News of the day, 10/7
Hey everyone. Pretty impressive performance from the Tigers this weekend. I know Vanderbilt isn't great, obviously, but that kind of efficiency would have made Auburn tough against any defense. I was particularly impressed with the offensive line. There was some serious domination happening up front. It's hard to believe three of these kids are 18 years old.Defensive player of the game, for me, was S Zac Etheridge. He was all over the place. He's only 19, too. Auburn's recruiting efforts receive too much criticism. These last two classes have produced some excellent players. The 04 and 05 classes? Not so much. And don't give me the SACS stuff.
Offensive player of the game? Offensive line. Or Al Borges. Auburn's offensive coordinator assembled a really innovative series of plays yesterday. I don't really understand why that kind of innovation happens now. Why not a month ago? I'll try to get a better feel for that later today.
Tuberville talks with the media at 3. Players follow around 5. Look for updates as the day progresses. Sundays are loaded with information. I'll keep it flowing.
Thanks for huddling 'round the ol' campfire that is the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.
Now for something you may not have been fully aware of: Do you know how many 100-yard games Brad Lester has to his credit? Ten? Five? Try zero. His best game was a 94-yard effort against Florida in 2006. How about that?Lester said he really liked the throwback uniforms Auburn wore against Vanderbilt. The 1957 team was honored at halftime, so the Tigers wore modified duds to more closely mimic the '57 look. Lester said he and several other players approached Tuberville about keeping the throwback thing going. No dice. Tuberville squashed the idea immediately.Linebackers coach James Willis was cryptic tonight when asked about getting LBs Tray Blackmon and Merrill Johnson back on the field. He said: ``That day will come very soon." Hmmm.Your players of the week:Offense: FB "Cartoon" Carl Stewart
Defense: LB Chris Evans
Special teams: S Mike McNeil
Defensive scouts: DB Wade Christopher
Offensive scouts: QB Jonathan Vickers
**I don't know what Zac Etheridge has to do to get some love. He was everywhere against Vanderbilt, and was doing that with an injured shoulder.
Pretty uneventful meeting with Tuberville. He said C Jason Bosley hasn't been fully examined yet. He missed the second half of Saturday's game because of what Tuberville said was a sprained knee. Tuberville also mentioned casually that T Lee Ziemba will be switching from the right to left side next season. I found that mildly interesting. Also, Tuberville said the coaching staff was prepared to use another true freshman, WR Quindarius Carr, during the weekend. Ultimately, they didn't need him.Here are the true freshmen currently playing:
S Mike McNeil
DE Antoine Carter
QB Kodi Burns
OL Lee Ziemba
OL Chaz Ramsey
OL Ryan Pugh
WR Chris Slaughter
K Wes Byrum
CB Ryan Williams
LB Josh Bynes
LB Bo Harris
P Patrick Tatum
TBA: DE/LB Brent Slusher. May or may not be eligible for a redshirt.
Here are the redshirt freshmen currently playing:
TB Mario Fannin
OL Big Snacks Berry
S Zac Etheridge
LB Craig Stevens
P Ryan Shoemaker
DE Mike Goggans
OL Byron Isom
WR Tim Hawthorne
DT Mike Blanc
DT Zach Clayton
OL Bart Eddins
That's a lot of young guys.
Here is my AP top 25 poll for the week. Made a big adjustment on Boston College, which I ranked No. 20 last week. Too low. Oregon is pretty high for a one-loss team, but the loss was to Cal and it was mighty close.1. LSU
2. Cal
3. Ohio State
4. South Florida
5. Oregon
6. Missouri
7. South Carolina
8. Boston College
9. West Virginia
10. Oklahoma
11. Southern Cal
12. Virginia Tech
13. Wisconsin
14. Kentucky
15. Florida
16. Arizona State
17. Hawaii
18. Cincinnati
19. Auburn
20. Kansas
21. Illinois
22. Georgia
23. Florida State
24. Texas A&M
25. Virginia
DROPPED OUT
22. Purdue
19. Texas
23. Kansas State
21. UCLA
24. Michigan State
Did anyone notice Texas A&M's win against Oklahoma State last night? The Aggies are 5-1. I voted them in my top 25. And they're going to run Dennis Franchione? Seriously?
posted by Jay G. Tate at
10:21 AM
12 Comments:
Your poll is much saner than the current coaches. I prefer your poll too over the AP.
USC should have been dropped out of the top 10(at least). Boston College has played who? Georgia Tech? Where is GT at again? Oh, and BC has Notre Dame next week.
BC is a pretty good club. Being an undefeated major-conference school, even with a pretty light schedule, deserves some respect.
This might be the biggest "what if" year for Auburn. What if we don't turn the ball over 5 times against South Florida? What if we don't do the same against MSU? What if we only lose to South Florida? What if Cox plays good at the BEGINNING of the year? With all the upsets that have occured, Auburn has probably missed out on a great opportunity this year. We can still win the SEC, but man, we could easily be undefeated right now, and ranked #2 or #3.
Auburn could be undefeated, sure, but I don't think this team would be better at 6-0. Does that make sense? If the defense didn't feel like it had to carry this team every week, maybe those guys wouldn't have played with such vigor. And had that defense not played so effectively in September, this team would be D.O.N.E.
I don't like what-if scenarios. Not my thing.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sorry about the deletion.. My spelling was horrible...
I was saying that BC hasnt played anyone at all yet. I am not sure the Natl Champ game will be composed of the top 5 we see.
You're right on there. It's a weird season for the top 25. I'm not convinced of any team's greatness.
Cal is really good. Oregon is really good. Those two and LSU, to me, are the class of college ball right now.
I also find the poll voters troubling because Wisconsin was an underdog against Illinois and they drop 12,14 spots in both polls.
USC was a 40 point favorite at home against Standford and they stay in the top 10 ( #10- AP, #7- Coaches).
Also, a season like this is why we should do away with preseason polls.
Polls should come out first week of october. Meaning this poll would be the first.
I don't know what's up with all the USC love. I dropped 'em a ways. Losing to Stanford is a real stinker.
I disagree with the idea of delaying the AP poll until October. This gives teams something to talk about and helps casual fans gauge which teams are good. Late-season polls are more meaningful, no doubt, but that doesn't mean early-season polls are worthless. Just take 'em lightly.
You hearing that, Boston College fans?
Couple of things. First, Why Georgia and not Tennessee? I guess we'll know more about UGA after they play Floria but they (and roar warrior coach Richt) were completely humbled in Knoxvegas. Seems to me that UGA and UT are about of equal stature right now.
Second, USC is a good team that had a bad day. Stanford did exactly what they had to do to win but USC is a better team. Hard to drop them too far. Wisc was way overrated at #5 so the big fall makes more sense (I guess that is point #3 but who's counting).
Hey Jay, in your Sunday article you incorrectly stated that Pat Lee has one pick, this year. He actually had another against Tebow.
I agree with Jay about the what-if scenarios. We're usually a hard team to guage. If we were undefeated going to Florida we probably would have lost. I generally say the same thing about last year after the Arkansas lost. Come on, you know how we are. We play better as underdogs.
On another note, this Arkansas team will be just as determined with two losses already in the SEC.
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