Tigers ride Cadillac into Iron Bowl game
Carnell “Cadillac” Williams has been the Iron Bowl hero for Auburn before.
Now the former All-America tailback is trying to do it again. Not by piling up rushing yards like he did 19 years ago against Alabama, but by making the right calls from the sidelines and saying the right things in the locker room.
Williams has already energized Auburn’s team and fan base heading into Saturday’s game with the No. 8 Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa having gone from five straight losses to a two-game winning streak.
The 2005 NFL Rookie of the Year, who had been Auburn’s running backs coach, took over as interim coach on Oct. 31 when Bryan Harsin was fired.
Williams will become the first Black head coach in the Iron Bowl.
“It didn’t even hit me, honestly, until I saw it this morning,” he said Monday. “And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’”
What was shaping up as a disastrous season has at least had an infusion of positives.
Auburn lost to Mississippi State in overtime in Williams’ first game in that role, but has since beaten Texas A&M and Western Kentucky to stay alive for bowl eligibility.
“He’s done a great job — the energy, the enthusiasm, the way the guys are competing and playing, the way they play to win,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “And that was his personality as a player.”
Williams, who ran for 204 yards in the 2003 Iron Bowl, has been a unifying force off the field with an unpretentious, folksy manner — he stepped to the podium with an “Oh, Lordy, Lordy. Wow” after the Western Kentucky win.
New Athletic Director John Cohen is more likely to turn the program over to someone more established and proven, and Williams seems OK with that.
“I don’t know. I really don’t care,” Williams said. “My seat doesn’t dictate my service. Auburn’s special and those kids are special.”
Williams is clearly the rookie in a matchup against Saban, a seven-time national champion coach who tried to recruit him to LSU.
Williams had five carries in the first two games against Alabama because of injuries. Then, he broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run on the first play to spark a 28-23 Auburn win in 2003 that helped coach Tommy Tuberville keep his job. He still calls it one of his most memorable plays.
The radio call from late Auburn play-by-play man Rod Bramblett “Go crazy, Cadillac” became a rallying cry before the Texas A&M game after the school posted a photo of Williams wearing a “Go Crazy” T-shirt at practice.