Gus Malzahn on ‘Tiger Talk Ole Miss edition

[aubiefifty 18,222]

Live updates: Gus Malzahn speaks on ‘Tiger Talk’ before Ole Miss

Updated Oct 31, 2019;Posted Oct 31, 2019

5-7 minutes

Auburn lost to LSU, and it also lost its back up quarterback. Despite all that, its attention is turned to Ole Miss, who it hosts at Jordan-Hare on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Gus Malzahn appeared on the weekly radio show, “Tiger Talk,” hosted by Andy Burcham, ahead of the game. It will be broadcast live on these affiliates and streamed online at AuburnTigers.com.

He discussed the upcoming game and the events of the past week. Follow is a summary of what Malzahn said:

GUS MALZAHN

-- They’re very excited to be back at home. You can see it in both the players and coaches.

-- They’ve got to “turn the page” against Ole Miss, a team that had an extra week to prepare because it was on its bye week.

-- The team has improved since it went on its long road stretch. They learned that the team is willing to fight. They’re glad to be home, though, where they’re a better team.

-- When you looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, you know that month was going to be tough.

-- The LSU game was super physical, so they didn’t lift or practice at the beginning of the week to recover. Then, on Tuesday, they had one of their best practices of the year. It shows they are ready to put LSU behind them and are moving forward. Wednesday was even better.

-- A good practice constitutes positive energy, excitement, leadership and focus.

-- Adversity tells you a lot about who you are. They’re keeping their chin up, and they have a chance to “finish this thing.”

-- They’ve been saying for a while that running back D.J. Williams has something special to him. He won SEC Freshman of the week. Running well on the road shows there are good things to come.

-- From Kim: Happy late birthday. Go to Tiger Walk. Our running backs are thriving. Tell me about Cadillac, the coach. Gus said Cadillac has been there and done that, which earns him immediate respect. He’s a relationship guy, down-to-earth, and he has brought them together. “The thing about Cadillac Williams, he’s a great coach, but he’s a great person... guys gravitate to that.”

-- He can give them wisdom, especially players like Williams who is a freshman.

-- Lester: What do you see from Plumlee? Gus said Auburn actually recruited him. He’s one of the best rushing quarterbacks, and it doesn’t surprise him that he’s doing well. He can also throw the ball efficiently. With a week off, Ole Miss will have a lot of wrinkles. Their offensive coordinator is “known for razzle-dazzle.”

-- Rich Rodriguez was one of the first guys in college football to use RPOs and things like that.

-- Auburn needs to stop the run. They have big chunk runs, explosive 40+ runs. That’s what they need to stop.

-- Donny Jones asks what Auburn can expect from Ole Miss’ defensive line: Gus said they’re very experienced. What’s impressed him is how well they stop the run. Their defensive tackle is “one of the best in the league.” They’ve played him many years. The defense starts up front.

-- They’re going into the game expecting to see new things from Ole Miss because it had the bye.

-- Joey Gatewood felt strongly he needs to take the next step and be a starter. They talked and decided it was best for him.

-- This is a big opportunity for Cord Sandberg. Malzahn recruited him a long time ago. He left to play minor league baseball before coming to Auburn. He’s been here a year and a half. He has a unique perspective because he usually helps with the play calling.

-- There’s no doubt about it, they’ll have to play call differently with the difference in ones and twos. Will Appleton will help with play calling.

-- Herb asks about distractions in today’s society: Gus said, in this day and time, kids read social media. But when they’re in meetings, they only worry about what’s going on within the walls. The leadership on the team helps. They’ve kept their eyes down.

-- As a coach, you worry more when things are going good.

-- Freshman Owen Pappoe gets better each week. Physically, he’s “as talented as they come.” He can run and has good instincts and is a good tackler.

-- Jana asks what they can learn from the “pressure-type drives”: Gus said there’s nothing like experience. Being at your best in crunch time is good. They work very hard at end-of-game scenarios. They knew there would be a lot of close games when they looked at the schedule, so they worked on more two-minute drills than they ever have.

-- Boobee Whitlow still isn’t 100 percent but practiced.

-- Getting off to a good start is a big key. Throughout the season, fast starts have helped them perform better.

-- Auburn’s crowd is “the best home crowd anywhere.”

-- Special team keys: They’ve started performing at a high level. They’ve been close on some returns. In the next four games, they’ll have the chance to return one for a touchdown. Arryn Siposs is punting at a very, very high level. The coverage teams have been solid, too. They need to continue doing the things they’ve been doing.

-- Defensive keys: They’ve got receivers. “There’s no doubt they’ve got receivers.” But what stands out is how explosive they are in the run game.

-- Offensive keys: They’ve got to be able to run the football. They’ve got to get in a rhythm.

AL.com Questions of the week:

-- Roger wants to know about Will Hasting’s status: Gus said he dislocated his finger and tweaked his knee, but he’s ready to go and will be ready to go pretty quickly.

-- How do you be more successful in goal-to-goal scenarios: Gus said they spent a lot of time on that in the week. They need to get the ball in the end zone when the opportunity presents itself.

[TigerFanAU 586]

3 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Then, on Tuesday, they had one of their best practices of the year. It shows they are ready to put LSU behind them and are moving forward. Wednesday was even better.

LOL, Gus reverting back to BS coach's speak. The season is over Gus, you screwed up by losing to Florida and not pulling Nix. You screwed up again by losing to LSU. Gus, you have the best defense in the country and you WASTED it. No SECCG and no playoffs despite having an NFL caliber defensive line.

[tigerchris 275]

The old “had a good practice” quote.  I was waiting for it.  

[SuperAUsome09 749]

Time to avoid his presser once again. lol

[doverstutts 1,643]

What is so depressing is that there is no good way to get rid of him. I read a hypothetical conversation between the AD and Coach Malfeasance on 24/7 this morning that really drilled home just how bad Sexton laid it to Cabbagehead and Harbert on the contract extension. Malzahn, thanks to some naive negotiations, has AU by the family jewels and there is no non-painful way to make him turn loose. To make matters worse, it appears that our AD stands a good chance of being the new AD at USC, which would pain me. I guarantee you that had he been in place, the Guster would be at Ark or Kansas or somewhere beside AU if that ridiculous contract had been presented to  Greene. One solution is to just take charge of the staff for him, and tell him who to hire or just hire for him. Tell him be a CEO and any meddling would constitute insubordination (maybe). I'm just grasping straws because I know nothing about contract law, but after reading the hypothetical convo's, it looks bleak for at least 2-4 years. Unless Harbert decides to pony up and fix his screwup, we are stuck with GM

[keesler 5,957]

He says these things every single week because he knows it irritates the listeners.  It's gotten comical really, I just laugh it off now and SMH.

[TigerPAC 1,021]

Cord Sandberg helps with the play calling???  did I read that correctly?

[AUsince72 11,084]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

- Jana asks what they can learn from the “pressure-type drives”: Gus said there’s nothing like experience. Being at your best in crunch time is good. They work very hard at end-of-game scenarios. They knew there would be a lot of close games when they looked at the schedule, so they worked on more two-minute drills than they ever have.

Interesting take, considering....

[auburntiger1987 759]

both cord and will appleton help with play calling? are you for real? Golf clap 

[wareagle881 118]

4 minutes ago, auburntiger1987 said:

both cord and will appleton help with play calling? are you for real? Golf clap 

they signal the called plays in from the sideline, not actually "calling" them per se. Choice of words are important.

[bigbird 60,939]

27 minutes ago, auburntiger1987 said:

Golf clap 

Golf clapping

[Tiger 8,854]

Somebody from here needs to go to one of these Tiger Talks. I know they screen the questions but go in there acting like you're going to lob him a softball question then switch it up when they pass the mic to you and ask him one of the many questions we pull our hair out over on the board.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

How can you be so consistent in pressers and so inconsistent on the field? Oh wait...execution, no doubt about it. Oh wait... some plays are consistent. It's no wonder we are discombobulated...we're taking on the erratic personality, too, make no mistake about it! I guess we've had a lot of good weeks of practice. 😭😭😭😭😭

[CR 2,463]

The screeners must have worked overtime to find those softballs over real questions that must have flooded them this week. Great work!

[CR 2,463]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

Somebody from here needs to go to one of these Tiger Talks. I know they screen the questions but go in there acting like you're going to lob him a softball question then switch it up when they pass the mic to you and ask him one of the many questions we pull our hair out over on the board.

Remember when an assistant coach used to take calls after the games? Nothing but softballs now from the AU network guys.

[doverstutts 1,643]

48 minutes ago, ToraGirl said:

erratic personality

You see what I see, don't you?

[ToraGirl 5,498]

1 hour ago, doverstutts said:

You see what I see, don't you?

I suppose as humans we're all guilty of erratic moments, but the pattern, the pattern, the pattern, the pattern, the pattern....

[Farmer Brown 2,461]

7 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

.

-- This is a big opportunity for Cord Sandberg. Malzahn recruited him a long time ago. He left to play minor league baseball before coming to Auburn. He’s been here a year and a half. He has a unique perspective because he usually helps with the play calling.

Yeah right. He sends in the signals and then thinks what the......

[aubiefifty 18,222]

4 hours ago, bigbird said:

Golf clapping

no pic of golf?

[Eagle-1 3,821]

7 hours ago, doverstutts said:

What is so depressing is that there is no good way to get rid of him. I read a hypothetical conversation between the AD and Coach Malfeasance on 24/7 this morning that really drilled home just how bad Sexton laid it to Cabbagehead and Harbert on the contract extension. Malzahn, thanks to some naive negotiations, has AU by the family jewels and there is no non-painful way to make him turn loose. To make matters worse, it appears that our AD stands a good chance of being the new AD at USC, which would pain me. I guarantee you that had he been in place, the Guster would be at Ark or Kansas or somewhere beside AU if that ridiculous contract had been presented to  Greene. One solution is to just take charge of the staff for him, and tell him who to hire or just hire for him. Tell him be a CEO and any meddling would constitute insubordination (maybe). I'm just grasping straws because I know nothing about contract law, but after reading the hypothetical convo's, it looks bleak for at least 2-4 years. Unless Harbert decides to pony up and fix his screwup, we are stuck with GM

Sadly, I think you're 100% correct. Even if we lose handily to Bama, and GA he comes back next season. Auburn has put themselves in a real pickle with this ridiculous contract. Can't pay the man $ 30 million dollars to sit home and watch Matlock reruns. If possible under the contract Greene needs to hire an offensive coordinator for next season, and tell Gus not to meddle.  I'm not even sure that's possible. It's just a big d$#@ mess.

[Mike4AU 1,755]

Buyout drops to $21.4 mil in 2020. I assume that is effective Jan 1, 2020. 

[doverstutts 1,643]

18 minutes ago, Eagle-1 said:

f possible under the contract Greene needs to hire an offensive coordinator for next season

that is the only way that I can see to manage it where AU football will improve and not spend a bunch of money needlessly

[Eagle-1 3,821]

10 minutes ago, doverstutts said:

that is the only way that I can see to manage it where AU football will improve and not spend a bunch of money needlessly

Sad, but I agree. Auburn can't afford to get rid of Gus until they can't afford not to. When there are enough empty seats in Jordan Hare then we will see a change made. Auburn has done some dumb things in my lifetime, but this contract is the dumbest by far.

[Mike4AU 1,755]

38 minutes ago, Eagle-1 said:

If possible under the contract Greene needs to hire an offensive coordinator for next season, and tell Gus not to meddle.  I'm not even sure that's possible. It's just a big d$#@ mess.

I just quickly perused his contract and, IMO, I think this would be a violation of paragraph 7.  

[aubaseball 2,819]

22 minutes ago, Mike4AU said:

Buyout drops to $21.4 mil in 2020. I assume that is effective Jan 1, 2020. 

So if it only drops 2.6 million, the ones making the changes and paying should go ahead and drop the hammer this year.  2.6 out of 24 million is nothing to guys with the money