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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Update from Wednesday's practice

A couple quick hitters after speaking to Tommy Tuberville:

-- Stop me if you've heard this before, but Auburn will try to get backup quarterback Kodi Burns some snaps. I'll believe it when he's on the field and not wearing a head set.

-- Lots of injuries out there, although none sound too serious. DE Michael Goggans (ankle), LB Tray Blackmon (wrist) and LB Craig Stevens, RB Brad Lester (knee), FS Zac Etheridge (shoulder) and P Clinton Durst (flu) all practiced Wednesday. Tuberville wasn't joking when he said the LSU game is usually the most physical of the year.

-- Sophomore Zach Clayton has moved from defensive tackle to end to give Auburn some depth. Clayton wasn't playing much, third on the depth chart behind the indefatigable Sen'Derrick Marks, so it seems like a logical move.

-- Auburn hasn't played Tennessee since 2004. That just doesn't seem right. It makes you wonder how they do the scheduling in the SEC.

More tomorrow with -- hopefully -- another video.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The reason AU hasn't played TN since 2004 is because TN is not a common opponent of AU. They are on a rotating basis so you end up only playing your rotating opponents every 4 years. I'm hoping you are being sarcastic or otherwise you need to do some homework on the SEC.

Andy Bitter said...

No, I understand the system. I just don't understand why the system is set up that way.

I realize the difficulties of trying to match up 11 teams into eight games on a yearly basis, especially when divisions are involved, but it's seems ridiculous to me that an entire class of Auburn players could go through their careers having played Tennessee once.

Anonymous said...

.....Used to be, Auburn played MOST of the better SEC teams, every year. From the mid-1950s onward. We had Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and Alabama, every year. The only major power we didn't play was LSU. Meanwhile, Bama got Vandy, Ole Miss and Mississippi State every year.

.....When the SEC was divided up into divisions, it was decided that Auburn should be in the SEC West, so that they would remain in the same division as their arch-rival, Alabama. In order to add LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas to the schedule every year, something had to give in the east. The annual Auburn-Tennessee series halted after 1991.

.....Auburn's two permanent East opponents were Florida and Georgia, starting out. (See how this works? Bama got Vandy and Tennessee, while Auburn again played two of the better teams.)

.....In 2003, the SEC went to a system of two rotating intra-divisional opponents, and only one permanent one. For Auburn, this meant the "Oldest Football Rivalry in the South," Georgia.