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If Auburn is going to beat Wisconsin on New Year’s Day in the Outback Bowl, it will do so on the tails of its veteran stalwarts.
The Tigers have veteran cornerstone pieces on both sides of the ball, and head coach Gus Malzahn and company will need strong outings from each.
Whether it be Nick Marshall, Sammie Coates, Cameron Artis-Payne, Quan Bray or Reese Dismukes on offense — or Jermaine Whitehead, Gabe Wright, Kris Frost or Cassanova McKinzy on defense — Auburn’s upperclassmen need productive games against the Badgers.
Auburn must replace the production lost by junior wideout Duke Williams and will look to its seasoned players to do so.
The reason the Tigers will win on the backs of its veterans — and what the nine players mentioned above represent — is consistency. A lack of consistency plagued Malzahn’s club during this 8-4 season, but Auburn’s veterans have anchored its offense and defense.
Leadership is what took Auburn to the national championship game last season, and though the Tigers struggled down the stretch, leadership is what pr a eye-popping Iron Bowl performance.
Many of Auburn’s veterans, with the exception of Williams who is suspended for the bowl game but will return for his senior season, are departing after Thursday’s Outback Bowl showdown against Wisconsin. Marshall, Artis-Payne, Dismukes, Wright and more want to leave on top.
For many who have played an integral part of this team for two, three, sometimes four seasons, it’s their play and their presence that will carry the Tigers to a ninth win and momentum into 2015.
Malzahn has numerous pieces to replace this offseason. But for one final time on New Year’s Day, he can rely on his veterans.
And he’ll need to in order to win.
After living in Birmingham, Ala., Jordan left the ground zero of SEC Nation to head south to Florida to tell the unique stories of the renowned tradition of SEC football. In his free time, his mission is to find the best locales around.
