What Gus Malzahn said after Auburn’s blowout win over Samford

Auburn got in its pre-Iron Bowl tuneup on Saturday with a 52-0 home win over Samford, advancing to 8-3 on the year.

Tigers coach Gus Malzahn was pleased with what he saw on both sides of the ball. As he noted, a shutout is always impressive no matter the opponent. On offense, AU got to empty the benches and still played turnover-free football.

Here are some of the highlights of what Malzahn told reporters in Auburn in his postgame press conference:

• “Any time you shut an opponent out, that’s really something in college football.”
• “The first half was miserable (weather). Our guys handled that.”
• “I appreciate our fans, I appreciate our band. I think a lot of bands would’ve gone home but ours didn’t.”
• “In the second half, we played a lot of people, and it really didn’t get sloppy.”
• Glad to see no turnovers and get backup QB Cord Sandberg in the game.
• “It was really good to get some other guys some reps. I think that will help us in the future, too.”
• Starter Mike Horton was held out because he’s banged up, but should be fine for Iron Bowl. Kaleb Kim started in his place.
• Jay Jay Wilson also held out due to being banged up. Should be back for Iron Bowl.
• On Jamien Sherwood’s targeting: “Any time you’ve got a guy ejected, it’s tough, especially with the game we’ve got next week.”
• “We’re excited. We’ve got the Iron Bowl at home. That’s as good as it gets.”
• On Anders Carlson’s blocked field goal: “I think it was more of a snap and a hold and it’s raining like crazy.”
• Arryn Siposs was the holder today because Sage Ledbetter has the flu.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.