Utah State vs. Auburn: Don't Read Too Much into Tiger Romp

No. 23 Auburn will play host to Utah State in one of many cakewalks (or, in this case, Tiger Walks) of the opening weekend of the 2011 college football season.

And, as is the case in just about all of these games, which feature over-matched teams from small conferences playing on the road for a nice paycheck and a surefire "L," there won't be much to take away in projecting the strength of either team over the course of the season.

Especially for the Tigers, who are in flux after losing Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton and Lombardi Award winner Nick Fairley to the 2011 NFL Draft.

Defending their BCS National Championship won't be easy for Gene Chizik's club, though it will likely look that way against the Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.

Not that the Tigers aren't capable of once again taking the college football world by storm. Remember, Auburn started the 2010 season as the No. 22 team in the nation before coming out of nowhere to go 14-0 behind Newton's historic campaign.

This time around, the spotlight will be firmly fixed upon junior quarterback Barrett Trotter, Newton's replacement. He'll have every opportunity to show what he's truly capable of against an Aggies defense that gave up 40 points or more on five separate occasions last season.

And if, for whatever reason, Trotter doesn't walk (and throw) all over Utah State's secondary in the first start of his collegiate career, the Tigers can always just have him hand the ball off to running backs Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb, who were one of two duos in the FBS last season with each member having at least 800 yards rushing.

Dyer, in particular, is just one of a wide swath of talented youngsters who've reinvigorated Auburn football since Chizik arrived in Alabama amid a flurry of controversy in December of 2008. Many of those once-highly-touted recruits will be expected to contribute from the get-go.

A home game against the Aggies should provide the perfect circumstances for the newbies to shake off their collegiate jitters before the start of SEC play against No. 20 Mississippi State next weekend.

That game will be just the first of seven against teams ranked in the preseason. The Tigers sport arguably the toughest conference schedule of any team in the SEC, if not the country, with home games against the Bulldogs, No. 22 Florida and No. 2 Alabama along with road games at No. 12 South Carolina, No. 15 Arkansas, No. 4 LSU and No. 19 Georgia.

Even last year's team, Newton and Fairley included, would've had trouble braving that slate on the way to an SEC championship.

As such, Auburn would be well-advised to live it up against Utah State while they can. The schedule will do the Tigers no favors, especially in an SEC East division with five out of six teams currently in the top 25.

For now, though, Auburn fans can enjoy their War Eagle chants while the Tigers pick apart the Aggies on Saturday afternoon.

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