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No Surprise: Just Another Wasted Game By Gus Malzahn
Through three games this season Gus Malzahn still hasn’t figured out that he can’t win with the offense he’s trying to run.
Far be it from me to say I told you so.
I had fears from the start.
The doubt and warning signs were always there.
Right from the start, at that.
Sadly, Gus Malzahn is simply reaping what he sowed.
Don’t mistake me stating I saw this – the start of the 2016 season and the pathetic offensive game-plans – coming as me being happy about it. In fact, this was supposed to be written on Monday, and it’s Wednesday.
The delay is because I was disgusted — yet again — by what I saw in terms of offensive coaching and play-calling, this time against Texas A&M.
But I wasn’t surprised. Who could possibly be surprised at this point?
I love Sean White as a quarterback and as a player, but Auburn has no chance to win more than a rare game against teams of note with him starting because Malzahn has proven — to anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention — that he can’t win in this league without a dual-threat quarterback.
Make no mistake about it: It really is that simple.
I see writers and broadcasters, locally and nationally, pontificate as if what has happened to Malzahn’s offenses is some complex conversation.
It isn’t.
No, he didn’t lose his magic or mojo in Pasadena, Calif., during the second-half collapse against Florida State.
No, it isn’t mostly a lack of execution by his players.
No, it isn’t a lack of talent on the team he recruited.
No, it isn’t anything of the sort.
The bottom line is Malzahn has never — not for one, single season — had anything more than an average-at-best passing game against SEC competition without a dual-threat quarterback.
Look up the numbers, and you’ll see the same. Just be sure you take out all of the cupcakes the overall numbers were built upon.
It wasn’t a surprise to me that, on just John Franklin III’s second snap behind center against A&M, he ran for Auburn’s biggest offensive gain of the night.
It’s no surprise to me that the running lanes opened up for Kamryn Pettway to blast through.
It’s no surprise that we looked more like a functional offense than we had all night.
And, no, A&M wasn’t “playing prevent” up 22-10 with 10 minutes to go and with Auburn in possession of the football.
I found it comical — but, again, not surprising — that Malzahn announced yesterday that White will remain the starter against LSU in a game that may well decide Malzahn’s fate.
Well, he can’t save his job with a win, but he can almost certainly place his Auburn tenure on life support with a loss.
But it was hardly surprising that Malzahn tabbed White to remain the starter.
This is the same coach that, while he was shattering SEC rushing records with a Nick Marshall-led offense in 2013, decided he wanted to recruit more pro-style-ish quarterbacks.
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Just think about that.
This is the same coach who took weeks to figure out what he had with both Cam Newton and Marshall.
Just think about that.
So, no, it doesn’t surprise me at all that he doesn’t realize that continuing to start White is a futile endeavor.
It doesn’t surprise me that Malzahn doesn’t realize that playing safe and conservative with White is playing — and setting his team up — to lose.
It doesn’t surprise me that Malzahn doesn’t realize that whatever the risk involved with playing Franklin is worth the potential reward of a — gasp! — explosive play.
You can bet your bottom dollar that Les Miles and company were thrilled to hear Franklin will remain a reserve and that they will instead be tasked with stopping Auburn’s vanilla passing attack.
It will probably take a few more games — a few more losses — before Malzahn realizes what has been obvious for some time: Only Franklin can save him now.
The sad fact is . . . by the time Malzahn figures it out, it appears it will be too late.
The cost so far is two losses.
How many more will it take?
Truly, at this point, nothing will surprise me.
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