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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
  

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

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.

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.

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."

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:"

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."
  

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 ...

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.

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."

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."

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

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.

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.