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Aschoff loves AU


WarEagle84

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Auburn has the perfect 2015 template for SEC, national titles

Edward Aschoff, ESPN Staff Writer

Auburn will play in and win the national championship.

Nothing left to see here but a bunch of toilet paper littering the Plains on a brisk January morning.

I know we are all so enamored with the return of Urban Meyer's Buckeyes and while Ohio State might have the best team on paper, you'd have to be nuts to pick them.

Listen, I like Ohio State. Meyer is one of the top two coaches in the country and his team is absolutely loaded. But the Buckeyes remind me of that super fast sports car you want -- you need -- but it's just not built for the long run. Gas mileage is an issue when you put more pressure on the pedal.

You need something with speed, power and looks that will get you through the storms, muck and cluttered highways at rush hour. That's Auburn. Auburn is a Jeep Grand Cherokee -- it has the speed to take off on the open road but the power to intimidate dainty hatchbacks from merging into your lane too soon. It can weave in and out of traffic, but can also truck through the muddier parts of those back wood trails.

Ohio State, you're good -- great, really -- but take a backseat in 2015. This is Auburn's year.

Auburn has the perfect blueprint for navigating the treacherous SEC West. The Tigers are loaded in all the right places and have a defensive genius helping.

It starts with Gus Malzahn, the mad scientist. Don't let the sweater vest, tweed jacket-wearing professor glasses or his soft voice fool you. Malzahn has an evil offensive side. Deep in the underbelly of Jordan-Hare Stadium lies a lab where Malzahn cooks up new formations, movements and stretches to baffle minds. No sane man constructs an offense that averages 293.2 rushing yards and 200.2 passing yards in 27 games as a head coach in the SEC.

Auburn has scored 36.5 points per game in SEC play and averaged 6.7 and 6.9 yards per game in each of the last two seasons. Something tells me this kid's all right.

Now his power run-first offense has a premier passer. Meet Jeremy Johnson, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound sledgehammer quarterback who reminds us of some guy who had a great smile and a national championship at Auburn.

Cameron Something.

Anyway, Johnson has only played in 13 career games with two starts, but the coaches absolutely love what he can do with that right arm. The NCAA is actually investigating whether it's an actual cannon. Oh, and he will run over people, like a lot of people.

But he hasn't played enough SEC ball to be considered a hero, Edward!

Zip it! You know who else hadn't played enough SEC ball to be considered a hero but turned into one? Nick Marshall.

That arm will make this offense that much more potent/balanced when you add a running game that has led the SEC in rushing the last two years. Cameron Artis-Payne went from a reserve to leading the SEC with 1,608 rushing yards last year. So can Roc Thomas, Jovon Robinson and Peyton Barber!

When teams are actually afraid of what you'll do in the air, they back out of the box more. You just gave Auburn more room to run the ball; congrats on your catastrophic miscalculation, coach!

That defense was downright putrid at times last year!

Go and grab a copy of the timeless classic album "Big Willie Style" and everything will be clear. Will Mushcamp's got this, like Will Smith in this AMAZING shiny, poofy, blue getup. (Sideline dancing, please!)

His Florida defenses never ranked lower than 20th nationally in scoring defense or 15th in total defense in four years. Florida gave up fewer than 4.6 yards per play in three of Muschamp's four years in Gainesville.

This won't be an overnight transformation for Auburn's defense, which gave up 400-plus yards in seven of its last eight games. I'm guessing a fortnight. In a league moving in an offensive direction, Auburn has a juggernaut offense and one of the best defensive minds in the country on its side. That's a deadly combo in the SEC.

And have you seen that defensive line? Rush end Carl Lawson is back from cryogenic sleep following his ACL injury and will lead the SEC in sacks. Freshman Byron Cowart will spell him here and there, but Mad Muschamp will figure out a way to get them on the field at the same time, which could cause the universe to collapse or a few quarterbacks to cry. I'm really not sure.

Montravius Adams has linebacker speed for a nose tackle and the agility of a big, burly, beastly ballerina. And the secondary is in good hands with Muschamp running things, so don't fret about the long ball, Tigers fans.

Buckeyes, Frogs, Elephants and Bears beware.

It's the year of the Tiger.

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He's just the latest to hop aboard the bandwagon like others in the media this year.

If this is from a blog open to public comments, it's a great ESPN clickbait piece to incite trash talking.

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cryogenic sleep..lol i like this guy..but yeah just like JJ, I'm tired of all the hype...it's hard to get that putrid defense from last year out of my mind, smacking louisville around is the perfect remedy

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I hope we can live up to all this hype and it doesn't go to the players heads. I know that sounds Debbie Downer but we tend to play better when we have something to prove.

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This is the first season I've been almost (almost) more concerned about September than what waits for us in November. Be undefeated after away games vs Louisville & LSU, get early quality experience for all this young talent we're sporting, and we might be golden.

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