When Virginia plays in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve, it will face an Auburn squad in serious transition. The Tigers will be without top rusher Michael Dyer, the co-MVP in the BCS championship game last January, who has been suspended.
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Coach Gene Chizik also will not have defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who has departed to fill the same post at Central Florida. On Wednesday, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was announced as the new coach at Arkansas State.
Roof’s departure was not a surprise after a season in which the Tigers finished 11th in the SEC in scoring defense and total defense. The decision of the innovative Malzahn is more puzzling and potentially crippling, however.
Last year, when Auburn was on its way to winning the national title, Malzahn was a hot commodity but turned down a reported $3 million a year to take over at Vanderbilt. Auburn instead made him the highest paid assistant in the SEC at $1.3 million.
Malzahn will not make close to that at Arkansas State, but he will return to his home state, where he was a high school coach so legendary that he vaulted straight to a coordinator job at Arkansas. Malzahn will stay on staff at Auburn to coach in the Chick-fil-A.
There has been little instability at Virginia (8-4) after a breakthrough season under ACC coach of the year Mike London. The Cavaliers received word of another award Wednesday as senior guard Austin Pasztor was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press.
– Kevin Dunleavy
