If anyone knows anything about good offenses, it’s Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college football coach of all time(I’m still partial to Bobby Bowden, but anywho). Saban was a great defensive coach responsible for some of the better defenses in recent years.
However, there was one offensive-minded guy who always gave him fits, and that’s Gus Malzahn when he was the offensive coordinator and ultimately the head coach at Auburn. Auburn had one of the few offenses that gave him fits, often upsetting the Crimson Tide even though the Tigers didn’t have quite as much talent.
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Malzahn terrorized the Crimson Tide again earlier this year as the FSU offensive coordinator, so it was cool to see Nick Saban give him his props on national TV a few days ago:
GM,he said it not us 😎😎😎 pic.twitter.com/jMzmBgi2ld
— Rey Skytalker (@Rogue_Nole) September 18, 2025
“The key to Malzahn’s offense being difficult to defend is an athletic quarterback who can run,” Saban said. I think any offense with an athletic quarterback who can run is dangerous. However, what makes Malzhan’s offense so different his how many formations and motions he uses to set up defenses for certain plays.
If the offense executes the plays properly, it’s nearly impossible to stop. Here’s the thing: FSU is running plays in these early games to set up plays they haven’t run yet this season.
We’ll probably see plays in the Miami and Clemson games that are counters off plays we’ve seen, but only from the same formations. It really is like Malzhan is a mad scientist in a lab cooking up the goods!
Malzahn knows what his players' strengths and weaknesses are, and plays to those strengths as best that he can. Thomas Castellanos knows the offense in and out, and if he's checking into the right plays? FSU will be a problem for every defense on the schedule!