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Last season, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn led the Tigers to win the SEC West. The Tigers fell to Georgia in the SEC Championship game, one game away from the College Football Playoff, before losing to UCF in the Peach Bowl.
Malzahn said the team has used the Georgia loss as motivation over the summer.
“We have a lot of our players back that experienced that. We got the majority of our coaches, all but one, back, so I really feel like we’re going to have a hungry team trying to take that next step,” Malzahn said.
Bringing a Team Together
He feels that defensively, their strength will be the front seven and big picture-wise, they have a chance to be as good defensively or possibly even better than last season.
Malzahn also talked about the up and coming offensive line.
Passing up the draft, Jarrett Stidham will be back to lead Auburn’s offense.
Malzahn said the rest of the Tigers offensive line is inexperienced this year, but talented. When they come together and find their mojo, they will be a big key for the Tigers offensively and team-wise.
“You know, overall, I really like our team. I like our leaders. There’s nothing like experience in our league. And we experienced some highs, some lows, and, like I said, we were close. And I just really sense urgency and a hunger from that group,” Malzahn said.
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Finishing in the College Football Playoff
Malzahn is looking forward to the upcoming season and is ready to figure out a way to take that next step to a college championship.
“So, when I say that we’re hungry, it’s really because of [conference win]. And being close to winning the SEC Championship, being close to being in the final four, and we got to figure out a way to take that next step.”
After SEC Media days, the conference released it’s predicted order of finish. Defending national champion Alabama was picked to win the SEC West over defending divisional champion Auburn.
