Re: Plain Trouble on "Da Plains"
He had one half of performance, plus a small amount of mop-up time, and every ink-stained wretch and talking head has him pre-ordained as All SEC and a Heisman candidate? No way that happens without Malzahn feeding them information.
Malzahn played them like Perlman plays a Stradivarius, and those guys don't like that. I expect a backlash. And yes, as others have already posted, it is beginning to have a DuBosian look and feel. After embarrassing his media contacts, Gus should expect no mercy if it does in fact melt down.
I have to believe the media hyped Johnson because Malzahn did so to them.They brought it upon themselves. I do feel sorry for the Johnson kid.. the media overhyped him and Gus didn't tone it down. Tempered expectations would have gone a long way towards helping him, and I believe he melted down under the intense pressure. I've talked a lot about offenses and defenses complimenting one another, and under Malzahn that simply does not happen. I know Muschamp was desperate for work but Auburn wasn't the best option, IMO, because Malzahn doesn't value defense. He's only genuinely concerned with the offense.
Still, I have no idea what the capabilities are of this backup QB, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he comes in and tears it up - IF he is the prototypical Malzahn QB that can run the read-option.
All that said, I'll never begrudge Auburn to self-implode.
He had one half of performance, plus a small amount of mop-up time, and every ink-stained wretch and talking head has him pre-ordained as All SEC and a Heisman candidate? No way that happens without Malzahn feeding them information.
Malzahn played them like Perlman plays a Stradivarius, and those guys don't like that. I expect a backlash. And yes, as others have already posted, it is beginning to have a DuBosian look and feel. After embarrassing his media contacts, Gus should expect no mercy if it does in fact melt down.