Auburn coach Gus Malzahn admitted that the capacity crowd at Florida “definitely got to us,” in the 24-13 loss on Saturday, the Tigers’ first of the season.

Malzahn said he never considered putting Joey Gatewood in full-time to replace Bo Nix, who struggled along with the entire offense. There was a special package of plays for Gatewood, but the coach elected not to use Gatewood that way.

Auburn is off next week before the Tigers return to action on Oct. 12 at Arkansas.

Here are comments from Malzahn, via Josh Vitale and Justin Ferguson:

  • “It’s good time to have a break. We need a break.”
  • On the struggles with the crowd noise: “It’s disappointing, and it’s really surprising me.”
  • “We didn’t handle it very well today, and that’s surprising.”
  • “I don’t mean to take any credit away from Florida. They’re good. But we didn’t execute… we just didn’t get it done.”
  • On Bo Nix: “He’s growing as he goes, but he’s led us to 5-1. He’s going to bounce back. I’ve got to put him in a better position, too.”
  • On Florida: “Crap, they’re a good team. This is one of the toughest places to play. We just didn’t get it done.”