Undoubtedly by now you've seen the emails and announcements proclaiming Saturday night's game with Florida an "All Auburn, All Orange" game. Is that really necessary? Maybe I'm missing something but I've been to virtually every home game since Tommy Tuberville made his plea for fans to wear orange and I'd have to say that 99.9% of the stadium is in orange - for better or worse.
After the win over LSU many thought that Auburn's next big defensive test would be against Florida. Then came last week and the upstart Arkansas ground attack. The bad news is Florida hasn't gone anywhere. Florida still remains the best offense the Tigers will face this season.
Former Auburn running back Carnell Williams had his best day of the season this week, rushing for 111 yards on 20 carries in Tampa Bay's 24-21 loss to New Orleans. Williams has struggled this year along with his team. Sunday's performance was his first 100 yard game of the season. His counterpart at Auburn also is struggling. Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown picked up only 39 yards on 17 carries in a loss to New England. On a bright note, Brown did score his third touchdown of the season.
While there is plenty of blame to go around for Auburn's inept offensive performance this year, you can't discount the fact that injuries and graduation have played a big part in the Tiger's downward spiral. That's only half the story, but still a big part of it.
The story of the week on the Auburn defensive side of the ball has been the return of linebacker Tray Blackmon. The Parade All-American and top prep linebacker in the country was suspended over the summer because of an alcohol related incident. The suspension was viewed by many as over the top and too much time for the crime.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville held his weekly press conference on Tuesday and said the Tigers are still picking up the pieces from Saturday's 27-10 pounding by Arkansas. He said there was a little hangover on the practice field Sunday but that things have progressed as the week's gone on.
During game week you always want to check in on the enemy, especially when it's a season defining game like this one. And they don't get any bigger than this weekend's Auburn-Florida game. For you youngsters who don't much about history, Auburn and Florida were once great rivals back in the days of Shug Jordan and Pat Dye. We actually played every year and hated each other. It was a wonderful time.
We termed this past weekend, "Separation Saturday in the SEC" and now we're left to sort it out. The weekend's games certainly rearranged the conference order. And it also threw out all conventional wisdom.
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Auburn program this week, the Tigers outlook for this weekend's game with Florida is much brighter. Simply put, they match up better with the Gators than they did with Arkansas. Tommy Tuberville loves to recruit speed over size on defense and it works most of the time. He likes the speedy linebackers that can swarm to the ball.
Rumors are circulating around internet message boards today that ESPN's College GameDay is headed to Auburn this weekend. Most had assumed that Auburn's 27-10 loss to Arkansas on Saturday all but eliminated the Tigers from consideration. Two weeks ago during the pre-game radio broadcast of the South Carolina game, GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit hinted that they were headed to Auburn Saturday.
Arkansas coach Houston Nutt made Tommy Tuberville his bitch for three hours Saturday afternoon. And it wasn't pretty to watch. While Auburn and its fans were worrying about the BCS, Nutt and his Razorback team were preparing for the coup of a lifetime. The results were impressive and mind-boggling all at the same time.
Auburn's meltdown Saturday afternoon against Arkansas costs them nine spots in the AP poll and seven spots in the Coaches Poll. Surprisingly, the Tigers only dropped to 10th in the Coaches poll after previously being third. It was much worse with the writer's. Auburn dropped out of the top 10 in the AP Poll for the first time this season, falling all the way to number 11.
This essay has been circulating around the Auburn message boards the past week and is really well done. I have to say that this pretty much sums up what it's like to be an Auburn person. Now is the perfect time to share it with you. God knows we all need a little pick me up after this past weekend's debacle. I'm not sure who the author is and I haven't seen it posted anywhere. If you're out there, hats off to you...
You've got to give it to Tommy Tuberville. He knows how to make some noise. Driving around today listening to my XM Radio, I couldn't change the channel without hearing the talking heads ranting about Tuberville's comments. In case you missed it, Tuberville is at it again - he's attacking the BCS and the college presidents - and scoring some major points.
This week's Auburn-Arkansas game has a number of good subplots to watch. Regardless of the score, when these two teams get together it's always a physical battle. With Florida waiting in the wings a week from Saturday, Auburn must get the job done and stay healthy at the same time. That might be asking a lot. When watching on Saturday look for these things:
A report released on Thursday shows that Auburn ranks 11th nationally in the total number of former players now in the NFL. The Tigers currently have 27 former players on active NFL team rosters. Miami (Fla.) leads the way with 42. The SEC is well represented with five teams in the top 11. Tennessee leads the conference with 40 followed by Georgia (39), Florida (35), LSU (31) and then Auburn. In case you were wondering, Alabama has 19 in the NFL, just a few less than the number of players they still pay in Tuscaloosa today.
When Arkansas visits Auburn on Saturday all eyes will be on Razorback freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain. The Springdale, Arkansas native was a Parade Magazine All-American and its Player of the Year in 2005. He was at the top of every recruiting analysis list. Arkansas coach Houston Nutt laid it all on the line in luring Mustain to Fayetteville. He even went so far as to hire Mustain's high school coach as the Razorbacks new offensive coordinator.
A month ago we had Separation Saturday; this weekend you're going to see some SEC separation. With Auburn-Arkansas, Georgia-Tennessee and Florida-LSU on the docket for Saturday, it's arguably the biggest weekend of the season for the SEC. The winners of these three contests will likely separate themselves for good, from the rest of the conference pack.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville addressed the media Tuesday morning after a two hour workout in preparation for this Saturday's SEC Western Division showdown with Arkansas. He says he's looking forward to this weekend's match up.
There were plenty of highs and lows Sunday for former Auburn players in the NFL. Miami running back Ronnie Brown struggled on the ground, picking up only 49 yards on 12 carries. But through the air was a different story. Brown had 86 yards receiving in the Dolphins 17-15 loss to Houston.
Ask anyone on the Tiger coaching staff what player they can least stand to lose and they will tell you Brandon Cox. Ask them who the second one is and they'll say center Joe Cope. He means that much to the team. Now the Tigers are facing at least four weeks and possibly more after Cope suffered a severe knee sprain in Thursday's win over South Carolina.
I get it. I understand this whole myspace.com thing. I'm down with the technology of the college age student. But at 37, there's little chance you'll ever see me there. As my wife would say, that's kind of creepy. Having a myspace site at my age is akin to Matthew McConaughey hanging out with the kids in Dazed and Confused.
The USA Today/Coaches Poll was released on Sunday and the top 10 looks the same as it did a week ago. But when you dig a little deeper, you realize what a true joke this poll really is. First off, why is the Coaches Poll a component in the BCS Standings? Does anyone believe that coaches have time to evaluate other schools on Saturday?
Auburn remains second in this week's AP Poll, voted on by the nation's media. Writers don't always have a lot of style and they chose not to hold that against Auburn this week. Traveling to Columbia, South Carolina on Thursday night and coming away with a 24-17 win over Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks was enough to keep the Tigers ranked second nationally.
Its been nearly 50 years since Auburn won its lone national championship. If they were Alabama, they would have claimed 1983, 1993 and 2004. But because they don't lie to themselves, they'll admit to having just one. If they are to win another one, 2006 is the year.
