We look back on the Outback Bowl between Minnesota and Auburn and see how it impacted both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
With the 2019 college footballs season complete, we look back on how the Big Ten did in bowl games.
As we go through all the bowls, in no particular order, we will focus on two main things:
1. How did the bowl performance end the 2019 season? Was it a fitting end or a poor performance, etc.
2. What impact, if any, will it have on the 2020 season.
Now that we’ve gone through allfourBig Tenlosses (not including the CFP), let’s move on to the wins.
2020 Outback Bowl: Minnesota vs Auburn
The matchup
Auburn came in as a favorite, though surprisingly not a heavy one. The Tigers entered this game off the back of an upset win over Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Meanwhile, Minnesota lost two of its final three, against Iowa and Wisconsin. The Wisconsin game, in particular, wasn’t close. Auburn also came closest to beating LSU during the regular season.
Yes, coming in the matchup was one of a supremely talented but slightly underachieving Auburn team. All three Tigers losses came to Top 10 teams (LSU, Georgia, and Florida), and Auburn had wins over Oregon and Alabama. Minnesota, meanwhile, was 10-2 on the back of a lot of wins over bad teams, and losses to two of the three ranked teams it faced. The Golden Gophers also did not look great in early close wins (that should have been losses) over teams like South Dakota State, Fresno State, and Georgia Southern.
What went right
The Minnesota offense was really the story of this game. Yes, the defense did its job to keep Auburn more or less in check. But it was the offense that really won this game for Minnesota. This isn’t even just about Tyler Johnson’s career day, including the eventual game-winning 73-yard touchdown catch. Minnesota controlled the game on the ground, with Mohamed Ibrahim shouldering most of the load. Behind that powerful running game, the Golden Gophers were able to keep their defense rested, keep the game at the pace they wanted, and let Tanner Morgan efficiently throw for almost 300 yards behind it.
What went wrong
Not much, honestly. An early interception is the biggest fair critique of Minnesota. Sure, the Gophers didn’t play a perfect game–no college football team ever does. But Minnesota took its game plan against a more talented team and executed perfectly. It covered its weaknesses and the defense really shut down Auburn. This game went as well as any Gopher could have hoped for.
NASHVILLE – The American Football Coaches Association’s annual convention took place Jan. 12-14 at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Many coaches from across the nation and the world were present. Vols Wire was in attendance and discussed a wide range of topics with various coaches from career achievements, what lies ahead and talking concepts that included the Air Raid mesh with Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin.
The event kicked off with Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck discussing his career and how he has risen from a junior wide receiver at Northern Illinois attending the AFCA Convention and knowing he wanted to coach. He has since climbed the coaching ranks, becoming a first-time head coach at Western Michigan (2013-15). There, his ability to build a program with its culture on display was at the forefront and he has since moved on to rebuild Minnesota’s program in the same capacity.
Current and former University of Tennessee coaches were present at the annual event. UT Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer also made his presence.
The likes of former Tennessee assistant and current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe discussed his time at UT coaching under Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer.
“Coach Majors was the most organized practice guys,” Cutcliffe said.
The Duke head coach mentioned Majors made it a point for assistants to write down any mistakes they made and learn from it.
“The big thing with Phillip (Fulmer) was perseverance,” Cutcliffe continued regarding the pair of former UT head coaches. “He was the most consistent, perseverian person that I have ever been around.”
Cutlciffe also discussed with Vols Wire his openness to changing coaching tactics as the game does with rules, the transfer portal and other items such as offenses changing.
“I have learned more in the last five years than I have in the previous 15,” he said. “We all have to be prepared to do that in our line of work.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Recently departed Tennessee running backs coach David Johnson was also present at the AFCA Convention representing his new school, Florida State. Johnson discussed the amount of hard work he gave to Tennessee over the last two years with Vols Wire, simply saying that he worked hard during his time on Rocky Top.
Other coaches present at the Convention discussed UT’s coaching staff vacancy with Vols Wire. The common theme was that Jeremy Pruitt will take his time to fill the opening Johnson has left behind, much like he did when hiring offensive coordinator Jim Chaney last offseason. Johnson left UT on Jan. 4.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones also took part in the 2020 AFCA Convention on its second day. Jones, who finished his second season as an analyst at Alabama in 2019, mentioned to Vols Wire that he eventually plans on getting back into a head coaching position again and is enjoying his time under Nick Saban.
One coach told Vols Wire that Jones will enhance what went well during his Tennessee tenure and will fix what could have been better when he becomes a head coach again.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Former Tennessee defensive graduate assistant Jon Shalala arrived at UT during the summer of 2016 under Jones and defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. Shoop went to Mississippi State in the same capacity for the 2018-19 seasons.
Shalala remained at Tennessee throughout Pruitt’s first season as head coach in 2018. He then followed Shoop to Mississippi State and served as an assistant to inside linebackers throughout the 2019 season.
Mississippi State fired head coach Joe Moorhead following the Bulldogs’ bowl game and have since hired Mike Leach for his replacement. Shalala has experience handling transition when Tennessee went from Jones to Pruitt following the 2017 season. He remains currently within Mississippi State’s program under Leach and told Vols Wire that everything has been good so far during the transition.
Shalala filled in for linebackers coach Chris Marve during the Music City Bowl against Louisville. Marve left Mississippi State to join Mike Norvell’s Florida State coaching staff.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
University of Tennessee at Martin running backs coach Sean Fisher was selected to the AFCA 2020 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute. Fisher previously discussed his coaching career on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” with newly hired USA Academy head coach Rush Propst. The interview can be listened to below.
NASHVILLE — The 2020 AFCA Convention kicked off in Nashville, Tenn. Sunday.
The American Football Coaches Association’s annual convention is taking place Jan. 12-14 at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
On the first day of the convention, the likes of former Tennessee assistant and current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and former UT running backs and wide receivers coach David Johnson were present.
The kickoff speaker for the three-day event was Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck. Fleck discussed his head coaching career that centers around building and maintaining a culture within his program — similar to what Jeremy Pruitt is establishing at the University of Tennessee.
The Wisconsin Badgers just watched the landscape shift in the Big Ten. How that landscape will change is still an open question, but when a high-profile offensive coordinator changes schools within the same conference, it is a big story. When that coordinator changes divisions in the conference, it is a big story.
The news broke Thursday morning: Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca agreed to become the new offensive coordinator for James Franklin at Penn State, after Ricky Rahne left Happy Valley to become the new head coach at Old Dominion.
The Wisconsin defense and coordinator Jim Leonhard shut down Ciarrocca’s attack in a 38-17 win over the Gophers on Nov. 30. Nevertheless, Ciarrocca — who had been with P.J. Fleck at both Western Michigan and Minnesota — certainly helped Fleck rise to the top of the coaching profession. Ciarrocca just as clearly enabled Minnesota to substantially improve in 2019. In particular, the Gophers beat Penn State and James Franklin. Now, Franklin has snagged Ciarrocca.
We live in a volatile time in the coaching industry — not just in terms of the constant turnover of jobs every coaching carousel, but in terms of hires defying expectations. So many people (myself included) thought Jim Harbaugh would crush it at Michigan. Nope.
So many people (myself included) thought Tom Herman would do really well at Texas. Nope. So many people (myself included) thought Ed Orgeron would fail at LSU. Nope. So many people (myself included) thought Willie Taggart would do reasonably well at Florida State. Nope, nope, nope. Given this reality, home-run hires on paper don’t necessarily become reality. Caution is warranted in predicting how hires will fare at new stops.
That said, it is hard to deny that Franklin got a good coordinator and upgraded the position from Rahne.
If you watched Minnesota beat Penn State, and if you watched Minnesota thrive until it faced Iowa and Wisconsin late in the 2019 season, you know that the Golden Gophers got a lot of production out of their receivers. Penn State got a lot of production out of its receivers under former offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, who helped Franklin reach the Rose Bowl and win the Fiesta Bowl before moving to Mississippi State. If Ciarrocca merely comes close to matching Moorhead, Penn State will become MORE of a threat to Ohio State in the Big Ten East. Michigan will have a harder time passing PSU.
The good news for Wisconsin in 2020: The Badgers don’t face Penn State in their East crossover games. UW plays Indiana, Michigan, and Maryland in the three East games.
