GAME 4 REVIEW: DISASTER AVOIDED... FOR NOW

Auburn 34  Georgia State 24.  Never has a score been more deceiving than the one I just listed... the score was Georgia State 24  Auburn 19 at the 59:07 mark in the game.  Quarterback T.J. Finley took the snap on 4th down ten yards away from the end zone and Georgia State sent the house.  He proceeded to try to turn and scramble and ran right into two Georgia State defenders.  The game was over and Auburn had finally lost to one of these type teams...  till somehow someway he got away from them and hit Shedrick Jackson for a game-winning touchdown.  Auburn was awful for 59 minutes and even with the benefit of what looked like a bad officiating call going their way it still did not look like the offense would score.  Auburn simply could not hit passes most of the day with either Bo Nix or T.J. Finley and Georgia State was determined to not let Auburn run the ball.  It was very hard to watch.

Also before Georgia State goes too far blaming that one call for Auburn winning they need to get over themselves.  They got away with a few penalties as well and if they could have gotten a punt off when it was obvious Auburn was coming for it they would have won the game.  They also simply ran over Auburn receiver Ja'varrius Johnson on a screen pass during this same drive and both teams did plenty of hand checking all day. Auburn was called for six penalties for 65 yards and Georgia State for only two for 20 yards so give me a break with the whole "the refs were on Auburn's side" garbage.  It was a tough and frankly embarrassing day all around for the Auburn Tigers.  It showed how far the talent level on the lines eroded under the previous coach.  For most of the game, Georgia State simply looked like the best team.  The defensive line in the first half looked about as bad I have ever seen.

There is no point in trying to break down this game, Auburn was awful in every phase of the game except special teams.  Anders Carlson was 4 of 5 on field goals and although his miss was costly as Auburn had the momentum he is going to miss one at some point. The punt block and recovery for a touchdown was as big a play as the last one and how cool that it was blocked by one CAYLIN NEWTON.  That was about it on the positive side.  On defense, I know team leaders Owen Pappoe and Zakoby McClain were out, McClain only for the first half because of the horrendous targeting call last week, but it was simply unbelievable how bad the unit got beat in the first half.  The lack of real talent on the line was stark and the coaching was unacceptable.  The Tigers got it together in the second half but why in the world did it take that long?  Georgia State was just running read options?

However before I delve into the rest, let me hold up and say one thing about when Auburn inevitably loses one of these games.  First, it is pretty incredible that Auburn has not yet.  The Tigers have escaped sure losses like this several times including Appalachian State in Tommy Tuberville's first game at Auburn and against Jacksonville State in 2015.  Auburn keeps escaping but it will most likely happen sooner or later.  Let me be clear though to all the Bama fans and others who were just ready to pile on, it has already happened to you and your "best ever" coach in Bama's case.  Uh UAB was worse than Georgia State in 2000 and $aban lost to them in "Death Valley" in his first year at LSU.  He then lost to Louisiana Monroe as well his first year at Bama.  So while yes I understand rubbing it in and enjoying it as we did during those losses, it will not be the end of the program and you still have more...

Back to the situation Auburn finds itself in...  defensively things look pretty bleak.  The Auburn defense first allowed Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford to go 28 of 32 for 280 yards last week and then allowed Georgia State to run over, through and around them this week.  Obviously there are some coaching issues but the main issue that jumps out to me is again the lack of elite talent and size on the line.  Auburn has some good players and gamers on defense but the line is not close to the better teams in the conference.  This is all on Gus Malzahn and his staff, as they did not bring in ONE elite defensive tackle after Derrick Brown in 2016.  The preseason is over and Auburn has a bunch of good teams and good offenses coming their way.  Right now there is nothing else to expect but more of the last two games or worse.  The biggest thing that can be done is RECRUIT.  I mean can Auburn just get ONE elite tackle???

Offensively things are not much better and now Pandora's box has been opened with the quarterbacks.  On Bo Nix I will just repeat what I said last week: "I like Bo Nix and have defended him in this space as he was a victim so many times of our predictable offense under Malzahn.  He developed some bad habits from that experience and frankly from him trying to be a playmaker in high school.  I think we all hoped the new coaches could help with these issues but it just does not look like it is going to happen.  Nix is just not an accurate quarterback.  He can make plays, throw some great passes, and get hot at times but he is just not accurate.  He refuses to step up in the pocket, make the throw, and take the hit.  The bottom line is you just cannot be a good passer unless you do that."  Bo Nix proved every bit of this correct with his performance yesterday. 

Auburn's wide receivers may be the weakest point of this offense but Bo and frankly T.J. Finley as well continue to miss passes when somebody gets open.  You just cannot miss open guys many times as this level.  The quarterback issue will be a problem going forward for the rest of the season now unless T.J. Finley starts and shows a lot more than he did yesterday but I will say he did come in to a tough situation.  Finley has looked to me like a baseball-style quarterback with a tremendous arm but not much touch and like Nix, not accurate.  The only thing I do like better about Finley is he is more of a pocket quarterback.  It is hard to bench Nix after the good things he has done the last two years but he brought this on with his poor performances and decisions the last three weeks.  His performance yesterday was just unacceptable and him not being a captain also points toward something being wrong as well. 

Let me address the booing for a moment, I would not do it but it is inevitable at any school in situations like this.  Also as someone reminded me, the minute a player starts taking money for endorsements, all bets are off when it comes to booing.  Nix now in two years has had some amazing moments against Oregon, Mississippi State, and obviously Bama in 2019 plus LSU last season however he has had as many or more poor performances.  They say "it just means more" in the SEC and when you are the quarterback you get more of the credit when you win and more of the criticism when you lose.  It is the nature of the position.  I feel bad for the Nix family but as I learn more every year, sports are not fair or forgiving.  I did think the team seemed to respond to Finley and again it has concerned me ever since I heard Nix was not a captain.  I do not think I have ever seen a successful SEC team with a two year starter not a captain.

Auburn now heads to Baton Rouge with the season literally hanging in the balance.  Auburn and LSU both need this win badly to have any kind of successful season.  Who will Auburn start at quarterback?  It would appear to be Finley after Saturday however it would be pertinent to remember Auburn and Nix absolutely DESTROYING LSU and Finley just a year ago.  However Bo Nix with all his experience has yet to have a big performance on the road against a decent team.  That is the deciding factor to me.  I think T.J. Finley will lead Auburn next Saturday night against his former team in his home state.  THAT is a lot to put on a young quarterback especially since it was reinforced by Georgia State to sell out to stop the run and key on Tank Bigsby whenever he is on the field.  I believe every single team left on Auburn's schedule is going to do just that and Auburn is only going to win by passing better.

All eyes are now on LSU and this game will soon be forgotten but as many bad things as there were it was also special for many Auburn players especially T.J. Finley.  No matter what happens the rest of his career, this will always hopefully be a cherished memory.  It brought me to my feet cheering for one of the few times this decade.  He took the field 98 yards from the end zone and Auburn had to have a touchdown against a determined opponent.  He made some critical completions and a big scramble and then he did what really only a rare few ever get to do.  He made an absolutely tremendous clutch do-or-die play on fourth down to win the game for Auburn.  It is an incredible moment regardless of the opponent or circumstances.  Auburn appeared to lose the game with less than a minute remaining but T.J. Finley reached out and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.  He is now an AUBURN Tiger.

GAME 3 REVIEW: WHITED OUT

Penn State 28  Auburn 20.  Well if any game ever fit perfectly into "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" type of review for the game it was this one.  First, I still love that Auburn played this game.  It is just so rare to see a top SEC team playing a regular season game against a top Big 10 team.  I stand by the excitement I had for the game and still say in some ways it was the biggest game of the season for Auburn.  Unfortunately Auburn lost the game and while there were some good spots, there were also some bad spots plus some downright ugly ones.  There were some glaring mistakes by the coaches and mistakes from the players plus there is the ever-present reminder that Auburn just does not have championship talent.  The one constant is that Auburn has to recruit better.  That has to be solved before many other things can be solved.

Also while I love the game was so big and got so much hype, enough about the "white-out"!  I mean I understand it is a big deal for Penn State and it is kind of cool.  However this is not like some long standing tradition, it is like a decade old?!?  Every big time Power 5 school gets up and very loud for a big game, I think Auburn will be rocking for this game next season.  I just do not think Penn State is the toughest place to play even during "the white-out".  I mean ESPN just blathered on and on about this thing.  Again I understand hyping the game but I think it got ridiculous.  Also it may just be sour grapes but the reviews by Auburn fans about the whole experience filtering in through the forums and such about Penn State were not very complimentary.  I do not think that is all just from losing.

THE GOOD

First Auburn gets the chance to pay Penn State back next season in Auburn.  I will be looking forward to that game about as much.  On the field from this game I thought the offense did some good things.  I have constantly harped on the offensive line but I thought overall they played as good a game as they could.  They are limited but we are getting about as much from them as possible.  I thought the running backs were good.  At times I did not understand the rotation in the first half, I thought Tank Bigsby would be featured more but the carries were spread out about right in the final stats.  I think the problem was Penn State was keying on Tank every time he was in the game.  You could tell one of their main goals on defense was to slow down Tank.  I thought Jaquez Hunter did a great job exploiting this.

Auburn ran the ball for over 180 yards for almost 5 yards a carry and two touchdowns.  That is a great job against a top ten team with a good defense on the road in a rocking stadium.  I thought Bo Nix did a good job in spots.  One of those spots was hitting tight end John Samuel Shenker four times for over 60 yards.  Those were all big plays and the biggest involving the tight end since C.J. Uzomah left Auburn in 2013.  Chandler Wooten did a great job filling in for Zakoby McClain when he was ejected on a horrendous targeting call.  Wooten ended up with ten tackles, six of them solo.  I thought the special teams were excellent with Anders Carlson hitting two tough field goals and Oscar Chapman averaging 49 yards a punt.  There were some other good plays on both sides of the ball but these guys were the biggest positives this night I thought.

THE BAD

Auburn would make a good run or pass and look good but other than the two touchdown drives they just could not put it together.  I like Bo Nix and have defended him many times in this space as he was a victim so many times of our predictable offense under Malzahn.  He developed some bad habits from that experience and frankly him trying to be a playmaker in high school.  I think we all hoped the new coaches could help with these issues but it just does not look like it is going to happen.  Nix is just not an accurate quarterback.  He can make plays, throw some great passes, and get hot at times but he is just not accurate.  He refuses to step up in the pocket, make the throw, and take the hit.  The bottom line is you just cannot be a good passer unless you do that.  He was all over the place in this game overthrowing and underthrowing many balls off his back foot.

He just throws off-balance so much of the time and I mean he just absolutely cannot throw an accurate deep ball.  You could tell Penn State scouted Auburn pretty well.  They brought the heat and dared Auburn to hit the deep ball and the Tigers cannot do it.  It appears that Bo just will not trust his line and stand in there.  The offensive line is improved but still weak at pass blocking and Bo scrambles every time rather than as I mentioned earlier standing in and delivering the pass.  Of course it does not help that Auburn's wide receivers are now the weakest part of this offense.  These guys are trying hard but are not helping Nix or the offense out much.  They are limited talent-wise and are inexperienced.  Last night they dropped several catchable balls and were obviously afraid to take a hit.  There just does not appear to be a play-maker in the bunch.

THE UGLY

I loved the selection of Derrick Mason as the Auburn defensive coordinator.  He appeared to do a great job defensively at Stanford and Vanderbilt but he is just not getting it done.  I knew it was a warning sign when no matter what the situation was a backup quarterback came in and completed 13 passes in a row last week.  Mason's Auburn defense made Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford look like Tom Brady!  I am sorry there is absolutely no excuse for letting this guy go 28 OF 32 FOR 280 YARDS!!!???!!!  Yes I am not a football coach and an expert but I think I can say confidently from watching the game for over 40 years that to be successful on defense YOU HAVE TO PRESSURE THE QUARTERBACK.  You cannot do that with three players and if you cannot do it with four (ala Kevin Steele) then YOU HAVE TO BLITZ!!!  It is not rocket science!

I just do not think you can let any decent quarterback sit back their all day and hope for him to make a mistake these days.  That might work with a bad air-raid Mississippi State offense but it is not going to stop anybody any good.  It was embarrassing to watch Auburn give up pass after pass.  I think good defenses are aggressive and I would rather take some chances than get picked apart.  In addition to Mason, Auburn has two or three other assistants who have been defensive coordinators and this is the best we can do?  I understand the Auburn defensive line is just not good but it is obvious that this is not the best solution.  These guys better get it together or longer days are ahead.  Auburn plays some teams that can pass the ball better than Penn State.  This might be the way at Vanderbilt but this is not the way at Auburn.  The coaches better adjust RAPIDLY.  Next I am not even going to get started on how ugly the reffing was in this game.  It was horrifyingly bad but pretty much standard for the SEC.

Finally, while there are some things out of the coaches' control like the talent they inherited, players not executing, etc...  there are plenty of things within the coaches control and the buck stops with the HEAD COACH.  Auburn's defensive decisions are ultimately Bryan Harsin's responsibility as are the two absolutely BONEHEADED calls that were made at critical points in this game.  The first was trying to run a trick play to open the second half with a young inexperienced player who had never played in a full stadium on the road.  Harsin can blather on and on about whatever but the bottom line is that was a STUPID CALL.  You only do things like that with experienced players and in my opinion not to open a half on a critical drive.  It was a terrible decision by the head coach that was only exceeded by the even dumber play call on Auburn's last chance to tie the game.

First, I HATE the fade pass down near the goal line.  It is a low percentage play that should only be called on early downs with again experienced players.  WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER CALL OR LET YOUR QUARTERBACK CALL THAT PLAY IN THAT SITUATION???!!!???  Again Harsin can blather on and on and on but there is nothing to say other than it was  DUMB CALL that cost us our last chance to win the game.  It is a coach's job in any sport to give their team the best chance to be successful and Bryan Harsin failed at that this night.  Also his tendency to drone on and not say anything in every situation and in this case to not take any responsibility is ending the honeymoon real quick.  It is a fact Auburn Nation embraced this guy and it is his fault in many ways that he is losing  many of them.  These football coaches really need to watch Bruce Pearl and learn how to be a head coach and handle the fans.  

THE LAST WORD

Auburn will win next Saturday in their last easy game against Georgia State.  Auburn is going to lose to Georgia and Bama at home.  There might be a slight chance against Georgia but not much of one. Auburn has nowhere near the talent they had just two years ago in the Iron Bowl against Bama.  The Texas A&M and Ole Miss games are starting to look like long shots as well but those teams have their issues too.  I believe Auburn can and has to win against Arkansas, Mississippi State, and South Carolina even those too could be tough games.  I think the key to Auburn having a chance to get some big wins in these games all comes down to the LSU game.  I think the game in Baton Rouge in two weeks is an absolute must win for Auburn.  I also think LSU fans are saying the same thing.

IF Auburn beats LSU and ends the stupid losing streak over there against a very beatable LSU team, it buys the coaching staff some goodwill and the team overall a lot of positive energy and valuable confidence.  It gives this coaching staff a big achievement and win no matter what happens the rest of the season.  Auburn beats LSU, Arkansas, State, and South Carolina plus gets one win against either Ole Miss or Texas A&M they can finish 8-4 and right now I think that is the best we can possibly expect from this team.  Again though I do not think it happens with out a big win at LSU.  There will not be a "white-out" or College Gameday or all the hype in two weeks but two bitter rivals will clash in a huge game that very well could decide what kind of season each team will have.

GAME 2 REVIEW: The countdown is on...

 

Auburn 62  Alabama State 0.  There is just not much to say about this one.  It started badly but ended where it should be.  The Auburn offense definitely came out sloppy and uninspired settling for two field goals to open the game and only scoring one touchdown in the first half.  Special teams provided the other touchdown running back a blocked field goal.  Head coach Bryan Harsin then from all reports communicated his displeasure to the offense at halftime and that along with Alabama State pulling starters early to avoid them getting hurt set the stage for a record breaking third quarter.  The Tigers scored 35 points and piled up almost 300 yards in that quarter.  Auburn then ran out the clock in the fourth and now the countdown is on to again what I think is the biggest game of the season.

I said last week:  "I am already fired up for what to me will be Auburn's biggest game of the season at Penn State in less than two weeks.  I cannot remember Auburn playing a big-time Big Ten team in the regular season...  EVER.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime type matchup.  I love our rivalries but for this year I think this Penn State game is the big one.  There will be plenty of time to talk about the conference season but right now the countdown is on to what will hopefully be a truly special game Saturday September 18, 2021."  I am doubly fired up now especially after the word came down that College Gameday will be there and that the Penn State fans were chanting "We want Auburn!" at the end of their game against Ball State on Saturday.  

Luckily Auburn Undercover writer Phillip Marshall did the research and I was correct in not ever remembering Auburn playing a Big Ten team in the regular season.  It has happened, once, but that one occurrence was a 7-7 tie at Wisconsin in 1931 (!!!).  The fact is that it just does not happen much at all and even less with Auburn.  That is what makes this so special.  It sounds like the Penn State faithful are as pumped up as Auburn fans about the game from the note above on their game Saturday.  Another factor that makes this game doubly interesting is the unknown.  Anything could happen in this game, it could be close, it could be a blowout, it could be something in-between.  Both teams were not great last season but have started strong this season.  

Penn State has the one quality win at Wisconsin the first week of the season and I believe that does make them the slight favorite.  Auburn fans should be glad as that puts Auburn in their favored underdog position.  I think that is one of the ways that head coach Bryan Harsin really fits in at Auburn as all his years at Boise State as a player and coach were playing as the underdog and having something to prove in just about every big game.  This will be his first opportunity in this role at Auburn and what a big opportunity it is.  A win could really kickstart this season and recruiting at the same time.  The Tigers could really use that boost as so much apathy settled into the program Gus Malzahn's last two years at the helm.

The history of this series is pretty short, the series record is 1-1.  Auburn and Terry Bowden played Penn State in the Outback Bowl in 1995 in Auburn's first bowl game after being on probation for two years.  I remember being really fired up about that game as well till it started...  The Nittany Lions massacred Auburn that day in ironically Patrick Nix's last game at quarterback for Auburn.  In fact if I remember correctly Dameyune Craig finished the game for Auburn and the majority of the game was played in the rain.  Auburn then played Penn State again in the Capitol One Bowl on New Year's Day 2003.  I remember the game being one of the hardest hitting and most physical bowl games I have seen with Auburn winning 13-9.  That win also made the 2003 Auburn team a real preseason darling.

Penn State head coach James Franklin has faced Auburn twice as a coach, once as the offensive coordinator at Kansas State in 2007 and then as Vanderbilt's head coach in 2012.  Auburn beat Kansas State but Franklin beat the Tigers at Vanderbilt against the worst Auburn team in modern history.  Franklin also caught Tennessee struggling that season and that helped him lead the Commodores to a nine win season and that went a long way toward getting him the job at Penn State.  Franklin has been very successful at Penn State with winning seasons and bowl games his first six seasons.  That includes three eleven win seasons and top ten rankings.  His only stumble was last season when the Nittany Lions went 4-5.  Considering the rest of his career that year looks like an outlier.

On the other side, do we know much more about Auburn after this past game against Alabama State?  We do not know much more than we did after last week but a few good things were reinforced.  Those were that this coaching staff is going to be much more balanced as the Tigers still threw the ball 29 times including letting back up T.J. Finley throw again.  Auburn had to run the whole fourth quarter as the game got out of hand but up till then, the game plan was again very balanced.  We know Auburn's strength on offense is running the ball and the back seven on defense are nasty.  We also know that Auburn's offensive and defensive lines still have serious issues.  The question is can they be good enough to beat a top ten team on the road.  Unfortunately I have my doubts on that.

Obviously Auburn will need to keep it close and run the ball hopefully burning Penn State on the play-action pass.  I do not think Auburn right now can come back from far behind against a Power 5 defense pinning their ears back and bringing the heat.  I also think Auburn's defense will wilt if Auburn is behind and Penn State starts pounding the ball.  On the other hand I think Derrick Mason's defense could wreak some havoc if Auburn has the lead.  What will happen???  The countdown is on till we tee it up and find out.  I know I keep repeating myself and I may be singing a different tune late Saturday night but I love this rare match up and am so excited to watch it.  I think the entire Auburn nation feels the same along with Penn State.  I hope the game lives up to the hype.  Let's enjoy it.

GAME 1 REVIEW: Just What The Doctor Ordered

Auburn 60  Akron 10.  The Bryan Harsin era got off to a good start last night at a packed Jordan Hare Stadium and frankly it was the best moment for Auburn sports since the last time the stadium was packed at the 2019 Iron Bowl.  There are many problems in the world right now that make sports seem pretty insignificant but right here I am just looking at the small little spot of Auburn University sports. Auburn beat Bama for a huge win and knocked the Tide out of any championship contention to end the 2019 football season.  Bruce Pearl then followed up Auburn's amazing Final Four run with another great season before the sports world shut down because of COVID.  

I did not ever say anything about one of the greatest seasons in Auburn basketball history that will be completely forgotten.  Bruce and the boys went 25-6 (the third best record in Auburn basketball history I think?) and 12-6 in the SEC and were looking at maybe winning another SEC tournament and making another deep run in the NCAA tournament.  That season featured some of the most exciting games and maybe the greatest regular season run of wins I have ever seen in Auburn basketball.  In one single stretch of games Auburn beat Ole Miss on the road in 2OTs, beat Kentucky at home with College Gameday in town, beat Arkansas on the road in OT, beat LSU in maybe the greatest basketball come back in Auburn history in OT and then finished the streak beating Bama in yet another OT game.  Samir Doughty, Isaac Okoro, Danjel Purifoy, and Austin Wiley.  Absolute Auburn greats gone and forgotten.

The 2020 baseball season was wiped out and then we got Gus Malzahn's last excruciating season on the plains that included exactly one big win over an overrated LSU team.  Unfortunately for Auburn things did not get any better as we went into 2021. To ring in the new year we got a typical Malzahn-ian bowl effort.  He was not there but the team played like he was losing ugly to Northwestern.  Harsin and company did the best they could to save the recruiting class but it is not a strong class.  Unfortunately this part will continue to hurt Auburn, Gus' declining recruiting efforts will continue to hamper Auburn's championship hopes long after his departure.  I do not want to take away anything from a great start last night but the bottom line for Auburn football is this coming recruiting class is critical.

Back to the start of 2021... even the great Bruce Pearl could not stop the downward trend of Auburn sports after COVID-19 started.  The basketball Tigers were just too young and the pathetic NCAA kept super recruit Sharife Cooper out over a third of the season.  The young Auburn basketball team could just never get going.  The only high point was maybe the greatest first game in Auburn basketball history put up by Cooper in a loss to a really good Bama team.  He was amazing putting up 26 points and nine assists in his debut and almost carrying Auburn to the win.  The women's basketball team went winless in the SEC and then the baseball and softball teams both crashed and burned as well.  It has just been one thing after another for Auburn sports since the start of the pandemic.

The hits continued off the field with the NIL (name, image, and likeness) ruling by the Supreme Court and the full inception of the transfer portal.  These two things will continue to effect college football going forward.  The NIL stuff was really no surprise as the greed surrounding college sports and the millions of dollars taken in by conferences, schools, and coaches continued to rise.  It was only natural that the players were going to be part of it sooner or later.  The complete idiocy of the NCAA as an organization contributed to the issue coming to a head sooner rather than later.  The biggest problem I have with the whole thing is the complete lack of any real rules regarding uh anything.  College football and basketball have pretty much become professional minor league so I am to the point I wish it would become official so we could have some rules.  College sports especially football just look like professional wrestling to me with the championship contenders picked before the season starts.

That is all external to the Auburn athletic department in these trying times but unfortunately Auburn seemingly cannot keep it together internally either.  First you have lame duck president Jay Gogue continuing to lead Auburn nowhere as he has done his entire career.  Literally the next time Auburn is PROACTIVE about anything will be the FIRST TIME.  The latest incident on his watch is evidently many of Auburn's coaches revolting against athletic director Allen Greene.  Greene while appearing to get it right with Harsin has evidently gone completely overboard cutting costs in the Auburn athletic department further hindering Auburn's collective sports teams who as I just described are up against it already.  Things have gotten so bad that Gogue moved Auburn COO Lt. Gen. Burgess into the athletic department.  You just have to shake your head...  You just do not hear sh!t like this happening in Athens or Tuscaloosa.  I mean things are bad enough and we now have a civil war in the Auburn AD???

After ALL OF THIS, we finally got into SEC media days and Auburn fans were looking at putting some of this behind us and trying to get fired up about the upcoming football season.  New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin took his turn on the last day and ended up putting his foot in his mouth and fumbling the ball on Auburn's COVID vaccination plan.  I guess all of us can continue to argue amongst ourselves about which is worse, the disease or the vaccine, but in my opinion a sports team cannot.  You have a better chance of having a good season and winning by getting your vaccinations and Harsin basically admitted he had not gotten his and that Auburn was behind most of the conference.  This officially ended his honeymoon with many Auburn fans and started literally countless bitter arguments between Auburn fans on the subject especially in nameless and faceless forums.

Harsin and several of Auburn's coaches then contracted COVID-19 during preseason practice.  He also hamstringed the media even worse than Malzahn giving them the same limited bland short practice looks plus banning them from discussing injuries.  I am so tired of college coaches and their petty dictatorships.  Every big time college football program wants to blather on so much about the NFL well then how about you act more like the NFL on practice looks and injury reports.  The college football preseason is just so much blathering on about nothing that it is not any fun at all anymore.  Nobody wants to hear the 1000th guess about Auburn or anybody else's season.  That is why there is no preview here on this site.  You just have to endure till you finally get to the start of the season.

And that is where we finally got to last night and it was Auburn's first great sports moment since this whole pandemic started...  A beautiful day, the Tiger Walk, a full stadium, the flight of the eagle... AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A DECADE NO GUS MALZAHN OFFENSE.  I mean I think I know now a little bit about how it feels to get out of prison (-:  I will just quote a good friend of mine here on the offense last night: "You saw clean substitutions, very few penalties, decisive play calling, throwing intermediate passes, utilizing the middle of the field (on those passes), and personnel groupings that did not defy logic."  I would add did not defy logic or TIP OFF EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO RUN.  Things may go bad for this football team but let me be clear the team IS better right now.

Obviously Akron remains one of the worst teams in the country but you can blow out a team and still not get anything out of it ala Malzahn.  Gus would have run the ball 70 times in that game and gotten about the same score but we would be no better off.  Harsin and company were much more balanced which as I have screamed the last 10 years helps you get better!!!  You have to throw the ball in lesser games to be any good at it in the big games which is a lesson Gus never learned.  I did see his big win at Central Florida and all I have say to that and to the other success he will have there is his crap will work at a lesser level especially when you are the big fish in that small pond.  The fact remains is he was done after the 2017 season and Auburn is much better off regardless of how things go.

The stats speak for themselves.  Again Akron is awful but to play nearly perfect in any football game is a good thing.  Bo Nix who by the way has never been the problem was... almost perfect going 20-22 for 275 yards and three touchdowns.  Tank Bigsby and Jaquez Hunter both had over a hundred yards rushing.  Shaun Shivers was finally used as he is supposed to be used which is as a change of pace back and that resulted in him getting a touchdown running and receiving the ball.  The ball was SPREAD AROUND to nine different receivers (has that ever happened at Auburn?).  Four Auburn receivers had three or more catches and another one had two.  The young Auburn wide receiver corps looked very good.  Senior Shedrick Jackson led the way with five catches.  Finally the much maligned (I am one of those) Auburn offensive line powered the whole thing.

I also want to point out again the BALANCE.  In a game like this Auburn ran the ball 31 times for 315 yards and passed the ball 27 times for almost 300 yards.  I know many people are like so what?  For those people I challenge them to google every nothing game like this under Malzahn or frankly under pretty much any past Auburn coach.  I bet you will not find a game remotely similar to this in these type games.  I have said over and over in this blog that I hate this attitude that Auburn always has to be a running team.  I hate it because any successful team outside a few rare exceptions must be a BALANCED team.  Look no further than the football factory to our west for proof of this point.  It is also again key to maintain that balance in games like this.  IT WAS SO REFRESHING.  The "cherry on top" was the coaching staff letting backup quarterback T.J. Finley throw the ball with the third team in garbage time.  It is a little thing but it is a huge thing because your backup QB needs it so bad.

I have spent so much time on the offense for obvious reasons but I also thought the defense looked better as well.  Many people started hating on Kevin Steele when it looked like he might be the next Auburn head coach but I disliked him long before that and stated it many times in this blog.  I thought he was so overrated.  He did a decent job but it was mainly against poor passing teams.  He absolutely got roasted every time Auburn played a good passing team, every time.  I like Derek Mason's attacking style much better.  Auburn will still get burned plenty but hopefully they can also make big plays more as well.  The player of the night for me was senior T.D. Moultry who has seemingly been in exile the last two seasons.  He ended the night with seven tackles, three for losses including a sack.  I still think parts of Auburn's defensive line are undersized and will struggle against good teams but the back seven looks rock solid.

All in all, for really the first time since the pandemic hit it was truly great to be an Auburn Tiger.  That was what last night was all about.  There will be losses and tough times this season but hopefully there will also be a few big wins as well.  I am already fired up for what to me will be Auburn's biggest game of the season at Penn State in less than two weeks.  I cannot remember Auburn playing a big-time Big Ten team in the regular season...  EVER.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime type matchup.  I love our rivalries but for this year I think this Penn State game is the big one.  There will be plenty of time to talk about the conference season but right now the countdown is on to what will hopefully be a truly special game Saturday September 18, 2021.  First up though is another scrimmage against Alabama State and my hope is the Auburn football team can do the same thing in that game next Saturday they did last night, play good and get better as a team.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

"Go west young man", well it appears that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene did just that to complete the search for a new head football coach on the plains. Greene went all the way to Idaho and Boise State University to get Bryan Harsin as Auburn's new coach. It was an absolute surprise to me and I think to most people. The truth be told I have been glued to this search since it started picking up speed and yesterday morning I was convinced the whole thing was just not serious and Kevin Steele would still end up being our head coach. I have not been a fan of Steele as defensive coordinator. I have always thought he was vastly overrated so I certainly was not in favor of him becoming head coach. Therefore considering that and where the search was yesterday, I was absolutely ESTATIC when I heard Harsin.

I guess though I need to get a few thoughts off my chest about Gus Malzahn and this search before we THANKFULLY TURN THE PAGE ON ALL OF IT. I actually got my review of Auburn's final game against Mississippi State done on time and posted early the Sunday after. I did not think Gus would be fired, I just did not think Gogue would do it and I was wrong. I did not update that post, it was the final chapter on Gus and I wanted to leave it. Several times during this search I wanted to write a post as I had some real rants ready but things were changing so fast that I wanted to wait till it was over. I also thought about doing a summary post on Gus' career but after reviewing every game in the Malzahn era I have had enough of writing about his games. 

I will give two more paragraphs to Gus Malzahn and then frankly I never want to talk about him again. Gus did some good things at Auburn. Nobody will ever forget 2013 especially the Georgia and Bama games. The "Miracle at Jordan Hare" against Georgia was just that. The "Kick Six" is the greatest play in college football history and one of the greatest games.  Gus led Auburn to destroying #1 Georgia and beating Bama, who was also #1 at the time, by more than ten points for the first time since 1969 in 2017. Those are also unforgettable games. Auburn was the best team in the country for three weeks. Finally I will never forget the Iron Bowl last season, it was an incredible game and the last one I will get to watch with my parents at Jordan Hare as they retired their season tickets. GREAT MEMORIES.

Thank you Gus for your part in those tremendous games. Thank you for the winning seasons. He is the only modern Auburn football coach to not have a losing season and that is an accomplishment. Unfortunately though I believe he was also the only modern Auburn football coach to NEVER beat Bama, Georgia or LSU on the road or win a significant bowl game. There were too many poorly coached games especially on offense. Gus could never adjust after they changed the substitution rules and defenses caught up to him. He refused to ever really adjust or change his offense regardless of whoever was supposedly calling the plays. He just never seemed to have a clue about or add any modern passing concepts. He did it his way till the end.

And it was definitely time for his Auburn career to end as I wrote in the last two game reviews. I would also like to take this time to also correct something I hear over and over during times like this but is not true, Auburn has NEVER fired a coach early. Auburn has NEVER had an itchy trigger finger. Auburn may not pick the new ones right but they have ended each coach exactly when they had to be ended. Pat Dye resigned at the right time considering his health and other issues. Terry Bowden had the worst recruiting class in Auburn history in 1998. He absolutely had to go. Tommy Tuberville's last recruiting class was also a disaster and he obviously was not ready to go head-to-head with $aban. Finally Gene Chizik turned in the worst season in Auburn history before being let go. 

That brings us to ten days ago and the beginning of this search. There is another famous saying "all is well that ends well" and I think that is true here but whew this truism was certainly tested by this coaching search. I mean what a complete disaster before yesterday. I will cover most of my angst with this search by stating two things, in this day and age you cannot do public coaching searches or use committees without making an already tough process worse. I think you have to empower your athletic director to find a candidate and use all methods at his disposal privately as possible and then present that candidate to the people who will approve the hire. Auburn may have done some of this but it just seemed too much was public regardless of all the disinformation that was out there.

There are many things about this search that still do not make sense. Did the power brokers behind-the-scenes at Auburn really think they would be able to just pop Kevin Steele in there as head coach initially? If so they are really out of touch with reality. The whole #StopSteele campaign was a PR disaster. After that exactly what happened with Billy Napier? I will say that I still think Napier was the best candidate. He grew up in Georgia and had spent time on both $aban and Dabo's football staffs and had then done a top job at Louisiana. Did Auburn offer him the job? Did they put limitations on him? What happened there? I guess we will never know but I would like to. Honestly why did we even talk to Bill Clark at UAB? The timing of that also made Auburn look really bad. 

I also got sick of hearing about coaches that get way more attention than they deserve. Hugh Freeze did some good things at Ole Miss and while I believe in forgiveness and restoration I do not think you can put him in charge of a major football program after what he did in Oxford. If I ever hear Lane Kiffin's name again it will be too soon. Folks, Lane Kiffin has to be the most overrated coach ever. He has frankly never done anything as a head coach. He was a failure with the Raiders, he quit on Tennessee and then he failed at USC and he had plenty of time. I mean enough with Lane Kiffin. I think Brent Venables is a good coach but Auburn definitely did not need another defensive head coach who would be completely dependent on a big expensive offensive coordinator hire.

There was definitely a lot of misinformation out there, some were the media and fans scrambling after anything and I am sure some was put out by Auburn's enemies. However I do think Auburn was talking to these coaches in the order the information came out and it looked really bad. It really does look like the only initial plan after firing Gus was hiring Steele and that was a really bad plan. It sure appears that Auburn has been scrambling since then. The whole committee deal and hiring process seemed hastily thrown together and nobody knew who was really in charge of the search. I guess they do now and frankly he should have been in charge the whole time. The athletic director is now like the general manager of a pro sports franchise and I believe he has to be the man.

It really does appear Auburn athletic director Allen Greene at some point did take the lead on this search and he delivered to Auburn president Jay Gogue, the board of trustees and the Auburn family as a whole an excellent candidate. I honestly did not think this could happen at Auburn but am certainly happy it did. Greene it appears finally led Auburn to THINK OUT OF THE BOX rather than concentrating on who someone had coached for and where he lived or had ties to. I have said it so many times about any search whether it be Auburn or Bama or whoever, just hire a good football coach. You have to start there. I believe Auburn has done that here. I am sure that Gus Malzahn and the Bammers were all laughing there heads off this week but I do not think they are laughing any more...

Bryan Harsin is 76-23 as a head coach leading his Boise State teams to three Mountain West conference titles and bowl games every season. The Broncos have won ten games five times under Harsin. During Harsin's tenure as offensive coordinator Boise State went 61-5 and won two New Year's six major bowl games. He also served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas under Mack Brown in 2011 and 2012. This guy is a proven winner and good football coach. This differs greatly from Auburn's previous hires. Gus Malzahn had only head coached in high school and one year at Arkansas State. Gene Chizik was 5-19 as a head coach at Iowa State. Tommy Tuberville did a good job helping Ole Miss dig out from harsh NCAA sanctions but nothing like this. Terry Bowden came from Samford.

The biggest question about Harsin so far is his lack of recruiting experience in the south. I am not going to argue that, it is a big question. However Harsin's experience is very similar to Urban Meyer when Florida hired him out of Utah. Urban Meyer was looked at like Harsin at that time. It worked out. Also Tennessee was in the same spot Auburn is a couple of years ago searching for a coach. They went with the Jeremy Pruitt and his southern experience. He was considered one of the best recruiters in the country and had worked extensively for $aban at Bama along with a stint at Georgia and helping Florida State win the national championship as defensive coordinator. However his recruiting greatness has not translated to Tennessee. My point is that no ties to the south is not a death knell here.

Auburn also desperately needed an offensive coach. We thought we had it in Gus but he was a one-trick pony that again could never adapt. I think I can state as fact that Harsin is a proven good offensive coach. Boise State has long been known for offensive innovation and he has been there in one position or another for all of it. They have had great running and passing games. I think if Harsin gets the players he can have some very good offenses in the SEC. I also think he can have a great defense as well. Boise has put plenty of players into the NFL on both sides of the ball. Also after reading and listening to a lot of information about Harsin, I hear good things like: serious, focused, will not back down... I like what I hear and cannot wait to watch this guy go to work.

There are no guarantees, I definitely understand that. You have to get the players, you have to get them at every position. The timing and combination of players has to be right to even compete for a title. Auburn has some serious holes in their roster that have to be fixed and Auburn is surrounded by great teams. It is a serious challenge. Harsin could fail... but on the other hand he could also succeed. Did anyone think Boise State would stay a great football program for fifteen years when he started there in 2006? That was certainly a challenge that took a lot of great recruiting and coaching. Harsin obviously wants the increased challenge of competing in the hardest conference. The facts say he is a good coach and has a good chance of succeeding at Auburn.

The next question everyone has after recruiting is what his staff will look like. Many people want a clean sweep of our staff and I am not opposed to that. However I do think many powerful Auburn people want some of the current staff to stay. At this point, I am not opposed to that either. I do think Harsin agreeing to keep some of the current staff maybe one of the things along with his low buyout that made him attractive to Auburn and got this done. He will need the help of some experienced coaches who know the recruiting areas. This might be a concern to some people but after learning about Coach Harsin, I do not think this is a concern. This guy appears to be a strong leader and again an experienced his coach. He is going to run this football program his way. I do not think we have to worry about that.

Personally I am so happy that somehow some way Auburn was able to hire a good football coach. Things looked bleak yesterday. I came home completely convinced that this search was doomed to failure. I have watched so many games in stony silence the last few years. It just has not been fun and yesterday around 5:00pm I thought I was in for years more of that but then my phone buzzed... Bama and the rest of the college football world continue to always count Auburn out  and hey I had counted us out as well. Auburn has a lot of issues and messes up a lot but it is still a special place that has always been about comebacks. I think we just made another one. I think somehow some way Auburn picked the one guy that could unite everyone and bring us back again. Lets get started!!!

WAR BRYAN HARSIN AND WAR DAMN EAGLE. 

GAME 10 REVIEW: FATIGUE

Auburn 24  Mississippi State 10.  The Auburn football team mercifully closed out their 2020 season Saturday night with a win over a really bad Mississippi State team. The game itself was the worst I had seen all season through three quarters but Auburn finally made some plays and finished the Bulldogs off. I still think it is good that the SEC played football and frankly most teams did a great job including Auburn getting a full or close to full season in. Unfortunately the yearning for football as a relief from an awful year only goes so far, it is still not much fun to watch bad football and this game was again really bad. I think most SEC football fans outside of Tuscaloosa are glad to have the season over with. I am definitely glad it is over with after watching Auburn the last three weeks.

I also could care less about watching Bama and the same cast of characters from last year play for their "championship". I mean do that many people outside these schools enjoy watching the same teams play every year? The college football system in my opinion is just broken. The governing body appears to have completely lost control of the two major sports and there is absolutely no real enforcement of any rules outside the façade of  "secondary violations" and occasionally doling out stiff penalties to schools who are not part of the "blue bloods" of football or basketball. Kansas has broken how many rules in basketball now and nothing happens? Bama is going to hit what twenty years of #1 recruiting classes without ever committing a major violation. PLEASE. 

Fatigue has definitely set in. I love Auburn football and basketball but hate the system both play in. Is it just sour grapes because my team is not that good now? Maybe but when I watch a game and am bombarded for four hours with all this play off bull***, I am going to react. When I see a rebuilding Auburn basketball team beat Memphis before the football game (a feat that never would have happened pre-Bruce Pearl) and I know these kids cannot play any postseason ball I get mad. Again Chuck Person committed a felony trying to make money himself off Auburn basketball players leaving early for the NBA. How is that an NCAA violation? How did Auburn profit from that? If he had burglarized one of their houses do we get probation for that? The blue bloods never do!

OK ok back to the game and the current Auburn situation, fatigue has definitely set in here too. I cannot adequately describe how tired I am of watching Gus Malzahn offenses flounder around. I honestly do not think I can take another year of it. I know I have said that before but now more time has passed and I think as I wrote last week that everyone affiliated with Auburn has had enough now. I have completely documented the Gus Malzhan era on this blog. I have written time and again about how bad he coaches the passing offense. Many people have written how every single quarterback under Gus gets WORSE. Nick Marshall got worse, Jarrett Stidham got worse and now Bo Nix has gotten worse. Nix, a rising star last season, finished 15 of 32 for 125 yards against a bad State team he LIT UP last season.

Frankly, I am scared to think about the type of regression we might see next season if Nix becomes the first quarterback to play three straight seasons under Gus Malzahn. Except for a few plays, Nix was just awful last night, awful. I will say a lot of it is because his offensive line is even worse and cannot pass block to save their lives but still he was really bad. It was a real mess but one guy and one play turned it around enough to win the game. The one guy is Tank Bigsby who came back with a vengeance rushing for almost 200 yards on 26 carries. As the offense was falling apart around him, Bigsby would not quit, would not go down and was definitely the MVP of the game for Auburn on offense. Bigsby's balance is unbelievable, he will get hit and grabbed and he does not go down.

However even with Bigsby's heroics the game in my opinion came down to one play. Bo Nix and Seth Williams who for awhile looked to be disconnected and mad at each other again like the South Carolina game rallied and made this play and one more as well. The first one again in my opinion was the difference in Auburn winning or losing the game. The fourth quarter started with Auburn only up 9-3 and the momentum clearly shifting to State. State had just pinned Auburn deep on a punt and it was 3rd and 7 for the Tigers at the Auburn eight yard line. State gets a stop and they get good field position with momentum and could take the lead with one touchdown. Bo Nix who as stated above has been horrible all day drops back... every Auburn fan including me is already shaking their head...

Nix then threw his best pass of the day hitting Williams in stride for a 25 yard game. That play completely turned the momentum. Tank Bigsby tore off a run for 27 yards the next play. The drive would later stall outside the State 30 yard line and Auburn would be faced with 3rd and 14. The cameras also caught State defensive back Shawn Preston Jr. talking some serious trash to Seth Williams the play before... and that was a big mistake. Nix must have saw the commotion and with the game on the line again he threw another beauty that Williams went up and GOT for a touchdown. Williams was up in Preston's face immediately letting him have it. It was the one absolutely classic play from this terrible game. I am glad we got to see Nix to Williams for two more big plays.

It could be the last time as I think Williams declares for the NFL and might not play in a bowl game if there is one. Kudos to this combination that has made some huge plays for Auburn the last two seasons starting with Oregon through the Iron Bowl last season and from Kentucky through this game this season. I was also glad to see the defense absolutely dominate State. Now State's offense does not have a lick of talent but Auburn's defensive guys have hung in all year and they needed that. Despite some of the bad things you have to give kudos to the coaches and players for working hard to stay healthy and complete a winning season of 6-4 in this crazy year. It definitely took a lot of work to do it and it is an accomplishment. These guys have definitely earned some time off.

The question now is where does Auburn go from here? As I wrote last week I think Gus' time is over at Auburn but also as I said last week I think Auburn's weak administration will not do anything this season. I have not seen anything yet that makes me think that has changed. Yes Auburn's coaches and players just completed a great effort to complete the season and get a winning record but big-time college football is a 365-day grind and the all important early signing day is in THREE DAYS. Auburn looks to be way behind at the moment with no significant immediate help in the trenches. Can the coaches at least bring in a half decent recruiting class?  Who on the current roster is leaving?  Will Auburn get any significant transfers? There are many more questions than answers for Auburn.

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.