Gene Chizk deserves Much Credit for the Job He has done
Posted on October 4, 2011 by Jacob Bunn
It is not often that a coach who has a greater than eighty percent winning percentage at a particular school is criticized. But that is exactly what Auburn coach Gene Chizik has received this year, even though his team has only been beaten once.
The truth is that coach Chizik is a winner. To this point in his tenure as the head coach in Auburn, he has lost only six games. His team has now won ten consecutive games that have been decided by a touchdown or less. Chizik and his staff just seem to know how to pull games out of the fire.
Monday, I wrote about a coach in the SEC that has serious issues with winning games. That coach, Steve Spurrier, was on the opposing sideline from Chizik last Saturday. The opposite is true about Chizik. This man defies all expectations and criticisms and has been nothing short of consistently victorious at Auburn.
The confidence level in Auburn has to be through the roof. By roof, I did not mean Ted Roof, who is Auburn’s defensive coordinator. His unit has been criticized from one end of the state of Alabama to the other. Some Auburn fans were even calling for his removal after Auburn’s 30-14 win over Florida Atlantic. I wonder how they feel after the Tigers held arguably the best running back in the nation, Marcus Lattimore, to 66 yards. Does Auburn have issues on defense? Of course, but who doesn’t? Furthermore, the only statistic that matters on defense or offense is the final score, and Roof’s defense has come out on top in that category four times to one this year.
Auburn faces a stiff challenge this week against Arkansas in Fayetteville, but every week is a tough outing in the SEC. And if we have learned anything about the 2011 version of the Auburn Tigers, it is that they will more than likely figure out a way to give themselves a legitimate shot at victory no matter what the circumstances.
I picked Auburn to go 7-5 this season before this year began, and I picked the Tigers to go 9-3 before the 2010 season. You can see how my prediction turned out last year, and I am beginning to wonder if I might have underestimated Auburn’s record yet again. Granted, there are games at LSU, at Arkansas, at Georgia, and at home against Florida and Alabama. But with Auburn right now, nothing seems to be out of the question.
If I would have said in July that going into week six of the season, Auburn would be one of three teams undefeated in SEC play, how many would have believed me? The defending national champions got little respect from the national media before the season. Admittedly, I was a member of the chorus of doubters also, but the last few weeks have caused me to change my tune.
Until Saturday’s game against South Carolina, Gus Malzahn’s offense did a good job of moving the ball at times, but it had issues with maintaining possession of it for lengthy periods. That changed in Columbia. When Auburn had the ball this past weekend, it was more deliberate and methodical with its drives, which gave a largely inept South Carolina offense less time to try to do anything on offense. Auburn held the ball for 35:47 in the winning effort against the Gamecocks. That was the first time all year the Tigers had more time of possession that their opponent. If Auburn can hold the ball in the future, while gaining significant yardage, it will be of tremendous benefit.
The most admirable thing that coach Chizik has done this year is not allowing his collection of players to become discouraged because of the loss to Clemson or the external criticism. Instead, his team fought back and knocked off a top ten program.
I don’t think Auburn can complete the season without incurring another loss, but I do think this team may be a bit better than most gave them credit for being or wanted to believe. How many times did you hear, “they’ll never survive without Cam,” or, “they won’t win a game in the SEC this year,” before the season started?
The month of October is now officially underway in the world of college football and the SEC. I have a bit of advice for SEC teams moving forward: If you have Auburn on your schedule, you had better give them the respect they deserve, or you will likely lose.
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Email Jacob at jacob@bunnsports.com and follow him on Twitter at @JacobBunn
