Below is Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn's unedited transcript after the Tigers' 53-0 win over Liberty in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
--- opening statement
OK. I just really want to start out by saying, really appreciate our seniors. Real proud of those guys. We played very well as a team today. All the seniors got to play, and I think that was real important. Really, defensively, to shut those guys out, I thought that was outstanding. And had a score defensively early in the game. Offensively, I thought, you know, pretty balanced. Didn’t have a turnover again. I think that’s really big. And then special teams, the blocked punt was really good early, and I thought Carlson had an outstanding day. We asked him to kick a plus-50-yarder right off the bat, and he drilled it, and did a good job with his kickoffs too. So our guys came out, they took care of business, what, being the last home game, and really I’m real proud of our other players for fighting to make sure that our seniors had a good experience and good memories their last time out there on that field.
--- what was it like to execute on all three phases
Yeah. I thought all three did a solid job tonight. It was good. That team, they played some good football earlier in the year. Not your normal opponent, usually, between Georgia and Alabama. So for us to play like we did, I thought that was important.
--shutout
Yeah. That was something that Coach Steele and the defensive players have been talking about all week, is their goal to have a shutout, the last home game for our seniors. And they did it. It was real impressive.
--seth Williams
That was an outstanding catch. He did a really good job at the top of his route, by, you know, nodding the guy to get some separation and then he just kind of came off his feet. He’s got a chance to be a really good player.
---special teams doing well
Yeah, I mean, our special teams has been pretty solid all year. You know, we’ve had a couple of issues with handling the ball, but besides that, you know, our punter’s been outstanding. Our coverage on kicks has been OK. We had the one last week, but besides that, we’ve done a solid job. So, feel good about our special teams.
--kam martin featured back
I just thought that, give Kam an opportunity to go out there and do his thing. I thought he ran well. He protected the football. He’s been a little banged up the last few weeks, so, just wanted to start him out and give him an opportunity to show what he can do. He did a good job.
--Asa
It was good to get him some carries, too. He just needs a little more experience. There’s nothing better than getting out there and getting game experience.
--leaping chest bump with tucker brown
I didn’t leap very tall, very high, I know that. So, hope nobody got that on camera.
--pass coverage was tight
Yeah it was. Our guys did a really good job. You know, they started out with kind of quick game—lot of slants and all that. After our guys figured that out, they were really breaking. There wasn’t a whole lot of space in between. And I thought we did a good job on the back end.
--darrell’s pick-6
That’s nice on Senior Day—Darrell gets a pick-six. I thought that was real appropriate. That’s a great way to start the game out. I guess in the first quarter, what’d we have—We had a blocked punt, and we had a touchdown on defense. That’s as good as it gets.
--third downs a concern?
Yeah. That’s probably the only negative about tonight, is the third downs. We’ve got to find a way.
--what improvements need to be made before Alabama?
Well, we’re going to have to be better, next Saturday, there’s no doubt, if we want to have a chance to win. We’ll continue to work on that, and just the execution part, trying to get the right guys open.
---getting walk-ons in at the end
I think it’s always important, a game like this. We hadn’t had that many opportunities this year, to let some of those guys play that sacrifice, do a super job during practice. It’s always great for the morale. Like I said, the big thing for me tonight was making sure all of our seniors got a chance to be on the field one last time on their night. It always, feels really good when that happens.
--malik willis
It’s good to get him out there and play, you know. Thought he did some good things. He made an excellent run on that touchdown.
--kam martin play was reviewed?
I don’t know. I was waiting for it to be reviewed, but they didn’t act like they were going to review it, so I called timeout. I thought it had a chance to be a touchdown. But, I’ve been wrong quite a bit this year with what I thought.
--Joey Gatewood
You know, really, being senior night, that’s—we wanted to get Devan in there and give him the opportunity to go out the right way.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
