BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Four years ago, Gus Malzahn's offense nearly stunned 'Bama. This year? Expect an even deeper arsenal.
The more adventurous Gus Malzahn gets in his first Iron Bowl as Auburn's head coach, the more vanilla Alabama's Nick Saban plans to be. "The number one thing that you want to try to do is get your players lined up so that they are in position to key and react to the plays that they have to defend," Saban told reporters this week. "I think when you try to get too complicated or too cute, that's when you make a lot of mental errors. When you make mental errors against this team, they make you pay."
Only Alabama's fifth-year seniors were around the program in 2009, when Malzahn took an Auburn offense that had no business challenging Alabama's defense and nearly upset the national title-bound Crimson Tide. That's why Saban will be on high alert as top-ranked Alabama prepares to face fourth-ranked Auburn in one of the most meaningful meetings in the history of a rivalry that already means more to the opposing fan bases than any other in college football. (This is not debatable. When a Michigan fan commits first-degree herbicide in Columbus, then we can discuss it.) Though Alabama seems to have the edge in each phase of the game, Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart have good reason to worry.
They worry because they remember The Storm back in 2009. Only Saban didn't call it just any storm. During an interview with the Crimson Tide Radio Network as he left the field for halftime with the score tied at 14, Saban added another word ahead of storm that accurately described how messy things would have gotten had Alabama lost that game. 'Bama entered that Black Friday 11-0 and on pace to clash with fellow unbeaten Florida in the SEC championship the following week. Auburn was 7-4 in coach Gene Chizik's debut season. Had the Tide stumbled instead of clawing back for a 26-21 win, a not-insignificant number of Yellowhammer State phone calls the following Monday would have started with the word "Pawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl" and included the word "fired."
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The more adventurous Gus Malzahn gets in his first Iron Bowl as Auburn's head coach, the more vanilla Alabama's Nick Saban plans to be. "The number one thing that you want to try to do is get your players lined up so that they are in position to key and react to the plays that they have to defend," Saban told reporters this week. "I think when you try to get too complicated or too cute, that's when you make a lot of mental errors. When you make mental errors against this team, they make you pay."
Only Alabama's fifth-year seniors were around the program in 2009, when Malzahn took an Auburn offense that had no business challenging Alabama's defense and nearly upset the national title-bound Crimson Tide. That's why Saban will be on high alert as top-ranked Alabama prepares to face fourth-ranked Auburn in one of the most meaningful meetings in the history of a rivalry that already means more to the opposing fan bases than any other in college football. (This is not debatable. When a Michigan fan commits first-degree herbicide in Columbus, then we can discuss it.) Though Alabama seems to have the edge in each phase of the game, Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart have good reason to worry.
They worry because they remember The Storm back in 2009. Only Saban didn't call it just any storm. During an interview with the Crimson Tide Radio Network as he left the field for halftime with the score tied at 14, Saban added another word ahead of storm that accurately described how messy things would have gotten had Alabama lost that game. 'Bama entered that Black Friday 11-0 and on pace to clash with fellow unbeaten Florida in the SEC championship the following week. Auburn was 7-4 in coach Gene Chizik's debut season. Had the Tide stumbled instead of clawing back for a 26-21 win, a not-insignificant number of Yellowhammer State phone calls the following Monday would have started with the word "Pawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl" and included the word "fired."
Read More Here...
