We were a long shot for the tournament this year, at best. Take the hit now and hopefully hang on to all the players, because I think the next 1-2 years after this one are going to be very special. Just curious, did they remove themselves from the SEC tournament as well?

Where is Auburn?? Oh never mind. This spot has worse editing than al.com. Never thought I would EVER say that

Why not ???? Best place for it. Nice and quiet, hard to get to, plus go to Pucketts everyday. Sankee would pit on 50 pounds from breakfast alone. All foolishness aside, it needs to be OUT of Birmingham. I don’t care what they do to it. Nashville would be better.

Well Bricks are stacked...

Great performance all around. Only thing wrong was this article says Bo had a hand in 3 TD’s. Actually it is 4. 3 passing and 1 rushing.

Amen to that!!

He almost sounds like Gus

I wonder if the rest of the SEC fells like they are closing the gap. If losing on consecutive weeks by a combined score of 82-24 at home is a barometer of closing the gap, then Ga is right there and AU should never fire Gus.

Pruitt is a hard one to figure. Last 2.5 games, the job looks too big for him. Other times, he looks like a savior. One thing I firmly believe:if he has any kind of major success at UT and Saban retires, he will be first applicant in line. He doesn’t want to be anywhere but Bama.

Maybe. But since you are here, 2 questions for you: 1. How do you justify firing an assistant coach mid game last week after your HC costs you $100K for not wearing his mask plus the fact the assistant’s buyout is just south of a million bucks?? 2. Your starting QB had a reasonably decent game all considered. Do you stick with him? Inquiring minds want to know.

No

UT been outscored 82-24 at home in the last 2 weeks. You fired an assistant mid game last week. Your current starting QB has more ups and downs than a roller coaster. And we are delusional???

We can argue stats all day long and prove anyone’s point using any series of figures you like. First, I think Nix needs to play within himself. He doesn’t have to win the game on his own. We got plenty of playmakers to do this. 3 good receivers and at least 3 good backs. Use them. BUT the plays need to called to emphasize this. At this point, the passing game needs to be kept short to intermediate. And, dammit, use the middle of the field . And the bleeping TE. If nothing else , it will keep the safety out of the box and open up the running game. Its a higher percentage pass. Get the backs involved. This ain't rocket science. But Nix got to understand he has players around him to use. At this point, he needs to get his confidence back Lets face it, we are a run first team. Throwing the ball 40-50 times per game rarely wins, regardless of opponent. Thats a desperation tactic. True, we need to balance it out, but what’s the point if we don’t win? Over the last 8 years, we have rarely pass protected well. Ask Jarrett Stidham. Our OL is a run first unit, so coach and call plays that way. And if Morris cant get it fire him now. Otherwise he and Gus get fired together.

How would you like to bet on them every week?

I find myself agreeing with a lot of what you are saying. The buyout breaks down like this: $21.6M after Dec 1, with 50% due in 30 days, balance over 2 years ( I think). Roughly $6M to payout all assistants. Then, $6-7M to bring in new coach and staff. With all universities facing major shortfalls this year plus the continuing uncertainties of Covid, as a practical matter this looks a little too steep TO ME right now. Not that I don’t think Malzahn deserves more time. He has had enough. The problems are well documented. I really just think this decision is going to boil down money. Can we afford this??

Malzahn is just our version of John Caliperi. He ought to win a lot more championships than what he does. LOL

IMO, this isn’t a panic, but the culmination of 5 years of less than satisfactory results. Still, there are $21.6M reasons for not firing him this year. 4-6 or better, he stays. Anything less, all bets are off

Thats one problem that wont go away. Names change, issue says the same. Bama does not have it now, but Finis St John (choose the roman numeral), Paul Bryant, Jr and others have controlled that BOT for years When Saban retires, be curious to see what happens. But that won’t happen until he gets his next NC at the earliest.

Typical Gus baloney. Same kind of comments since he has been there. Let me save you the media some time: take any one press conference since 2015 and change the names...same lines, same coach speak, same excuses, same everything.. Think of the money and time you will save doing that. We have seen this song and dance before.

All this is well known and has been going on since 2015 at least. I am glad to see some outside media types starting to write about what we have seen for quite a while. Gus, being the micro manager he is, is trying to tell Morris to run the ball more. Most likely there has been a patented Malzahn stare down meeting saying either do it or resign. And maybe he should. Then it will be back to the same 10-12 plays we have run since 2013 and the same playbook he has used since 2005 or 2006. It still doesn’t solve the problem of player development, or penalties, or clock management, and all the other things you mentioned. And the problem of $21.6 M will be still be with us. Gus probably stays if he is 4-6 or better. And only due to financial considerations this year. Personally, Harbert should be paying all this. He wanted Gus to stay so let him pay it out.

That means back to Gus. And you, I, and a thousand others have that spiral bound notebook!! But I agree Morris Is terrible and it won’t be without precedent to fire a coordinator midseason. UT did it today.

Good points all but we DO NOT have anyone behind Nix. I don’t really see Grant Loy as a viable option for the long haul. He has less than 50% completion rate and more INT than TD at his last stop against a lot less competition. Cord Sandberg doesn’t seem like he is much of a deep passer, but he’s been there 3 years and has only seen mop up duty. This is another side of player development. No back ups at this position ready to take over when it counts. Why don’t we change the passing routes to shorter more manageable stuff?TE ,backs, and some crossIng routes?? Trash the bubble screen. We got 4 decent RB’s. Use them. Nix needs to get his confidence back. Deep balls to Schwartz and jump balls to Williams don’t get it done. By the way, can ANYBODY tell me where Mark Anthony Richards is?? Or he going the way of Joiner???

“We’ve got to clean this up” appears to be this year’s favorite Gus-ism. Among ither things this includes: Penalties OL Receiver drops Trash talking Getting manhandled at LOS Play calling And probably many more.

Malzahn has, in effect, staked the remainder of his future with AU on Bo Nix. I am not totally sold him on him but, you would think after 8 years at AU Gus would learn how to develop a QB. Right now Malik Willis is looking awfully good at Liberty under Freeze. I know the competition isn’t high level but still... Looks like Gatewood will be Kentucky’s future. No telling how many other players have left and moved because of the Malzahn doghouse. Lot of talent been there and has come and gone since 2013. I am not saying we will contend for the NC every year but we are certainly better than 7.5 wins we average. Not to mention the lack of player development.

Typical Gus presser. We are used to it. He uses more coachspeak to say nothing than anyone known to man

We are lucky we aren’t 0-4 at this point. No OL blocking whatsoever. And for all this talk and emphasis on throwing to the TE; to date they have caught 3 passes for less than 15 combined. Chad Morris as a QB guru?? At Arkansas , they used 7 QB in 19 games. Passing offense was 117th in the nation. This guy is an upgrade??? Gus not only cannot develop players, he is an extremely poor game manager, as well as a micromanager. They guy is the Peter Principle personified. He is in way over his head, as has been evident since 2015. Time to go. How much we spending?? Can we raise it?? And who do we get?? In my mind, Mark Stoops or Barry Odum should get a call. Along with Bill Clark at UAB. Among others. They way we throw money around...

Pay $21,650,000.00 after Dec1. Half is due within 30 days. Other half within 2 years. Then roughly $6M to pay off assistants. Lets pay it. Enough is enough.

Agreed. We aren’t ever going to find out. We have been “mixing and matching “ our OL since the days of Herb Hand. Be 9 games in and we will STILL be looking for a starting 5. It won’t be Bicknell’s fault. He is only following orders. His OL at Ole Miss must have been good. I think they led the SEC in rushing last year. Why isn’t this translating over at AU?? Not but one answer Bo is still running for his life. And will be until he is out of eligibility. Doubtful we change this year. Buyout is still too high.Looks like 5-5 this year.

Our lack of recruiting OL in 2017 and 2018 is now seriously evident. Many harped about it but nothing changed. Signed a lot in last recruiting class but appears to be more numbers and not much quality. Also, we have (and continue to) be very deficient in the strength and conditioning area, especially with our OL. Simply put, we are fat and slow. This never changes either. This ought to be easily evident to our offensive geniuses, but this continues to be missed. As far as play calling and strategy goes, Morris is Gus 2.0. Many Arkansas fans have said “you won’t like him” and they are being proven correct. Ark used 7 different QB in less than 20 games. That isn’t QB development. That’s a train wreck. There passing offense was 117th in the country last year. Ours 89th. This is a step up?? Say what you want about Taj Boyd at Clemson. Morris was co OC at Clemson with (I think) Brad Scott. That was the brains. Dabo was and is a cheerleader who recruits exceptionally and hirs really good people. If Morris was that good, why didn’t Dabo rehire him in some capacity. In short, another POOR Malzahn decision. Only good thing was it reduced Arkansas buyout to Morris. And that was good for Arkansas. We remain on the hook for Gus to the tune of $21M (after 12/1/20)plus at least another $6M for assistants. Doubtful Gus gets axed this year. And those who ask “Who you going to get??”. Should be some good choices. We throw money away with the best of them.