Guilbeau's SEC Road Trip: Cowherd's "Wizard" may have lost his playbook at halftime at LSU
Glenn Guilbeau
BATON ROUGE — Remember when Colin Cowherd said that Gus Malzahn was going to win back-to-back national titles?
Yep, it was on Dec. 18, 2013, on the Paul Finebaum Radio Show.
"They'll beat Florida State (in the BCS national championship game that was coming up on Jan. 6). And they're going to win back-to-back national titles," Cowherd said.
This was a few weeks after Malzahn's and Auburn's watershed, 34-28 win over Alabama on the flukiest of all plays in football based on how few times it has happened — a missed field goal return for a touchdown — as time ran out. Auburn finished the regular season at 11-1 and won the Southeastern Conference at 7-1 with its only loss at LSU, 35-21. Auburn then beat Missouri, 59-42, in the SEC Championship Game.
And Cowherd could not contain himself.
"Auburn's offense is the only one I've ever seen that doesn't have a habit," he blurted with glee. "Malzahn is so contrarian; he coaches play to play. He doesn't even coach series to series or half to half. He coaches play to play. He is completely out of the box. He is completely unpredictable."
Cowherd went on to say Malzahn was going to minimize Alabama coach Nick Saban, who at the time had just won three of the previous four national championships. Malzahn, meanwhile, was one year removed from going 9-3 at Arkansas State.
"Malzahn is built to give Nick trouble," Cowherd cried. "I think Gus Malzahn is going to be a real headache for Nick."
Finebaum asked if Alabama fans should be afraid.
"Yeah," Cowherd replied. "I think he'll be an absolute hornet for the next several years for Saban. It's the wizard of offense against the the king of defense. It will be split right down the middle for the next five or six years. I want all you Alabama fans who are driving around, I'm here to tell you that you're going to start to lose to Gus Malzahn. Next year, Auburn's going to be better than Alabama. Auburn is going to go into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama."
No one was as loud or as flat crazy as Cowherd, but he was not alone in his view of Malzahn at the time. There was not a hotter coach in 2013. Auburn had just won the 2010 national title, but had slipped to 8-5 and 3-9 under former coach Gene Chizik when Malzahn took over. And Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2009-11 before things went south.
But, one has to ask now, "What Happened?"
VOICES OF THE SEC looks at Kentucky vs. Mississippi State
Malzahn and Auburn lost that national title to coach Jimbo Fisher and Florida State, 34-31. Then Auburn dipped to 8-5 and 4-4 in 2014 and to 7-6 and 2-6 in 2015 with a short drive to the Birmingham Bowl and to 8-5 and 5-3 last year. Then this year the "Wizard of Offense" lost 14-6 to Clemson, which lost to Syracuse, which lost to Middle Tennessee.
But Malzahn and Auburn rolled into LSU at 5-1 and 3-0 and ranked No. 11 in the nation with a very good offense and a good quarterback in Jarrett Stidham Saturday Auburn took a 20-0 lead in the second quarter and led 23-14 at the half.
"Really, at halftime, we felt good," said Malzahn, whose team put up 290 yards and 13 first downs.
But somehow, "The Wizard" lost his playbook at halftime. He scored no points, managed four first downs and five punts on seven possessions and amassed 64 yards in the second half.
This "play-to-play contrarian" of offensive mastery, this "completely out of the box and unpredictable coach," according to Cowherd, ran on 16 consecutive first downs from the second quarter into the game's late stages.
Hey, LSU showed a lot of guts and togetherness in staying with it at 20-0 and shutting down Auburn, but it did not appear to be getting much resistance. CBS analyst Gary Danielson kept wondering aloud where Malzahn's, or new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey's, short and intermediate passing game was. Had LSU taken a 20-0 lead and lost, LSU fans would be crying for coach Ed Orgeron's head and offensive coordinator Matt Canada's.
Auburn did help some, according to LSU cornerback Donte Jackson.
"We felt like they showed us everything they can do in the first half," Jackson said. "They showed us the three shot plays that they have. They showed us the three running plays they have. They don't do too much in the running game. After halftime, we fixed our sets."
And that was it. And a growing number of Auburn fans, particularly those yelling at Malzahn on the field after the game, have had it. Many for years already. If Auburn (5-2, 3-1 SEC) does not fix its offense, it could be looking at another seven-or-eight win season with a trip to Texas A&M after Arkansas Saturday and home games later against No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama. A&M is better. Auburn could lose those three.
Even Cowherd turned on Malzahn in a tweet on Dec. 7, 2015, which was not long after Alabama beat Auburn, 29-13, and would win a fourth national championship for Saban in Tuscaloosa a month later.
"I think I was wrong on that whole Gus Malzahn is going to be a nightmare for Nick Saban thing," tweeted Cowherd, a hugely talented voice who was fired from ESPN in July of 2015 for some controversial racial remarks and is now at Fox Sports Radio.
Auburn has not beaten Alabama since the craziness in 2013. It has also lost three straight to rival Georgia since a fortunate freakish win in 2013 as well. "The Wizard" has not won more than eight since that magical year. He survived the Fire Bowl against Les Miles last year. He may have to beat Bama or Georgia to remain through this season.
Losing big games has just become too much of a "habit" and too "predictable."
ANOTHER ORGERON BOWL: Now, LSU has the coach who keeps returning to his previous homeland to go with Alabama coach Nick Saban continuing to return to his previous stop in Baton Rouge.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron will coach at Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, as a head coach Saturday night for the first time since Nov. 17, 2007, when his Rebels fell to No. 1 LSU and Coach Les Miles, 41-24, in a CBS game. Kickoff between LSU (5-2, 2-1 SEC) and Ole Miss (3-3, 1-2 SEC) is at 6:15 p.m. on ESPN.
That 2007 win was LSU’s last as the No. 1 team until 2011 as it was No. 2 when it later beat No. 1 Ohio State for the national title. Ole Miss outgained LSU, 466 yards to 396, but the loss dropped Orgeron to 3-8 overall and 0-7 in the SEC and in danger of getting fired with a game left at Mississippi State. He had gone from bad to worse - 3-8 overall, 1-7 in the SEC in his first season in 2005 and 4-8 and 2-6 in 2006.
“We got more yards than they did,” Orgeron said after the game. “Spreading them out was a good idea, but we didn’t get it done. LSU is a good football team.”
He was fired after losing that game at Mississippi State, 17-14. Orgeron returned as LSU’s head coach to the site of his last game as Ole Miss’ head coach at Mississippi State just a month ago, and that game was rehashed again before a 37-7 loss to the Bulldogs. Some people who overreacted hugely thought that game should have got him fired again.
And remember, Orgeron went back to Mississippi State for a game as a coach for the first time since his firing back on Sept. 12, 2015, as an LSU assistant coach when the Tigers won, 21-19. He also went back to Ole Miss for the first time for a game as a coach since his firing later in 2015 when the Tigers fell to the Rebels, 38-17, for their third straight loss by two touchdowns or more, and that almost got Miles fired then.
Orgeron will return triumphantly Saturday going in as he is coming off his greatest win as a head coach - 27-23 over No. 11 Auburn after trailing 20-0 in the second quarter. As USC’s interim head coach in 2013, Orgeron did defeat No. 5 Stanford, 20-17, but that was not after two horrendous losses – Mississippi State and 20-point underdog Troy in recent weeks. It was the largest comeback in LSU history in a home SEC game.
NORTH LOUISIANIANS SWEEP HONORS: Players from north Louisiana took three SEC Players of the Week honors this week. LSU senior wide receiver D.J. Charke of Alexandria Senior High won offensive player of the week as he caught five passes for 150 yards in the Tigers' win over Auburn along with returning a punt 75 yards for a touchdown. All five of his catches were for first downs. Sophomore linebacker Devin White of North Webster High in Springhill near Shreveport won the defensive honor as he had a career high 15 tackles, including two behind the line with a sack and a hurry. He leads the SEC in tackles with 77 and is fifth in the nation with 11 a game.
Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson, who went to Calvary Baptist in Shreveport, shared the offensive player of the week honor with Chark. Patterson, a sophomore who will go against LSU on Saturday night at Ole Miss, completed 22 of 35 passes for 351 yards and four touchdowns in a 57-35 win over Vanderbilt.
AUBURN NEARING LSU SKID AT TIGER STADIUM: Auburn’s ninth straight loss in Tiger Stadium puts it another notch past the halfway point of matching LSU’s 0-for-15 run in Tiger Stadium against Alabama from 1971 through 1998, a span that included 14 losses and one 14-14 tie in 1985. The latter part of that streak was somewhat strange because it coincided with six wins over Alabama in either Birmingham or Tuscaloosa from 1982 through 1997. Auburn’s losing streak at LSU is a bit odd as well because since 2004, Auburn has had two undefeated seasons (2004, 2010) with a national title in ’10, and it played for a national title in 2013 and has won three SEC championships.
ALABAMA FAVORED BY 34: The third Saturday in October - once one of the greatest border rivalries in college football - is expected to not be much of a contest. No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC) is favored by 34 points to beat Tennessee (3-3, 0-3 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa on CBS. It is believed to be the largest point spread in the history of the series, which has been falling in competitiveness like a leaf. Alabama leads 53-38-7 and has not lost since 2007 when Nick Saban became the Tide's coach.
SATURDAY'S GAMES: Idaho (2-4) at Missouri, 11 a.m., SEC Network; Tennessee at No. 1 Alabama, 2:30 p.m., CBS; Kentucky at Mississippi State, 3 p.m., SEC Network; No. 25 LSU at Ole Miss, 6:15 p.m., ESPN; No. 21 Auburn at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network. ... Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas A&M are open.
GUILBEAU POLL: 1. ALABAMA (7-0, 4-0 SEC). Beat Arkansas, 41-9. 2. GEORGIA (7-0, 4-0). Beat Missouri, 53-28. 3. TEXAS A&M (5-2, 3-1). Won 19-17 at Florida. 4. LSU (5-2, 3-1). Beat No. 10 Auburn, 27-23. 5. AUBURN (5-2, 3-1). Lost at LSU, 27-23. 6. FLORIDA (3-3, 3-2). Lost to Texas A&M, 19-17. 7. KENTUCKY (5-1, 2-1). Open. 8. SOUTH CAROLINA (5-2, 3-2). Won 15-9 at Tennessee. 9. MISSISSIPPI STATE (4-2, 1-2). Beat BYU, 35-10. 10. OLE MISS (3-3, 1-2). Beat Vanderbilt, 57-35. 11. TENNESSEE (3-3, 0-3). Lost 15-9 to South Carolina. 12. VANDERBILT (3-4, 0-4). Lost at Ole Miss, 57-35. 13. ARKANSAS (2-4, 0-3). Lost at No. 1 Alabama, 41-9. 14. MISSOURI (1-5, 0-4). Lost 53-28 at No. 4 Georgia.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK I: “He tried to hire me before I went to Tennessee."
— LSU coach Ed Orgeron on his good relationship with former LSU coach Les Miles and confirming again reports that had him turning down LSU for Tennessee back in December of 2008. Miles tried hard to hire Orgeron after the 2008 season, but denied that Orgeron turned the job down. Multiple members of LSU's athletic department also wrongly denied those reports while LSU was in Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who hired Orgeron away from LSU at the time, also confirmed Orgeron turned the job down at SEC Media Days in July of 2009.