ShareThisFirst-and-10 on the Ole Miss 20, Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn figured it was time to try out a play he'd been working on since the spring.
Quarterback Cam Newton lined up at his normal spot -- er, wait, Newton lined up wide right.
Kodi Burns lined up at quarterback. He took the snap and fired deep into the end zone. Newton, transformed into a 6-6 pass receiver, pulled in the pass for the touchdown.
"That was just something coach Malzahn saw on tape," said Newton. "He thought we might be able to exploit it."
So exploit it they did. They kept exploiting things the entire night. Malzahn, Newton and the Auburn Tigers exploited the heck out of Ole Miss on Saturday, 51-31.
That's the most points Auburn has ever scored against Ole Miss. The last touchdown came on a 10-yard pass (yep, Malzahn's lads were still throwing) with 4:36 left.
So, coach Malzahn, any special feelings about hanging 51 on the head coach who wouldn't let you run your offense when you worked under him at Arkansas?
"No, we were just thinking about coming in here, coaching against a good team and finding a way to win," said Malzahn.
Which is substantially more polite than saying, "Hahahahahaha."
But, man, it has to be satisfying to be Malzahn right now. He grew up pulling for the Dallas Cowboys, doodling crazy plays in his spare time.
The crazy plays worked brilliantly in high school, where Malzahn broke records and won big at three different stops. But then he got to Arkansas and you know the rest, right?
Houston Nutt wouldn't give Malzahn full control of the offense. So after one season, Malzahn left for Tulsa and a blank chalkboard. After two record-smashing seasons as the offensive coordinator at Tulsa, Malzahn was hired for the same job at Auburn.
There were skeptics, of course. That kind of wide-open, fast-breaking, no-huddle offense couldn't possibly work in the hard-nosed SEC.
A year and a half later, Auburn is the No. 2 team in BCS standings behind an offense that has scored 50 or more points four times this year, racked up 500 or more yards five times this year, and rushed for at least 300 yards in five straight games.
"Coaching is coaching," said Malzahn, which is one of the lessons here. When a school makes a coaching change, fans always clamor for a certain type of coach. They want a defensive coach or any offensive coach, they want someone who has been a head coach before, or at least a coordinator.
That's nonsense. Gifted coaches are gifted coaches. See Mike Tomlin, who was the youngest coach in the NFL when he was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Leadership is leadership. Creativity comes in many forms. Malzahn doesn't have the background or the approach of a typical SEC coach. Five years ago, he was coaching a high school team. He doesn't try to shorten the field and subdue you with field goals. He wants to jam in 80 plays and make your head spin.
Heading into Saturday's game, everyone wondered whether Auburn could stand up to the pressure of being ranked high in the BCS. The better question was whether the Ole Miss defense could stand up to the pressure of Malzahn's unrelenting assault.
It couldn't, not even a little bit. Auburn had 348 yards in the first half. The Ole Miss defense stacked the line to stop Newton from running. So instead, he threw (18 of 24 for 209 yards and two touchdowns) and handed off (Michael Dyer ran for 180 yards) and did his best impression of Jerry Rice (if Rice were 6-6 and could leap).
Auburn didn't punt until the end of the third quarter. The total damage was 572 yards.
"We're not perfect," said Malzahn, which is either reassuring or terrifying.
But it's hard not to pull for the guy, for an approach that any fan would love.
"We're just trying to score points out there," he said.
By the ton.
(Contact Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis at calkins(at)commercialappeal.com. Visit his blog at geoffcalkinsblog.com.)
column
