After Auburn blows out MSU 56-23, Gus Malzahn talks Bo Nix’s big game, October road trips
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Five weeks into the 2019 season, it’s hard to believe Gus Malzahn was dealing with rumors about his future at Auburn at the end of the 2018 campaign. Despite the “noise in the system,” Malzahn arrived at this offseason’s SEC Media Days with a noticeable swagger about him. We’re starting to see why Malzahn was so confident in this year’s team.
Auburn’s two wins over ranked teams away from home (Oregon and Texas A&M) look good on the resume, but it’s Saturday night’s 56-23 thumping of Mississipi State that is truly the most impressive win of the young season for Malzahn’s squad.
After the big win, Malzahn met with the media to discuss improving to 5-0, the ig game by QB Bo Nix and more. Here are some of the highlights of what Malzahn told reporters in Auburn during his postgame press conference:
- “Really excited about the win tonight. Our fans were electric.”
- “Our guys played their best game of the season tonight.”
- Still things to improve on, which is important.
- On Nix’s big night (335 passing yards, 56 rushing yards): The game’s getting slower for him. He was really accurate with his throws, both intermediate and deep balls.
- On AU defense: It’s unique to be able to play so many second and third-stringers in SEC game.
- On going up against MSU running game: “Last year, they out-physicaled us. They whipped us. This year we flipped the script.”
- On Auburn’s upcoming games: “We don’t have another home game until November Wow, how about that one?”
- On standout WR Seth Williams: “He’s a guy you have to know where he’s at.”
- On the offense going forward: “We’ve still got work to do.”
- On home crowd Saturday night: “Our crowd is the best. They know how to do it.”
- Glad to see D.J. Williams get in the game.
- On backup QB Joey Gatewood: We tried to get him some throws tonight. He’s a good quarterback.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
