Bleacher Report - Articles by Kevin Strickland

Auburn-Georgia: Why the Bulldogs Will Black Out the Tigers

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:19:04 -0500

Mark Richt knows what's wrong with the Georgia Bulldogs.

He knows why the 'Dogs are 5-4 and in jeopardy of missing a bowl trip for the first time in eight years.

Richt has figured out why his team has fallen off the SEC East radar.

It's not the schizophrenic offense that was able to torch Arkansas for 52 points but could only scrounge up 19 against Tennessee and 10 at Oklahoma State.

It's not the erratic defense that allowed 37 to South Carolina, 41 to Arkansas, 41 to Florida, and 45 to Tennessee.

Nope. It's choreography and costuming that are the problem for his Bulldog team.

It all goes back to 2007. Desperately needing a spark to help break up a Florida stranglehold on Georgia's series against the Gators (Florida had won 15 of the last 17), the staid Richt instructed his players to get an excessive celebration penalty after their first score.

The entire team rushed the field, danced like nobody was watching, earned the flag and went on to a 42-30 win.

Two weeks later, Richt and his Georgia team danced again, this time on the sidelines. As the stadium speakers blared Crank Dat (Superman) by Souja Boy, the team shook its collective Bulldog butt en route to a 45-20 thrashing of Auburn.

Even CBS announcer Verne Lundquist got into the act, captured on camera doing his version of the dance in the booth, a freakishly grotesque rendition that most resembled the Caddyshack gopher being hit with a taser.

Not only did the Bulldogs boogie, but they turned out in black jerseys for the first time ever, contributing to a blackout theme that saw most Bulldog fans also wearing black instead of the traditional red.

The fashion statement translated to the field as the Bulldogs surged toward the top of the 2007 rankings.

Georgia finished 11-2, exorcised the Florida demons and made a legitimate case for inclusion in the national championship discussion.

The problem for the Bulldogs was that Tennessee, one of two teams to knock off the Bulldogs that season, earned the SEC East title and berth in the championship game.

Still, Richt learned from the experience. He learned that one of the most critical components to game preparation was choreography and fashion.

"I think I've learned that it's about 50-50," Richt said in 2008 of the importance of energy and scheme. "You better do a good job fundamentally and scheme-wise, but you need to try to find a way to add energy."

Richt's method of adding energy? New clothes. He gave up play-calling duties in 2006 in order to focus more on gauging his team's emotional level.

"I think it's mart of Mark growing as a coach," UGA athletic director Damon Evans said of Richt's new concentration on intangibles. "I think Mark has grown every single year as a coach and gotten better and better. We all learn new things."

Richt called on the black jerseys for a Sugar Bowl game against Hawaii, and the Bulldogs annihilated the Warriors.

Forget the shoes; it's got to be the shirts.

When the Bulldogs faced Alabama in 2008, Richt returned the well and trotted out the black jerseys again.

One Alabama coach famously riffed that they were dressed in black for a funeral. Their own.

And so it was. Alabama buried the Bulldogs and mauled the black jersey mystique.

Later in the season, Florida exacted 49-10 revenge for the dancing of 2007.

Mystified, Richt tried to figure out what went wrong. Why hadn't the black jersey strategy worked? He had to be able to figure out how to successfully accessorize in 2009 or half of his coaching strategy would be for naught. Was his purchase of the full season of What Not To Wear on DVD a waste?

The black jersey failure so puzzled Richt so he consulted with famous fashion designer Vera Wang.

"Jerseys are so 2008, darling," Wang said. "Hats are where it's at in 2009!"

Perfect, Richt thought to himself as he sat down at the drawing board and crafted the next fashion statement for his team.

For Florida this season, the Bulldogs donned black helmets for the first time ever. Richt joyfully anticipated a cathartic win over the hated Gators.

A 41-17 thrashing later, Richt was despondent.

The Bulldog fan base, which two years earlier had considered electing him emperor of the universe, had begun to lose faith. Rumors that Richt was on the hot seat and could be out of a job should his team fall to rival Auburn began to gather steam.

The Georgia coach wasn't really concerned with his future, as he'd already started to build a Hollywood resume and could fall back on his acting career, but he didn't want to leave his football hobby on a sour note.

Richt's thespian efforts showed true range. He'd played everything from a football coach to a football coach in a variety of projects.

He starred as Mark Richt in Damn Good Dog, a look at the life and times of Georgia mascot UGA in 2004.

He appeared in an episode of the short-lived television series Head Coach, where he gave a compelling performance as Mark Richt.

Richt played a football coach which may or may not have been himself in the independent film Facing the Giants.

That led to a role in the Sandra Bullock vehicle The Blind Side, where he was convincing as Georgia football coach Mark Richt.

Hollywood speculation had Richt as a hot commodity. He was up for the role of assistant coach Mark Richt in The Bobby Bowden Story. Industry experts said he was tailor made for the role.

He also auditioned for the part of assistant coach Mark Richt in the upcoming made-for-ESPN film Over My Dead Body: Bowden, Paterno, and the Pursuit of Winningest Coach of All Time. His agent said he was dynamite and felt sure Richt would get a second read for the part.

Beyond that, Richt is reportedly under consideration for the lead role in the rumored CBS series CSI: Atlanta.

According to speculation, all he would be required to do for the part was take his sunglasses off while making a clever quip. Chuck Amato is also rumored to be considered for the part, but Richt's Georgia ties might give him the advantage there.

Richt's status as a budding movie star led him to alternative methods to fix the ills that plagued his Georgia team. He called up Blind Side cast-mate Bullock to ask for advice. She referred him to her pal and Georgia resident Ben Affleck who sent him to former flame Jennifer Lopez who made a call to Paula Abdul.

"Oh, honey," Abdul gushed. "You are one good looking man. I give you a big YES on your tan alone. It's crazy! But if you want to really do something with this team you've got to get yourself back to what got you here. Return to your roots.

"Close your eyes, sugar britches," Abdul purred. "Think back to 2007 when your Bulldogs were crowning with the glory, sweets. It wasn't the jerseys, was it, baby love? Oh, those jerseys were a part of it, but what got you through Florida, my bronzed vision of southern goodliness?"

"I...I...I can't remember," Richt replied morosely.

Abdul began to hum, softly at first. At a whisper, she started adding words.

"Soulja boy, off in dis oh," she cooed softly.

"Yes, yes," Richt sighed his head beginning to bob.

"Watch me crank it, watch me..." Abdul picked up the pace.

"WATCH ME ROLL!" Richt shouted.

In unison, Abdul and Richt finished the verse, she in California, he in Athens, both locking, popping, and stepping.

"Watch me crank that SOULJA BOY, Watch me crank dat oh!"

"That's it, that's it," Richt shouted joyously. It's the DANCING we've been missing. Jerseys aren't enough.

"Oh, Paula, how can I ever thank you enough."

"Honey, in case you hadn't noticed? I'm not exactly on the A-list these days. I'll be in Athens on Tuesday. I'm bringing Debbie Allen with me. We gonna choreograph your Dawgs like some Laker Girls, baby!"

Richt wasn't done. Dancing might be the ticket, but he couldn't trust the outcome of a game against Auburn that might be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back to rest on busted moves alone.

He banked on his Hollywood wattage again and dialed up George Lucas. After 20 minutes of explaining who he was to the reclusive director he was rebuffed on his first request, but the Star Wars creator did grant the second item on Richt's wish list. Undaunted, Richt kept dialing.

When his dealings were done, Richt sat back with a satisfied sigh.

When his Georgia Bulldogs take the field on Saturday they won't be wearing black helmets. Nor will they don the traditional red helmets. No sir, this week, the Bulldogs will wear white helmets for the first time

Not just any white. White Star Wars Stormtrooper helmets with the Georgia G affixed to the side.

Richt had hoped to wear the iconic black Darth Vader helmet for the game, but Lucas denied his plea. So he did the next best thing. He called Mel Brooks.

When he takes his place on the sidelines, Richt will wear his traditional shades and headset. But instead of perfectly gelled hair, Richt will don the headgear worn by Dark Helmet in the Brooks classic Space Balls .

"It's not Vader," Richt told a few close associates, "but that black brim is sure to terrify the opposition."

When Abdul and Allen arrived, Bulldog practices were closed. Unconfirmed rumor is the team will unveil an updated version of Michael Jackson's timeless Thriller dance set to the thumping beat of the Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow.

No word yet on whether Lundquist will appear as a featured performer.

Bulldog dance practice is expected to last through Friday afternoon.

At some point Saturday morning Richt will turn his attention to the game plan. He figures that should be plenty of time.

His Bulldogs came to Auburn in 2006 with what he termed then as an "awful" game plan and spanked the Tigers out of the Top 10 37-15.

"I was probably about as low as I have been all season," Richt said in the aftermath of the 06 win. "I thought that was the worst thing I had ever seen. I was looking at how I could get (quarterback) Matthew Stafford some confidence and I thought this game plan was awful."

For Auburn coach Gene Chizik, fashion choices and choreography aren't on the agenda.

"Uniforms?" Chizik asked incredulously when the topic was broached at his weekly press conference. "What do I know about fashion? I don't think about things like that. My wife lays my clothes out for me or else I might show up wearing one blue sock and one orange one. We'll wear what we always wear."

For the record, Chizik has a point. He stirred up message board speculation and a ton of Louisiana wailing earlier this season when he casually mentioned his Tigers would wear their road whites at LSU, apparently unaware that the Bayou Bengals elect to wear white jerseys at home.

"Besides, I do know some about the history here," Chizik continued. "Doug Barfield dragged up orange jerseys a couple of times. Maybe even against Georgia.

"What's Barfield doing these days? Selling cars? Making tacos? Anybody know?

"And that Bowden guy, he put orange backgrounds on the numbers when he was coach. What happened to him? Whacked. That's right. It wasn't his record or his recruiting, it was those orange number shadows that got him.

"Mess with the uniforms and you get whacked around here. Auburn fans are like baseball purists. They want things to stay the same. I know enough not to mess with that."

Later asked if Auburn planned a special dance routine like in Michael Jackson's Bad or Beat It videos in order to intimidate the Bulldogs, he sighed with exasperation.

"Look, fellas, I'm not some George Astaire here. We're not going to put on Batman underwear, we're not doing the Watusi or the funky chicken. We're going to Athens to play a football game. We'll do our best to block, tackle and execute our game plan against a great, great football team."

Around the room, notebooks snapped shut. "Boring," one reporter sniffed to his compadre. "Come on, let's go ask Nick Saban about some referees, his depth chart or the attack on Pearl Harbor. That ought to be good for a laugh."

When it comes to fashion, the only color choice Chizik really needs to be concerned with is yellow. His Tigers are among the most penalized teams in college football.

Auburn has given opponents 24 first downs via penalty, second most in the country. More than 10 percent of the first downs surrendered by the Auburn defense have come by way of the yellow hanky.

That's not news to Georgia. The Bulldogs are even more heavily penalized than the Tigers and are, in fact, the most penalized team in the SEC.

It's a battle to watch for certain, because penalties have played a significant part in two of Auburn's three losses.

The Bulldogs are currently riding a three-game wining streak over the Tigers. Georgia hasn't won four in a row in this, the oldest rivalry in the Deep South, since 1948 (part of an eight-game run that ended in 1953).

Both teams have questions that seem to have no answers. Both have displayed astonishing deficiencies on defense particularly. Both have exhibited offensive meltdowns.

Turnovers will be critical.

Auburn's wins over West Virginia and Ole Miss (the primary difference between the disaster of 2008 and the encouragement of 2009) were both fueled by turnovers. If the defense doesn't force changes of possession in those games both could have ended differently. Turnovers contributed heavily to shocking point totals registered against the Tigers by dinky Ball State and tiny Furman.

Turnovers by Auburn also helped bury the Tigers against Arkansas.

Despite the two-game disparity in the record, the Tigers and Bulldogs are really fairly evenly matched.

Both have offenses that can catch fire and set off an explosion of points. Both teams have defenses that have been abused at times by the opposition.

Auburn's defense, a squad which surrendered 30 to Ball State, 30 to West Virginia, 44 to Arkansas, 30 to Furman and 24 to Mississippi State, will have problems containing the Georgia offense.

When in doubt, it's always prudent to look to the team with the better defense but given the performances by both Auburn and Georgia in 2009, that's a difficult call.

That leaves the intangibles.

On Saturday, Richt might just be battling for his job. The Tigers are merely jostling for exceeded expectations and a better bowl berth.

In another time and place, Richt's Bulldogs shot down Auburn in Auburn. That 2003 beating spurred a clandestine plane trip intended to depose then Tiger head coach Tommy Tuberville. The coup backfired, Tuberville survived and a year later embarked on the best season in the history of Auburn football.

Six years later, an Auburn win in Athens could spur similar stirrings in the Bulldog administration and put Richt's long Athens tenure at risk.

Forget the stats, forget the trends, forget the dancing, the jerseys and the storm trooper helmets.

This is a game the Bulldogs need to win. It's a game the Tigers want to win. In a showdown of unpredictable and mercurial teams need trumps want.

That's why the Bulldogs will win a close one.

SEC Officiating: Incompetence or Protecting Sacred Cows?

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:41:31 -0500

When ESPN signed a blockbuster $2 billion, 15 year deal in August of 2008 with the Southeastern Conference for the rights to televise sporting events including football and basketball, many wondered what impact the agreement might have on the future of sports.

Some, echoing the sentiment expressed by former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville, expressed concern at the amount of influence the network now commands and raised the question of where the line between broadcasting games and having a vested interest in their outcome begins to blur (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/149651-espn-influence-is-also-its-curse).

As the 2009 SEC season unfolds, many are wondering if the specter of tampering with the possible outcome of games might already have reared its ugly head.

In recent weeks a series of egregiously bad officiating calls have gone against opponents of both SEC front runners Alabama and Florida.

It's undeniable that the calls in question changed the dynamic of the games if not their actual outcomes and each contributed heavily to keeping both the Tide and Gators undefeated through 10 games.

When the Gators were in danger against a resilient Arkansas team, the Razorbacks were mystifyingly flagged for a personal foul. The sham penalty extended a Florida drive allowing the Gators to tie the game with just over seven minutes remaining.

When Mississippi State challenged the Gators, the officiating crew and then the replay booth, allowed a Florida touchdown on an interception when the naked eye and numerous slow-motion replays proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the ball was fumbled before crossing the goal.

On Saturday, with Alabama up six and driving in the fourth quarter, LSU intercepted a Greg McElroy pass. Everybody in the stadium saw it. Everybody watching on television saw a clear pick with both feet placed squarely in bounds. There was even a large divot where the first foot had been planted.

The only people in the stadium who didn't see the interception? Two confused officials and a blind replay booth. The officials ruled the pass incomplete, but not before they looked into each other's eyes as if puzzling over what to do. Adding insult to injury, the the replay official confirmed the errant call.

Alabama went on to kick a field goal and increase their lead to nine. The difference between a six point spread and nine point advantage is canyonesque in a game where points are at a premium.

Could LSU have driven the field and scored to take the lead? Alabama fans snort at the idea and insist their defense wouldn't have allowed such an affront, but stranger things have happened against better teams. Would the Tigers have seized the shift in momentum and broken the back of Alabama's undefeated season? As a result of the blatantly erroneous call, we'll never know.

Later, officials failed to react to an obvious foul on a screen pass to Julio Jones that helped spring the Alabama receiver for a long touchdown that sealed the win.

Shoddy officiating or a pattern of protecting the league's sacred cows?

"Speculation," LSU head coach Les Miles grimly offered in the aftermath of the loss to Alabama, "is rampant."

Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, and Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino have all come under fire for questioning the competence, if not the integrity, of the SEC officiating crews.

The crew that worked the Arkansas-Florida game was suspended for their blatant incompetence.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has made it clear that he won't tolerate criticism of officiating by firing warnings and leveling fines on coaches who do -- even when those coaches are correct in their assessments.

When coaches are prevented from questioning obvious wrongs and are fined for speaking out, does that promote transparency or make it appear that the SEC does, in fact, have something to hide?

What does the SEC and by proxy ESPN have to gain by offering protection to Alabama and Florida? Isn't the adage that an upset can happen on any given Saturday part of the pageantry and allure of college football?

The answers? Money, and lots of it. And not so much any more.

ESPN has a multi-billion dollar tie in with the SEC. It is in the best interests of the network for the SEC to be represented in the BCS title game. The parent company of ESPN, ABC, owns the broadcast rights to January's title game. It is also in the best interests of that network for an SEC team to hold one position.

When Florida was in trouble against Arkansas, can you imagine the suits at ABC sweating? What if the Gators had lost? And then beat Alabama in the championship game? Would the BCS computers spit out a Texas vs. TCU or Boise State vs Cincinnati title matchup? That would spell ratings disaster.

No, the SEC needs to make sure it holds up its end of the bargain and sends either the Gators or the Tide to the major stage.

Forget pageantry and the innocence of the college football experience, Cinderella's a great story, but it's not good for the bottom line if the kitchen help shows up at the ball and steals the spotlight away from the pre-ordained princesses.

Texas is, at this point, a virtual lock. The Longhorns would have to stumble and stumble badly down the stretch. Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M should pose no significant threat to Texas' march to the title game and the Big 12 North opponent in the Big 12 Title Game is likely to offer little competition.

With half the bracket hopefully filled, ESPN and ABC needs a Florida or Alabama on the other side of the slate to help boost ad revenues, amp up viewership, and pad ticket sales. The networks can't afford to roll the dice on a BCS computer spitting out a Boise State or TCU at number one or two. Think of the lost revenue.

But what if Texas does trip over a blade of grass down the stretch? If the Tide and Gators are potentially off the board, the networks could envision a disaster of comet-smashing-into-the-Yucatan impact.

It's a worst case scenario nightmare, the kind of thing that causes network executives to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, to consider the possibilities if media darlings Florida, Alabama, Texas, USC and in any other season LSU and Oklahoma were to all fade.

USC imploded; ESPN and ABC couldn't help the Trojans despite spending $2.4 million on hair gel for Kirk Herbstriet and getting Pete Carroll to grace their commercials.

Oklahoma flopped. Not even the networks could magically repair Sam Bradford's shoulder, but not for lack of trying.

By the time LSU got to Alabama, the Bayou Bengals had a loss under their belts. Not wise to risk a one-loss team making the SEC title game and knocking off an unbeaten Florida.

The networks can't do anything about Texas, the Longhorns have to make their own way. But what if they don't?

Should Texas fail and if the SEC Champion is toting a loss, the possibility of a BCS title game between Boise State, TCU or Cincinnati exists.

That would be the mother of network nightmares. If the BCS burped out a Boise-Cincinnati BCS title game, it could also spell the beginning of the end for the BCS itself. The major conferences would balk and balk vociferously at a system that could create a title game that lacking in old-school star power.

To what lengths would the SEC and its partners ESPN and ABC go to prevent just such an epochal event?

Is it too much to believe the network might subtly exert its $2 billion muscle and quietly encourage the SEC to protect its investments?

Is such a suggestion coming from a company that staked 15 years of its future on the league really so far-fetched?

Whether there's any veracity to the suspicions and speculation that now runs rampant, the video evidence appears to show a conclusive pattern to the botched calls. Perception is reality and the appearance of impropriety clearly exists.

Not even a replay from the booth can overturn that call.

Auburn's Gene Chizik Has Met Expectations

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:02:40 -0500

Seven wins was the bar for Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik. Anything less would have been unacceptable. With two games left in the regular season, Chizik has reached that goal. Can his Tigers exceed it against Georgia and Alabama? Is Chizik really an improvement over former head coach Tommy Tuberville?

The bar was set at seven prior to the season. (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/247707-setting-the-bar-for-success-chiziks-magic-number-is-seven ). Chizik got there in 10 games and by some estimations has already exceeded expectations.

Chizik has earned a passing grade overall by meeting all the basic criteria set forth in the preview.

Auburn defeated the four teams against which the Tigers should have had superior talent: Furman, Misssissippi State, Ball State, and Louisiana Tech.

Chizik's Tigers split the bill against four teams perceived to have relatively equal talent, defeating Tennessee and West Virginia while losing to Kentucky and Arkansas.

Auburn picked up one win against one of the four teams on the schedule considered to have greater talent when the Tigers clocked Ole Miss. Two of the four remain on the slate: Georgia and Alabama. The fourth, LSU, punished Auburn on the road.

Finally, the Tigers earned one victory on the road, smoking Tennessee in Knoxville.

A seven-win season was the bar, the bare minimum for competency. Chizik's Tigers have three opportunities to exceed expectations at Athens, at home against Alabama, and then in an anticipated bowl game.

In a league filled with championship-level coaches, Chizik has yet to prove he belongs in the conversation. The next three games will go a long way in determining whether or not Chizik and the Tigers can get to that level.

Of the three losses, only one is truly distressing in retrospect.

You could understand the loss to Arkansas. Second consecutive game on the road, sunshine from a top 25 ranking and five straight wins filling player's heads, and a coaching staff so determined to prove something that it outcoached itself all contributed. Really should have seen that one coming.

No excuse for the way in which it played out, but the end result was predictable.

Same with the loss to LSU. Dropping a night game to the Bengals is not a sin. Again, the totality of the beatdown on the bayou was distressing because Chizik's Tigers weren't even competitive, but the loss itself was easily forgiven under the circumstances.

The loss to Kentucky, however, remains galling. The Mildcats were without their starting quarterback and best defensive player. They lay prostrate on the field for three quarters like an armadillo on the highway, fully expecting to be run over and squashed.

Auburn did not take advantage.

To date, the only SEC win on the books for Kentucky came against Auburn. The Bluegrass Kitties were pounded by Mississippi State.

Great coaches do occasionally have mystifying losses. Nick Saban lost to UAB at Baton Rouge, at night early in his career at LSU. His Alabama team lost to Louisiana Monroe in his inaugural season at the Capstone. Pete Carroll's USC teams have lost to Stanford and UCLA, even more confounding when you consider that his Trojans are annually propped up as a national title contender and have much more at stake.

That's not to say that Chizik is in Saban or Carroll's league, only that you can't make sweeping judgements from one utterly poor showing.

Is Auburn any better off under Chizik than it was his predecessor Tommy Tuberville?

In some ways, yes. In others, maybe not.

It's true that Auburn's schedule is already two games better than the 5-7 mark of 2008.

What's the difference?

A year ago, Auburn flatlined in the second half against West Virginia at Morgantown. In 2009, the Tigers battled back in the second half against the Mountaineers at home.

A year ago, Auburn could not muster any offense against Ole Miss in Oxford and fell, 17-7. In 2009, the Tigers throttled the Rebels in Auburn.

Much has been made of the improvement in offensive numbers from 2008 to 2009, but during the three-game losing streak, the Tiger offense was almost a carbon copy of the plodding mess that crashed and burned last season.

After 10 games last season, Auburn sat at 5-5, needing a win to earn bowl eligibility.

The Tigers had lost to Arkansas, LSU, and Vanderbilt. That's the equivalent of Arkansas, LSU, and Kentucky in 2009.

The difference? Tuberville's Tigers were competitive against the Razorbacks and Bengals. The fact that Auburn barely registered a pulse at LSU and was taken to the woodshed at Arkansas should be of some concern.

With the season on the verge of unraveling after the lackluster performance at LSU, Chizik was able to refocus his team's energy and turn out an impressive win over an Ole Miss team that had seemingly found its groove.

Chizik has the luxury of knowing that each week isn't a referendum on his job security. Tuberville, particularly over the last four years of his tenure, did not have that. Part of the reason his teams played more and more conservatively was that fear that any loss might be the one that put the final nail in his coffin. The frigid relationship with Auburn administration created that atmosphere.

Chizik has no such fears. With full support from the administration that hired him, Chizik has the freedom to build the program even if it means taking the occasional lump.

There's no question Chizik has brought a different energy to the Tigers. While it's far too early to say that Auburn is better off in the long run, the short-term results show promise.

If you could just combine the offensive energy that Chizik, through new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, has infused with the defensive tenacity for which Tuberville's teams were known, you'd have a powerful mix.

For Chizik to succeed at Auburn in the long term and succeed at the level to which Tiger fans grew accustomed under Tuberville, he will have to address the defensive issues.

Chizik has also brought a fresh perspective to recruiting. His Tigers have garnered the attention of a number of high profile prospects. Attention is one thing, signing them is another.

The recent committment of Arkansas prep running back Michael Dyer, considered one of the best backs in the country, is a definite step in the right direction.

Dyer could help Auburn build one of its best recruiting classes in years, an important part of helping Auburn catch the SEC's front runners.

Through 10 games, Chizik is exactly where he should be. He's met the basic goals for 2009.

His Tigers now have three opportunities to build greater expectations for 2010 and beyond.

Auburn 63, Furman 31: What Did the Tigers Learn?

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:14:20 -0500

The Auburn Tigers bombed the Furman Paladins 63-31 in front of a Saturday afternoon Homecoming crowd.

The win was expected, as was the relative ease with which it was achieved.

When you're facing an opponent at a clear disadvantage in terms of talent, there are three things that must be achieved:

1) Avoid injury

2) Allow backups, and rarely used players to gain experience; and

3) Learn something about your team

By that measure, Auburn's win over the Paladins was a success.

The Tigers escaped without major injury.

Second string quarterback Neil Caudle played extensively. Anthony Gulley showed his wheels, breaking loose for a long touchdown run. Heralded freshman receiver DeAngelo Benton made his first significant impact of the season, catching six passes for 88 yards. Receivers Tim Hawtorne, Emory Blake, and Derek Winter all made contributions.

The Tigers scored on six-of-seven first half possessions, each drive covering 50-plus yards, as they stacked up a 42-3 lead.

At the end of the day, Auburn got exactly what it needed out of a win over a clearly outmatched opponent.

The question is, what did the Tigers learn?

First and foremost, Auburn learned that it cannot turn the ball over. Furman scored 28 second half points, 14 of those set up by fumbles deep in Auburn territory.

A muffed punt return gave Furman the ball at the Tiger six early in the third quarter, highlighting nagging special teams' breakdowns that have plagued the team all season long.

Furman converted that gift, and then got another on the next series when the Tigers put the ball on the ground after a botched handoff exchange. The Paladins took over at the Auburn 37, and jammed the ball down the Tigers' throat.

The 42-3 halftime lead morphed to a less comfortable 42-17 difference before the returning fans had finished their halftime hot dogs.

The Tigers learned that Caudle can handle the position in a pinch. The oft-injured junior managed the position well in the first extended playing time of his career.

Caudle led three touchdown drives, all of which covered 60-plus yards. He was 10-12 passing for 115 yards. On the second touchdown drive, Caudle overcame a first-and-25 after back-to-back penalties.

Auburn learned that its special teams are still special in the bad way. Dropping a punt at the Auburn six is the kind of thing that will doom a team in SEC play. Auburn has no Furmans left on the rest of the schedule.

Auburn learned that its defense still has significant issues.

Justify it in any way you wish: Bad field position, players playing out of position, second and third string players in the game, defense was tired, depth, we've heard them all. Fact remains that Furman does not score 31 points on a quality defense.

The Paladins managed just 12 against Elon. Auburn's second, or third string defense can't compete with Elon? Samford, Pat Sullivan's tiny Samford team, held Furman to 24.

There's no excuse for a team of Furman's caliber to put up 31 points on an SEC team.

Even more disturbing, was the way the Paladins kicked Auburn in the grill on the first series of the game.

After hitting an underneath pass for 14 yards on the first play, the Paladins chewed up 66 yards in 12 plays, converting a 4th-and-2 at one point. It was distressing to watch what is essentially a hyped up junior varsity team abuse the Auburn defense.

After the first drive, the Tiger stopping unit settled in, and cut the Paladins off at the knees. Furman managed a total of eight yards the rest of the first half. Still, the opening drive backpedal is reason for pause.

Another reason for a minor sense of disquiet was the quarterback play. While Todd, and Caudle combined to complete 27-of-30 passes for a total of 273 yards, neither bothered to work through progressions. Both Todd, and Caudle locked on to a receiver at the snap, and waited for him to break free before delivering the ball.

At least once Todd forced a ball into triple coverage across the middle, while ignoring a wideout who had left his man cold, and was standing alone with no defender within 15 yards. The catch was made in traffic, but the play could have gone the distance with better field vision.

The singular focus was effective against a team that couldn't stick with Auburn's receivers one-on-one, but it won't have the same impact as the Tigers finish the SEC slate.

There is no more time for learning. Auburn closes out the season with traditional foes Georgia, and Alabama, and then a likely bowl game.

Furman was the last chance to work out the few remaining kinks before the season grinds into the home stretch.

There were lessons to be had in Saturday's lazy, sloppy, routine win. What Auburn does with the answers will be the key to exceeding expectations, and merely meeting them.

Why Auburn Will Pummel Furman; and Why Victoria Jackson Is Torn

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:20:48 -0500

The Furman Paladins couldn't have chosen a better time to slip onto the Auburn Tigers' football schedule.

Sandwiched between an emotional and cathartic win over Ole Miss and next week's grudge match against traditional rival Georgia, the Paladins lurk in easily overlooked ambush.

Furman sneaks in for Auburn's Homecoming at 4-4 with wins over Presbyterian, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Samford under their belts. Losses to Missouri, Appalachian State, Elon and The Citadel even out the slate.

The Paladins score a healthy 27.6 points and 151 yards rushing per game and could pose a threat to...

Oh, who are we kidding?

There is no real need to preview this game.

Auburn, on Homecoming, will turn the Paladins into an assortment of tin cans. Missouri bombed Furman 52-12 and that's about how Saturday afternoon will turn out.

Oh, but couldn't Furman catch Auburn napping, you ask? Sure. The starters probably will be napping on the sidelines in the third quarter as Tiger Heisman Trophy Winner Bo Jackson once famously did.

The only kind of nap the Tigers could take that would be enough to change the outcome of this game is a magical one like the evil queen put on Sleeping Beauty. Do you know any evil queens? Furman doesn't either.

With little substantive to consider in regard to the outcome of the game, attention turned to the trivial.

What is a Paladin, for instance? Is it a distant relative of the most attractive vice presidential nominee in American history? Sadly, no. There are no Palins in the Paladin family tree.

The Paladin were Knights of King Charlemagne's Court. They fought in the Crusades and were featured in fairy tales from that era. So far as can be ascertained, none of them wore glasses, wore their hair in a strategically messy "up-do" or ever made any references to "hockey moms."

Did you know that Charlemagne, King of the Franks and rival to the Byzantine Empire from 768 until his death in 814, could not write and likely could not read despite his efforts to promote learning, the arts, and culture in his kindgom? He slept with wax tablets under his pillow in his later years, perhaps hoping the words written there would seep through in his sleep.

Did you know the Paladins have about as much chance of besting Auburn on Saturday afternoon as Charlemagne did learning to read by sleeping on books?

Another question. Where is Furman? An unscientific poll of the first ten golfers encountered on a course in the middle of Mississippi yielded the following guesses: Iraq, Tennessee, Wyoming, Scotland, Canada, and Kentucky. Wrong on all counts.

Furman University is located in Edgefield South Carolina where it's been since 1826.

Steve Spurrier was surprised to learn this.

Earlier in the season, the Tigers roasted another cupcake, the Ball State Cardinals. At least the Cardinals had some outstanding alumni to profile. There was Papa John, David Letterman and Janet from Three's Company to name a few.

Furman? Not so much.

You've got Ben Browder, who's apparently an actor on Farscape. Has anybody ever seen that show?

What about Thomas Goldsmith, a physicist who helped pioneer color television? Thanks for that of course, but who invented HD? That's the question.

There's Sanskrit scholar Maurice Bloomfield. Yawn. How do you write "loss" in Sanskrit?

Of course current South Carolina governor Mark Sanford is a former Paladin, but how many "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" jokes can you make before it gets old?

Did you know Argentina is home to nearly 40 million people? None of them had ever heard of Furman either.

Beth Daniel, Betsy King, and Dottie Pepper are all Furman alumni. So the Paladins do turn out some quality athletes. But unless you're familiar with the LPGA, they might as well be Daniel Boone, Betsy Ross and Dr. Pepper.

In researching Furman history there was one figure who stood out, however.

Former Saturday Night Live star Victoria Jackson is a Furman alum, attending the school on a gymnastics scholarship.

She didn't stay a Paladin. After one year, Jackson transferred to Auburn.

She went on to meet Johnny Crawford, best known as the son of The Rifleman, whom she followed to California. There she embarked on an acting career.

She got her big break reciting poetry on the Johnny Carson show—while standing on her head. Twenty Carson appearances later, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live where she spent six seasons and was famous for impersonations of Cindy Brady and Sally Struthers.

Jackson had a moderately successful film career, most notably starring alongside Lea Thompson in the 1988 film Casual Sex?

She's done numerous guest shots on television series including Hollywood Squares, The X Files, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Perry Mason and Diagnosis Murder.

She's since become a conservative voice, speaking out against Democratic candidates in general and president Barack Obama, in particular, during the 2008 election. Her outspoken nature and celebrity status led to interviews on conservative talk shows like Hannity and Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor.

The question that begs an answer, however, is how Jackson will cheer on Saturday?

Attempts to contact Jackson this week were unsuccessful so we're left to guess to which side she'll fall.

Will she cheer for Furman because it was her first choice? Will she root for Auburn because it was her last?

Will she shout "War Eagle" or "Hail the White and Purple"?

Most importantly, will she do it while standing on her head?

Flag Wars: An Auto Anatomy of the Rivalry Between Auburn and Alabama

Kevin Strickland — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:27:43 -0500

The Monday afternoon following Auburn's loss to Kentucky, a caller to a regional sports radio show who identified himself as a proud supporter of the Tiger's rival Alabama Crimson Tide offered the following bit of snarkiness:

"Well at least one thing come out of Kentucky beating Aubren (apparently pronouncing Auburn in this manner is a speech impediment suffered by a vast majority of the Crimson Tide fanbase)," the caller opined.

"What's that?" the host lobbed the softball.

"Well, we won't have to see no more of them Aubren flags on the cars. I hadn't seen one since Saturday, heh, heh, heh."

The host, stirring the pot, chuckled along and launched a diatribe about the bandwagon nature of Auburn fans.

Granted the radio show in question caters to the absolute bottom of the barrel, the most crass, the least educated and worst mannered fragments of the respective Auburn and Alabama fanbases, but the caller's complete and total ignorance of the irony of his assertion is worth examination.

After a recent move from a town neighboring Tuscaloosa to another about four hours away, one of the primary benefits was escaping the cloying presence of Bama fans who made up the vast majority.

The difference was readily apparent. A car sporting a flag or magnet in the new locale was just as likely to support Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss or Tennessee as it was to pay homage to the Tide.

For a family that had been drowning in Crimson for years, it was a breath of fresh air.

All that changed about four weeks into the 2008 season. Where once you might have seen one or two Bama-bedecked vehicles, suddenly there were four or five.

By the end of the regular season, the number of Tide-tricked autos had multiplied like drunken tribbles.

At a redlight across from a South Alabama shopping mall in December, there were 37 easily observable pieces of Bama flair winking from the vehicles waiting on the change.

The mall parking lot looked like a houndstooth mushroom field, with flags popping up from car after car.

Fast foward to the Monday after the SEC Championship loss to Florida. Same redlight. Same approximate time. A solitary tattered Bama flag fluttered limply from the window of a truck. The remainder of the flags, magnets and stickers had been stored away.

The mall parking lot, still packed with Christmas shoppers, had seemingly been mowed. Where hundreds of flags once sprouted, not a single car flag was visible. It was like the flag rapture had come in the night.

There's no doubt that some chagrined Auburn fans stowed away their Tiger flags after the Kentucky Wildcats reduced the team to rubble, but that's hardly an Auburn-exclusive phenomenon.

How do you know when Alabama's winning? You can smell the mothballs in the air.

There is no greater rivalry in college football than that between Auburn and Alabama. None can match the passion, the sheer unadulterated hate, the rancor and ferocity the Tigers and Tide share. The only rivalry in all of sport that comes close is the ongoing feud between baseball's New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

What both Tiger and Tide fans miss, however, is that in reality their fanbases are not significantly dissimilar. They come from the same towns, shop in the same stores, go to the same schools, work shoulder to shoulder and (too often) intermarry.

Each group of fans earnestly believes it has moral superiority, that its fans are just a bit better than that other rabble. And they trust with all their hearts that the rest of the nation sees things exactly as they do.

Each has its claim to gridiron glory.

The Tide proudly tout twelve national championships.

Auburn fans scoff at the number, pointing out the dubious nature of most of the so-called titles. It's a valid argument. How can the Tide expect to be taken seriously when it claims a title in 1941, a year the team finished with two losses, was third in the SEC and ranked 20th in the AP poll?

Auburn takes the moral high ground noting that the Tigers could claim seven titles if they counted in the same manner as their rivals, but Auburn acknowledges just one.

The Tigers grandly point to a pair of Heisman Trophy winners in Bo Jackson (1985) and Pat Sullivan (1971).

Alabama fans snort, insisting that football is a team game and that 21 SEC titles trump any number of Heismans. Again, a valid argument. But don't kid yourself. Bama fans would love to have a Heisman winner to put in the books. It's why they foolishly try to argue that Shaun Alexander, a fine tailback, was on par with Auburn's Jackson, one of the greatest players in the history of the game. It's like comparing the Taco Bell Chihuahua to Cujo.

When you examine the two fanbases, however, you do find cultural differences.

The average Alabama fan is less likely to have attended the school than the average Auburn fan.

The reasons for this are myriad, but a primary factor is the prevalence of sidewalk legacy fans, people who support Alabama for no other reason than they were raised to do so by their parents, who were taught to do so by theirs.

Alabama's greatest era of football coincided with one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the state of Alabama.

During the 60s and early 70s, Alabama was doing what the rest of the state could not. The Tide won. Against a backdrop of simmering racial tensions and national scorn in the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement, the Alabama football team gave the rank and file working man of the state something to be proud of, a reason to hold his head up.

Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide showed the country that people in Alabama and by extension the South had more to offer than dogs and firehoses.

By winning on the football field and giving the residents of the state a reason to be hold their heads high, the Tide won the hearts and souls of people for whom there was little else to celebrate during a time of societal upheaval.

As he guided his teams to victory, Bryant was elevated to god-like status. Fandom became worship. His deification continues unabated.

Auburn fans respected Shug Jordan, who spent 25 years at the Tiger helm. They revere Pat Dye who rebuilt the program after it had declined. They admire Tommy Tuberville for his development of the program and successful ten-year tenure. But none of them are idolized in the way Alabama fans objectify Bryant.

You won't find Auburn fans flocking to purchase khaki porkpie hats like those favored by Jordan.

Conversely, you can't escape an abundance of houndstooth, the pattern identified with Bryant. Hats, dresses, shoes, sunglasses, underwear all sport the checked design.

You won't find an Auburn fan with a tattoo of Dye stretching across his entire back. The tattooed Bryant fan exists, as anyone who's ever watched a Tide pregame knows.

Recently, Bama fans rushed to stores to purchase straw hats when current head coach Nick Saban wore one to practice. If his success continues, there may one day be a giant straw hat sitting atop Bryant-Denny-Saban Stadium.

Tide fans mock Auburn as a "cow college" due to its agricultural beginnings.

Funny. Except there are more cows in Tuscaloosa County, which Alabama calls home, than there are in Lee County where Auburn resides.

Auburn fans deride Alabama fans as cousin-loving, tobacco-chawing, ill mannered rubes.

Funny. Stereotypes exist for a reason.

Alabama fans proudly boast of a nine-game winning streak over Auburn in the 1970s, an era of Tide dominance. Collectively, Tide fans believe it is their birthright to dominate lowly Auburn and for that matter the rest of the college football world.

They dismiss Auburn's recent six-game winning streak over the Tide on the basis that Alabama was on probation.

Auburn fans snicker at Alabama's claim of dominance. Yes, the Tide leads the overall series 39-33-1, but 19 of those wins came during the Bryant era. Remove that span from the mix and Auburn owns the series by a wide margin. Auburn won more before and has won more since Bryant was Alabama head coach.

Bryant retired from Alabama in 1982, nearly 30 years ago. Hard to claim dominance or superiority when you are sub-.500 against your rival for three decades.

Tiger backers also point out that much of the dominance during that span was accomplished when Auburn was on probation. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

None of that really matters in the long run.

Tomorrow morning Alabama and Auburn fans will wake up hating their rival just as much as they did when they went to sleep the night before. They'll refuse to wear crimson or orange or blue, depending on their allegiance. They'll believe every negative word about their rival while rejecting anything negative about their own team. They'll teach their children to carry the same permanent chip of loathing on their shoulder, often without knowing exactly why they hate their rivals, but just knowing that they do.

And when they retire for the night, they'll do so thanking the stars in heaven that they aren't a fan of that other school.

It's what keeps the rivalry thriving. It's what keeps the sports talk radio shows buzzing. Its what makes the Alabama and Auburn feud college football's best—even if fans of both schools occasionally hide their flags in despair.

Auburn 33, Ole Miss 20: Halloween, the Resurrection

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:16:27 -0500

The Auburn Tigers reached into their Halloween bag on Saturday afternoon and served up a heaping helping of tricks to the Ole Miss Rebels, knocking out the once and no time in the future number four team in the country 33-20.

Halloween was a fitting time for the Tigers to rise from the grave where they'd been planted after three straight abysmal performances and return to their previous slashing gory, err, glory.

The Ole Miss Rebels made the haunting day trek to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium with the same youthful recklessness that spurs on teens in any typical slasher film to revisit the scene of previous carnage.

Why not go have a fun-filled romp at Camp Crystal Lake? Go ahead and pull on the mask and go door-to-door in Haddonfield on Halloween. Trip on over to Jordan-Hare. You don't really believe the stories, do you?

If there ever was a boogeyman, he's long gone now. Nothing but mist and legend.

The kids from Kentucky, Arkansas and LSU saw to that, didn't they? They cut off his head, put chains around him, drowned him in the lake, and destroyed the monster.

They reduced the potent Tiger offensive machine to a box of clunking gears, stripped of its ability to churn out yardage.

Those meddling kids from Fayetteville, Baton Rouge and Lexington ripped the mask off the Auburn defense and exposed it to the harsh light of day, melting away whatever frights it might have held.

There is no grim mauler lurking in the shadows. Go ahead and ring the doorbell. Spread out the blanket at Camp Crystal Lake. Head on over to Jordan-Hare. There's nothing to fear. There are no demons. Everything's fine.

Right?

Like Jason Voorhees (or Freddie Krueger, or Michael Myers) just when you thought the Tigers were dead and buried, done in by some grisly past mayhem, they rose again, clawing up from the dirt, emerging from the lake, chains dripping, to unleash their particular brand of horror again.

Starring in the role of the trashy and provocative teen were the Rebels. As anyone who's ever watched a scary movie knows, its the girl who's fast and loose with her gifts who first gets the axe from the angry mauler.

When the Tigers emerged from the hole in which they'd been prematurely buried by most media (and many fans) they were angry and looking for blood. ESPN talking head Kirk Herbstreit, one of the few in the national media who had hailed the hiring of head coach Gene Chizik, went so far as to declare the Auburn program a "sinking ship" during his network's College Gameday.

Roused from their slumber, the Tigers sought revenge for past wrongs. Like the too-friendly teen who buys it early, the Rebels were fodder for that vengeance.

Everything that had gone wrong for Auburn in the three losses that nearly drove a stake through the heart of the season, went right on Saturday.

The penalties that had spooked Auburn drives and given new life to the opposition were largely exorcised against the Rebels.

After turning the ball over seven times in the previous three games, Auburn only surrendered one fumble on Saturday, that a frighteningly bad fourth-quarter Todd decision in the course of a 21-yard loss on third and twelve. Todd's gaffe gave the Rebels the ball and a jolt of energy at the Tiger 24-yard line.

The Todd drop came after Auburn had watched Ole Miss scratch back from a 31-7 hole and close to 33-20.

In any of the last three weeks, a costly mental error late in the game would have spelled doom for the Tigers.

Auburn's much maligned defense suffered down the stretch in each of the three losses, and a spirit-crushing turnover seemed poised to open the floodgates again.

Not this time.

A rushing play lost two yards. A sideline pass lost five more. Rebel quarterback Jevan Snead escaped on an 18-yard run to the Tiger 12, but what was that yellow thing lying on the ground? Penalty. Not on Auburn.

Holding on Ole Miss backed the Rebels up to the Auburn 39. Snead dropped back to pass on third down and was plowed under by Antonio Coleman for a six yard loss.

Out of field goal range, Ole Miss punted. And the Rebels were done.

The best numbers to come out of Saturday's defensive effort? 7-0-0. That's how many points Ole Miss scored in the first, second and fourth quarters respectively.

For the first time this season, Auburn rush was able to get pressure on an opposing quarterback and the results were obvious.

Dexter McCluster ripped off one long run, but you can't expect any defense to contain a back of his caliber for the entire game. He was going to get that.

Part of the defensive resurgence is due to the disruptive efforts of linebacker Eltoro Freeman. The transfer is still out of position occasionally and his mental lapses lead to big plays for the opposition, but he more than offset those negatives Saturday with his ball hawking presence.

Auburn's special teams still lacks spark. A failure to corral the Ole Miss kick returner after the Tigers built a 31-7 lead in the third allowed the Rebels to keep breathing a little longer than they might have otherwise.

In terms of improvement in all the things that had plagued the Tigers over the past three weeks, you couldn't really ask for much more.

The Auburn defense played its best game of the season, pressured Snead, forced turnovers, and added a score of its own.

Todd seemed more relaxed and, with the exception of the one fourth quarter meltdown, was in control of his game. He missed receivers early, but settled in and was significantly more efficient and poised as the game progressed.

The Tigers served tricks to the Rebels and treats to the fans who turned out early for the Navy Daymare.

Trick or treat is the theme for this Auburn team through nine games. When the Tigers are on, it's a real treat to watch them perform.

The Tigers aren't deep enough, experienced enough or polished enough to survive their own mistakes, however. When things don't go as planned, the snowball effect comes into play. One mistake leads to another and another and the next thing you know you're looking at a growing deficit on the scoreboard. When the negative roll starts, all the Tigers have in their bag is the trick of Charlie Brown's proverbial Halloween rock.

Auburn can't afford penalties. It can't afford turnovers. It can't stop itself.

The resurrected Tiger monster is again on the prowl. It dispatched the teen scream Rebels with relative ease.

Next week it will mow through a couple of bit players, leaving Furman body parts scattered through the scenery as it tromps toward the final showdown.

After that come the climactic scenes between the main protagonists, the chilling showdowns that cause fans to pack the theaters, err, stadium in droves.

The Tigers close out the regular season with traditional rivals Georgia and Alabama, sort of a Freddie vs. Jason vs. Michael extravaganza.

After Saturday's mauling of Ole Miss, it's practically impossible to predict how this film will end.

This much is certain. Despite some critical pans, director Gene Chizik has earned the right to helm the sequel for which there will be even greater anticipation.

Auburn vs. Ole Miss: Why The Rebels Will Rip The Tigers

Kevin Strickland — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:22:11 -0400

The Ole Miss Rebels have the one thing the ailing Auburn Tigers don't need to see as they attempt to rectify the issues that have helped plummet Auburn from an exhilarating 5-0 start to the confounding 5-3 record the team sports today: a strong defense.

On second thought make that a defense of any kind.

Over the last three weeks Auburn's offense has regressed. It flopped on the road at Arkansas, failed to generate any pop against a nondescript Kentucky defense and then went into a shell at LSU.

In the last eight quarters of football, Auburn has scored two offensive touchdowns and one of those was a meaningless garbage-time score in the waning seconds against LSU.

The Ole Miss defense the Tigers will face on Saturday is better than Kentucky's. It's better than LSU's. It's better than Arkansas'.

That's bad news for an offense that's lost its identity.

How far gone is the Auburn offense? It was pictured on milk cartons last week.

The Tiger defense, porous from the outset in 2009, continues to leak profusely.

Auburn's defense made struggling LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson look like a Heisman contender. By the time last season's media darling Jevan Snead of Ole Miss is through Saturday he'll be back in the Heisman conversation, too.

Auburn doesn't have the defense to shut down an improving Ole Miss offense. If the last three weeks are any indication, the Tigers don't have the offensive chutzpah to overpower the Rebel defense.

If the Tiger offense can yank its head out of its collective, well, you know what, then Auburn will have a puncher's chance against Ole Miss. That chance will still rest largely on the defense being able to unnerve Snead and force him into mistakes.

Based on prior experience, neither is likely.

Snead will have a career day picking apart the Auburn defense as it lays back in near prevent mode. He'll have enough time in the pocket to send a few Tweets, check his Facebook status, grill some hamburger,s and wait for the children of his receivers to grow up, graduate from high school, get recruited, get signed, and suit up for the Rebels.

Meanwhile the Auburn offense will complete nearly 70 percent of its passes if you count balls that are launched into the sidelines, balls that bounce eight feet in front of receivers, balls that sail into wide expanses of grass where no human is with in 20 yards and balls that are thrown to the opposition as completions.

Auburn's defensive issues are not new. They have been evident since the first game of the season if anyone had taken the time to look.

The Tigers' offensive decline is a fairly recent phenomenon.

The reasons behind Auburn's offensive implosion over the last three games have been hashed and rehashed ad nauseum.

Thousands of hours and gallons of virtual ink have been wasted as observers and analysts attempted to make sense of the complete reversal in offensive effectiveness.

How is it possible for the same team that abused a stout Tennessee defense for more than 400 yards to only manage 42 in the first half against a less accomplished LSU stopping unit?

The problem is that when you start trying to point fingers at the possible causes, you run out of hands pretty quickly.

Ineffective quarterback play? Check.

Tiger signal caller Chris Todd could hardly have played worse in the last three games. A blind marsupial would have been just as effective.

He's resurrected the hesitant, unsure mistake-prone Todd from 2008 and left the confident, accurate and effective Todd that emerged through five games in 2009 behind.

Not only has he failed to make the throws he routinely made over the first five weeks, but his decision-making has been questionable at best. He's contributed to fumbles and delay of game penalties. He's gone from being calm under pressure to panicking at the first sign of a rush.

There is rampant speculation that Todd re-injured his rehabilitated shoulder, but there has been no official or unofficial confirmation that he is, in fact, injured.

If Todd is ailing physically and unable to perform, he shouldn't be on the field. It's difficult to believe that backup Neil Caudle could perform any worse than Todd has to this point.

Fatigue? Check.

Auburn plays eleven straight weeks without a break. The fatigue justification loses some steam when you consider that over the last three weeks Auburn played better in the second half than it did the first.

Injury? Check.

In addition to the widely-rumored injury to Todd's throwing shoulder tailback Onterrio McCalebb tweaked an ankle in a poorly designed, poorly executed and poorly timed fake punt attempt.

The freshman who set rushing records in the first two weeks of the season hasn't been the same since. If you doubt that watch him dart for the sidelines and fail to pick up three or four open yards rather than taking a hit from a pursuing safety.

Lack of continuity? Check.

Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's offensive schemes are predicated on speed. When the Tigers are shuttling between regular quarterback Todd and designated 'wildcat' Kodi Burns, some of that is sacrificed. Both Todd and Burns suffer from a lack of continuity and have found it difficult to get into game rhythm.

No more surprises? Check.

Some of Auburn's early offensive success was based on the fact that teams weren't really sure what the Tigers were going to do. Five weeks of film in the can and most of the cats were out of the bag.

As Chizik himself noted, once you get four or five weeks into the season, you're not going to fool anybody. You've then got to out-execute the opposition. That isn't happening.

Auburn's offense has become stale, boring and completely predictable. Part of that is a lack of execution as when Todd fails to pull the trigger and misses open receivers.

Penalties? In bunches.

Penalties against Kentucky killed two critical drives. Flags against LSU slaughtered momentum.

The list is never ending.

The reality is that none of those simple explanations are sufficient to explain the utter and total collapse of the Auburn offense.

In truth, the offensive meltdown is likely a complex combination of all of the above plus a variety of other factors that haven't even been considered.

Therein lies the problem.

If you could pin the problems that have plagued the Auburn offense as it sought to regain the swagger that characterized the first five games on one thing, the coaching staff would have a better chance of resolving that issue and restoring the roar.

But it's not one thing. It's a little of everything. For that reason, the odds of resurrection are slim and the likelihood of another SEC beatdown are high.

Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs has dubbed Saturday's SEC showdown the "Navy Nightmare" and asked fans to wear blue instead of the current "All Auburn, All Orange" trend.

Unfortunately, that didn't even work out for Auburn. Auburn's recent slide caused the TV schedulers to look at other possibilities for the marquee games. Three weeks ago, this was an easy choice for one of the ESPN night starts. Now? The game kicks off before noon. It's not a night game, so the nightmare theme loses much of its punch.

If Auburn conjures up the ghost of the team that started 5-0, this could be an interesting match. If the Tigers play like the zombies they've been the last three weeks, it will be a Halloween nightmare on the Plains.

LSU 31, Auburn 10: Looking For Silver Linings in Loss

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:09:49 -0400

In the aftermath of another abysmal, soul-wrecking performance, the now 5-3 Auburn Tigers are searching for silver linings in some very dark clouds.

Let's get this out of the way. There is almost nothing positive to take from the 31-10 thrashing delivered by LSU Saturday night. Search if you will, but there are no silver linings. There are no bronze linings. There are no linings of any color, only clouds. Menacing clouds.

If there's any solace at all to be wrung from the shockingly bad display, it would be that career backup quarterback Neil Caudle came off the bench when the outcome was decided, played with enthusiasm and reckless abandon and made plays that neither starter Chris Todd or designated "wildcat" Kodi Burns have shown any recent capability of making.

If you're looking for some small glimmer of hope, tailback Ben Tate still runs the ball like he's on a mission. He picked up 76 yards on 18 carries...not nearly enough.

If you're trying to find that needle of encouragement in a haystack of despair, Mario Fannin acts like it means something to him. Unfortunately, Fannin doesn't get enough touches to make a major impact.

There's no getting around the simple fact that Auburn is a bad football team. What's worse is that the Tigers have steadily gotten worse as the season progressed.

The Bayou beatdown may have been the single worst effort by an Auburn football team in decades. It's definitely in the conversation.

Another writer recently chastised those who characterized Auburn's 5-0 start as a mirage, noting that a mirage, by definition, indicates seeing something that isn't there.

After the collapse in the last three weeks, mirage may be the most fitting term. Caught up in the relief of a 5-0 start, it was easy for hopeful Tiger fans to see things that weren't really there, while looking past the things that were staring them directly in the face.

Yes, Auburn is a bad football team. The Tigers were incredibly fortunate to reel off five wins to start the season. In retrospect, Auburn could easily have lost to both Tennessee and West Virginia. Luck has run out.

Good football teams do not bog themselves down with senseless penalties. A week after a series of absurd penalties in the fourth quarter killed what would likely have been a game-clinching drive and later an attempt to tie, Auburn was flagged seven times for 64 yards against LSU.

Three of those penalties, including two 15-yarders, came on LSU's opening drive, a scoring march that put Auburn in a hole from which it never recovered.

Penalties are a matter of discipline: something this Auburn team is suddenly lacking, and something that can be laid squarely at the feet of the coaching staff.

Good football teams do not turn the ball over. Two fumbles and an interception were costly against LSU.

Good football teams do not outcoach themselves. Too many times, the Tigers went away from what worked on offense in a doomed attempt to be cute or tricky. It isn't always necessary to operate from 15 different formations with nine variations of motion to get the job done.

Auburn's first possession of the game showed promise.

Two scrambles by Todd and a designed run from Burns moved the chains.

Running back Ben Tate ripped off a nine-yard blast to near midfield. On second down and one, Burns came back on and launched an awkward laser that had zero chance of being caught by Mario Fannin.

On third and one, a slow-developing handoff to Tate was stuffed for no gain.

In the confusion over whether to go for the first or punt, the Tigers were flagged for a false start.

Auburn punted and confidence wilted.

After LSU scored on the penalty-aided drive, the Tiger offense again failed to convert a third-and-one.

Confidence gone.

Good football teams do not finish with less than 100 yards in a half. Auburn managed a mere 42 yards in the first two quarters, six of that coming on the last play of the half.

It may be too early to declare that offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's system will not translate to SEC play, but if you can't write it in ink, you can definitely jot it down it in pencil.

Back in early September, head coach Gene Chizik cautioned about putting too much stock into Auburn's early effectiveness under Malzahn.

"Right now, its effective simply because there are some new things off of it that we can do," he said then. "After four or five weeks, now, you run out of things and you just got to execute better than the other guy."

Change Chizik's first name to Nostradamus. Week five opponent Tennessee slowed the Auburn offense drastically. Since then, it's gone nowhere.

Auburn certainly isn't executing better than the other guy.

You could make a compelling case that the five-win string aside, Auburn's offense under Malzahn is even less effective than it was under the heckled Tony Franklin.

His performance was considered so bad he was ejected from the program in mid-season and suffered the ignominy of the media snapping photos of him carting his belongings to his car after being summarily booted.

In Malzahn's apparent desire to get as many hands on the ball as he can, his overcoaching seems to drown continuity.

Auburn once estabilshed its reputation by handing the ball to its backs 30 or more times a game, relentlessly wearing out opposing defenses.

It worked for Carnell Williams, Rudi Johnson, James Joseph, Brent Fullwood, Kenny Irons, Bo Jackson, and a host of other Tiger backs.

Tate wants to carry the team. It might not be a bad idea to let him. It is readily apparent that Todd is incapable of doing so.

Good football teams do not choke against the worst defenses in the SEC and allow the worst offenses in the SEC to gash them.

Arkansas was among the worst in the league on defense when the Hogs abused the Tiger offense and rendered it completely impotent.

LSU was statistically one of the worst offenses in the SEC when it passed and ran with abandon over the Tiger stopping unit.

Auburn is simply a bad football team. There's no way to sugar-coat it.

Depth may be a valid issue, but depth isn't the problem on the first drive of the game. Depth doesn't commit ridiculous penalties that kill drives or extend those of the opponent.

During the three-game losing streak, the Tiger coaching staff seems to have no concept how to correct the issues that plague the team week after week.

The defensive schemes employed by coordinator Ted Roof are horrific. Receivers are given enormous cushions and are routinely wide open across the middle and on the corners.

Tackling fundamentals are poor and get worse week by week.

The Tennessee Volunteers under first-year coach Lane Kiffin may not make a bowl, but you can see the team gradually improving. Each outing is slightly better than the last.

Same for Mississippi State and new head coach Dan Mullen.

On the same day Auburn was being made to look like chumps against an overrated LSU team, Kiffin's Volunteers had a legitimate chance to knock off second-ranked Alabama and Mullen's Bulldogs kept top-ranked Florida on the ropes for three quarters.

Both the Vols and Dogs acquitted themselves far better than the Tigers.

Chizik is precariously close to losing the team as evidenced by the expressions captured on the sidelines in the fourth quarter.

Chizik adopted "Do What We Do" as the team's unofficial slogan. That was great when what the Tigers were doing was working.

What will Chizik do when doing what he does continues to fail? So far, he has no answer.

Auburn Vs. LSU: Why the Bengals Will Turn the Tigers Blue

Kevin Strickland — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:14:36 -0400

How the Auburn Tigers fare in Baton Rouge on Saturday night will depend on which Tiger offensive personality decides to show up.

Will the coldly confident executioners who gunned down West Virginia with relentless precision swagger in or will the frigid and insecure victims who failed to perform against Kentucky and Arkansas stumble out of the gate?

Unfortunately for Auburn fans, the most likely personality to appear is the latter. The defensive issues that plagued Auburn in two losses are unlikely to be significantly improved in a single week of practice.

Auburn's crisis of identity on offense highlights the fragility of its early success. If the Tigers couldn't regain the magic at home, coming off a frustrating loss against a weakened opponent it is too much to ask for it to recapture its strut at night in Baton Rouge?

LSU has shown vulnerability. The Bengals should have lost to Mississippi State, should have lost to Georgia and will probably lose multiple games down the stretch. Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama are all legitimate threats to dump LSU and give the Les Miles doubters additional ammunition. They're the least-deserving top-ten team in the country by far.

But Auburn, at this point in the season, doesn't appear to have the tools to take advantage of the weaknesses the Bengals have exhibited. If you'd asked two weeks ago, before the current evidence was in, the answer might have been decidedly different.

There are two ways to look at Auburn's current situation.

One is that the Tigers are 5-2, about where most expected them to be at this point in the season.

Before the season if you'd told Tiger fans that the team would be 5-2 with a road win under their belts heading into LSU week, most would have said they'd be satisfied with that result.

The other is that Auburn has not improved on defense and regressed on offense over the past three weeks. That’s not what you want to see, particularly when the failures came in games that should have been easily winnable.

The problem is not the overall picture, but the way Auburn reached the cumulative result.

If you judge the Tigers only by preseason expectations, then you’d have to be satisfied. But expectations should change as the situation does. Do you blindly accept a lack of defensive improvement and an offense pinwheeling backward based on where you expected the Tigers to be prior to the season or should you evaluate where Auburn is today relative to the capability it showed in its first five games? Depending on which approach you take, you end up with two very different perspectives.

In evaluating a team or a coaching staff, you should be looking for signs of improvement at the very least.

Right now, the Tigers simply aren't living up to that standard. The team has, if anything, regressed -- and regressed by a significant margin -- over the last two weeks.

Auburn burst out of the gate with a revitalized offense that allowed it to mask and ultimately overcome defensive deficiencies.

Quarterback Chris Todd and running backs Ben Tate and Onterrio McCalebb all set offensive records as the Tigers rolled through five games. The Tiger offense, moribund a year ago, seemed completely revitalized in racking up unprecedented numbers.

The first cracks began to show against Tennessee. Drives that had resulted in touchdowns the first four weeks of the season were stymied. Auburn scored enough to win, thanks to clutch field goals by Wes Byrum, but the offense was not quite the juggernaut it had been.

Most pardoned that performance, citing Tennessee's highly ranked defense as a legitimate justification.

Overlooked was a dreary defensive performance late in the game that saw the Tigers nearly squander a commanding lead.

Then came Arkansas and a hideous offensive debacle. The defensive issues which had been an afterthought as the Tiger offense racked up points and yards became glaringly obvious. When the Tiger offense sputtered, the defense was completely unable to provide any support.

It was a complete reversal of 2008. Through the first eight games of the season, the Tiger defense bailed out an anemic offense time after time before finally collapsing under the strain. Because of the defense, Auburn was competitive in every game but one in 2008. That same defense in 2009 cannot hold its own.

A week later against Kentucky the offense was no better. For three quarters the defense performed reasonably well, but when the offense failed time and time again to sustain, it simply ran out of gas and was dominated in a grisly fourth quarter collapse.

That brings us to LSU.

The Bayou Bengals have struggled offensively this season. Never fear. As every team from Ball State to Tennessee has learned, the best way to give your offense a boost is to play Auburn.

If LSU head coach Les Miles has anything going on beyond PlayStation-esque button pushing under that high hat of his, the Bengals will feed Auburn a steady diet of the pounding Charles Scott.

Scott, the SEC's top returning rusher from 2008, has yet to break 100 yards in a game this season. That will likely change on Saturday.

Auburn's defense also showed weakness in tackling smaller, shifty backs like Noel Devine from West Virginia. LSU's Trindon Holliday fits that mold and could give the Auburn stopping unit fits.

Against Kentucky, all Auburn had to do was shut down the run game and force a quarterback making his first start ever to make plays. The Tigers couldn't do that. LSU is no Kentucky. There’s no reason to expect Auburn to be able to handle the Bengals any better than they did the Mildcats.

If the Auburn defense continues its trend, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson won't have to throw often, which is a benefit for the Bengals.

Mix a pound of Scott with a dash of Holliday and wait for the Auburn defense to wilt like a hothouse flower in the fourth quarter. That’s the recipe for a Bayou Bengal win.

The LSU defense is faster, stronger and more athletic than any Auburn has faced. That does not bode well for an offense suddenly searching for its identity.

When the LSU offense failed to produce against Mississippi State, the Bengal defense stepped up and won the game.

That's something Auburn apparently doesn't have the capacity to do.

Rumor is the Bengals will tempt fate and not don their traditional white jerseys for a night home game. An off-hand comment by Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik that his Tigers "would wear their road whites" sparked a meltdown on LSU message boards consisting of page after page of explanation of NCAA and SEC jersey rules and speculation.

Regardless of what color LSU chooses to wear, the color of the night for Auburn fans will be blue.

Unless Auburn's offense magically resurrects itself, the Bengal ground game will wear down the Tiger defense and win it in the fourth quarter. Tiger fans will be blue as a 5-0 start degrades to a 5-3 skid.

Kentucky 21, Auburn 14: The Coronation Was Premature

Kevin Strickland — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:58:52 -0400

If you were one of the ones demanding apologies from anyone who had the audacity to doubt new Auburn head coach Gene Chizik after his Tigers surged to a 5-0 start, how do you like your crow?

If you were one of the ones penning sonnets to the genius of new Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, it's time to start singing a different tune.

If you were one of the ones marveling at the transformation of Auburn quarterback Chris Todd, further examination is now due.

Don't feel alone; nearly every observer of Auburn football got caught up to a degree in the blistering offensive pace of the 5-0 start. Glaring defensive deficiencies were overlooked, the relative level of competition was ignored.

It was just too easy to pick up stones and hurl them at former head coach Tommy Tuberville for his 2008 failures, while basking in the faux glow of a quick start to 2009.

Others may not be ready or willing to take this step just yet, but it's time to wonder if the 2009 Tigers are any better off than the 2008 version that crashed and burned to a 5-7 record.

Short answer? No. They're not. In some ways, this team may be worse.

Despite a five-win start, aided by six West Virginia turnovers, the Tigers are staring at the very real possibility of a 6-6 finish, particularly when you consider that the four toughest opponents on the schedule (LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama) remain.

Yes, with Furman looming for Homecoming chances are that this team will at least reach bowl eligibility, but is that really so much better than last season's abomination? No.

This Tiger defense is markedly worse.

Over the past two games, the offense hasn't been much better than the abysmal sludge that stunk up the 2008 campaign.

Auburn's defense played well in patches in Saturday's loss to Kentucky. It still missed far too many assignments and failed to make routine plays with the game on the line.

Kentucky started a freshman at quarterback who had never taken a collegiate snap. The Wildcats relied on a career backup in the second half. Still, Kentucky was able to smack the Auburn defense in the mouth.

There's no excuse for that.

Kentucky wasn't doing anything fancy. Auburn helped make the 'Cats look like beasts with shoddy fundamentals, dreadful tackling and repeated mental lapses.

It's nothing new.

The Tiger defense has a habit of doing that. The doomed no-pressure defensive scheme employed by defensive coordinator Ted Roof has given every team on the schedule, including Ball State, highlight reel material.

Through five games, Auburn's offense was able to hide those deficiencies by scoring points in bunches.

Points are no longer coming.

After authoring a comeback story that had begun to draw national attention, quarterback Chris Todd reverted to playing like something a lactose-intolerant cat sicked up on the carpet after digging pizza out of the garbage can.

His performance against Kentucky was reminiscent of some of his worst efforts a year ago.

Todd missed open receivers, continually fired into double coverage, underthrew receivers, overthrew receivers and played with all the finesse of Pinocchio—before he was turned into a real boy.

Todd wasn't alone in committing offensive suicide.

Twice, Auburn drives in Kentucky territory were bogged down by asinine penalties, the kind of repetitive mistakes you'd expect from a pee-wee team.

The offensive line dragged around like it had somewhere better to be.

Mario Fannin, a legitimate offensive threat, was misused.

How in two short weeks the supposed Tiger offensive juggernaut turned into the Hindenburg is a mystery. Oh, the humanity.

Malzahn's stock has crashed harder than Wachovia's portfolio. That wizard hat he was wearing after an offense-fueled 5-0 start has looked an awful lot like a dunce cap the last two weeks.

With the exception of some hard-nosed running by senior tailback Ben Tate, Auburn's offense was at least as ineffective as a year ago. It wasn't clever; it wasn't cute; it wasn't innovative.

It was, instead, predictable, plodding, and pedestrian.

The playcalling, particularly in critical situations, would have made even Tony Franklin sputter in disbelief.

It looked, quite frankly, like a high school offensive coordinator suddenly realizing he was in over his head.

Is it possible that former Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt was actually right when he wrested control of the Hog offense from Malzahn midway through Malzahn's one-season tenure with the Razorbacks?

Auburn's wunderkind coordinator Malzahn has been outmaneuvered by two middle of the pack SEC lambs in Arkansas and Kentucky. Both the 'Hogs and 'Cats were winless in the league before facing Auburn.

It's gruesome to think what feast the lions remaining on Auburn's schedule will have at the Tiger's expense if Malzahn isn't able to conjure up something more effective than the gory mishmash he's gagged out the past two weeks.

What happened Saturday night was a fail of epic proportions. A slight improvement by the defense—but again remember that Kentucky was playing without its starting quarterback—was completely squandered by a dreadful offense.

Auburn is not a good football team by SEC standards.

There are some legitimate excuses regarding talent and depth, but much of what happened on Saturday can be directly attributed to poor coaching. No offense to Kentucky fans, but Auburn should not lose to Kentucky at home. Period.

The Arkansas loss was supposed to be a learning situation. Maybe what Auburn learned is that it just isn't as good as the fast start indicated.

After last season went off the rails, Auburn made wholesale changes.

A ten-year veteran with a proven track record was forced out. An entirely new coaching staff was brought in. Through seven games, the Tigers are no better off than they were a year ago.

In fact, they may be even worse.

Auburn-Kentucky: Why the Tigers Will Claw the 'Cats

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:29:13 -0400

A week after being punched in the face and abused like a nerd at a biker convention by the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Auburn Tigers have the opportunity to show the college football world how this team and its new coaching staff respond to adversity when the Kentucky Wildcats come calling Saturday night.

Will Auburn of 2009 self destruct and allow the miasma of the Arkansas loss to pollute the remainder of the season? A loss to Vanderbilt in 2008 set in motion a chain of events that led to infighting, turmoil, midseason firings, and the first non-bowl season for the Tigers in a decade.

Or will the Tigers rebound, recover some of the offensive swagger that marked the first four games of the season and begin to find some defensive identity?

In the wake of the Arkansas debacle, Tigers' coaches and players circled the wagons and said all the right things. Practice would be tougher, focus would be more intense. The loss was a learning experience and would only serve to unite the team.

If all the talk doesn't translate to action on a cool Saturday night in Jordan Hare; if the Tigers don't get up off the mat and donkey punch Kentucky; if the Wildcats somehow defy their 12-point Vegas spread and walk away a winner you can forget about circling the wagons. It will be time to set them on fire.

Auburn's 5-0 start was somewhat of a mirage. It was a way-far—like one of those women who look really good from way far away. And then you get up close and wonder what the heck you could have been thinking.

Now we see what she really looks like. A mediocre Arkansas team shined a halogen-bright spotlight on Auburn's deficiencies.

The often-abused Razorback defense looked like Chuck Norris against an Auburn offense that seemed determined to pour gasoline on itself and light the match. Four fumbles that led directly to 17 Arkansas points were fatal.

The much-maligned Auburn defense displayed in both execution and scheme that all the maligning was justified. When children yet to be born are screaming from the womb "get some pressure on Mallet" it's pretty obvious that there was a defensive disconnect.

The book on Arkansas is pretty simple. Make Mallet move, and the Hog offense struggles. Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof opted to rush three or four and let Mallett have time to make a ham sandwich in the pocket. Fail.

The plan against Arkansas was a little different from what Auburn had done in five prior efforts. Maybe it's time to rethink the laid-back approach. Is it better to occasionally give up a big play because you're bringing too much heat or to die a thousand dinky and dunky deaths?

Laying back worked against West Virginia's inexperienced and athletic quarterback. It worked against Tennessee's Jonathan Crompton who for three quarters couldn't have completed a pass if he were throwing rolls of hundred dollar bills and the receivers were carrying fishing nets. It failed in epic fashion against Arkansas and the efficient Mallett.

The keep-it all-in-front-of-you approach is unlikely to provide positive results against LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Alabama, all of whom dot Auburn's October and November dance card.

That slate is why getting off the floor, fixing what needs to be fixed and drop-kicking Kentucky is so vital to Auburn's season.

Sure, Auburn will get bowl eligible with an expected win over Furman. After the 5-0 open to 2009, just making a bowl can't help but feel like a letdown. The key to differentiating between middling mediocrity and a clear sign of revitalization under Chizik comes Saturday.

Forget the stats. Forget the numbers. Kentucky is a team Auburn has to beat.

It won't be easy. Kentucky's Rich Brooks is a seasoned veteran at the coaching game. The Wildcats are physical and won't be easily intimidated.

Kentucky is 0-3 in the SEC, 2-3 overall. Auburn is 5-1, 2-1. Depending on who you listen to, oddsmakers installed Auburn as the favorite by 11 to 12 points.

Don't be fooled.

Kentucky's three losses came to top ranked Florida, third-ranked Alabama (both undefeated), and 22nd ranked South Carolina (5-1).

Even against that slate, the Wildcats average 25 points and 167 yards rushing per game. The balanced Kentucky offense also averages 167 yards through the air per game.

South Carolina barely escaped at home, edging Kentucky 28-26. The Wildcats drilled Alabama's formidable defense for 20 points, piling up over 300 yards in the process.

An injury to starting quarterback Mike Hartline last week will change the dynamic.

Hartline had thrown for nearly 800 yards and six touchdowns on the year before he went down with a knee injury. He will not play against Auburn.

There was no official word as of Thursday regarding who Kentucky would call on to replace Hartline.

Junior Will Fidler came in for Hartline against South Carolina but was just 2-for-8. The Wildcats could move leading wide receiver Randall Cobb to the quarterback slot, but that move would significantly limit the overall effectiveness of the offense by eliminating the team's biggest pass-catching threat. True freshman Morgan Newton is a third possibility.

Regardless of who the Wildcats elect to put under center, it will be his first ever start at the position.

Are you listening Ted Roof? Please turn off the latest KISS CD, "Sonic Boom" (available exclusively at Wal Mart) that's rocking in your headset, and pay attention.

Listen closely.

Kentucky's quarterback will be making his first ever start. He'll do so in one of the toughest places to play in the SEC. The last thing you want to do is lay back in coverage, rush three, and allow him to get comfortable.

You'll have a second-string quarterback who was second string for a reason, a true freshman who needed a redshirt season, or a receiver who used to be a quarterback and will run the Wildcat staring at your defense across the line of scrimmage. You'll have 87,000 fans trying to get into his head. Do not waste that opportunity. Turn the defense loose and let it make plays.

Auburn's offense should be able to put points on the board. It's time for the defense to take care of business. Take the chains off and let the Tiger defense do what it's traditionally done best—get after somebody.

Auburn's 5-0 start may be a mirage. So too could be Kentucky's 2-3 start. If the schedules were reversed, odds are that the records would be as well.

If Auburn's upswing is legitimate, the Tigers will rebound from a disjointed performance at Arkansas and wear down the Wildcats at home. If the 5-0 start was nothing but smoke and mirrors, Auburn is in for another rude awakening.

Faith remains for another week that the Tigers are, if not for real, at least wandering through the real neighborhood and checking out the houses.

The Tigers will send Kentucky to a very misleading 0-4 in the SEC and become bowl eligible to boot.

Arkansas 44 Auburn 23: The Roof Caved In

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:34:22 -0400

About 1:30 Saturday afternoon, Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs slipped into the relative privacy of a stall in the restroom of the pressbox at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville and punched numbers into his cell phone. When the call connected, Jacobs barked orders in an urgent whisper:

"Tell the sculptor to hold off on that statue of me and Gene Chizik. What? I don't care if he's 90% done with it, tell him to put a hold on it, we're not putting it out in front of the stadium just yet."

For the past two-and-a-half hours, Jacobs watched as the Arkansas Razorbacks served a healthy dose of 44-23 humility to the Auburn football program.

Some Auburn fans who booed Jacobs after he hired 5-19 Chizik to coach the Tiger football program had changed their tune after a 5-0 start to 2009. Lost in the rush to celebrate the resurgence and issue calls for the college football world to apologize for thinking Chizik didn’t have the credentials to handle the task was the fact that Auburn’s first five games were, if not cupcakes, at least in the pastry family.

Arkansas served notice that while the rush to judge Chizik’s 5-19 record might have been premature, so, too was the urge to wave the 5-0 start as a definitive case for proving the skeptics wrong.

It wasn't just that Auburn suffered its first loss under new head coach Chizik, it was the way in which the Hogs administered the reality check.

When you're playing on the road in the SEC, there is a checklist to follow, otherwise you're going to get embarrassed.

1) Don't turn the ball over

Fail. Auburn did. The Tigers fumbled four times, losing three. All four were devastating. Arkansas scored 17 points following Auburn turnovers.

In the second quarter, after Arkansas had gone up 13-0, Mario Fannin fumbled the kickoff at the Tiger 35. Three plays later, the deficit was 20.

In the third, trailing 27-3, Auburn's opening possession churned deep into Arkansas territory. Running back Ben Tate dropped a handoff at the Arkansas goal line when he would have scored easily. The Razorbacks recovered, hit a 38-yard pass on third down and went on to up the advantage to 34-3.

After Auburn clawed back into the game, reeling off 20 -7 run to close to 41-23, Tiger quarterback Chris Todd fumbled the snap on 4th-and-inches. He recovered the ball, but failed to convert the first down. Arkansas didn't score, but the Razorbacks were able to bleed two minutes off the clock.

On the following possession, Todd was sacked and coughed up the ball at the Tiger 10-yard line. Arkansas punched a field goal through to push the final score to 44-23.

2) Don't give up big plays on special teams

Fail. Auburn did.

Fannin fumbled the kickoff, leading to one Arkansas score.

After Auburn had gained momentum and closed the deficit to a manageable 34-23, the Tigers surrendered a 70-yard kickoff return. Eight plays later, it was 41-23.

3) Sustain drives on offense

Fail. Auburn didn't.

The Tigers were a miserable 4-of-14 on third downs. Auburn only had three drives that consisted of more than five plays. Five of Auburn's 14 possessions ended in three plays or less.

4) Keep the opposing offense off the field

Fail. Auburn didn't.

Arkansas put together a 12-play drive, a 10-play march, and two eight-play series. The Hogs went three and out just three times.

5) Don't commit penalties

Fail. Auburn did.

The Tigers were flagged eight times for 56 yards, nearly every step-off coming at the worst possible time. Arkansas got six first downs by way of penalty.

Four of Arkansas' six touchdown drives were extended by penalty. All four featured at least one pass interference call, some of which were phantom but flagged nonetheless.

Everything that could go wrong for the Tigers did go wrong. The team was uninspired, unemotional, and ill-prepared. That's coaching.

Those of you baking dishes of crow and demanding apologies from those who had the audacity to criticize the once 5-0 Tiger head coach Chizik? Better wrap that crow up tightly in tinfoil and put it in the freezer. Doesn't look like you'll be getting to serve it for a while. Better dig out your reality recipes instead.

Auburn's defense is simply abysmal. Depth is a consideration, but not enough to justify what the Razorbacks exposed on Saturday. You can't blame depth when the first string is getting abused on the opening series of the game.

Chizik's reputation as a defensive genius was tarnished by the steady decline of his defenses at Iowa State. Through five games, Auburn's defense has been horror-movie frightening, but a steady Tiger dose of offense was able to mask the issues.

When the offense struggles, as it did against Arkansas, the deficiencies are there for all to see—and mock.

If you watched film on Arkansas, you knew the way to defuse the Razorback offense was to bring pressure on quarterback Ryan Mallet. Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof must have been watching reruns of Gomer Pyle, USMC in the film room instead.

The Tigers brought zero heat, never rushing more than four and often sending only three. As any eight-year old could predict, the result was Mallett torching the Tiger secondary.

Eight different Hogs caught Mallett passes for a total of 274 yards.

The lack of pressure also opened holes for Arkansas running backs, who generally weren't touched until they reached the second level of Tiger defense, three or more yards down the field.

Arkansas rushed for 221total yards, with Michael Smith busting 145 of that.

It wasn't just that Arkansas put points on the board, it was the ease with which the damage was done that was alarming.

Let's be brutally honest. Every team Auburn has played so far, including Ball State, has abused the Auburn defense at some point. The Tiger stopping unit has yet to play well enough to win a game, but the offense until Saturday was able to compensate.

Ah, the offense.

How do you explain the debacle that was Saturday? How does one of the nation's best offenses (statistically) get punked by one of the nation's worst defenses (statistically)?

First, blame the defense. Your gameplan changes when the hole keeps getting bigger and bigger.

That's not the whole story, though.

Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn appeared to have outcoached himself. Could it be that he wanted to win so badly on the field of his former employer that he allowed that primal urge to overcome the basic concepts that could have changed the game?

Something was decidedly different.

Auburn scored on a few quick-strike runs in the third quarter, but the Tiger offense was never able to sustain anything on a consistent basis. Auburn was out of sync from the start.

After Todd took the initial snap of the game and lost two yards on a screen pass, Kodi Burns took the offensive reins. Auburn fans have seen that movie before. It didn't have a happy ending.

Scramble, incomplete, punt.

The next time the Tigers got the ball, Auburn was down six points.

False start penalties plagued the next two Auburn possessions and Todd overthrew a wide open Terrell Zachary for what could have been an easy touchdown.

Opportunity to change the dynamic of the game missed.

Auburn's defense did a fairly effective job of containing the Hogs after the opening series. But as the Tiger offense continued to sputter and waste opportunities, the seams began to crack.

After the third consecutive Tiger possession went nowhere, Auburn had a chance to get Arkansas off the field again, but a third down stop was nullified by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Zac Etheridge who forgot the cardinal rule: He who retaliates for getting punched in the face is the one who gets flagged.

A ticky pass interference call one play later moved the ball 15 more yards and the Hogs put it in the end zone.

Fannin fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the dam broke.

The Tiger offense tried trickery when it should have simply punched the Hogs in the face. It tried to be things it isn't, as when Todd went under center on a fourth and short and was unable to handle the snap.

It never established a rhythm, never found a groove and allowed a relatively pedestrian defense to slap it around like a crying dirty diaper baby at Wal Mart.

Chizik, the king of platitudes, will likely repeat one of his standard phrases to try to put the loss in perspective.

Look for this comment from Chizik: "It's never as good as it seems and it's never as bad as it seems."

Or maybe he'll trot out the "Every Saturday is different" cliche.

Regardless of which phrase he plucks from Trite Sayings for Coaches Vol. 1 there's really no excuse for what transpired Saturday.

Auburn did a lot of the damage to itself. It made a bad team look like a world beater.

The question for the Tigers now is how to respond. Put the 5-0 start away. What Chizik does in his next six opportunities will more clearly define whether an apology from the doubters is warranted.

Things weren't as bad as they seemed. Every Saturday is different. If the Tigers don't learn from this and find some way to rectify the problems exposed by an Arkansas team that, frankly, isn't nearly as good as Auburn made them look there are going to be a lot of Saturdays down the road that seem the same—and just as bad.

Auburn-Arkansas: Why the Tigers Will Rein in the Razorbacks

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:48:14 -0400

Will tomorrow's early morning start be a wake-up call for the resurgent Auburn Tigers, or will the Arkansas Razorbacks hit the snooze button on another SEC season?

All signs point to a high noon (well, high 11ish at least) wild SEC West shootout. When the dust clears in the streets of Fayetteville tomorrow afternoon, one gunslinger will put a sixth notch on his pistol while the other crumples to a fatal 0-3 league sprawl.

Auburn will dodge the Mallet bullets, and utilize the Gatling gun, Gus Malzahn-directed offensive arsenal of Chris Todd, Ben Tate, Onterrio McCalebb, Darvin Adams, Mario Fannin, Tommy Trott, and Terrell Zachary to shoot down the hopes of the 'Hogs.

If you listen really closely right now you can hear the squealing. "What about Arkansas' offense," it goes. "We don't just have Mallett. What about Joe Adams, Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, and Michael Smith? We can score too!"

Yes, Hog fans, you do have those weapons. Arkansas has scored points in bunches this season.

Here's the rub. Arkansas has only faced one SEC-level defense so far this season: Alabama. How did the Razorbacks fare against the Tide? Seven points.

Mallet threw 41 passes and completed only 16 for 191 yards. As a team, Arkansas rushed for a meager 63 yards.

Nobody's saying the Auburn defense is akin to the 17th Annual Crimson Tide "As Good as 1992" defense. It's probably not in the same neighborhood at this point.

Auburn is in the SEC, however. Despite some obvious flaws and some busted assignments, the Tiger stopping unit is better than any of the rest of the teams Arkansas has played to this point.

Texas A&M on whom the 'Hogs dumped 47 points? The Aggies are 75th in the country in total defense despite having played only New Mexico State, Utah State, and UAB before venturing to Arkansas.

Here's another eye opener. Utah State punished A&M, racking up 521 total yards on the Aggies. USU rolled up 334 of those through the air. It makes Mallett's highlight-filled day against A&M just a little less impressive.

Georgia's 64th in the nation in total defense. Missouri State? Well, they're 1-AA.

The other problem is that the Razorbacks are one-dimensional. Through four games, against highly suspect competition, the 'Hogs have failed to establish any rushing game to speak of. As a team, Arkansas has a total of just over 500 yards.

The 'Hogs rushed for 155 total yards against Georgia, 63 against Alabama, and 163 against Texas A&M.

When you look at it like that, Arkansas' offense isn't quite as frightening.

If Auburn's defense stops the run game and puts even limited pressure on Mallett, it could be a long afternoon for the 'Hogs. Conversely, if the Tigers opt not to pressure Mallett and give him ample time to stand in the pocket, he does have the capacity to pick the secondary apart.

As criticized as the Auburn defense has been, and the Tigers have suffered their share of slings and arrows, it is ranked higher than any defense (other than Alabama) Arkansas has faced this season. The Tigers weigh in at 53rd.

Auburn will contain Arkansas, not stop them completely.

The question then becomes how the Tiger offense will fare against the Arkansas defense.

That's when the shooting starts.

The 'Hogs are currently ranked 97th in total defense. Only one team on Auburn's schedule to this point is ranked lower—Ball State, a team the Tigers torched for 54 points.

Arkansas has not stopped anyone this season. The 'Hogs have barely slowed them down. Texas A&M racked up 484 yards. Georgia posted 530. Alabama rolled for 425.

None of those teams have the offensive firepower Auburn has shown through four games.

Auburn trucked Tennessee for 459 yards in a game that was significantly more lopsided than the final score reflected. Tennessee was in the top 10 in the nation defensively at the time the Tigers plowed through the Vols.

Auburn enters Saturday's showdown ranked second in the nation in scoring offense, behind Texas. The Tigers are fifth in total offense.

A balanced attack is at the core of Malzah's offense. Auburn split almost dead even at Tennessee, rushing for 224 and passing for 235.

Malzahn has also shown he isn't afraid to play to what the defense gives him. When West Virginia sold out to stop the run, Malzahn called on Todd who lit up the Mountaineers for 300 yards and four touchdowns.

If the Razorbacks stuff the box to deny Tate and McCalebb, Todd has proven he has the tools to move the ball through the air.

There's also this to consider.

Arkansas native Malzahn spent one controversy-filled season on the Razorback sideline.

Hired by Houston Nutt to implement his innovative offense but never fully given the reins, Malzahn departed for Tulsa. The split was acrimonious, divided the fanbase, and may have helped hasten Nutt's own departure from Arkansas a year later. Nutt's critics note that Malzahn's single season was the only 10-win campaign of Nutt's Arkansas tenure.

Malzahn returned to his old stomping grounds last season as a member of the Golden Hurricane staff last season.

His Conference USA Tulsa squad posted 23 points and more than 500 yards of offense but was unable to take down his former employers. Arkansas prevailed 30-23.

The Golden Hurricanes had the ball at the Arkansas seven late in the game when a failed fourth down attempt derailed their bid to tie.

Malzahn has many more weapons at his disposal as offensive coordinator at Auburn than he did at Tulsa. He's shown he knows how to use them.

Against Auburn's defense, the Razorbacks will score. Against Arkansas' defense, Malzahn's Tigers will score more.

When the guns stop blazing on Saturday, Auburn will holster its pistol, wipe its brow, and take a long swig from the 6-0 flask.

Enjoy the moment. There are bigger and badder hombres kicking up dust on the horizon.

If Heisman Campaigns Were Fast-Food Franchises

Kevin Strickland — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:24:25 -0400

What if Heisman campaigns were fast-food franchises? Who'd have the best fries? Who would serve the frostiest shake?

Let's take a look at a few of the front-runners.

Tim Tebow = McDonald's

When you say fast food, your mind immediately thinks McDonald's. Try it. Fill in the following: (_blank_) hamburgers. How many of you said McDonald's? That's right.

Now do the same thing with the following: Heisman Trophy winner (_blank_). Raise your hand if Florida's Tim Tebow filled the blank. Yes, even you in the back, the Georgia fan. Put your hand all the way up.

Tebow is the face of the trophy. He is hailed as one of the best ever to play the college game, expected to guide his Gators to the third BCS title game in his four years in Gainesville.

He is the standard by which all others are judged. So is McDonald's.

So maybe the food isn't really all that special. So maybe McDonalds doesn't really do anything exceptionally well. It's still the king and will likely remain so.

Colt McCoy = Burger King

Burger King aspires to be McDonald's. Mickey D's has Ronald. BK rolled out the creepy King. Hamburgers at Burger King, particularly the Whopper, have an overall better taste than McDonald's.

Unfortunately, Burger King fries taste like fried Crisco sticks. McDonald's owns the fry business.

Given the choice of a good burger and nasty fries or a mediocre burger and superior fries, people will often choose the latter because the overall experience is superior.

Burger King burgers aren't good enough on their own to overcome the stank of the fries. Similarly, Tebow separates himself from Texas quarterback McCoy because he can run the ball like a bull.

McCoy is not a significant running threat. Like Burger King, McCoy does one thing really well, but he doesn't have the total package. He needs better fries.

Sam Bradford = Kenny Rogers Roasters

Remember Kenny Rogers Roasters? That was some good chicken. It was so good Seinfeld devoted an episode to Kramer's KRR addiction.

Tender roasted chicken and a cornucopia of sides including mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, pasta salad, and more made a delicious meal. Throw in a cake of sweet cornbread and a Kenny Rogers meal transcended fast food.

Unfortunately, Kenny Rogers is closed. If it were to reopen, maybe people would remember again just how good it was.

Oklahoma quarterback Bradford was good. Then he was injured against BYU. He's been shut down since. Maybe when he does come back, people will remember again why he won a Heisman Trophy last year.

Now if we could just get Kenny to spend less money on plastic surgery and more on restaurant revitalization.

Jimmy Clausen = Sonic

Everybody tries to tell you Sonic is good. Drive-in restaurants were all the rage in the '50s. So you go. And the food is, well, it's just average.

The burgers aren't as good as the King's. The fries aren't as good as McDonald's. You look around and realize you're eating in the utter discomfort and awkwardness of your own car. If you had nothing else to which to compare it, maybe Sonic would hit the spot. There are other choices.

Everybody tries to tell you Notre Dame quarterback Clausen is good, too. He's put up some decent numbers against some ridiculously suspect competition.

The Irish were all the rage back in the leather helmet days and the Golden Domers have been living off those dusty memories longer than Alabama fans have been groveling at the altar of the Bear. Drive-ins were super keen when Richie Cunningham was bopping to Wolfman Jack's AM radio show. Other than nostalgia, what do drive ins and the Irish really have to contribute over the last several decades?

Flashy neon signs and some cool commercials don't make your food any better. Just because you play for Notre Dame and don't stink up the field doesn't mean you're an automatic Heisman candidate.

Lou Holtz? You can sit down now.

Eric Berry = Whataburger

Whataburger has an orange logo and makes burgers that cause heartburn just from looking at them. Tennessee safety Eric Berry wears orange and causes occasional heartburn to opposing offenses.

When you're ticking off the list of possible places to eat, you have to go a long way down the list before you find yourself thinking Whataburger.

It takes even longer to get to Berry on the list of Heisman hopefuls.

Tony Pike = Chick-Fil-A

Nobody does a chicken sandwich better than Chick Fil A. Nobody. But that's all they do. If you want a burger you're out of luck.

Chick Fil A is a smaller franchise, not as well known nationwide as, say, McDonald's or Burger King.

Cincinnati's Tony Pike throws the ball well. Very well. But he plays for Cincinnati. He may be the best passer out there, but he's not going to overtake the bigger franchises who do a little more.

Jacory Harris = Fire House Subs

Hey, where'd they come from? Didn't Subway and Quiznos have the sub sandwich market covered? Who is this upstart?

Firehouse is tasty. The combinations are good. It takes a little from Subway and a little from Quiznos, adds its own twists and outdoes both. Firehouse isn't ready to take on the masters of the sandwich domain just yet, but it has a winning formula and could push hard enough to make the front runners uncomfortable eventually.

Sophomore Miami quarterback Harris has a good combination of running, passing, and smarts. He's not ready for the Heisman spotlight yet, but could be one to watch in the future.

Greg McElroy = Roly Poly Wraps

People who love Roly Poly wraps rave about them. Incessantly. Most of the rest of the fast-food eating world really doesn't care.

Alabama fans seriously consider their quarterback McElroy to be a Heisman darkhorse. His exploits are celebrated here and on Alabama blogs incessantly.

While they'd never admit it, Bama fans would love to have a Heisman winner. It sticks in their craw that there has never been one to hail from Tuscaloosa.

It's why every year at this time you hear two things: "As good as the 1992 defense.." and "Tyler Watts/Brodie Croyle/John Parker Wilson/Jay Barker/David Smith/etc. should be a Heisman contender."

Roly Poly isn't really fast food. McElroy isn't really in the Heisman conversation.

Chris Todd = Jack's Hamburgers

Okay, so Auburn's Chris Todd isn't on anybody's list of Heisman candidates. But if McElroy is mentioned, so too should Todd be mentioned.

The once-maligned Tiger signal caller is among the league leaders in yards and efficiency. Against competition that's comparable and in most cases superior to McElroy, Todd has better numbers.

When it comes to fast food, Jack's makes a better burger than Sonic. Their distinctive fries are better than Burger King. Even their chicken is good.

Why don't you know about Jack's? Because it's a regional chain. Few outside the South know about it.

Same with Todd. He was so ineffective during an injury-addled 2008 that most outside (and many inside) the Auburn core wrote him off.

Through five games, though, his stats match up well with anybody on the Heisman bubble. His team is also 5-0.

Hungry yet?

Auburn's Ben Tate sends Heisman Hopes of Tennessee's Eric Berry Skidding

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:22:39 -0400

Eric Berry for Heisman? Sorry, but no.

Auburn running back Ben Tate derailed that fleeting notion when he lowered his shoulder in the third quarter of the Tigers' 26-22 Saturday win over the Vols and flung the Tennessee safety through the air like a rag doll.

Heisman Trophy candidates do not fly backward through the air for five full yards and hit the ground so hard they dig a trench with their butt. That's what happened when Tate rammed Berry. The Tennessee safety looked like Superman running in reverse. If Superman started his flight flat on his back with a confused look on his face.

It should be noted that Tate kept his feet and picked up eight more yards after turning Berry into a flopping chew toy.

While Tate took Berry out of the Heisman conversation, Lane Kiffin is the one who put him in it.

Kiffin's Tennessee Volunteers are desperate for attention. Kiffin subscribes to the notion that any attention, even bad, is still attention. Kiffin will say and do anything to get the spotlight to shine on his Vols.

Substance? Who cares. Kiffin is the Paris Hilton of coaches.

Despite his rocky tenure with the Oakland Raiders, he bought into at least one facet of the philosophy of crusty owner Al Davis. If people are talking about you, that means you're on their minds.

As part of that craving for attention, Kiffin endorsed a Berry for Heisman marketing campaign.

There's a website (www.berry4heisman.com). There's a band, The Love Berrys, that rips off the FreeCreditReport.com crew. Berry stars in a clever sendup of the Geico caveman commercials. It probably hasn't dawned on anyone that Berry is playing the part of the caveman, but it's creative nonetheless.

There's also a well-produced SwiperBoy rap video that's got nice bounce.

The song is smooth, there are plenty of gyrating Tennessee gals in skimpy outfits and the mascot Smokey busts a move. Berry, who stars as himself in the video, looks horribly uncomfortable and would lose to Old Smokey in a Dancing with the Stars competition. It wouldn't be close.

Plenty of style, but so little substance.

Even Kiffin had to realize that a defender being taken seriously as a Heisman candidate was a long shot to start with. This really isn't about Berry at all.

Although Berry is presumed to be the center of attention, the real purpose of the video and purported Heisman campaign is to enhance Tennessee recruiting.

It's something Kiffin and his staff will show potential signees. It's their way of saying look how far we at Tennessee will go to pimp you and promote this program.

What would probably work better for Kiffin, Berry, and the Vols is to spend less time worrying about helping SwiperBoy craft dope hooks and spend more time putting a quality product on the field.

Slick video packaging will only go so far. Sure you can show the video of Berry dancing like a wooden puppet to his recruits. Opposing coaches will counter with passes doinking off receiver's helmets and Berry doing the five-yard helicopter after being shoulder butted by Tate.

That clip isn't up on Berry's Heisman site yet, although it is a staple on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD_52njv2mk#).

Perhaps Berry's webmaster just hasn't had the time to add it to the highlight reel yet.

Not to discredit Berry entirely, he did have 14 total tackles against the Tigers and was as solid as any defender on the field. The junior is currently third in the league, averaging nine stops per game. He's tied for 13th in the SEC in tackles for a loss with four.

But Heisman? Really?

Berry isn't in the top 10 in the SEC in any other significant defensive category. Not interceptions, fumbles forced or recovered, passes defended, or sacks.

The rap videos are cool. The image of Berry being turned into dead-armadillo roadkill by Tate is the one that lingers.

Auburn 26, Tennessee 22: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:53:32 -0400

The Auburn Tigers knocked off the Tennessee Volunteers 26-22 on Saturday night in Knoxville, surviving a 16-point Volunteer fourth quarter. While the Tigers answered a number of nagging questions in Rocky Top, others persist.

First the good news.

Auburn is 5-0. With a game against Furman still to come, the Tigers are all but assured a bowl game, which, at the beginning of the season, was considered a reasonable goal for 2009. Given the current state of the SEC, expectations for an upper tier bowl are now not unreasonable.

Tiger head coach Gene Chizik notched his first road win as a head coach in one of the most hostile environments in the league and in the process extended Auburn's winning streak over its longtime rival.

Chizik's young team proved it can maintain focus and thrive away from the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

It will be almost impossible for poll voters to ignore Auburn now. The Tigers should crack the poll for the first time since a loss to Arkansas slammed Auburn from the rankings on Oct. 11, one year ago.

Auburn's offense acquitted itself well against a Monte Kiffin-directed Tennessee defense that had clamped down on the Florida Gators and was expected to provide a significant challenge to a resurgent Tiger offense.

Auburn moved the ball significantly better against Tennessee than did the nation's No. 1 team, Florida. The Tigers put up better numbers despite the efforts of more than 100,000 Volunteer fans in Knoxville. Florida had the luxury of taking down the Vols at home.

Auburn piled up 459 total yards on Rocky Top. Florida managed just 323.

Running back Ben Tate continued to chew up the opposition, rolling up 128 yards on 25 carries. On one highlight-reel quality hit, Tate lowered his shoulder and sent All American safety Eric Berry pinwheeling into a backward slide.

If that doesn't give you pause, try to wrap your mind around this:

Tiger quarterback Chris Todd outperformed Florida Heisman Trophy winner (and presumed favorite unless you're Lou Holtz and have an unhealthy obsession with all things Notre Dame) Tebow.

Todd was 19 of 32 passing for 218 yards and a touchdown. He didn't throw an interception and wasn't sacked. Against the Vols, Tebow threw for a meager 115 yards. He was sacked three times and was picked off once. Florida's superman did rush for 105 yards on 24 attempts, but that's not the role Todd is required to play.

Nobody's cranking up a Todd for Heisman campaign yet, but the Auburn quarterback has numbers that rank near the top of the SEC in every significant category. Todd is second in the league in yards per game with an average of 246. He's fourth in passing efficiency.

He is cool and efficient in running offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's game plan. Todd took his lumps against Tennessee as the Vols brought pressure and hit Todd often. He took the punishment and delivered despite the beating he suffered.

The special teams' gaffes that plagued the Tigers in all four games were non-existent on Saturday. Onterrio McCalebb's kickoff returns were electric.

His fourth-quarter return, in particular, flipped field position and provided the Tigers momentum that should have finished off the Volunteers.

Auburn did no damage on punt returns but that includes damage to itself which has been a weekly occurrence. Fair catches ruled the day and while they limited field position with four coming inside the Tiger 20, there were no muffs or bobbles.

Wes Byrum continued solid place-kicking work, hitting four of five field goals.

Overall, it was a fairly thorough domination and a game Auburn never seemed in jeopardy of losing control over.

At the very least, the Tigers established themselves as a team that will require attention by the rest of the SEC.

Now for the bad. And it's not all bad.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the game should not have been nearly as close as the final score reflected.

Auburn's performance was much more dominant than it would appear on the surface. The Tigers wasted several opportunities to drive a stake through Tennessee's heart. Auburn should have put Tennessee away and finished with a 10-15 point differential instead of the final four-point spread.

As the Tigers navigate a progressively more difficult October schedule, Auburn can't afford to squander scoring opportunities.

McCalebb dropped a pass in the end zone that should have been caught for one touchdown.

Late in the game, leading 23-16, Auburn had the ball inside the Tennessee five. Malzahn seemed to abandon his traditional method of attack content to drain the clock and kick a field goal for a 26-16 advantage with 34 seconds remaining.

Those two series alone would have been enough to turn a 26-22 win into a more typical for 2009 37-13 type spanking.

As it turned out, the field goal on the last offensive series was needed as Tennessee covered 79 yards in the final 34 seconds to tack on a consolation touchdown on the last play of the game.

There were worse final 34-second spans on Saturday. Georgia suffered one when LSU's Charles Scott broke loose for a game-winning score.

But the worst of all came when Ball State allowed a long game-winning pass for a score in the waning seconds against Toledo.

Auburn didn't suffer the ignominy that either the Bulldogs or Cardinals did, but still, the ease with which the Volunteers motored down the field as time ticked down is a concern.

Auburn's defense played relatively well most of the game. The Tigers did an excellent job of containing Tennessee's rushing attack, holding the Vols to 163 yards on the ground, well below their season average.

Tennessee opened the game with a 41-yard rush but that first series ended with a missed field goal. Nine of the next 10 Volunteer possessions finished with a punt.

The lone exception was a seven-play 70 yard touchdown march at the end of the first half.

If you're being honest, however, you have to acknowledge that many of the punting situations were caused as much by Tennessee miscues as they were outstanding Tiger defensive efforts.

Volunteer receivers dropped pass after pass. Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton threw in front of, over, behind and in front of open receivers.

Frustration was high. Just prior to the Vols late first half drive, ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews noted chaos on the Tennessee sideline with coaches and players having to be physically separated.

Yet Auburn could not take full advantage of the turmoil.

Tennessee players know better than to ask Crompton to pass the salt at dinner because it's likely to be intercepted before it gets there. Crompton had at least one pick in every game dating back to his first pee-wee effort. But he didn't have one Saturday.

Instead, Crompton had one of his best days as a Vol.

The much-maligned Tennessee quarterback played like Tom Brady in the fourth quarter against Auburn after playing like Marsha Brady for most of the last two years.

Auburn took a 23-6 lead with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter and appeared to have the game well in hand.

Despite the desperation of the situation, the light went on for the Volunteer offense.

Tennessee churned 62 yards in seven plays, burning less than two minutes off the clock. Crompton, who'd shown all the finesse of a brick layer through three quarters caught fire. He hit four of five passes including a 31 yarder for a touchdown that trimmed Auburn's lead to 23-13.

After a defensive stop, Crompton went back to work. He was six of 12 on a 72-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. Four of the six completions gave Tennessee a first down, including an 18-yard completion on fourth and six.

From 23-6, Tennessee closed to 23-16.

McCalebb's return and the Byrum field goal that ended Auburn's next possession effectively slammed the door, but in the final three Tennessee drives, Crompton went from being a liability to at least window shopping the hero's cape.

He padded his stats with 64 yards on three completions in the final 34 seconds. Of his 259 total passing yards, 181 of them came in the fourth quarter.

Part of the reason for Crompton's success was Auburn failed to pressure him. The Tigers didn't register a sack and Auburn defenders were credited with a mere five hurries, a number that is probably generous.

Auburn managed to survive a revitalized Crompton over the final 10 minutes of the game, but his success has to buoy the confidence of the Ryan Mallets, Jevan Sneads and Greg McElroys waiting down the road.

That's a worry for next week.

Auburn is 5-0. The Tigers will likely be ranked for the first time in a calendar year when the polls come out today. Auburn is a virtual lock for a bowl game and probably a win or two away from getting New Year's Day consideration. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

Auburn Vs. Tennessee: Why The Tigers Will Vanquish The Vols

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:09:17 -0400

Saturday's showdown between first-year coaches Lane Kiffin of Tennessee and Gene Chizik of Auburn offers a variety of interesting subplots. As both replaced coaching legends whose stars had dimmed, and as each are tasked with re-establishing the proud traditions of their respective programs, this head-to-head matchup is inevitably a major benchmark in measuring the progress of each.

Come Sunday morning, Tiger fans will have more reason to boast while Volunteer supporters will be left scratching their heads and wondering when they'll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The meeting between the Tigers and Volunteers is a study in contrasts. In everything from the demeanor of their head coaches to their respective strengths and weaknesses, the two teams are polar opposites.

Chizik is low key. He gives little to the media beyond standard coaching cliches and pat phrases. His press conferences are virtually interchangeable. He's cautious, reserved and evokes a business only aura.

Kiffin is ebullient. He's angered opposing coaches and drawn the ire of SEC Commissioner Mike Slive by sniping at rivals, and engaging in media-fueled battles with opposing coaches. His press conferences are events, because no one is really sure what Kiffin's going to say— or have to apologize for—next.

Chizik's Tigers have surpassed early expectations. Poll voters haven't noticed, but Auburn is 4-0.

Kiffin's Volunteers have struggled to match his abrasive bravado. Tennessee checks in at 2-2, or 3-1 if you count moral victories. At this point, polls are the last thing on their mind.

Chizik came to Auburn with a reputation as a defensive wizard. As defensive coordinator at Auburn and then Texas he presided over two straight undefeated seasons and one national title—or two if you count titles like cross-state rival Bama fans do.

Kiffin was the pick at Tennessee in large part because of his work with the offense at USC, where the Trojans were a perennial national contender.

Irony number one?

Chizik won his Texas national title while running the Longhorn defense against Kiffin's Trojans.

Irony number two?

Despite Kiffin's offensive reputation, Tennessee's best chance on Saturday rests with its defense. The Volunteer offense remains stuck on start and has shown little sign of go. The Tennessee defense is talented and extremely effective.

Conversely, Chizik's defensive rep is overshadowed by Auburn's performance on offense. Questions abound for the Tiger defense, but the Auburn offense has rolled up more than 500 yards per game on average and is scoring a blistering 45 points per outing.

On Saturday something has to give.

Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Lane's father, devised an outstanding plan to put the brakes on Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators in a 23-13 loss/moral victory at Florida.

Chances are the elder Kiffin will have a similar scheme to derail a resurgent Chris Todd and the high-scoring Tiger offense.

Kiffin's task was made significantly more difficult with the loss of linebacker Nick Reveiz, whose 27 tackles are third on the team.

The problem for the Volunteers is that the Auburn offense seems capable of putting points on the board. Tennessee might be able to slow it down, but the chance of stopping it outright seems remote.

Auburn averages 526 yards and 45 points per game. The Tigers pick up an average of seven yards per play. Even if the Volunteer defense is able to cut that production in half, it will likely still be enough against a Tennessee offense that puts the in in inept.

The Volunteers are moderately effective at running the ball (nearly 200 yards per game), but to say Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton has struggled would be putting it kindly.

Crompton has thrown eight interceptions in just four games. A six-year old child could draw up the defensive gameplan against Tennessee.

Put eight men in the box to limit the run and put pressure on Crompton. Force him to make a mistake.

After West Virginia torched Auburn for two big plays early in a 41-30 Tiger win, that's essentially the plan defensive coordinator Auburn Ted Roof employed. The result? Five Mountaineer interceptions and a Tiger win.

Auburn's defense has issues. The Tigers allow a too-high 4.6 yards per play. Opponents average more than 150 yards rushing and more than 170 passing. Opponents score an average of 24 points per game.

Even more troubling, Auburn opponents convert third downs 43% of the time. That's worst in the SEC and near the bottom of national rankings.

That must improve for loftier season expectations to come to fruition. As it pertains to Saturday's meeting, however, the Volunteers show no indication they are capable of taking advantage of the defensive questions the Tigers present.

Last season these two teams waged an epic battle on the floor of Jordan-Hare Stadium that resulted in 792 combined yards. Punting yards. Tennessee punted ten times for 399 yards, the Tigers nine for 393.

Given Auburn's offensive prowess and the Tigers' defensive questions, you may see another 800-yard effort—with no punts—on Saturday.

As the lights go down, you'll also see a 5-0 Auburn team. The only question is whether poll voters will finally take notice.

4-0 Auburn: No Respect, No Respect at All

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:51:28 -0400

Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik schlumped into his weekly press conference, flopped wearily into his chair, adjusted the microphone, and issued a resigned sigh.

He reached up, tugged at the knot of his tie and eyes bulging declared:

"No respect, I tell ya. We get no respect at all.

"When the polls came out on Sunday, I sent an email to one of the voters. Told him I was climbing up to the top of Samford Tower and was going to jump. They sent Brother Chette to talk to me. He says 'Ready...Set...'

No respect.

"I ran into Coach Dye when we went out to eat the other night. I asked him what he thought about the execution of our special teams. He says it sounds like a good idea to him.

"No respect at all. I tell ya.

"Went to the doctor yesterday morning. Told him that when our defense is on the field I start to get sick at my stomach and feel like throwing up. He says he doesn't know whats wrong with me, but my eyesight's perfect.

"We get no respect at all..."

If a team goes 4-0 and nobody is there to rank it, does it make a noise?

Chizik's Auburn Tigers are 4-0. So far the polls haven't noticed. Despite a win over an athletic West Virginia team and a demolition of the same Mississippi State team that was four inches and a too-cute coaching ploy from knocking off number four LSU, Auburn gets little love from the polls. The Tigers remain unranked.

The Tigers aren't alone. There are six unbeaten teams on the outside looking in, including Missouri, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, South Florida, and UCLA.

All six have valid cases for inclusion, particularly considering there are 14 once-beaten squads dotting the latest poll.

Ole Miss was a top ten team based on little more than vapor and a fascination with Reverend Houston Nutt. The Rebels laid a rotten, stinking egg against South Carolina, the only legitimate competition they faced this season.

Cal clogged up the Top Ten until the Bears were hammered into an submission by Oregon.

Neither of those teams are playing as well as any of the six unranked teams. Yet Cal checks in at 24th and Ole Miss skidded to 21st from fourth after being punk-slapped by the Gamecocks on Thursday.

Since the ranking services debuted in the '30s, only one Auburn team that started 4-0 remained unranked entering the fifth week of the season.

The Tigers remained unranked despite a 5-0 start in 1963. Auburn leaped into the poll at number five after its sixth win. Promptly felled by Florida, dropped to ninth. The Tigers ended 1963 with a 9-2 record and were ranked fifth.

So what gives? Why are the 2009 Auburn Tigers getting the Rodney Dangerfield routine from poll voters?

A few theories:

1. Pollsters don't like to be wrong

Poll voters are a curious lot. They start with preconceived notions in their pre-season rankings and are averse to changing their mind regardless of evidence to the contrary.

It's why you'll see one team lose a game and cling to a spot in the rankings, often climbing quickly back to about where it was to begin with. A team that performs at a relatively average level will often end the year within a spot or two of where it started at the beginning.

LSU was slotted in the Top Ten based primarily on history. Voters are accustomed to voting LSU there and dismal performance has had little poll impact. The Tigers flailed against Vanderbilt at home. Last week, LSU got an interception return for a touchdown and a punt return for a score and still needed a two-play brain freeze from four inches away by Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen to survive the Bulldogs. LSU is the fourth-best team in the country? Yeah. And Kansas coach Mark Mangino runs a four minute mile.

2. Auburn hasn't played anybody

This is a rehash of the fraudulent argument used in 2004 to justify denying the Tigers a BCS Championship berth. If you say something often enough - and the media has repeated the 'who has Auburn played?' mantra ad-infinitum - people, even voters, accept it as truth.

While a schedule consisting of Ball State, West Virginia, Mississippi State, and Louisiana Tech isn't exactly murder's row, it's not chopped liver either.

Mississippi State ripped Vandy and shoulda', coulda' shocked LSU. The Bulldogs are going to stun some teams before 2009 is in the books

Would it surprise you to know that the combined defensive rankings of the four teams Auburn has played is higher than the rankings of the four played by cross-state rival and poll darling Alabama? Really? Be surprised. The average defensive ranking for Alabama's opponents is 82.75. Auburn's opponents average defense ranking is 67.5.

Who hasn't played anybody? That would be number three Alabama actually. But who's counting?

3. The Tuberville Effect

The Tuberville effect comes in two parts:

A. Despite his frosty relationship with Auburn administration, former head coach Tommy Tuberville was a media favorite. He was accessible and articulate. He maintained a positive demeanor and was usually good for a quality sound bite. When he was ousted (or resigned if you are the one person in the country who accepted athletic director Jay Jacobs' lame explanation) the media reaction was general outrage. Tuberville was successful and his removal evoked a sense of disgust and disdain from most in the media. It was also poorly received by fellow coaches. Media members and coaches are pollsters. To give Chizik and his staff too much credit—as in ranking the Tigers—would mean that they were possibly wrong about the impact of Tuberville's departure. Wrong? Not a word in their vocabulary.

B. Remember the whole "don't like to be wrong" thing? Over the last ten years Tuberville's Auburn teams made a habit out of proving the media and pollsters wrong. Rank the Tigers high and they'll likely fall flat. Rank them low and they'll mutilate expectations and send the fanbase into a media-hating frenzy. It's possible that voters have settled into a Show Me state of mind in regard to Auburn. The Tigers will eventually crack the poll if they keep winning. But if they don't? They won't intrude on the Top 25 and the pollsters don't have to ever be wrong. They get to maintain the I-told-you-so high ground. Show Me is Missouri's motto. Not working out too well for Mizzou, either.

4. The Chizik Effect

When Chizik was hired, the nationwide outcry was loud and vociferous. From the fan who famously bellowed "We want a leader, not a loser" at Jacobs when the Chizik hiring seemed imminent, to countless sports journalists who compared his hiring to some of the worst in college football history, the reaction was negative across the board.

Auburn's talent was derided as sub-juco level. Chizik's qualifications for the job were panned. Auburn's unorthodox recruiting tactics under Chizik were ridiculed.

Remember the "don't like to be wrong" concept? Here we go again.

Acknowledge that Auburn appears to have undergone a near-miraculous transformation in offensive execution and a complete reversal of attitude and you have to also recognize that maybe your Hindenburgian predictions were a bit off base.

Note that Auburn has exceeded expectations and you might have to retract some of your criticisms. Who wants to do that? It's almost like admitting you were wr...wr...wro,...not entirely correct.

Rank the Tigers after four games and you're essentially saying that maybe, just maybe, you were wrong about Chizik. That just can't happen. Because you don't like to be wrong. Wrong really doesn't work.

Regardless of the reason the pollsters chose to snub Auburn, there's only one thing the Tigers can do about it.

Win.

Eventually winning will become too much to ignore, regardless of the objection.

The Big 4-0: Fast Start Bodes Well for Auburn Tigers

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:41:48 -0400

The Auburn Tigers out-punched the Ball State Cardinals 54-30 on Saturday night to move to 4-0 on the season. If history is any indicator, the hot start bodes well for Tiger fortunes.

Only 27 teams in Auburn history have started a season 4-0. Eight of those occurred after 1974.

Of the eight teams in the last 35 years that started 4-0, only two failed to win at least ten games. The 1994 Tigers reeled off nine before a closing with a tie and a loss. Auburn started 2000 with five consecutive wins before fading to 4-4 down the stretch.

Two of the eight finished the season without a loss.

Only one of the eight lost more than two games.

Three of the eight won the SEC West (one other would have but was on probation).

Six of the eight finished in the Top Ten. All eight were ranked at the end of the season.

Seven of the eight opened the season with at least five consecutive wins.

A lack of quality competition over the first four games is a valid criticism. None of the four teams Auburn defeated in 2009 were ranked at the time. That doesn't impact the trend, however. Of the eight Tiger teams that started 4-0 since 1974, only two beat a ranked opponent during the four-game streak.

In both cases (2006 and 2004) Auburn knocked LSU out of the Top Ten.

Of interest to fans of college football's greatest rivalry, seven of the eight Auburn teams that opened 4-0 defeated cross-state rival Alabama.

The 2009 Auburn Tigers have a long way to go before they can start considering double digit win totals.

Auburn special teams are truly special, particularly if you're using the term "special" to describe something malformed, hideous, and shocking to the senses.

Against Ball State the Tigers fumbled a punt that led to a Cardinal touchdown, attempted a ill-timed and poorly-executed fake punt that helped Ball State put a field goal on the board, committed penalties that nullified the only quality punt and kick off returns, and did a poor job containing Cardinal kick returners.

Auburn's head coach Gene Chizik said special teams were his focus after flops against Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State were costly. There seems to be little, if any, improvement.

Kicker Wes Byrum provides the lone spark to a woeful special teams effort. Byrum appears to have regained the consistency he showed as a freshman and has been methodically efficient.

Beyond the special teams fiasco, defensive lapses are also particularly troubling.

The Tigers gagged up 30 points to a Ball State team that managed just 10 against North Texas.

Auburn continues to display a frustrating inability to get the opposition off the field on third down.

Poor tackling plagues the Tigers.

Fortunately the Auburn offense has no such issues. Tiger's quarterback Chris Todd continues to gain confidence and the Tiger offense has more than compensated for the defensive deficiencies.

Auburn racked up nearly 600 yards against the Cardinals despite sporadic struggles in the rushing game, including a dreadful failure on fourth down in the first quarter.

At some point during the SEC season, Auburn will run into a team that will put the clamps on the offense and the Tigers will need to lean on the defense to earn a win.

The Tiger stopping unit has so far shown no indication it is capable of holding up its end of the bargain.

Still, the Tigers are 4-0. It's better to be 4-0 with clearly defined areas in need of improvement than 0-4 and performing at peak efficiency.

From a historical standpoint, the 4-0 start forecasts an expectation-defying season for Auburn.

The last Tiger team to start 4-0 banged out five straight wins, including a gutsy 24-17 win over South Carolina in Columbia. Auburn started 2006 ranked fourth and had a chance to leap into the number one spot before Arkansas derailed the winning streak and bounced Auburn out of the Top Ten 27-10.

The 2006 Tigers finished the season 11-2 and were ranked ninth after knocking off Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.

Other Auburn teams that opened a season with four consecutive wins:

2004—SEC Champions

Auburn won 13 straight games and finished the season ranked second in the nation. The Tigers were denied a shot in the BCS title game despite playing the toughest schedule among the top three teams and despite beating more top ten teams than the other two competitors combined.

2000—SEC West Champions

Tommy Tuberville's second Auburn team roared out to a 5-0 start behind the surprising dominance of junior college transfer Rudi Johnson. The Tigers climbed to 19th in the polls before dropping back-to-back games to Mississippi State and Florida. Auburn finished the year 9-4 after losses to Florida in the SEC Championship Game and Michigan in the Outback Bowl.

Auburn (9-4) closed 2000 ranked 18th.

1997—SEC West Champions

A year before the Terry Bowden era imploded, quarterback Dameyune Craig helped power Auburn to a 6-0 start. The Tigers clawed their way to sixth in the poll before falling to number seven Florida. The 1997 Tigers lost to Tennessee and Peyton Manning 30-29 in the SEC Championship Game before upending Clemson in the Peach Bowl.

Auburn (10-3) finished the 1997 season ranked 11th.

1993-1994

Bowden's Auburn tenure got off to an incredible start. Despite probation and limited expectations, his first Auburn team clicked off eleven consecutive wins, including a 22-14 win over Alabama.

Even though Auburn was the only major program in the country with an undefeated record of 11-0, the Tigers finished fourth in the polls.

The streak continued through the first nine games of 1994. Georgia halted the winning streak with a 23-23 tie before Alabama upended the Tigers 21-14 to end the season.

Auburn (9-1-1) was ranked ninth in the final poll in 1994.

1988—SEC Champions

Auburn opened the 1988 campaign ranked seventh. Four wins later, the Tigers had surged to fourth when they visited Baton Rouge for a showdown against LSU Tigers. In a classic SEC bout, the Bayou Bengals set off seismic waves when a fourth quarter touchdown gained a 7-6 win.

The loss was probably the most frustrating of Dye's career. Three straight shutouts followed and the Tigers only allowed 28 total points over the remaining six games of the season—all wins.

Had Auburn survived LSU, the Tigers would have played a typically overrated Notre Dame team in the Orange Bowl for the national title. Instead, Auburn got a Sugar Bowl bid and fell 13-7 to Deion Sanders and Florida State.

Auburn finished the season 10-2 and ranked eighth.

1986

In the first year of the post-Bo Jackson era, Pat Dye's 1998 Tigers churned through seven straight games, rising as high as fifth in the polls, before 20th-ranked Florida rallied in the fourth quarter to eclipse Auburn 18-17. Georgia skimmed past the Tigers 20-16 two weeks later. Auburn smacked Rodney Peete and USC 16-7 in the Florida Citrus Bowl to finish 10-2, seven total points from an undefeated season.

The 10-2 Tigers closed 1986 ranked sixth.

1974

Auburn rolled up seven consecutive wins to open the 1974 campaign. Legendary Tiger coach Shug Jordan was one dismal season away from retirement and this was his last great team.

The Tigers finished 10-2 and were ranked 8th.

1972

One of the most cherished of all Auburn teams, the Amazin's were expected to flounder after the departure of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Pat Sullivan and record-setting receiver Terry Beasley. The team flourished instead.

Auburn won four straight before a loss at LSU. The Tigers rebounded and knocked out six consecutive wins to close the season. Included in that string was the famous Punt Bama Punt game, an improbable 17-16 Auburn win, and a 27-3 thrashing of Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

Auburn (10-1) finished the season ranked fifth.

1957-1971

Auburn started at least 4-0 on five occasions between 1957 and 1971:

1971: Auburn won nine straight and finished 9-2;

1970: Auburn won its first five and finished 9-2;

1963: Six straight to open the season led to a 9-2 finish;

1962: Auburn won its first five, but fell to 6-3-1;

1957: The National Champion Tigers ran off 10 consecutive wins.

1908-1921

Auburn opened with at least four consecutive wins in 1921 (5-3 overall), 1919 (8-1 overall), 1917 (6-2-1 overall), 1916 (6-2 overall), 1915 (6-2 overall), 1914 (8-0-1 overall), 1913 (8-0 overall), 1912 (7-1-1 overall), 1909 (6-2 overall), 1908 (6-1 overall), 1907 (7-0 overall), and 1900 (4-0 overall).

Auburn Vs. Ball State: Why the Tigers Will Crush the Cardinals

Kevin Strickland — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:00:56 -0400

Due to the potential for excessive violence and simulated sacrificial slaughter, network censors mandated a 6 p.m. kickoff for Saturday's showdown between Auburn and Ball State. Despite the late start, the game will likely carry a parental warning. Cover your eyes, kids. What the Tigers do to the Cardinals won't be for the squeamish.

Predicting the outcome of an upcoming game normally takes a bit of research, particularly early in the season. For that reason, predictions normally come on Thursday, giving a few days to digest the events of the week that just transpired.

No such research is required this week.

The Tigers (3-0) will annihilate the Cardinals (0-3).

Little known fact: Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet on the '70s sitcom Three's Company is a Ball State alumnus. Even if she and TV co-star Suzanne Sommers (in their prime) were prancing the sidelines in Cardinal cheerleader outfits, it wouldn't help Ball State avoid a Saturday thrashing.

Auburn rides buoyed confidence after surviving both a monsoon and early roundhouse kicks from West Virginia 41-30 last Saturday night.

After the Mountaineers connected on a 58-yard pass on the opening series and a 71-yard run on their second possession en route to a 14-0 first quarter lead, the Auburn defense changed tactics and denied the big play.

West Virginia managed just four plays of 20-plus yards over the remaining three and a half quarters. One of those came on the last snap of the game.

The Mountaineers were intent on making Auburn quarterback Chris Todd beat them with his arm. He did, throwing for 300 yards and four touchdowns.

While the Tigers are cresting, Ball State limps into Saturday's meeting with more negative momentum than a Scott Baio TV pilot.

The Cardinals are reeling after three losses—one to an abysmal North Texas squad.

Ball State was a bowl team a year ago, but head coach Brady Hoke fled to San Diego State, where he is coincidentally the boss of former Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges.

The Cardinal team that made the GMAC Bowl a year ago is also without record-setting quarterback Nate Davis, who leaped to the NFL and was drafted in the fifth round by San Francisco, as well as a handful of other significant skill players.

Little known fact: Jim Davis, cartoonist and creator of the Garfield comic strip, is a graduate of Ball State. Not even Davis could draw up a scenario where the Cardinals have a chance.

North Texas spanked Ball State 20-10 in the opener. The Mean Green followed that with a loss to Ohio (not State) and a 53-7 thrashing at Alabama.

New Hampshire shocked the Cardinals in week two, 23-16. The Wildcats are 2-0 with big showdowns against Hofstra, Dartmouth, and Towson coming up. That's right, New Hampshire is 1-AA.

Army punked Ball State 24-17 in the third week of the season. Army lost to Duke 35-19...in football, not basketball.

Of some consolation to Cardinals fans- at least the offense is improving each week.

Maybe against an Auburn defense that has struggled at times, Ball State can post 18 or even 19.

The host Tigers will likely match that in the first quarter.

It's true, you can't do the comparative score analysis because it never works. If it did hold true, you could pencil in a pretty convincing win by LSU over USC given the results of their respective efforts at Washington.

Wait, bad example. Who's to say those Tigers wouldn't clock the Trojans? Obviously not ESPUSCN, but you have to look past their cam-crush on Pete and the men from Troy.

Back to Auburn and Ball State.

Little known fact: John Schattner, founder of the Papa John's Pizza chain, is a graduate of Ball State's Miller School of Business. Not even Papa John himself can deliver a Cardinal win.

Barring an unforeseen calamity of Biblical proportions, Auburn will win this game.

Since the outcome is all but pre-determined, what should Tiger fans hope to get out of the contest?

One, Auburn needs to get backup quarterback Neil Caudle some reps. Caudle fought his way to the No. 2 slot in the signal calling pecking order and desperately needs to take significant snaps to help prepare him should he be needed in this campaign as well as to season him for his final Auburn campaign in 2010.

Two, the Tigers need to establish depth at the linebacker positions. With true freshmen and walk-ons pressed into duty, it is imperative for Auburn to get them accustomed to game speed. It's not a matter of if they will be needed as with Caudle, but when.

Three, Auburn must see how it handles success. The win over West Virginia was emotionally draining, physically demanding, and mentally challenging. Can the Tigers psych themselves up for an opponent that really offers little challenge?

Sandwiched between the revenge-motivated battle with West Virginia and a looming visit to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Volunteers, the Ball State game has all the hallmarks of a trap game.

In the past, Auburn has come out flat in similar circumstances. A week after one of the most physical, emotional games in Auburn history, a 7-3 win over LSU in 2006, the Tigers were listless against Buffalo. Auburn eventually prevailed 38-7, but the starters were unable to get the much-needed rest anticipated.

It is imperative for the Tigers to take Ball State by the throat, dominate early, and let the second and third line players gain experience.

Four, Auburn must show it can handle looking ahead. Next week's visit to Tennessee is one of four linchpins to Auburn's season. The Rocky Top showdown grew significantly more interesting after the Volunteers tugged on Superman's cape in the Swamp and effectively thwarted the Gator offense. Tennessee didn't have enough offensive firepower to engineer a legitimate threat to the Florida dynasty—let's face it, a wet firecracker has more pop—but the Vol defense sent a message.

The chess match between white-hot Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and wizened Tennessee defensive guru Monte Kiffin will be well worth watching.

On Saturday, none of that anticipation can be in the minds or eyes of the Tigers. Take care of the business at hand first, before looking to the next challenge.

Five, Auburn must develop additional weapons. Darvin Adams (three touchdown catches against West Virginia) has established himself as Auburn's go-to receiver. Ben Tate and Onterrio McCalebb have turned the rushing game on its ear. For the Tigers to have continued success, DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake must integrate themselves into the offense. Electric Mario Fannin needs more touches.

Ball State provides an opportunity to work on bringing more of the game to those potential game breakers.

And six, the Tiger defense must work on fundamentals. Poor tackling allowed West Virginia to gain positive yards when they should have been stopped for a loss.

Auburn can't seem to get off the field on third down regardless of the distance. A team can't surrender 3rd-and-10 plus yards and be successful on a consistent basis.

Little known fact: David Letterman, long time host of Late Night with David Letterman on CBS, is an alumnus of Ball State. Not even Letterman can find the Top Ten reasons Ball State has a chance against the Tigers.

The last time Auburn and Ball State squared off, the result was a 63-3 Tiger win in 2006. That Auburn team, under Borges, averaged 32 points per game—one of only two Auburn offenses to average more than 30 points per game in the last decade.

The conservative approach once favored by the Tigers is out the window under Malzahn.

Auburn's new offensive coordinator thrives on a fast pace. His goal is to find creative ways to neutralize the defense. Malzahn's offense probes for chinks in the defensive armor and then hammers relentlessly at those cracks until the armor crumbles under the pressure.

Forget field position, Malzahn believes every offensive possession should result in points.

That's bad news for the Cardinals.

Little known fact: Current Ball State coach Stan Parrish has already led his Cardinals against a Malzahn-coached offense. When Hoke abandoned Muncie for sunny California, Parrish stepped in and directed the Ball State effort in the GMAC Bowl against Tulsa, where Malzahn directed the offense.

With less talent at Tulsa than he has at his disposal at Auburn, Malzahn's Golden Hurricane offense rolled up 45 points in a 45-13 win.

On Saturday, 45 would be merciful.

87,000 Game Balls: Auburn's Gene Chizik Thanks the Fans

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:53:19 -0400

Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik stepped to the podium in the press room underneath Jordan-Hare Stadium moments after his Tigers survived the West Virginia Mountaineers 41-30 on Saturday night.

"First of all," Chizik said, "I wish I had 87,000 game balls."

As Chizik uttered his wish, West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown wandered through the door looking for the Mountaineer locker room. He was intercepted by Auburn security guards, marking the fifth time Brown was intercepted on the night.

It's a joke, people.

Seriously, Chizik's comment was intended as tribute to the tens of thousands of Auburn fans who suffered through a four-inch deluge that soaked Jordan-Hare stadium; who endured an hour-long delay that set kickoff back to nearly 8 p.m.; who maintained a full-throated roar even when the Tigers fell behind early; and who chanted "It's great to be an Auburn Tiger" as the clock crept close to midnight.

"Our fans were a huge reason we won that game," Chizik continued. "I want them to know that. I know we had thousands of students who stayed here through that whole thing. Everybody came early, and nobody left because of the weather.

"I promise you that was one of the huge reasons we won the game when the momentum swings happened.

"It was because of our fans."

An evil-looking black and purple storm cloud boiled up as kickoff approached. Just moments before the scheduled start, the storm broke, unleashing lashing winds and torrential rains that turned Pat Dye field into a virtual lake.

Thousands of fans fled for shelter on the concourse. Thousands more remained in their seats, braving the soaking. Through the pounding water, you could hear occasional cheers as the remaining crowd entertained itself during the deluge.

Chizik spent much of the week prior to the West Virginia game stressing the importance and impact Auburn fans could have on the game. He called out to students, urging them to be there in support of the team.

As he and the Tigers waited impatiently in the locker room for the storm to pass, he must have wondered how many of those fans might have let the dismal weather deter them from attending or who might have abandoned the stands in light of the flood.

When he and his Tigers emerged from the tunnel amid fireworks and smoke, the roar of the crowd gave him his answer.

Auburn fans were there in full force. They did not disappoint.

Overcoming a shocking start and some early miscues, Chizik's Tigers repaid the favor. They sent a wet and weary Auburn crowd home happy.

As one bedraggled Auburn fan bellowed to no one in particular: "Oh, yeah. This was worth the wait."

Auburn 41-West Virginia 30: Tigers of a Different Stripe

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:08:00 -0400

Auburn 41 - West Virginia 30.

This is Auburn football.

It's not the Auburn football you grandfather remembers. It's not the Auburn football your father remembers. In fact, it's not even the Auburn football you remember unless you were born prior to Sept. 5, 2009.

Auburn fell behind 14-0 and trailed 21-10 to the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday night before rallying behind an opportunistic defense and a determined offense to fell WVU.

Auburn 41, West Virginia 30.

This is a different kind of Tiger football team.

No disrespect to former coach Tommy Tuberville, whose teams won their share of thrilling, emotional, nationally relevant games, but digging out of a hole when the opponent had momentum wasn't one of their strong points.

Arkansas 27, Auburn 10

Georgia 35, Auburn 17

Arkansas 42, Auburn 17

Alabama 31, Auburn 7

Arkansas 38, Auburn 17

West Virginia 34, Auburn 17

That's what used to happen when an Andrew Zow or a Fred Talley or a David Greene or a Noel Devine got hot against a Tiger defense.

If the defense couldn't carry the day, the Auburn offense rarely had an answer.

Things got out of hand.

Saturday night, the opportunity to fold was there. West Virginia burned Auburn on its first two offensive series with a long pass and a long run.

Perhaps feeding off the pent-up emotion of a raucous Tiger crowd, Auburn overpursued, was overly aggressive and ended up getting scorched.

Recognizing that the Mountaineers had speed to spare and a multitude of offensive weapons, the defensive strategy switched from impact to containment. If West Virginia was going to score, they were going to have to drive the ball to do so.

The Tiger defense kept Mountaineer ball carriers in front of them, giving up yards in exchange for preventing the big plays that opened the game.

The strategy was largely successful. After giving up a 58 yard pass play on the first series and a 71 yard Noel Devine rush on West Virginia's second possession, the Tiger defense allowed just four plays of 20 yards or more the remainder of the game. One of those came on the last desperation snap.

West Virginia piled up 509 yards and 23 first downs, but after the first two long strikes, the majority of that came between the 20s.

Forcing West Virginia to drive the field also increased the opportunity for turnovers. Auburn grabbed six on the night, converting one for a score.

All the defensive maneuvering might not have mattered in the past. Until the arrival of Gus Malzahn, Auburn has not been a team engineered to dig itself out of holes.

When it became apparent that the defense was going to have trouble keeping West Virginia from moving the ball or scoring points, it became incumbent on the offense to match the Mountaineers.

In the past, that was often a recipe for failure.

For three consecutive weeks, however, the Tigers have put the burden on the offense. Auburn overcame deficits against both Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State before putting both away in the second half.

Against the Mountaineers, the offense again bailed the Tigers out. It did so even when West Virginia was able to neutralize its most effective weapons.

The vaunted Auburn rushing game was essentially eliminated by a quick Mountaineer defense. West Virginia's strategy was clearly to force quarterback Chris Todd to win the game.

Todd shouldered the burden and while he might not have been spectacular, he was effective. Todd was a pedestrian 16-of-31 with an interception. But he also threw four touchdown passes and converted several critical third down passes.

More encouraging, Todd consistently made the right decision. Other than the interception and a few poorly thrown passes, Todd kept the Tigers out of trouble and the offense moving forward.

The Tigers aren't world beaters. Significant challenges await in the SEC.

Just don't tell this team that. Auburn looked a repeat of 2008's Mountaineer meltdown in the face and stared it into submission.

There was no panic, no resignation, no quit, no sense of 'here we go again.' The Tigers simply got up off the mat and went right back to the fight.

No, these aren't your father's Auburn Tigers.

That's what 87,000 fans who waited for an hour in a blinding rain and who filled the air with chants of "It's great to be an Auburn Tiger" as the clock struck midnight on the Mountaineers realized.

This is a different breed of cat.

Auburn vs. West Virginia, 41-30: You Ain't So Bad

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:54:41 -0400

The former champion lay battered and bruised on the canvas, belted to the ground by a faster opponent with a chip on his shoulder.

Months of conditioning and reconditioning, a complete change in attitude and approach led him precisely where he was the last time he'd battled this challenger—flat on his back.

In the stands, his family covered their eyes and screamed, "Stop the fight!"

Not this time.

The former champion got to his feet and waded back in. More blows rained down.

The former champion took each shot, staggered but didn't fall. Instead he taunted his opponent: "You ain't so bad. You ain't so bad. I ain't even breathing hard."

The champ took punch after punch, daring his opponent to knock him out.

When the challenger failed to bring him down, the ex-champ went on the attack and felled his opponent with a barrage of shots to the head.

Music swelled, his family rushed to the ring. "Are you all right?" he was asked.

"Never better," he replied. "Never better."

The script for the final fight scene in Rocky 3? Yes.

Also a fitting parallel to Auburn's 41-30 win over West Virginia Saturday night.

Cast Auburn in the role of Balboa, the former heavyweight champion. After ascending to the top of the sport, Balboa grew less focused. His skills diminished.

Like Balboa, the Auburn Tigers reached the height of the game in 2004, but had been slowly slipping since.

If Auburn is Balboa, West Virginia takes on the role of Lang.

The first time Balboa and Lang clash, the challenger is an underdog despite Balboa's lackluster performances. Lang stuns Balboa, breaking his will, knocking him out and destroying the champion in humiliating fashion.

The first time Auburn and West Virginia duel, the Mountaineers humbled the Tigers 34-17 with a second-half offensive barrage that left Auburn broken and battered.

In the aftermath of the first Balboa-Lang fight, Rocky loses his beloved manager. He connects with an old friend who retools his training regimen, reshapes his approach and turns him into a different fighter.

When the clock hit zero in Morgantown a year ago, the career of respected Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville was effectively over. The Tigers connected with former defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, who retooled the Tigers, brought in a different offensive philosophy under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, and turned the Tigers into a different team.

As the climactic battle unfolded, Lang hammered Balboa early, dropping him to the canvas twice and leading his wife, Adrian, to cover her eyes and beg for the fight to end.

In the first quarter on Saturday night, West Virginia punished Auburn with a long pass to set up one score and a breakaway run for another. Before the Tigers could blink, they were in a 14-0 hole. In the stands, fans who had braved nearly four inches of rain and an hour delay were distraught.

Balboa rallied, daring Lang to hit him again and again, taking his best shots. In the corner, his trainer urged him, "Eye of the tiger, Rock. Take it to him, eye of the tiger."

Auburn refused to quit. The Tigers took shot after shot, but would not back down.

"You ain't so bad. You ain't so bad."

When West Virginia had given Auburn all it had, the Tigers struck back.

Eye of the Tiger.

As Rocky began his comeback, Adrian leaped to her feet and began to chant, " Rocky, Rocky, Rocky..."

As Auburn delivered the knockout blow, Tiger fans picked up the chant.

"It's great to be an Auburn Tiger."

Are you all right, Auburn?

Never better. Never better.

Auburn-West Virginia: Why the Tigers Will Maul the Mountaineers

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:39:19 -0400

Today's West Virginia at Auburn college football preview is brought to you by the number three and the letter "C."

Three was Auburn's unlucky number in last season's 34-17 meltdown at Morgantown, where the Tigers took a 17-0 lead and then surrendered 34 unanswered points. Four times in the second half of that game, the Auburn offense went three and out, leaving its defense tired.

Three of West Virginia's four second half scores came after the Tiger offense folded after three plays.

Since the last time the Mountaineers saw Auburn up close, the Tigers have added a handful of C's that will make a critical difference in Saturday night's showdown in Auburn.

C Is for Confidence

A year ago, West Virginia caught Auburn at an opportune moment. The Tony Franklin offensive experiment imploded the week before, and the beleaguered offensive coordinator had been fired after six games.

The Tiger offense had little direction, zero creativity, and even less confidence.

That's no longer the case. Through the first two games of the season, the Auburn offense is brimming with confidence. The Tiger offense that looked lost and confused is now brash and focused.

C Is for Creativity

After taking advantage of a few short field opportunities to take the early lead a year ago, the offense went into a shell. Of six second half series, four followed exactly the same script: rush wide left, rush wide right, incomplete short pass attempt, punt.

The only exception was a 12-play drive that provided Auburn's only first downs of the half and ended in a short missed field goal.

That field goal attempt came on the last play of the third quarter with the Tigers trailing just 20-17 at the time.

Auburn posted just eight plays a year ago against West Virginia that covered more than 10 yards. Three of those plays came on the first Tiger drive. Three of the eight were quarterback scrambles.

Auburn's offense was predictable.

This is no longer the case. The Tiger offense is aggressive and unpredictable. It attacks from multiple formations.

A receiver leads the team in touchdowns but hasn't caught a pass. He has thrown a few, however, including one scoring toss.

Offensive linemen have lined up as wide receivers. So have quarterbacks.

The term creative only scratches the surface of what this Auburn offense is about.

C Is for Continuity

The Auburn defense grew tired in the second half and faded down the stretch a year ago. That allowed the Mountaineers to feed the Tigers a steady diet of Noel Devine and break their will.

That fade was directly attributable to a complete lack of offensive production.

Four of Auburn's second half offensive possessions used up less than 1:45 on the clock. One burned 2:20. One covered just over four minutes.

Four of those series gained less than seven total yards.

When a team forces the defense back on the field when it has barely had time to catch its breath, the results are rarely positive.

The key to keeping West Virginia in check is for Auburn's offense to give its defense ample time to re-energize.

Auburn won't go into an offensive shell against the Mountaineers on Saturday. The three-and-out series that paved the way for the WVU surge won't likely be there.

Only once in two games has the Tiger offense failed to stay on the field for at least five plays in a non-scoring drive. It's worth noting that the three-and-out series in the second quarter of the Mississippi State game immediately preceded a Bulldog scoring drive.

Offensive continuity will flip the script for Auburn and allow the defense to deny West Virginia as it did through most of three quarters a year ago—even when the Mountaineers had Pat White at quarterback.

Continuity is lacking for West Virginia. The Mountaineers staved off Liberty in the opener and then rolled in the second half on an East Carolina team that was also shut out in the second half by Appalachian State.

C Is for Coordinator

A year ago, Auburn didn't really have an offensive coordinator. With Franklin barely out the door, his seat was filled by committee, and the results were bland and ineffective.

The second half meltdown at Morgantown went a long way toward shoving 10-year veteran coach Tommy Tuberville through that same door two months later.

One of the smartest things new Auburn head coach Gene Chizik did after he was hired was bring in Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

The offense under Malzahn has completely reinvented itself. No longer staid and stodgy, Malzahn's offense has flair.

It put up 42 of 49 points against Mississippi State and narrowly missed breaking the 600-yard barrier.

For the first time in school history, two backs topped 100 yards and a receiver gained more than 100 yards in the same game.

For the first time in school history, a freshman ball carrier posted back-to-back 100-yard games, even more impressive when you consider an Auburn running back lineage that includes Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson as well as Joe Cribbs, Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, James Brooks, Lionel James, Brent Fullwood, and Stephen Davis.

For the first time in school history, two backs (Onterio McCalebb and Ben Tate) each rushed for more than 100 yards in consecutive games.

Setting offensive records is nothing new for Malzahn. Neither is scoring points.

Only six times in the last three seasons has a Malzahn-coached team been held to under 30 points.

As the Mountaineers surrendered 20 to both Liberty and East Carolina, there's good reason to believe that Malzahn can coax another 30-plus game out of Auburn.

If the Tigers top 35, they're virtually invincible. The last time Auburn lost when scoring more than 30 points? Nov. 11, 1996. That game took four overtimes.

C Is for Crowd

Last year Auburn went on the road to Morgantown and faced a fired-up Mountaineer fanbase. This year West Virginia travels to Jordan-Hare.

Don't think that makes a difference? Since 2000, Auburn is 48-13 at home. Jordan-Hare is traditionally one of the more difficult places to play, and with a crowd appetite fueled by unprecedented offensive exploits, the atmosphere should weigh heavily in Auburn's favor.

C Is for Cold

Don't forget the weather. A year ago Auburn faced frigid weather on the road. Tigers don't do cold.

No chance of frigidity on Saturday, where 80-degree temperatures and a slight chance of rain is forecast. The humidity will be a factor, but it won't have as great an impact since the game will be held under the lights.

C Is for Combination

Combine a vastly improved Auburn offense with a traditionally solid Tiger defense—the mix is simply right for a Tiger win.

Auburn's defense held a better West Virginia team at bay for most of three quarters a year ago. The majority of that defense returned.

Had Wes Byrum connected on a makable field goal on the last play of the third quarter, the teams would have entered the final stanza tied at 20.

The Auburn offense simply couldn't muster enough spark to keep the fading defense off the field, and the negative results were obvious.

With new offensive coordinator Malzahn calling the shots, that lack of production is unlikely to repeat.

It's too much to expect Auburn to continue to post mind-boggling, record-shattering numbers, but the new and improved Tigers should have more than enough in the tank to provide the two critical elements needed for an Auburn win: Score points and keep the defense off the field.

Tiger Tale: A Day in the Life of Auburn Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn

Kevin Strickland — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:17:28 -0400

5:07 a.m.

Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn wakes up without the benefit of an alarm clock. He doesn’t need one, because the offensive machine that is his brain has a self-timer and turns on automatically.

Why not wake up at 5:00 or 5:15? Because waking up at 5:07 is not what people expect. Malzahn likes to keep them guessing. Tomorrow, he might wake up at 5:12.

His eyes open, he reaches for one of the four pens lined up on his nightstand. On a yellow legal pad, he sketches out the visions that came to him during his sleep. One involves the center turned sideways and snapping the ball directly to a wide receiver.

He once had an alarm clock, but one morning lined it up as a toaster. It was so successful at that position it now resides in his kitchen, where it is currently leading all appliances in charred-bread production.

5:45 – 7 a.m.

The morning routine.

His alarm clock has the toast prepared. Malzahn has a three-minute egg—trimmed down to a 1:11—and a bowl of instant oatmeal. He is working on something faster than instant because the oatmeal’s pace annoys him, but he hasn’t yet figured out how to rip the time-space continuum and have it cooked before it is opened.

After breakfast, Malzahn retrieves the paper from the front porch. It’s always sitting perfectly on his door mat. When he first moved to the neighborhood, he had to retrieve the paper from the bushes a few times, but he took the paperboy aside and showed him an overhand throwing technique that allows him to make both the short and long throws with accuracy.

He also took a look at the paperboy’s route and re-ordered a couple of stops. What used to take the paperboy two hours to complete now takes an hour and 16 minutes. Malzahn is convinced he can still trim that by four minutes.

He never reads the sports section, because it only tells him what has happened. Malzahn is more interested in what will happen.

He works the Soduku puzzle. In pen. Instead of whole numbers, Malzahn uses values like 4.25 and 3.333 to make it more interesting. He finishes in four minutes and nine seconds. The numbers all add up.

He works the crossword puzzle. In pen. He forgoes English and uses words from a variety of different languages to complete the grid. He finishes in six minutes and 34 seconds. The words all connect. Reading them sequentially, he has written a short story warning about the travails of inefficiency. And a haiku.

Malzahn doesn’t read the comics. He doesn’t have time to laugh.

Besides, he noticed something about Lucy’s hold that could help Charlie Brown connect with the football. He’s also got some advice on the number of steps Brown takes before attempting the kick.

If he cut those down, he’s sure Brown could score on the play. But Charles Schultz is dead and won’t take his calls, so he can’t get it corrected. This annoys Malzahn.

Malzahn spends The remainder of the morning sorting out his impressive visor collection.

7:04 a.m.

Malzahn departs for work. Today it’s 7:04. Tomorrow? You’ll have to wait and see.

Yesterday, Malzahn turned left out of his driveway. Today, he turns right.

Yesterday, he drove a unicycle to work because he could dodge between cars and get there faster.

Today, he’s on foot. Carrying a canoe. Malzahn cuts across the field across from his abode, drops the canoe in a stream, floats under the highway and steers it to the creek bank. He carries the canoe up a hill and then slides down the grass to the parking lot. He parks the canoe in his space and heads into his office.

His boss, Gene Chizik, left for work at 6:45 and had less distance to cover than Malzahn. When Chizik arrives after fighting morning traffic, Malzhan’s canoe is already parked. For all Chizik knows, there will be a pair of rollerskates and a box of bottle rockets in Malzhan’s space tomorrow. He’s no longer surprised.

8:12 a.m. – 10:03 a.m.

Why 8:12? Because… yeah, the element of surprise.

Malzahn watches samurai movies and Westerns. Not because he enjoys them, but because the samurai teach him methods of attack and the Westerns give him ideas for herding. He sometimes likes to think of his offenses as cowboys on horseback herding the defenses where they want them to go.

Then branding them.

Malzahn thinks cows are dumb. Like opposing defenders. He likes to brand them. Lots of opposing defenders carry his searing, still-smoking brand.

10:04 – 12:18

For over two hours, Malzahn does nothing but sketch plays. In pen.

The first 23 minutes are devoted solely to the sideways snap to the wide receiver concept that came to him in a vision. By 10:31, the play has fourteen variations depending on personnel.

In one, the center becomes an eligible receiver. Malzahn knows this isn’t permitted by NCAA rules, but he likes thinking up things like this in case he’s ever in charge of the NCAA and can eliminate such ridiculous constraints. The NCAA annoys him.

Malzahn has his secretary draft a letter to the NCAA asking them to consider a variety of changes, including one that would allow the entire offensive line to go in motion, leaving a receiver to snap the ball.

His secretary types 432 words per minute, and he’s convinced he can have her hitting the 450 mark by December.

Malzahn checks in with offensive line coach Jeff Grimes to see if he’s ever taught a sideways snapping technique. When Grimes says no, Malzahn drops to the ground, grabs a potted plant and executes a perfect sideways snap down the hallway.

"Like that," he says.

In the quiet of his office, Chizik hears the potted plant hit the wall and explode. He sighs, but doesn’t look up. Yesterday Malzahn destroyed a picture frame while explaining a new blocking alignment to receivers coach Trooper Taylor.

The day before that, Malzahn tore off all the moulding around Chizik’s door to demonstrate a potential offensive set he’d learned from a samurai movie.

Malzahn returns to the office, takes his sketches, orders them in a notebook and puts them in a safe. His safe is large because it contains 1,697 notebooks. Each notebook contains 1,000 pages. Each page contains five offensive plays.

Later he'll have his secretary laminate the pages. On game day. he'll pull one page out of one book at random. Doesn't matter which book. It's all he needs.

Malzahn knows that if archeologists from the planet Barbaton find his notebooks a thousand years from now, they’ll be able to use the information contained in them to score against the rival Trampatodes. A lot.

12:19 – 1:14

Malzahn eats breakfast again. Sort of.

Yes, it’s supposed to be lunch time, but Malzahn likes to keep people guessing. He orders two pancakes smothered in onion gravy. He’s ordered the same thing for three straight days. When he comes back tomorrow, the waitress will think she knows what he’s going to do.

Boy will she be surprised.

Malzahn will order French toast with ranch dressing tomorrow. The waitress won't know what hit her. It's part of the plan.

1:14 – 1:18

Malzhan draws devil horns, glasses and a beard on a picture of Houston Nutt. Just for fun, he blacks out a few of Nutt's teeth.

1:24 – 6:36

The remainder of Malzahn’s work day is occupied with practice and team meetings.

The matters discussed during this time are privileged and confidential. Were they disclosed, you’d have to be debriefed. Nobody wants you walking around without your briefs.

Besides, the totality of Malzahn’s overall scheme is too much for the average mind to handle. If you saw it, you couldn’t comprehend it. You would drive yourself insane trying to grasp it.

Does a tree that falls in the forest make noise if no one is there to hear it?

Malzahn knows the answer to this question. He also knows how to make the tree lead the nation in total fallage. And foliage.

But forestry isn’t his passion. Too bad for the trees.

6:37 – on

From 6:37 on, Malzahn isn’t a football coach any more. He’s just an average dad, playing with his kids, talking to his wife and doing the normal mundane things every dad in the world does.

If every dad were an offensive genius.

He helps his wife with the dishes by first drawing out an alignment where the youngest child lines up behind his wife and takes a direct snap of the rinsed glasses so he can place them on the dishwasher rack. Dishwashing time is trimmed in half. Malzahn knows, because he times it with a stopwatch.

He reads to his children, taking care to explain that Hansel and Gretel could easily have avoided the grasp of the witch if Hansel had lined up in an offset formation and been used as a decoy. He would have drawn the witch in, and before she realized what was happening, the pair could have scored a huge snack from her gingerbread house.

Malzahn also thinks the three little pigs should have gone on the offensive, as they clearly had a numbers advantage on the wolf.

When he and his wife retire for the night, she puts her foot down.

"Offensive genius or not, Mr. Malzahn, you’re leaving the stopwatch on the counter. You are not bringing it in there," she says with a nod of her head toward the bedroom door.

Malzahn contemplates pointing out how many more times he can score when he's efficient, but in the end agrees.

Besides, he has a clock in his head and she can’t stop him from ticking off the mental seconds. It’s all about precision and timing.

The house, long dark, grows quiet.

As Malzahn drifts off to sleep, the wheels in his brain start to spin, conjuring up new visions, new formations, new ways to attack defenses. Tomorrow morning when he wakes at 5:12, or maybe 5:03, he’ll start a new day of sketching, scheming and planning.

Malzahn’s sleep is peaceful.

Around the country, however, ten head coaches and ten defensive coordinators who know they will soon match wits with Malzahn across the football field do not sleep nearly as soundly.

Their dreams are not so pleasant.

Auburn 49, Mississippi State 24: Putting the Fun Back in Auburn Football

Kevin Strickland — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:15:30 -0400

It seems like its been a long time since Auburn football was fun.

New offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan is well on the road to changing that dynamic.

In his first two games with the Tigers, Malzhan has helped shred the team's offensive record books, sent the scoreboard pinwheeling and put the Tigers at as solid a 2-0 as could have possibly been hoped for.

To say that Malzhan's offense has so far exceeded expectations is like saying Kate Beckinsale is sort of pretty.

The evolution of that offense and the potential it brings to a Tiger team that has watched numerous seasons bog down with offensive inefficiency, adds a whole new dimension to fun at Jordan Hare Stadium.

How fun was Saturday night's 49-24 demolition of Mississippi State?

It was mascot Aubie dancing with the band fun.

In the game's final five minutes, fans were watching a play-by-play yardage total on the Jumbotron, urging the second team to gain a few more yards so Auburn could top 600 total on the night.

The Tigers didn't quite get there, finishing with 589. Still, it was the second straight 500-plus yard outing for a Tiger offense that had difficulty gaining any yardage a year ago. Through two games, the Tigers have amassed a school-record 1,145 yards.

Auburn didn't break the 1,100 yard mark as a team until the fourth game of 2008.

Ben Tate and Onterrio McCalebb both topped the 100-yard mark for the second straight time. It's the first time in school history two backs have gone over 100 yards in consecutive games.

Tate finished with 157 yards and didn't play a single snap in the first quarter. McCalebb added 115 on just 15 carries. Both Tate and McCalebb averaged more than seven yards per attempt.

Tate finished 2008 with 664 yards, even after rushing for 117 in the season opener. The Tiger senior has racked up 272 already in 2009.

Kodi Burns ran for three touchdowns and passed for another on a well executed run fake that drew the entire Mississippi State defense in.

Auburn put up 49 points (and should have had more) against a Mississippi State team traditionally known for its defense.

Auburn scored more than 40 points only once in the last three seasons: a 55-20 win over New Mexico State in 2007.

The combined total of 86 points through two games is the best since Auburn put 63 on Ball State and followed that with 37 against Western Kentucky in 2005.

Auburn's two-game total margin of victory, 49 points, is the widest of any two consecutive games since Auburn blasted Washington State 40-14 and then hammered Mississippi State 34-0 in 2006.

Last season's well-chronicled 5-7 debacle aside, Auburn won a lot of games over the last few years. The Tigers posted nine wins in 2005, 11 in 2006 and nine more in 2007.

So many of those were gut wrenching, close ball games where the Tigers relied on their defense to hold the opposition at bay while the offense did just enough to win. The record is littered with 23-17, 22-15, 17-3 type scores.

Former head coach Tommy Tuberville, despite a reputation as a riverboat gambler, grew increasingly conservative over the course of his 10-year Auburn tenure.

The 2009 edition of the Tigers under new head coach Gene Chizik seemingly has no such conservative bent.

Case in point: Mississippi State blocked a second quarter punt to take a 17-14 lead with just 4:44 remaining in the first half.

In previous seasons, the Tigers might have been content to play it safe, run out the clock and plan for the second half.

No longer. Auburn roared 80 yards in just five plays, burning a mere 1:36 off the clock to retake the lead. McCalebb covered the final 48 yards on a charge around left end.

When the defense held Mississippi State to one first down on its ensuing possession, the Auburn coaching staff judiciously used its timeouts to preserve the clock.

Auburn got the ball back at its own 22 with just 1:29 remaining.

Sit on the ball and protect the lead? No thanks.

Todd hit Darvin Adams for 21 yards on a third and eight.

After a five-yard bullrush by Tate, Todd and Adams connected again for 28 yards. A 20-yard Todd to Adams completion moved the ball to the Bulldog one with 21 seconds still remaining.

Burns plunged in from there for one of his three touchdowns on the night.

Instead of taking a 17-14 deficit and a basket of questions to the halftime locker room, the Tigers posted two scores in the final 4:44 and carried a truckload of confidence to the break.

The Bulldogs were never a factor after that.

Yes, it's only Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State. Tech may struggle this season as evidenced by the 32-7 thrashing administered by Navy on Saturday.

MSU may not win a single conference game and most observers peg the Bulldogs as the league's worst team.

But the Auburn of the last five years didn't beat the Louisiana Techs and Mississippi States as thoroughly as this Auburn team did. Those Auburn teams won more than their share of games.

It's too early to begin building the Gene Chizik pedestal. It's not time to start minting the Gene Chizik coins. Unless you live in Iowa, where that was already done, that is.

It is time to recognize that if nothing else, Chizik and his staff have found a way to make football at Auburn fun again.

Now it's time to see if they can make the Tigers relevant. The road to relevance starts with 2-0 West Virginia on Saturday.

Auburn-Mississippi State: Why the Tigers Will Beat the Bulldogs

Kevin Strickland — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:18:12 -0400

A year ago Auburn and Mississippi State waged one of the ugliest football games in the history of the college sport.

Auburn prevailed 3-2 on the strength of a 35-yard Wes Byrum field goal in the second quarter.

It was Chris Todd's first full game as the starter after sharing duties with Kodi Burns, and Todd was serviceable, hitting 15 of 26 passes for 154 yards.

Ben Tate topped the century mark, rushing for 102 yards.

But the Tigers couldn't score. While Byrum hit the second quarter field goal, he also missed an 18-yard attempt and flubbed a 38-yarder.

Auburn was a miserable three of 16 on third down conversions. Only two drives consisted of eight plays; nine covered five or fewer.

The Tigers' last two offensive possessions ended in fumbles.

It was a hideous display. Everything about Auburn's offensive effort looked out of sync.

The only consolation was that for all Auburn's offensive woes, the Tiger defense was devastatingly effective.

Mississippi State did not convert a single third down the entire game. The Bulldogs' most effective possession covered 22 yards in five plays and ended in a punt.

MSU punted an astounding 10 times.

When the Bulldogs recovered a Todd fumble at the Tiger 32, the defense denied the scoring threat. MSU penetrated only as far as the Tiger 21 and then failed to convert a field goal opportunity.

That's one primary reason why Auburn will beat Mississippi State on Saturday.

The Tiger defense has traditionally handled whatever Mississippi State has thrown at it. Since 2001, the Bulldogs have scored a grand total of 76 points against the Tigers. MSU managed a mere 22 over the last four years. In the last nine meetings, MSU is 2-7 against the Tigers.

The Tiger defense should be able to control the offensive schemes of new Bulldog head coach Dan Mullen, who will learn that life in the SEC is a little tougher when you don't have Tim Tebow running the show.

Mullen's Bulldogs will still be extremely dangerous, particularly with Chris Relf calling the shots.

After MSU's mediocre first half in the season opener under starter Tyson Lee, Relf came on and led the Bulldogs to scores on five of six second half possessions.

The 6'3", 230-lb. redshirt sophomore may have wrangled the starting job away from Lee, who opened against Jackson State on Saturday but left in the second quarter and did not return to action.

The Bulldogs looked quicker and more polished against Jackson State than they did all last season, but Jackson State isn't exactly SEC caliber.

In a head-to-head matchup, the edge goes to the Auburn defense.

Auburn's front four should control the line of scrimmage, and that will take pressure off the greener secondary.

The question for the Tigers is whether Auburn's emerging offensive firepower can overcome the Bulldog defense.

To paraphrase the president, "yes, they can."

Take away the last two stunted seasons, where Auburn would have had difficulty putting points on the board against a team of junior high cheerleaders, and Auburn averages close to 30 points per game since 2001.

Over the last four years, while State cobbled together just 22 (19 of that coming in a 19-14 win in 2007), Auburn posted 79 points.

Auburn's offense under new coordinator Gus Malzahn showed signs of evolving last week against Louisiana Tech. The Tigers played with much greater confidence and poise.

The infusion of speed in the person of SEC freshman Onterio McCalebb adds a new dimension to the Tiger backfield.

Byrum seems to have rectified the yips that plagued his sophomore season and kicked the ball with greater authority.

Mississippi State's defense won't hold Auburn to three points again, and that bodes well for the Tigers.

Mississippi State will likely be better on offense under Mullen, but the down side for the Bulldogs is that Auburn should be significantly improved under Malzhan.

Auburn is probably two touchdowns a game better on offense than they were at this point last season.

With the Tiger defense holding State in check, that boosted confidence and production will be more than enough.

Even if that supposition turns out not to be true, the tale told in Saturday intangibles points to the Bulldogs' demise.

When Mississippi State took the field against Jackson State on Saturday, the team performed a choreographed dance routine that included more moves than a Lady Gaga video.

The pre-game dance ended with players jumping in unison and barking.

One word came to mind as the spectacle unfolded: undisciplined.

The Bulldogs were just that.

Mississippi State committed a dozen penalties that cost them 152 yards. The Bulldogs put the ball on the ground four times, losing two. Bulldog kicker Sean Brauchle missed two very makeable field goals, one from 38 yards and another from 37.

Those are the kinds of things that will get you killed in the SEC.

Auburn faced a tougher opponent than Mississippi State did in week one and showed greater poise in completing its assignments.

At home, under the lights, that gives the Tigers more than enough of an advantage.

The Tigers should pull away down the stretch and give Gene Chizik his first SEC win and a realistic shot at opening his Auburn tenure 4-0.

Auburn Debut Highlights Positives

Kevin Strickland — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:37:37 -0400

To the casual observer there was very little difference between Auburn’s 2008 season opener and the 2009 debut.

In both season openers, the Tigers subdued an inferior opponent from the state of Louisiana with a strong second-half showing. In 2008, Auburn clubbed Louisiana Monroe 34-0. Last Saturday night, the Tigers devoured Louisiana Tech 37-13.

In both games, Auburn scored in low double figures in the first half. Against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks, Auburn posted 17 first-half points. The Tigers managed 13 against the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech last week.

In both cases Auburn put up impressive offensive totals. Auburn racked up 406 yards against the Warhawks and piled on 556 against the Bulldogs.

Both offenses were paced by a punishing rushing attack. Auburn chewed up 321 yards on the ground against Louisiana Monroe while churning for 301 against Louisiana Tech.

Ben Tate topped the 100-yard mark against both the Warhawks and Bulldogs, gaining 115 yards in 2008 and 117 last Saturday.

That’s where the similarities ended.

Despite last year’s score and the grind-it-out ground game that provided the final margin, even the most ardent Auburn fan had reservations about the ability of the offense to execute. Regardless of the final score, it was readily apparent that Tony Franklin’s offensive system was rife with flaws. It was a disaster in the making.

Auburn ended the 2008 season 5-7 as the problems first glimpsed against Louisiana Monroe snowballed into a season and career-wrecking avalanche.

Instead of deficiencies and concerns, the 2009 debut provided buoyed confidence and illuminated a number of positives that could herald better things in store for this season’s Tiger edition.

Auburn didn’t score an offensive touchdown against Louisiana Monroe until the third quarter. First half scores came on a punt return and a fumble recovery. Four of Auburn’s first half drives in 2008 consisted of four or fewer plays. Only one seven possessions gained more than 24 yards.

Compare that to Saturday’s first half against Louisiana Tech: Five first half possessions, only one of which covered fewer than 26 yards. There were no three-and-out possessions. Two possessions gained more than 60 yards each covered 10-plus plays and both resulted in points.

Franklin refused to name a starter in 2008 and eventually flip-flopped between Chris Todd and Kodi Burns in last year’s opener, a situation which did neither potential signal caller any favors. Both were ineffective.

New Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan turned the reins over to Todd and the positive results were obvious.

A year ago, Todd was a woeful 9 of 18 for 70 yards. He threw one interception and one TD pass.

On Saturday, Todd was 17 of 26. He didn’t throw a pick. He threw two touchdown passes. One to Terrell Zachery covered 93 yards and was the longest in school history. An 87-yard strike from Jason Campbell to Silas Daniels in 2004 was the previous longest. It came against Louisiana Tech in a 52-7 Tiger win.

Todd’s rehabilitated shoulder allowed him to make throws that proved problematic a season ago, but the greater improvement came in him not having to look over his shoulder and worry about making a mistake.

When a quarterback understands that a single errant throw is not going to bring out the hook, it allows him to settle into the game. There’s no question Todd’s confidence grew over the course of the win. He was a better quarterback at the end of the game than he was at the opening kick.

His best throw of the night wasn’t the 93-yarder, but a 17-yard touch pass in the fourth to Darvin Adams that gave Auburn a 30-13 lead and sealed the win. The 3rd-and-16 lob showed his confidence as well as confirmed the positive results of his shoulder rehab. It was a throw that Todd likely would not have been able to execute a year ago.

The coaching staff did not neglect Burns. The former starting quarterback was given ample opportunity to shine in his new role as a situational receiver and ball carrier in the ballyhooed Wildcat formation.

Burns came through, converting several critical possessions with elusive runs and scoring the Tigers’ first touchdown.

In addition to Tate’s 100-plus yard rushing night, freshman Onterrio McCalebb broke the 100-yard plateau, gaining 148 yards. He is only the second freshman in Auburn history to gain more than 100 yards in a season opener.

The last to do so? Bo Jackson, who rolled up 123 against Wake Forest in 1982.

McCalebb’s quickness is an excellent contrast to Tate’s more direct, bruising style and gives Auburn a potent offensive weapon.

Auburn also seemed to have added spark from the receiving corps, a weak spot for the Tigers in 2008. While heralded freshman DeAngelo Benton was shut out, Todd did spread the wealth among Mario Fannin, Adams, Zachery and Tate.

Auburn also exhibited a willingness to take calculated risks reminiscent of former coach Tommy Tuberville’s early riverboat gambler persona.

Auburn took possession at its own 39 with just 23 seconds remaining in the first half. Tech had just kicked a field goal to tie the game at 10-all. Instead of standing pat, Auburn attacked. McCalebb rumbled for nine yards on first down.

Todd rifled a pass for 20 yards across the middle to Fannin on second down. On the last play of the half, Wes Byrum nailed a 49-yard field goal.

Instead of a 10-10 tie and questions, Auburn carried a 13-10 lead and momentum to the locker room.

The series was perfectly executed and showed moxie on the part of the coaching staff.

At the conclusion of the 2008 season opener, the general feeling was one of unease and concern. The win over Louisiana Monroe was so loaded with warning signs and red flags that only the most oblivious could have missed them.

There is no such unease after Saturday’s debut. New head coach Gene Chizik and his staff put together a solid game plan that maximized the team’s strengths, allowed its quarterback to grow into his role, and provided a solid win that sets the tone.

All wasn’t sunshine and roses, however. The Tigers had a handful of defensive breakdowns, particularly in costly penalties that must be avoided as the season progresses. A series of facemask penalties extended a Louisiana Tech drive and helped lead to its only touchdown of the night.

Two fumbles also prevented potential scoring opportunities. One, a Tate fumble inside the Bulldog 10 in the first half almost certainly took points off the board. The second, on Auburn’s first drive of the third, gave momentum to Louisiana Tech and had the Bulldogs knocking at the door.

Freshman Darren Bates quelled that threat with an interception at the Tiger two yard line. Two plays later Todd hit Zachery on an out-and-up and Auburn was in control.

That’s the difference a year makes.

A year ago, the fumble would likely have eroded Auburn’s confidence and led to a mental breakdown.

This year, in this game at least, a moment of adversity didn’t become a tsunami.

Setting the Bar for Success: Gene Chizik's Magic Number is Seven

Kevin Strickland — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:31:44 -0400

As the Auburn Tigers stand on the precipice of their first season under new head coach Gene Chizik, there is a palpable sense of unease among the Tiger faithful.

The sting of a 5-7 season and the turmoil of a coaching search has barely faded. Questions over Chizik's suitability for the job linger, especially in light of his 5-19 debacle at Iowa State.

Nervousness over Gus Malzhan's implementation of a new spread-based offense, after last season's botched spread experiment with Tony Franklin failed so miserably, bubbles under the surface.

Concerns about depth dog the team, particularly on defense, where an injury to a linebacker or defensive back could potentially promote a green freshman or untested walkon to the front lines.

Worries about Chris Todd's ability to lead the offense after his injury-addled self-destruction in 2008 persist.

So, too do the naysayers. Most predict Auburn to finish with three to six wins. Few peg Auburn as a bowl team. Is that really all Auburn fans have to look forward to?

In another article on this site, it was noted that a three-win inagural season under Chizik would be completely unacceptable.

If three is out of the question, what then would be an acceptable number for Chizik? What would show that he isn't in over his head as Auburn coach?

For Chizik that magic number is seven.

A quality coach will win every game in which his team has greater front-line talent than the opponent. Auburn has four such games this season:

Louisiana Tech
Mississippi State
Ball State
Furman

Anything less than 4-0 against that slate is a definite red flag.

A competent coach should win at least half the games against teams with relatively equal talent.

There are three, possibly four, teams on Auburn's schedule that meet that criteria:

West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Arkansas

A quality coach will win at least 25 percent of the games against teams with supposedly superior talent, games where coaching prowess trumps the disparity in skill.

Auburn has at least four games on the schedule which fit that bill:

LSU
Ole Miss
Georgia
Alabama

West Virginia could slip into the greater talent pool and Ole Miss could potentially be considered as having equal talent, but the basic premise remains.

In addition, a competent coach should win at least a third of his road games. Auburn has four road games in 2009:

at Knoxville (Tennessee)
at Fayetteville (Arkansas)
at Baton Rouge (LSU), and
at Athens (Georgia)

Mix up the formula and you come out with a solid seven.

Chizik's Tigers should win four against lesser competition, split the bill against equal foes for two more wins, pick up a win against one of the teams with "better talent" and earn at least one of those on the road.

Seven wins is Chizik's magic number. Anything less should be reason for concern.

Anything more? A reason for celebration.