War Eagle, everybody! Friday is here once again, and we've got a number links of interest for you today. A number of Auburn spring sports are winding down towards a close this time of year. We'll kick things off with track star Harry Adams, who was the recipient of the Tiger Torch Academic Achievement Award this week. It's a great redemption story for the All-American Tiger sprinter. Harry Adams joined the Auburn family in 2008 as a wide receiver. He moved to defensive back in his second year, but ran afoul of the football coaching staff and was dismissed from the team. Harry certainly turned things around, on the track and in the classroom! Fellow teammates Keenan Brock and Stephen Saenz took home individual SEC Titles in the SEC Outdoor Championships this week also.

Things weren't quite so rosy for the Auburn softball team. Head coach Tina Deese had the team off to a really hot start this year, but the team had trouble generating hits down the stretch. The team was defeated in a pitchers duel in the first round of the SEC Tournament by Tennessee. The squad still made the NCAA tournament, and will take on the Houston Cougars this afternoon in Austin, Texas.

The Tiger men's tennis team lost a close one in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Illinois, 4-3. Despite that, head coach Eric Shore was named the ITA Regional Coach of the Year, and assistant Zoltan Pelva was named the Regional Assistant Coach of the year. Kudos to the men's tennis team! Auburn's women's golf ended the season finishing 12^th in the NCAA Central Regional.

An Auburn name that's been in the news a bunch in recent months is Bo Jackson. Us Auburn fans tend to remember Bo mostly for his exploits on the gridiron. It was quite a treat this week to read the take of SBN writers Jon Bois and Bomani Jones, who viewed Bo's career nearly entirely from a Major League Baseball perspective. Sometimes we forget that Bo was an All-Pro in two sports! Bo certainly continued to blow folks minds with athletic feats after he left the Plains.

In scheduling news, Auburn's first solid football start time has been announced. The showdown with Clemson in the Georgia Dome has been set for 7:00 PM Eastern time on September 1^st, on ESPN. Tigers vs. Tigers will be the Primetime opener for the season. Can't beat that for exposure!

Speaking of the Clemson game, the SBN Clemson blog Shakin the Southland has an interesting bit of Xs and Os football up this week, detailing some of Clemson's Malzhan-like offensive strategy against us last year. The author was questioning why an unbalanced offensive formation would be of any use. My answer is that a Ted Roof defense is going to take at least a half to make any adjustment. We had trouble recognizing Clemson's use of that technique, and LSU just killed us with it later in the year.

In news outside of Auburn this week, former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Some might argue, but there's little debate that Fulmer won often, and won big in Knoxville over his 16 year career. His teams made 5 trips to the SEC Championship Game during that span, and he averaged 9.5 wins per year in his tenure.

Everyone's talking college realignment this week, and the latest wild rumor is of course Florida State to the Big 12. In every walk of life, there are things that go on, that are not cool to talk about. A singer forgets the lyrics, and just lets loose some lyrical noise. You don't tell 'em you forgot, you call it "improvisation." Some folks think that most big college football programs cheat. Not cool to talk about. Members of management disagree all the time, but you don't conduct those arguments publicly. And finally, a college board of trustees shouldn't air their differences in the media. Apparently, Florida State's brass haven't gotten that memo. Here's a really interesting take by former FSU star and current trustee Derrick Brooks. Not cool, Derrick. On the other hand, there looks like there's a lot more to the story than fanciful thinking.

The wackiest idea on college realignment this week is the idea of relegation, such as what is done in English soccer leagues. The idea is that lower performing teams can be dumped down to a lower division, and promising lower division teams can rise to the big league. Bill Connelly of SBN actually did a fairly involved simulation of this over at the SBN mothership. He starts in 2005, and has a year by year break down of which college football teams move up and down. By 2012, Ole Miss is gone from the SEC, and Appalachian State is in. Teams like Toledo and Northern Illinois crack the Big 10. Wait, maybe this isn't any wilder than what's actually gone on the past few years in reality! In any even, this simulation is one that's going to take a while to read and digest. Might be a good one for a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon with no football on.

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War Eagle, everybody! It's time once again for an Acid preview of an Auburn football opponent. In week three of 2012, Auburn plays host to the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks, in a game tailor-made for a crack-of-dawn SEC Network broadcast. It's a game the Tigers can't afford to overlook, sandwiched in the center of a 5-game stretch of Clemson, Mississippi State, ULM, LSU and Arkansas. To make matters worse, ULM brings in a veteran offense, many of whom played in Auburn back in 2010. Unfortunately for Warhawk chances, their defense took some hits in the off-season, and lost pretty badly to the offense in the ULM spring game.

ULM is in their third season with head coach Todd Berry. Berry was hired in 2010 to try to lift the Warhawks to their first winning record in FBS football. Thus far, he's declined a bit from the .500 football of predecessor Charlie Weatherbie, who managed a Sun Belt co-championship in 2005 and a stunning upset of Alabama in 2007. Under Berry, ULM has had records of 5-7 and 4-8. The highlight of last season for the Warhawks was a 38-10 beating of Troy on the road. Given the Warhawk schedule this season, matching the 4-8 record might be difficult. They start at Arkansas and at Auburn, then host Baylor. Add in road trips to Tulane, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas State, and you've got 8 likely losses right there.

The ULM offense is basically a pass-to-run spread, operated mostly from the shotgun. Junior quarterback Kolton Browning is a returning two-year starter who's a dual threat. Browning passed for over 2400 yards, and rushed for 443 last season. He was the team's second leading rusher, behind junior tailback Jyruss Edwards, who had 667 rushing yards. A host of veteran receivers return as well, including Tavarese May, who Auburn fans might remember caught six balls against the Tigers in 2010. The ULM line features a couple of veterans, center Josh Allen and senior guard Jonathan Gill, who both have Jordan-Hare starts under their belt. However, the Warhawks lost 3 multi-year line starters to graduation. Being green at tackle is not a good thing against Auburn ends!

The ULM defense has some holes. When the first thing the team report says is that the team will be looking for starters in the secondary in fall camp from the newcomers, it's a recipe for trouble. The strength of the Warkhawks last season was the line and linebackers, and they lost their top tackling linebacker and top three defensive ends to graduation. The Warhawks have JUCO transfer Austin Moss (formerly of Arkansas) listed as their starting middle linebacker, and he has yet to play a FBS snap for them.

The ULM special teams were mostly sub-par last season, and it cost them. A blocked punt was critical in a 5 point loss to Arkansas State. Luther Ambrose was good returning kickoffs, but he graduated. Last season, the warhawks kicked it off very short, punted short, didn't cover punts terribly well, and didn't do much beyond Ambrose on returns. Returning sophomore kicker Justin Manton hit only 6 of 14 field goal attempts.

Unit Matchups after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! It's time now for our weekly college sports links. My apologies for the absence of KoolBell this time. He's having a heck of a week, and I'm the substitute teacher today. Y'all better play nice, or everybody's staying after class! Here's hoping I can add a few sagacious slants and pertinent points. I know everyone will be happy when Kool's back!

We'll get the bad news out of the way first. The mess for the Penn State athletic department just won't end. Now, there's "revised testimony" from whistle-blowing coach Mike McQueary who first brought the Sandusky allegations to the Penn State brass. When the story starts changing under oath, you wonder how many more ugly facts will shake out of that tree. Originally, the story was that McQueary saw and reported seeing Sandusky's crimes just before spring break of 2002. Now he's saying it happened in February of 2001, which may put the inaction of former athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz outside certain statutes of limitations. There are also rumors that McQueary is gearing up to sue the school under whistle-blowing laws. It's shaping up to be an ugly trial, one that can't do the Nittany Lions any good. McQueary's waffling won't help the victims in this sordid mess any, either.

This week, Wall Street Journal writer Buzz Bissinger called for the abolition of college football. Predictably, he was condemned by football writers and fans all over the country. I personally share Phillip Marshall's opinion that college football creates opportunities, and revenue for many schools. The best humor on the piece was delivered by fellow SBN site Team Speed Kills. Laughs like this make my day! If TSK isn't on your daily rounds, you're missing out. I've really grown to enjoy the SEC musings of Year 2 and Cock n Fire. Heck, I even enjoy Kleph's occasional historical contributions, and he's one of those RBR guys.

The SEC is still struggling to assess all of the ramifications of the recent league land-grab into Texas and Missouri. I think most fans are concerned that it's going to take more than a decade for each team to cycle through all possible cross-divisional opponents, and some are worried that schedules won't be equitable. A proposal was floated by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, and seconded by LSU's Les Miles. Basically, the idea is that only division games should count towards a division title. Folks, let's kill that turkey dead before it builds up any momentum! Ask yourselves, Auburn fans, would you want the coaches sitting key players out for the Georgia game, because it's not a division game? No, you would NOT! Also, some of the other complainers had Ole Miss and Vandy on their schedule every year for many years, while Auburn had Tennessee, Florida and Georgia. Cry me a river!

Auburn's football team said goodbye to one of their own this week, when redshirt freshman guard Thomas O'Reilly opted to transfer to Georgia Tech. I watched O'Reilly play on A-Day, and I thought he did pretty well in his first action in front of the Auburn faithful. It says a lot about the talent level on Auburn's young line that O'Reilly was unlikely to see any playing time. War Eagle, Tom, and good luck back home in Atlanta!

The attempt by Darth Visor and the Mad Hatter to turn the SEC into something resembling major league baseball wasn't the only quote of note out of Les Miles this week. Miles went on record stating of new SEC members Texas A&M and Missouri, "They're really not going to enjoy their welcoming to this conference." Think that's going to end up on any bulletin boards? Of course, Miles is the guy who bowed up on his own daughter.

Finally, kudos to Auburn golf stars! The golf team has been selected as a number one seed at the Greensboro Regional, a play-in for the NCAA Championships. War Eagle! Sink those PUTTS!

Well, that's all for now, folks. If you haven't already, get the mothers in your life something special for Mother's Day. Appreciate ‘em, and show it! War Eagle, and have a great weekend!

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War Eagle, everybody! It's time now to start our annual tradition of reviewing Auburn's football opponents for the coming season. The season starts with a bang, this year, as Auburn travels to Atlanta to play the Clemson Tigers on September 1^st. While Auburn has won 2 of the last 3 from Clemson, it sure seemed from where I sat that Auburn was manhandled up front at times in each game.

Twice Clemson snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, before running away with the game in 2011. In 2007 in the Chick Filet Bowl, Clemson stubbornly stuck to their base defense against the Tony Franklin high-tempo spread. Despite two 4^th quarter Clemson scores to take a 17-10 lead, the game evaporated as Clemson's defensive line could barely stand at the end. Auburn drove for a tying TD, and a winning one in overtime against a defensive line that had played most of 94 snaps. Auburn prevailed 23-20.

In 2010, Clemson came to Jordan Hare Stadium and whipped Auburn badly for 3 of the 4 quarters of regulation. An early second half letdown let Auburn score three quick touchdowns, and thus send the game to overtime. In a game that turned their season, Clemson dropped a game-winning pass in regulation, had another glance off a diving receiver's hands in overtime, had the game-tying field goal wiped off the board on an illegal snap, and then lost on a subsequent missed field goal.

In 2011, Clemson got off to a slow start trying to run the ball on Ted Roof's gap-control defense. Auburn led 21-7 in the second quarter, then Clemson realized that Auburn could not get pressure on the quarterback, and couldn't stop the blitz. The home team then outscored Auburn 31-3 down the stretch.

In each game against Clemson, Auburn has had real trouble up front on both lines of scrimmage. To win the game, Auburn had to scratch, claw, and frankly rely on some luck. This year, things may be different. Clemson returns just their center Dalton Freeman on their offensive line, and only one starter returns on the defensive line. From online comments from those who watched this year's Clemson spring game, it really didn't go well for the interior offensive line.

Offensively, Clemson is loaded with scary fast, experienced, talented folks in the skill positions. I bagged on quarterback Tajh Boyd in this space a year ago, and folks on the Clemson boards called him "fatboy" and said that he had regressed after this year's spring game, throwing two picks to one TD. Me, I think 20 for 26 passing is pretty good with a shaky offensive line. We got a taste of a lot of these talented receivers and backs in last year's game in Clemson. Returning are multi-year starting running back Andre Ellington, and dangerous receivers Sammy Watkins, and DeAndre Hopkins.

Clemson's decent to excellent special teams should get an injection of athletic players from a pretty good recruiting class this past February. Rocket-legged punter Dawson Zimmerman will be missed, but incoming freshman Bradley Pinion looked outstanding in the Clemson spring game. Clemson was solid in coverage last season, and has a plethora of dangerous return man candidates.

Defensively, Clemson is switching systems this year. After giving up 73 points to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, the Tigers parted ways with defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, and hired Brent Venables away from Oklahoma. Much like Auburn's Brian vanGorder, Venables prefers an attacking style. As a Bob Stoops disciple, expect to see a lot of 9 and 10 man fronts, with only a single safety playing back. Clemson will be comin'!

Unit Matchups, after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! College football spring training is winding down across the nation, and it won't be long before those Athlons and Lindys preseason magazines start hitting the store shelves. After a spring of optimism, it is time to take a hard look at the Auburn Tigers, and compare them to what we know of their opponents coming up this fall.

First and foremost, I think Auburn has a great chance to drastically improve on defense. It has to. It's really a miracle that Auburn won 8 games last season while giving up 29 points per game. The real worry is that upwards of 9 defenders missed A-Day due to injury. Last season's young front seven fought inexperience and injury, and it hurt the Tigers against quality opponents. The good news is that even with the folks out for A-Day, the defense showed depth up front and in the secondary.

At tackle, Jeffery Whitaker seems ready to take the next step and become a great one. Kenneth Carter and Gabe Wright should return for fall camp, and they showed flashes of greatness last year. Angelo Blackson and Devaunte Sigler looked much bigger and stronger on A-Day, than they did as true freshmen a year ago. In addition, 5^th year senior Jamar Travis refused to go away this spring, and is poised to earn time in the rotation this fall. That's six tackles who can play at an SEC level!

Defensive end is likewise loaded. Junior Corey Lemonier was a star last year. He'll be joined on the other side by veteran Dee Ford. Frankly, Ford looked like our best end before he was hurt last fall, and he looked sharp this spring. Nosa Eguae returns this fall after surgery, and he's a two-year starter. We saw quality play this spring out of Ladarius Owens, and Justin Delaine. Add in Craig Sanders, Keymiya Harrell and Jabrian Niles, and Auburn's as deep as it has ever been rushing from the edge.

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War Eagle, everybody! Spring training is done on the Plains, and now comes the long time of year that will make or break football teams. The Auburn football players' preparation begins in earnest, with every day workouts. We saw a team much improved in the trenches on A-Day, an athletic bunch on both sides of the ball. What will have to happen in the next few months is for those guys to continue to work hard, and obtain those levels of strength, agility and stamina the top levels of the SEC requires. To compete with the likes of LSU, Arkansas and Alabama, only the best will do!

There's every reason to be confident about the leadership on this team. The core of this team are players that were young contributors on Auburn's national championship team of 2010. They've seen first hand the level of dedication it takes to win a title. There have been lots of encouraging signs from this crew this spring. Jeffery Whitaker has been an iron man in the middle of the line. He's been in the fire, and knows what it takes. Jake Holland and Darren Bates are out there leading the linebackers. I noticed a lot more tackles going forward this A-Day, rather than being dragged backward. In the secondary, Chris Davis and Demetruce McNeil have been there, playing meaningful snaps in a BCS title game. Guard John Sullen has seen it all, from the disaster of 2008 when he first arrived on campus, through the titles, to a leadership role on a young line this season. Emory Blake and Phillip Lutzenkirchen lead the way for the receivers, and Onterio McCalebb has been there as a weapon every step of the way during the Chizik Era. I'm confident this is a great group of upperclassmen who'll show how to do things right.

There are also young leaders emerging, none more impressive than Khiel Frazier. Pidgeon-holed as a running specialist, Frazier has jumped into the playbook of new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, and taken the lead in the quarterback race. Frazier did not look like a true sophomore on A-Day. He had command of the offense, and things went pretty crisply when he was in there. I also think Illinois transfer Jay Prosch has had a big impact. He raises the level of play of everyone around him with his intensity. He's quickly become one of the more respected members of the team.

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Bo knows this was a great day!

War Eagle, everybody! Another A-Day has come and gone, and what a nice celebration there was! Prior to the scrimmage, Auburn recognized its three Heisman Trophy winners with a crowded statue-unveiling ceremony. Thousands of fans like yours truly crammed the walkway on the east side of Jordan Hare Stadium to watch the historic unveiling. The only possible complaint is that the amplification was inadequate. Even Bo Jackson asked the sound folks to "turn it up!" We heard bits of Bo's speech, and could hear most of Cam's. Cam can really project! For those who couldn't hear, go to the Auburn website and replay the whole thing. A more concise version is available on YouTube, here. Sound complaints aside, I think most of the folks there were ecstatic to be there in person with all three great Auburn men!

One could not ask for better A-Day weather! It was warm and sunny, but a cooling breeze kept the heat from getting out of hand. I'm not sure what the media estimates of the crowd were, but to my untrained eye I'd say there were maybe 35000 seats filled. Most folks know by now that a Chizik A-Day is more like watching a practice, than a real game, and I think most fans there were happy to watch. Aubtigerman and I picked out a roomy bench in the south end zone, against the middle walkway rail. While I could not see down and distance well at all, it was a great vantage point to see all the player numbers, and watch the battles in the trenches. After all, failures on both lines of scrimmage doomed last year's team to 5 lopsided losses, and I really wanted to see how much progress the Tigers have made on both sides of the ball there!

As has been true the past three years, the coaches really tried to minimize giving away too many of their cards. Prior to the game, defensive line starters Nosa Eguae and Kenneth Carter were already out. Tackle Jeffery Whitaker played very few snaps. Corey Lemonier and Dee Ford tended to wreak havoc when they were in there, particularly on the right side. On the few plays where they went after the number two O-line, it was child-abuse. Up front on the D-line, I'd say a lineup of Angelo Blackson, Jamar Travis, Craig Sanders and LaDarius Owens got at least 70 percent of the snaps. Blackson had some good plays, as did Owens. Auburn's starting linebacker corps of Bates, Holland and Frost played a lot. Much like last season, they had trouble fighting off blocks, but did a pretty sure job of tackling. I'd say the most encouraging thing out of the starting linebackers was a noticeable improvement in pass coverage. Frost and Bates tended to knock runners down immediately on those short dump-off passes. It's been a while at Auburn since we've seen linebackers cover passes in the flat! Auburn's secondary is deep and talented, particularly at corner. The defense gave up no TD passes, and very little down the field. Quarterbacks really could not do anything on Robensen Therezie's side of the field. Definitely had the look of your excellent "lock down" corner! Only quibble on the secondary is that they failed on several chances to pick errant balls off.

Most special teams work was not fully live in this one. Didn't really get to see Steven Clark really tee off on any long punts. Most of his efforts were pooch jobs, and the coverage failed to down any of them. Cody Parkey appeared only to kick two extra points. Walk-on freshman Alex Kviklys handled all three kickoffs, booting them to the 14, 20 and 11 yard lines. They weren't terribly high, either. Hated to see Quan Bray drop the first kickoff, although he did get it back quickly and head upfield.

I don't mind admitting that I was pretty worried about the offensive line this spring. After A-Day, I'm still concerned, but I saw reason for optimism. Center Reese Dismukes and left guard John Sullen were able to handle any tackles we played in this one, even Whitaker. Angelo Blackson got the better of Sullen once or twice, but not consistently. Frankly, I'm not sure Dismukes ever missed a block. His guy pretty much universally got nowhere. The right side was shaky. Auburn's starting true freshman Patrick Miller at right tackle. Guy has quick feet, but he looks to me to be only about 270 pounds, soaking wet. Communication on the right side seemed not to be there at times, as either Slade or Miller would be left with no one to block, while damage was being done in the backfield. The second team was pretty far behind the first group, and got both of the penalties that were called during the game. Looked like the 2^nd team tackles had carte blanche to just grab and tackle the ends, and holding wasn't going to be called. Looks like we REALLY need Greg Robinson and Patrick Miller to stay healthy!

I was greatly relieved to watch sophomore Brandon Fulse in action at tight end. I wondered if we'd have any skill position blockers behind Lutzenkirchen and Prosch. Fulse just attacked ends and linebackers off the ball, and did a great job up front. My favorite plays of the day were when the starting left side of the line blew up the defense, with help from Fulse and Prosch. The skill guys would shift around, but end up on the left with Sullen and Robinson. Fulse would explode off the ball and take the DE out. Robinson would bulldoze a linebacker. Prosch would clean up whomever was left, the running back easily was into the secondary.

Love that road-grading left side!

In the passing game, I think even the most cautious observer has to admit that sophomore Khiel Frazier appears to be WAY out in front in the quarterback race. The others made mistakes, in some cases a lot of mistakes. We didn't have any dropped balls by the experienced guys out there. In fact, the only two drops I saw on the day were on Sammie Coates. He dropped a couple of easy ones, but made some tough catches. He was thrown to a lot. Don't know whether it was by defensive design, or just ends getting buried inside, or linebackers over running the play, but the QB keeper was really effective in this game. We were basically left with a safety out there to deal with it. Both Frazier and Zeke Pike are going to win a lot of battles with a safety in the open field. Luckily for the defense, it was one-hand touch on A-Day.

Strategy wise, Auburn played mostly man coverage with the corners, with two safeties over top. If Auburn lined up the two receivers on one side, the best two corners (Therezie and Davis) went over there as well. This allowed the offense to pick on Ryan White at times on the other side. White did hotly defend the throws, but shutting down the likes of Emory Blake or a healthy Trovon Reed is a tall order. Loeffler liked to call a lot of quick throws to the flat, and I was pretty impressed with how quickly a variety of corners were there to instantly stop the receiver. We've been hounded out there the past three years by guys catching it and running for 10 or 20 yards.

Let's celebrate the death of the soft cushion zone!

Unit comments after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! A Day is almost here, and we'll get to see our Tigers in action for the first time since New Year's Eve! The day's festivities begin early this year, with a 10:00 AM unveiling of statues of Auburn's three Heisman Trophy winners on the east side of the stadium. Gates open for this event at 8:00 AM. Gates open again at 12:00 AM, and the game will kick off at 2:00 PM Central Time. The game will be broadcast on about a dozen Auburn radio network affiliates, and will be broadcast on CSS television on tape delay, at 8:00 PM Saturday night. Check out the official information, here. The weather for this one should be absolutely delightful. Skies are expected to be very clear, and the high temp should be about 80 degrees. Bring your sunblock!

Although the coaches haven't said, the game almost certainly will follow the script from the past three A-Days: offense vs. defense. Too many players are banged up, especially on defense, to divide the team into two squads. Next year, maybe. Missing on defense this year are Kenneth Carter, Gabe Wright, Nosa Eguae, Jonathan Evans, Jawara White, T'Sharvan Bell, Erique Florence, Demetruce McNeal, and Ikeem Means will all miss A-Day. That leaves sophomore Jermaine Whitehead and junior Ryan Smith as the starting safeties, with only sophomore Trent Fisher as a reserve. I'd expect to see some corners lining up back there as the game wears on.

Burning questions, after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! We're already midway through spring drills, and the Auburn Tigers continue to work hard and improve. Like any year, the list of walking wounded continues to grow, and it's likely that A-Day will be another offense vs. defense scrimmage, instead of dividing the team into two squads. With three years of great recruiting in, the Tigers do have good depth in some areas, but a few spots are only a single injury from disaster. The fullback position comes to mind as one place Auburn will be looking for immediate help from the incoming fall class.

One has to be impressed with the confidence of the Auburn players. Most SEC pundits have picked Auburn to finish the 2012 season somewhere around 4^th place in the SEC West. Auburn's leader in the secondary, T'Sharvan Bell insists that this team is more talented than the national champion 2010 squad. He may be right, but a lot of pieces must still fit together for another run like that to happen!

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War Eagle, everybody! The first week of spring drills is nearly complete. It's an important time for the Tigers, with new offensive and defensive schemes being installed. As is usual for spring ball, there's a lot of enthusiasm. Players seem to love the new schemes, especially on defense. I think Tiger fans are excited about the prospect of a head-hunting, aggressive defense. Reviews of the new offense are more mixed. No one really knows what to expect out of this year's attack, and there will be a number of fresh faces on the field.

One has to love recent statements by defensive line coach Mike Pelton and several players about a simplified approach up front. "To me, it's a defense that as a defensive lineman, you want to play in it," Pelton remarked. "It emphasizes all get-off, it emphasizes penetration, it emphasizes going and playing football. There aren't a lot of checks in this defense. It basically lets them play." Unfortunately for the Tigers, most of the starting line, and much of the playing rotation up front can't play, because of injuries. Of last year's starters, only Jeffery Whitaker is participating in full-contact practice. Nosa Eguae, Corey Lemonier, Kenneth Carter, and Gabe Wright are all on injured reserve. It's a great opportunity for the backups to get some reps, but it's worrisome that most of the starting lineup will go into fall drills without having popped a pad in the new scheme.

Fortunately, Auburn is fairly deep on the defensive line. The same can't be said at linebacker, where experience is more limited. Attrition is a factor here, as last year's starting weak side linebacker Jonathan Evans is out after surgery. The lineup has shuffled, with senior Darren Bates evidently moving to the weak side in Evans' place. Jake Holland remains the man in the middle, and your first-team strong side linebacker, at least for now is redshirt freshman Kris Frost. As a highly decorated high school star, there's a lot of upside for Frost. However, there's a learning curve at the position. "He's got a long way to go as far as getting himself lined up," linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen said. "He's been away from the game for a year and it looks like it. He's always done it off ability and it was easy in high school, but now it's not about ability." The second group at linebacker appears to be sophomores Justin Garrett and Jawara White, and redshirt freshman Anthony Swain.

In the secondary, competition has reportedly been fierce this spring. Starting corner T'Sharvan Bell is rehabbing a knee injury suffered last fall, and won't participate in contact drills. There are a half dozen young men competing for playing time at corner, and the leader is junior Chris Davis. With two years in the playing rotation, many expect Davis to turn in an All-SEC caliber season this fall. Battling for playing time are junior Ryan White, and sophomores Jonathan Rose, Jermaine Whitehead, Robenson Therezie, and Jonathan Mincy. At safety, it appears that junior Demetruce is still the starting guy on the strong side. At free safety, it's sophomore Erique Florence running with the first team. Trent Fisher and Ryan Smith are likely in the playing rotation, as well.

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War Eagle, everybody! Tomorrow, spring drills will crank up for the Auburn football team. It has been a long 82 days since Auburn knocked off Virginia in Atlanta. Finally, we'll have some actual news from the football field, rather than speculation. The team gets to work with the coaches, and there will be a whole lot of teaching going on. There are new systems on both sides of the ball to install, and only 15 practices plus A-Day to do it. The team will have their work cut out.

In recent weeks, I've speculated on Auburn's likely hard-nosed defensive prospects under new coordinator Brian VanGorder. What's far more a mystery is how Auburn will look on offense. New offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler comes to Auburn with just one year as an offensive coordinator. Last season, Loeffler's single Temple Owl offense generated 398 points in a 9-4 season, which was the second biggest points total in Temple history. I think we'd all be quite happy if Loeffler's first Auburn offense generated the second most points in a season.

Realistically, Temple's offensive rise was well under way before either Loeffler or head coach Steve Addazio arrived on campus in early 2011. The Owls were an 0-11 team in 2005, and hired Al Golden. Golden's first three teams finished with losing records, then posted 9-4 and 8-4 seasons before being hired away by the Miami Hurricanes. All the old adages about winning with the old coach's players certainly applies here.What Loeffler and Addazio accomplished in 2011 on the offensive side of the ball is pretty impressive nonetheless.

How Temple scored points was by running the ball efficiently, and minimizing turnovers. The Owls had just 12 turnovers in 13 games, losing 8 fumbles and 4 interceptions. Compare that to last year's Auburn team that had 21 turnovers, including 13 interceptions. Temple averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and a sterling 8.4 yards per pass.

Temple ran the ball 636 times on the season, to only 198 pass attempts. However, they did a good job of spreading the ball around. Running backs Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown alternated as primary runners, but Temple quarterbacks also ran a significant portion of the time. There were occasional fly-sweeps and reverses from the wide receivers, too. Time will tell whether the Loeffler offense can line up and primarily run the ball at SEC defenses.

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War Eagle, everybody! This time last week, we looked at the first game of an era when Gene Chizik and Brian vanGorder were opposing defensive coordinators in the Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry. The Tigers lost a heartbreaker 24-21 against eventual SEC Champ Georgia on a late hail Mary pass. The 2003 contest in Athens was another defensive scrum, but Auburn failed to live up to the billing, bringing in a stagnant and disheartened offense. Georgia took an insurmountable 13-0 lead midway through the 2^nd quarter set up by an end around pass, and coasted to an easy 26-7 win. The Tigers were 0-2 against Georgia with Gene Chizik running the defense. What would 2004 bring in the series?

The 2004 Auburn vs. Georgia game was a big clash between top ten ranked opponents, on CBS national television. The two teams were noted for defensive slugfests over the past few years, but this one promised to be different. Both teams were flying pretty high on offense in 2004. Auburn had put up 34 or more points against 4 straight SEC foes, and Georgia was fresh off 31 and 62 point outings against Florida and Kentucky. Auburn had not lost in 2004, and Georgia had but a single, inexplicable 19-14 loss at home against Tennessee. Georgia was chasing the Vols in the standings, and needed a win in Auburn to keep pace.

The 2004 Auburn vs. Georgia game started under a gray sky with early offensive fireworks. Auburn defered, and Georgia went to work on offense. Both teams had schemed up some screens, and tricky runs. Georgia's move down the field came to an abrupt halt at the Auburn 19, when Carlos Rogers made back to back stops of Bulldog running back Thomas Brown. Under pressure, Georgia's Andy Bailey missed the 36 yard attempt, which might have been partially blocked.

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War Eagle, everybody! Spring practice is now only two weeks away tomorrow. I think folks are especially eager this year to hear the news on how the new schemes are progressing. While it's unlikely that a full-blown offense and defense will be shown on A-Day, we'll get to see the team's base formations and plays, and we'll see how well the players excute.

Football is a funny business. Ten years ago, Gene Chizik and Brian vanGorder were gearing up as competing defensive coordinators for rival SEC schools. Auburn and Georgia would meet three times with Chizik and vanGorder at the helms of their respective defenses, and the two teams waged some titanic defensive battles. It will be interesting this spring to see how the two coaches now work together.

Philosophically, the two coaches were similar in their approach to stopping the run a decade ago. vanGorder was a bit more multiple with his coverages, and Chizik was a bit more extreme with moving his fronts around, but the two guys were both basically cover-2 guys that liked their defense to swarm to the football. vanGorder claims to have evolved from those days, but I'm not sure we'll see it on A-Day. Spring games typically feature base defenses and little blitzing.

Read a recap of the first Chizik vs. vanGorder battle after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! As spring storms rumble through, dreaded Bradford pear trees fill the air with their cloying fumes, and hordes of bugs appear, it's time to start thinking about spring football! With the departure of Gus Malzhan and the arrival of Scot Loeffler, it's a sure thing that Auburn will look very different on offense next season.

As Auburn is expected to change to a "pro-style" offense this year, it was interesting this past morning revisiting the old west coast "drive" concept with coach Steve Mariucci chatting with Heisman winner Robert Griffin III. I expect we'll see our Tigers running similar two back, read schemes this fall. Also impressive in this video is how well RG-III absorbed that play. Here's hoping the Auburn quarterbacks can absorb things this quickly!

Auburn's quarterback rotation may look quite different than last year's did down the stretch. While junior Clint Mosley and sophomore Khiel Frazier have played, the Tigers have added three more quarterbacks to the mix, two of them late additions after Loeffler's hire. Incoming freshman Zeke is already in school this semester, and is expected to participate in spring drills. At the last minute, Auburn added Central Phoenix City quarterback Jonathan Wallace to the class. Walk-on redshirt freshman Wirth Campbell makes a 5^th quarterback on the roster.

This offense has a few proven players such as Emory Blake, Onterrio McCalebb and Phillip Lutzenkirchen, but there are far more questions than answers at this point. Junior transfer fullback Jay Prosch should make an immediate impact. The most important building job has to be on the offensive line.

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War Eagle, everybody! With Auburn's coaching staff now set, it's time to look at what players the Tigers have, and to who might be a factor next fall. There are questions on nearly every football team this time of year, but one has to like the collection of talent coach Gene Chizik and his staff have recruited. Many folks were disappointed in this year's recruiting class, but interestingly it became a class where one and two stars need not have applied! Classes like the last one are how a team builds quality depth. Today, we'll look at the players Auburn has for defensive coordinator Brian vanGorder and his newly rearranged staff to work with.

Each year, some players excel where no one expected them to. This year will be no exception. I can remember the spring of 2010, where we were pretty worried about Auburn's defensive line, especially when the oft-injured senior Zach Clayton was penciled in as a starter. Nick Fairley was a part-timer coming in. The only proven player was Mike Blanc, and he was regarded as so-so. Who would have foreseen a Lombardi Award for Fairley, and Clayton playing well enough to be drafted into the NFL?

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War Eagle, everybody. As of press time here at TrackEmTigers.com, all indications are that Auburn has hired former Georgia Defensive Coordinator Willie Martinez to coach in the secondary at Auburn. While the school has yet to make it official, reporters such as Phillip Marshall over at Auburn Undercover are saying that Martinez was present at Auburn staff meetings on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It's sounding like this is a done deal.

For the most part, public opinion is that new Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is a slam-dunk hire. Reviews are decidedly more mixed regarding Martinez. Georgia Bulldog voices were quite loud in their demands that he be removed a couple of seasons ago. Brian VanGorder served at Georgia as defensive coordinator from 2001-2004. Martinez held the same position from 2005-2009. Many folks hold that the defense got progressively worse and worse during Martinez' tenure. Do the record books have evidence of that? One can debate rankings endlessly, but one thing is certain regarding defenses. The good ones do not give up very many points.

Georgia Defense, the VanGorder and Martinez Years

It's pretty clear that numbers climbed pretty steadily during the Martinez years, to Ted-Roof-like levels. However, as a defensive back coach, he coached a number of guys that have played in the NFL. These include Jermaine Phillips, Sean Jones, Thomas Davis, DeMario Minter, Tim Jennings, Greg Blue, Tra Battle, Paul Oliver, Asher Allen, and Rashad Jones. At Oklahoma the past two seasons, Martinez has added 4 more defensive backs to the NFL ranks.

It's also important to note that these two coaches have worked together in the past on multiple occasions. They coached together in 1995-1996 at Central Florida, 1998-1999 at Central Michigan, and 2001-2004 at Georgia. Familiarity should be an asset. VanGorder won't have to spend a lot of time bringing Martinez up to speed on what he expects. In fact, he can likely delegate certain tasks to Martinez as far as instructing other position coaches. I'd figure that Willie Martinez knows what VanGorder is going to say before he says it.

I like the fact that Brian VanGorder's WORST defense at Georgia gave up only 19 points per game. That's a full 5 points per game better than Ted Roof's best defense at Auburn. One has to love the possibilities! As to NFL linebackers coached by VanGorder, the two that pop to mind from his Georgia days are Odell Thurman and Boss Bailey. With the Atlanta Falcons, VanGorder's tutelage helped linebacker Curtis Lofton lead the NFL in rookie tackles, with 108.

I think most observers of Auburn's 2011 defense placed much of the blame for a school record 29 points per game given up on the defensive line. Right now, you'd have to say that the pressure is on Auburn line coach Mike Pelton to lead a big improvement. The Tigers now have superstar position coaches in the secondary and the linebacker corps. It's incumbent on the line to get a push, get heat on the quarterback, and not let the defense down. We'll be watching with great interest this spring!

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War Eagle, everybody! It's time now to look forward at what sort of team Auburn might field this year. Today, we'll look at the quarterback position. It's the most important position on most football teams, and it's also an area of great questions this spring. Auburn will need to be balanced, and it's incumbent upon new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler to tutor a quarterback who can pass efficiently and move the chains. We eagerly await the results!

Auburn has 3 major quarterback candidates on the roster at this time. Junior Clint Mosley was thrown into the fire last season and had a rough go of it. Before we write him off, one must look at the circumstances. Prior to last season, Mosley had been on the scout team. His only game experience was mop-up duty. He was asked to come in at the half of the Florida game, then got his first ever start against number one LSU's defense. That's kind of like sending a young boxer out for his first fight to face Muhammad Ali. Mosley also faced a top ten defense against Georgia, and the best defense in the nation in the Iron Bowl. He did this behind a makeshift, injury-plagued line. It's not terribly surprising that he didn't do well. Few quarterbacks would under those circumstances.

Sophomore Khiel Frazier was strictly a wildcat quarterback on the field. He was fairly impressive running the ball. He picked up decent yardage even when everyone in the stadium knew he was going to carry the ball. He was not successful on his very few pass attempts. True freshman quarterbacks in the SEC tend to have problems with missed reads, missed passes, and interceptions. That was true of Frazier last season, too.

True freshman Zeke Pike has enrolled this semester, and will take part in spring drills. This will give him a chance to start fresh with the new offense at the same time as the veterans. Having a true freshman quarterback starter in the SEC is not a recipe for great offensive success. The only two I can remember in the past 30 years whose team won 9 games were Eric Zeier and Matthew Stafford. There have been redshirt freshman success stories, including Danny Wuerful, Jay Barker, David Greene, Stan White and Aaron Murray. Still, asking a first-year man to win big in the SEC is a tall order.

How much correlation is there between winning percentage, and what class the starting quarterback at Auburn is? We'll look back 30 years, as that's about the time offensive linemen were first allowed to use their hands, and the modern passing game got its start. For purposes of this study, I'm only considering class, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. Whether a quarterback redshirts or not we're not going to worry about. Chances are, a redshirt year is going to be one toting a clipboard, either because of injury, or not being ready to contribute.

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Recently, I was asked by SBN-Pittsburg Editor Adam Bittner to participate in a question and answer session regarding new Penn State defensive coordinator Ted Roof. I tried to be fair and objective, and not go off on a trashing session. My answers have been posted in a good coaching profile piece on Roof over there. Hopefully I didn't embarrass our fanbase!

War Eagle, everybody! National signing day has come and gone. Despite real worry leading up to, and during the day, Auburn finished with a top 15 class. The Tigers signed 19 players, about 3 short of the 22 most folks feel the Tigers had available. Auburn is holding open those slots in the hope of signing several stars later. While there doesn't appear to be an instant Bo Jackson/Cam Newton/Nick Fairley in this class, it's a strong one nonetheless. Every single guy is at least a 3 star. Added to the top-5 classes the past couple of years, this class could help Auburn return to the top!

Looking at star ratings, over half the signing class is 4 stars, two of which are already in school and will participate in spring drills. Those guys are offensive tackles Patrick Miller and Shane Callahan. In addition, Auburn should greatly benefit from the transfer of veteran starting Illinois fullback Jay Prosch. As has been voiced by others, I'd have liked a couple more big-time linebacker signees. It was tough to do in a year featuring few great linebackers.

This year's angst over recruiting brought up a lot of memories for me. I try to downplay this whole time of year as much as possible. I've seen spectacular classes later riddled with attrition. 1995, anyone? It was said that Terry Bowden had a monster recruiting year, coming off probation. Yes, that class produced Takeo Spikes, Jimmy Brumbaugh, Karsten Bailey and Jeno James. At least half that class never saw the field, or crashed and burned like Robert Baker. Then you have completely unheralded classes like some from the late Barfield Era. Classes that produced Randy Campbell, Lionel James, Ed West, Chris Woods, etc.

When Auburn has produced champions in the past, there's always that euphoric feeling amongst us fans. "We've made it!" "We've ARRIVED!" I wonder how much of that carries over to the team, and the coaching staff? It's like everyone expects the program to sell itself from that point forward. We've seen that scenario time and time again. Dye nearly won it all in 1983, but had a tough time the next two years, and survived it only by jettisoning coordinators and re-trenching. Even as Dye-part-II was winning 3 straight SEC titles, the talent level was declining, culminating in a pair of 5 win seasons that landed Auburn on probation, and starting walk-on nose guard Joe Frazier at tailback. Terry Bowden won his first 20 games, but could not parlay that into consistent recruiting success. Tommy Tuberville won 13 games in 2004, but Auburn's recruiting numbers slid there after.

It seems to me Auburn recruits best when there's immediate playing time available. We've seen Barfield get it going with Andrews, Brooks and Cribbs in his early days. Dye brought in a TON of talent in his early years. Same for Tuberville, luring in Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams and Jason Campbell in an Auburn rebuilding project. Once again, Auburn's success may have had something to do with this year's class. I think Gene Chizik would be well served to remember that you have to prove it all over again every year. There can be no years off, or you will lose ground. While we admire Gene for handling the coordinator replacements well, and fielding a slightly better defense in the bowl game under his own tutelage, one must wonder how much it all hurt his recruiting efforts. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad class by any means. However, it's not a top ten class. Chizik set the bar pretty high the past two recruiting seasons, and this one came up just short. Is it a one-year blip, or a trend? Time will tell. In the meantime...

Which players have the best chance of playing immediately? I'd say 7 or fewer of this class will crack the two deep next season, and the reason is lots of returning talent at Auburn. The Tigers have had to play a lot of freshmen the past two seasons, and that has resulted in a number of veteran juniors and sophomores on the roster for 2012. I'd guess that half this class will redshirt, with a few guys contributing on special teams.

Position by position breakdown, after the jump!

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Who's driving the bus now?

(AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

War Eagle everybody! It's been a tumultuous few weeks for Tiger fans, but last weekend things settled down when head coach Gene Chizik named Scot Loeffler as Auburn's new offensive coordinator. I think it's good to have the staff set going into national signing day. I know I'll look forward to watching A-Day this season. If nothing else, we'll find out what the new coaches consider to be "base" offense and defense.

On the defensive side of the ball, I think Brian vanGorder is pretty much a known quantity as a defensive coordinator with a decade or more of experience in the position at every level of the game. I'll be honest, here. The first thing that jumped out at me when I started reading Scot Loeffler's history is that he has only a single year of experience as an offensive coordinator, and that was at Temple. One year, in the MAC.

It's a funny thing. If Tommy Tuberville had made this move five years ago, we'd have been incredulous. Up in arms. Asking if the man had lost his mind? And with good reason, after Nall Ball and other assorted incidents. I suppose after the past few years, perspective has changed. We hired a 5-19 head coach and a high school coach to run the offense, and we won a national championship the second year. In fact, of Gene Chizik's hires, only the veteran coordinator (Ted Roof) didn't work out so well. Rather than jumping off buildings, I think the Auburn faithful are confident that Chizik knows what he's doing.

So we know that Loeffler has only been a coordinator for a year. What is his other background? We hear Tom Brady and Tim Tebow mentioned frequently in connection with Loeffler. Did Loeffler recruit these guys out of high school and turn them into great quarterbacks? Well.. not exactly. Let's take a closer look.

Loeffler was a Michigan quarterback from 1993-1996. An injury ended his playing days, so he became a graduate assistant at the same school. During that period in the late 1990s, Michigan produced Brian Griese and Tom Brady, both of whom ended up as NFL quarterbacks. Whether a grad assistant gets full credit for a quarterback's development is questionable, but certainly Loeffler did have SOME influence on things. Brady's last two years yielded a 61.9 percent completion percentage, with 35 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Most importantly, he averaged 7.55 yards per pass. These are good numbers, but certainly not great.

John Navarre was a redshirt freshman when Loeffler left to take a job at Central Michigan. Navarre went on to be a three year starter at Michigan. His career numbers include a 56 percent completion percentage, 72 touchdowns, and 31 interceptions. Navarre averaged 6.77 yards per pass. Again, those are solid numbers. Navarre passed for over 9000 yards in his career, which says good things about his durability in the Big-10, if nothing else.

After a two year stint as the quarterbacks coach at Central Michigan, Loeffler returned to Michigan as the quarterbacks coach in 2002. He finished up Navarre's last two seasons, then worked with Chad Henne. Henne went on to start for 4 seasons, and most of his numbers would be school records if he had played at Auburn. 828 completions, 1387 attempts, 37 interceptions, 9715 yards, and 87 touchdowns. That's a career 7.0 yards per pass average.

Loeffler was quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions in 2008, leaving Michigan as the Rich-Rod era began. I'll be brief here, and note that Detroit had an abysmal 0-16 season, and the organization dumped Loeffler's quarterbacks to draft Matthew Stafford.

Loeffler joined the Florida Gator staff in 2009, and coached quarterbacks two seasons there. He tweaked senior Tim Tebow's mechanics, and Tebow generated some rather eye-popping stats. Tebow hit 67.8 percent of his passes, with 21 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. Tebow's 9.2 yards per pass average led the SEC, and he added another 910 rushing yards. Most folks remember only Florida's humbling SEC title game loss to Alabama from that season, but Florida did go 13-1, finishing 3^rd in the nation.

The 2010 Florida season was a disappointment, and it was a downer for Loeffler. Junior quarterback John Brantley replaced Tebow, and his numbers were not so good. He hit 60.8 percent of his passes, but had only 9 touchdowns vs. 10 interceptions. Brantley averaged 6.26 yards per pass, which is pretty much average in the SEC. In Loefller's defense, it could be said that Brantley was really not suited to run Urban Meyer/Steve Addazio's spread offense.

After the Meyer regime collapsed, Loeffler landed the offensive coordinator job at Temple. With a bit of a look at the statistics, the job Loeffler did is outstanding. Temple could not keep quarterbacks healthy, but still managed to ram it down the MAC's throat with over 3000 rushing yards. A trio of quarterbacks completed 58.6 of their passes, for 11 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. Temple averaged 8.3 yards per pass, which is a good number. This team finished strong offensively, tromping on Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl, 37-15.

If nothing else, Loeffler's season at Temple showed great adaptability. He was able to devise an effective playbook, and translate that to success on the field. Temple averaged over 30 points per game under difficult circumstances. It should also be noted that Loeffler called plays on gameday for at least part of his time at Michigan. While he's only got two years of SEC assistant experience, he's schemed against Big Ten defenses for multiple years.

My verdict on this hire is that Chizik got a young guy on the way up. Loeffler's bio is more impressive if you look closely, and the fact that established NFL quarterbacks still look him up for off-season work speaks volumes. There will be some struggles at Auburn in the new offense, but Loeffler's history suggests that he finds ways to get it done. He's also been able to put young quarterbacks out there and make them productive quickly. As I said before, I'm really looking forward to seeing what his base schemes will be at Auburn, on A-Day. War Eagle!

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War Eagle, everybody. Had an interesting request this week, from the SBN Pittsburgh site wanting to know what to expect from Ted Roof. He's planning on doing a Q & A post on the Penn State SBN site, and I'll link to that when it shows up. In the meantime, I had to look back and review Roof's tenure at Auburn. It's important to note that Auburn on defense in 2012 will be mostly made up of the same players who gave up 28.9 points per game in 2011. Brian vanGorder will do things his way, but I think it's unrealistic for Auburn fans to expect an immediate return to the Chizik/Tuberville point averages in the low to mid teens. In the meantime, who was Ted Roof philosophically, and why did his defenses give up so many points?

Bottom line, Auburn gave up 27.5, 24.0, and 28.9 points per game in the three years of Roof's tenure. The higher two numbers are the worst two averages in Auburn's 120 year history. By comparison, Tommy Tuberville's defenses tended to give up in the mid-teens. At a defense-minded school like Auburn, I think most folks wanted a change.

It's difficult to pigeon-hole Ted Roof to any particular style, because when he has the matchups he wants he likes to be very multiple. Ted Roof believes in gap-control, and he will try to put enough players in the box to fit one player to each gap. At least half the time, he'll show a traditional cover-two look before the snap, but usually one safety rolls toward the play, and the defense really plays cover-three, with each remaining DB responsible for a third of the field.

Ted's defenses were best against traditional two backs and a tight end offenses. He'd do a great job of filling lanes, getting after the quarterback, and causing turnovers. The downside to the cover-three philosophy is that each defensive back has to keep his man in front, and soft coverage allows lots of throws underneath. Roof believes that most offenses are going to have a hard time completing enough consecutive 5 yard passes to move the ball down the field for a score. Much of Auburn's failure to successfully stop opponents these past three years have been due to match-up problems. For instance, this past season, everyone in the playing rotation on the defensive line was either a freshman or a sophomore. No upperclassmen, AT ALL. Gap control is a great idea, but how many times will a 19-20 year old true freshman or sophomore get blown off the ball in the SEC? Roof's biggest weakness shows up against spread attacks. He will try to leave one cornerback out in the flat to deal with twin receivers, and he'll use a ten yard or more cushion. It's pretty simple for a modern division one quarterback to take the snap and quickly fire it out to a wide receiver with a blocker in front. Negates the pass rush, too.

Each year at Auburn, there have been different problem areas due to a lack of quality depth throughout the whole program. Roof's first season, he inherited a line with three good starters, but no solid 4^th player, and little depth. At linebacker, he had two respectable players (who had to play every single snap!), and walk-on level talent otherwise. In the secondary, he had one NFL cornerback, one banger a step slow, one slow run-stopping safety, and an 18-year old true freshman 2 star recruit at free safety. Defenses would pick on the slow pass defenders, and run at the suspect lineman and linebacker. In year two, Roof was greatly helped by the emergence of Lombardi-winning tackle Nick Fairley. Fairley was quick, mean and had an incredible knack for jumping the snap count and being in the backfield before linemen could rise up out of their stances. However, Auburn was still thin numbers-wise in the front seven, and very patchwork in the secondary. At corner, Auburn still had the one tough corner without enough speed, or two little bitty guys who could fly, but not necessarily deal with the plethora of big receivers in the league. You didn't want either safety in 2010 trying to cover one on one, due to a lack of speed. In Roof's third season, he finally had a secondary that was fast enough, but still very young. But a front four with no upperclassmen is going to very a difficult situation for any coordinator in BCS AQ conference football.

So what does new coordinator Brian Van Gorder inherit? I think the greatest asset is a good number of fast, talented players in the secondary. Even if senior T'Sharvan Bell doesn't heal his wounded knee quickly, we have at least 4 SEC-battle-worthy corners, and three very fast safeties. Auburn will have the speed to match up one on one, and Auburn will be able to use a lot more looks rather than strictly trying to prevent the big ball.

Auburn's defensive line was a great concern this past season, and the hope is that as these young freshmen and sophomores work though the off-season, they'll get a lot stronger. We've seen flashes already. Jeffery Whitacker got better all year. Sophomore to be Gabe Wright looked great in the 4^th quarter of the bowl game. Lemonier, Eguae and Dee Ford should be among the elite SEC pass rushers next fall. We're hoping for dramatic improvement out of the line, and I think that would have happened regardless of who the new coordinator was.

Auburn's concern going into 2012 on defense is the linebackers. As the season wore on last year, Auburn hung their hopes on Eltoro Freeman. He played with fire and passion, and made some big hits. He couldn't do it alone, though, and sometimes played out of position. Auburn gave up 45 to LSU, 45 to Georgia, and 42 to Alabama. We return starters Darren Bates, Jake Holland, and Jonathan Evans. As a senior, Bates has the tools to be a good one. He's always been fast for a linebacker, but sometimes subject to being mauled by bigger SEC lead blockers. From all indications, Bates is gearing up for a run at the NFL, and you'll see a much nastier product on the field in 2012. It's up to Holland and Evans to step it up this year. Jawara White is finally healthy, and he saw a good bit of action this past fall, also. If Auburn is to get the points down under 20 per game this coming season, it will be because the linebackers stepped up.

Can vanGorder do it? Can he mold these three units into a tenacious, attacking machine? Auburn fans are excited about the prospect, but there are sure to be growing pains. My guess is that we'll be better next year, but not elite. Here's hoping the team proves me wrong, and we field a shut-down unit like the 2004 Tigers! War Eagle!

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War Eagle, everybody! The last BCS game has been played, all results are in, and we can finally put the 2011 college football season to bed. Prior to September of last fall, I think most Auburn fans would have figured on 8 wins being a moderately successful season. Historically, Auburn has won 718 games, lost 405, and tied 47. That's a 63.3 percent winning percentage. This year's 61.5 percent figure is pretty average, in the historical sense.

Part of the reason for Auburn disappointment was due to the margin of the 5 losses, none by fewer than 14 points. Also, Auburn's played well above their historical average over the decade prior to 2011, posting a 72.6 percent winning percentage, with only one losing season, and two undefeated ones. I'd say that since the Dye era, expectations are that Auburn should annually finish better than 8-4. It's a tired old excuse to point out Auburn's youth this past season, but hopefully the bumps, bruises and lessons of the 2011 campaign will help down the road.

It is worth noting that in the final AP poll, all five teams Auburn lost to finished in the top 25. Alabama was 1^st, LSU 2^nd, Arkansas 5^th, Georgia 19^th, and Clemson 22^nd. For good measure, Auburn defeated South Carolina, who finished 9^th. Of Auburn's thirteen opponents this past season, ten went to bowl games. Auburn beat half of those teams. Bowling this season were Utah State, Mississippi State, Clemson, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia; and 5 of those teams won their bowl. Auburn was 3-2 against bowl winners, with wins over MSU, USCe, and Florida.

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War Eagle, everybody, and Happy New Year! It's time now for the Acid Reign report on Auburn's highest scoring bowl victory in history. Auburn defeated the Virginia Cavaliers 43-24 on New Year's Eve in the Georgia Dome, and won their 8^th game of the season. The 43 points were the most ever put up by an Auburn team in a bowl game, eclipsing the old mark of 38 points in the 2010 Outback Bowl.

The story of this game was the play of backup quarterback Barrett Trotter. The junior from Birmingham was benched at halftime of the Florida game, and it was widely assumed that he'd be done with football after this season. Early in the game, starting quarterback Clint Moseley limped to the bench, and was on crutches the rest of the game with an ankle injury. Trotter entered the game, hit 4 of his first 6 passes, and Auburn erased a 14-7 deficit and took a lead it would never relinquish. For the game, Trotter was 11 of 18 passing with a touchdown, and no turnovers. Trotter faced pressure, but escaped time and time again, to finish with 32 rushing yards, and he was not sacked on the evening.

Departing Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan wanted to leave with a bang, and the team did score 43 points, thanks to the heroics of Trotter and speedy offensive MVP Onterio McCalebb. Still, it would be wrong to say that Auburn's offensive woes this season are fixed. There were times that Virginia absolutely collapsed the offensive line. Defenses know that Auburn's only option down the field is Emory Blake, Lutzenkirchen gets the short crosses and wheel routes, and McCalebb and Bray get the screens. Little effort has to be made to cover Quindarius Carr or Travante Stallworth, because Auburn won't throw there. Auburn used quarterback Khiel Frazier like an option fullback. I suppose the Cavaliers don't see much Wildcat offense in the ACC, because they never attacked it on defense. SEC defenses roll a safety down in the middle, and cowboy-blitz a corner to take away the speed sweep. Thankfully for Auburn, the Cavs had difficulty recognizing that package.

Auburn special teams had a great game. Auburn basically tallied 4 touchdowns, a safety, and a field goal off special teams play. The Tigers took advantage of spotty protection, and blocked two of three Virginia punts. One set up the first touchdown, and the second was a safety. After the safety, a 62 yard free kick return by Quan Bray set up a field goal. The Tigers scored another touchdown after a successful onside kick and recovery by Cody Parkey. Finally, Auburn special teams gunner Chris Davis stopped a fake field goal, and Auburn drove for another score off of that. Parkey had a busy night, hitting two long field goals, and adding 4 more touchbacks on kickoffs. Steven Clark only punted 3 times, but all of them were rain-makers allowing no return, and he averaged 49 yards per punt.

Virginia came into the game with a rep for protecting the quarterback, and Auburn only managed one Gabe Wright sack on the night. Still, the Auburn line stood up to the test of handling a strong veteran line, and forced Virginia to go to the air more than they wanted. While the Cavaliers did rush for 123 yards, it wasn't enough consistent offense to keep pace with Auburn's big plays. The Tiger secondary had their hands full with Cavalier receiver Kris Burd. Even when doubled, Burd managed to secure the ball in traffic repeatedly. Virginia hit pass after pass, and diced the Tiger zone defense for 312 passing yards. However, Auburn tackled pretty well after the catch, and the longest play of the day was only 29 yards. This forced Virginia to work the ball down the field, and often the Tigers could get the stop due to turnovers, or errant throws.

Unit Grades, after the jump!

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War Eagle, everybody! It's New Year's Eve! Tonight, the Auburn Tigers will take on the Virginia Cavaliers in the day's premier game, the Chick Filet Bowl in Atlanta! The game kicks off at 7:30 Eastern Time, and will be televised by ESPN.

It's only the third meeting in history between these two teams, and the winner will take the lead in the all-time series. Virginia's colors should look familiar to Auburn fans. Auburn wears burnt orange and navy blue due to the school's football founder, George Petrie. Petrie was a Virginia grad, and brought those traditional colors with him to the plains over a century ago. Tonight, the Auburn Tigers will be playing for their tenth bowl win in the past 20 years. Virginia will be trying for their 8^th bowl win in in history.

It should be a beautiful day for Tiger and Cavalier fans to enjoy downtown Atlanta. Skies should be mostly clear, and it will be a temperate 60 degrees or a bit more. When the afternoon sun sets, a grinning half moon will be high in the sky over the Georgia Dome, with the planet Venus below, and Jupiter above. Folks might want to bring a jacket for the end of the game walk to New Year's Eve festivities. The temp will have fallen into the 40s.

Coach Mike London's Virginia team brings a potent ground based assault and stout defense into this contest. This offense may look familiar to those who used to follow the Washington Redskins back during the Joe Gibbs era in the 1980s. You'll see a lot of one-back power sets, with motion from the blockers and receivers. When the Cavs run play action, you'll see a lot of max-protect packages. They've only give up 15 sacks on the season, so it's incumbent upon Auburn to have good coverage downfield, and fill those gaps on run plays. When Auburn has the ball, they are going to have to do something to keep Virginia's 8 man fronts from keying on the running back and quarterback. It will be incumbent on outgoing coordinator Gus Malzhan to get the ball quickly to the flats, and run some counters off of that. It should be an interesting matchup on both sides.

We'll be here all afternoon, watching football and enjoying the holiday! As always, feel free to chime in and join the fun! Isn't bowl season grand? We'll have our usual play by play when the game kicks off! War Eagle, and let's beat Virginia!

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War Eagle, everybody! It's been a fantastic bowl week, and we've been loving it! Some complain that there are too many bowl games, but for the fan of the college game, it's like the 12 days of Christmas! Typical day this week includes an early game for happy hour/supper, and a nightcap to fall asleep to. It's this time of year that I'm getting the best look at teams around the country, and seeing what's going on outside of the SEC.

The Armed Forces Bowl yesterday was likely as entertaining as anyone you'll see this winter. The teams each scored six touchdowns. Air Force scored very late on a 4^th and 2 hail Mary, to pull within one point. Air Force coach Troy Calhoun then made the gutty decision to go for two points, to try and win the game in regulation. Alas, with the game on the line, he put his kicker and holder out there to run a fake extra point, instead of the offensive stars who had put up 407 yards in the game. A fumble ensued, and the game was over. Me, I say bravo for the 2-point try! But, next time, ride the horse that got ya there, coach!

How will the SEC do in the bowls this season? My take is that the bulk of the league's bowl eligible teams have been doing a gradual slide since winning 7 of 9 bowl games in 2007. Last year's SEC record was only 5-5, punctuated by the East going 1-4. With the SEC's top two teams playing each other, and one assured of a loss, it's quite possible that the SEC could have a losing bowl record for the first time since 2002. Let's take a look at what's to come for the SEC.

Mississippi State gets things started Friday evening in the Music City Bowl against Wake Forest. After watching Vandy absolutely drill this team on the road in the last game of the regular season, I think the Bullies will have little trouble. MSU wins.

Saturday afternoon Vandy plays in the Liberty Bowl against Cincinnati. It's on national network ABC-TV, and the Bearcats are explosive when healthy. And of course they've had six weeks to heal. This is a tough matchup for the Commodores. You'd think Memphis would be like a home game for Vandy, except that often their own home stadium is dominated by visitors. Vandy likely loses this one.

New Year's Eve features Auburn vs. Virginia in the Georgia Dome in the Chick-Filet game. I've avoided mentioning it till now, but this is a nightmare matchup in the trenches for the Tigers. Auburn will likely enjoy a pretty good speed advantage with the offensive skill players and the defensive secondary. But in the trenches, Auburn's been poor down the stretch this season, and Virginia has seasoned veterans on both sides of the line. The Tigers have struggled to do much of anything in the passing game all season, and Virginia will send 8 guys to stop the run all game long. Without leading Tiger rusher Michael Dyer, the task gets tougher. On defense, Auburn's tended to get blown off the ball by good rushing teams, and Virginia's offensive line has only allowed 15 sacks all season. Unless the Tigers get some inspired quarterback play in this one, it's likely to be ugly. I think Auburn loses this one, but hopefully we'll do better than we did against LSU/UGA/Bama.

Florida, Georgia and South Carolina ring in the New Year (well, a day late, on Jan 2.) with competing noon bowl games. In the Gator, it's Florida vs. Ohio State. This is a matchup of two shaky, barely eligible teams, and how it rates New Year's day status is beyond me. Both offenses are wildly inconsistent, but each team is decent at stopping the run. I give a bit of an edge to Florida, because speed backs Rainey and Demps should be healthy for this one. However, the defense will have to deal with dangerous Buckeye quarterback Braxton Miller, and Florida has had difficulty with scramblers this season. I pick Florida by a nose in this one, in front of a lot of orange and blue clad fans in Jacksonville.

In the Outback Bowl, Michigan State returns to the state of Florida hoping to redeem themselves against Georgia. This time a year ago, the Spartans took a 49-3 thumping from Alabama. They were overwhelmed by superior SEC size and speed. Georgia plays similar schemes, and has similar size to Bama. Georgia finished 3^rd in the nation in total defense, and should be able to limit Kirk Cousins and BJ Cunningham's heroics. The Spartan defense has had problems against teams that can both run and throw it, and UGA is as balanced as they come with Crowell running wild, and Aaron Murray, who's likely the best quarterback in the SEC. Georgia should win.

The Capital One Bowl features South Carolina vs. Nebraska. Some would say that the Gamecocks won ten games with smoke and mirrors after losing their quarterback and all-star tailback during the season. How USC really won was playing stifling defense. The Gamecocks will be trying to clamp down on a two-pronged Husker rushing attack featuring versatile QB Taylor Martinez and battering ram Rex Burkhead. USC's Connor Shaw has developed into a dual threat himself, and has some pretty good Gamecock receivers to throw to. But folks, betting on a Steve Spurrier team to win a bowl game is dicey, at best. The visored one was only 6-5 in bowl games at Florida. At South Carolina, he's been downright awful in the post season, going only 1-4. Nebraska wins this one.

Friday night, January 6^th features the Cotton Bowl. Speaking of teams with awful bowl records, Arkansas plays Kansas State. The Razorbacks have posted a 3-8 bowl record in 20 years of SEC play. Arkansas played well enough to make a BCS bowl this season, but was left out in favor of Alabama and LSU. Kansas State runs the ball, and finds ways to hang around and win in the end. They don't look great on defense, and don't put up pinball passing numbers like the Razorbacks. But they've found a way to win 10 games, and a lot of that style is embodied in quarterback Collin Klein, who rushed for 1099 yards in 2011. Arkansas flies around well on defense, but both Razorback losses this season featured tackling problems. Most high-octane passing attacks suffer from the layoff from regular season to bowl-time. I expect that Arkansas will have similar problems. Given their history, this is a game that the Razorbacks should win, but probably will find a way to lose.

The big enchilada is on Monday night, January 9^th. Alabama and LSU do battle for the BCS title. Having watched the entire regular season matchup between these two, I think Alabama's the stronger team. I think they've battled through some injury problems, and continued to get better as the year went on, particularly on offense. LSU has a huge special teams advantage. Also, if the game's on the line, I think you're a lot likelier to get a brainy-crazy play call from Les Miles to win it. Nick Saban's going to run a draw on 3^rd and 8. I think the key for Alabama is to hit a few play action passes to secondary receivers early, make LSU play back a bit, and control the clock. If Bama can avoid handing LSU turnovers and good field position, I think they are about a touchdown better in this game. Given how good LSU's defense is at creating havoc, that's a big "if." I'm picking Bama in a nail-biter.

If the bowl games turn out the way I've guessed, the SEC will finish 4-5. And none of these matchups appear to be a slam-dunk SEC win. (With the possible exception of MSU/Wake.) The only assured thing is that an SEC squad will win the BCS title game. The SEC may surprise and make a great run. It's also possible that both Bulldogs and the Razorbacks hark up hairballs and the SEC has their worst bowl outing in quite some time. In any event, it should be quite the football extravaganza the next 11 days!

Addendum: We'll have our usual open thread and play-by-play up for the Auburn vs. Virginia game Saturday evening! Feel free to drop in, and cheer on the Tigers! I'm hoping to see these guys rise up and win a big matchup in the trenches. We saw flashes of that this season against South Carolina and Florida, but it's time to make a move up. War Eagle! Beat the Cavs!

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War Eagle, everybody, and Merry Christmas! Here's hoping everyone is gearing up for a great holiday. This is perhaps the one time of year when we can put aside worry, get emotional without regret, be children again, and just plain have fun! In these times of Auburn turmoil, it's easy to forget that. Personally, I'm enjoying a fun week with both of my kids home, and lots of friends in town.

For those angsting about Auburn's vacant coordinator positions, I would counsel patience. Gene Chizik doesn't seem to be in any hurry to rush towards hasty hires. When asked yesterday if he was going to wait till the end of bowl season, Chizik replied, "that is certainly a good possibility." The Auburn head coach added, "People will portray it the way they want to, but the reality of it is nothing has changed. We are on the exact same path we were a month ago, two months ago. People are going to spin it how they want to spin it, but I can assure everybody out there that there is absolutely, 100 percent one direction we are going and it's the same direction it's been going since we got here three years ago. Nothing has changed and the future is very bright."

One positive bit of news coming out of bowl drills is that depth in the front seven on defense should take a big step up from recent weeks. Tackle Kenneth Carter has recovered from his multiple nicks and bruises late in the season, and he has reportedly stepped up his game a great deal, and taken the starting job back from freshman Gabe Wright. Several ends have returned, and are having good practices. Devonte Sigler is working a strong side end, and gives Auburn a big body on the edge against that Virginia rushing attack. LaDarius Owens is healthy again at rush end. Along with starters Nosa Eguae and Corey Lemonier, with Craig Sanders, that gives Auburn 5 defensive ends that can play at a high level. Auburn could barely field three guys the last month of the season, and it showed in Athens, and against Alabama.

Likewise, the linebacker corps should be much healthier for the bowl game. I remember thinking in the middle of the season that linebacker Jake Holland looked too slow to play in the SEC. Turns out he was playing with TWO high-ankle sprains, a torn bicep, and a broken wrist. Wow. I think few guys would make it on the field with those ailments! Holland is healthier now than he has been in months. Also rejoining the Tiger depth chart is Jawara White. The starters in Atlanta should not have to play every snap, as was the case in the second half of the season against SEC foes.

Coach Chizik has indicated that we should expect to continue to see Onterio McCalebb on kick returns, after he housed one against the Crimson Tide. McCalebb is considering the NFL draft this spring, and his most realistic shot at playing time in the big league is as as returner. Personally, I'd rather he not see many returns in the Chick Filet Bowl. That would mean that we're stopping Virginia, and they aren't scoring. And it would mean a better chance of one more year of McCalebb on the plains! He's certainly been fun to watch the past three years!

Like the defense, the offense should benefit from healed players such as receiver Emory Blake. Auburn needs a good offensive showing to have a chance to win against Virginia. After this season's anemic offensive finish, I think it's left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I know Gus Malzhan would like nothing better than a big showing against the Cavs in his Auburn finale. Talk on the street is that opponents have Gus' offense "figured out." I know he'd love to prove the naysayers wrong once again! My understanding is that Clint Moseley will start the game at quarterback, but we'll see extended time with Khiel Frazier running the whole offense. Frazier on play-action has the potential to really hurt defenses, if he can find the open receivers.

It may not help much in the bowl game, but there have been a number of scout team players singled out for praise this camp. It sounds like offensive linemen Greg Robinson and Christian Westerman will be ready to step in and make some immediate noise on the left side of the offensive line next spring. There will be some amazing battles ahead for whomever wins that left tackle spot, taking on Lemonier, Ford, and Owens.

Many folks are lamenting the possible loss of McCalebb and Michael Dyer next season, but the cupboard is not bare at running back. Tre Mason is a dual threat with both power and speed. Sitting out this season were freshmen Mike Blakeley and Corey Grant. Grant was recently named the best offensive scout team player this year, and coaches have really been impressed with his work ethic. Grant was a 6-A 100 meter sprint champion in high school, and can turn on the jets.

A shaky receiver corps this season should get a boost from Sammie Coates and Jaylon Denson. These guys both can be big play threats. Denson's a big target, and Coates was having a monster fall camp before being injured. A year of Yoxercise should work wonders with both. I also think offseason workouts will really help Brandon Fulse and Ladarius Phillips at the H-Back/Tight end slots.

Happy Holidays to all of our friends here at Track Em Tigers! It's going to be a busy 4-day weekend at the Reign household, but I hope to carve out the time to watch a few Auburn DVD's from last season's miracle run. I figure that the Iron Bowl, SEC Title game and BCS Title game should run just long enough to get a turkey smoked, with a few breaks to load more charcoal or hickory. War Eagle, folks! It's that bowl game a night time of year, and I'm loving it!

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War Eagle, everybody! First off, let me apologize for the lack of my usual paragraph indents. Editing problems, ick! A rough regular season is over, and it's time for the Tiger Nation to move forward. To be sure, there's great consternation over a team that was repeatedly blown out by top-25 teams. Auburn lost to Clemson, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia and Alabama by a combined 69 to 208 points, or an average of 13.8 to 41.6. Even looking back to the worst season in Auburn history, 1950, you don't see that sort of margin. Earl Brown's 1950 squad lost every game, by an average score of 3.1 to 25.5. Of course it could be argued that football was very different 61 years ago, and it's a good point.

One of the oldest adages in football is, "you win in the trenches." I think most of Auburn's troubles will be fixed with stronger lines next season. Unlike Earl Brown's team, or 13 of Shug Jordan's teams, or all of Doug Barfield's teams, or even 3 Pat Dye teams, this Auburn team will go to a bowl game. For all of the consternation, Auburn won 7 games, and did not lose to a team it was favored over. Highlights of the season were a double digit win over Florida, and a win on the road against a 10-win South Carolina team. The Florida win was particularly delicious. Auburn has just four wins by 11 points or more against Florida in the past 40 years. And Auburn beat South Carolina before the Gamecocks lost their quarterback and star tailback.

The month of December will give weary, battered and bruised Tigers a chance to heal, and I think Auburn will surprise some folks in a bowl game. Auburn fielded a pretty athletic team back in September, one that made tons of mistakes, but that was all over the field. I think you'll see that again after Christmas, only these guys are a lot more experienced now. A bowl game is a great thing for this young team, because it means more weeks of reps. Win or lose, the extra work is invaluable. Of course, you'd like a big bowl win, to set the tone for next season.

So, what does the future hold for the Auburn Tigers? We'll leave the coaching speculation for another time. Other than the murmurings of disgruntled Auburn family members, we've seen no real indication that there will be any changes made. Turnover among assistant coaches happens. Guys get let go. They move to different opportunities. It's rare anywhere for the exact same staff to be in place for three straight years. If there are any changes, I have confidence that the team of coach Chizik and Jay Jacobs will make great replacement hires.

We can get a bit of a picture of Auburn's next team by looking at who's likely to return. This team has only 5 senior starters, and only maybe 8 guys total that play significant minutes that won't be back next season. There's always attrition, guys that are hurt, guys that have grade problems, or guys that transfer. That's every year, so expect maybe another half dozen or so. The rest of the team returns, and they'll likely be joined by another strong recruiting class. We'll look at the team's prospects, after the jump.

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