Auburn Football: Why Are the Tigers Leading the SEC?

With Auburn fans getting ready for homecoming this weekend, it seems to be an appropriate time to look at how the Tigers compare to the rest of the conference. This has been a different kind of year in the SEC and some might be surprised at where Auburn stands.

One of the upcoming games is with old rival Georgia. This is actually an improved team both offensively and defensively when compared to last year. Looking at Georgia's current overall record, it might not appear to be that way. This year has been a season where normal has not been good enough.

These comparisons will be made based on seasonal game averages. A decrease in performance will be marked by a minus sign in the variations column.

Rushing Offense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	Auburn	307.67 yards	212 yards	95.67 yards
2	Mississippi State	218.67 yards	227.58 yards	-8.91 yards
3	Mississippi	212 yards	183.62 yards	28.38 yards
4	Alabama	186.88 yards	215.07 yards	-28.19 yards
5	LSU	179.13 yards	122.77 yards	56.36 yards
8	Georgia	150.67 yards	161 yards	-10.33 yards

Passing Offense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	Arkansas	360.25 yards	295.54 yards	64.71 yards
2	Kentucky	278.33 yards	140.31 yards	138.02 yards
3	South Carolina	256 yards	226.15 yards	29.85 yards
4	Alabama	253.88 yards	187.93 yards	65.95 yards
5	Georgia	237.78 yards	201.15 yards	36.63 yards
6	Tennessee	213.63 yards	226.31 yards	-12.68 yards
7	Mississippi	197.88 yards	218.77 yards	-20.89 yards
8	Florida	190.88 yards	236.07 yards	-45.19 yards
9	Auburn	188.56 yards	219.77 yards	-31.21 yards
12	LSU	138.75 yards	181.77 yards	-43.02 yards

Total Offense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	Auburn	496.22 yards	431.77 yards	64.45 yards
2	Arkansas	487.38 yards	427.31 yards	60.07 yards
3	Alabama	440.75 yards	403 yards	37.75 yards
4	Kentucky	419.44 yards	331.54 yards	87.9 yards
5	Mississippi	409.88 yards	402.38 yards	7.5 yards
9	South Carolina	407.88 yards	347.38 yards	60.5 yards
7	Georgia	388.44 yards	362.15 yards	26.39 yards
8	Mississippi State	388.22 yards	371.92 yards	16.3 yards
9	Florida	344.13 yards	457.86 yards	-113.73
12	LSU	317.88 yards	304.54 yards	13.34 yards

Overall the SEC is a much better conference on offense in 2010. The improvement is almost uniform from top to bottom. While the LSU offense has been much maligned, they have actually made good improvement against a harder schedule than in 2009.

Total Defense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	LSU	277.63 yards	327.62 yards	49.99 yards
2	Alabama	291.38 yards	244.14 yards	-47.24 yards
3	Florida	315.5 yards	252.57 yards	-62.93 yards
4	Georgia	322.67 yards	339.38 yards	16.71 yards
5	Arkansas	330.88 yards	401.15 yards	70.27 yards
6	Mississippi State	336.78 yards	366 yards	29.22 yards
7	Kentucky	349.78 yards	359.67 yards	9.89 yards
8	Auburn	358.33 yards	374.08 yards	15.75 yards
9	South Carolina	360 yards	300.69 yards	-59.31 yards

Auburn has improved on both offense and defense this year. The combination of these improvements is 80.2 yards per game. Let’s take a look at the overall improvement of the top SEC teams.

Auburn 80.2 yards improved

LSU 63.24 yards improved

Alabama 9.49 yards regressed

Arkansas 130.34 yards improved

South Carolina 1.19 yards improved

Mississippi State 45.52 yards improved

Georgia 43.1 yards improved

Kentucky 97.79 yards improved

Florida 176.66 yards regressed

For the most part Alabama has performed on a level equal to the 2009 season. The Tide have improved on offense and regressed on defense as expected, but their overall performance is within 10 yards of the 2009 team.

Georgia has improved on both offense and defense for 2010. The Bulldogs have improved weekly this season.

While some would point to scoring offense and defense as a more reliable indicator, this is certainly not the case. For a team to have solid credentials, they must be improved in every area.

Scoring Offense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	Auburn	40 points	33 points	7 points
2	Arkansas	35 points	36 points	-1 point
3	Alabama	34 points	32 points	2 points
4	Kentucky	33 points	26 points	7 points
5	Georgia	31 points	29 points	2 points
6	Mississippi	31 points	30 points	1 point
7	South Carolina	30 points	20 points	10 points
8	Florida	28 points	36 points	-8 points
9	Mississippi State	28 points	26 points	2 points
10	LSU	26 points	25 points	1 points

Scoring Defense

Conference Rank	Team	2010 Average	2009 Average	Variation
1	Alabama	13 points	12 points	1 point
2	LSU	16 points	16 points	No change
3	Mississippi State	17 points	27 points	10 points
4	South Carolina	20 points	10 points	-10 points
5	Florida	20 points	13 points	-7 points
6	Georgia	21 points	26 points	5 points
7	Arkansas	22 points	25 points	3 points
8	Auburn	24 points	28 points	3 points
11	Kentucky	32 points	23 points	-9 points

The top performers are quite obvious.

Auburn 10 points improved

LSU one point improved

Alabama one point improved

Arkansas two points improved

South Carolina no change

Mississippi State 12 points improved

When looking at the overall performance of the 2010 Auburn Tigers, it becomes obvious why they currently sit at the head of the conference table.

Auburn is allowing 242 passing yards per game, about 24 yards more than last season. This is one statistical area where Auburn has not improved, and in total 216 yards behind last season's team. This statistic should improve before the season ends.