You can officially squash those Tommy Tuberville-to-Clemson rumors. Dabo Swinney, who went 3-3 as the interim coach at Clemson after Tommy Bowden was fired, is expected to be hired for the job on a full-time basis, according to ESPN.com.

So much for that long-running rumor that Tuberville might pull a Houston Nutt and have his agent orchestrate a way out at Auburn and get him latched on at another school.

Tommy Tuberville phoned in his weekly teleconference from the road, but said despite no affirmation that his job is secure for next year (he'll meet with the AD and school presdient sometime this week), he is treating this week like business as usual.

"I'm going like I've got a contract here," Tuberville said. "I'm working and as I said last night there's no doubt that we can get this thing turned back around. I didn't turn into a bad coach overnight. I know this program better than anybody. I know what it takes. I know the type of people that you can get to come in. I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses and I'm fully committed to doing it. I'm going out and selling that."

The Birmingham News reported today, citing insider Auburn sources, that athletic director Jay Jacobs told Tuberville three days before the Iron Bowl that he would be allowed to come back for 2009.

Is that true?

"No," Tuberville said. "I have no clue where that came from."

A time still has not been set for Tuberville's meeting with Jacobs and school president Dr. Jay Gogue.

Tuberville's focus will instead be on recruits who are waffling on their commitments.

"What I'm going to try to do is meet with guys that have shown any sense of possibly wondering whether I'm going to be here or not," Tuberville said. "I want to hit those guys first. There's probably four or five of those, but we won't bring up any names."

Tuberville also addressed his vacant offensive coordinator position, saying he wants to give whoever he hires the freedom to bring somebody with him if he wants.

"We've got to have an offensive coordinator that feels confident with what he's doing," Tuberville said. "If he's got anybody that he thinks can help him put his program in, maybe that he worked with in the past. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't. I've not been around too many coordinators that had people that they wanted to bring, but obviously, we've got to do something on offense and we're going to. We're going to get the problem solved. We're going to get some consistency."

Not being able to bring in any assistants is one of the many reasons that Tony Franklin was not able to make a successful transition from Troy, instead forced to work with Auburn's long-tenured coaches. It was a source of friction throughout his 10 months on the Plains.

Tuberville denies the claims.

"A lot of people have said in the past that I force assistants on people," Tuberville said. "That's never happened. It's totally up to the guys that come in."

Tuberville has several coordinators in mind and said he's almost whittled the list to four or five. He said he doesn't have any frontrunners out of that group.

In other news:

• LT Lee Ziemba is scheduled to have knee surgery Tuesday. The sophomore was clearly laboring on the knee the second half of the season. "He's fought through it, and a lot of us never would have done that," Tuberville said. "He's a tough young man that wanted to play and wanted to go through the season. He has struggled -- we all know that -- mentally and physically. ... It's probably pretty tough. We don't know what you go through in an injury like that in terms of pain in going through a game and putting pressure on that. He's a tough young man."

• WR Chris Slaughter did not make the trip because he spent part of last week visiting his ill mother. He didn't know enough of the game plan by the time he returned, so he did not travel.

• Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads' name has been linked to the vacant Utah State job. Rhoads, who got his masters from Utah State and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant there in 1989, declined to comment on the job after the Iron Bowl. Tuberville offered this Sunday: "There's been some people call here about maybe interest. Paul and I were going to sit down and talk next week. ... That'll be up to him. He really likes it here. He'd have to decide whether he'd want to go to that situation. ... If (the assistants) want head coaching jobs, I think that's outstanding. I think that's the reason we all get into this."

The much-anticipated postseason review of Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville by athletic director Jay Gogue and school president Dr. Jay Gogue will take place sometime this week. When? Nobody's saying. But at it, they will decide whether Tuberville returns for an 11th season on the Plains.

He made his pitch to return following Saturday's 36-0 loss to Alabama.

"If I didn’t think I could do it, I would be the first one to tell the Auburn people," Tuberville said. "After 10 years, I’m still fairly young, and it’s hard to take what we went through this year, but sometimes it makes you even hungrier to go through something like this. We might have needed a setback. We might have needed a readjustment, because we’ve been awfully good for a long time."

The meeting won't take place immediately. Tuberville has said he'll be out recruiting today and Monday but be back in Auburn on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Players were unanimous in showing their support for Tuberville. Center Jason Bosley called the speculation about Tuberville's job "stupid" and "ridiculous."

"I don’t know where it comes from," Bosley said of the rumors. "I mean, when you’re in adversity, the cream of the crop rises to the top and so do the turds. That’s just the way it is. And people start pointing fingers real quick and it’s easy to point fingers at the head coach, but it shouldn’t even be a topic of discussion right now."

One condition for Tuberville's might be that he has to clean house on the offensive side of the ball, hiring a new coaching staff. But he defended the offensive coaches Saturday night, taking the full weight of the blame for Auburn's first sub-.500 season since 1999.

"I put them in a bind," said Tuberville, referring to the Tony Franklin fiasco. "Everybody’s pointing fingers at them. ‘They’re not getting it done.’ I’m the one who put them in that situation. I’m the one who put their back to the wall. I thought the offensive staff did an excellent job overnight doing something to even give ourselves a chance. There were several games where we had a chance to win and we didn't. We were in most of them. I just want to say that those guys really worked hard, did the best they could do in the circumstances, they worked long hours. They'll take a lot of hits for all this but the buck stops with me. I'm the one that put them in that situation."

Tuberville has said he wants to have an offensive coordinator in place by the beginning of January and does not seem in much of a rush to make a hire before that. He said his list of a dozen or so candidates mostly consists of coaches on teams who are going to bowl games and that he didn't want to disrupt their seasons.

In the short-term, there's been no move to alter the coaching staff.

"I'm getting on the road tomorrow (recruiting)," said Steve Ensminger, who served as the de facto offesnive coordinator once Franklin was fired. "I don't know. I guess they'll tell us something."

Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, while not under fire like the offensive staff, had an interesting take on the coaching profession as a whole.

"We entered into the profession," Rhoads said. "I came upon it honestly. I grew up the son of a coach. I was sitting on my mom's lap as a baby and a pumpkin came through smashing through a window, so I know what it feels like to be a coach and a coach's son and I've grown up with that. You don't even worry about that, you don't even listen to it. We've got to go recruit tomorrow. We're going to go out and talk about Auburn and talk about 2009 and how special we've got a chance to be. We'll do what we always do, go back to work."

Eesh. That got out of hand quickly. I'll have more tomorrow about the game and what happens now with head coach Tommy Tuberville. But right now, my ride is waiting.

Here's tomorrow's lede to tide you over.

By Andy Bitter
abitter@ledger-enquirer.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama put a definitive and resounding end to its six-year Iron Bowl drought Saturday, dismantling an overmatched Auburn 36-0 to snatch back state supremacy.

Attention quickly shifted to another pesky streak that Crimson Tide fans treat as an injustice: a nine-year stretch without an SEC championship.

“It’s the next game, but just on a bigger stage,” Alabama safety Rashad Johnson said of next week’s SEC title game against Florida, a de facto national semifinal that will guarantee the winner a spot in the BCS championship. “We are going to approach it like any other game.”

Alabama (12-0, 8-0 SEC) used a season-long recipe for success Saturday, hammering the run, passing at the right moments and playing lock-down defense in one of the most lopsided games in the 115-year history of the Iron Bowl.

Glen Coffee ran for 144 of Alabama’s 234 rushing yards, the sixth time this year the Tide has topped the 200-yard mark this season.

Defensively, the Crimson Tide suffocated the hapless Tigers to a season-low 170 yards of offense. Auburn didn’t reach the red zone once.

The Tigers (5-7, 2-6) hadn’t lost a game this badly since a 51-10 drubbing to Florida in 1996. They hadn’t been thumped in an Iron Bowl by this much since a 38-0 loss in 1962.

“We’re going to have to deal with this until next year,” cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “This is always going to be in our heads.”

Well, the wheels fell of this one quickly.

Here's the short version. Auburn fumble, Alabama touchdown. Auburn fumble, Alabama touchdown. Auburn three-and-out, Alabama touchdown.

Just like that, it's a 29-0 game.

On the Tigers' second play, senior running back Brad Lester, who was making his second appearance in the game, coughed up the ball in the face of a cornerback blitz. Alabama recovered. One play later, John Parker Wilson rolled out, drew the defense up by nearing the line of scrimmage and tossed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Nikita Stover. Auburn blocked the extra point, but still trailed 16-0.

Kodi Burns fumbled a snap on the next drive that Alabama recovered. The Tide moved right down the field before inserting 365-pound defensive tackle Terrence Cody at fullback near the goal line. He escorted Mark Ingram into the end zone to make it 22-0.

Ingram added a 14-yard run wjth 2:10 left.

Auburn could play until January and not score 29 points against Alabama.

So much for the idea that nobody would get blown out in this game.

Some telling third quarter stats:

• Yards: Alabama 144, Auburn 29.

• First downs: Alabama 7, Auburn 1.

• Turnovers: Auburn 2, Alabama 0.

• Points off turnovers: Alabama 12, Auburn 0.

I'm going to head down to the field in the fourth quarter, so there won't be any kind of wrap-up until well after the game.

Kudos to Nick Saban for actually getting the old timeout-before-the-field-goal trick to work. If not, we'd have a ballgame here.

Morgan Hull appeared to make a 40-yarder just before the half, but Saban called a timeout moments before the snap. On the second shot, Alabama blocked it. Huge momentum shift back for the Crimson Tide.

Other than that, the only thing you need to know about the first half was Glen Coffee, who ran for 99 yards on 11 carries, with a nifty 41-yard touchdown scamper up the sideline that gave the Crimson Tide a 10-0 lead.

Auburn doesn't look beat, but it sure looks like it's in rough shape.

Other notes, thoughts, etc:

• Clinton Durst has five punts and is averaging 41.4 yards. And that's with a shank that only went 20.
  

• Auburn's big-time weapon, its kick return unit, did next to nothing in the first half. The Tigers averaged 16.7 yards on three attempts, none going longer than 18 yards.

• Kodi Burns has gotten better the last few weeks, but he still has no touch on the ball. He throws a 7-yard crossing pattern the way he throws a 30-yard post -- 100 mph.

• Passing stats: Burns -- 5-for-14, 47 yards; John Parker Wilson -- 5-for-10, 53 yards.

• Total yards: Alabama 159, Auburn 96.

• First downs: Alabama 8, Auburn 6.

• Rushing stats: Burns -- 7 carries, 16 yards; Mario Fannin -- 6 carries, 14 yards; Team -- 18 rushes, 49 yards.

Anyone want to put odds on Auburn scoring 11 points in the second half? I'll wager it's somewhere in the 30-to-1 range.

Leigh Tiffin's 37-yard field goal as the first quarter clock expired is the difference so far.

Auburn missed a really good opportunity with field position early on. The Tigers started at the Alabama 49-yard line on their second drive, but went three-and-out. Auburn pinned 'Bama deep, but the Crimson Tide got out of trouble with a few first downs.

Pretty impressive first quarter for 'Bama running back Glen Coffee, who had 8 rushes for 41 yards. The Tide is going to feed him all day.

Just based on the tenor of the first quarter, this one doesn't seem like it will be a blowout.

Other notes:

• First quarter MVP for Auburn? Punter Clinton Durst, who pinned the Crimson Tide at the 7 and 5 on back-to-back punts.

• I've been to quite a few football stadiums, but I don't know if I've been at one as loud as this. I've got to admit, it's quite impressive. Auburn looks like it's having some trouble communicating audibles on the field, with quarterback Kodi Burns having to shout over everybody at the line. That's a recipe for disaster.

• Total yards: Alabama 81, Auburn 30.

• Auburn RB Mario Fannin, who started: 6 rushes, 14 yards.
  

You're looking LIVE at several angles of Bryant-Denny Stadium in hazy Tuscaloosa!

We survived the trip. Traffic wasn't too terrible. The weather was. It rained the whole way, but eased up once we got to Tuscaloosa. It's overcast and foggy here in the stadium, but it's not raining and the field seems like it's in good condition. That's good news for Auburn. It did not want to get in a game where passing the ball was impossible.

I'll update as we get closer to game time.


UPDATE (2:15 p.m.): No rain yet, but there is a lot of mist in the air. It's certainly not going to be dry on the field.

Pre-game introductions said Brad Lester will start at running back for Auburn. Watching some warmups, it sure looked like it would be Mario Fannin. He was taking handoffs from Kodi Burns the most. Maybe Lester, a senior, gets a token start.

There are a lot of rumors out there about WR Chris Slaughter's status with the team. All I know is this: he's not here today, dressed or otherwise.

I've got to hand it to Alabama -- it knows how to montage a video highlight. Impressive pre-game stuff out here.

From the sounds of it, Auburn came out on the losing end of a very strange game in the Chicago Invitational in Hoffman Estates, Ill., tonight.

Here were some of the high ... err, lowlights:

• Dayton went 0-for-24 on 3-pointers. Read that again. I don't think I've ever heard of that happening in a basketball game before, let alone for the winning team.

• The Flyers (5-0) weren't the only ones who struggled from outside. The Tigers (3-2) were 0-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half. They managed to go 7-for-19 in the second half.

• Auburn's downfall was -- surprise -- rebounding and free throws. Dayton held a 60-43 advantage on the boards and the Tigers were 12-for-26 from the free throw line. Ouch. I feel like this is going to be a season-long problem.
  

• DeWayne Reed scored 22 points to lead Auburn.

• Auburn plays tonight at 5:30 p.m. EST against Northern Iowa in the final game of the tournament.

Back by popular (OK, my editor's) demand is the position-by-position breakdown for tomorrow's Iron Bowl.

I handled the Auburn side. Jason Galloway, who covers the Crimson Tide for the Ledger-Enquirer in Tuscaloosa, took care of Alabama.

Not surprisingly, most of the advantages came up Alabama's way, although I wouldn't have expected anything else since the No. 1 team in the country is involved.

We had some disagreement for who has the edge in the secondary and at special teams. I gave the secondary a push; Jason went with Auburn. I gave special teams to Auburn, despite the tenuous place-kicking situation; Jason went with Alabama. I can honestly see arguments that work for both sides.

Barners and Bammers feel free to weigh in:

Quarterback

• Auburn: With six career starts now under his belt, sophomore Kodi Burns is slowly but surely putting things together. He nearly led the Tigers to a come-from-behind victory against Georgia, driving the team down the field in the final minute before things fizzled. He hasn’t thrown an interception in either of the last two games, going 28-for-50 for 309 yards. He’s also rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
• Alabama: As one of the few senior quarterbacks in the SEC, John Parker Wilson has been the leader in the Tide’s run to a perfect record. Now that he finally has a solid running game behind him, Wilson has not had to throw the ball as much as in previous years, allowing him to up his completion percentage while cutting down his interceptions.
• Edge: Alabama

Running backs

• Auburn: Sophomore Mario Fannin was impressive in his first career start against Georgia, with a 52-yard touchdown reception and a 35-yard touchdown run. He split carries with junior Ben Tate and will likely do so this week as well. Senior Brad Lester, who was dinged up and didn’t get in on offense against the Bulldogs, could get some carries as well.
• Alabama: Multiple backs make up Alabama’s top-25 rushing attack. Starter Glen Coffee is second in the SEC with 1,091 yards on the ground this season, and true freshman Mark Ingram has nine rushing touchdowns, second among running backs in the SEC. Third-stringer Roy Upchurch is also a threat, averaging 6.0 yards per carry average.
• Advantage: Alabama

Wide receivers/tight ends

• Auburn: With Tommy Trott out for the season with a knee injury, Gabe McKenzie, who switched back to tight end two weeks ago after a three-month stint on the defensive line, will start in his place. Wide receiver Montez Billings played against Georgia despite having a broken nose, catching a season-best six passes for 66 yards.
• Alabama: Highly-touted freshman wide out Julio Jones has emerged as the Tide’s go-to man in the passing game with 43 receptions this season. Although nobody has stepped up as a sure number two receiver, tight end Nick Walker has played a huge role in Alabama’s passing game, giving Wilson a big target to dump the ball off to.
• Advantage: Alabama
  

Offensive line

• Auburn: The shuffling has stopped and Auburn has shown some improvement running the ball. Against Georgia, the Tigers finished with 124 rushing yards, the second most they’ve had in an SEC game this season. Since Auburn installed more traditional offensive sets – using more tight ends and a fullback – it has allowed only three sacks in the last four games.
• Alabama: This might be the Tide's best group of linemen since Shaun Alexander was running behind Chris Samuels. With a potential top-5 NFL draft pick at left tackle in Andre Smith, experienced seniors at the center and right guard positions and an emerging star in junior Mike Johnson at left guard, the line has been the main reason for Alabama's success in the running game this season.
• Advantage: Alabama
  

Defensive line

• Auburn: Auburn got all of its injured players back last week against Georgia but couldn’t provide much of a pass rush. The Tigers didn’t register a sack and had few hurries. They did manage to bottle up Knowshon Moreno after he ran wild in the first quarter, holding him to 42 yards during the final three. Defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, however, didn’t have one tackle against the Bulldogs.
• Alabama: Junior college transfer Terrence Cody anchors Alabama’s three-man front from the nose guard position. The 365-pound junior draws double and triple teams nearly every play, allowing linebackers and other defensive linemen like Brandon Deaderick and Bobby Greenwood, who each have 3.5 sacks this year, to break through and make plays.
• Advantage: Alabama

Linebackers

• Auburn: The Tigers got a boost last week from outside linebacker Merrill Johnson, who made six tackles after it was feared his season would be lost to a broken hand he suffered against Tennessee-Martin. The senior has 6½ tackles for a loss this season, most of the linebackers. Middle linebacker Josh Bynes has three interceptions, tops on the team.
• Alabama: Sophomore middle linebacker Rolando McClain has made 77 tackles to lead the Tide's rush defense, which ranks third nationally. The underrated Brandon Fanney has recorded 52 stops on the outside, and true freshman Dont’a Hightower has 55 tackles alongside McClain in the middle. Alabama’s front seven has proven to be one of the nation’s best this season.
• Advantage: Alabama
  

Secondary

• Auburn: Getting Jerraud Powers and Neiko Thorpe back at full speed gave Auburn’s defensive backs a boost against Georgia. The Tigers limited Matthew Stafford to 215 passing yards, but they still gave up two passing touchdowns, bringing their season total up to 17. Only Arkansas (20) has allowed more in the SEC.
  Alabama: Former walk-on running back Rashad Johnson has emerged as one of the top safeties in the country. Along with being second on the team with 68 tackles, the senior has five interceptions, returning two of them for touchdowns. His three picks were key in the Tide’s overtime victory at LSU. Kareem Jackson and Javier Arenas also make up a solid cornerback tandem.
• Advantage: Push

Special teams

• Auburn: The place-kicking situation is dire, with Wes Byrum battling a right knee injury and sophomore walk-on Morgan Hull expected to take his place. Hull’s first career kick came against Georgia, when he made an extra point. He has never attempted a field goal. The Tigers are solid on their other units, however, ranking fourth nationally in kick returns (26.1 yards) and 16th in net punting (37.6 yards).
• Alabama: Aside from a small slump at the beginning of this month, kicker Leigh Tiffin has been fairly reliable on the year. The Tide’s greatest special teams asset, junior return man Javier Arenas, is always a threat to take it to the house. His five career punt return touchdowns are an Alabama record.
• Advantage: Auburn

Coaching

• Auburn: Tommy Tuberville is 7-2 all-time in Iron Bowls, owning the best winning percentage (.778) of any coach who has been involved in at least three of them. He’s also had a great string of success against highly-ranked teams, winning nine of his last 13 games against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10. He even has one win against a No. 1 team, toppling top-ranked Florida 23-20 in 2001 on a late field goal.
• Alabama: Nick Saban has lived up to the Alabama fans’ expectations in only his second year with the Tide. Trying to live up to the rich tradition that surrounds the city of Tuscaloosa, Saban has catapulted Alabama to the top of the college football rankings, only two wins away from a national championship birth.
• Advantage: Alabama

Wild card

• Auburn: Both teams have downplayed the significance of Auburn’s six-game winning streak in the series, but there has to be some psychological edge gained from having beaten your archrival every time since 2002. The Tigers have never lost in Tuscaloosa, owning a 6-0 record in the series since the teams stopped playing the game in Birmingham. If Auburn can get off to a quick start, putting any inkling out there that the streak might reach seven games, there’s no telling how an anxious Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd might react.
• Alabama: Alabama has not beaten the Tigers since 2001, a six-game losing streak. After snapping streaks to LSU (five games) and Mississippi State (two games), the Tide is likely not looking ahead to next week’s SEC Championship Game. Alabama has some unfinished business to take care of before heading to Atlanta.
• Advantage: Alabama

Three keys for Auburn

1. Make John Parker Wilson beat you. Nobody has successfully put the game on Wilson’s shoulders this season. And while the senior is enjoying a fine season (he only has five interceptions), he has never been asked to win a game by himself. He hasn’t thrown for more than 219 yards in any game this season and has only thrown four touchdown passes since SEC play began, with none in the last four games.
2. Get something – anything – on the ground. Alabama prides itself on stopping the run, giving up 75.1 yards per game, the third-best mark nationally. But the Tigers can’t abandon it altogether. The Crimson Tide defense is too good for a one-dimensional offense. Be it Kodi Burns on draws, Mario Fannin to the edge or Ben Tate up the middle, Auburn needs to establish something to be able to go to the air with any kind of success.
3. Don’t get knocked out early. Alabama’s M.O. has been to jump to a quick lead, run the ball to work the clock and force the opponent to play catch-up. The Crimson Tide has outscored its opponents 120-20 in the first quarter alone. An early deficit is not Auburn’s friend. The Tigers need to hang around, silence what should be a rabid crowd and make Alabama feel the full weight of that No. 1 crown.

Three keys for Alabama

1. Protect the football. Auburn’s strength is its defense. If Alabama is cautious and does not turn the ball over, it will force the Tigers sub-par offense to drive the length of the field to score points. Wilson must continue to make good decisions and not let a key interception swing the momentum in this rivalry game.
2. Strike early. The only game in which Alabama has trailed a significant amount of time this year is the overtime victory at LSU. If the Tide lets Auburn jump out to an early lead, Alabama might have to rely less on the power running game that has produced its 11-0 record. The Tigers’ impressive pass defense is something the Tide will want to stay away from as much as possible.
3. Dominate the line of scrimmage. Auburn has not proven it can be a threat in the passing game this season. If the Tide’s front seven can control the line of scrimmage, runners Brad Lester, Ben Tate and Mario Fannin will have no room to operate, and the Tigers’ offense will be unable to move. Offensively, Alabama’s line has dominated opponents all year, opening up plenty of running lanes for Coffee and Ingram.

Bitter's take: There is nothing flashy about Alabama, a straightforward team led by a no-nonsense coach, so it would be hard to imagine a Crimson Tide group with so much at stake to come out flat. But Auburn has played better lately. The Tigers took a fight to Georgia two weeks ago, barely falling short in the final minute. There are seldom blowouts in this series (17 of the last 20 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less) and probably won’t be one this week, despite the teams’ vastly different records. Auburn will play for pride, but Alabama is too solid of a team with too much on the line to slip up in this one. Prediction: Alabama 20-10.

Jason's take: Although this seems like a lopsided matchup, the Iron Bowl always finds a way to present a great game. Aside from sheer pride, both teams have much to play for -- Alabama, of course, for its national title hopes and Auburn to become bowl eligible for the ninth straight year. In the end, however, the Tide will prove to be too much for Auburn to handle on the road and the Tigers’ one-dimensional offense will not be able to keep up. Prediction: Alabama 20-10.

The word from Chicago is that forward Korvotney Barber broke his nose during practice Wednesday. The senior will still play tonight in the Tigers' game against Dayton in the Chicago Invitational but might have to wear a protective mask.

Barber leads the team with 14.5 ppg and is second with 5.0 rpg.

His 2007-08 season was cut short by a broken hand after 10 games.

No practice today, so there won't be an update other than this photo of Auburn's team Thanksgiving and a list of food items the kitchen staff prepared.

This is what it takes to feed a hungry football team on Thanksgiving:

4 roasts
10 turkeys
3 hams
8 pans dressing
12 boxes greens
3 sweet potato souffles
24 lbs green beans
6 big bag carrots
12 lbs cranberry sauce
5 bags broccoli
1 case each strawberry cloud cake, chocolate dream cakes,
4 lemon meringue pies
4 pecan pies
320 dinner rolls

Check back tomorrow for a position-by-position breakdown of the Iron Bowl.

Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville said on the SEC teleconference Wednesday that he wants to have a new offensive coordinator in place by the first week of January.

“Most of the guys I have on the list will probably be in the postseason,” he said. “A few are not. The ones who are not, I’ll visit with them. I’m not in a real big hurry.

"The first week in January would probably be a target date to have somebody on board. It could happen before that, but I don’t foresee it happening any earlier than that. I don’t want to mess with anybody else’s season."

Tuberville said he's whittled down a stack of resumes to about a dozen.

He put Tony Franklin in place last Dec. 12 to install part of the spread offense for the Chick-fil-A Bowl and to help recruiting, but he doesn't think waiting to make a hire will be a detriment.

“As long as you’ve got the month of January to have somebody go out and visit with recruits and start setting a plan for spring practice, I think that’s plenty of time," he said.

A priority will be finding someone who knows the spread but not at the expense of running the ball, a major drawback to the Tony Franklin system.

“You’ve got to be able to (run the ball) in this league,” Tuberville said. “I think that’s pretty much been proven. If you look at everybody in this league, the people who are pretty much at the top of the league are going to have a good running game.”

Some other info from Wednesday:

• Tuberville doesn't know when his much-anticipated postseason meeting with athletic director Jay Jacobs and school president Dr. Jay Gogue will take place. Tuberville is out recruiting for all of Sunday and part of Monday.

• PK Wes Byrum missed his second straight practice but is not ruled out for the Iron Bowl yet. Tuberville said even if sophomore walk-on Morgan Hull kicks in his place, it won't affect the coach's decision on whether or not to kick a field goal. "You can’t look at that,” he said. “If you got the ball at the 35-yard line and it’s fourth-and-4, you’ve got to kick the field goal. You’ve got to line up and put him out there – whoever’s out there – and say, ‘We’re going to get it done.’ You can’t change your coaching style. "

In the annals of ugly basketball games that I have witnessed in person, this one was up there.

I realize Bethune Cookman tried to slow the game down. I realize Auburn's possessions were limited. I realize it's hard to get up to beat an inferior team. But Tuesday's game was ugly. There's no other way to label it.

Auburn had 17 turnovers against what DeWayne Reed called a "funky" press. And the Tigers limited the Wildcats to 30 percen shooting and held them to the third-fewest points in the Jeff Lebo era, they can't come away feeling too good about themselves.

"It was kind of like a pick up game,” Reed said. “When they played sloppy, I think we got in a sloppy mode.”

Some quick quick thoughts because today's has been a long one:

• G Tay Waller had an off night, going 0-for-6 from 3-point range and being held scoreless. He was leading the league in 3-pointers made entering the night.

• Auburn had a 39-28 rebounding advantage, but Bethune Cookman basically started five guards. That margin should have been bigger.

• F Rasheem Barrett played seven minutes and didn't score, but the important part is that the Tigers are easing him back into the rotation after he missed two games with a groin injury.

How about that headline for some alliteration!

We got to speak to head coach Tommy Tuberville today and the focus of the interview shifted to beating top-ranked teams. A few things you might or might not know on that front:

• Tuberville has four wins against teams ranked in the top 5.
• He is 9-4 in his last 13 games against teams in the top 10.
• The last time the Tigers played the No. 1 team in the country, they beat Florida 23-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Damon Duvall's field goal in the final minute.

Now, I don't care what's gone on lately, that's an impressive track record.

Tuberville gave a few reasons for his team's success against teams high in the polls.

"It’s really no secret,” he said. “You treat them all the same. … We’ve just done the same thing over and over and just let the players get the job done. Coaches don’t win many games. Players are going to do that.

“We’re usually not a flamboyant team. We don’t look flashy. We know most of our games are going to come down to the end anyway. We don’t go out and try to do big plays. We do take a few chances every once and a while, try to get the momentum.

"Momentum is huge against ranked teams. No matter whether you’re ranked or not ranked, those things swing back and forth. You try to keep it in your side as much as you can.”

One problem: No. 1 Alabama plays that type of football too. We'll see who plays it better come Saturday.

Some other housekeeping from Tuesday:

• PK Wes Byrum did not practice. He's day-to-day.

• RB Brad Lester is as healthy as he's been. The senior has had injuries all over this season -- to his neck, knee and, most recently, ankle. "Brad’s good,” Tuberville said. “I think he’s 100 percent for the first time since the Mississippi State game. He’s running like it. He’s got a smile on his face in practice. It’s not a struggle for him to go through practice as (it is for) a lot of guys.”

• Tuberville had good things to say about senior LB Chris Evans, who didn't have a very good spring two years ago and came into this season with coaches not knowing what to expect out of him. "When we got into the season, we had guys getting injured," Tuberville said. "He started playing outside linebacker, inside some, played all position. Most of the year, he was the only guy who was solid in terms of playing every week, knowing what to do, you could count on him playing several different positions. He was a breath of fresh air -- knowing how far he came. Here's a guy who steps up and gets the job done. That happens in a lot of seasons where people come out of nowhere and make plays -- and make a believer of you."

Defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks and cornerback Jerraud Powers, a pair of juniors, talked today about their possible NFL ambitions after this season. Predictably, both said they'd wait until after the season is over before they make any kind of decision.

"A lot of people have been asking me about it,” Powers said. “But that’s sort of a situation that after the Alabama game, I’ll go to the coaches and talk to them about it, see what’s the best opportunity and what the best situation is.”

“It’s the same way it was at the beginning of the season,” Marks said. "I’ve thought about (the NFL), but I always think that I’m not good enough."

Defensive end Antonio Coleman, the other real threat to forgo his senior season, had similar sentiments when we interviewed him last week.

Both Powers and Marks said they would put their faith in the coaching staff for advice about going pro or not.

"I put all my trust into that," Marks said, "and I have no worries about it."

Also, Marks said linebacker Tray Blackmon is looking forward to coming back to the team next year, despite rumors to the contrary. Blackmon, whose season ended after having wrist surgery last month, has been working a job to support his three children.

"He’s doing well,” said Marks, Blackmon's roommate. “He’s getting ready to get his cast off — I think he already got it off. He can’t wait to come back next year. He’s doing real good. It’s not like he’s down about himself or he’s throwing everything away because he couldn’t play one year. He’s ready to come back.”

Some other developments from Monday:

• Blocking Alabama's mammoth nose guard Terrence Cody was a hot topic today. Cody is 6-foot-5, 365 pounds. Auburn doesn't have anybody who can replicate that kind of size in practice unless they put a fat suit on Tez Doolittle. "I have to stay low and stay leveraged,” said center Jason Bosley, who will be charged with blocking Cody all afternoon. Bosley gives up almost 100 pounds to Cody, so expect plenty of double teams.

• Interesting stat: Cody only has 17 tackles this year. Don't be fooled. That just means he's taking on extra blockers so other defenders can make plays.

• A good career is wrapping up as senior wide receiver Rod Smith plays what could be his last game this weekend. Smith is a former walk-on who made a lot of recruiters regret passing on him in the first place. "It’s one of those things that you like to talk about, " head coach Tommy Tuberville said of Smith's success. "Young guys mature a lot mentally and physically when they get to college and that’s why it’s so tough to predict the future when you’re recruiting out of high school. ... It’s hard, but guys like Rod Smith have a soft spot in my heart because I was a walk-on.”

• Powers said he'll be checking with stadium security before Saturday's game to see if there will be any police dogs guarding the field. The cornerback had his hand bitten by a police dog at Jordan-Hare Stadium last year after breaking up a pass in the end zone. "I don't want a repeat of that," Powers said. "That was a crazy situation."

Auburn began its Iron Bowl preparation in earnest today after players had Friday and Saturday off. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said those two days off made a world of difference Sunday.

"I saw a fast football team today at practice, so I know the 50 hours from when we ended the last practice to today paid off," he said. "And I think as we take advantage of this extra time and scale down as the week goes along, it will pay off. I'm confident that we'll put as fast a football team on the field as we can Saturday."

A lot of talk about Auburn's six-game winning streak in the series -- the school's longest and the second-longest in Iron Bowl history -- but everyone claims it has no bearing on this year's game.

"I don't even think about the streak," defensive end Antonio Coleman said. "It's a whole other year. They're No. 1 and we're 5-6. When you go out and play ball, the streak doesn't matter. You have to come out and play this year."

Some other developments Sunday:

• PK Wes Byrum (inflamed right knee) kicked some short field goals during practice but head coach Tommy Tuberville said that doesn't mean Byrum will be the kicker come Saturday. If he can't go, sophomore Morgan Hull would handle Auburn's kicking.

• Rhoads was extremely complimentary of Alabama's offense, which comes across as pretty vanilla, but also pretty effective. The Crimson Tide is averaging 31.7 points and 198.5 rushing yards per game, trailing only Florida in the SEC in both categories."They’re playing great team football,” Tigers defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “They’re very efficient with what they do.”

• Alabama's running game is the thing that impresses everybody the most. The Crimson Tide has rushed for 175 yards or more in seven of their 11 games this year, doing most of its damage with running back Glen Coffee, who has 1,091 yards and eight touchdowns and is averaging an SEC-best 6.1 yards per carry. "What stands out to me about the whole group is just their massive size and their ability to wear people down,” Rhoads said of Alabama's line. “They get stronger as the game goes along.”

• The talk came back to red zone woes again Sunday, where Auburn ranks 119th out of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in efficiency. (I'm obligated by state law to refer to it as the "Dead Zone" for the purposes of this blog entry.) De facto offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger said he'd like to isolate running back Mario Fannin more to take advantage of the sophomore's one-on-one skills. I'll bet a lot of Auburn fans are wondering where that logic was last week, when Fannin didn't get on the field for the Tigers' final two drives in a 17-13 loss to Georgia.

• Sounds like Auburn has a busy week ahead of it. There are no classes, so the coaches get the players all week without interruption. It will almost be like 2-a-days for part of the week, with Wednesday being a full day. Tuberville said the team will have walkthroughs on Thanksgiving day, with plenty of eating on the intinerary. This was how he described the afternoon: "We'll watch a lot of film. There's nothing for them to do so we'll spend time over here, go through game plan, walk-through (and) eat two or three times." Now that's how I would draw up a Thanksgiving celebration, minus all the practicing.
  

The Tigers look every bit worthy of their No. 20 national ranking after pulling out an overtime win against the No. 17 Buckeyes at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.

Alli Smalley and Sherell Hobbs both finished with 23 points, DeWanna Bonner added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and, most importantly, Auburn fought through a rough second-half stretch to come back for what was an exhilerating win.

Auburn head coach Nell Fortner summed things up well upon entering the media room following the game, saying, "I think everybody got their money's worth tonight."

Some quick thoughts on the game:

• Auburn looked like it was going to sail to an easy win before Ohio State went on a 21-3 run to take a seven-point lead. But the Tigers didn't wilt. Afterward, Fortner credited her seniors for the maturity in handling the situation.

• Clutch, clutch, clutch shot by Smalley at the end of regulation, hitting a 3-pointer off a screen on a designed play to knot things up at 75. Smalley made five 3-pointers and was 9-for-17 from the field.

• Speaking of Smalley, she made an up-and-under, double clutch layup in the overtime and punctuated it with a picture perfect Tiger Woods fist pump. Fortner and the rest of the players brought to the post-game interview said they don't see that kind of emotion too often out of the guard.

• Something must have gotten into Hobbs in the overtime. She scored six points and had two steals, helping Auburn out-score Ohio State 12-5 in the extra session.

• Bonner and Big Ten player of the year Jantel Lavender -- the game's two featured players -- didn't have their best efforts. Being matched up on each other probably didn't help. Bonner got her 17 points but was 7-for-20 from the field. Lavender went 9-for-27, getting her 20 points but taking a lot of shots to do so.

• I was very impressed by point guard Whitney Boddie, who made her first start this season. Although she had a team-high five turnovers, it's very clear she makes this offense go, as her 11 assists clearly show. When she left midway through the second half to have her left leg worked on by the trainer, Auburn's offense went through a funk.

It looked bleak for a while, but Auburn shook off its Mercer hangover and came away with a 12-point win against George Washington at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

For hack writers everywhere, this was the ultimate tale of two halves.

GW shot 56 percent in the first half, making 10 3-pointers and out-rebounding Auburn 16-13 despite using a small lineup.

Auburn responded by shooting 50 percent after halftime, making seven 3-pointers, holding GW to 33 percent shooting and finishing with a 37-26 advantage on the boards.

"It’s one thing to get beat, but it’s another thing to stay beat,” said Auburn guard Tay Waller, showing plenty of wisdom for being a first-year SEC player.

Some other thoughts:

• I was very impressed by freshman guard Frankie Sullivan, who scored 11 of his career-high 17 points in the second half. With Rasheem Barrett still out with a groin injury, Auburn needs someone to eat up some minutes at guard. Sullivan doesn't look anything like a freshman on the court, confident in his shooting stroke and not afraid to pull the trigger.

• Sulilvan said he simply had to slow things down after an erratic debut against Mercer, when he went 2-for-9 from the field. "(Coach Lebo) just told me to take it out of the fifth gear and go into the third gear,” Sullivan said. “I played more comfortable.”

• It would have been embarrassing to get out-rebounded by GW, which used a guard-heavy lineup for most of the game and plays one of its post players on the perimeter a lot. Auburn got back into it with a team effort on the glass. Nobody had more than six rebounds and everybody had at least two.

• The Tigers must have been practicing their free throws the last few days. They went 14-for-17 in the final 4:15 to put the game away. They were shooting 54 percent entering the game.
  

• Waller isn't just a shooter. He struggled with his shot Saturday but made up for it in other areas, notching a team-best five steals. Auburn finished with 11 steals in the game, holding a 25-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

New video today from Thursday's interviews. It has head coach Tommy Tuberville, quarterback Kodi Burns and wide receiver Rod Smith.

Enjoy.

Former Auburn great Charles Barkley will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday at the Spring Center in Kansas City, Mo.

"Auburn gave me an opportunity to be successful," Barkley said in a release. "I will appreciate that always. I think basketball has given me every single thing in my life. I have never had a real job, and hopefully I will never have to get one."

Barkley joins Kansas' Danny Manning, coaches Nolan Richardson and Jim Phelan, broadcasters Dick Vitale and Billy Packer and former player and executive Arnie Ferrin in this year's class.

A Leeds, Ala., native, Barkley was a three-time all-SEC pick and the 1984 SEC tournament MVP. He was a second-team All-American as a junior and was the AP and UPI SEC player of the year in the 1983-84 season. He led the conference in rebounding three straight years and still holds Auburn's career field goal percentage record (.626). His number 34 is retired.

Relatively slow day at Auburn, with the Tigers having their final practice before Sunday and coaches set to go out on recruiting trips. Not much to report from a game standpoint (Auburn's players still profess to know nothing about Alabama at this point).

A few did comment on what could have been this season. Looking back at some of the losses, it's easy to see why:

• Lost to LSU by five on a touchdown in the final two minutes.
• Lost to Vanderbilt by one thanks to a missed extra point.
• Lost to Arkansas by three after getting stone-walled from the 4-yard line four times in a row.
• Lost to Georgia by four after driving the length of the field in the final minute.

A lot of what ifs in there (although you could say the same for Auburn's two narrow SEC wins this year).

"It's definitely frustrating -- always going back and thinking what could have happened," wide receiver Rod Smith said. "That's been on my mind a lot just to think about all the things that could have happened. When you start dwelling on that stuff, it gets worse. You just have to keep moving forward and getting better as the week goes on. It hurts."

"It's real difficult," quarterback Kodi Burns said. "I think about it all the time. We've lost six games now and we just didn't make enough plays to win those games. You look at a few other teams and they have winning records because they've won the close games. We just happen to lose them. It's real disheartening to know we could have just have easily won those games."

Not much else to report, but here are a few nuggets:

• LB Josh Bynes didn't practice Thursday to give his legs a rest. Nothing much more than that.

• WR/PR Robert Dunn didn't practice because of a concussion suffered Wednesday. Head coach Tommy Tuberville expects him back for Sunday's practice.

• After hearing the 500th question about it this week, I've come to the concludsion that this "Iron Bowl" is a fairly big deal. Who knew?
  

• According to Smith, RG Tyronne Green is quite the singer. Smith even gave us a little rendition of Green's favorite jam, "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash. He asked us not to put up any video of his American Idol-like performance. The result of that request is pending.
  

Like I said, slow day in Auburn. Hopefully things will pick up again Sunday when the Tigers dive completely in to Alabama prep.

"Have Mercer!"

That would be my headline if I were on a sports copy desk tonight. (On a related note, this is probably why I don't work on the sports copy desk.) I'm sure Uncle Jesse from Full House would appreciate it.

An ugly performance by the Auburn men's basketball team tonight. It's one thing to lose to a small conference school like Mercer because of a ridiculously hot shooting night by either a player or the whole team, but to be, as Jeff Lebo described, "annihilated" on the boards by a 46-21 margin is embarrassing.

The Bears (3-0) weren't bigger than the Tigers (1-1), with a frontcourt that went 6-6, 6-7 and 6-8. But they were relentless on the glass. They had a 22-9 advantage at halftime that only increased in the second half.

"Rebounding a lot of the time is a mentality, and no so much a skill," Lebo said. "You have to have a nose for the ball, and with contact be able to come down with it, which we didn't do."

Think Auburn will have some rebounding drills on tap before Saturday's game against George Washington? That game's Saturday at 2 p.m. EST, by the way.

Some other thoughts:

• Auburn looked better at the free throw line, making 71 percent of its foul shots in the first half. But the Tigers collapsed at the end, missing six free throws in the final 7 minutes, two coming at the front end of a 1-and-1. It sounds like this is a yearly problem for this team. They finished 16-for-28 in the game.

• Mercer guard James Florence, who scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half, is a terrific player. I thought Auburn guard DeWayne Reed did a good job of locking him up in the second half, when Florence had five of his eight turnovers.

• If my count was correct, Auburn missed two dunks (one by Reed, one on an alley oop by Lucas Hargrove) and a layup by Korvotney Barber. Those are the ones you think about after a loss like this.

• Good to see freshman guard Frankie Sullivan get some action after missing the opener with a sprained ankle. He looked confident, hoisting up a 3 on his first look and making it. He was 2-for-9 shooting (and just 2-for-8 from 3-point range), but I think he'll be a pretty big factor on this team once he gets some more experience.

• From the silver lining department: Auburn had only 7 turnovers.

• The foul call against Quantez Robertson in the final seconds appeared to be correct, but the official underneath the hoop didn't look like he had a clue. He was timid with an original out of bounds call that gave the ball to Auburn, then looked helpless before another official raced in to change it to a charge. Not a great game for the officials, who called everything (50 foul calls, two foul outs for Mercer) and made a bad call on Reed's missed dunk that eventually earned Bears coach Bob Hoffman a first-half technical.

Women's basketball: Auburn 71, Georgia Southern 45

Another impressive win by the No. 20-ranked Tigers (3-0), who got 18 points from Alli Smalley, 11 from DeWanna Bonner and 10 from Chantel Hilliard in Statesboro, Ga.

Kudos to senior guard Sherrell Hobbs, who scored her 1,000th career point, the 24th Auburn women's player to do so.

Auburn hosts No. 17 Ohio State at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST.

I've got a new video ready from Tuesday's interviews with head coach Tommy Tuberville, defensive end Antonio Coleman, center Jason Bosley, running back Mario Fannin and always entertaining cornerback Walt McFadden.

Enjoy.

Cody Parkey, a 6-foot, 200-pound place-kicker from Jupiter, Fla., became Auburn's second commitment for 2010, according to the good folks over at Rivals.com. Eddie Gran was his recruiter.

Parkey, who had interest from Florida, Georgia, Miami, North Carolina and Vanderbilt, was ranked as the top kicker nationally in his class by kicking guru Chris Sailer. Parkey made two 52-yard field goals and a 47-yarder this season.

You've got to think Wes Byrum's ongoing problems -- mental and physical -- played a big factor in the Tigers agreeing to put another kicker on scholarship. Plus, anytime you can get the top player at his position, you go after him.

Dothan, Ala., quarterback B.J. Chitty was Auburn's first 2010 commit.

If Auburn elects to get rid of Tommy Tuberville after this season -- and after last week's highly-competitive game against a very good Georgia team, I'm beginning to think that will be a very big "if" -- Will Muschamp is one name that won't come into play.

According to ESPN.com's Tim Griffin, Muschamp, Auburn's former defensive coordinator, has been designated Texas' head coach-in waiting for 57-year-old Mack Brown. The 'Horns don't anticipate Brown to retire soon, but they want to avoid the transition period that comes with switching coaches.

Muschamp's getting quite a pay bump ($425,000 to $900,000) to stay as d-coordinator, and with the promise of taking over one of the elite programs in college football, won't be headed anywhere else.

The big news out of Tuesday's meet 'n' greet with head coach Tommy Tuberville and select players was that tight end Tommy Trott will have season-ending surgery Thursday for a torn ACL he suffered against Georgia.

"Another report I hate to give you," Tuberville said. "He's played very well for us and is one of the leaders of our offense. Hate to lose him."

Tuberville hopes to get him back for spring practice, which seems like it would be highly optimistic, considering Auburn starts practice at the earliest opportunity, usually in late February. That would only give Trott a little more than three months of recovery time, which simply isn't enough for that kind of injury.

"He'll be back for some things that he can do," Tuberville conceded. "He won't be for all of it."

Tuberville did say that considering all of the surgeries the team has had this year -- which he put at a dozen -- he might push back the start of spring practice to most of those injured players back.

In other developments:

• Auburn had the good fortune of moving Gabe McKenzie back to tight end from defensive end before the Georgia game. True freshman Vance Smith is now McKenzie's backup.

• PK Wes Byrum has got what Tuberville termed "an inflamed knee" and isn't going to practice this week. Byrum suffered the injury a couple weeks ago. Tuberville blamed it on adding kickoffs to his already heavy load of kicking. "When you do the kickoffs, field goals and extra points, you do a lot of kicking during the year," he said. "We're many days into the season and sometimes they tend to over-kick."

• Curious quote from Tuberville on RB Mario Fannin, who had the team's only two touchdowns against Georgia: "It was a good game for him Saturday. He made two very good plays, but I think those other guys could have done the same thing being in that situation. There's not a lot of difference in any of those guys." Maybe it's just me, but Ben Tate doesn't seem to be the home run threat that Fannin is.

• Tuberville claims this year's struggles haven't affected recruiting at all. Three four-star 2009 recruits -- QB Raymond Cotton, TE Philip Lutzenkirchen and RB Onterrio McCalebb -- were on hand for the Georgia game. "Recruiting is going fine," Tuberville said. "It's not affected by losing a few games. As coaches, you'd think it would help mentally a little bit. It really doesn't. A lot of the guys see they may have an opportunity to play a little bit sooner."

• Interesting tid-bit from Sunday that I kind of glossed over about Auburn going back to the huddle. Tuberville hinted that teams might be stealing the Tigers' signals. "As coaches, you're always wondering why are they slanting this way or doing that," Tuberville said. "It's probably not happening but it gives you peace of mind for your players and coaches, 'Hey, you can do more when you give more to your players.' We just haven't been able to give them much up to this point."

• I like center Jason Bosley. He's a good guy who shows up every week to the media sessions and answers questions some of his teammates would rather not. But he certainly was the grand prize winner of the cliche of the week with this comment on the Iron Bowl: "I don't think records really matter in this game. It doesn't matter who's ranked, who's not ranked. You've seen in the past. You can throw records out the window, it's going to be a good game. This game is all about heart and pride in both schools. Both teams have got a lot of friends and family that are affiliated with both schools. It's a fistfight and it's going to be a classic."

• CB Walt McFadden says Auburn has a countdown board to the Iron Bowl that starts in the preseason. I believe him.

• DE Antonio Coleman says he hasn't given much thought about leaving early for the NFL after this season, although his stats -- 43 tackles, 10.5 TFLs and 6 sacks -- certainly make it a possibility. "I'm just focused on finishing the season strong," Coleman said. "I haven't paid too much thought to that. I just see how it pans out."

• Tuberville continues to have a sense of humor about the rumors surrounding his personal and professional life. His wife called in the middle of his interview session Tuesday. "Those that have said my wife has left me, I promise she ain't," he said. "She's still calling. Let me text her and I'll tell her I'll call her back."

No players or coaches today, so there wasn't much to write about.

I got this video of e-mailed to me today. It's a duo called The Lexington Brothers doing a rendition of "Wasting Away Again in Tommy Tuberville," sung to Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville."

It's good for a laugh, if you're not uptight about Auburn's struggles this year. (Think Ole Miss fans are still bitter he left?)

Anyway, we get players after practice tomorrow, so I'll have an update then.

Women's basketball forward DeWanna Bonner earned SEC player of the week honors after putting up 25 points, eight rebounds and six steals in Auburn's season opener at Alabama A&M last Friday.

It is the second time in her career that Bonner has gotten the award.

This year's Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa will be at 3:30 p.m. EST on Nov. 29 and televised by CBS.

Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC) has won six straight in the series and hasn't lost in six trips to Tuscaloosa.

Alabama (11-0, 7-0) is No. 1 in the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls, plus the BCS Rankings.

Brief meeting with head coach Tommy Tuberville today, although we didn't get any players because they had the day off due to the bye week.

Tuberville sounded encouraged with his team's play in a 17-13 loss to Georgia, but not satisfied.

"I think if you just look at individual efforts and playing offense or defense, we showed improvement," he said. "Of course, that's not what we're in for. We're in it to win games, and we felt like we could win it. "

Here are a few developments from the Sunday sitdown:

• Tuberville said RB Mario Fannin wasn't in the game the last two drives because Auburn had to go to the air and Ben Tate is better at pass protection. It seemed strange that Fannin, who scored the team's only two touchdowns and had 107 rushing and receiving yards didn't play, but it is believable that he's not up to speed on his pass protection, since he has only been at the position full-time for a few weeks.
  

• Still, if you need someone -- anyone -- to make a play in the final minute, don't you want the guy who scored your only other points of the day? I seem to recall Tate not doing much in terms of pass protection on the final play, when he was the primary target of a designed pass to the corner of the end zone.

• Tuberville on Fannin's running: "What they were doing, playing eight, nine man fronts, it was kind of like running into a wall most times. Even the touchdown we ran right into a blitz, we blocked it pretty good and he made a move and made a linebacker miss. Those are all well and good, but that doesn't happen very often."

• Other than his touchdown run, by the way, Fannin had seven carries for 24 yards. Not great, but not terrible.
  

• Of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, Auburn ranks, as colleague and blogosphere extraordinairre Jay G. Tate says, buck-naked last in red zone efficiency, scoring on 57 percent of its times inside the 20. Nobody else is below 64 percent in the FBS.
  

• Nothing's wrong with senior RB Brad Lester, who had no carries Saturday after starting eight of the first 10 games. No injury. No doghouse. Nothing. He just wasn't in the game plan with Fannin and Tate in the mix. "(In the) doghouse you're locked up," Tuberville said.

• A couple injuries to report: PK Wes Byrum and TE Tommy Trott both suffered knee injuries against Georgia. Tuberville said Morgan Hull looks like he'll do the kicking against Alabama. "Unless (Byrum) makes a miraculous recovery," he said.

• Byrum's injury factored into Tuberville's decision to go for it on fourth down on Auburn's second-to-last drive when it was down 17-13. Instead of attempting a field goal from 40-plus, the Tigers went for it, throwing an incomplete fade pattern to Montez Billings in the end zone. "Morgan went out there and then, after he went out there and got to thinking about the scenario of him, first time being out there, I decided 'Let's not do this. Let's go for a touchdown,'" Tuberville said. "And they gave us a shot. We know they were going to give a chance to go deep because they'd been pressing us all night. A little bit had to do with Wesley not making the first one, then knee hurting him."

• Auburn went back to the huddle for the first time this year and seemed to do better with communication on offense. "The spread, no huddle – everything is put on the coach signaling," Tuberville said. "I just thought maybe people are reading our signals. You just take too many things for granted that if you're signaling and people are seeing what you're doing, you look too much in terms of reading what you can do. When you're huddling, only 11 people in that huddle know what you're going to do. ... I thought we looked better yesterday in huddling. Guys played more as a unit, as a group. Now there are times when you don't do it. We want to be able to do everything. We want to be able to huddle, not huddle, freeze at the line, signal plays in, go fast-paced. It give you a lot more options when you do that."

Here's tomorrow's lede (and a great photo by Auburn's Todd Van Emst of Auburn's incomplete fourth-down pass to Ben Tate in the end zone in the final seconds).

I'll get to some more analysis tomorrow when I get a chance to sift through some more quotes.

By Andy Bitter

abitter@leger-enquirer.com

AUBURN, Ala. – It was no rout, no cakewalk, certainly not the blowout many had predicted at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

No, Saturday's edition of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry wasn't over until Auburn quarterback Kodi Burns' desperation fourth-down fade to Ben Tate in the end zone floated just out of the running back's reach, landing out of bounds as Georgia's sideline burst into spontaneous celebration.

Only then could the No. 10 Bulldogs revel in their 17-13 win against the Tigers, the first time they've won three straight in the series since 1980-82.

"We are thankful for the victory," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "A bunch of guys didn't flinch at the end. It was … another SEC brawl."

Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC) needs to beat No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa in two weeks to avoid missing out on a bowl game for the first time since 1999, head coach Tommy Tuberville's first season with the school.

"Things just haven't gone our way all season," Burns said. "There's no doubt in anybody's minds that we could beat Georgia and any other team that we've lost to. … Guys believed that we could get it done and that's why we drove the ball down the field. We just couldn't come up with points."

Well, the difference so far is the kicking game.

Georgia made a field goal and an extra point; Auburn missed a field goal and bobbled a hold on its only extra point attempt.

If that’s why the Tigers lose this game, they’re going to be kicking themselves (yes, the pun was intended).

Some thoughts:

Georgia should be way ahead in this game. Here’s the yardage so far: Georgia 293, Auburn 128.

That’s not a typo, the Tigers had minus-6 yards in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs seem to find a way to stop themselves on every drive, whether it’s a penalty, a missed pass on a third down or whatever. Something’s just slightly off with this offense today.

Nice game so far by Auburn CB Walter McFadden. He successfully defended a fade pattern to the end zone in the first quarter and blanketed A.J. Green on a fourth-down pass on Georgia’s first drive of the third quarter.

Interesting end to the quarter, with the Tigers sneaking it with Kodi Burns on 4th-and-1 from their own 19-yard line. The big gamble paid off. We'll see if it matters in the long run.

Well, Auburn’s good fortune wasn’t bound to last forever.

If not for a slate of personal foul penalties, a muffed punt and one big breakdown in pass coverage, I feel like the Bulldogs could be up about 20 right now. But credit the Tigers for staying in there.

Georgia’s touchdown was beautifully executed. The Bulldogs faked a handoff to Knowshon Moreno, QB Matthew Stafford looked to the other side of the field, then threw a screen pass to Moreno. He had three escorts to the end zone and made a nice cut near the goal line to get in.

First career receiving touchdown by Moreno, by the way.

Some stats:

Total yards: Georgia 203, Auburn 134

Rushing yards: Moreno 92 yards, Mario Fannin 24.

Passing: Stafford 6-11, 110 yards, 1 TD, Kodi Burns 6-10, 83 yards, 1 TD

Wow, what a turn of events. Georgia was primed to have great field position following an Auburn punt, but the Bulldogs roughed the kicker AND muffed the punt, giving the Tigers possession near midfield. Phenix City native D’Antoine Hood recovered the ball.

One play later, Kodi Burns completed a pass to running back Mario Fannin, who went all the way across the field and dove into the end zone for a 52-yard touchdown. (Auburn bobbled the snap on the extra point).

Georgia hasn’t scored, but you get the feeling it’s only a matter of time. The Bulldogs outgained Auburn 158-68 in the first quarter, yet trail.

They went straight down the field on their first drive before Tez Doolittle blocked a 20-yard field goal.

On their second drive, they had a key third-down conversion wiped out because of an offensive pass interference penalty.

I feel like Auburn is just plugging up a cracked dam right now. It’s only a matter of time before it breaks.

One other thought: RB Knowshon Moreno is legit (89 yards in the first quarter), but his supposedly bad offensive line is eating up Auburn’s defensive front. He’s not getting touched until he’s 5 or 10 yards down the field.