Forde: Is Gus Malzahn the Luckiest Man Alive?

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Auburn coach and Waffle House devotee Gus Malzahn has been smothered and covered in blessed fortune during his eight-year tenure at the Loveliest Little Village on the Plains. Good breaks? He’s had more than his share. Chalk it up to clean living or whatever, but if Gus had ordinary luck he would be long gone as the coach of the Tigers, and several million dollars poorer. (While still quite rich.)

This season, as his team has wheezed its way to a 3–2 record that could realistically be 1–4, Malzahn seems to have cashed in every chip at the Football Fate Casino. As one questionable officiating call after another has gone Auburn’s way, it only serves as a reminder of all the other times Malzahn has gotten just the right break at just the right time. (We could go back to his days as offensive coordinator in 2010, when Auburn won the national title in no small part because Michael Dyer barely was not down against Oregon, and because Cam Newton barely kept his eligibility. But let’s keep this head coach-specific.)



Assuredly, Auburn fans can produce their own laundry list of unlucky breaks and bad calls in the last eight seasons. But the breaks that have gone their way are numerous, momentous and memorable. The Dash compendium of Gus’s good luck:

Nov. 16, 2013: The Prayer at Jordan-Hare
Nov. 30, 2013: The Kick Six
Sept. 24, 2016: The Les Miles Goodbye Game
Nov. 30, 2019: Tua is out, Mac Jones is in
Pretty much all of 2020: Refs bail out Auburn

It started in the season opener against Kentucky, when a clear Wildcats touchdown in the final seconds of the first half was not signaled on the field and somehow not overturned upon review. A subsequent Kentucky run was stuffed, and quarterback Terry Wilson then threw a pick-six—but that was overturned on an Auburn targeting call. The entire possession was a wash, but Kentucky should have had the touchdown and a halftime lead. The Tigers went on to win 29–13.

Two weeks later, Auburn was about to lose to underdog Arkansas. Hurriedly trying to spike the ball and set up a winning field goal, quarterback Bo Nix fumbled the snap and then spiked it backward, which should have been a fumble. It was not called a fumble, and Anders Carlson nailed the winning kick.

And last Saturday, inside the final six minutes of the game against Mississippi, Auburn got one more break. Ole Miss had just scored to take a 28–27 lead, and its kickoff bounced toward return man Shaun Shivers at the Auburn 9-yard line. Slow-motion replay showed the ball appeared to touch Shivers’s hand, but he let it go into the end zone for what was called a touchback. Ole Miss players hustled down and dove on the ball, to no avail. Four minutes later, Auburn scored the winning touchdown. Later replays showed what happened, which prompted passive-aggressive Ole Miss provocateur Lane Kiffin to retweet someone ripping the refs for blowing the call.

Monday night, the SEC sent out a release acknowledging that the game should have been stopped for a slow-motion replay review. It was not.

Meanwhile, the Gus Bus wobbles on in search of its next moment of divine providence.

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