Gus Malzahn will not be scared, intimidated or in awe Saturday when he leads Auburn against Alabama in what is being dubbed as the most significant game in Iron Bowl history.
The media hype is intense. Only once in the history of Alabama football has the Crimson Tide lost a 24-0 lead and then lost the game. That was in 2010 against Auburn, and the Tigers’ offensive coordinator in that game was Malzahn.
When the Tide stymied Cam Newton’s running, Malzahn started calling pass plays. The eventual Heisman Trophy winner passed for two second-half touchdowns, one a 70-yarder on the second play of the second half when the defender went for the interception but arrived there before the ball and slid by Terrell Zachery, who made the catch and helped swing the momentum.
Malzahn never panicked in that game.
He was caught on camera running down the sidelines calling plays for Newton, who was surrounded by controversy after reports surfaced that his father tried to get $180,000 for Newton’s services.
Alabama opened the game by playing “Take the Money and Run” over the stadium’s loud speakers.
The atmosphere was intense, to say the least, but Alabama had two losses that year. In fact, that was the last loss the Tide suffered before AJ McCarron became the starting quarterback. All he has done is lead Alabama to a 36-2 record and two consecutive BCS national championships.
This time it is BCS No. 1 Alabama at No. 4 Auburn with the winner going to the SEC Championship Game. But even if Auburn wins it still might be hard for the Tigers to jump over Florida State or Ohio State (if they remain undefeated) in the BCS rankings and get to the BCS Championship Game.
The SEC’s best chance of making it to its eighth consecutive BCS Championship Game might be Alabama, which is 3-3 in that game. The SEC has won the past seven championships.
Obviously, that doesn’t matter to the Auburn faithful. This is about a rich history and tradition. The Tigers trail in the series 42-34-1, but Tigers Nation has found the Gus Bus to be an easy ride.
Auburn was picked fifth in the SEC West in the preseason and received zero votes to win the SEC championship. Alabama received 225 votes to win the SEC West, while Texas A&M received 11 and LSU seven.
The Tigers opened with three victories, lost 35-21 to LSU in Baton Rouge and have since won seven consecutive games, mostly with a fierce rushing attack led by quarterback Nick Marshall.
In its two previous games before the miracle victory over Georgia on Nov. 16, Auburn had thrown a total of 16 passes. But as time was running down against the Bulldogs, Marshall let fly with a Hail Mary that bounced off Georgia defenders and to Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis, who bobbled the ball, secured it and went in for the touchdown with 25 seconds to play for a 43-38 victory that set up the drama in Auburn on Saturday.
For the record, Malzahn is 19-4 as a head coach, including his 9-3 record last season at Arkansas State.
Saban was 15-7-1 after his first two years as a head coach, but in his past six seasons at Alabama he is 72-7 for a winning percentage of .911, which is almost unheard of.
Still, Malzahn will not be intimidated on his home field in a game that will be nationally televised at 2:30 p.m. by CBS, even though he is matching wits with the single best head coach in all of college football.
The Tide are more than a 10-point favorite in a game where the cheapest ticket to be found is $300.
The bottom line is that Saban will be looking to make a statement about future recruiting in Alabama as well as the hurry-up, no-huddle offense that Malzahn loves.
This is the one time in a season when Saban won’t call off the dogs, and Malzahn knows it.
Sports, Pages 20 on 11/27/2013