GAME 9 REVIEW: IT IS TIME

Texas A&M 31  Auburn 20.  Another game against a good team and another loss... I am sure many on the resident Auburn sites will point to the spots in the game Auburn could have made a play that might have won them the game. However I believe those people are deluded. Texas A&M was the better team and they absolutely dominated Auburn for the most part. Frankly it should not have been as close as it was. Auburn has some really good guys with strong character playing for them but they simply do not have enough upper echelon talent especially on the lines. Auburn's defensive line is just not good. They are good men but are simply not SEC-caliber players. The same is true on the offensive line. There is a little talent at guard but not enough. Auburn simply does not have an offensive tackle on the roster.

The quarterback play is sporadic along with the coaching. Tank Bigsby looks to be a good prospect but he is not an upper-echelon SEC running back yet and none of the other running backs are even close. Auburn has All-SEC talent at wide receiver but the line play and coaching minimize the impact they can have. Auburn as it has been most of Gus Malzahn's tenure remains above the half line in the SEC but not in the top three which has also been true over the same time period. Auburn is a decent show, a mediocre meal, a lukewarm shower... it is not bad but it just does not satisfy either. Auburn football has in some way become monotonous or boring, other than a few big wins it has been the same for a decade. Those wins have been big but over time people and teams either get better or worse.

As I and many other Auburn fans have remarked, Auburn's recruiting though ranked high has slipped over the last few years and looks really bad right now. Auburn as always has NO offensive tackles currently in the class and not enough impact players for the defensive line. As I heard an analyst for one of the Auburn sites say and write this week, Gus Malzahn's offensive tackle recruiting the past few years is completely unacceptable. It will be an incredible accomplishment for this class just to be in the top twenty. There does not appear to be anyone coming in  that is going to immediately help turn this team around. Right now from everything I am hearing is that Auburn's fate next season depends on this probable upcoming one-time immediate transfer window.

I am not buying it. I mean the only thing that is going to really make a difference is an elite offensive and defensive tackle and I just do not see Auburn being the school that gets those few guys. That brings us to my point, Auburn, while not bottoming is getting worse under Malzahn. It appears there will be no championships won with last year's recruiting class or this upcoming one. I hate to keep repeating myself but YOU CANNOT WIN AN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT ELITE LINEMEN. Auburn had no chance this year and it does not appear they will have a chance next year either. I am tired of reading about how much Auburn does with low rated recruits. That may be true but you name me a championship Auburn team and I will name you a group of elite highly recruited linemen.

Auburn is getting worse under Malzahn and with it being eight years in with two years of declining recruiting classes the answer seems clear. It is time to for Auburn to move on from Gus Malzahn. It is not about the ongoing fight between supposed "optimists" and "pessimists", it is simple truth. History has proved that nowadays other than a few rare exceptions even a good coach can only last around a decade at a school or a professional sports team. The team then just needs a new voice. This fact has been stated by many great coaches. I have called for Malzahn's head a few times on this blog and I think my reasons were valid but now I do not think it is a debate. Gus Malzahn is about to finish his eighth season at Auburn plus three as a coordinator. He has done some good things but it is time to go.

Auburn is obviously not a championship contender and with the recruiting declining things could deteriorate quickly. Gus delivered one of the great seasons in Auburn history and three really big wins since then in 2017 Georgia and Bama plus 2019 Bama. However that is pretty much it. He also has lost EVERY big away and bowl game he has coached at Auburn. He has kept his teams working hard and has done a good job with keeping good character and academic achievement in the program. HOWEVER he has been well and I mean WELL COMPENSATED for everything he has done for Auburn. In fact he has been paid more money than every head coach in Auburn football history combined. He has attained generational wealth at Auburn and has gotten to live his dream as a big-time college coach.

He should see it is time now. Do not let the bottom fall out like Terry, Tommy and Gene did. Right now he could leave the program better than he found it. However if he is as stubborn about this as he is about his offense then Auburn needs to step up and do the right thing for the program. Why should Auburn make this change now? The biggest reason is recruiting, this season is already lost and the last few have not been good. You will put the program further behind by wasting another recruiting class if you wait till after another mediocre to bad season to end. The next reasons are fans, boosters, and money as those are all inextricably tied together. Malzahn has lost the majority of them I believe, if not by the losses then by the lukewarm product on the field most of his tenure at Auburn.

Malzahn will probably continue as coach and it is an obvious prediction that next year will just be more of the same. There is a complete vacuum of leadership from the board of trustees to the president to the athletic director at Auburn. There does not appear to be anybody capable of dynamic leadership. I have no confidence that these people can bring in a better coach. Auburn could get someone worse than Malzahn and turn into Tennessee. However that fear is no longer the reason to keep Malzahn, his time is simply up. They can put it off or live in fear but another head football coach will have to be selected soon whether anyone likes it or not. It is better to do it now.