AUBURN | This is not an 8-4 team. I’ve been convinced of that since early in the season, watching how good this defense is and how every player on the roster gets after week after week after week.
Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson do not play for an 8-4 team. It’s as simple as that, or should be.
The reality is, without a win over No. 5 Alabama Saturday, the Tigers are exactly that — an 8-4 team.
I think we all know the main reason why Auburn can’t get over the hump against quality opponents. It’s quite simple. In losses to Florida, LSU and Georgia, Gus Malzahn’s offense has averaged 15.7 points and 295 yards per game. That’s unacceptable for a coach that’s supposed to be one of the best offensive minds in college football. I mean, he was brought here and is making $7 million per year because of his offense.
Something has to change, and quickly, and Malzahn, for now, is the only one that can bring it about. I don’t know what he can do, but he needs to find a way, any way, to score more than 20 points against Alabama. Frankly it shouldn’t be that difficult considering South Carolina scored 23, Ole Miss 31, Texas A&M 28 and LSU 46.
Malzahn may be playing for his job Saturday, but I couldn't care less. This game is about the players, the ones that worked their tails off in the offseason and that fight every week. It’s about the alumni and fans who support this team and are so desperate for the kind of statement win they haven’t had since 2017.
It’s time for Malzahn to step up and do what he’s paid the big bucks for — give his players a successful plan and put it in their hands. They won’t let Auburn down.
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Hypothetically speaking, let’s just say there’s a recruit that’s currently committed to your school, but has visited a top rival twice in the last few weeks and plans to return to that rival for an official visit next month. Should this young man still be considered a commitment to your school or should you cut him loose now to save the embarrassment of what is inevitably going to happen. Perhaps after getting played by a different high-profile recruit and losing him to another rival at the last moment a year ago, you would have learned a valuable lesson. Perhaps not … hypothetically speaking.
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Today’s musical journey takes us back exactly 43 years to Nov. 25, 1976 and the final performance of The Band, which took place on Thanksgiving Day at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The show also featured Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond and the Staple Singers. It was filmed by Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary titled The Last Waltz.
The Band originally formed in the late 1950’s as the Hawks, a backup band for Ronnie Hawkins and a number of other artists. They served as Bob Dylan’s backup band in 1968 before going on their own as The Band. The group originally consisted of five members including Levon Helm, who played drums and was one of three lead vocalists along with Richard Manuel, who also played piano, and Rick Danko, who also played bass guitar. Robbie Robertson, the lead guitarist and main songwriter, and Garth Hudson, the organist and keyboardist, are the only original members of The Band still alive.
The Band released 10 studio albums, which included several hit songs such as The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek and The Night They Drive Ole Dixie Down. The Weight is listed No. 41 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and featured in a number of hit movies such as Easy Rider, The Big Chill and Girl, Interrupted.
