Kevin Steele coaches first and final game in Citrus Bowl disgrace

After rumors of trying to usurp Gus Malzahn as the head coach came to light, Kevin Steele got lit up in his first–and final–game as HC for Auburn football on Friday.

Good riddance Kevin Steele.

If Auburn football’s performance against the Northwestern Wildcats was a preview of what the Steele era had in store then thank goodness the curtain is being closed on that would-be chapter in Tiger history.

The final score was 35-19, although Auburn kept it close going into the fourth quarter before being outscored 14-6 in the final frame.

Peyton Ramsey was everything Auburn football fans were hoping Bo Nix would be this season, amassing 292 yards through the air and scoring three touchdowns, one of which came from the ground game. He was able to operate with protection that the Auburn offensive line couldn’t offer Nix, and he diced up a Tigers defense that theoretically should have been strengthened by Kevin Steele being the lead man in charge.

Receivers were frequently left unattended to, the offense was unimaginative and the team dropped a game handily to a ranked Power 5 conference opponent.

The Citrus Bowl was truly the 2020 Auburn football experience in a nutshell.

To be fair, expecting much from this game was probably a foolish endeavor. Heading into this game, the Tigers were underhanded without scoring threats Cartavius “Tank” Bigsby and Anthony Schwartz as well as the defensive tackle pair of Daquan Newkirk and Tyrone Truesdell:

Whatever takeaways you have, just remember that this will (thankfully) be Steele’s final game as the head coach of Auburn football:

With that, the Bryan Harsin era begins.

Goodbye, 2020. You were a strange year from a college football standpoint and a truly unfathomable year otherwise.

It’s 2021 now, though, and Fly War Eagle looks forward to returning to normalcy while covering the most passionate college sports town in the country.

It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger.