Auburn football: Gus Malzahn verbally fumbles–and barely recovers

Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn did himself absolutely no favors whatsoever when he said that a 6-4 season would be a “solid year”. The War Eagle looks deeper into this likely Freudian slip.

We know what you meant, Gus. Even though the Auburn football coach attempted to correct course, it is clear by his initial statements that he is thinking about one person and one person only: Gus Malzahn.

Saying a 6-4 season is a “solid year” is an insult to these very players that just went 9-4 last season and ended up in a high profile bowl game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Outback Bowl. Those Tigers beat Alabama and arguably ended their National Championship dreams. They took down Texas A&M at Kyle Field and even represented the south with pride in a neutral site game against the Oregon Ducks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington–where an objectively unsuccessful 21st-century professional football team plays its home games.

Now we are saying that this year’s team is “solid” for beating the weak slate of opponents put in front of them and being mostly beaten down by any ranked team worth a damn? They are “solid” for scraping by Arkansas and Ole Miss and having the unmitigated gall to lose to the South Carolina Gamecocks?

Malzahn fumbled in his initial remark that beating Mississippi State this coming Saturday would constitute a “solid” season. Let’s see how he recovered:

"“I just wanted to make sure that it’s very clear: Our expectation is to win championships here at Auburn. It’s been that way since I’ve been here. We’re not happy with a six-win season,” Malzahn said.“But under the circumstances of being an inexperienced team, having a couple injuries, not having a nonconference schedule – which, in the past, we’ve been very good in nonconference. But make no mistake, our goal is to win championships. “"

Not the best save, but one he at least had the courtesy to make. Auburn football had an objectively disappointing 2020 season and the results of the Tigers’ matchup with the Bulldogs this week and whatever bowl game they end up in afterward should decide Malzahn’s fate.

He didn’t do himself any favors with those comments, however.