Former Auburn football HC Gus Malzahn believes UCF can win it all

Former Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn has loftier goals for UCF than what he ever accomplished with the Tigers.

Of course, Malzahn did help engineer the 2010 National Championship as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach overseeing Cam Newton’s all-time season, but no one remembers that for his contributions as much as for that run being Gene Chizik’s one major moment amidst an otherwise mediocre 33-19 stretch on the Plains.

With the Knights, Malzahn wants it all as a head coach. He fell just short in the 2014 National Championship game–the last of the BCS era before the College Football Playoff facelifted the sport–and fell far shorter in every other season during his time with Auburn football.

That said, with a few seasons left in the Group of Five, he has a title on his mind, commenting on the team’s future goals after their 29-17 Gasparilla Bowl victory over in-state rival Florida:

"“Yeah, this is just the beginning,” Malzahn said. “ I really believe it. We got big dreams. We got big goals. We can win the whole thing here and I think tonight was just the first step. Recruiting is going to go really (well) man.”"

In the holiday spirit, Fly War Eagle isn’t going to bring this man down. He was a great man that touched many lives on the Plains and is clearly doing the same in Orlando.

UCF persevered through early struggles and finished the 2021 season strong. Those traits lend to a culture that is capable of the sort of run Malzahn is dreaming about.

Congratulations to the entire UCF family, who deserves this win after the tragic loss of Otis Anderson and the various injury struggles that derailed the season early before it was put back on track.

Now, for Auburn football needs to beat one of their conference cohorts in the Birmingham Bowl so there could be a similarly happy ending in East Central Alabama. Cincinnati ought to be the AAC Championship team that picks up a win here in late December.