11/15/22 Auburn Articles

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Gus Malzahn weighs in on state of Auburn, Cadillac Williams

Sam Marsdale

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Gus Malzahn keeps tabs on his former program at Auburn even though he is at UCF, as his former assistant Cadillac Williams led the Tigers to their first win in his interim tenure. With Auburn firing Malzahn’s successor Bryan Harsin in the middle of Year 2, je was going to be asked about things on The Plains at some point. Speaking with Chris Vannini of The Athletic regarding a story around UCF, Malzahn was asked about the current state of things at Auburn, as the Tigers.

“I’ve got a lot of my former players there that I root for on a weekly basis,” Malzahn said. “I love Auburn and I wish them nothing but the best. I hope everything goes well. I’m so proud of Cadillac Willias what he’s done, man. It’s been fun to watch him do his thing.”

Auburn fired Malzahn after a 6-4 regular season in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. In eight seasons as Auburn’s head coach, he went 67-35 overall and 38-27 in SEC play. Malzahn led Auburn to a berth in the 2013 BCS National Championship game, where it fell to Florida State.

The Tigers (4-6) came so close to an upset victory over Mississippi State in Williams’ debut a week ago, but got the job done Saturday night on The Plains.

"There are so many people that have laid hands on these kids,” Williams said after the win. “I truly am thankful for — just believing in a small-town guy who was as scared as a puppy last week. I'm just telling you, I was scared. And I let them know I was sacred. I needed y'all. I've never done this. I'm going to lean on you all. Last but not least, this Auburn brand and this Auburn family, this place is special. We changed the whole trajectory of the way of family, from a player and the undefeated season to going to the draft, from the rookie of the year to the relationships — the whole 2004 team and guys I was with, to see how happy they were is unreal. This place is special. To see the support from the fans, they put a battery in my back and they energize me."

"Early on, I was trying to be like a lot of coaches. I was going to try to be the big boss and cross my arms. Maybe I'd look serious as typical coaches do. But thank God for (our players). They saw how nervous I was. I'm telling you guys, I was scared guys. And they just said, 'Coach, be you.' It's like, 'We've been telling you for the longest, just the same way you approach us and pour into our lives, you're doing it for the whole team.' It's like 120 people now and along with coaches. It's different. To hear them tell me to 'be you,' I got some sleep. That's what I decided to do. I'm going to be vulnerable and transparent with them."

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Auburn concludes its season with its home finale against Western Kentucky and the Iron Bowl at Alabama.

Dean Straka contributed to this report.

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Report: T.J. Finley to sit out remainder of season

Taylor Jones

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Junior quarterback T.J. Finley has made a decision on his immediate future.

According to a report from Jason Caldwell of Auburn Undercover, Finley has elected to sit out the remaining two games of the regular season. Finley’s opt-out leaves Auburn with three scholarship quarterbacks on its depth chart.

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A source has told Caldwell that Finley will sit out the remaining games in an effort to heal a shoulder injury that has given him complications since Auburn’s loss to Penn State on Sept. 17 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. He was diagnosed with a grade 2 sprain to his AC joint, which is believed to have happened during the later stages of the first half of that game.

Since that game, Finley has only appeared in one game, taking just three snaps in Oct. 15th’s game at Ole Miss. He did not attempt a pass in the game but lost seven yards of rushing thanks to a sack.

Finley started three games for Auburn this season, where he completed 33-of-55 passes for 431 yards, throwing four interceptions to just one touchdown. He only appeared in four games this season, so Finley could still take a redshirt option and have three years of eligibility remaining says Caldwell.

Speculation of Finley’s future with the program began swirling last week when a report surfaced that suggested that he was looking to enter the transfer portal. It grew on Monday when Finley’s name was left off of the two-deep depth chart ahead of Auburn’s game with Western Kentucky on Saturday.

With Finley’s news, Auburn is down to Robby Ashford, Holden Geriner, and trey lindsey as scholarship quarterbacks.

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Cadillac on run game: 'We want to be tough, we want to be physical'

Jason Caldwell

3-4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—Since Bryan Harsin was fired on November 1, Auburn has had to revamp things on offense with Will Friend and Ike Hilliard taking over the role of co-coordinator for the Tigers. With an offensive line coach calling plays and involved in the development of the gameplan, the Tigers have put more emphasis on running the football and the results have shown that to be the right move.

In two games with the new offensive staff in charge, Auburn has rushed for 256 yards against Mississippi State and 277 yards against Texas A&M. That’s the first time the Tigers have rushed for more than 200 yards in back-to-back games against SEC teams since 2020 under Gus Malzahn.

With junior Tank Bigsby running for 210 yards on 36 carries the last two weeks and sophomore Jarquez Hunter adding 175 on just 25 carries, it harkens back to the days when Auburn interim coach Cadillac Williams was sharing the load on the Plains with a loading running back room.

“Jarquez, Tank, those guys feed off each other, man,” Williams said. “I know that feeling of being Jarquez or Tank, or Ronnie Brown out there doing good or Brandon Jacobs out there running the rock or Tre Smith. And it's like you're happy for them, but you're like I want some of that action. That is how it's going down. And man, they're picking each other up. And what a really good 1-2 punch. They definitely complement each other.”

Cadillac Williams leads the way for Tank Bigsby down the sideline. (Photo: Jason Caldwell/Auburn247, 247Sports)

In addition to Bigsby and Hunter, Auburn also has a weapon in Robby Ashford, who has 155 yards on the ground the last two weeks on 34 carries.

With the mindset now firmly on running the football, Auburn has gotten back to the physical play that Williams said the Tigers have always been known for.

“I kind of want to get back to Auburn old-school football,” Williams said. “Auburn to me is about work, hard work. Auburn is about toughness, perseverance, We want be tough and we want be physical. So I think one of the greatest things about the game of football is when your opponent knows you are running the ball, but you still impose your will. It takes the fight out of a lot of teams.”

That starts with the play of the offensive line. A group that has been much maligned over the course of the last few years, Williams said he’s seen them take their game to another level recently.

“Once again, as running backs, we get all the attention because we're carrying the ball,” Williams said. “But honestly those guys up front, they're moving people, they're fighting, they're together. They're straining out there and getting a hat on a hat.”

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With back-to-back games where weather played a part in the success of the passing game, Auburn has leaned on the running game to get the job done. Zierer said that no matter if it’s rain, snow, sleet, ice, or sunny, that has to be the calling card for the Tigers.

“I think we all know we’re going to run the football no matter what,” he said. “If it was 80 degrees outside with no wind, we still would have done the same thing.”

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Cadillac Williams opens up on his favorite moment from Auburn’s win over Texas A&M

Sydney Hunte

3-4 minutes

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Cadillac Williams couldn’t get a win in his 1st game as Auburn’s interim head coach at Mississippi State on Nov. 5. On Saturday, with the former program great on the sideline at Jordan-Hare Stadium for his 1st home game as a coach, the Tigers squeezed out an emotional 13-10 win over Texas A&M.

Williams, 2nd to only Bo Jackson on Auburn’s career rushing yards list, certainly had his share of memories to choose from as the Tigers snapped a 5-game losing streak. But which one was his favorite?

When asked the question during his Monday press conference, Williams paused to ponder it.

“Wow, that is a loaded, great question,” he said to laughter from media in attendance. “Honestly, my favorite moment was to see…those former players on the sideline…guys that I fought with, trained with…lot of good memories, and it was just replaying in my mind.”

Williams mentioned his former teammates gathering in the locker room as he gave his pregame speech to his players.

“Honestly, [I] think that was the coolest thing, seeing the smile on their face, all them guys being in the locker room when I addressed the team, and then after the game, having all those players in the locker room. Like, it was crazy to see…it just came full-circle,” he said.

Auburn will look to ride the wave of emotions to bowl eligibility, needing to win its final 2 games to claim a spot in the postseason. It next hosts Western Kentucky on Senior Day before traveling to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl against Alabama.

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Sydney (@SHWrites on Twitter) is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.

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2022 Iron Bowl kickoff time, TV announced

Updated: Nov. 14, 2022, 1:50 p.m.|Published: Nov. 14, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

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Auburn and Alabama will reunite for another Iron Bowl on Nov. 26, 2022 in Bryant-Denny Stadium.AP

By

• Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com

The 2022 Iron Bowl will pit Alabama and Auburn in a familiar time slot.

The game on Nov. 26 will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT in Bryant-Denny Stadium. It will air live on CBS for the eighth straight season.

The last Iron Bowl that didn’t land that prime SEC timeslot was the 2014 game when Alabama won 55-44. That aired at ESPN with the game kicking off at 6:45 p.m.

This will be a unique Iron Bowl for another reason. It will be the first time since 2007 neither team has a path to play for a national title after Alabama suffered its second loss of the season Nov. 12 at LSU.

The Crimson Tide (8-2) enter this week’s 11 a.m. CT game with Austin Peay ranked No. 8 in the latest AP poll. A 30-24 win at Ole Miss avoided a third loss in four games for a team that entered the season No. 1 in every preseason ranking.

Auburn is 4-6 heading into a 3 p.m. CT Saturday visit from Western Kentucky. It broke a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 13-10 win over Texas A&M under interim coach Cadillac Williams.

Alabama holds a 48-37-1 advantage in the rivalry history having won the last two games over the Tigers. A 24-22 overtime thriller last November in Auburn kept the Crimson Tide’s national title hopes alive a week before beating then-No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

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and then i found this.................lol

 

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Here's what Cadillac Williams said about Robby Ashford, Auburn football's passing game

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser

Mon, November 14, 2022 at 5:27 PM

AUBURN — Auburn football defeated Texas A&M last week to secure its first win in over a month, and did it with interim head coach Carnell "Cadillac" Williams leading the way.

A win is a win, but the Tigers (4-6, 2-5 SEC) definitely didn't make it look pretty. The offense consistently drove into A&M territory, but couldn't finish drives, or even get into field goal range, ultimately only mustering 13 points. Quarterback Robby Ashford completed just 6-of-13 passes for 60 yards, and only one of those completions was with a wide receiver — the lone Auburn touchdown of the game.

Auburn welcomes Western Kentucky (7-4) to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday (3 p.m. CT, SEC Network) for a chance to redeem itself, and Williams wants the onus to be on him

"It starts with me," Williams said Monday. "Some way, somehow we've got to put those guys in better positions. But we've also got to make those throws whenever they're there and take advantage of the looks, collectively. Myself, coach (Will) Friend, coach (Ike) Hilliard and coach (Mike) Hartline, we have to be better."

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The Tigers ran for over 200 yards and running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter led the way with 121 yards apiece, but the lack of a passing game made Auburn one dimensional and easy for the Aggies to stall. Texas A&M has one of the worst run defenses in the country, so despite the Aggies knowing the ball was going to be run more often than not, the Tigers still asserted themselves.

But against Alabama (8-2, 5-2) in two weeks? That's a different story. Stopping the run isn't exactly a strength for the Crimson Tide this season, but Alabama is better against the run than A&M is.

Auburn Tigers interim head coach Carnell "Cadillac" Williams reacts to a call as Auburn Tigers take on Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Auburn Tigers lead Texas A&M 7-0 at halftime.

"I think the offensive line in the run game did a lot of good things," Williams said. "We've still got to shore up the pass protection. We have to get better in that aspect. ... Robby, that kid is a fighter. He's going to play hard. He's a competitor. (We've) just got to continue to settle him down and harness that energy that he has out there.

"I thought we did a lot of good things on offense, but we've got to get better in the red zone. We kept the ball for 36 minutes, which is huge. (We also had) 270 yards. Whenever when we can get that passing game rolling, we're going to have a chance to be lethal."

Richard Silva is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

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The saga of Cadillac Williams moves from ‘nice story’ to ‘legit contender’

Taylor Jones

2 minutes

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The turnaround that Auburn Football has experienced in two weeks under Cadillac Williams is unfathomable.

The interim head coach has appeared to have united a passionate fanbase, and has all but healed a broken roster full of talented athletes who just want to succeed on the field. Has Williams done enough to be considered a legitimate head coaching candidate? Many fans believe he has, as has one college football expert.

In a recent episode of “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Jox 94.5 in Birmingham, SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum says that Williams’ price has risen drastically in a short span.

“A week ago, I said it was a nice story but I didn’t think it would change anything. I think it has changed things now because you’re getting an opportunity to see what a coach’s impact is on players,” Finebaum said Monday. “I think, first of all, you have to determine, are we overreacting to the moment, because of the comatose level of excitement that Bryan Harsin brought? Yeah, probably. But that doesn’t matter if it’s real. Only the people on that campus can tell if it’s real.”

Williams sold himself well last Saturday, as he led the Tigers to its first win since Sept. 24, a span of six games. He did so in front of a sold-out crowd filled with energetic fans and former teammates. The performance was well-received. So much so, that several current players are calling for Auburn athletic director John Cohen to “remove the tag” from Williams’ title.

Williams has two more opportunities to “interview” for the head coaching job. His next chance will come Saturday when Auburn hosts Western Kentucky at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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