Auburn Poised In 2010; 2004 All Over Again?

Auburn football is heating up here in August and something on the plains seems very familiar. Can history repeat itself for Auburn this fall?

Many can remember the great expectations Auburn had in the beginning of the 2003 season. With many people calling for Auburn to win it all and starting in most polls at 6 Auburn was poised for a great year. Then, two of the ugliest loses to start the season with such potential and such talent. They ended that season with a 8-5 record with a win against Wisconsin and a plane ride to Louisville.

Preseason 2004 the Auburn Tigers return 14 starters 8 on offense and 6 on defense. Four of these returning starters were on the O line. The coaches poll ranked Auburn 18^th in there preseason poll and Auburn finished the season with a 13-0 record and ranked 2^nd in the final polls.

Now jump to 2009  

The 2009 season brought new coaches and new ideas to the plains. Nobody knew what to expect with a 5-19 Chizik and Gus’s high flying offense. We had a quarterback with a surgically fixed noodle arm and no offensive weapons. Naturally we weren’t ranked in any preseason polls and when we finally made it in the polls we lost. However we did end the season with a 8-5 record with a crazy win against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl.

Fall camp finally starts and all the excitement of college football begins. Everybody begins their preseason blah blah about every team and every player. Preseason polls finally come out and Auburn is ranked 23^rd in most polls. I can’t help but look at how similar this season seems.  Auburn returns 16 starters 7 on offense and 8 on defensive and four of them are on the O line sounds familiar yet. We have excellent running backs, playmakers outside and a great quarterback. (we hope)

With all our coaches coming back, our experienced offensive line and a very doable schedule how can we not win? Sounds a little like the set up that we had in 2004?

14 returning starters                             16 returning starters

4 returning O line                                  4 returning O line

2 great RBs                                           2 maybe 3 great RBs

New offense returning QB                   New QB old offense

4 manageable away games                   4 manageable away games          

      (Miss State, Tennessee                          (Miss State, Kentucky

        Ole Miss, Alabama)                              Ole Miss, Alabama)  

Is it possible? Can it happen? Does Auburn and Chizik have what it takes to do what Tubby and the Tigers did in 2004? We didn’t know how good Auburn would be in 2004 just like we don’t really know how good the Tigers will be this year. If there is not a rash of injuries or Armageddon I think the Tigers have what it takes to sneak up and bite everybody this year. Only time will tell what will happen to the sneaky Tigers this season, but I can tell you one thing, it’s going to be fast, furious and fun.

By Matt Zaden