2013-14 Preview (SEC) Auburn
Auburn had a staggering fall last season to a season of zero wins in the SEC and a 3-9 overall record. The performance, or lack thereof, cost coach Gene Chizik his job and it is hard to believe that this program won a national title within the last recruiting cycle.
Auburn Tigers (Team Link)
Coach: Gus Malzahn
2012 Record: 3-9
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +20000
With an eye to getting closer to that bit of history they have brought back one of the architects of that success, former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, as the new head coach. He is considered an offensive wizard but even he might have trouble getting things back on track quickly.
Last year Malzahn guided Arkansas State to a 9-3 record, this year ASU will play the Tigers in the second week of the season. There are a couple of gimmes on the schedule but this isn’t one of them so the Auburn faithful are likely to have to wait until year two to see significant improvement in terms of wins and losses.
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Everywhere Malzahn has been they have improved and he should be able to get Auburn back to being competitive in the tough SEC West.
In the spring it was thought that Kiehl Frazier would be the starting quarterback now he is going to be playing defense which leaves the most important position on the field to a relatively untested sophomore named Jonathan Wallace. QB Cam Newton ran Malzahn’s offense to perfection but Wallace isn’t nearly the physical specimen that Newton is.
Last year in limited action he was not all that effective as either a runner or a passer…but he has potential
Not so for running back Tre Mason who ripped off a 1000+ yard season by averaging better than 5 yards per carry. He is likely to be the best option the Tigers have as the offensive line should also be a strength with 4 starters returning.
The offense last year was dead last in yards and second to last in scoring in the SEC so almost anything will be an improvement.
At the very least they should appear to have more purpose than they did a year ago.
The defense wasn’t much better than the offense last year ranking 10th in scoring and 13th in yards allowed in the SEC. The strength was a passing defense that ranked in the top 50 nationally and has 3 of 4 starters returning – it will be tested by a number of great QBs on the schedule.
With 7 returning starters littered throughout the lineup there is a chance this unit improves and they should definitely be helped by having a more productive offense.
They were practically on the field all game last year it seemed.
2013-14 Record Projection: 4-8
Last year the team was 3-9 including a shutout loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl. They hadn’t finished a season with so few victories since 1998, which also sparked the coaching change that brought in Tommy Tuberville. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Malzahn is considered an offense geek and they should improve dramatically on that side of the ball but expecting a significant increase in wins just isn’t likely, mainly because the SEC is super tough and these guys are going to have to get a lot better just to make some of these losses more respectable (they got shutout by Georgia too).
They have two gimmes in Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic but games @ Arkansas and against Washington State could go either way.
I am interested to see Cougars coach Mike Leach match wits with Malzahn as both teams want to work quickly and throw a lot. Its the first game of the season so it could be pretty sloppy and maybe they drop that one because Leach has has an extra year to coach up his recruits.
Of course, Malzahn can become a folk hero overnight if he can cook up a way to beat Alabama to close the season, especially if it spoils a championship opportunity for the Crimson Tide.
Not likely, the odds are you can probably ignore these Tigers before Halloween.
2013 Tigers Schedule:
AUG 31 – Washington State
SEP 7 – Arkansas State
SEP 14 – Mississippi State
SEP 21 – @LSU
OCT 5 – Ole Miss
OCT 12 – Western Carolina
OCT 19 – @Texas A&M
OCT 26 – Florida Atlantic
NOV 2 – @Arkansas
NOV 9 – @Tennessee
NOV 16 – Georgia
NOV 30 – Alabama
