The 2008 Auburn Tigers: An Obsessive Auburn Fan's Thoughts (Week 1 - ULM)

I consider myself one of the biggest Auburn football fans on the planet. I've been raised an Auburn fan, and now attend Auburn as a student. Each week, I will post my thoughts on everything Auburn football from the previous weekend. I don't claim to have all the correct answers and the right thoughts all the time. Things like Bleacher Report are meant for individual fans to have a voice. If you agree, great. If not, feel free to comment and we can discuss. Above everything else, I love Auburn and Auburn football with a passion, and I enjoy talking Auburn sports more than almost anything else. With all that said, let's get to the good stuff:

1. I know the big topic this week is going to the passing game or lack thereof on Saturday night. I refuse to be one of these people who starts throwing blame around and giving up on a NEW scheme after one fairly meaningless game. The passing game will get better as the weeks go by, and until then the offensive line and running backs will need to dominate just as they did against ULM.
2. Having two quarterbacks always makes me a little nervous. Even though LSU and Florida have done it the last two years and won championships, Auburn's current situation is different. There is no leader or a change-of-pace quarterback. Chris Todd and Kodi Burns are both average to above average quarterbacks at this point. The only problem I see with rotating them is the lack of continuity on offense. I think Tony Franklin will pick one after the Southern Miss game and before SEC play, but we'll see if that actually happens.
3. The defense looks very good. I'm a bit skeptical of the lack of bump and run coverage in Coach Rhoads' defense (possibly just because it's what Auburn defense has done the last few years), but I loved the addition of more blitzes and attacking the quarterback. It was also obvious that looking for the ball on defense has been a focal point this offseason. The freshman defensive backs looked comfortable and the front four looked solid. It was also good to see a healthy Tray Blackmon running around out there.
4. How about Clinton Durst? This kid is going to be a stud punter in the SEC. I feel for Ryan Shoemaker though...he was an all-SEC punter last year and now loses his job to a new kid. In warmups, Durst was skying punts higher than I have seen in a long time. He did have one of the side of his foot during the game, but that's expected in a freshman's first game. Never underestimate the value of a great punter in SEC play, especially under Coach Tuberville. His ability to flip the field will be huge this year.
5. Robert Dunn did his best to get out of the doghouse with his punt return for a touchdown, and he might get to play more wideout with the loss of Philip Pierre-Louis for the year and with Montez Billings and James Swinton questionable this week. He did have one very bad drop against ULM when he was at wideout, but I have a feeling he will get more playing time this week. Oh and how incredible is it that the last Auburn punt return for a touchdown before Dunn's was in 1996 by Robert Baker? I couldn't believe that stat.
6. The most worrisome aspect of this game for me was both quarterbacks missing wide open deep receivers. I can remember Tim Hawthorne on one play and Rod Smith on another behind every defensive player for ULM and running downfield. Each quarterback missed those kind of opportunities. Whether that was not wanting to make a mistake and lose the chance to start or just not seeing the receivers, Franklin needs to fix that quickly. The big play has been a huge missing element of the offense since the 2004 team.
7. The crowd for the opener wasn't too bad. It was a full stadium that would have been pretty loud had the offense done anything in the first half. Auburn fans need to show up for Southern Miss, even though its an early kickoff. This Southern Miss won their opener in an easier fashion than we did and will NOT be intimidated by coming into an SEC stadium. They do it every year. Auburn's history at 11:30 AM kickoffs is well-documented, but it starts with the fans. If the fans create a loud environment and create a home-field advantage, our players will feed off of that. Don't look past USM - they've taken down plenty of giants before.

Hope anyone who reads these enjoys my thoughts. They'll be up every week after each game. Like I said, I love talkin football so feel free to contact me on facebook, through comments here, etc. War Eagle!