AUBURN | It was 3 minutes and 50 seconds and just 295 words, but it encapsulated perfectly what Cadillac Williams has done for Auburn in just three short weeks.
Williams opened his postgame press conference after Saturday’s 41-17 win over Western Kentucky talking about everything this team and its players have gone through this season, and for the seniors the last four or more years.
It’s a whole lot as you well know.
He talked about the sacrifices they’ve made, the toughness they’ve showed to continue to fight through adversity and the love he feels for them and receives from them and the Auburn family.
But it was more than Cadillac’s words. It was the sincerity and emotion behind them. He was speaking from the heart and everybody in that room and everybody that’s seen the video or read the stories didn’t need to be told that.
They just knew it.
You already knew Cadillac as a great running back at Auburn and the NFL. You knew him as one of AU’s better assistant coaches that excelled in recruiting on a staff that had its share of struggles in that area.
But I don’t think many of you knew this Cadillac.
He is Auburn. There’s not a better man that could lead this program over the final for weeks of the season.
A lot of coaches talk about sacrifice and servitude, but for Cadillac those are words to live by.
I could go on and on. Instead I’ll leave you with his words and the video because I couldn’t have said it better myself…
“I am honored to be part of the Auburn family. I mean, 24 seniors that have been through two head coaches, multiple, multiple position coaches, COVID, George Floyd, and what happened the past three weeks, and the way that they have responded—I talked to the team early in the week, and just the way they done responded—they done had every reason to fold, every excuse, and we were all saying, ‘Well, they’ve been through a tough time,’ but man, they want more. I mean, they have gave me so much confidence to do this job, where I go from the first week to being a scared puppy, to watching my guys, each guy come by my office and say, ‘Coach, we believe in you.’ ‘Coach, we’re so happy,’ to give me that confidence, man, along with this staff and the support of the Auburn family, the fans—wow. I mean, the love—former teammates, I mean, former players, just students on campus; it’s unreal. It’s unreal the confidence that they have given me, and I mean, I want it so bad for them, man.
“I just thank this team, coaching staff for taking a chance on a guy, opening their hearts when I challenged them, where we’re all in. I don’t know who—I’m sure you guys are going to get the next coach—I don’t know, really don’t care. Like, my seat don’t dictate my service. I mean, Auburn’s special. Those kids are special. There’s a lot of people that took a chance on me and poured into my life and gave me hope when I was hopeless. So, again, my seat don’t dictate my service. Now, it could impact it, but it don’t dictate how much I serve, regardless. I’m going to make it about these players.”
***
As I sat in the doublewide in the sky (aka the press box) during halftime, I really thought Auburn was in trouble.
WKU scored 14 unanswered points to end the first half and they were going so fast on offense, I turned to another writer and said, ‘This is the pace Gus Malzahn should have run his offense.’
I was worried the pace might affect an Auburn defense that doesn’t have a lot of depth to begin with and had a couple of more players get banged up during the game.
Maybe if I’d been paying closer attention that last two weeks, I’d have known better.
Under Cadillac, halftime adjustment have gone from a disaster to a strength. It’s pretty amazing if you look at the numbers.
The Tigers out-scored WKU 24-0 in the second half. After giving up 290 total yards in the first half, AU’s defense allowed just 106 after the break.
In three games under Cadillac, AU has out-scored its opponents 57-19 in the second half. In the final three games under the previous coach, AU was out-scored 72-41.
It’s stunning how much of a difference Cadillac has made in just three weeks on and off the field, which brings me to this Saturday.
Now, I’m not predicting an Auburn win. Iron Bowl upsets are rare, especially on the road, and AU is a three-touchdown underdog. The last major upset I recall was 2002 when Tre Smith and Robert Johnson teamed up for a huge 17-7 Auburn win at Bryant-Denny in 2002.
The year before, Alabama pulled off a shocking 31-7 win at Jordan-Hare.
But it’s been 20 years and most of AU’s trips to Tuscaloosa over the past decade have ended in blowout losses.
Still, this Auburn team led by Cadillac doesn’t know the meaning of quit and I’m expecting a very competitive game. In fact, I’ll leave it once again to Cadillac to say it better than I ever could.
“We are going to play football, Auburn football. Whether that's Dallas Cowboys, University of Alabama, the great Nick Saban, these kids are not going to blink,” he said.
***
In today’s musical journey, we go back 41 years to the day the biggest single of 1981 hit No. 1 for the first of 10 consecutive weeks. On Nov. 21, 1981, Physical by Olivia Newton-John rose to the top spot on the Billboard 100. The lead single off her 11th studio album of the same name, Physical was written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick for Rod Stewart, who turned it down along with Tina Turner before it was offered to Newton-John. She was originally hesitant about the song because of its adult themes but it helped change her clean-cut image and her transition from pop-country to pop. The song was banned by some radio stations and the accompanying video, which included scantily-clad men and sexual themes, was also controversial but received a lot of airplay on MTV. The guitar solo was done by Steve Lukather, who was a founding member of the band, Toto. Physical, the album, sold 10 million copies and ranks among the best-selling for an Australian solo artist. It had one other hit single, Make a Move on Me.
Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England in 1948. Her mother was born in Germany and came to the UK with her family in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime. Her grandfather on her mother’s side was Nobel Prize-wining physicist Max Born and she is also a descendent of German theologian Martin Luther. Her father was a member of MI5, who worked on the Enigma project in World War II. Newton-John started to sing at age 14 and had several acting roles as a teenager in Australia, where her family emigrated to in 1954. She won a singing contest in 1965 and then moved to the UK where she formed a duet partnership with Pat Carroll. She released her first solo album in 1971 and had her first No. 1 single in 1974 with I Honestly Love You. Her three other No. 1’s on the Billboard 100 where 1975's Have You Never Been Mellow, 1978’s You’re the One That I Want from the movie Grease and 1980’s Magic. Grease, the No. 1 movie of 1978, turned Newton-John into an international star with the help of one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. It included two other Newton-John hits in Hopelessly Devoted to You and Summer Nights. With over 100 million in album sales, Newton-John is one of the best-selling artists of all time. She also won four Grammy Awards. Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 and eventually succumbed to the disease in August of 2022. She had a net worth of approximately $60 million upon her death.
