Ultimately, Gus Malzahn at Auburn will be required to beat Alabama. It doesn't matter how many other games he wins, how many players graduate, how many arrest-free conduct reports he can make. What matters in the end at Auburn is beating Alabama. There isn't anything intrinsically wrong with that. The pendulum swings both ways. Ask Bill Curry. Ask Mike Shula.
Sooner or later, and it cannot be indefinitely later, Malzahn has to win that game, which, for the foreseeable future, will mean beating Nick Saban, still in Tuscaloosa after six years of "Saban is leaving for (name any open job) here" rumors. Even if Malzahn cannot accomplish that task immediately, which would be very difficult given Alabama's current roster, he has to be perceived by his fan base as a coach who is fighting the good fight and moving in that direction.
For the moment, the battleground where Malzahn wants to dig in, the issue atop his agenda, is the no-huddle offense. That is where the new AU head coach will stand or fall. That, the perception goes, is the Kryptonite that can neutralize Saban's many powers. So when Malzahn, at SEC Media Days, says that when he first heard talk of a link between hurry-up two-minute-type offenses, he thought it was "a joke," he was clearly hoping to be perceived as standing up to Tuscaloosa.
As all former offensive coordinators know, however, you have to watch out for the dreaded interception. And along comes Bret Bielema.
The new Arkansas coach stands with Saban and Will Muschamp for what he called "normal American football" -- hard-nosed, run-first, clock-control stuff. He took offense (the pun is unavoidable) to Malzahn's comments about his injury concerns being "a joke." Suddenly, it wasn't a Malzahn-Saban thing. It was a Malzahn-Bielema thing. That's an entirely different situation.
At one point, Malzahn also commented that he wanted to get back to "blue-collar Auburn football," but few in the room paid much attention.
Frankly, the debate seems to be as much about gamesmanship as anything else. Teams that play one way want rules that favor that style. Saban certainly wants that, and so does Bielema -- and so does Malzahn. There is nothing wrong with that. Basketball coaches do it every game, imploring officials to call a game tightly, or loosely. In the long run, the rules usually favor offenses, so no-huddle teams may eventually wind up like shrewd blackjack players with a rich deck, taking the advantage away from the house. Kentucky's new coach, Mark Stoops, seemed to think so, and to personify the debate in one person. He's an old defensive coach who doesn't trust the fast offense, but he is also the realist who knows that Kentucky, despite some well-publicized early recruiting, is many years from matching rosters with Alabama, LSU, Florida and Georgia. So the Wildcats will be running the spread, too.
Saban will be asked about the comments today and, as always, will respond according to his mood. Chances are he will be calm and studied, but he may get as fired up as Bielema did.
In any event, he will be looking for an edge -- because that is what good coaches do.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1526116
Sooner or later, and it cannot be indefinitely later, Malzahn has to win that game, which, for the foreseeable future, will mean beating Nick Saban, still in Tuscaloosa after six years of "Saban is leaving for (name any open job) here" rumors. Even if Malzahn cannot accomplish that task immediately, which would be very difficult given Alabama's current roster, he has to be perceived by his fan base as a coach who is fighting the good fight and moving in that direction.
For the moment, the battleground where Malzahn wants to dig in, the issue atop his agenda, is the no-huddle offense. That is where the new AU head coach will stand or fall. That, the perception goes, is the Kryptonite that can neutralize Saban's many powers. So when Malzahn, at SEC Media Days, says that when he first heard talk of a link between hurry-up two-minute-type offenses, he thought it was "a joke," he was clearly hoping to be perceived as standing up to Tuscaloosa.
As all former offensive coordinators know, however, you have to watch out for the dreaded interception. And along comes Bret Bielema.
The new Arkansas coach stands with Saban and Will Muschamp for what he called "normal American football" -- hard-nosed, run-first, clock-control stuff. He took offense (the pun is unavoidable) to Malzahn's comments about his injury concerns being "a joke." Suddenly, it wasn't a Malzahn-Saban thing. It was a Malzahn-Bielema thing. That's an entirely different situation.
At one point, Malzahn also commented that he wanted to get back to "blue-collar Auburn football," but few in the room paid much attention.
Frankly, the debate seems to be as much about gamesmanship as anything else. Teams that play one way want rules that favor that style. Saban certainly wants that, and so does Bielema -- and so does Malzahn. There is nothing wrong with that. Basketball coaches do it every game, imploring officials to call a game tightly, or loosely. In the long run, the rules usually favor offenses, so no-huddle teams may eventually wind up like shrewd blackjack players with a rich deck, taking the advantage away from the house. Kentucky's new coach, Mark Stoops, seemed to think so, and to personify the debate in one person. He's an old defensive coach who doesn't trust the fast offense, but he is also the realist who knows that Kentucky, despite some well-publicized early recruiting, is many years from matching rosters with Alabama, LSU, Florida and Georgia. So the Wildcats will be running the spread, too.
Saban will be asked about the comments today and, as always, will respond according to his mood. Chances are he will be calm and studied, but he may get as fired up as Bielema did.
In any event, he will be looking for an edge -- because that is what good coaches do.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1526116
