Matthew Stevens

Montgomery Advertiser

AUBURN — Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn is on a national coach of the year award watch list.

The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award has the Tigers coach as one of the 18 coaches on the midseason watch list including each of the coaches in the top four of the current polls: Alabama coach Nick Saban, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Washington coach Chris Peterson. As the season continues, an updated watch list will be released in November. A voting panel of all previous winners, plus a committee made up of national college football media members, a member of the Dodd family and two College Football Hall of Fame members will determine the 2016 recipient. The winner of The Dodd Trophy will be announced in Atlanta during Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl week.

“We are at the midpoint of the college football season and in our opinion, these 18 head coaches have separated themselves from the rest of the pack,” Jim Terry, Chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation, said in a statement. “Whether it is their current on-field success, high academic standing or community involvement, these are the coaches who have best represented what the Dodd Trophy is all about.”

Auburn (6-2, 4-1 in SEC) is on a five game winning streak after a 40-29 victory at Ole Miss and leads the Southeastern Conference in total offense and rushing offense. Two of the four most productive offenses in SEC history were Auburn teams coached by Malzahn (Auburn’s 2013 team had 7,018 yards and the 2010 team had 6,989 yards). This year’s Auburn offense is on pace for over 6,000 yards (6,091 yards, 507.6 yards per game).

Malzahn is joined on this midseason list with Wisconsin's Paul Chryst, North Carolina's Larry Fedora, West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen, Colorado's Mike MacIntyre, Florida's Jim McElwain, Ohio State's Urban Meyer, Nebraska's Mike Riley, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin, and Utah's Kyle Wittingham. Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck, Boise State coach Bryan Harsin and Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo.