College Football

Auburn's 2014 team slogan is either nation's best or worst

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:35 p.m. ET

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It's become apparent that Gus Malzahn wants the No. 13 to haunt his players for at least one calendar year.

As you know, 13 is the number of seconds that were on the clock when Florida State scored its go-ahead touchdown to beat the Tigers in the national championship game last season.

So Malzahn has used that amount of time as a metaphor for offseason improvement.

"It's a mindset," he told Bleacher Report before a speaking engagement at the Atlanta Auburn Club recently. "We have to be 13 seconds better in everything we do -- from a coaching standpoint and from the way our players perform on the field and in the weight room and everything that goes with it."

The number is also represented in the Tigers' 2014 team slogan, which is confusing at first glance.

That stands for "Tough-n-Together" and the Roman numeral for 13. Now, there's no indication that Malzahn mandated the No. 13 be in the team slogan, but he met with his seniors during the winter and asked them to come up with something, and that was the result.

"It's having toughness and being together," junior Justin Garrett told 247Sports. "That's the philosohpy of winning in the SEC and trying to go back and win the whole thing.

"We've got to get 13 seconds better. In practice to your steps to your coverage to whatever you're doing, you try to get 13 seconds better than you were last year."

So what are your feelings on the team slogan? Like it? Hate it?

On one hand, it's creative and unique to the Tigers, and it would probably make a cool tattoo. On the other hand, it's a bit clunky and could have difficulty catching on in the public (although that doesn't matter to the team). 

The Auburn marketing department has come up with its own slogan, too, for this year. It's more mainstream friendly but lacks the players' ingenuity.

Not bad. But our vote here is in favor of the players' choice.

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