Things are going from bad to worse with the Auburn Tigers.  Losing to Vanderbilt is no longer the embarrassment it once was, but the way AU dropped the game was embarrassing.

After firing Ron Borges to bring in Tony Franklin’s spread, Tommy Tuberville must now be wondering what the Hell he got himself into.

With a power running game (no doubt ordered from the head coach), the Tigers rolled up 126 first quarter yards and built a 13-0 lead on Vandy.  They did it the old fashioned way.  Under center.

Then the team went back to the shotgun formation and stopped feeding big tailback Ben Tate the ball.

They picked up just 82 yards and six first downs the rest of the way.

After the game, Franklin and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads were made off-limits to the press.

With Alabama on the rise, Auburn can’t afford to have a bad season and miss a beat on recruiting.  Right now, it looks like that’s exactly what’s going to happen.



Tuberville said his team stopped using the one-back formation because Vanderbilt was gaining a strategic advantage.  Okay, but they were suffereing a scoreboard disadvantage.  I’m a big believer in running something until the opponent stops it. 

Just because I didn’t have many one-back plays in the gameplan, if they were working like they were for Auburn early, I’d have kept calling them.

“We’ll probably add some things to that formation and other formations we put in this week.  When you only have really two days to practice you can’t add a whole lot.”

Center Ryan Pugh didn’t like going away from the power game.  “We came out in the first quarter and rushed for about 100 yards and looked like the Auburn of old.  We got our confidence going and then all of a sudden we completely go away from it.  As a player, it’s frustrating.  As someone watching the game, I’m sure it’s frustrating.”



Tuberville isn’t happy with his team’s quarterback play.  Who would be?  Chris Todd and Kodi Burns combined for 10 of 22 passing for 89 yards.  That’s it.

“They haven’t improved.  There’s no doubt about that.  They’re missing some reads.  Each week they face a team that’s going to give them a different challenge.  Sometimes they figure it out and sometimes they don’t.  That’s just a lack of (experience).”



This notes column reveals that Auburn’s injury woes continue to mount, Burns will start to get more playing time at quarterback, and kicker Wes Byrum will just have to forget about the extra point he missed… that came back to haunt the Tigers in their 14-13 loss on Saturday.



Tommy Hicks of The Mobile Press-Register writes that hapless Arkansas and their horrible defense might be the perfect salve for Auburn’s bumped and bruised offense.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 7:18 am and is filed under Homepage, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.