“They got a name for the winners in the world….I want a name when I lose…they call Alabama the Crimson Tide….call me Deacon Blues…Deacon Blues.”
Enjoy the GREAT Steely Dan performing Deacon Blues!
Gus Malzahn, Auburn vs. Kentucky – It’s always fascinating to sit down and watch a game with a Football Coach and that is just what several Coaches Hot Seat members did earlier this week with a former high school football coach of ours that won a Helluva lot of football games and knows as much about defense and stopping high-scoring offenses as anyone in America and his take on the recent Auburn – LSU game that we watched together was fascinating indeed. We also watched with our former Football Coach some of the Mississippi State – Auburn game so he could see some of Sean White playing QB for Auburn and how the Tigers defense went about slowing down the Bulldogs offense and after a couple of hours here is what that Football Coach told us on what ails Auburn HC Gus Malzahn and his football team:
Former High School Football Coach: “Hell, a team with ineffective and inexperienced quarterbacks plus an inexperienced defense is going to have a Helluva tough time winning football games and it’s clear based upon the number of mistakes that the Auburn QBs and defensive players are making that it is primarily caused by inexperienced players and coaches that are not quite getting through to their players on what they are supposed to be doing. Malzahn’s offense is just not going to work unless his QBs start making faster decisions and neither QB right now has enough experience or confidence to make those faster and what must be correct decisions. The game is just too fast in the SEC these days and if I was defending the Auburn offense I would go all Bebes Stalllings and work hard to put tremendous pressure on the Auburn QBs and receivers.
Coaches Hot Seat: What about the Auburn defense?
Former High School Football Coach: They played better against Mississippi State but State QB Prescott made lots of mistakes that cost his team lots of potential points and if I am seeing the mistakes that the Auburn defenders are making…sometimes the same mistakes over and over again…then for sure other SEC defensive coaches are seeing them too. Hey, let me ask you guys…what is Auburn’s record from the loss to Mississippi State last season until right now?
Coaches Hot Seat (Looks it up on Internet): Auburn has played 13 games from the Mississippi State game in 2014 until right now and they are 6 – 7 overall and 2 – 6 in SEC play. Why do you ask?
Former High School Football Coach: Call up the Auburn – Mississippi State game from last season and let me show you the places where the Auburn offense began to breakdown against the Bulldogs last year that has continued on into this season.
Damn!
Let’s not forget going into the Mississippi State game last season Gus Malzahn’s record at Auburn stood at….
17 – 2
….and his record in SEC stood at….
9 – 1
….and from the Mississippi State game forward Malzahn record overall is…
6 – 7
…and his record in SEC play is…
2 – 6!
Damn Indeed!
What did our Former High School Football Coach see was breaking-down with the Auburn offense against Mississippi State last year that he says has continued to worsen into this season?
Let’s just say that what he saw is FUNDAMENTAL to running the football and FUNDAMENTAL to playing winning football and the Auburn offense has gone from being very good at this FUNDAMENTAL thing in 2013 and early in the 2014 season to being very average at best at doing this FUNDAMENTAL thing in 2015.
Whatever the problems with the Auburn offense there is one Damn thing we know for sure….
Kentucky is a CANNOT LOSE game for Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers because with these games left after the Wildcats….
At Arkansas
Ole Miss
At Texas A&M
Georgia
Idaho
Alabama
….there is a Helluva good chance that Auburn finished at…
4 – 8
…if they lose to Kentucky and if that doesn’t put the pressure squarely on Gus Malzahn and his football team then NOTHING will and we are going to be fascinated to see how the Tigers respond to all that pressure.
David Shaw, Stanford vs. UCLA – Many moons ago a few Coaches Hot Seat members were sitting on the terrace of a restaurant on the French Rivera overlooking over the Mediterranean Sea while on liberty call from our US Navy Ship with a 1-Star Admiral who we had known for years in a couple of different duty and training stops. On that beautiful night sitting above the Mediterranean after a magnificent dinner, drinks, dessert and then coffee we were talking about what makes a great ship or organization for that matter really tick and as we junior officers threw-out our opinions on the subject one of us finally asked the 1-Star Admiral who had seen a Helluva lot and led thousands of men during his time in the US Navy what he thought on the subject:
1-Star Admiral: “Boys….great ships, companies, organizations, teams, small groups…whatever….can be run and managed in lots of different ways and be very successful BUT there is one thing they all have in common…they all have an edge to them…a whiff of not exactly knowing what is coming next…and an excitement by everyone within the organization to see just what in the Hell is coming next because….you’re not really sure what it will be but for Damn sure you and your shipmates will be able to handle it whatever IT is. Without that edge…without the uncertainty and the excitement that comes with not exactly knowing what is coming next and thus everyone’s requirement that they be on their toes and ready for anything an organization will slowly die as the people within that organization slowly stop caring and then go to sleep.”
Coaches Hot Seat Member: “How then does a leader go about creating that edge within the organization he is leading?”
1-Star Admiral: “It’s rather simple really Boys and it starts with…..
EVERY great LEADER we have ever known or worked for knows how that 1-Star Admiral sentence above finishes because a LEADER knows how to…
“Create and Sustain the Edge that makes organizations GREAT!”
We said a few weeks ago in this blog that the Stanford football team was going to sleep and that unless it woke the Hell up in a Helluva hurry not only would the 2015 season be lost but a pattern would be set with TWO straight AVERAGE seasons which would make clawing one’s way back to elite status in 2016 that much harder and since we wrote that the Stanford football program was going to sleep after the Northwestern game the Cardinal has won FOUR straight games outscoring their opponents by an average of…
22.5 Points
….and as of right now the EDGE is back on The Farm for Stanford Football and the Coaches Hot Seat members gathered in Palo Alto for tonight’s UCLA – Stanford game will be fascinated to see if David Shaw and the Cardinal can keep things rolling.
If Stanford Football has designs on winning a THIRD Pac-12 Championship in FOUR seasons and getting into the College Football Playoff then very simply….
UCLA is a CANNOT LOSE Game
…and we fully expect to see the Cardinal come out and play like men possessed against the UCLA Bruins.
Go Stanford!
Curtis Johnson, Tulane vs. Houston – Coming off a 49 – 10 loss to a rapidly improving Temple football team Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson and his football team needs a WIN in the worst way but beating a Houston team that is scoring points like the Baylor Bears is not going to be an easy thing to do but that doesn’t change the reality that….
Houston is a MUST WIN Game for Curtis Johnson and Tulane!
Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State vs. UNLV – People that have not been to Fresno, California like we here at Coaches Hot Seat have thousands of times while passing through the Central Valley of California during our lives on this Earth certainly don’t understand what a depressed and often depressing place that Fresno can be and why the Fresno State head coaching job is not an easy one because in a sport where the Head Coach can NEVER LET UP it’s not always easy to keep plowing ahead in a place like Fresno.
Still, it’s the job of Fresno State head coach Tim DeRuyter to win football games and now off to a 1 – 5 start to the 2015 season the Bulldogs need some wins and quick and a game against UNLV at home with a first year head coach is just the type of game where DeRuyter can begin to get the ship righted and get his team ready for the rest of the season which includes one Damn tough slate of games:
UNLV
At Air Force
Nevada
At Hawaii
At BYU
Colorado State
Oh Man…YES….UNLV is a CANNOT LOSE game for Tim DeRuyter and Fresno State!