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Allowing 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, the Auburn Tigers fell at home to the No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies, 31-20, on December 5 to drop to 5-4.
Unable to complete the upset against a Southeastern Conference West Division foe, something head coach Gus Malzahn, an eight-year veteran, said while addressing the media postgame generated significant vitriol among the Tigers’ passionate base of fans.
Auburn HC Gus Malzahn on the goal now: "6-4, that's what it will be. If we had a normal nonconference schedule, that's a solid year… Obviously, we're not happy that we weren't able to beat one of these ranked teams."
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) December 5, 2020
With fans ripping the quote, Malzahn clarified what he meant about 24 hours later, saying the goal for the program is still to compete for championships.
Auburn's Gus Malzahn on Sunday: "I want to make sure it's very clear: Our expectations are to win championships here at Auburn… I'm extremely excited about next year. We have a majority of our guys coming back." pic.twitter.com/AVJkwr2gha
— Auburn Gold Mine (@AUGoldMine) December 6, 2020
Auburn has claimed two national championships, with the last coming in 2010 under Gene Chizik. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator for that team and since becoming the head coach, his Tigers have peaked at 12-2 in 2013, his first season at the helm, falling to the Florida State Seminoles in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game.
The last time the program reached double-digit victories was 2017, when they were defeated by the UCF Knights in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Looking to secure an above .500 finish, Auburn will travel to Starkville to battle the Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-6) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Teddy Rydquist has been contributing to Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition since 2019. In addition to his work here, he has covered the Michigan Wolverines for GBMWolverine and Wolverine Digest. He can be found on Twitter @TeddyRydquist.
