Since Gene Chizik and his staff came to Auburn following the 2008 season, 2012 was the year circled on the calendar.
2009 was the transition year from former coach Tommy Tuberville to Chizik.
2010 was going to be a senior-laden team, but a team short on any stars. 2011, if recruiting went as well as planned, was going to have an abundance of talent, but few upperclassmen contributors.
2012 was the year though--the year where everything was going to come together, and four of Chizik's own recruiting classes would comprise the majority of the roster.
But things didn't necessarily go according to plan. Auburn was fortunate and landed two once-in-a-lifetime JUCO talents: Nick Fairley in 2009 and Cameron Newton in 2010.
This took a team that was expected to be full of seniors with no star players to a team full of seniors with two of the best players in the country. A 14-0 season and a BCS National Championship followed.
But so did expectations.
People quickly forgot that 2011 was never going to be an SEC Championship team no matter how you look at it.
Tommy Tuberville's last two recruiting classes in 2007 and 2008 were well-ranked, 6th and 18th according to Scout.com. There were 30 signees in the class of 2007. 19 of those didn't enroll at Auburn or left the team. There were 28 signees in the class of 2008. 23 didn't enroll or left the team.
Why is that important?
The majority of those players would be experienced contributors on this year's team. Instead, all that remains from the 2007 class are redshirt seniors Quindarius Carr, Jared Cooper and A.J. Greene. Josh Bynes would be in that group, but Will Muschamp decided to burn his redshirt halfway through the 2007 season.
The only remaining players from the 2008 class are Onterio McCalebb, Neiko Thorpe, T'Sharvan Bell, Barrett Trotter and Drew Cole.
But this isn't 100 percent Tuberville's fault. Things happened that caused players to leave the program due to injury or disciplinary action.
Phil Steele, author of Phil Steele's "College Football Preview," is a renowned college football prognosticator and was one of the few experts that predicted Auburn would be undefeated going into the Iron Bowl last year.
In his magazine, he has an NCAA experience chart that outlines every team's experience or lack thereof. Auburn is ranked No. 120 for our two-deep depth chart.
In his system, Auburn received 25.4 points. The next youngest team in the SEC is Ole Miss, and they almost double our points with 50.6. Alabama is second in the SEC with 66.6 points.
This isn't an excuse for the poor play so far this season, but it does give hope for next year.
But this season is far from over.
We could be 1-3, but we aren't. We made it through September 3-1. It wasn't in the most convincing fashion, but winning one game against Clemson and Mississippi State was what most reasonable fans predicted.
Even though you can take one look at the two-deep depth chart and see it littered with true freshman and sophomores, some fans still want to see coaches fired, quarterbacks benched and offensive philosphies changed. This coaching staff knows what they are doing.
Gus Malzahn might throw the ball too much on 3rd and 1, but there is still no better offensive coordinator in the nation. People have forgotten that Gus is replacing four out of five starters on one of the better offensive lines in Auburn history. Cam Newton wouldn't have had all of those holes to run through if it wasn't for four-year starters Ryan Pugh and Lee Ziemba.
The replacements this year just don't have the experience playing with each other or in the SEC to expect the same results.
Even if you think Ted Roof knows nothing about defense, do you want Gene Chizik fired? Because I highly doubt--as good of a defensive mind that Chizik is\0xAD--that he would let someone run a defense he didn't think was inadequate.
We have the players we need to be successful. Just at this time last year, many of them very playing high school seniors. Give them some time to develop.
The team that takes the field in November will be drastically more improved that the team in September. Just back off the ledge and trust the coaches. They know more than you.
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