AUBURN — When Auburn snapped its three-game losing streak a week ago against Ole Miss, it transformed today’s homecoming game from a gloomy interruption in a sinking season to an important day of preparation. The Tigers (6-3) would love…
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1.  The lack of depth at Auburn this year will lead to very few redshirts being handed out.

2.  Auburn’s defensive ends are getting healthier, which might help them become even more aggressive.

3.  Terrell Zachary is turning into big play receiver.

4.  Suddenly, freshman Darren Bates is the Tigers’ most experienced safety.

5.  Gus Malzahn breaks down the Tigers’ backup quarterbacks in this notes column.

6.  In basketball news, there will be a lot of new faces on the floor when Auburn takes on Miles College in their exhibition opener tonight.

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1.  Receivers coach Trooper Taylor was the man behind Auburn’s “Shhhh” wrist bands last week.

2.  Freshman receiver Travante Stallworth looks like he’s heading toward a bigger role in the Auburn offense.

3.  Stallworth has made the most of his limited opportunities so far.

4.  Ben Tate is on pace to rush for 1,422 yards which would be the third-best season in Auburn history.

5.  Tate believes a freshman could step in and next year and put up his type of numbers in Gus Malzahn’s offense.

6.  Here’s a quick preview of Auburn’s matchup with Furman.

7.  The Paladins will take their beating from Auburn and receive about $375,000 in the process.

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Notes from Gene Chizik’s teleconference:

* Auburn is working to get better in a lot of areas, “particularly our special teams.”

* Chris Todd “has played a lot of good football this year.”  “He’s been productive for us, but like the rest of our football team, there are areas that he can improve on.”

* Todd’s “decision-making gets better every week.”  He’s done a great job of protecting the football.  “I just think he’s been really smart with his choices.”

* Darvin Adams has “done a nice job of improving his game.”  He’s studied film and worked hard at practice.  “I think he’s developed.  I think he’s still finding new things out about the game every week.”  Adams has done a good job of perimeter blocking and going up and catching jump balls.

* “I’m really proud of Ben” Tate.  Tate is already over the 1,000 mark for the season.  “There’s nothing that we’ve asked him to do that he hasn’t done.”

* Not many questions for Chizik today.

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1.  Safety Zac Etheridge says he’s “just happy to walk again” after his neck injury on Saturday.

2.  Etheridge tore ligaments in his neck and cracked his C5 vertebrae, but he still wants to return to the football field.

3.  The injury could have been much worse.

4.  Cornerback Desmond Washington will be moved to Etheridge’s old starting strong safety spot.

5.  According to this notes column, the Tigers wrote “Shhhh” on their wrist bands last week… reminding everyone to let their play do their talking.

6.  Auburn has been a Jekyll and Hyde team this year.

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He has kept a low profile for most of the season, but former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville has now opened up on a number of topics with David Ching of The Athens Banner-Herald.

Some of the highlights:

* Tuberville has watched every Auburn game on TV or delay, but he has turned down offers to attend.  “I don’t want to be a hindrance.  A lot of people will say, ‘Come on, let’s go to a game,’ but I’m of the opinion that you just kinda stay out of the way.  These guys are in a different situation.  Let them take full control — not that I would interfere, but just being around (would) — so I just try to stay away.”

* He thought Auburn had a chance to win eight or nine games when the season started.  “… I still think they have a chance.”

* On Gene Chizik’s first season: “It’s been good.  Anytime you have a transition — you put in a new offense and defense and they got off to a great start — but every year, no matter whether you’re a new staff or an old staff, there’s a lull that your players hit for some reason in the SEC.”

* On wanting to coach again: “I’ve totally stayed out of it.  I know there are some people whose seats are getting pretty hot right now.  I’ll just let happen what happens and if it does, it does and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

* On Georgia’s season: “They haven’t made excuses.  Defensively, obviously they haven’t played very well.  But you’ve got to look back and realize that you can’t lose a running back like Knowshon Moreno and control the ball as well as you did the year before, so you put your defense out there that much more.”

* On Mark Richt’s situation: “Mark knows as well as anybody that drastic changes don’t help anything.  Players win games.  They’ve got a lot of young players on this team.  A lot of times you learn more from failure than you do from success — and a lot of the young guys that are playing now are gonna be around a couple more years. … So you’ve got to understand, when you play in this conference, every year is not gonna be perfect.  You’re gonna have years that you’ve got to start new quarterbacks and new running backs, and things aren’t going to work out well.”

* On Tennessee: “… They’re getting better.  New staff, new stuff.  They’ve been able to weather some of the storms.  They’re still not a really good team, but (the night they played Georgia) they were.  They’re gonna have their ups and downs just because it’s a new group.”

* On how UT has handled Jonathan Crompton: “In the Auburn game, they tried to drop back and throw it — and in this league, you don’t have that much time.  The defensive linemen are much better.  So they’ve started using play-action and throwing the ball to one or two receivers and he’s looked like a totally different guy.”

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1.  Antoine Carter is making a difference on Auburn’s improved defensive line.

2.  Safety Zach Etheridge was released from a Birmingham hospital on Monday. 

3.  Auburn’s medical staff is “optimistic he will make a full recovery” from a scary neck injury suffered against Ole Miss.

4.  Now the search is on for a new starting safety.

5.  Chris Todd was back on target against the Rebels.

6.  The Tiger offense was moving so fast on Saturday that it was flagged for trying to snap the ball before officials had set it for play.

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1.  Safety Zac Etheridge will miss the rest of the season with a frightening knee injury suffered on Saturday… but it looks like he’ll have a “full recovery as a person.”

2.  The loss of Etheridge will bring about still more shuffling on the Auburn defense.

3.  Asked about some questionable calls against Ole Miss, Chizik refused to comment on officiating.

4.  The Tigers got an improved push from their defensive line against the Rebels.

5.  Auburn hopes to make quick work of Furman next.

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AUBURN — Excuse the three-week interruption and welcome back the regular programming.Auburn’s three-game slump disappeared amid a withering, big-play offensive attack, a flurry of key turnovers and…
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Tigers looking to snap three-game losing streak in morning game in Jordan-Hare Stadium
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1.  Auburn players say despite their three-game losing streak, “It’s not going to be like last year.”

2.  Linebacker Eltoro Freeman gets more ink than anyone else on the Auburn campus.  Is there no one else to write about on The Plains?

3.  Trooper Taylor says freshman receiver DeAngelo Benton is learning the ropes now, but: “I promise you he will light the records books up.”

4.  Defensive end Antoine Carter is beginning to play — and talk — like his old self again. 

5.  Former Tiger Patrick Trahan is looking forward to hearing the boos when returns to AU as an Ole Miss Rebel tomorrow.

6.  Gene Chizik says “You’d be amazed how many players are out there who are beat up.  We’re not going to whine about it.”

7.  Auburn’s defense is currently giving more points than any team in Tiger history.

8.  Freshman linebacker DT Shackleford has been an inspiration for Ole Miss.

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1.  Ole Miss is coming to town on Saturday and that means the big story is… Houston Nutt and Gus Malzahn don’t like one another.

2.  There will be a lot of other familiar faces competing against each other this weekend.

3.  According to this notes column, tight end Tommy Trott believes Malzahn’s self-scouting will help re-ignite Auburn’s offense.

4.  Something needs to change as Auburn’s offense has gone from averaging 513 yards in its five wins to just 294 yards per game in its three losses.

5.  Here’s a look at how Auburn’s offensive numbers have dropped off from one SEC game to another.

6.  Gene Chizik doesn’t like for his players to talk to the media.

7.  Here’s a thumbnail/notes preview of Saturday’s game.

8.  Backup quarterback Neil Caudle is still supportive of Chris Todd.

9.  Ole Miss seems to have turned its season around.  Can Auburn do the same?

10.  According to this notes column, Mario Fannin could fill in for Onterio McCalebb if his ankle is a no-go.

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Notes from Gene Chizik’s teleconference:

* The Ole Miss game will be “a great challenge,” but Auburn has had a good week of practice so far.

* Auburn will have to do a good job of pressuring Jevan Snead at the right times.  “I don’t think you can stop any quarterbacks in this league without getting pressure on them.”

* The players have been practicing hard.  “We’ve got to coach them better.  There’s been none of the negative finger-pointing going on (like last year).”

* Chizik said Gus Malzahn will approach this game “the way he approaches every other game,” even though Houston Nutt will be on the other sideline.

* Auburn hasn’t changed anything regarding preparation.  The team is doing the same things now that they did during their 5-0 start. 

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1.  Linebacker Eltoro Freeman is glad to be back on the field.  (Do you think his parents knew that “Eltoro” is “The Bull” in Spanish… or was that a happy accident?)

2.  Gus Malzahn wants to see better passing from his offense.  “We’ve got to get balanced.”

3.  Here’s a good history lesson on the rocky relationship of Malzahn and Houston Nutt… the guy he’ll try to beat on Saturday.

4.  According to this notes column, AU’s starting center says everyone is still behind quarterback Chris Todd.  (Also, Kodi Burns had a pair of teeth knocked out last weekend against LSU.)

5.  Former Tiger linebacker Patrick Trahan will return to The Plains with Ole Miss on Saturday.

6.  Here’s an interesting comparison: Gene Chizik and Paul Rhoads.  Chizik is 5-3 and falling at Auburn, while the Tigers’ former defensive coordinator Rhoads is 5-3 and climbing at Iowa State… a school that had won just five games in the two years Chizik was there.

7.  Paul Finebaum of The Mobile Press-Register was praising Chizik and staff last month.  Now he’s writing about “lousy coaching.”  How quickly fortunes can change in the SEC.

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Now maybe Auburn is feeling the pinch of their inferior depth.

And maybe Onterio McCalebb’s ankle has slowed the offense’s production.

Or maybe Chris Todd is having some arm troubles again.

But my guess is this: Auburn’s offensive decline can be attributed to a league that boasts the smartest coaches in America.

In mid-September, folks were talking about Malzahn as though he were the second-coming of Steve Spurrier.  His no-huddle, hurry-to-the-line, misdirection-everywhere system was lighting up every team that faced it.  Just as it had when Malzahn coached at Tulsa.

But after a 5-0 start, the Tigers have fallen to 5-3 and their offense has been declining each week.  Check its production in SEC games below:

I don’t know about you, but when an offense drops off 23%, 19%, 16% and 23% each progressive week, I start to think the term “figured out” should be applied.

Malzahn might well be able to spark his offense again.  Perhaps he can adjust to how defensive coordinators are attacking him.  And as I mentioned above, maybe this is just a matter of having a thin roster in Year One of the Gene Chizik era.

But there’s no doubt the SEC’s coaches are the best in the nation.  Their pricetags say so.  Which is reason for Tiger fans to be worried.

Auburn’s coach — who was running a high school team five years ago — is now matching wits with the best of the best.  And in each SEC game so far, Auburn’s offense has been headed south, not north.

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1.  There’s no quarterback controversy at Auburn… according to the quarterbacks.

2.  A pesky ankle injury isn’t allowing Onterio McCalebb to be his speedy self.

3.  The more McCalebb has struggled, the more Auburn has struggled.

4.  When Auburn faces Ole Miss on Saturday, they’ll need to stop Dexter McCluster.

5.  Wisely, Gene Chizik chose to stay out of the official brouhaha when asked about some questionable calls that went against his Tigers on Saturday.

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The going gets really tough in the heart of the SEC schedule.
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Saturday nights at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge are the most treacherous dates on the national college football calendar. Until top-ranked Florida beat LSU two weeks ago, the Tigers had won 32 consecutive Saturday evening games at Death Valley…
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1.  After a 5-0 start, Auburn’s schedule might make reaching six wins and bowl eligibility a challenge.

2.  According to this notes column, backup cornerback Harry Adams has been booted off the team for an unspecified violation of team rules.  With their depth issues, AU really can’t afford to be booting anyone… so kudos to Gene Chizik for taking a stand.

3.  Auburn’s lack of depth is leaving the Tigers’ starters fatigued.

4.  Chizik said during his call-in show last night that his team must stop drawing penalties.

5.  This notes column reveals that AU’s coaches shook up practice a bit this week in the hopes of improving the Tigers’ play in fourth quarters.

6.  More jersey gamesmanship: Auburn will be wearing their road white jerseys at Tiger Stadium tomorrow night… which means LSU will have to wear their purple.

7.  On the basketball front, Jeff Lebo likes the freshman class he’s brought in. 

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Coach Jeff Lebo on using last year’s NCAA Tournament snub as motivation:

“I do not think it is motivation.  Our returning players have had a taste of success; they like it and want some more of it.  We want it not just at the end of the year but throughout the season.  We have a lot of new faces that do not understand how hard it is to get into the tournament and do not understang the disappointment of not getting a bid.  For the older guys, they will hold it in the back of their heads because they want to get to postseason games.  They really enjoyed the chance of getting to play when other teams were going homes.”


Forward Lucas Hargrove on this year’s team:

“We are looking pretty good so far because we have good players and great team chemistry.  People on our team know their roles, which only helps the chemistry of the team.  That is really going to help when the season comes around.  Hopefully, we cannot only match, but win more than the 24 games we won last year and get into the tournament.”


More quotes can be found here.

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1.  Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is working later nights in hopes of making his spread attack more mysterious again.

2.  This notes column reports that linebacker Josh Bynes wants to silence Tiger Stadium.  “I know going to Baton Rouge and coming out with a victory, the crowd will be like: What in the world just happened?”

3.  It’s looking more and more like safety Mike McNeil will redshirt this year due to a broken leg he suffered this spring.

4.  Five players who Gene Chizik has chosen to muzzle at times this season all play important roles on the team.  They just can’t talk about them.

5.  Here’s a quick preview of Auburn-LSU on Saturday.

6.  Offensive lineman Lee Ziemba sees Auburn’s recent struggles differently than one media member.  “‘Sobering?’  That’s not the word.  the word is ‘motivating.’”

7.  AU hasn’t gotten the impact it expected (and needed) from several newcomers.

8.  Going by record, Chizik is the second-most successful first-year coach in the country.

9.  Want a breakdown of just how undermanned the Tigers are?  Read this excellent piece by Charles Goldberg of The Birmingham News.

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Notes from Gene Chizik’s media session:

* “We have our work cut out for us on Saturday night.  LSU is playing really well.”

* LSU’s special teams “are about tops in the league in everything.”

* The thing that stands out about LSU is how big and physical they are… and how athletically-gifted they are.

* “John Chavis is a great defensive coordinator and he does a great job with those guys.”  The defense is improving because they’re getting more comfortable with his system.

* Walt McFadden is really helping Auburn win games.  Chizik wasn’t aware that McFadden and LSU’s Patrick Peterson are cousins.

* Chizik doesn’t believe LSU has gotten away from being a physical running team “at all.”

* Charles Scott’s numbers might be down, but he still looks good to Chizik.

* Asked about the folks who weren’t happy with his hiring, Chizik said it was just outside noise.  “We don’t really pay any attention to it.”

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1.  Tailback Ben Tate is “running for more yards, more touchdowns and more respect than ever before.”

2.  According to this notes column, Gene Chizik simply said, “Chris Todd is fine,” when he was asked if Todd’s shoulder is 100% healthy.

3.  This writer points out that only a handful of Todd’s passes last Saturday were underthrown.

4.  After giving up 282 rushing yards to Kentucky — to Kentucky! — Auburn had better be prepared to see a lot of runs from LSU on Saturday.

5.  Chizik had to remind folks of something yesterday.  “We’re 5-2.  We’re not 2-5.”  Welcome to the SEC, Coach.

6.  The Auburn-LSU series has has its share of memorable moments and strange turns.

7.  Gus Malzahn wants to see better execution from his offense.

8.  He also believes the offense should be very motivated this week.

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1.  Fans and media can turn pretty quickly on someone.  Take Auburn quarterback Chris Todd.  After a hot start, he’s now had two shaky games in a row.  And Gene Chizik is having to make it clear that he’s still the Tigers’ starter.

2.  Despite their recent struggles, AU’s players say they aren’t divided like last year’s team.

3.  Defensive end Antoine Carter is playing a bigger role now that he’s getting over a knee injury.

4.  Linebacker Eltoro “The Bull” Freeman is expected to get more work soon.

5.  Kentucky refused to blitz Auburn on Saturday, instead sitting back and forcing the Tigers to slowly work their way down the field.  Minus big plays, Auburn obviously struggled.

6.  Walk-on linebacker Ashton Richardson is looking forward to returning to Louisiana this week.

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1.  Randy Kennedy of The Mobile Press-Register writes that Gene Chizik and Auburn are crashing back to earth after their 5-0 start.

2.  Auburn’s scoring went down for a third consecutive game in Saturday’s disappointing home loss to Kentucky.

3.  Ted Roof wants his defense to get over the big plays they allowed against UK.  “We can’t let Kentucky beat us next week, too.”

4.  Roof says his team suffered from an “epidemic of missed tackles.”

5.  According to this notes column, Onterio McCalebb has been slowed by an ankle injury.

6.  Chizik wants linebacker Eltoro Freeman to have a better grasp of the Tigers’ defense.

7.  Chizik admits that “the book” is out on Auburn’s offense, which means it’s all about better execution at this point.

8.  Chizik isn’t going to re-open the quarterback job just because Chris Todd has had two disappointing weeks.  (A smart move on his part.)

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