whether it is very promising teams that lose earlier than they should. Like we've seen basketball some years get knocked out very early in the tournament when they had a good team or teams that look like the best version of the team we've had in a long time can't seem to make that final leap. I'm thinking about baseball last year, one of the better rosters they've had in a long time, and they get swept in their own super regional after posting for the first time ever. So doing something like this is kind of a reminder that like, Hey, it's going to be fine.

7:21Like it's, it's been tough. It's been tough the last couple of years, especially if you're only a football fan, but a lot of Auburn fans are not that well, and even if you love basketball, like odds are, football is the core of your Auburn sports fandom. And I do think it's allowed these other programs to grow because out of necessity, they're looking for something to fill the hole in their heart that you freeze. And Brian Harson have just jogged deeper and deeper. They, they, you know, like this was helpful to take the knife out of the heart that Hugh Freeze and Brian Harson stabbed there, yeah. I will say that from a business perspective, and I know people don't want to think about that, since you are now paying players, like from a revenue share, from a business perspective. Yes, baseball football is still the money maker, but things like this do help. Things like this do make things better from a business perspective, both for the community,

8:23as well as for the programs themselves. So like winning, winning is always a good thing, but I think like this is something where, because football has not been doing it, it's a little more important. It feels like sometimes that these other ancillary sports are profitable and are doing well. So yeah. So if you're watching this daily Auburn, shown February, you love Auburn, you care about Auburn or your hate watching, maybe you're a Kentucky fan, but congratulations. We're a fan. Thanks for the free rent. Yeah, no, a lot of bammers watch the show and we appreciate them watching. But congratulations on an incredible, incredible weekend. Let's try to string a few of these together for sure. To pivot more so to football, kind of got an interesting take about a way too early top 25 ranking. Let's jump into that in just a moment right here unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends and indeed,

9:23let me ask you a question, Lindsay, if you're hiring somebody, do you want to get just a candidate or the best possible candidate out there? Well, I want the absolute best possible one, but here's the thing, usually that takes so much time and work on my part and I am busy running my business. Yep. Well, here's the thing with indeed, they can do all the filtering for you. You don't have to worry about all that. They understand that if you're running a business, you're wearing a million different hats. You don't have time to handle all of this, even though it is super important. Here's a status as it all. And the minute we've been talking about, indeed, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. It's been less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates to check all the boxes. Listers of the show get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job. The premium status it deserves at nd.com slash podcast nd.com slash podcast.

10:27Do you need to hire? This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Today's show also brought to you by our friends at alumni hall. I can't imagine buying Auburn gear anywhere other than with our friends at alumni hall. Who great physical locations in town? Auburn off of college street. Opalika in Tiger Town. You love the hat wall in both of these fine establishments. Lindsay, I wear a lot of hats as well. I purchase a lot of hats from alumni hall. You also you're not conscious. I'm not there enough. I'm not in town. I'm an Auburn fan that lives on the other side of the country. Don't worry. alumni hall.com can hook you up alumni hall.com. So thank you so much for alumni hall sponsoring locked on Auburn. Thank you so much for making locked on Auburn. You're a first listen every single day. Lindsay Crosby. Heather Denich a VSPN and for folks who are unfamiliar with Heather Denich.

11:30There are a few years ago. I think it was few freezes first year where we were super excited and high about all these like transfer wide receivers. She came in and watched a few practices. And she was like, yeah, the receivers ain't it. And we're like, what? No, but, but Zach, you told me that the shorter guy was like, don't do it. It was shane hooks. It was shane hooks. It was shane hooks. Shane hooks was going to be like an all-American. No, it's wrong. I've been on a college athlete ever. You're usually right. So the few times you're wrong. I don't know. I don't know. It was just so bad. I like Jair shorter too, but yeah, shane hooks was the one. But she's like, no, that's not it. And of course, she was 100% right. She put out her way to early top 25. And I'm not going to go through all 25 because that's not really the point. But I do want to give. I think Heather Denich is good at what she does. Looking through these top 25, there are four. Four teams that Auburn plays this year. Georgia at five, Ole Miss at nine, LSU at 13, and Alabama at 17.

12:34And there's been a lot of talk both within Auburn and outside Auburn. And we've seen some of the graphics be posted on social media of different outlets, ranking, strength of schedule, whether it's opinion or metrics. Auburn's always up there, right? As one of the tougher schedules. And I'm just wondering, like, if you look at it through this ranking, which is just someone's opinion, but I do think Heather Denich's opinion matters. She knows ball. It's four games against ranked teams. And three of them are against teams. And I think most people are going to pick the other team and they're on the road. Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss on the road. LSU is a fascinating team for several reasons. LSU's game with Auburn is also fascinating. It's a journey here. But when you think about it, I've done a few shows on this. When you think about the toss-up games on Auburn's schedule, you can put LSU on there. But you think about, okay, well, they opening it's Baylor.

13:35I don't think it's a toss-up game. I think Auburn should win that one. But you think about Florida. Florida's not seen as a top 25 elite team. Some people are acting like it because they love their coach or whatever. But whatever, Vanderbilt, not some elite teams. Some surefire top 25 team because the agopavius gone. Arkansas. All of these games that Auburn needs to win to go eight and four, nine and three, are not being respected as these elite teams. I don't know if I said Tennessee going on the road to Tennessee with Joey Aguilar. His eligibility seems unlikely at this point. I mean, who knows how many times I have to sue the NCAA if I were to go through. I'm not counting anything out now. Today's age of college athletics. Yeah. But I just wonder if our schedule is as tough as we acted like it was a few months ago. I think something that helps is all of those games that Auburn should win.

14:37You just discussed, right? Florida, Vanderbilt, all of the Arkansas, all of those games outside of Tennessee, are either home games or neutral site for the Baylor game in Atlanta. Which again, business reasons makes a lot of sense. Let's be, let's be okay with that. Or we go to Mississippi State, right? You didn't mention them, but yes, we go to Mississippi State. You didn't mention them when you said that. I just went with it. Sorry. But yeah, like a lot of those are at home. And the toss up games to your point or I guess the games you're not going to be favored, they're the road ones. You weren't going to be favored either way, right? You weren't going to be favored at Alabama no matter what you did. Same thing at Georgia. You weren't going to be favored anyway. It doesn't matter if they're home or away. Or at Ole Miss with trying to get coming back. Yeah, you get the games. Oh, shout out, Duce Knight for transfer, just to sit another year. You get the the games that you need to win that you should win are mostly at home. And I think that helps.

15:37This feels kind of like almost like the easiest version of the schedule that you can expect for Auburn, given the fact that you have to play Georgia and Alabama every single season, right? Because of the timing of when you're getting all of these teams. You missed Texas. You missed Texas A&M. You missed Oklahoma. All of those teams are top 10 teams according to her list. And you miss them all. Yep. But most of the teams that you need to play Texas yet, by the way, that's a little weird. Yeah, it's kind of they've been in here multiple seasons now. It feels like they should have already rotated through everybody. But neither here nor there. But yeah, and the year that you have Baylor is a year where they are considered to be in the down part of their cycle. Because they every now and then find out, I guess they they cash the chip and join a game's money like once a decade to be competitive. And then they got to find the next person who can fund a competitive roster.

16:39And then they have like one or two years of decade or competitive. This is not it theoretically, supposedly. So yeah, like let's see you like way, turn 10 to, you know, what everybody thought he could be. Yeah, maybe. But it's also his first game and like how much is he going to know the offense? Like, you know, so we'll see. But yeah, like it's a just this broke it's broke really well for you. And my question to you would be given that you have so much, you're just like picking up and transporting a one of the best offices in the country straight to the SEC. Combined with this, do you think expectations for Alex go less and year one are going to be too high? Like are people going to be disappointed if they only go eight and four or nine and three? Or is it one of they've been so bad for so long that fans will be happy with a winning record period? Like I think the line is between seven and five and eight and four. I think most Auburn fans would be happy with eight and four right now.

17:43I think there's different ways that eight and four and seven and five could could look depending on who you beat and how you lose and things like that. There's some variables involved in there. But I think most fans would take an eight and four season, just with where this program has been. I think that would be proof enough that okay, Alex Goulish has come in and proven that his plan works. I also think as far as how you could go into the off season and replacing Byron Brown would be I think that would be important because he could go to guys and say like, yes, I did this. It's how Florida, but also I did it in the SEC. Now with two different quarterbacks with Hinden Hooker and with you. Whatever. Come on. Yeah. Quarterback you want really in 20 translates. Yeah. Right. Right. So I think that would be awesome. But as far as expectations, I don't think most Auburn fans are expecting nine and three or better.

18:46Could that change over the course of the off season? It could. It absolutely could. We always find a way to put on the orange colored glasses and book. Yeah, I mean, it happens with every fan base in the world. Yeah, you talk yourself into all these different ones. But yeah, I would think the expectations, depending on who you ask, are either seven or five or eight and four. If you're way higher or way lower than that, let us know in the YouTube comments or let us know on social media. I'm genuinely curious who falls outside of those two and why? Not saying you're wrong. I'm just genuinely, genuinely curious. I don't want to speak on behalf of everyone here. But yeah, so all in all, just kind of questions about the schedule based off of, you know, an unofficial way too early, top 25, just asking the question there. So Auburn made a coaching move. And I think it's worth asking the question, is this important or is it interesting? That's next, right here, unlocked on Auburn.

19:50Today's show brought to you by our friends at Mazda. We're moving the game forward for those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen. I mean, we have to go, I want you to give me a quick baseball win, Lindsay. But as far as who moved the game forward for Auburn basketball, this, this, this past weekend, Keeshawn Murphy was unbelievable. Yes, Elijah Freeman gets credit for the final points there. But Keeshawn Murphy was unbelievable. He's the best player on the floor on Saturday. And he just kept finding ways to score, including that three at the end of the game was just electric. Give me a quick baseball one, Lindsay. Ethan Binghamen launches two home runs against Louisville, solo shots in a big league ballpark. He's bringing a big stick and it's going to help Auburn's off. It's a ton. Yep. Mazda puts the same passion in every model highlights make the real what it takes to get there is what makes it count. There's more to Mazda because there's more to you. Today's show also brought to you by our friends at Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sportsbook.

20:52Have you ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live in a person? Well, Fandall's giving you a chance to turn that dream into a reality with their NBA sweepstakes. All you have to do is use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. You get flights paid for tickets paid for the whole experience would be super, super fun. Yes, Lindsay Crossby. Since when we recorded the baseball show yesterday and now this show today Auburn baseball has improved from eighth to seventh best odds to win the college series. How about that? I love your sweep in Arlington and all of a sudden you go from eight to seven. Yeah, Fandall's all over it. I mean, that game ended like 30 minutes ago as we record this. Visit fandall.com to get started. Use your profit boost on NBA futures and get entered for a chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Thank you so much for making locked on Auburn your first list and every single day wrapping up today's show. So it was announced Friday Auburn has hired a

21:57former SEC offensive line coach specifically from the other school in the state from Alabama. Former Alabama offensive line coach Chris, a prolific. I believe his house name. Look at you, man, when that pronunciation. Kind of interesting. So I mean, he'll be under Tyler Hudanic, which is Auburn's first year at Auburn as offensive line coach. He'll be an analyst for him. Did they have a deal on consonants or something for the back of the jerseys? They need a lot of syllables for sure on the offensive line. Yeah. Goodness gracious. So I think there's a few angles of this and I'm trying to ask myself the question. I'm not trying. I am asking myself the question. Is it important or is it interesting? Analysts have more sway and ability to coach now than they ever have in this game. Really, the only thing they can't do now is recruit. They can, I mean, these analysts can coach and be more hands on now than they used to, which is good, I think.

23:01But when you look at this, like, okay, Alabama's O line was a weakness for them last year, despite having the talent up front. It has been a weakness really since the bore has been there. How much of that is scheme? How much of that is development? I'm not sure. But I do like the idea of having SEC caliber offensive line coaches to be analysts here. I think that's a good thing. But I will say that I think this is more of an interesting move than it actually being important. I, the one thing I will point out on Alabama's offensive line and granted PFF grades are not gospel, but I'm going to act like they are because this helps my argument. A lot of Alabama's offensive lineman were better at pass blocking than run blocking. And I know that Auburn, Auburn's a school that we want to run the ball. We always have wanted to run the ball. We've always

24:04been a running oriented school. And so a lot of the personnel is recruited with that in mind. If Chris Kapilovic was one of the main reasons that they were able to be better as pass blockers than run blockers, maybe that's something where he can improve the run blocking guys we already have so that when Byron Brown does take that shot down field, he has the protection to do it. Yeah, I mean, Alabama had this weird thing where they just could not run the football last year despite having talented backs and all of that. How much of that was him. They fired him. What was the date on this? On January 23rd, Alabama lets him go which kind of felt like a scapegoat type situation where like the bore needed to kind of get rid of some of the offensive pieces on the coaching staff, which totally makes sense. So not reading into that. Let's be a person. People are calling him.

25:05Some people are calling him that. We'll see how this season goes. They're scheduled so easy, which is frustrating, but it is what it is. But all in all, at face value, I like this. How much is it actually mad? I mean, this is going to be a guy who's one of the secondary voices when it comes to coaching offensive line technique and crafting game plans and all that. But the game plans are going to be throughout goalish through and through. So I don't think there's really anything substantial to have to like focus on with this. But I do like that you're getting guys in state. He was probably already recruiting some of the guys throughout the the SEC, nothing that he can recruit, but he's still going to have relationships with. And I believe they can talk on like official visits and things like that. So I don't see a whole lot of downside to this. So once again, if it's important or is it interesting, I think it's just interesting. But I think there's more upside than downside here. Yeah, I'm never, I'm never going to say no, don't give me that guy who was the SEC position coach at that position as an analyst. It's

26:09never a bad thing. And if you think about the heyday of Alabama under Nick Sabin, one of the key things that they had was they always had an analyst that was a former head coach that was able using his experience and his knowledge to be able to focus on a specific thing, a matchup, whatever. Capellabic does have over 30 years of coaching experience. Office of coordinator, a run game coordinator, Southern Miss North Carolina, Colorado, Michigan State. He has multiple NFL players on his resume, things like that. So I mean, he is even if he was not that good or we did not think his unit was that good in Alabama, he has a ton of experience to draw on to make our players better. So I'll never say no to something like that. I don't, I don't literally think it can be a negative unless we become Alabama and be unable to run the ball, which I just feel like it's kind of it's in our DNA. If we can't run the ball, we're in trouble with with what goal it wants to do. So

27:13yeah, that's Chris Capellabic, former Alabama O line coach. He is now an analyst for the Auburn Tigers. So we'll take it. Lindsay, how can people check out everything you've got going on? I'm on social media at Crosby Baseball, the Auburn Baseball stuff, the barnalburn.com, the barn baseball show and our recaps we do after every game. Braves today.com, the Braves today podcast, it is now the newsletters now a sub stack best seller. And we've got stuff dropping just about every single day as well as a very popular daily podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Go check it out. And if you're looking for Auburn stuff that maybe you missed over the weekend, Darryl and I reacted to Auburn's big win over Kentucky. You can get the raw reaction in real time. Darryl joined us from Neville Arena. So that was super, super fun. And then Lindsay and I had two shows for baseball reacting after Friday's big win. And then Sundays, Sundays sweep as well.

28:14So be sure to check that out if you haven't. Please like the video. Please subscribe. We'll see you next time. This has been locked on Auburn. Auburn Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert Albert