Can Auburn's special teams get back to being... special?
The Tigers have a storied history of strong play in the kicking game. They were well below that standard last season — and it mattered.
AUBURN — Special teams weren’t special at Auburn last year, and that must change.
Great special teams play has been at the core of Auburn football. If being a contender for “Running Back U” is in the Tigers’ DNA, “Specialist U” ain’t too far behind.
The most famous play in program history — and, perhaps, the most famous play in college football history — is a heads-up decision to return a long field goal attempt. Auburn has three different upsets of Florida that were won on kicks.
Gus Malzahn beat Les Miles in a Loser Leaves Town match in 2016 on nothing but field goals. He beat Nick Saban, again, in the 2019 Iron Bowl on a punt formation trick.
In the last 50 years, Auburn has had seven different specialists earn first-team All-American honors. When the SEC created its Special Teams Player of the Year Award in 2004, Cadillac Williams was the first winner. Daniel Carlson is the only two-time winner in the history of the conference.
When the ball is being kicked, Auburn is usually playing some of its best football. While special teams play is often overlooked by fans, there’s no doubt that plenty of the Tigers’ accomplishments come down to taking that unit seriously.
And that’s why, among all of the issues of a 2024 season in which Auburn regressed to a losing record for the fourth straight year, it was so surprising that the Tigers were far from their usual selves on special teams.
It wasn’t just not being able to reach its usual standards. No, Auburn’s special teams play was actively detrimental to its chances of winning football games.