A Quick Look at Two 2010 Away Games For The Auburn Defensive Line

With the 2010 college football season quickly approaching, most Auburn fans are well aware of the multitude of skilled play-makers on the team. While this is certainly an advantage, football games are usually won or lost on the line.

Auburn has four games on the road in 2010. In these four games the Auburn lines must overcome the advantage of the home crowd. A dominating performance by the Auburn lines in these games should go a long way toward bringing a victory home with the team.

The Auburn team was skilled but not deep on the offensive line in 2009. The Auburn defensive line was paper thin. Fans will be relieved to know the facts have changed for 2010.

The depth along the offensive and defensive lines is much better for 2010. There is a full rotation of quality talent on both lines. This should allow the offensive play count to be increased to the desired level in 2010.

The average football team runs between 60 and 70 offensive plays per game. The strategy for Auburn is to take these team’s defenses beyond their physical comfort level. The bigger players along the line are usually the first ones to become tired.

Gus Malzhan wants to run about 85 offensive plays per game. With the explosive nature of the Auburn offense this will lead to the Tiger defense having to defend over 70 plays as well. This makes depth along the line a bigger concern for Auburn than for some teams.

Auburn fans can relax a little more in 2010 due to increased experience and depth along the lines. Let’s take a look at the Auburn defensive linemen and compare them to their competition for two away games this season.

While 40 yard times are not applicable for most linemen, these times do reflect quickness and stamina which are important to linemen. Quickness and power on the defensive line causes the opposition offensive line to concentrate on the lineman and frees up the linebackers to make plays.

Quickness by the offensive lineman allows him to move into position to make blocks and pick up blitzes.    

(These are speculative positions and subject to change.)

Position	Auburn	Position	Mississippi State	Kentucky
Defensive Tackle	Nick Fairley   6’5”    314 lbs. Junior Starter Experience 4.9 sec. 40 yds.	Offensive Guard	Tobias Smith 6’3” 305 lbs. Sophomore 5.1 sec. 40 yds.	Stuart Hines 6’4” 295 lbs. Junior 5.1 sec. 40 yds.
	Derrick Lykes 6’2” 281 lbs. Sophomore Experience 4.8 sec. 40 yds.		Mark Melichar 6’5” 300 lbs. Senior 5.3 sec. 40 yds.	Kevin Mitchell 6’6” 320 lbs. RS Freshman 5.1 sec. 40 yds.
	Jeffrey Whitaker 6’3” 290 lbs. Freshman 5.0 sec. 40 yds.
Defensive Tackle	Mike Blanc 6’4”    289 lbs. Senior Starter Experience 4.9 sec. 40 yds.	Offensive Guard	Quentin Saulsberry 6’2” 305 lbs. Junior 5.2 sec. 40 yds.	Larry Warford 6’3” 330 lbs. Sophomore 6 sec. 40 yds.
	Zach Clayton   6’3” 293 lbs. Senior Experience 4.8 sec. 40 yds.		Templeton Hardy 6’3” 300 lbs. Sophomore 5.2 sec. 40 yds.	Dave Ulinski 6’5” 320 lbs. Sophomore 5.1 sec. 40 yds.
	Kenneth Carter 6’4” 270 lbs. Freshman 4.9 sec. 40 yds.
Defensive End	Antoine Carter 6’4” 260 lbs. Senior Starter Experience 4.7 sec. 40 yds.	Offensive Tackle	Derek Sherrod 6’6” 305 lbs. Senior 5.2 sec. 40 yds.	Chandler Burden 6’4” 296 lbs. Junior 5.1 sec. 40 yds.
	Dee Ford 6’4” 233 lbs. Sophomore Experience 4.5 sec. 40 yds.		Blaine Clausell 6’7” 305 lbs. Freshman 5.0 sec. 40 yds.	Billy Joe Murphy 6’6” 300 lbs. Junior 5.0 sec. 40 yds.
	Corey Lemonier 6’4” 221 lbs. Freshman 4.8 sec. 40 yds.			Sean Stackhouse 6’4” 270 lbs. Sophomore 4.8 sec. 40 yds.
Defensive End	Michael Goggins 6’3” 261 lbs. Senior Starter Experience 4.7 sec. 40 yds.	Offensive Tackle	Addison Lawrence 6’4” 300 lbs. Junior 5.0 sec. 40 yds.	Brad Durham 6’4” 305 lbs. Senior 5.6 sec. 40 yds.
	Nosa Eguae 6’2” 249 lbs. RS Freshman 4.8 sec. 40 yds.		Phillip Freeman 6’6” 305 lbs. Senior 5.0 sec. 40 yds.	Trevino Woods 6’5” 280 lbs. Sophomore 5.4 sec. 40 yds.
	Joel Bonomolo 6’3” 245 lbs. Junior 4.6 sec. 40 yds.			Ian Anderson 6’6” 300 lbs. RS Freshman 5.8 sec. 40 yds.
	Craig Sanders 6’4” 230 lbs. Freshman 4.6 sec. 40 yds.	Center	J.C. Brignone 6’1” 300 lbs. Senior 5.3 sec. 40 yds.	Matt Smith 6’4” 290 lbs. Sophomore 5.6 sec. 40 yds.
			Sam Watts 6’4” 305 lbs. RS Freshman 5.6 sec. 40 yds.	Jake Lanefski 6’4” 290 lbs. Junior 5.5 sec. 40 yds.