Gus Malzahn said Saturday his Tigers got “whipped” after then-No. 4 Georgia beat then-No. 7 Auburn 27-6.
The Auburn coach isn’t alone.
SEC analyst - and former Auburn center - Cole Cubelic didn’t like the Malzahn’s game plan, calling it “ordinary.” Paul Finebaum, quite frankly, said we’ve seen this storyline before.
Auburn managed 216 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs and failed to score a touchdown for the first time since 2018 when the Tigers lost 23-9 at Mississippi State.
“I think you have a multitude of problems right now,” Cubelic told Lee Shirvanian and me on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 on Monday. “It starts up front with the offensive line. They aren’t a very experienced group. They aren’t a very physical group. They haven’t played a lot of football together, and they went against a pretty good front.”
The offense struggled in all areas, including third-down conversions (6 of 15) and running the ball (39 yards). Meanwhile, Bo Nix managed just 4.4 yards per pass.
“There are still times where it feels like he’s seeing ghosts,” Cubelic said. "There are times that feel like he’s leaving the pocket when there is no pressure to force him out, (like) he’s uncomfortable in the pocket.
“He doesn’t like to be a guy that likes to survey the defense. You have a comfort level that’s just not there with what they are trying to do offensively.”
Meanwhile, during a Monday appearance on The Roundtable on WJOX-FM, Finebaum said this isn’t anything new.
“We’ve had conversations like this in the past and what do you do?” Finebaum said. “Gus Malzahn decided to try something different by bringing in Chad Morris and so far it hasn’t worked. Against maybe the best defense in the country, there’s no indication from Saturday night that it’s going to work against Alabama, which I think has a similar defense. It’s the same conversation, and guess what, same result. I don’t know where to go. Auburn occasionally beats Georgia, occasionally beats Alabama, this is the program they have. Are they satisfied with it? No, but what are they going to do about it I guess is my final retort.”
Finebaum went on to say, at some point, Malzahn may take the offensive keys from offensive coordinator Chad Morris.
Either way, the game plan on Saturday, Cubelic said, left little to be desired.
“I didn’t like the plan against Georgia,” he explained. “I thought you needed quick distribution to get it in the hands of your playmakers. ... It’s the best defense you may face this year. That plan needed to be creative. You needed to have a lot of window dressing. You needed eye candy to utilize visual deception. Try to get that defense moving one way where you hit them back the other way. I didn’t feel like that took place.”
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.