Auburn junior defensive end Colby Wooden sprinted into the Tigers’ locker room where a camera lens waited to capture his entrance. He stared down the barrel and raised his pointer finger.
“First one!” he yelled. “For CADDY!”
A few minutes later, Auburn interim coach/program legend Cadillac Williams walked into his postgame news conference holding a game ball that his team had given him.
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“I want to thank these players. I mean, how awesome are they? I challenged them guys to be vulnerable, open your heart, let us in. You got people that care for you, got people that want to see you do good. A lot of times, it just felt like they didn’t feel that way, and at times — like I told my staff when I took this job, and I’m part of it, we have failed these kids,” Williams said. “It’s our job to elevate them, to inspire them, to empower them, to get them going, and we ain’t done a good enough job.”
Auburn never loved Bryan Harsin. It wasn’t his fault. Maybe it would have been different if he had beaten Alabama in the Iron Bowl last year or spent more time in high schools around the state. We’ll never know.
But through two weeks, we do know that Auburn’s long-running love affair with one of the best players in its proud history has been rekindled and intensified now that he has been put in charge.
Texas A&M entered Jordan-Hare Stadium, found the season’s best atmosphere and left with a six-game losing streak as Williams bested his $95 million counterpart on the opposite sideline. The Aggies are, for better or worse, married to Jimbo Fisher. This November feels like a summer fling between Auburn and Williams.
Auburn interim head coach Cadillac Williams has coached the Tigers running backs for three-plus seasons. (John Reed / USA Today)But could the Tigers put a ring on it? It’s worth having the conversation.
Two things are simultaneously true: Williams is in his fourth season as an FBS assistant coach. He coached running backs in the defunct Alliance of American Football before that and in high school at IMG Academy before that.
He would be arguably the most inexperienced coach in the country, dropped into a tank of sharks in the SEC. He has never called plays. But neither did Shane Beamer, and he has put South Carolina in bowl games in each of his first two seasons. And neither did Sam Pittman, who rebuilt Arkansas in two seasons and won more games in Year 2 than three-time Big Ten champion Bret Bielema did in five seasons in Fayetteville.
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Williams would violate my No. 1 rule of coaching hires: If no one else in your division would hire that coach, do not hire that coach. But this is also true: He has taken Auburn from a program mired in some of the worst vibes imaginable for the better part of a year and flipped it on its head in two weeks as the head man in charge.
That has to mean something. It might not be enough to give him the job permanently, but any coach who takes over and doesn’t retain Williams (who, it should be noted, coached Auburn’s best position group the past two years) is playing a dangerous game. Every program needs at least one coach on staff who knows and loves the program like Williams does Auburn.
And no matter how much everyone around him wants to make what’s happening at Auburn all about Williams, he spends most of his time deflecting that to the players, his coaching staff and fans every time there’s a microphone in his face.
Cadillac’s postgame interviews are already must-see TV. Already committed to making my Monday column better after listening to this. pic.twitter.com/i6k1bbawYs
— David Ubben (@davidubben) November 13, 2022
Last week, Williams offered his players a confession: He was scared. He asked them to be vulnerable, and he was stepping out to do what he asked them to do. They told him they had his back, and Saturday, they showed it was more than words.
“I just appreciate this time. It’s special and something nobody can ever take away from us,” Williams said. “That is an opportunity to be in Jordan-Hare.”
The fans are responding to Williams’ leadership. It was him on the big screen before the game, imploring them to “get crazy.” They did. The players are responding to Williams’ leadership.
“They know that I stand on truth, and I’m going to call a spade a spade. A lot of times, they get frustrated with me, but like I told them, ‘I love you guys too much to just see you go through the motions or not give your all each and every day,'” Williams said.
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After falling behind 24-3 to Mississippi State last week, Auburn played as hard as it had all season, and Saturday night, it paid off with a win in front of a home crowd to snap a five-game losing streak. That has to mean something.
Handing Williams the keys permanently would be a massively risky move, but unlike his predecessor, Williams would start his job with the fan base, boosters and locker room behind him 100 percent. That has to mean something.
He would need experienced coordinators, which Auburn could afford since it wouldn’t take a massive guaranteed deal to lock down Williams. He absolutely should not do the job for free, but to hear him talk, he sounds like he would.
He would need help with all the administrative work and all the countless side gigs that are part of running a program, which in 2022 is a lot more like running a Fortune 500 company than coaching a football team. Hiring an older associate head coach who has run a Power 5 program before can help ease that transition.
But in the current era, being a college football head coach is mostly about dealing with people. It’s convincing them to be a part of your program and putting them in positions to succeed. It’s about impacting people.
Has anyone had more impact on people at Auburn in such a short time than Williams? It’s a risky idea, but I’ve seen and heard worse ideas. Auburn just finished living through one.
And who knows? If Williams brings home a victory from Tuscaloosa in two weeks, it might just force Auburn’s hand.
Let’s take a look at the best and worst from the SEC this week:
Best individual performance: Harold Perkins, LB, LSU
The Tigers’ offense ran into some issues against Arkansas’ defense, but it didn’t matter. Perkins was a freight train all day and finished with a program-record four sacks, two forced fumbles and eight tackles.
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Outside of Ohio State’s J.T. Tuimoloau’s game against Penn State, I haven’t seen a more dominant defensive game from a single player this year. And Perkins’ performance was more decisive in a defensive battle and largely came against one of the fastest quarterbacks in college football: Malik Hornsby. And it came after Perkins was suffering from the flu and vomited before the game. And let’s not forget he’s a true freshman. Good luck blocking him the next two seasons, SEC offensive lines.
“I don’t think there’s enough superlatives to talk about this young man as a true freshman coming into his own,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said.
And consider me a “Harold Perkins doesn’t know who MJ is” truther. Even though Michael Jordan’s flu game came seven years after Perkins was born, he definitely knows who Jordan is. But the initials “MJ” might just not resonate for him like they do for those older than him. Let’s not get carried away.
Best team performance: Alabama
It was a crowded field this week. Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and Vanderbilt all could be considered, but only one team went on the road against a College Football Playoff Top-15 team and won. Alabama rallied from an early deficit, held Ole Miss to seven second-half points and made enough plays to escape with a win, thanks to one final defensive stop. Life in the SEC West is hard, and playing consecutive games on the road against top-15 teams is asking a lot. Alabama did it ugly but managed to get a big win and stay on track for a New Year’s Six bowl berth. And the Crimson Tide shut up anyone who thought this team might go in the tank after being basically eliminated from the Playoff. The Crimson Tide are still invested and playing hard.
Best streak-enders: Vanderbilt
The Commodores were partying Saturday, and it was well-earned after snapping their 26-game losing streak in SEC play. Vanderbilt found a way to do that on the road against a top-25 team, too. And in dramatic fashion.
Time will tell how the Clark Lea era ultimately plays out, but this team improved a lot in the second half of 2021 and is still invested after a difficult 2022. That’s a credit to the coaching staff, and the Commodores were close to snapping this streak against South Carolina and Missouri. I suspect that only made this one more satisfying.
Best play: Mike Wright, Vanderbilt
Wright and receiver Will Sheppard had to snap their losing streak in style. You can’t tell me a moment like this doesn’t enhance the end of the streak in a way that beating a team by 10 does not.
Dores take the lead!#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/j96a9JzOM0
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) November 12, 2022
Honorable mention: Kai Kroeger and Dakereon Joyner, South Carolina.
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The Gamecocks did not play well and only scored once in a 38-6 rout in The Swamp as Florida earned bowl eligibility, but they made the one touchdown count.
Another week, another successful special teams fake for the Gamecocks. Kroeger is 5-of-5 passing for three touchdowns in his career.
🚨SOUTH CAROLINA FAKE PUNT TOUCHDOWN🚨 pic.twitter.com/nBamFkfVi0
— 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 @𝗙𝗧𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱𝟳 (@FTBeard7) November 12, 2022
Worst team performance: Texas A&M
A&M is the first SEC team officially guaranteed a losing season, won’t be bowling and has lost six consecutive games despite having the nation’s fourth-most talented roster, according to the 247Sports Talent Composite rating, and starting the season ranked No. 6. The season quickly has devolved into a nightmare, punctuated by Saturday’s road loss at Auburn, where the Aggies had negative yardage in the third quarter and didn’t score for the game’s first three quarters against a defense that ranks outside the top 100 in scoring defense.
The Aggies are tied to Fisher but if not for the $86 million price tag, they surely would be headed for divorce. What happens next? Beyond much-needed staff changes, the trend lines are beyond concerning in Aggieland. For now, they’re sitting alone in last place in their division behind a team that already fired its coach and outplayed them for 60 minutes Saturday.
It can get better for the Aggies. Acquiring talent is, without question, the hardest thing to do in college football for so many programs. A&M has done that. But helping that talent reach its potential will require major offseason changes.
Runner up: Kentucky.
The alarm bells are sounding in Lexington. Quarterback Will Levis has done nothing to quiet the skeptics of his status as a first-round prospect to begin the season. And it’s clear that Rich Scangarello is not Liam Coen. Kentucky has the talent to be better than it has been this year.
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Levis’ numbers are generally up slightly this year, but his yardage is down, and he has had three consecutive games with fewer than 200 passing yards, including a three-interception nightmare at Tennessee. He threw for 109 yards and a pick Saturday against the No. 130 pass defense in America, a defense that hadn’t held anyone below 200 yards this season and gave up multiple touchdown passes to every opponent but Hawaii and Missouri.
“I don’t understand how I can have less than 200 yards passing in three straight games. It’s frustrating. I know I can throw the ball,” Levis said. “It’s not just me, but I need to get better. Everyone else needs to get better.”
There’s no explanation for that. Levis is running for his life behind a struggling offensive line, but someone with his talent level should be able to turn that into better production. And yet, he hasn’t, despite being able to do that for most of 2021. It’s baffling.
Hooker’s story is amazing, and his play is even better. No one thought he would be where he is now, but he has earned it, and his career reboot on Rocky Top has been one of the best stories in the sport.
On Saturday, he capped it by doing his best Peyton Manning impression and climbing the ladder to lead the Pride of the Southland band in a postgame celebratory edition of “Rocky Top,” after the Vols beat Missouri 66-24 in Hooker’s final game at Neyland Stadium.
Hendon Hooker leads the band after playing his final game at Neyland Stadium pic.twitter.com/nZ7r6gArzt
— Zack Rickens (@ZackRickensTV) November 12, 2022
He only has been at Tennessee for two seasons, but he’ll leave as a legend whether he captures the program’s first Heisman Trophy or not. And after the Pac-12’s nightmare weekend, the Vols’ road to the Playoff cleared up a bit. The odds favor Tennessee to crack the field as long as it wins out.
Honorable mention: LSU.
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This is what it looked like when LSU found out it was headed to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.
That moment. @SEC West Champions! #LSU pic.twitter.com/wHDdrwza1s
— Chris Blair 🐅🎙 (@LSUTigersVoice) November 13, 2022
Best play design: Tennessee
Missouri had cut Tennessee’s lead from 14 to four, but the Vols hid star receiver Jalin Hyatt behind guard Jerome Carvin in the backfield. He slipped out, unnoticed by two Missouri linebackers, and after the Vols cleared out the left side of the field, he had a free escort to the end zone for an alarmingly easy 68-yard touchdown. That ignited Tennessee’s 38-0 run during the game’s final two quarters. Hyatt credited analyst Mitch Militello as the brainchild for the play.
HYATT HOUSE CALL pic.twitter.com/zr8468VjxK
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 12, 2022
“It’s been in my back pocket for a while,” Vols head coach Josh Heupel said. “It’s been run different places. We brought it out this week, just felt like we’d have an opportunity to sneak him out.”
It couldn’t have worked any better.
Worst internet trend: Cold shaming LSU
The Tigers showed up to frosty Fayetteville with three options for players to warm up with a beverage on the sideline: Coffee, hot chocolate and broth.
Nevermind that coffee, a diuretic, seems like a bad idea to have on the sideline. But LSU’s campus is in a warm climate. Players wanting to stay warm is not a sign of toughness or virtue. Any suggestion otherwise is born out of silliness.
Being cold does not make you tougher. This is a lie perpetuated by the Big Ten. Also, LSU won the game.
Northwestern’s players went to Minnesota on Saturday and revved themselves up by going shirtless for pregame warmups in 22-degree weather. The Wildcats were three-point underdogs. They lost 31-3.
It sounds like they could have used some sideline broth.
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Quote of the week: Will Levis, Kentucky
“Hopefully we come out with our piss hot next week and have some motivation because we’re playing against a good team. It’s a shame we can’t do that when we’re playing a team like Vanderbilt.”
Best choice of words: Mike Leach, Mississippi State
Leach clearly was displeased with the officiating during his halftime walk-and-talk with ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath during the Bulldogs’ loss to Georgia.
But he toed the line and (probably) avoided a fine. Well played.
Mike Leach is a national treasure 😂 pic.twitter.com/SKm5LaSDZC
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 13, 2022
(Top photo: Michael Chang / Getty Images)
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