On the same night Alabama Crimson Tide fans were making Gene Chizik comparisons as Dabo Swinney’s Clemson offense struggled to score points during the first quarter against Georgia Tech, Chizik’s Auburn football offensive coordinator’s name was evoked during the 2010 National Championship by a national college football pundit.
That would be the name of Gus Malzahn, who was mentioned by 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello — a Birmingham-area reporter who joined AL.com when Malzahn was hired to replace Chizik as the team’s head coach in 2013.
Marcello compared Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter’s play-calls to Malzahn’s late-era Auburn football play-calls. That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement considering the vitriol most had for the unimaginative pandemic-era offense that likely got Malzahn fired.
This Clemson offense reminds me of the late days of the Auburn offense under Gus Malzahn.
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) September 6, 2022
UCF’s offense looks nothing like late-era Auburn football
Gus Malzahn was crucified during his final season with Auburn football and even had some criticisms at the start of last season even as UCF was putting up 30 points during early-season upset losses.
No one was going there during the Knights’ opening week 56-10 win against South Carolina State, though. Malzahn’s QB1 choice, John Rhys Plumlee, has even been drawing Nick Marshall comparisons.
Excited to see how Gus Malzhan utilizes John Rhys Plumlee in that UCF offense. The last QB he had of this same skill set was Nick Marshall and they went to the CFB National Title game in 2014.
— Fredderick Nettles (@FredNetSports) August 21, 2022
John Rhys Plumlee = Nick Marshall
— Chris Miller (@hchrismiller) August 21, 2022
This will be a productive offense
UCF could be an offensive juggernaut this season with the run game looking dominant due to the sheer number of threats (Plumlee, Isaiah Bowser, Johnny Richardson) and the veteran offensive line in front of them.