Former Auburn HC’s defense was record-setting bad against Baylor
By Nick Cole
Published:
Gene Chizik will forever be known as a national championship-winning coach at Auburn, but he will likely never live down how bad things got on The Plains after Cam Newton left.
After a couple of seasons away from the game, Chizik returned to do a pretty fine job as the defensive coordinator for Larry Fedora’s North Carolina squad in 2015, earning himself the honor of being a Broyles Award finalist as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches.
But much like his flame-out in 2012, what happened on Tuesday night is going to take a long time to forget.
This Tweet explains the situation just about as well as any words I could put in its place:
Baylor has broken the record for most rush yards in a bowl game… And it only took them 3 quarters to do it. pic.twitter.com/qU9B9zUeps
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 30, 2015
That’s right. Baylor rushed for 645 yards against Chizik’s defense during a 49-38 win at the Russell Athletic Bowl.
What makes this worse: The Bears were without starting RB Shock Linwood, their top two quarterbacks and the nation’s top receiver (Corey Coleman) due to injury.
Needless to say, Twitter was unkind:
Updated Chizik status (and probably true of @TurnerWalston, too) pic.twitter.com/6BqFtirXAu
— Mark Armstrong (@MarkPArmstrong) December 30, 2015
So much for the 'Gene Chizik should be a head coach' chatter. Couldn't stop Baylor's 3rd stringers. #uncdbacktonormal
— Xpukman (@Xpukman) December 30, 2015
https://twitter.com/Jimmer_III/status/682050169710325760
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
