Auburn-Ole Miss preview

This will have to be shorter than usual this week because I have to get on the road to Tupelo pretty soon. I've been told it's the birthplace of Elvis, although I can't imagine myself taking extra time to go find that place.

Anyway, on to the game, which has some pretty big implications. If Auburn loses (and Vegas has the Tigers as a 6.5-point underdog), making a bowl game is going to be pretty tough. As I wrote in tomorrow's game advance, Amen Corner is tougher than usual this year, with Georgia ranked No. 6 and Alabama No. 2. Assuming a win against FCS Tennessee-Martin next week and losses against the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide -- not a stretch of the imagination, by the way -- Auburn's bowl eligibility hinges on Saturday's game.

No pressure, though.

Let's (briefly) break this thing down, shall we?

• Say what you will about the Ed Orgeron era -- which had to have topped out when he ripped his shirt off in that first team meeting, didn't it? -- but he didn't leave Ole Miss' cupboard bare. If there's one thing Orgeron could do, it was recruit. And now with a coach like Houston Nutt who knows how to do a thing or two with some talent, the Rebels are definitely on the rise. A good Ole Miss team and an Alabama squad that's as good as it has been in almost 20 years certainly makes the SEC West much more formidable. Once Nutt and Arkansas' Bobby Petrino get things situated, that's going to be one tough division.
  
  
• Here's a stat that may be meaningless: Auburn is 8-1 all-time in Oxford, having not lost there since 1992. I seem to remember fairly similar statements about the Tigers traveling to Vanderbilt, right?
  
  
• Got an e-mail from Skip Hansberger, a reporter from the Citizen of East Alabama, the paper in Phenix City, asking about Auburn's preference for wearing all-white shoes and socks this year. Since Skip is one of this blog's few loyal readers who is not a) my girlfriend, b) one of my close friends or c) a member of my immediate family, I feel obliged to put his thought out there:
  
  "Everyone talks about how successful Auburn is when they wear the white uniforms. But something that might be a little more interesting is to find out how the Auburn football team fares while wearing white SHOES. If I remember correctly, Auburn has worn black shoes for both home and away games for at least the last five seasons, maybe even more. I know they wore white shoes during the 2001 season and maybe '99 through '02 as well."
  
  Admittedly, my knowledge of Auburn's sartorial statements are extremely limited having been on the beat for, oh, a month and a half now. I do know that Tommy Tuberville said on his radio show last night that the players wanted to wear all-white shoes and socks this year because it made them feel like they were faster (hey, whatever convinces you). So I'll put this out there to anyone in the know -- what is the history of Auburn's color preference for shoes and socks? Give me a good response and I'll give you a shout-out in the blog.
  
  
• As a bonus question, what does everyone out there prefer with Auburn's road unis -- white or black shoes?
  
  
• Well, back to the game. There's been a lot of talk about finishing games off this week, which there should be, considering Auburn has led at halftime in every game this year, blowing double-digit leads in all four losses. What's to blame for this? Here are a couple ideas
  
  
  1. The defense lacks depth, something that was very noticeable in the second half of the West Virginia game, when the Tigers missed all sorts of tackles and let Noel Devine run wild.
  2. The offense doesn't know how to adjust. Opposing defenses have obviously adjusted to what Auburn does in the first half, stacking eight or nine guys in the box and daring the Tigers to beat them in the air. Auburn, with de facto offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, in actuality a tight ends coach, and Tuberville, a defensive coach by trade, aren't capable of making the necessary adjustments. It's fairly simple to call all running plays in the first half. When you have to switch up what you're doing is when you need a smart, trained offensive mind who can keep defenses on their heels. That's why you hire and -- perhaps more to the point -- why you keep coordinators.

• Auburn better hope CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) can play and isn't limited too much. The Tigers can barely field a nickel package as it is. Not a good thing when you're going against a quarterback like Jevan Snead, who has thrown as many touchdowns this season as Florida's Tim Tebow and Georgia's Matthew Stafford.

Prediction time: This is a tough one. While it seems like Auburn would be especially motivated because its bowl life is basically on the line, you would have thought that last week and the week before and the week before, when the Tigers' chances at staying near the top of the SEC were fading. Truthfully, I don't know what to expect out of Auburn. The Tigers can look like the best team on the field (witness the first quarter at Vanderbilt and the first 20 minutes at West Virginia), and they can look like the most clueless team in the SEC at other times. Auburn's big problems are with its depth in the secondary and its place-kicking game. Those are two pretty big holes to have if you're expecting a close game.

As a result, I'll go with Ole Miss 23, Auburn 17.

Thursday update: Second-half struggles

Not surprisingly, Tommy Tuberville's focus this week has been on getting his team to come out strong in the second half. Auburn has led at halftime in every game this season, blowing double-digit leads in all four its losses.

So how do the Tigers combat coming out flat?

"We might go scrimmage at halftime," Tuberville joked.

"No, I don't know. There's really no answer to it other than the fact we need something to happen to us when we first go out there. We've gone back and looked and it looks like we're waiting for things to happen instead of making things happen -- coaching and playing. We've got some things in mind that we want to try to do if the situation arises.

"There's no miracle formula. We've just got to go out and play and coach better for four quarters."

In other news:

• Both Auburn and Ole Miss are 4-4 this year. It's safe to say the teams' respective fan bases are taking things very different. "It's all relative to what you've done in the past and what you're doing now," Tuberville said. "Everybody looks at us saying something's wrong that we've lost four games. You look back and we've won 50 games in the last five years. It's hard for us to take. You think the fans it's hard to take. It's harder for the players and coaches to take it than it is for the fans. It eats at us because we know we're better than how we've played."

• Tuberville said it's been hardest for the seniors. "This is the last time most of them will ever play football," he said. "We play the Iron Bowl 30 days from today and it will be the last time they put on pads. Their time is coming to an end." I'm going to assume Tuberville was not giving up on the possibility of making a bowl game. It is funny how he phrased it, though.

• On the injury front, NG Tez Doolittle (groin) practiced Thursday and is expected to play.
  
  
• CB Neiko Thorpe (ankle) won't play. Jerraud Powers (hamstring) practiced Thursday and should be fine for Saturday.
  
  
• RB Ben Tate (hamstring) is not quite 100 percent, but he took snaps all week long.

Trustee, AD back Tuberville; coach appreciative

Tommy Tuberville apparently still has some friends out there.

The embattled Auburn coach got a public statement of support from Paul Spina (right), president pro tempore of Auburn’s board of trustees, and athletic director Jay Jacobs.

“I think Tommy made a couple of staff mistakes, and I’m going to fight for him to have the opportunity to correct those mistakes,” Spina told the Birmingham News. “Tommy deserves that opportunity, and I’ll fight for him to have that opportunity to remain the head football coach at Auburn University.

“I think Tommy is good for Auburn. Given the opportunity, I think he can continue to be good for Auburn.”

Jacobs released a statement Wednesday evening:

"As I do with every coach, I evaluate their job performance based on the body of work. That being the case, we will continue to support Coach Tuberville and the program as we always have, and are looking forward to the next four games."

Tuberville, who met briefly with reporters after practice, had this as a response:

"You look at it and you appreciate it, but you've just got to do your job, just keep going, work at it and try to get better. You always look for support obviously, but I know we've just got to keep trying to get better and win games."

In other news:

• Backup CB Neiko Thorpe (ankle) doesn't sound like he'll play. Tuberville said he's probably a week away. Phenix City native D'Antoine Hood will likely be Auburn's third cornerback against Ole Miss.
  
  
• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring), DE Antoine Carter (ankle) and NG Tez Doolittle (groin) all practiced Wednesday.
  
  
• No news on the place-kicking situation. Tuberville said the trio of Wes Byrum, Morgan Hull and Clinton Durst went 18-for-18 Wednesday. I'm highly skeptical, but that's what the man said.

SI's Mandel: Auburn most disappointing team of 2008

This is not surprising. In his weekly mailbag, Sports Illustrated national football writer Stewart Mandel was asked which team was the most disappointing this season. His options? Clemson, Auburn or Wisconsin.

Here's his reponse:

"I have to go with Auburn. Clemson, while unquestionably a flop, was a flop most of us saw coming from the get-go but foolishly talked ourselves into anyway. I certainly thought the Badgers would be better than they are, but their demise hasn't exactly sent shockwaves through the sport.

"Auburn's implosion, on the other hand, is downright inexcusable. The Tigers have been playing at a high level for years. The athletes are there. It's just been a case of a coach's grand experiment going completely awry, and it's a complete waste of an incredibly talented defense. At this point, Auburn's problems run far deeper than their offensive scheme. As I predicted at the time, Tommy Tuberville's hasty dismissal of coordinator Tony Franklin sent that whole program into a cloud of negativity, and you can see the ripple effect.

"Against West Virginia last week, the Tigers simply looked like a team that's thrown in the towel. They jumped to an early lead, but as soon as the Mountaineers fought back, Auburn flat-out crumbled. Suddenly this week's Ole Miss game is huge. Lose that one, and there's almost no chance the Tigers finish .500."

Can't say you'll find too many contrary arguments around here.

Wednesday video

From Tuesday's round of interviews, it's got head coach Tommy Tuberville, QB Kodi Burns, DE Antonio Coleman and DT Sen'Derrick Marks. Enjoy.

Tuesday Part Deux: Swagger talk

Well, the good folks at Auburn's sports information department came through with a good group of afternoon interviews for us, including QB Kodi Burns, LB Chris Evans, DE Antonio Coleman and DT Sen'Derrick Marks.

Some highlights:

• Burns was mostly pleased with the way he played last Thursday. He graded out at 86 percent (since Tony Franklin was never big on grades, it's the first number Burns has had associated with his play this year).
  
  
• Burns, on the thinning out of Auburn's playbook: "We are definitely building back up. It wasn't so much just cutting a lot of things out. It was just we had the stuff that we could run, but we just kind of stuck to the basics and ran the stuff that we're really good at. I think the coaches as well as the players have a sense that we can get it done. We saw that in the first half of the West Virginia game, that we can open it up a little more."
  
  
• Hard to believe, but in nearly two years at Auburn, the West Virginia game was the first where Burns was allowed to play from start to finish.
  
  
• Talking to a few defensive players today, they didn't seem very pleased with how they played at West Virginia. However, "shocked" was not a term they used. "They came out the second half and put up points," Coleman said. "There's nothing to be shocked about. We came out flat and let them put up those points. There's no excuse for that. There's no reason to be shocked. We knew they had a good offense and they had a good team."
  
  
• The word swagger was thrown around a lot by the defensive players, which is something pretty indefinable, though Marks had a decent way of summing it up: "It's something you can get back. Swagger is the way you approach things. If you know all 11 guys are going to do what they're supposed to do then you feel like you got it back or you can go out and try to get it back. All it is is going out and being able to play like we used to do. ... We just need to get it back and have all 11 guys go out on the same page."
  
  
• Asked how he felt about leading the SEC in sacks, Coleman had a very terse response: "I don't care. It means nothing to me. I just get out there and try to make as many plays as I can. Like I told you before, that's null and void to me. Look at our season. We're 4-4. I couldn't care if I'm last (in sacks) right now. The stats and all that really has nothing to do with me and what I'm all about. I really don't care."
  
  
• The Ole Miss game is very important in terms of Auburn making a bowl game (this is assuming a win against I-AA Tennessee-Martin next week). A loss, and the Tigers would have to win one of their last two against No. 6 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama. That's a daunting task for a team playing well, let alone one struggling as bad as Auburn has.
  
  
• To wit, Marks on if he could have imagined a scenario where Auburn did not go to a bowl game this year: "I never would have thought of this. Even if we weren't in the top 10 (to start the year), even if we weren't projected to win our side of our conference, I never would have thought we would be in the predicament we're in now. ... I never would have thought we would be 4-4, just trying to get to a decent bowl game or trying to have a season where we could say, 'OK, we didn't do too bad, but we didn't do good at all."

I'm sure all Auburn fans feel about the same way right now.

Tuesday update: Where are all the players?

Hey, folks. Slooooooooow day so far here at Auburn. All we got for interviews this morning were PK Wes Byrum, DL Zach Clayton and RB Mario Fannin. There's more scheduled for later, so hopefully some more news will come out of that.

Here's some stuff to come out of Tuesday:

• The place-kicking game continues to be a high priority this week. Head coach Tommy Tuberville said everybody but Clinton Durst made all of their attempts despite a heavy crosswind at practice. He added he probably wouldn't make a decision until game time.

• Tuberville reiterated that Byrum tries to muscle the ball more than Durst and Morgan Hull, who he said are more technique-oriented. As a result, Byrum's problem is accuracy. Durst and Hull's biggest issue is distance.

• Byrum was one of the few players who showed up for interviews, and you have to give him credit for not ducking out. It can't be easy being a kicker. It's like being a closer in baseball -- the only time anyone wants to talk to you is when you aren't doing well.

• Byrum has spoken about his recent struggles with former Auburn kicker John Vaughn, who is back in school. "It's a little tough because I know I can kick the ball, I know I can make them," Byrum said. "I mean, I know I'm a good kicker, I'm just in a spot right now where it's tough to get through."
  

• The problem? Byrum said he's putting his plant foot too far in front and not consistently in the same spot.
  
  
• Fannin, on keeping his distance from the kickers: "I think talking to him kind of adds more pressure, really. So I just try to stay away from him. He knows what he has to do."
  
  
• Tuberville, on needing two wins to get bowl eligible: "You can't worry about that. You just keep worrying about getting better. ... As I told the team on Sunday, let's get better every game we play. Let's not worry about wins and losses or who we play, whether it's on television, whether we're bowl eligible, any of that stuff. It really doesn't make any difference."
  
  
• Fannin said that it was he -- not Burns -- who went the wrong direction on the goal line handoff on Auburn's first drive at West Virginia last week.
  
  
• Cornerbacks Jerraud Powers (hamstring) and Neiko Thorpe (ankle) practiced, but Tuberville didn't offer much more of an update.
  

Another one bites the dust: Willingham gone

Ty Willingham was forced out at Washington today and will "resign" following the season. Along with Clemson's Tommy Bowden, that's another coach on the hot seat who didn't make it through 2008.

That leaves a few of note who could get fired this season. Here are the top candidates:

• Tennessee's Phil Fulmer: after 17 years, the Vols might want a change.
• Syracuse's Greg Robinson: with an 8-34 record in four seasons, it's only a matter of time.
• Auburn's Tommy Tuberville: yes, one bad year might be all it takes to do him in.

Here's the Coaches Hot Seat Blog, which ranks coaches and how hot each of their seats are. I have no clue about the site's methodology for ranking said coaches (I'm sure its not too scientific), but it's an entertaining site to look at as a college football fan anyway.

Here's the most interesting part: Tuberville comes in at No. 1 this week. I thought Robinson would take the "coach most likely to get fired next" mantle from Willingham easily.

This is the current Top 10:

1. Tuberville
2. Fulmer
3. Robinson
4. Wyoming's Joe Glenn
5. San Diego State's Chuck Long
6. Purdue's Joe Tiller (an interesting rank since Tiller is already retiring after this season anyway)
7. Michigan's Rich Rodriguez (talk about no patience)
8. Colorado's Dan Hawkins
9. Washington State's Paul Wulff
10. North Texas' Todd Dodge

The Wildcat offense: an X's and O's breakdown

It's no secret that Ole Miss likes to run a version of the Wildcat offense, or, as it was called during Houston Nutt's time with Arkansas, the Wild Hog formation. (Auburn even has a version called the War Eagle formation.)

Whatever its name, it's basically a single-wing offense in which the center snaps the ball directly to a versatile running back or receiver instead of the quarterback. The Rebels use wide receiver Dexter McCluster.

I'll probably write something about this later in the week, but here's a video from last year of former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee, who does a pretty good job of outlining the options teams have coming out of the formation. Lee is now with the Miami Dolphins, who (surprise!) use a version of the single-wing featuring former Auburn star Ronnie Brown.

Anyway, here's the video. I'll bet Auburn is glad it won't have to defend Darren McFadden this year.



Here's an article on ESPN.com about defending the Wildcat offense. Interesting that this scout says one of the best ways to stop it is to audible into an automatic blitz instead of reacting to where the play is going.

Video: Kickers, missed tackles and finishing strong

Got a new video up of interviews following Sunday's practice.

This one's got head coach Tommy Tuberville, defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads and right tackle Ryan Pugh. Enjoy.

Sunday update: Kickers aplenty

Sorry about the late update. Things started later than normal tonight, so I had to get my regular stories into the paper before updating the blog. (You don't care about this, I know, but I felt an explanation was needed.)

The big news Sunday is that head coach Tommy Tuberville is bringing in punter Clinton Durst and backup Morgan Hull to compete with struggling place-kicker Wes Byrum for the starting job. Byrum is 8-for-14 this season on field goals, with four misses from 20 to 39 yards. He pulled a 44-yarder with the wind against West Virginia when Auburn trailed 20-17. A make in that situation could have changed the whole complexion of the game.

"It's like any position. We'll move you in and out," Tuberville said. "I mean, you've got to be productive. And he has before, he's just lost his confidence. He's got to get his fundamentals back."

Durst, who didn't play football in high school, has only messed around with kicking the ball off the ground. He has a soccer background, though, and claims to have made a 60-yarder with the wind at his back.

He's not going to throw Byrum under the bus, though.

"Yeah I can (kick field goals)," he sad. "But we've got a great kicker right now in Wes. So I'll just do it. They called me today and I thought we were meeting about punting, and they talked to me about kicking field goals. I'll just do whatever they ask me to do."

Some other Sunday developments:

• Jerraud Powers (hamstring) and Neiko Thorpe (ankle) did very little at practice. True freshman D'Antoine Hood, a Phenix City product, practiced with the first team at cornerback in their place.

• Right guard Byron Isom missed the West Virginia game because of a concussion. He had headaches all of last week, prompting Auburn to start Mike Berry in his place. Isom practiced Sunday but remains behind Berry on the depth chart.

• A lot of practice with the first team offense going against the first team defense today, which normally isn't the case. "Just try to get in a rhythm against a good defense," running back Brad Lester said.

• Senior Jason Bosley is back at center because he's a better communicator when the team is going out of more traditional formations, with the quarterback under center. Ryan Pugh moved to outside, which might be a better fit. "Pugh is probably a little bit better at tackle," Bosley said. "He's been out there for a long time. It's tough when you haven't played tackle since your freshman year in high school. Your senior year in college going out there, no experience. That's tough."

• Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads had some telling stats after watching the West Virginia game film. The Tigers missed three tackles in the first half that resulted in zero additional yards. They missed 11 in the second half that resulted in an additional 99. The Mountaineers out-scored the Tigers 24-0 after halftime.

• Rhoads said Auburn will do plenty to prepare for Ole Miss' version of the Wildcat formation this week and that most of the players are familiar with going against it from Houston Nutt's time with Arkansas.

• D-line coach Don Dunn had high praise for sophomore Zach Clayton, who is playing all four positions on the defensive line. "It's invaluable," he said. "We don't have anyone else. We have to move a linebacker or bring a kid up off of redshirt and we don't want to do that. It's been a blessing, to be honest with you, that he can do that."

• The Tigers were 0-for-October, with losses at Vanderbilt, vs. Arkansas and at West Virginia. The last time they failed to win a game in October was 1999, Tuberville’s first season with the program. Before that? Back in 1950, when Auburn went 0-10, the only winless season in school history.

• RT Ryan Pugh on Auburn having held a lead at halftime of all eight of its games this year: "We're the best first half team in the country, but we've got to learn how to finish." That pretty well sums up the Tigers' season.

• I stand corrected. There's this quote from Bosley: "We've got to find a way to get our intensity back and not lay an egg."

Auburn-West Virginia: The Day After

Well, last night's game has had some time to sink in. Tommy Tuberville spoke briefly with reporters on a teleconference Friday. Here are some things he had to say:

• On how hard losing has been: "When you can't find the answers and you know they're there, that's what gets to you more than anything as a coach."

• On the overall situation: "Anytime you're losing games, you've got guys looking around going, am I doing the right thing? Am I giving the effort? Sometimes you have to question yourself. That's what we've talked about as a team. You have to look at yourself and ask can I give more? Do I understand what I have to do to get better?When you get in a situation like this, everybody has to understand that they have to ask that question of themselves. The effort is great. Can it be better? Sure it can. Can we be more aggressive at times? Sure we can. Can we be smarter in certain situations? Sure we can."

• On the team's attitude: "The attitude of the team is excellent. I wish they would have something positive. This has been a tough stretch. We're at our own fault for that in terms of getting it done. There's were games we had a better chance. We didn't get it done. Last night, we knew it would be a tough assignment. Tough place to play against a football team that probably hasn't played near the game that we figured we'd get out of it."
  

• On not being able to close out games: "We competed for a while but two quarters doesn't get it in this league. You have to play for four quarters and a lot of young guys got to start understanding that."

• On the second-half struggles: "We make adjustments, but to me, mentally and physically we just don’t play as tough. We don’t play as reckless. And I think that’s because we’re playing a lot of guys, guys that are playing for the first time, and some of the older guys are trying to do more than their share, and then when you start losing your confidence, things start going downhill."

• Tuberville was pleased with QB Kodi Burns' effort, but still singled out some smaller things the sophomore needs to pay attention to. For instance, his dropbacks. Sometimes Burns goes too far, making it easier for defensive ends to get to him. Tuberville said Burns needs to understand that when they call a five-step drop, the offensive line is expecting a five-step drop. Anything more throws off the protection. That sounds like something that comes from experience more than anything.uo-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:"

Final: West Virginia 34, Auburn 17

What the heck happened? Every Auburn fan has to be asking him or herself that right now.

Last time I had a free moment to update the ol' blog, Auburn seemed firmly in control of this game, ahead 17-10 going into halftime and on the verge of getting the much-needed win that could jumpstart its season.

Well, things didn't quite work out that way. So like I said, what the heck happened?

Some thoughts:

• Pat White is good, but Noel Devine is the real deal. He had six runs of 20 yards or longer and looked like a track star against what is supposed to be a very fast Auburn defense. He accounted for 127 second-half yards. Auburn had 84. 'Nuff said.

• Great quote by Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads: "A lot of credit goes to Noel Devine and Pat White and trying to tackle guys like that. He looked like a greased pig a couple of times. We had four or five guys with arms around him and couldn't bring him down." I've never attempted to tackle a greased pig, but I can imagine it's difficult.
  

• In all four of its losses this year, Auburn has led by double digits. That's pretty amazing.

• What happened to the offense in the second half? I'm sure West Virginia shored up its run defense, but why can Auburn never run the ball in the second half. Tigers running backs had eight carries in the second half. Eight! I realize game situations forced them to throw the ball more, but what worked in the first half was a commitment to pound away with the run. It's what kept West Virginia's high-powered offense off the field. I'm not a football coach, so maybe I don't understand, but it doesn't make sense.

• QB Kodi Burns looked fabulous in the first half, going 8-for-9 with his only incompletion a ball he wisely threw away. But, as will happen with a sophomore quarterback, he struggled after the break. Head coach Tommy Tuberville gave him a good yelling after one incomplete third-down pass when it appeared Burns could have run for the first down. All part of the learning curve, I guess.

• That said, Burns should be the quarterback for the rest of the season. He showed that Thursday with how he played in the first half. I think Auburn has to give him his shot over the next four games.

• I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I hate deadline games. I sent my game story at 11:40 EST, about two minutes after the Auburn sports information directors sent out post-game quotes for those of us who could not venture to the locker room afterward. One interesting thing that came out of it was that CB Neiko Thorpe was injured in the first half, leaving Auburn with basically two cornerbacks (something that cost them on the crossing pattern touchdown by Dorrell Jalloh, who was covered by safety Zac Etheridge). Tuberville said Jerraud Powers (hamstring) was about three-quarters speed, so the Tigers couldn't play any man coverage up tight, further complicating things.

• I think I erred in suggesting Auburn slowed down West Virginia's offense in the first half. West Virginia slowed down West Virginia's offense. It's not like the Mountaineers were punting to give up the ball. They threw two interceptions, one after marching down the field with relative ease. Looking back, it was probably only a matter of time before WVU broke things open. Did I mention the Mountaineers only had one punt on the night?

• TE/WR Tommy Trott had this to say afterward: "There's nothing you can do but bounce back. The good thing about this team is we have a lot of pride. To be 4-4, we're ashamed of it. We're going to come back. We've got heart and we're going to battle the rest of the season."

• At 4-4 and with games and only one gimme win left on the schedule (sorry Tennessee-Martin backers), Auburn is going to be hard-pressed to even make a bowl game at this point. You have to figure the Tigers will be a slight underdog when they go to Ole Miss on Nov. 1 and that they'll be big underdogs at home against Georgia on Nov. 15 and at Alabama on Nov. 29. Hard to believe that a team that started the season ranked No. 10 is going to struggle to win six games. I wouldn't want to be in Tuberville's shoes right now.

Halftime: Auburn 17, West Virginia 10

Quick halftime thoughts because I have to get a writin’ here.

The Auburn offense looks a heck of a lot more confident than it has in the past. Kodi Burns has shown a good sense of when to go through his reads and when to tuck it down and run.

That said, the Tigers probably with they got a few more points on the board. This West Virginia offense is explosive. I knew Pat White was this good, but Noel Devine has been very impressive.

The Tigers could have gone for it on fourth down at the West Virginia 48 with about 45 seconds left in the first half. Instead, they called time out and punted. Probably a good decision, considering how quickly the Mountaineers can move the ball.

RB Ben Tate finally got in the game midway through the second quarter. He looks a little slow. That hammy probably isn’t 100 percent.

Some first-half numbers:

Rushing yards: Auburn 100, West Virginia 97

Total rushes: Auburn 29, West Virginia 10

Total offense: Auburn 176, West Virginia 186

Time of possession: Auburn 21:29, West Virginia 8:31

Burns: 8-for-9, 76 yards, 1 TD

Auburn third downs: 7-for-10

First quarter: Auburn 3, West Virginia 0

This is a different looking Auburn team, I’ll say that.

Now that is ball control, folks. That’s like a high school game.

20 plays. 16 runs. 81 yards. 9:54 off the clock. There’s your first quarter ladies and gentlemen. The only screw-up was a handoff at the goal line on third down, resulting in Wes Byrum’s 19-yard field goal.

Lots of I formation from Auburn on the first drive. I’d expect more of it. Interesting that Brad Lester and Mario Fannin got all the carries on the first drive. No Ben Tate. He’s got to be nursing that hammy.

Nice pick by Josh Bynes on Auburn’s first drive. West Virginia looked like it had a nice screen set up and Pat White just underthrew it.

On White’s second pick, Walt McFadden made a nice jump on the route. Don’t know who exactly was to blame on that one.

BTW, White had thrown one interception prior to this game. He had two in the first quarter.

Auburn-West Virginia pregame -- updated 7:26 p.m.

Auburn didn’t take the field during pre-game until 15 minutes were left on the pre-game clock. I’m guessing kickoff will be closer to 7:45, as all ESPN games tend to do.

• Some interesting stuff on offense. Jason Bosley was snapping the ball to Kodi Burns during warmups, while Ryan Pugh snapped it to Neil Caudle. Perhaps there’s been some offensive line reshuffling?

• Caudle was the second quarterback to take snaps, by the way.

• QB Chris Todd made the trip and is in uniform. He threw a little before the game but didn’t take many snaps.

• CB Jerraud Powers is in uniform. It looks like he's going to give it a try.

• Funny set-up for West Virginia’s student section. There’s a small group in two sections in the corner by one of the end zones. The rest look like they’re in the upper deck behind the Auburn bench. (You can see the large yellow section in the picture).

UPDATE (7:18): Bosley is still playing center with the first team. Pugh is playing right tackle.

Caudle still taking snaps with the second team.

LINEUP UPDATE (7:26 p.m.): Sophomore Mike Berry will start at right guard for Byron Isom. Berry is normally the backup left tackle. I’m pretty sure Isom was in street clothes during the pre-game.

UPDATE (7:35 p.m.): Pre-game temperature is 41 degrees and dropping. That already makes it tied for the coldest game Auburn has played in since 2000. The 2000 Iron Bowl had a low of 41 degrees as well.

You're looking LIVE at Morgantown!

Yes, I'm in the press box 2 1/2 hours early for the Auburn-West Virginia (would have been four hours if the fine folks at West Virginia media relations had provided a map for parking). I will try to post what I can during the game tonight, but a 7:45 p.m. start is going to make things very tight on deadline.

This seems like a quintessential fall college football game. Plenty of different colored leaves on the trees and a pretty good nip in the air. It's expected to dip down into the 30's tonight. Fortunately I am in a heated press box for most of the night (I know you were all worried).

Anyway, not much to report so far from up in the box of Milan Puskar Stadium, which has to be the only stadium in the country named for a pharmaceutical magnate.

Lots of tailgating in the parking lot. From the amount of beer being purchased at a Sheets on my way in, I'm assuming West Virginia fans know how to "prepare" for a football game with the best of them.

Have a few observations about my flight from Atlanta to Pittsburgh this morning:

• First of all, I saw not one, but TWO people in the concourse of the Atlanta airport on Segways. I've ridden one before. They're fun when you're doing a tour of some area or have an afternoon to kill. But who actually uses one of these while traveling? What do people do with them when they get to where they're going? I'm pretty sure it doesn't fit in the overhead compartment. Truly strange.

• Secondly, the Pittsburgh airport has lifesize replicas of two great American icons: One, a young George Washington, who apparently fought to claim the fort that became Pittsburgh. The other? Steelers running back Franco Harris making the Immaculate Reception. Yup, I'd say Pittsburghers take their football seriously.

Franklin comes alive on Finebaum radio show

Former offensive coordinator Tony Franklin broke his silence two weeks after he was fired by Auburn, speaking with his lawyer present on Paul Finebaum's radio show Wednesday.

You can hear the very interesting four-part interview by clicking here.

Some interesting stuff on there. Basically, it sounds like it came down to Franklin not meshing with the offensive staff he inherited.

"When you look at the history of that place and you look at what’s happened there, you realize that coordinators come in and coordinators leave; those guys stay," Franklin said.

Franklin summed up the overall experience like this: "In the beginning when I got there, people -- coaches, players -- wanted to buy in because they didn’t have a choice. And I think the same thing as what happens in life, is that everything is usually fine until you hit rough waters. Then when you hit rough waters, you’re going to find out there are some people on board and some people that are not on board."

But Franklin stopped short of explicity blaming anyone but himself and head coach Tommy Tuberville.

"I believe that there were two people wrong in this, and that’s Tony Franklin, No. 1, and Tommy Tuberville," he said. "I think that those assistant coaches tried to make it work. They worked hard. They tried to do a good job. It just didn’t work, for whatever reason."

Some other highlights:

• Franklin wrapped up his contract situation with Auburn. There is no confidentiality clause.

• Franklin was not surprised by his firing. In fact, he sensed a week into the job that things might not work out. The first tip-off was when Tuberville didn't allow him to bring any of his offensive staff with him. He said he and Tuberville never really had a relationship, and that the head coach was a CEO-type overseer, mostly hands-off until game day.

• After the Vanderbilt game, Franklin felt things slipping away. He made a desperate attempt to right the ship, giving what he termed "his best George Patton speech" and going out that Tuesday and coaching "the way I did as a kid," running routes, grabbing people, getting in their faces. "I felt like I had to take a gamble and take a chance," he said.

• Tuberville was completely supportive after practice, saying he was tired of people blaming Franklin. The next morning, Tuberville walked into Franklin's office and fired him.

• Franklin denied any altercation, saying the hole in his head was from when he was 23 and had cancer that required surgery to cut out a portion of his skull. "I’m 51," he said. "I can’t altercate anybody. I’m fat. I’m out of shape. I never was a fighter."

• Franklin said he might write another book and will try to buy back into his football consulting business, which he was forced to sell when he took a job as an SEC assistant coach.

Again, I encourge you to listen to the whole thing. It's really fascinating.

Auburn-West Virginia preview

Finally, we have another game to talk about. Bye weeks are nice and all, but when you get in the flow of a season, 11 days between games feels like an eternity.

I’m looking forward to visiting Morgantown, W.Va. Though I spent almost 7 years in Virginia and made a couple trips through the state of West Virginia, I’ve never covered a game there. It should be an experience. A cold experience.

Anyway, I don’t depart until tomorrow. Early flight, 8:30 a.m., which means I have to leave Auburn around 4 to get there (stupid time change). I hope to blog some from the stadium, but deadline is going to be really tight with a 7:30 p.m. EST start. Check back tomorrow for some more updates.

Without further adieu, let’s break this game down:

• Although he isn’t necessarily a reporter’s dream as an interview subject, Pat White is one heck of a quarterback. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads compared White’s athletic ability with Michael Vick’s. That’s pretty select company. White needs 356 yards to be the NCAA’s all-time quarterback rushing leader. (Former Mizzou star and current New York Jet Brad Smith holds the record with 4,289 yards). And White has put up those numbers in 236 fewer carries. So tune in Thursday night. It really will be a chance to watch one of the uniquely gifted quarterbacks in NCAA history. (Here's hoping that West Virginia breaks out the all-gold jerseys tomorrow night too. Those things are entrancing.)

• That said, something is clearly amiss with the West Virginia offense. Yes, White has been injured the last few weeks, hurting the thumb of his throwing hand against Marshall on Sept. 27 and suffering a concussion against Rutgers on Oct. 4 that forced him to miss the Syracuse game a week and a half ago. But the Mountaineers struggled prior to those injuries. They scored 3 points against East Carolina, when the Pirates were everyone’s darlings. The next week, they scored 14 points in an overtime loss to Colorado. While White has been solid, he hasn’t been as spectacular as usual, with one 100-yard rushing game this year (he reached 97 in another). It makes me wonder how big of a deal it is that Rich Rodriguez is not there coaching the team anymore. He was the driving force behind that offense.

• I wonder what West Virginia fans really think about new head coach Bill Stewart. There was a lot of mud-slinging when Rodriguez left for Michigan (remember him destroying all his player files before he left and WVU holding him to the $4 million buyout, as it should have). Stewart seems like a nice guy and was clearly a popular choice right after the Mountaineers upset Oklahoma in last season’s Fiesta Bowl. The school was probably guarding against a coach leaving for greener pastures again, so the fact that he was a West Virginia native had to help his cause. But he got a 6-year contract at $800,000 a year for that one win. It makes you wonder.

• Interesting article in the Charleston Daily Mail a few weeks ago comparing Stewart to former Miami coach Larry Coker. Coker had plenty of success riding Butch Davis’s coattails to a national championship, but once that well of Davis’ players went dry, Coker struggled to keep the ’Canes competitive. Just look at the mess Randy Shannon inherited down there. I’m sure Mountaineers fans hope their situation works out a little better.

• I mentioned it in a couple stories earlier this week, but it bears repeating: West Virginia is 13-1 in home night games since 2000. Its one loss? To Pittsburgh and a Paul Rhoads-coached defense last season.

• All right, enough West Virginia. How about some Auburn? What will the offense look like tomorrow? It’s honestly hard to tell. For weeks, all we’ve heard about is how the Tigers are simplifying their playbook, weeding out plays that don’t work and committing to a smash-mouth game. They always claim to be right on the cusp, yet they’ve shown little or no improvement in games. What gives? I don’t know. I’m not a football coach (despite my annual success in the NCAA football games on PlayStation). But I would guess that with a new quarterback this season – whoever that quarterback was going to be – Auburn was going to struggle regardless of what offense it was running. I think Kodi Burns will be good given time. But he’s going to have to be allowed to fail and work through his mistakes. I wonder if the coaches will finally give him that chance.

• Re: the Barrett Trotter situation: I, and, according to the poll on the right, plenty of people out there, think it would be foolish to burn his redshirt this late in the season. It’s just not a smart thing to do from a program standpoint. Say you burn the shirt on Trotter but Burns turns into the quarterback you thought he would. Suddenly, they’re one class apart. If Burns stays the starter through his senior season, Trotter would be a senior before he could assume the starting job (if he’s as good as advertised, which I have no idea about, since I’ve never seen him play). I know, I know, you can always redshirt Trotter down the line, but that becomes difficult after the freshman year. How many sophomore or junior redshirts do you see out there? And furthermore, once he gets a taste of action this year, do you think he’ll want to redshirt in the future? No, which is why I think you take whatever lumps you have to this year and keep him sidelined. Besides, do you really want to throw a true freshman into the game on the road on an ESPN-televised Thursday night in Morgantown? If you’re trying to ease him into action, this is not the place to do it.

• I have really only come across one instance where somebody burned a redshirt this late in the season. A few years ago, Virginia’s Al Groh burned the redshirt on place-kicker Chris Gould in the 11th week of the season so Gould could handle the punting duties. Gould performed well enough for the final three games of the season, but he exhausted his eligibility last year, right when he came into his own as a kicker. This year, the Cavaliers’ place-kicking situation is a mess. It’s one of those things where I think you would rather have a full season of a guy who has been in the program for five years on the back end of his career rather than two months after he just stepped on campus. Just my $0.02.

• I have to extend some congratulations to head coach Tommy Tuberville, who will be inducted into the Southern Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Once a Mulerider, always a Mulerider. Here’s part of the release: “Tuberville played high school football at Harmony Grove before enrolling at SAU in 1972, where he lettered as a free safety for the Muleriders through 1975, and also played golf his final two years. He was encouraged to play college football by his father, the late C.R. Tuberville, a long-time and highly respected athletic official in the area. While at Southern Arkansas, Tuberville played under legendary head coach Raymond (Rip) Powell, and during his tenure at Ole Miss, maintained that his days at SAU were the most formative of his future career. He requested of his then position coach, and still long-time friend, Sonny Whittington, that he wanted to attend offensive team meetings as well as the defensive meetings because of his desire to coach. Tuberville credits Powell, Whittington and the rest of the Mulerider staff (Calvin Neal and Eldon Hawley) with teaching him techniques, fundamentals, and more than he ever learned at any of his other coaching stops.”

All right, this post has probably gone long enough. Here’s my prediction. I don’t think either offense gets too healthy in this one. Auburn has a fast enough defense to keep up with West Virginia, but the Mountaineers seem like they’re due for a couple long touchdown plays, even if the Tigers are well-rested after 11 days off. As for Auburn, I think the offense improves this week after the ugliness of two weeks ago (read: Tony Franklin’s firing) had time to settle in. I think the Tigers try to run the ball out of some power sets and have success doing it. But I just don’t think Auburn is good enough on that side of the ball to steal a road game at a difficult venue like Morgantown. I’ll go with West Virginia 20, Auburn 17.

To end, I’ll leave you with one of the great sideline photos of all-time. This shot was taken last year of a pair of West Virginia defensive linemen, senior Johnny Dingle and freshman Scooter Berry. You’d think they’d at least switch sides, don’t you?

Women's b-ball: Auburn picked third; Bonner selected as SEC preseason player of the year

The SEC preseason media poll is out and Auburn was picked to finish third, with forward DeWanna Bonner a nearly unanimous selection as the preseason player of the year.

"I don’t think there is any question about DeWanna Bonner being chosen as SEC player of the year and first team all-SEC. I think that is a great pick,” Auburn head coach Nell Fortner said. “We are all expecting DeWanna to have a great senior year. She has been a tremendous player her whole career here at Auburn and it will be fun to watch her play this year.”

Here's the voting:

SEC Champion: Vanderbilt (12), Tennessee (9), Georgia (4)

Order of Finish
1. Vanderbilt - 273 points
2. Tennessee - 261 points
3. Auburn - 246 points
4. Georgia - 216 points
5. LSU - 183 points
6. Florida - 174 points
7. Kentucky - 129 votes
8. Ole Miss - 126 points
9. Mississippi State - 87 points
10. Arkansas - 81 points
11. South Carolina - 72 points
12. Alabama - 25 points

Player of the Year: DeWanna Bonner, Auburn (24), Christina Wirth, Vanderbilt (1)

Auburn has a home exhibition game No.v. 9 at 2 p.m. against Anderson University. The Tigers open the regular season Nov. 14 at Alabama A&M and have their home opener Nov. 17 against Temple.

Tuesday update: Powers, Dunn will play

We only got head coach Tommy Tuberville today in the last media availability before the team departs for West Virginia via Pittsburgh tomorrow. Here's the quick version

• Injured cornerback Jerraud Powers (hamstring) and wide receiver Robert Dunn (ankle) will play. Tuberville said Powers is still not full speed but should be able to give it a go. Dunn will return punts in addition to playing on offense.

• Freshman DB T'Sharvan Bell, a quarterback in high school, has played Pat White on the scout team this week. "Really gave us a good look," Tuberville said. "Hhelped us defensively because he's quick, can run. We're going to have to do a good job in the open field on both the quarterback and running back." Bell, who broke his foot during the summer, is redshirting this season.

• Tuberville talked a little bit about the logistical problems of a Thursday night game (missing class, switching practice schedules, etc.). "It's just your consistency of what you normally do," he said. "When you tried to have Tuesday was Monday, yesterday was Wednesday, today's Thursday. We'll have the meeting tonight with travel squad. You try to keep it all the same, but it's really hard to do that."

• Here's ESPN's announcing lineup for Thursday: Rece Davis on play-by-play and Mark May and Lou Holtz as analysts. Let's hope Sweet Lou avoids any historical references during the game. Fear not, though. ESPN is sending Erin Andrews to be the sideline reporter. And if you think me mentioning that and posting a picture on this blog post is a blatant way to drive Web traffic, you are absolutely correct.

Auburn men's b-ball picked fifth in West

As is usually the case, basketball tends to get lost in the shuffle at Auburn, especially when football coach Tommy Tuberville is making long speeches about his future with the program.

Anyway, the SEC released its preseason media poll yesterday and Auburn came in fifth in the SEC West, ahead of only Arkansas. Here's the poll in its entirety:

Preseason media poll

(First-place votes in parentheses, *-unanimous selection)

SEC champion: Tennessee (23), Florida (5), Kentucky (2)

Eastern Division
Team -- Votes/2008 SEC record/2008 overall record
Tennessee (23) -- 172/14-2/31-5
Florida (5) -- 143/8-8/24-12
Kentucky (2) -- 130/12-4 /18-3
Vanderbilt -- 88/10-6/26-8
South Carolina -- 56/5-11/14-18
Georgia -- 41/4-12/17-17

Western Division
Team -- Votes/2008 SEC record/2008 overall record
Alabama (11) -- 151/5-11/17-16
LSU (11) -- 147/6-10/13-18
Ole Miss (8) -- 136/7-9 /24-11
Mississippi State -- 91 /12-4 /23-11
Auburn -- 54/4-12 /14-16
Arkansas -- 51 /9-7 /23-12

First team
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky, F, 6-9, 235, So.
Tyler Smith, Tennessee, F, 6-7, 215, Jr.
Nick Calathes, Florida, G/F, 6-6, 194, So.
Devan Downey, South Carolina, G, 5-9, 175, Jr.
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, C, 6-11, 250, So.

Second team
Marcus Thornton, LSU, G, 6-4, 205, Sr.
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State, F/C, 6-9, 210, Jr.
Ronald Steele, Alabama, G, 6-1, 191, Sr.
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU, F, 6-7, 240, Jr.
Chris Warren, Ole Miss, G, 5-10, 160, So.
Alonzo Gee, Alabama, G, 6-6, 219, Sr.

A paid political announcement from Tommy Tuberville

Got the video edited from Tommy Tuberville's press conference. Remember, this was unprompted. Tuberville felt compelled to address the situation, which tells me something he heard this week -- perhaps on a recruiting trip -- pushed him over the edge to the point where he had to address the rumors and innuendo out there.

Have a look and listen:



We only got three players today, so the response was limited. Right tackle Jason Bosley had a good take:

"I've heard all kinds of rumors from A to Z. So I just take them as rumors and don't read into anything until I hear it from him. ... I think that’s just the landscape of college football these days. As soon as any kind of trouble hits any team, the first thing that happens is they talk about the head coach, saying, ‘Oh, he’s in trouble.’ But I just try not to let it affect me and don’t worry about it."

And as for the notion that the coaches have lost their fire, he had this response: "The fire never left."

One last note: Auburn's game at Ole Miss on Nov. 1 is set for 12:30 p.m. EST and will be televised regionally by Raycom Sports.

Tuberville: "I've been here 10 years; I plan on being here 10 more"

Interesting press conference today with head coach Tommy Tuberville, who dispelled notions that he had a stroke, has lost his passion for recruiting and no longer wants to coach. Here is his (unprovoked) rant in its entirety:

"One thing I want to talk about, and I don't talk about rumors that much, but over the last week or so, obviously there's been a lot of things said in the papers and magazines, whatever, I get people e-mailing me that. I just want everybody to know that everything is going good. I did not have a stroke. I am completely healthy. Matter of fact, about three months ago I had a full physical. I'm not tired of coaching. I'm as fired up as ever. I've been here 10 years as a head coach. This is my 30th year to coach and I feel as good right now as I ever have about coaching football and young guys and I still got that drive. You pretty much have to, 14-, 18-hour days this time of year. I read that my drive was gone.

"No we did not negotiate a contract last week. That's another one that came out. I don't like recruiting anymore? Well, I went 2,500 miles last Thursday and Friday and covered a lot of high schools and talked to a lot of coaches and I love every minute of it, and our recruiting is going great. And it's just amazing the rumors that go around when things are not going as well as you would hope. And no matter what happens anywhere, you're going to have years that things are not going to go perfect. And that's my job to get it straightened out.

"The one thing I will tell you about our football team is with all these distractions from the outside, I tell more about our football team when things go like this than any other time. Because a good football team is made from within, not from without. And we've got some great kids on this team who have busted their tail and they have hurt immensely. And they should. As much time and effort that they put into it. And every fan out there you can put them together. And they really love their football, and I'm proud of that, but you can put every fan together and it wouldn't come near the hurt that it hurts one of these kids to lose a football game, the effort and time that they put into it. I'm proud of them.

"But I just wanted to let you know that I've been here 10 years; I plan on being here 10 more. And I'm looking forward to it. All these rumors get started. I'm 10 years an Auburn man and I'm 10 years more of an Auburn man than most, because I put my heart and soul into this thing, and we ain't going to stop now. We're going to keep working, keep striving to get better. Because we do have a good football team. We're not playing good right now. This is a transition year, but we're going to get better.

"I don't know whether we're going to win any of these last five games, but I can tell you one thing, all you have to do is look back at the first seven. We led every game at halftime. Some things didn't work out in the second half, but we fought hard in every game and we played well. We haven't been beat by 30 points. There's times when you'd think, 'Man, we lost that game by three or four touchdowns.' And it came down to basically the last play or so. That's just football. But I'm proud of how they've worked, of how they put it together, the coaches of how they've done it.

"Again, good football teams don't win every game. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and seeing how much we improve. We put in some seven principles of what we want to do for the next five games in terms of winning, and we're going to base this team on that. But your football team is just based more on how it plays on Saturday. I base it on a lot more things -- around the program, how they handle themselves, things, classes, all those things together, and we're going to have some guys get in trouble, but we'll take care of those problems.

"So we've got a great program that's going to get stronger, going to get better. All the detractors from outside keep throwing stones at us, that's fine. I love it. It makes us work harder. So we're looking forward to this Thursday and getting ready for the next conference game and on and on.

"So I appreciate getting all the sympathy cards for my illnesses and all that, but please don't send any flowers. Save your money for Christmas, because from the way the economy is it looks like we're all going to need it.

"That's a paid political announcement by Tommy Tuberville, by the way. Now we can get on with it after dispelling all those things."

WOW. More on this later. Now to talk to some players.

Late Sunday update: Caudle and Trotter will travel

Got Tommy Tuberville and a few players after practice. Here's what they had to say:

• Still nothing on the backup quarterback situation, though Chris Todd seems to be out of the picture for the time being. Coaches didn't let him throw any deep balls Sunday in order to rest his sore right shoulder.

• Barrett Trotter and Neil Caudle will travel to West Virginia. For Trotter, it's his first road trip. Should be a heck of an atmosphere for a newby.

• It's going to be cold Thursday. Real cold. The overnight low on weather.com was 37 degrees. Auburn hasn't played in a game this season where the kickoff temperature was lower than 73 degrees. That was against Arkansas last week.
  

• Auburn's had five games since 2000 when the temperature was lower than 50 degrees. It has a 3-2 record in those games.

• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) took some snaps during the Tigers' skeleton drill work. Still no definitive word on if he'll play Thursday, but it sounds like he's going to give it a try.

• QB Kodi Burns on being "The Man" at quarterback : "It's definitely a change. I think I'm becoming more vocal on the field and I'm more comfortable on the field knowing that I'm 'The Guy.' That role is starting to play a lot bigger in me, and I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable. I think the guys have seen that, too."

• Is some smash-mouth football in the game plan? Burns thinks so: "I think we can do whatever the coaches ask us. I think it will be smash-mouth. West Virginia is a great team and I think we're going to give our offensive linemen a chance to get in the three-point stance and fire off the ball a little bit more, and I think that will get them fired up and help out the running game a lot."

• RB Tristan Davis gave some good insight to how practice is being run: "Right now, they're making it a point in knowing what we have. By the end of the week, we will know what we have. Our mental reps are way better. Instead of running around all day, we take more mental reps. We might run the same play three times with three different groups so everybody can see how the play unfolds with three different looks. Before, we might have run the play against one look and gone to the next play."
  

No decision on Trotter yet

Hope everyone enjoyed the nice two-day hiatus there for the bye week. Now back to business.

Auburn had an afternoon practice, but Tommy Tuberville met briefly with the media beforehand.

We'll have players and a little more of Tuberville today after practice, which the coach said should be one of the longer ones of the year. So be sure to check back on this page later.

In the meantime, here's what Tuberville had to say early on:

• Still no news on a second-team quarterback yet. Tuberville wanted to wait until the team puts in the second half of its game plan before making a decision.

• Tuberville on the QBs: "We need another day. It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped in terms of mistakes and stuff, by all of them. We need another day of looking at all of them and kind of figure out who can do what."

• He said if the staff decides to play freshman QB Barrett Trotter (pictured), it would probably be for certain plays. He likened the situation to when Burns went in for Brandon Cox last year. "Whoever plays the other role is not going to know it all," Tuberville said. "You can’t expect them to. They’ll know an abbreviated version."

• Is that worth it to use Trotter like that and burn the redshirt? "Yeah," Tuberville said. "And it will just give him a chance to work that role a little further along."
  

• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) is going to see if he can go. "I don't want to put him out there and lose him for the rest of the year," Tuberville said.

More later ...

New moving pictures!

Here's some video following Thursday's practice. It's got head coach Tommy Tuberville, de facto offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, quarterback Kodi Burns and wide receivers Rod Smith and Robert Dunn. Enjoy.

Burns speaks

Kodi Burns, who was named the starter for the West Virginia game Oct. 23, had classes earlier today but met with the media around 4 p.m. Here are the highlights of what he had to say:

• Burns sounded like he had a renewed optimism, saying, "It's just a relief to know that I am the guy and, hopefully, that I can go out there and lead my team to victory."

• On being the starter: "It means a lot. It shows that they have confidence in me and now that I know that I can go out and actually play my game and I don't have to worry too much what's going to happen if I make a mistake."

• Did he feel that pressure when Tony Franklin was the offensive coordinator? "I wasn't the guy. When you're the second-string guy, and compete for a job, you play, in a sense, not to make a mistake. That's what I caught myself doing at times."

Thursday update

Light day, at least media-wise, although there were a few things:

• No Barrett Trotter, no Neil Caudle for reporters today. No surprise from me. According to most of the other beat writers here, Auburn never used to be this restrictive. You used to be able to talk to anyone, anytime. It annoys me, but after five years working in Al Groh's totalitarian state, I'm not incredibly bothered by it. Trotter I can kind of understand because he's a freshman. But Caudle is in his third year. Apparently Tuberville didn't want to set a precedent that would give anyone an argument for wanting to speak to Trotter.

• WR Rod Smith on the aforementioned Trotter: "He's a good young quarterback. Once he knows what he's doing 100 percent, he's going to be a great young quarterback. He's very accurate with this throws. He'll get the ball to you on the money. I like what I see in him. He's a young gunslinger."

• Interesting quote from DT Sen'Derrick Marks on his roommate Tray Blackmon, who was told he'll need what was presumed to be season-ending surgery on his right wrist: "I said, 'What's up with you?' He was like, 'Nothing man, I just have to have surgery.' I was like, 'Is it going to be season-ending?' He was like, 'Naw.' He said he should be back three weeks after the surgery or whatever. I know he's going to try to get back, even if they don't want him to go, he's still going to try to get out there and play."

• De facto offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, on if he's ever been through anything like last week's turmoil: "No. No. No. It was tough but it's part of the profession. Anything can happen. You're 50 years old and you think you've seen everything and something else will pop up. It wasn't just hard on me. It was hard on the staff. It was hard on the team. I thought with the exception of a few mistakes, our team responded pretty well to it."

• Ensminger said he thought the team left four or five touchdowns on the field last week. I don't believe him, but that's what he said.

• The players have the next two days off. Most of the coaches will be out on recruiting trips the next two days, but only to evaluate, because it's a no-contact period.

• According to the good folks at Rivals.com, three of Auburn's 26 commits for next year have re-opened their recruiting in the wake of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin's dismissal. More could follow. Here's what head coach Tommy Tuberville had to say about it: "They all (reconsider) at this time of year. ... Everybody is still being recrited. We're still recruiting a lot of guys. We're trying to get them to change their minds. That's what happens at this time of year."

Tuberville: "Next question"

OK, finally got the audio clip from yesterday's teleconference up. It is fairly awkward. Have a listen:

Blackmon done for year

Bad news from practice today: Junior middle linebacker Tray Blackmon will have season-ending surgery to insert a screw in his cracked right wrist. He'll have the procedure done early next week.

"It’s just one of those situations where we’re going to go ahead and do it," head coach Tommy Tuberville said. He didn’t respond as well as we hoped. … That’s tough luck for him.”

Courtney Harden and Adam Herring will battle for the backup middle linebacker job behind sophomore Josh Bynes. Chris Evans, who splits time on the outside with Merrill Johnson, can also play inside.

Blackmon injured the wrist against LSU on Sept. 20 and has been playing with a club on his right hand ever since.

Some quick thoughts:

While obviously you have to feel bad for Tray, I don't think this affects the defense that much, considering how well Bynes has played. Even if Blackmon came back healthy, I don't think it would have been a lock that he overtook Bynes as the starter anyway.

Consider Tuberville's quote Wednesday: "The big thing about a middle linebacker is they have to know just about what everybody does in terms of alignment. He has to get everybody lined up. In the LSU game, we made several mistakes in terms of getting people lined up after they'd made a movement. Then the next week, Tennessee did the same thing and that didn't happen."

It's worth noting that Blackmon started at MLB against LSU and Bynes did against Tennessee.

Hoops up side your head

We interrupt our regularly scheduled football program to bring you ... men's basketball news!

Jeff Lebo met with the media for the first time Wednesday, giving a broad picture of this year's team. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Pretty unique split between veterans and newcomers, with four junior college transfers expected to come in and play right away. Lebo doesn't expect chemistry to be a problem. "With the way you're able to do some things now in workouts and two hours on the court, you kind of get a good feel before you even start practice how they're going to mesh in. From an attitude standpoint and from the ability to do whatever is necessary to help the team, I don't have any question those guys are going to do whatever is necessary to help the team win."

• Forward Korvotney Barber says his left hand is in better shape than when he broke it last December.

• Freshman guard Frankie Sullivan, who won five (FIVE!) high school state championships (he played as an eighth-grader) at R.C. Hatch High in Uniontown, Ala., seems intriuguing. "If you give him time, he's got great range," Lebo said. "Shot selection for him is going to be big. He's going to have to make that adjustment. He had to score so much in high school. He's going to have to learn to play with better players."

• Don't know what quite to make of the junior college transfers. Three of them -- Brendon Knox, Johnnie Lett and Francis Aihe -- are big guys who sound limited on offense. The other, guard Tay Waller, made 42 percent of his 3-pointers last season.

Awwwwwwwkward

Here's a snippet from today's SEC teleconference between Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville and a reporter for the Palm Beach Post.

Reporter: "Just wondering what is your impression of the job Nick Saban has done at Alabama, and also your thoughts on what it's been like for you guys kind of being passed by Alabama as the top team in the state."

Tuberville, after an incredibly long pause: "Next question."

I'm trying to get the audio up on the blog, but the site is giving me difficulty. Once I get it to work, I'll post it.

New video from Tuesday

From Tuesday. It's got head coach Tommy Tuberville, defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, cornerback Jerraud Powers and running back Brad Lester.

2009 football schedule released

Auburn's announced its 2009 football schedule. Here it is:

Sept. 5: LOUISIANA TECH
Sept. 12: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 19: WEST VIRGINIA
Sept. 26: BALL STATE
Oct. 3: at Tennessee
Oct. 10: at Arkansas
Oct. 17: KENTUCKY
Oct. 24 at Louisiana State
Oct. 31: OLE MISS
Nov. 7: FURMAN (Homecoming)
Nov. 14: at Georgia
Nov. 21: Open date
Nov. 28: ALABAMA

First impressions: That's the kind of September schedule you like to see, with four home games, although I'm sure Auburn never imagine Ball State would be a tough challenge when the game was scheduled.

Kind of a strange non-conference game in November, though I guess it's no different than the Tennessee-Martin game this year.

I feel like the conference road games are tougher than they are this year, even though I don't know what to expect out of Tennessee next season, especially if Phil Fulmer gets his walking papers.

Only one bye on the schedule (Nov. 21) with a later starting date than usual (Sept. 5). That means Auburn will have 11 straight weeks of games. If the Tigers are this banged up after seven straight games this year, what's it going to be like next year?

Tuesday update

A lot of stuff came out of Tuesday's media session, despite it being the bye week. Here we go:

• It's true, Kodi Burns is the starting quarterback for the West Virginia and beyond ... unless someone beats him out. I think it's just safer to say Burns will probably start the game in Morgantown.

• Here are Tommy Tuberville's exact words. You interpret them: "Kodi, of course, is our quarterback right now. I said yesterday that he's the quarterback for us through the year. Obviously, if somebody steps up and does better, you've got competition at every position, that could change."

• Tuberville, on Burns' 7-for-18, 119-yard, 2-interception performance last week: "I feel like Kodi didn't play all that bad last week. He just made some mistakes as you would think a third-game starter would probably make."

• Freshman QB Barrett Trotter and, presumably, his people gave the OK to be a part of the team this season, so he might burn the redshirt is circumstances warrant it.

• Tuberville, on playing Trotter (aka, the Bear): "It will depend on what Kodi does, how well he plays, how much better. Second-team quarterbacks don't play a whole lot. But if he moves up to second team, obviously, we'll think about playing him. But if we do play him, he'll get more than just a normal second-team quarterback. We'll play that by ear as we go along."

• Linebacker Craig Stevens, on Trotter: "He’s got a lot of speed on the ball. ... But when he throws it, it gets there."

• Tuberville said the team will decide on a second-team quarterback on Sunday.

• Chris Todd will rest his sore arm until Sunday, so it's a good bet he won't be the backup.

• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) says he'll play in the West Virginia game. "He'll go," Rhoads said. "I'm very confident in that. He wouldn't miss it for the world."

Bowden/Tuberville parallels?

After 10 years, Clemson finally got rid of Tommy Bowden this morning. Some interesting stuff surrounding his dismissal. Just read quarterback Cullen Harper's comments in this ESPN story. That is some Grade A under-the-bus throwing right there.

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel commented that the timing was probably to prevent Bowden from doing what he does best -- saving his job with a late-season flury of wins.

I've seen a lot of comments out there on message boards that Auburn should follow Clemson's lead and get rid of its own Tommy. I don't think it's really fair to compare the two, though.

Look at their résumés. Yes, they were both hired in 1999 and have faced relentless criticism by two rabid fan bases since, but Tuberville has had more success against what is a much tougher conference.

Bowden
Year: Record, Conference, Place, Bowl
1999: 6-6, 5-3 ACC, 2nd, Peach
2000: 9-3, 6-2 ACC, 2nd, Gator
2001: 7-5, 4-4 ACC, T-4th, Humanitarian
2002: 7-6, 4-4 ACC, T-5th, Tangerine
2003: 9-4, 5-3 ACC, 3rd, Peach
2004: 6-5, 4-4 ACC, T-6th
2005: 8-4, 4-4 ACC, T-3rd Atlantic Division, Champs Sports
2006: 8-5, 5-3 ACC, T-2nd Atlantic, Music City
2007: 9-4, 5-3 ACC, T-2nd Atlantic, Chick-fil-A
2008: 3-3, 1-2 ACC, 5th Atlantic

Tuberville
1999: 5-6, 2-6 SEC, 5th West
2000: 9-4, 6-2 SEC, 1st West, Citrus
2001: 7-5, 5-3 SEC, T-1st West, Peach
2002: 9-4, 5-3 SEC, T-1st West, Capital One
2003: 8-5, 5-3 SEC, 3rd West, Music City
2004: 13-0, 8-0 SEC, 1st West, Sugar
2005: 9-3, 7-1 SEC, T-1st West, Capital One
2006: 11-2, 6-2 SEC, 2nd West, Cotton
2007: 9-4, 5-3 SEC, T-2nd West, Chick-fil-A
2008: 4-3, 2-3 SEC

Bowden overall: 72-45 (.615) , 43-32 ACC, 8 bowl appearances, 0 conference championships, 0 conference championship game appearances (in three years)

Tuberville overall: 84-36 (.700), 51-26 SEC, 8 bowl appearances, 1 conference championship, 2 conference championship game appearances (plus three shares of the Western Division title)

All I'm saying is it seems premature to want to dump a coach who's won 70 percent of his games and less than 5 years ago had a perfect season. Bowden came nowhere close to those accomplishments. It's unfair to lump the two in the same category.

Burns to start at West Virginia

At a Birmingham Touchdown Club meeting today, Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville said Kodi Burns will go into the West Virginia game on Sept. 23 as the starting quarterback, the Birmingham News reported.

Neil Caudle and Barrett Trotter will vie for the backup job and Chris Todd will be given time to let his ailing shoulder rest.

FOX's WBRC-6 out of Birmingham has video of Tuberville from later Monday, which was an off day for the players.

The day after: Ch-ch-ch-changes

Only got head coach Tommy Tuberville instead of him and the usual slate of players (this is because of the bye week; not because they are avoiding the media).

Anyway, here's the Cliffs notes version:

• Tuberville promises changes to the offense, saying, "It's going to look different." He declined to give any more specifics.

• The QB situations sounds wide open. Tuberville mentioned possibly bringing into the mix either Barrett Trotter (provided he's on board with burning his redshirt this late in the year) or Neil Caudle. That's how desperate the situation is. "We're going to look at all options," Tuberville said.

• Running backs Ben Tate (hamstring) and Brad Lester (leg) both got banged up in the game.

• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) is 50-50 to play at West Virginia in 10 days.

• Surgery remains an option for LB Tray Blackmon (wrist), who only played on special teams because of the restrictive cast on his right wrist.

• Tuberville, on the idea that his job is in jeopardy: "That's the nature of this business and that's the nature of this state, to be honest with you." It reminded me of Hyman Roth's "This is the business we've chosen" quote from The Godfather: Part II. I guess being an SEC coach is pretty similar to being a mobster. You never know when you might get whacked.

Final: Arkansas 25, Auburn 22

Wow. Even for a bad offense, that was offensive. It's only been about two hours since things wrapped up at Jordan-Hare, so I'll just give some brief thoughts about the game and go a little more in depth tomorrow once things sink in.

• For starters, the offense stunk. Plain and simple. Auburn had 83 yards through three quarters. One good fourth-quarter drive got the Tigers to 193, still nothing to get too excited about. I'm sure somewhere Tony Franklin and Al Borges can't help be a little pleased with that result.

• It appears that Auburn has no good choice at quarterback, but that if it comes down to Kodi Burns and Chris Todd, Burns has to be the choice. Todd really struggled in relief, going 3-for-10 for 18 yards and an interception. He was sacked three times, once on an 18-yard intentional grounding penalty. (I still contend the booing crowd for some reason holds him to a higher standard than Burns, though). The fact of the matter is the offense is a mess, and at the very least, Burns gives you someone who can improvise when things -- inevitably -- break down.

• Auburn ran for 56 yards, which suggests the Razorbacks were stacking the box with plenty of defenders (note to rest of SEC: there's you blueprint). But what strikes me is that the Tigers never really lined up under center and tried to ram it down Arkansas' throats. It's one thing if you try it and it doesn't work. But the Tigers didn't even appear to try it. They saw eight in the box and just assumed they couldn't run it. I mean, this was a Hogs defense that had given up 49, 52 and 38 points in its previous three games. Shouldn't you at least try to run right at them?

• What happened to the defense? The Tigers, who ranked seventh in the nation in total defense entering the game, gave up 416 yards and 25 points to an Arkansas group that scored a mere 35 points in its previous three games. After that showing, they've go some 'splaining to do.

• He won't say it, but you just know Tommy Tuberville is seething right now after losing to Bobby Petrino, who once served under him and nearly stole his job five years ago. I'll end it by posting this picture. So THIS is why they have state troopers guarding SEC coaches. I'll let you write your own caption on it.

End 3rd quarter: Auburn 20, Arkansas 16

Arkansas’ turnovers finally caught up to them. Dennis Johnson fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half. Auburn’s Chris Evans pounced on it. A few plays later, Auburn scored its first touchdown when Kodi Burns scored from 3 yards out.

Auburn has started possessions at the Arkansas 28, 19 and 24. It has 13 points to show for it.

The Hogs out-did themselves on their second touchdown, running a reverse to Joe Adams, who pulled up and lobbed a pass to Casey Dick up the sideline for a touchdown that got Arkansas with 20-16 (the extra point was blocked). A poster said it here earlier, but Bobby Petrino is certainly pulling out some tricks to get this team in the end zone.

Unofficial yardage: Arkansas 336, Auburn 83.

Horrible interception by Chris Todd just before the end of the quarter. Horrible. Off his back foot, while being pressured, into coverage. Lots of boos from the crowd right now.

Halftime: Auburn 13, Arkansas 10

Maybe Tony Franklin wasn’t the problem after all. What a brutal first half for Auburn offensively. The Tigers were outgained 244-53 and couldn’t completely capitalize off two interceptions that practically gift-wrapped easy touchdowns.

The quarterback shuffle continues. After Kodi Burns threw a bad pick and left some big plays on the field, Chris Todd went into the game. He ran three plays that gained zero yards. Seems like neither one can get anything going.

Some other thoughts:

• Up and down half for Neiko Thorpe, who started for the injured Jerraud Powers. He returned a pick 59 yards to set up a field goal but got beat on a deep jump ball to Greg Childs on the next possession that went for 38 yards.

• Wes Byrum is 2-for-2 on field goals, a positive sign. He hadn’t made one since the Mississippi State game four weeks ago. Let it be noted that he made both with a 15 mph wind at his back. We’ll see what it’s like once he’s going the opposite direction.

• Pretty play call by Arkansas on 4th-and-goal from the 1. QB Casey Dick sold a fake handoff out of the shotgun and ran pretty much untouched into the end zone. Bold call that paid off and tied the game at 10.

• Interesting reactions from the crowd for the quarterbacks. Burns plays erratically, throws a costly pick and doesn’t lead the team to any offensive touchdowns and the crowd is mostly forgiving. Todd threw two incompletions on his first two snaps and the crowd booed. Ouch.

• The Tigers took 20 snaps in the first half; 19 were from the shotgun. Looks like Auburn is committed to running the spread, or at least a form of it.

• I don’t know why Arkansas’ rushing offense ranked last in the SEC coming in. Michael Smith looked very good in the first half, running for 69 yards.
  

• If Auburn loses, it will look back on the two interceptions. The Tigers got the ball at the Arkansas 25 and 19 after the picks. They ran 6 plays that resulted in minus-3 yards. Byrum’s two field goals were all they got to show from it.

Some stats:

Auburn passing
Burns: 2-7, 21 yards, 1 INT
Todd: 0-2, 0 yards

Auburn rushing
Tate: 6 rushes, 25 yards
Burns: 4 rushes, 7 yards

Arkansas passing
Dick: 10-19, 145 yards, 2 INT

Arkansas rushing
Smith 21 carries, 69 yards

Auburn 7, Arkansas 3, End 1st quarter

As expected, Kodi Burns started. But it’s a little bit of a surprise that Auburn ran nothing but the spread in the first quarter, going with no huddle. The Tigers ran 8 plays from scrimmage. All were from the shotgun.

Auburn did look more committed to running, though, utilizing Burns’ legs by calling a couple of option plays. Burns’ two passes were incomplete, but one was dropped by Tommy Trott.

Auburn finally got something out of its kick return unit, which ranked 93rd nationally entering the game. Tristan Davis went 97 yards for a touchdown with 6:33 left in the first. It was the first Tigers kick return for a touchdown since Brad Lester went 93 yards against Ball State in 2005. It’s the longest by an Auburn player since Tim Carter went 100 yards against LSU in 2000.

DT Sen’Derrick Marks has been coming in and out of the game, suggesting his ankle isn’t at 100 percent. He rarely, if ever, comes out of a game.

MLB Josh Bynes looks solid. He was all over the field during the quarter. The Tigers are certainly don’t lose anything with him in the game instead of Tray Blackmon.

Shay Haddock’s 27-yard field goal with 6:46 left was the first time Arkansas has scored in the first quarter this season.

Some stats:

• Total plays: Arkansas 22, Auburn 8.

• Total yards: Arkansas 134, Auburn 21.

• Kick return yards: Auburn 116, Arkansas 24.

Live from Jordan-Hare -- Updated 3:38 p.m.

It's less than 2 hours until kickoff and I'm here in the press box. A little windy out today. Makes you wonder what that's going to do to the passing game, that is if you believe Auburn is going to pass the ball much.

I find it funny that according to the poll to the right, more people think the Tigers will come out in the Wing T than the "Tony Franklin System today. I'm sure they're joking, but it pretty well shows the disdain people have for Franklin around here.

The players aren't in pads yet. They're just kind of milling around. I'll let you know more once some guys get out here.

I'm going to try to give updates throughout the game. I've got a little bit more freedom this week because of a more favorable deadline, so be sure to check back in all afternoon.

UPDATE (3:18 p.m.): For what it's worth, Kodi Burns is taking snaps from starting center Ryan Pugh during warmups. He's also taking the first turn whenever the quarterbacks do a drill. I think that's a pretty good sign that he'll be the starter.

UPDATE (3:25): Burns and Chris Todd are officially listed as a "gametime decision" in the pregame handout supplied by the Auburn sports information staff.

Other things of note:

• Brad Lester will start at running back, although I still can't see him getting more carries than Ben Tate.

• Tim Hawthorne will start at wide receiver for Robert Dunn (ankle). Haven't seen Dunn in uniform yet, but not all the players are on the field.

• Josh Bynes will start at middle linebacker again for Tray Blackmon (wrist). I feel like this will be the case for a while. Bynes is simply playing too well to warrant an injured Blackmon taking that spot back.

• Neiko Thorpe will start at cornerback for Jerraud Powers (hamstring), who from all indications this week won't play today.

UPDATE (3:29 p.m.): Dunn is dressed. No word on if that means he'll play. Powers is in street clothes.

Sen'Derrick Marks (ankle) looks like he's moving fine during warmups.

UPDATE (3:38 p.m.): Burns is taking snaps with the entire first team. Auburn still won't come out and say it. During the pre-game introductions, the announcer said it will be Todd or Burns. Burns got a louder round of applause.

Also, Wes Byrum doinked an extra-point length field goal off the upright just before the team huddled up and went to the locker room. Not a good sign.

QB recruit reconsidering?

It appears not everything is A-OK on the recruiting front in the wake of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin's firing.

Word from the Washington Post is that QB Raymond Cotton, considered one of the jewels of Auburn's 2009 class, may re-open his recruiting.

"Coach Franklin played a big part of the reason he committed to Auburn," Cotton's father, Raymond Sr., told the Post. "But he wasn't the sole reason. We're trying to keep him focused on his game this Friday and then we'll sit down as a family and discuss all of his options."

The family plans to make a formal announcement on Sunday, after conversing with the Auburn coaching staff.

Cotton, a 6-foot-4, 216-pound dual-threat quarterback from Fort Meade, Md., committed to the Tigers on April, 1. The four-star recruit, who attended the EA Sports Elite 11 quarterback camp in July, had offers from Kentucky, Mississippi State, Purdue and Troy, according to Rivals.com.

Franklin and linebackers coach James Willis were Cotton's primary recruiters.

Cotton is the only quarterback of Auburn's 26 commits for 2009.

Auburn-Arkansas preview (new poll on the right!)

That was a pretty low-key week, huh?

I guess I’ve officially been introduced to the win-at-all-costs nature of the SEC. Privately, I thought it would be ludicrous to fire an offensive coordinator midway through the year. My fellow beat writers laughed at my naïveté. Well, now I know. Nothing is out of bounds in the SEC.

I do find the timing curious, though. At the very least, I figured Tommy Tuberville would keep Tony Franklin until the end of the season. If the offense continues to fail, Franklin would have made a nice scapegoat. Now, it’s all on Tuberville, whose own job security is sure to come into question. He’s acknowledged he’s taking a larger role in the offense, and the man calling the plays – Steve Ensminger – nearly cost Tuberville his job the last time he ran the offensive show back in 2003. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Honestly, I don’t know what Auburn expected. Making a radical change to your offensive system doesn’t produce results overnight. Franklin’s system has proven to be successful if given the right personnel and a little bit of time. Auburn clearly wasn’t willing to afford the latter. From what I saw, the Tigers were never dedicated to the spread, at least in the pure form that Franklin would have liked. And while it’s easy to blame Franklin for the offensive failures, it should be noted that the Tigers’ quarterback situation is a mess. They would have struggled regardless of the offense. Kodi Burns, as most sophomores do, appears to need more seasoning. And Chris Todd, while Franklin’s preferred quarterback because of his history in “The System,” never put up eye-popping numbers at junior college, which almost seems like a necessity if you’re going to transfer and start for an SEC school.

But I digress. Apparently, there’s a varsity men’s tackle football game this weekend between Auburn and Arkansas. Who knew? Let’s break this thing down:

• I have no idea what to expect from Auburn’s offense. None. Tuberville has been speaking in circles all week. The Tigers are committed to the spread but have to run the ball. They need to throw but have to be physical and aggressive on the line. And then there was this gem of a quote, which is almost Sarah Palin-esque in its logic: “You've got to base out of something and we base out of running the ball and throwing the ball, basically is what it comes down to.” Well … OK then.

• My gut feeling is that Burns starts at quarterback. Todd was always Franklin’s guy, and with Franklin out of the picture, I can easily envision a scenario where Todd is too. Tuberville said the starting quarterback will be a “surprise” on Saturday. Who else would be a surprise starter other than Burns?
  

• Whoever the quarterback is, getting the ball to running back Ben Tate should be the goal. With all the discord on offense, few have noticed the junior is quietly on pace for a 1,000-yard season. He’s led the team in rushing in every game and was dominant in the first half against Vanderbilt last week, gaining 86 of his 108 yards before the break. He got banged up near the end of the game but should be fine for Saturday. Give him the ball.

• Good to know that between Al Borges and Franklin, Auburn is paying over half a million dollars to offensive coordinators who are no longer with the program. Franklin’s salary was $280,000. He got a guaranteed two-year contract. For the record, if anyone wants to pay me $280,000 a year NOT to coach football, I’ll gladly take that person up on the offer. Heck, I won’t even watch football if you pay me that much. My e-mail is on the site for those interested in coughing up that kind of dough. I do take personal checks.
  

• Great stat here: Arkansas has allowed more points in two SEC games (87) than Auburn has in four (54).

• If there’s one thing that would concern me on Auburn’s defense, it’s Jerraud Powers’ hamstring injury. From the sounds of it, he’s nowhere close to coming back. That would thrust freshman Neiko Thorpe into the starting lineup. While Thorpe has had a positive start, he’s never truly had to be The Man on the field. Arkansas can make some things happen through the air. Thorpe, obviously, will be a target.
  

• The Franklin firing took a lot of the shine off the Tuberville-Bobby Petrino reunion, which is disappointing. While publicly both have said there are no hard feelings, I can’t imagine that to be the case. My game advance for tomorrow deals with the Jetgate scandal and its fallout in more detail.

• A lot of people have harsh feelings for Petrino, and I understand why. He repeatedly looked for better offers during his four years at Louisville, finally finding one to his liking in the Atlanta Falcons, only to bolt for Arkansas after 13 games. I also understand that coaching is a fickle business. You take what you can and use leverage when you have it. I don’t know if anybody else would do otherwise given the opportunity. Schools don’t seem to be too forgiving when it comes to firing an underperforming coach, so I guess you can’t fault Petrino what he did. What bothers me about these coaching changes – and this includes guys like Rich Rodriguez and Nick Saban – is that they’ll tout their undying loyalty to their current employer and scoff at the media for daring to ask about rumors to the contrary, even if those rumors are well-founded. Then they leave the instant they find the right offer and follow it up by talking about integrity and trustworthiness at their introductory press conference at a new school. Every football coach does it. If I were a football recruit, I wouldn’t trust a word that I hear.
  

• Intriguing matchup of the week: Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs against Auburn’s interior defensive line. Luigs was named an All-American by several publications last year and won the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy and the Rimington Award as the nation’s top center. By the way, there has never been a two-time winner of the award.

• Neither team probably wants this game to come down to a field goal. Auburn place-kicker Wes Byrum’s struggles have been well-publicized. The sophomore has missed his last three field goals and doinked an extra point off the right upright last week, a miss that proved to be crucial in a one-point loss to Vanderbilt. Arkansas isn’t in a much better situation. Its kickers – Alex Tejada and Shay Haddock – have combined to go 1-for-5 this season.
  

Prediction time: Mr. Quarter continues to be my nemesis on the beat writer’s pick ’em for Rivals.com. I went a very respectable 7-3 last week (my loyalty to my alma mater Wisconsin is starting to kill me), but the quarter went 8-2, tied for the best record of the week. And I’ve already lost another game to the quarter this week when I foolishly picked Clemson to beat Wake Forest. Well, I’m positive I’ll make it up in the Auburn game. The quarter picked Arkansas. I picked Auburn. I can’t imagine the Razorbacks doing much offensively, just like I can’t imagine the Tigers doing much offensively. But look at the defenses and I think it’s pretty obvious which team should win. The line is 18½. I’d be shocked if Auburn even scores that many points. I’ll go with a 17-3 final.

Live from Auburn (video added)

Well, I'm back where I was about 12 hours ago, in the media room of Auburn's Athletic Complex waiting for practice to finish.

We're only expecting Tommy Tuberville to speak. Players are normally off-limits on Thursdays and only occasionally do we get assistants (not too much of a stretch to say we're not going to get them today).

We do expect Tuberville to go into more detail about how the offense will be run, who will call the plays and who the starting quarterback will be.

UPDATE (11:05 a.m.): Tuberville speaks. Here's a bullet breakdown.

• Tuberville will take a larger role in the offense and will not do anything with the offensive coordinator position until after the season.
  

• Tight ends coach Steve Ensminger (pictured) will coach from the box and call plays. Hugh Nall (o-line), Eddie Gran (running backs) and Greg Knox (wide receivers) will coach from the field. Knox will coach all receivers, including tight ends.

• "It's a good setup, not much different than what we had," Tuberville said.

• The spread will continue. How much will Auburn use it? It's anybody's guess. The team will not go back to the huddle, Tuberville said.
  

• Here's Tommy's quote on the subject: "We're not changing anything. The difference in what we were doing last year to what we ran the last few weeks is just the tempo. We want to keep all that. We think all of it's good. Obviously, what I want to do over the next few weeks after this game is go back and simplify a little bit of it, try to do as much as your players can handle."

• The team will decide within the next 24 hours who the starting quarterback will be, Chris Todd or Kodi Burns.

• Tuberville will start gathering names for a new offensive coordinator soon. He said members of the current staff would not be in the running for the gig.

• Tuberville contacted next year's recruits yesterday. "Obviously, we texted and tried to make as many calls as we could last night to recruits. That went great. No problems. It's been a tough 24 hours. But again, when something like that happens you have to make contact and it's been very, very good."

UPDATE (11:53 a.m.): New video is up.

Nothing personal, just no production

That was essentially Tommy Tuberville's reasoning for firing offensive coordinator Tony Franklin seven games into his stint at Auburn.

Tuberville met briefly with the media after Wednesday's practice. Here was his opening statement:

"It hurts. It hurts bad. It's a difficult situation, a difficult thing to do in the middle of the season. My responsibility is to this football team and it always will be. Tony's a good person, a good guy. He's got a great family, big family man. Basically, what it all comes down to is production, and I didn't think the last few weeks we were making any progress."

Tuberville said that Auburn remains loyal to the spread, for this season and in subsequent years.

No clue yet who will call the plays. Tuberville said he'll discuss it with his coaches tonight. Offensive line coach Hugh Nall and tight ends coach Steve Ensminger basically split the duties in 2003.

Here's the video, essentially unedited:

Franklin offers few comments as he leaves

Got to the Auburn Athletic Complex just in time to watch Tony Franklin pack up his things. He hugged a few athletic department assistants before loading books and boxes into his SUV.

“Y’all look like you got fired,” he joked with reporters as he passed.

He offered no comment on the situation, saying that he needed to speak with “some people” before he would answer questions from the media.

Asked why he packed up his stuff so quickly, Franklin said, “I don’t have any reason to hang around.”

For the full story so far, click here.

I will post an update once Tommy Tuberville speaks, which should be in an hour or so.

I don't know if I've seen something quite like this before. Publicly, Tuberville said that it would be a "disaster" to scrap the offense at this point of the season. And that was yesterday.

That would lead me to believe this is more of a personality mismatch than anything. Franklin has said autonomy to run the offense as he saw fit was one of the biggest selling points when he took the Auburn job.

From what everyone has observed, the offense the Tigers were running was not close to what Franklin wanted to run. He's not a one-back, two-tight end kind of guy. Tuberville telling him to put backup quarterback Kodi Burns in the Tennessee game undermined him as well.

Anyone else have thoughts?

UPDATE: Tuberville's comments from Tuesday, saying it would be a "major disaster" to ditch the spread offense right now.

Franklin fired as Auburn OC

By Andy Bitter
abitter@ledger-enquirer.com

AUBURN, Ala. – Tony Franklin, whose spread offense failed to produce in the season’s first six weeks, was relieved of his duties as Auburn’s offensive coordinator Wednesday, less than a year after he took the job.

Head coach Tommy Tuberville met with players prior to the team’s afternoon practice to inform them of the decision.

“After evaluating where we are at this point of the season offensively, I felt it was in the best interest of the Auburn football program to make this change,” Tuberville said in a release from the school.

“I’m not satisfied with where we are and I am personally going to take a larger role with the offense the remainder of the season. We are going to work harder than ever to make sure we consistently improve as we move forward.”

It is not clear who will handle offensive play-calling duties when Auburn hosts Arkansas on Saturday.

Franklin was hired last year to install the “Tony Franklin Offense,” a spread formation that had enormous success at Troy, where Franklin was the offensive coordinator the previous two years.

But the Tigers have struggled all season. They rank 103rd nationally in scoring offense, 103rd in passing offense and 104th in total offense.

Updates to follow.

New video

Got some interesting stuff from Tommy Tuberville's Tuesday press conference on here. Naturally, he talks about the offense, but there's also some stuff about the whole Bobby Petrino affair from a few years ago and last year's rumors that Tuberville was flirting with the Arkansas job.

Also, it's got quarterback Kodi Burns and wide receiver Rod Smith. Enjoy.

I'll have a practice update later today.

Tuesday update

A few things to come out of Tuesday's meeting with selected players and head coach Tommy Tuberville.

• Got news from WR Rod Smith that offensive coordinator Tony Franklin had a renewed energy about him Tuesday, getting very hands-on and actually running routes to show receivers how it's supposed to be done. This doesn't sound like a defeated man.

• Defensive tackle Tez Doolittle noticed a different enthusiasm from the offense today.

"I could hear it. Everybody turned around looking, 'What's going on?' I see everybody getting down and running plays real quick and fast. Everybody getting to the endzone. Just a lot of noise out there today. ... It looked a lot different. Guys were getting going out there."

• Tuberville sounded as committed as ever to the spread, and while there will be more traditional running plays for the time being, the future at Auburn will be the spread.

• Don't believe me? Here's his quote:

"We're still going to run the spread offense. We went to this, but we'll tweak it every week. ... I look at half the teams in the Top 10, they run the spread. I've talked to most of the coaches and they had the same problems when they first put it in. We knew we'd have problems when they first put it in. A lot of the people didn't expect some of the struggles outside of our football team. What is real important is for our players within our football team understanding what we're trying to do, and they do. We're going to get better at it."

• CB Jerraud Powers (hamstring) is doubtful this week. DT Sen'Derrick Marks (ankle) sounds like he'll play.

New video up

Coordinators were off-limits this week, so we've got all player quotes.

They didn't disappoint. Lots of semi-incendiary stuff from center Ryan Pugh, running back Ben Tate and wide receiver Rod Smith about the offense.

Auburn-Vanderbilt redux

That was an interesting weekend to say the least.

I didn’t have time yesterday to blog anything yesterday because of the drive back, but that kind of weekend deserves a recap. I’ll break it down fact and fiction style:

FACT: Auburn’s best offense is lining up under center with two tight ends and plowing straight ahead with the ground game. Nobody who watched the first quarter of Saturday’s game could think otherwise. The spread might be a nice option when the Tigers have the right personnel, but with this current group – especially with the quarterback choices – it’s just not going to be effective.

FICTION: Tony Franklin’s duties have been relieved or reworked. Plenty of message board speculation out there, but the beleaguered offensive coordinator remains at his post. Head coach Tommy Tuberville said Franklin will still call the plays and that any changes to a more traditional offense come from Franklin. That part I don’t know if I necessarily believe.

FACT: The quarterbacks will rotate for the remainder of the year. I can’t envision a scenario where they won’t. Neither one is head and shoulders ahead of the other and both bring a different set of skills to the game. If Kodi Burns doesn’t play, I think Auburn risks the chance of losing him. When a quarterback starts talking about how this wasn’t the school he thought he was being recruited to, like Burns did after the game, you have to take note.

FICTION: The defense is vulnerable. Yes, Vanderbilt scored the go-ahead touchdown and gained a good chunk of yards on the Auburn defense in the second half, but look at the players the Tigers were without for plenty of series after halftime – DT Sen’Derrick Marks, CB Jerraud Powers, LB Tray Blackmon, DE Antonio Coleman, DE Michael Goggans and LB Chris Evans. That is 6 of 11 starters and still the defense kept the team in the game.

FACT: Place-kicker Wes Byrum is just not right. The missed extra point was obvious. But according to a couple reporters on the beat who made it down to the sidelines in the final minutes (I did not make it immediately because of deadline), Byrum had troubles keeping kicks in the net while warming up. And that’s only, what, five or six feet in front of him? Plenty of kickers come out of these slumps and I think Byrum can do the same. Above all else, I think Byrum just needs to make an easy field goal attempt in a non-pressure situation to get back on the right track.

FICTION: Vanderbilt should be ranked No. 13 in the country. Sorry ’Dores fans. I just don’t buy it. It was a nice win against a ranked team (one clearly ranked a bit too high), but I don’t think the Commodores will continue their run. When Auburn’s defense was healthy, Vanderbilt didn’t do anything. Before the Tigers abandoned the run, Vanderbilt didn’t stop anything. With remaining games against Mississippi State, Duke, Kentucky and Tennessee, Vandy will clearly get the one more win necessary for a bowl game, which in itself is a major accomplishment, but I can’t see this team going 10-2 or anything close to it.

FACT: I saw M.J. from the Real World holding court at a bar in Nashville. Talk about a D-list level celebrity sighting.

FICTION: Commodores fans know how to celebrate a big win. Seriously, you knock off the No. 13-ranked team in the country, are 5-0 for the first time since World War II, lead Florida and Georgia in the SEC West and nobody rushes the field. Nobody!? I’m sure everyone will cite safety and decorum for not doing so, but rushing the field to me feels like a college birthright, police presence be damned. Maybe Vandy fans were saving their rush to the field for later, like if the ’Dores knock of Florida on Nov. 8.

Auburn-Vanderbilt preview

Well, it’s almost 24 hours until Auburn and Vanderbilt kick off in Nashville. This seems like a game that will give some answers about both teams.

If the Tigers can’t move the ball against the Commodores, I think the spread is doomed to fail this season. In Auburn’s defense, LSU and Tennessee both have very strong defenses. Not too many teams will move the ball at will against them. But Vandy is 12th in the SEC in total defense, so there are really no excuses if the Tigers struggle again.

For Vandy, it’s a chance to prove that that what’s going on is for real. We’ve seen a 4-0 start out of this team before (2005 to be exact, with Jay Cutler at the helm), but the ’Dores couldn’t keep it going, falling short of bowl eligibility. Yes, South Carolina was ranked when it lost in Nashville, and yes, the Ole Miss win looks a lot better in hindsight after the Rebels knocked off Florida last week, but Auburn is a contender in the SEC year-in and year-out. A win would go a long way in legitimizing the Commodores.

Anyway, I’m still fine-tuning this blog, trying to figure out what’s the best way to do things. I tried a position-by-position breakdown last week and it seemed like I was repeating a lot of stuff that was in the game advance that runs on our Web site.

This week, I’m going with a “10 Things” type preview, which is admittedly a pretty blatant rip-off of Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who does something similar in his weekly wrap of the NFL. Regardless, I’m going to try it to see how it works.

If anybody has some ideas out there, I’m all ears.

Without further adieu:

1. I know it’s been mentioned, but I don’t think that a big enough of a deal has been made of the fact that Vanderbilt ranks last in the SEC in total offense and total defense. The Commodores are 112th out of 119 FBS teams in total offense and 73rd in total defense. I know everybody gets caught up in the great story that’s developing in Nashville, but those kinds of things eventually catch up to you.


2. I expect a big game from RB Ben Tate. Auburn claims it will go more traditional with some of its formations, using a fullback and two tight ends at times. Tate, who has led the team in rushing in every game this year, is the Tigers’ best offensive weapon. It makes sense to use him.


3. Josh Bynes looks like he’ll start at MLB instead of Tray Blackmon. I don’t think there’s a major drop-off. Bynes looked focused and in control last week in his first career start. He made plays and he made the right calls. You can’t ask for much more. Blackmon’s been up and down this year. It makes you wonder if, even when he’s fully healthy from a crack in his left wrist (and who knows how long that will be), if Bynes won’t remain the starter.


4. Count me as one of those who think Kodi Burns should play more often. He gave the offense a certain pep last week. When things aren’t working, he can make something happen just based on his physical ability alone. I know that people tend to hype the backup quarterback, but look at the three most memorable offensive plays against Tennessee. Chris Todd’s touchdown pass to Robert Dunn, Burns’ completion to Dunn after eluding two tackles in the backfield and Burns’ third-down completion when the game was on the line near the end. Burns made things happen – plain and simple. He should be allowed to do so again.


5. That said, Todd can’t experience the same kind of drop-off once Burns comes in the game. All parties involved claimed Todd didn’t sulk when on the sidelines and blocked out the boos that came from the crowd in the fourth quarter, but his performance doesn’t back that up. All the team’s offensive problems are not necessarily the quarterback’s fault, but a good quarterback finds ways to make things work even if everything is not perfect.


6. Whoever wins this thing is going to do it on the ground, because the secondaries are full of talent. Auburn’s Jerraud Powers and Walt McFadden rarely, if ever, come off the field. And Vandy’s got three players – Ryan Hamilton, Reshard Langford and D.J. Moore – with two or more interceptions.


7. Saw on ESPN a good term for what’s going to happen in the SEC over the next couple weeks – cannibalism. These teams are going to eat each other up. Look at some of the matchups in the next couple weeks. Oct. 11: LSU at Florida; Oct. 25: Georgia at LSU; Nov. 1: Florida vs. Georgia (Jacksonville); Nov. 8: Alabama at LSU, Florida at Vanderbilt; Nov. 15: Georgia at Auburn;Nov. 29: Auburn at Alabama. No one’s getting through that obstacle course undefeated. I just can’t see it happening.


8. You know you’re off to a historic start when “since World War II” starts making its way into your releases. For instance, Vanderbilt seeks its first 5-0 start since 1943. Guess what was going on back then?


9. Chris Nickson seems like a fantastic athletic quarterback, one who can really do some damage on the ground, but I just don’t think he has the passing ability to really hurt Auburn. The redshirt senior hasn’t thrown for 100 yards in any of Vandy’s four games. He’s passed for big yards in past seasons, but I wonder if the Commodores will take the restrictor plates off him this week. They’ve got a pretty good recipe for success going so far.


10. I’m very curious to see what the crowd situation is like. From what I’ve been told, Auburn usually has more fans at this game than Vanderbilt does. With anticipation for a college football game in Nashville as high as it has been in a quarter century, I can’t imagine that being the case this year.

Prediction time. And this comes with the disclaimer that I lost to Mr. Quarter (yes, a coin flip) in the Beat Writers Pick ’Em on Rivals.com last week (in my defense, so did a few other guys in what was an upset-laden week). Well, I vow to make him look like Mr. Nickel this time around.

I’m going with Auburn 24-6. I think Vandy is a great story and a much-improved football team, but I just can’t see that offense doing much against the Tigers defense unless Auburn makes some sort of offensive or special teams mistakes that gift-wrap a touchdown. Offensively, I don’t think the Tigers completely figures things out, but I think they recognize that their personnel is best suited to pound the ball. And they’ll do enough of that to win comfortably.

Thursday update

Not a whole lot going on at practice today, but there were a few things:

• Head coach Tommy Tuberville didn't know who will start at middle linebacker -- Josh Bynes or Tray Blackmon, who is still recovering from a crack in his left wrist. Tuberville said probably Bynes, but Blackmon most certainly will play.
• FB John Douglas (knee) and WR James Swinton (knee) will both be eased back into game action this weekend.
• Wes Byrum will handle field goals after a solid week of practice. Tuberville said the sophomore, who has missed his last three field goals, just needs to take his practice approach to the game.
  
• Expect some more traditional formations to complement the spead offense against Vanderbilt. "I think what we're doing -- putting a little two-back, one-back, underneath the center, two tight ends -- helps the spread," Tuberville said. "It makes them work on something else and takes the working time away from the meat and potatoes of what we really want to do."
• Tuberville didn't quite draw a comparison but basically said this defense stacks up favorably with some of the best ones he's coached. "You always look at performance, and this group's really performing," he said.