Alabama Football’s little brother being Auburn again

Using the ‘little brother’ analogy is really not accurate. Brothers share similar DNA. There is no Alabama Football DNA shared by the Auburn Tigers. Constantly living in the shadow of a big brother is appropriate for the Auburn program, but there is no familial relationship between the two programs. Auburn is not even a step-child.

Bryan Harsin has been busy since losing the Birmingham Bowl to finish the season at 6-7. He must quickly build a roster, that will get little 2022 season boost from his signing class.

In early November, Auburn was ranked No. 12 in the AP Poll, going into its game against Texas A&M. The Tigers lost, but the season’s meltdown, tipping point came a week later. hosting Mississippi State on the Plains. The Tigers led, 28-3, late in the game’s first half. They lost 43-34. Thankfully for Auburn faithful, the Bulldogs were content to not roll Toomer’s Corner.

A couple of weeks after, Auburn’s Bo Nix-less, overtime loss in the Iron Bowl, al.com’s Joseph Goodman characterized Nix’s decision to transfer as,

"losing Nix is the biggest blown lead of all."

Goodman meant the biggest blown lead of the 2021 season. He also explained why,

"It’s hard to accept, but there is a trend that might help explain why Nix doesn’t want to be at Auburn anymore. Auburn eats itself from the inside out, and now players don’t have to put up with that dysfunction. They can just leave."

Yes, players can now come and go in college football. Finding any worth having, that want to join Auburn, is quite the task for Bryan Harsin. On Thursday, Harsin bucked that trend with the announcement Texas A&M’s Zach Calzada will leave the Aggies to join the Tigers.

Alabama Football knows Zach Calzada

Alabama football fans know well Calzada’s claim to fame. In October, he threw for almost 300 yards, while producing three touchdown passes to beat the Crimson Tide. Aggies’ fans carried him off the field on their shoulders.

It was an outstanding performance, though the game’s result was less about what Calzada did than it was, what the Crimson Tide didn’t do. Dropped passes, turnovers and leaky pass protection doomed the Tide in College Station.

Now Calzada is going to be an Aubie. What are the Tigers getting? According to SEC StatCat, Calzada was 10th in the SEC in adjusted completion percentage, uncatchable passes and throwing accuracy under pressure. Check out other stats in the tweet below.

Bringing in Calzada will be viewed by the Aubies as a huge win for their program. The basis of that thinking is that Calzada can beat the Crimson Tide again. Some things never change with the program that measures its achievement by the failure of its biggest rival.

Calzada was not going to win the 2022 starting quarterback job in College Station. He will likely be the Tigers’ starter.