TAMPA | P.J. Fleck knows the drill and said as much Saturday during an Outback Bowl press conference.
Of Auburn, Fleck said, “they have players everywhere. I mean, every single one of them are players.” Of his own Minnesota team, he said, “we only have five four-star players on our team, but these guys play so hard and they play for each other.”
The Tigers will have the most talented roster, the most future NFL players on their sidelines, when they take on the Golden Gophers, but that doesn’t mean Auburn will be walking away with a second consecutive bowl win.
There are other factors that will be more important in determining the winner including how well each team has prepared over the past three weeks and how motivated they show up at Raymond James Stadium Wednesday.
For Minnesota, that shouldn’t be a problem. They’re a hungry program in the third year under Fleck looking to knock off an SEC powerhouse. For Auburn, that motivation is the biggest question mark going into the matchup.
There’s no way to know with authority but I think there are a couple of good reasons to expect Auburn to show up and play well starting with its senior leadership.
Having Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson, the seniors in the secondary and offensive line all elect to play in this game says a lot about them and their motivations. Those guys have provided great leadership all season and I believe them when they say the most important part of this bowl trip is winning the game. I think they’ll show up hungry and they’ll hold the younger players accountable.
While it’s not the most compelling case, Gus Malzahn made winning 10 games the goal following the loss to Georgia, and his players have certainly taken that to heart. It appears to be important to them and if that inspires them to do a little extra work in the film room or go a little harder on the practice field, then Malzahn’s motivational ploy has worked.
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One of the things I’m most interested in seeing in the bowl game is what influence Chad Morris has already had on the offense. Malzahn has played down Morris’ input into bowl preparations a bit, but I have a sneaky feeling we may see Auburn’s passing game open up a little more against Minnesota.
Morris could certainly have positively impacted Bo Nix’s development over the past few weeks. Sometimes having a new set of eyes can help find a few minor adjustments that help a quarterback like Nix take that next step. Morris’ experience working with a number of other elite quarterbacks, many with different skillsets, has given him a large bank of knowledge to draw from and use in honing Nix’s skills.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 66 years to Jan. 1, 1953 and the untimely death of one of the greatest country music stars of all time. Hank Williams, who is considered country music’s first superstar, had 35 top 10 singles, 11 that ranked No. 1, including five posthumously in a 15-year recording career. He was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Williams was born in Mount Olive, Butler County Ala., in 1923, and moved to Greenville and then Georgiana in 1934. It was in Georgiana where Williams met street performer Rufus Payne, who gave him guitar lessons in exchange for meals or money. Williams moved to Montgomery in 1937 where he started his music career at WSFA radio station hosting a 15-minute show twice a week for $15 a week. He started his own band, the Drifting Cowboys, touring south Alabama for several years before most of his bandmates were drafted into World War II. Williams received a deferment due to a bad back. He was eventually fired from WSFA in 1942 for “habitual drunkenness,” but returned in 1945.
Williams was rejected by the Grand Ole Opry in 1946, but signed with MGM Records in 1947 and released Move It on Over, which became his first big hit. In 1949, Williams finally earned a spot in the Grand Ole Opry. In the summer of 1951, Williams toured with Bob Hope as his career took off, releasing several hits including Cold, Cold Heart and Hey, Good Lookin’. He had several more big hits in 1952 but was dismissed by the Grand Ole Opry for his drinking. Williams passed away at age 29 in the backseat of a car as he was being driven to Ohio for a concert. He suffered a heart attack brought on by a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol. Williams is the father of musicians Hank Williams Jr. and Jett Williams and the grandfather of musicians Hank Williams III and Holly Williams.
Williams wrote Your Cheatin’ Heart about his first wife, Audrey Sheppard, and recorded the song in his final recording session at Castle Records in Nashville. It was released shortly after his death and topped the Country and Western charts for six weeks. It’s ranked No. 213 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
