Mississippi State returns to action Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
The Bulldogs (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) play host to Auburn (3-5, 1-4 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
For more on the Tigers, The Dispatch spoke with Adam Cole, Auburn beat writer for the Opelika-Auburn News.
Cole is in his first season covering Auburn football.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Bryan Harsin was fired Monday. Just how crazy are things in Auburn right now?
Cole: I’d imagine from the outside it looks nuts, and to an extent, surely, it is. Folks had been anticipating that it was going to drop at some point. It was just a matter of when. I think the biggest surprise is how it all unfolded, in large part with the announcement of John Cohen coming over from Mississippi State as athletic director. I was sitting down yesterday to write the news of Mississippi State acknowledging that Cohen had resigned, and I had a release come into my inbox from Auburn. I was like, ‘Oh OK, well, I’ll write up Auburn’s announcement of Cohen that I just got.’ It was actually the announcement that Harsin was getting fired. It was a busy day Monday, for sure, and a chaotic day. The biggest news of Harsin being out — I don’t know if that was a shock to anyone. I think for a lot of people, it was maybe a bit of a weight taken off that it’s finally happened, folks are moving on, and steps are being taken to go in a new direction. It’s going to be interesting how things shake out moving forward, but as crazy as Monday was, I think a good portion of it was pretty anticipated.
How excited are Auburn fans to have Harsin out, the chance to hire a new coach and Cohen as the new AD?
Cole: I wish I could put a number percentage-wise on Auburn fans who wanted Harsin gone and Auburn fans who were staunchly, ‘This guy needs more time. We need to put all our support in him.’ I would imagine the consensus is excitement. As far as gauging the consensus around an AD hire, that can be a little different. I would say Cohen’s definitely a splash, but it’s a weird thing. A lot of ADs aren’t necessarily national names. I can’t really think of many if any off the top of my head where you’d give me their name and I’d know who they were — maybe a handful. I wouldn’t put Cohen in that category. But I think when fans look into who Cohen is, I think it’s something to be excited about, especially after the last era. Cohen is very much a fit for the culture. He’s an SEC guy. He was born in Tuscaloosa. He’s a Mississippi State alum, coached that baseball program and was the AD during a really successful period for that school. He fits the mold of what Auburn wants to be in the SEC, and he’s watched a program like Mississippi State elevate in his time. Looking at that, I think it’s something that Auburn fans should be excited about, especially as they plan to make a new head football coaching hire. I have no doubt that Auburn’s going to look for that same fit. In the sense that they poached Cohen, I wouldn’t be surprised if Auburn tries to poach another sitting head coach who’s pretty successful and has had an SEC background.
On the football field, Mississippi State erased a 25-point deficit last season at Jordan-Hare. How motivated do you think Auburn is to get revenge on MSU, and is it a good matchup for Auburn?
Cole: I think it’s going to be really interesting. The one thing that I jump to is the success that interim head coaches have had this year. I think interim head coaches are 5-2 in debuts this season. I wonder if that sort of luck is going to be on Auburn’s side, but I have no doubt that last year will add a little bit of fuel. That was a game that Auburn should have won, and it was kind of the beginning of the end of it all. That was a game where it was like, ‘Auburn has collapsed and reached the lowest of lows and it’s all downhill from here.’ It’s definitely a motivator for the guys who were here last year especially. As far as matchups, what I go back to is the Mike Leach offense — the Air Raid. The one thing that has been a consistency for Auburn is that their pass defense has actually been pretty decent. I’m wondering how much of a test this is going to be for that unit. It’s just kind of seemed like there’s an opponent at every turn that has made Auburn not perform. The run defense has just been atrocious for Auburn. The offense is just so weird. They have a hard time generating just because their offensive line really is not that good. Their best offense to this point has been Robby Ashford scrambling out of the pocket and creating plays, whether that’s a big chunk run or a huge pass. That happens maybe once or twice a game, but beyond that, they don’t really do a lot offensively. I think it’ll be a good barometer to see where Auburn can go for the rest of the year, because you wonder how much of a reset Harsin leaving is.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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