Gus Malzahn's message after the Iron Bowl whipping: You got to take it like a man
Auburn had a slow start in the Iron Bowl on Saturday, and couldn’t get much momentum going as Alabama rolled to a 42-13 win.
It was the Tigers’ fifth straight loss in Tuscaloosa. On defense for Auburn, Alabama averaged 8.4 yards per play.
In an unusual end-of-the-year schedule, Auburn still has Texas A&M and Mississippi State left to play.
Here’s some of what Auburn coach Gus Malzahn shared with the media after the game:
- “The first half, we didn’t do anything in all three phases to get any momentum.”
- “We came in here with a mindset that we wanted to win the game, but against a team like that, you have to make plays, and we didn’t do that.”
- “We never really got close enough to apply any pressure on them.”
- Tank Bigsby wasn’t 100%. Brodarious Hamm gave it a go in the first half but didn’t play in the second. D.J. Williams got hurt. “We need to get healed up,” he said. And, he said, play well against Texas A&M and Mississippi State.
- “We didn’t run the football very effective… that was a factor today.”
- Our guys, I told them I’m a very proud of their character” after the Iron Bowl
- “You gotta be big boys. You got to take it like a man. They got after us, they whipped us. … We got to rebound.”
- Gus Malzahn said Auburn thought about going for it on fourth-and-3 when it attempted its first field goal down 14-0, but decided to put points on the board instead.
- “We never really got close enough to apply any pressure on them.”
- “We came in here with a mindset that we wanted to win the game, but against a team like that, you have to make plays, and we didn’t do that.”
H/T Josh Vitale, AU Gold Mine.