6. Auburn: The question of which $4 million-per-year coach was going to finish last in the SEC West has seemingly been answered. It’s Gus Malzahn. And given where we were four months ago, with Auburn becoming the trendy pick to win the SEC and make the College Football Playoff, that’s pretty hard to believe. But Auburn lost again Saturday, this time 20-13 to Georgia, and looked awful offensively once again.
The Tigers had 275 total yards and committed three turnovers, dropping to 0-3 in SEC home games and 2-8 in their last 10 league games dating back to last season. So it’s ugly, and it’s probably going to get uglier in a couple weeks given what Alabama is capable of.
And unless Malzahn figures out the quarterback thing — Sean White has shown some promise and there’s a junior college transfer who started at Florida State coming in — the hot seat talk will get cranked up in a big way. There’s still no good answer for why Auburn goes in such boom-and-bust cycles, but there’s no doubt that when the bottom falls out it’s a straight drop with nothing to catch the fall.
