News of the day, 10/8

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Auburn-LSU will be carried on ESPN with an 8 p.m. kickoff.

Hey everyone. It's Arkansas time. You know what that means: Tommy Tuberville gets excited. He's an Arkansas native, may or may not have turned down the Arkansas job in 1997 and has taken several swipes at UA through the years. His allegedly stormy relationship with coach Houston Nutt is overrated, though.

Tuberville's father, C.R., was an influential high-school referee in Arkansas when Nutt's father was an influential high-school coach in Arkansas. So Tuberville knew the Nutts. I never got the feeling Tuberville loved or hated Houston Nutt. I've read some columns suggesting a rift -- and I love drama -- but I don't think that's accurate.

We are pleased that you'd break off a little piece of time to peruse the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net. It's the only blog that loves you back.

Our international reach continues to spread. The HABOTN took hits last week from Nicaragua and Ukraine. Welcome aboard.

I'll update defensive goals and production numbers around noon. I'm sure Chris Evans had a big day because he earned Defensive P.O.W. honors this week. Big money says Zac Etheridge was right there. Zac must have kicked a coach's dog or something to keep missing P.O.W. honors.

Here are your top defensive producers from the Vanderbilt game game. Players are given points for doing significant things correctly. They are docked points for missing assignments, missing tackles, penalties or loafing:

FROM VU GAME:
LB Chris Evans -- 28
FS Zac Etheridge -- 24
CB Pat Lee -- 19
S Eric Brock -- 19
DE Antonio Coleman -- 16
LB Craig Stevens -- 16
DE Mike Goggans -- 13
CB Ryan Williams -- 10
DT Zach Clayton -- 8
DE Sen'Derrick Marks -- 8
LB Josh Bynes -- 8
CB Jerraud Powers -- 5

SEASON OVERALL:
Evans -- 116
Etheridge -- 110
Powers -- 106
Lee -- 101
Marks -- 100
Coleman -- 87
DE Quentin Groves -- 79

NUMBER OF DOUBLE-DIGIT PRODUCTION GAMES:
Etheridge -- 6
Lee, Brock, Coleman, Marks, Powers -- 5
Stevens, Evans -- 4
S Aairon Savage, Groves, Sims -- 3

Here are your team defensive goals for the AU-Vanderbilt game.

Win: YES, 35-7
Allow 13 pts or less: YES, 7
Allow 3.3 yards per carry or less: NO, 3.8
Allow 5.0 yards per pass or less: YES, 2.2
Create at least 3 turnovers: YES, 3
Allow no big plays (defined as 15+ rush or 20+ pass): NO on run (2); YES on pass (0)
Allow no TDs inside "red area": NO, 1
Force opponent to convert less than 30% on 3rd down: YES, 27%

Vanderbilt's YAC (yards after catch) number was 42.

Auburn's baseball recruiting class was ranked as the nation's fifth best today by Baseball America. The magazine said the group is marked by ``offensive firepower, which compares favorably with any class in the nation.”

The tri-county area is represented well in the class: outfielder Justin Jones (Stanhope Elmore), pitcher Cory Luckie (Prattville) and infielder Chezz McCann (Edgewood Academy).