AUBURN, Ala. — A year after finishing dead last in the Football Bowl Subdivision in red zone scoring efficiency, Auburn is among the national leaders.

The Tigers are tied for sixth nationally in red zone offense, scoring 94.3 percent of the time. They have 25 touchdowns and eight field goals in 35 trips inside the 20.

Last year, they scored only 57 percent of the time, a mark that put them 119th nationally, eight percentage points below the next closest team.

"We spend a lot of practice time (on it), probably as much or more than most people do," offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. "I think that has a lot to do with it."

There will be a larger issue this week going up against Alabama's No. 1 nationally-ranked defense.

"We need to get it down there," Malzahn said. "Because we think that's one of our big strengths. Once we do we can put the ball in the end zone. That's a big focus of our offense and that's a big challenge against this defense."

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• Auburn won't just be trying to win the competition on the field Friday. The Tigers hope to make inroads in the state recruiting battle as well. Auburn expects more than 100 visitors for the Iron Bowl, including nearly all of the Tigers' 21 commits for 2010, according to AuburnSports.com. The highest-profile in-state player will be Theodore, Ala., linebacker C.J. Mosley, the No. 7 overall recruit in Alabama, according to Rivals. His two favorites are Auburn and Alabama.

• The Tigers' coaches know recruiting goes beyond who wins the game. "Winning makes everything easy, but if it was easy, everybody would do it," wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said. "The people we’re bringing in and the recruits we’re looking at is building on relationships that last longer than 60 minutes of a ballgame. ... It’s a long-term deal for us. This is not a quick fix."

• Alabama currently ranks second in Rivals' recruiting rankings with 22 commits for 2010. Auburn is eighth with 21 commits.

• WR Darvin Adams thinks Alabama's lofty ranking will bring out the best in Auburn. "The higher the other team's talent, it kind of brings out your talent," he said. "It's like if you're running a 40 and somebody's racing you, you probably run a 40 faster if somebody's racing you. So I think that will bring the best out of us, a big rivalry game. I think we'll be ready for it."

• Interesting exchange with Adams about Tide defensive back Javier Arenas. It went as follows:

• Reporter: You heard anything about Arenas?
• Adams I heard he's a good punt returner, so I guess he's doing good at that.
• Reporter: He'll probably be covering you.
• Adams: Oh, I mean, we'll see.

• LB Craig Stevens on why Alabama is so effective running the ball: "They break a lot of tackles and they're able to exploit that whenever you miss a tackle, they take it for a couple of extra yards. I think they said (Mark) Ingram has like 900-something yards after contact, so you just have to rack him up."

• Asked if it's going to be hard to stop a potential Heisman Trophy winner, Stevens referenced a game from 2007. "We've done it before," he said. "Tim Tebow. It's able to be done." Tebow had 201 passing yards and a touchdown and 75 rushing yards and a score in that game, but Wes Byrum had the last laugh, or chomp, drilling a 43-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 20-17 win in Gainesville.

• We continue to get varying opinions about which part of Alabama's defense is most impressive, but the more we hear, the more Auburn is impressed with the Tide's secondary. Here are two more comments to that effect:

• WR Kodi Burns: "I think the biggest thing that stands out is the d-line gets a lot of pressure, but I think the biggest difference is the secondary. The secondary does a great job of grabbing and holding and just I would say harassing receivers. They do a great job of getting their hands on you in man coverage. What they're saying is that they feel like they can cover people, so they're really good, really talented and that's the kind of ball they play."

• Malzahn: "Their secondary, you can tell they’re very well coached. They have very good ball skills. I think some of those guys back there could start at receiver for some of the teams in our league. They’re that talented with their ball skills. They’re extremely fast. They really make you earn it. You don’t see a whole lot of guys running free. We need to make plays and be able to make some plays in the passing game.

• What's the key to passing on Alabama then? "You've got to know where to miss," Malzahn said. "You've got to know your aiming points. You've got to be a good decision-maker. At the same time, our receivers need to do a good job of using their bodies and protecting the ball. The windows could be a little smaller but we just need to be on target."

• Malzahn hasn't really been a part of a huge rivalry like this (what's comparable at Arkansas, LSU?). But he said he's gotten plenty of advice for quite awhile about this game. "I got advice when I first got here about this game, the first week I was here," he said with a chuckle. "From that you can kind of tell how important it is to our people and our kids and it's a big one"