I have to say I have never seen a year like this or a coach do what Gus Malzahn has done although I have to say this season does closely resemble the 1989 season. Both teams were trying to find their indentity early in the season and struggled losing two tough games but flipped that proverbial switch somewhere along the way and finished super strong beating an undefeated Bama team. However this season does stick out for how bad Auburn looked in their tough early losses. After the LSU game I could not even imagine this ending. I am not sure even now knowing all I do about sports how a team could look that bad and then play this good. It is simply amazing.
I do not take back anything I have wrote about Gus Malzahn. He has looked that bad the last three seasons and in those early losses this season. I can only consider the evidence before me and as I wrote after the LSU game, the mountain of evidence was massive against him. It looks now that the LSU game finally got him to change enough to allow this team to grow and improve and become the team we have seen the last three weeks. It was not a huge blaring change but a subtle one. You saw an extra pass here and there, a play against his entrenched tendencies, not going quite as conservative late, etc... He is still maybe the most stubborn man I have ever come across but evidently blowing that LSU game and the fallout from it finally got through to him.
Gus Malzahn has now completed the test that separates good solid long-term coaches from shooting stars like Gene Chizik and Terry Bowden. Those coaches were great and the perfect match for one single season but faltered soon after. Malzahn like Coach Dye and Jordan before him has now had great success, faltered and then built it back up again and is on the cusp of being the second coach in modern Auburn history to win the SEC multiple times. However let me stop there and say that Auburn will have a big challenge beating a very good Georgia Bulldog team twice in a month. It will certainly not be easy but man it is going to be a fun week looking forward to the biggest Auburn vs. Georgia game of all-time. Auburn vs. Georgia for the SEC Championship in Atlanta. It just does not get any better than that.
My oldest son and I on the field!
THE GOOD
The Auburn fans especially the students have really brought it against Georgia and Bama. They created a real home field advantage that rattled both teams including Bama's two botched snaps. Jordan Hare Stadium is usually not included among the loudest toughest stadiums to play in but in these last two big games no stadium has been tougher or louder. I feel extremely fortunate to have been in the stadium these last two games and soak up this unbelievable atmosphere. I think the defense is the catalyst. It is hard to keep that fervor when your defense is bending every drive and the other team is scoring a lot even if your team is winning. That brings us too...
THE GREAT
I knew the Auburn defense was good early this season. I commented there was something special about them several times early in the season. They had chemistry, leadership and energy. You could just feel it. They were very good against Georgia but Georgia had a freshmen quarterback playing his first big SEC road game. The Auburn defense was great against Bama. They shutdown the Bama juggernaut and the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Year in Jalen Hurts. I has been a long time since an Auburn defense has gone toe-to-toe with a great Bama team and won this decisively. They held the Tide to 3 for 11 on third downs and shut out them out in the first and fourth quarters.
Also great this day was the Auburn offense. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham was simply spectacular going 21 for 28 for 237 yards plus rushing for 50 yards and a critical touchdown. Auburn fans have seen all season the flashes of how good this guy is and he then put it all together at exactly the right time in the biggest game of the season. He made great throws and he made great decisions on when to throw it away and when to run. Right now, Jarrett Stidham is the best quarterback in the SEC. There is also a good argument that Kerryon Johnson is the best running back in the SEC. He did it all Saturday running the ball, catching the ball and even throwing the ball in the signature play from this great Iron Bowl victory. It had to have been one of the greater single play calls in Auburn history.
It was a play that has been three years in the making. I think Kerryon has been doing the "wildcat" play for Auburn that long and has never thrown the ball out of it. It was a perfect call, perfect throw and perfect catch. After that Kerryon continually pounded the Bama defense getting those tough positive yards inside. He finished with over 100 well earned yards rushing. He walked off the field injured but as the crowd chanted his name you knew he was still one of the MVPs this day. Now every Auburn fan out there is hoping Kerryon can play next week, Auburn will certainly need him. I have to also give a shout out to the new single season catches leader in Auburn history, Ryan Davis. His 11 receptions in this game are Auburn's Iron Bowl record and with 69 catches this season, Davis broke Darvin Adams' single-season record of 60 in 2010.
Of course behind every great performance by a quarterback and a running back is a good offensive line playing their guts out. This Iron Bowl was no different as the Auburn offensive line battled a great Bama defensive line all day and held their own. It was like I read somewhere else this morning, this was a game played in 4 and 5 yard increments. There were big plays but the majority of the game was a "mano a mano" battle in the trenches which Bama usually thrives on but Auburn won this day. To put it in Pat Dye's terms, Auburn was more than "man enough" to take on the Tide. This was readily apparent on both sides of the ball. It also shows the one thing Gus Malzahn and his staff has done right the last few years and that is recruiting. In the shadow of the greatest recruiting machine of all time run by $aban at Bama, Auburn was able to bring this team together.
TOOMERS
THE BADI hate to say anything negative after that game but I have to call out the refs. You cannot do it when you lose or it is sour grapes so I will say it after one of Auburn's bigger wins. What were these guys doing? They would not call pass interference even when a guy is getting tackled before the ball gets there. They call that deflection that hit the ground a touchdown catch for Bama. It was of course reversed but come on that was an easy call. They then completely mess up the fourth down botched snap play. Yes Auburn had 12 men on the field but Bama was not set and had multiple people moving. It was a simple illegal procedure call. The botched snap and 12 men made no difference because illegal procedure is a dead ball foul. That is an easy easy call, again what were these guys doing???
THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The Deep South's oldest and best rivalry will now be center stage in the 2017 SEC Championship game. Auburn and Georgia fans have been waiting a long time for this. It seemed many times that this would happen but it never has. I know when this game first started I thought it would happen way before now but finally after 26 games here we are. It also will be the first one of these in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It should be an unbelievable atmosphere and game. It will be the first to have a playoff spot on the line for both teams. It is a playoff and championship game for both teams. I think it will also be the first to feature a rematch of teams less than a month after the first game.
Auburn beat Georgia up pretty good two weeks ago and Georgia made a lot of mistakes. I certainly expect a much closer game where Georgia cuts down on its mistakes. The Bulldogs preparation for Georgia Tech will also certainly help against Auburn as well. There is also the matter of Kerryon Johnson, Auburn would certainly not be as good without him. That will be the biggest question going into the game. However Georgia cannot escape one fact, freshman Jake Fromm will have to beat the best defense in the country for the Bulldogs to win. On the other side, the Georgia defense will have to shut down the best quarterback in the conference. It is tough to win a rematch but it is also tough to beat this Auburn team right now. Let the build up begin...
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