The Sporting News

[Erik81 0]

Big game hunting

First thing, Tommy Tuberville goes for the bomb. Got to hit 'em quick. He reaches into his playbook for the good stuff.

"You know," Tuberville begins, "this time last year I had already turned in my application to Wal-Mart to be a greeter.'

Laughter explodes in this handsome suburban Atlanta banquet hall, where several hundred have gathered to hear the Auburn University football coach address the Atlanta Touchdown Club. As the laughter subsides, Tuberville adds, "What a difference a year makes."

Indeed.

Helium-filled expectations greeted Auburn in 2003. Some, including -- cough, cough -- this magazine, regarded the Tigers as potential national champions. Auburn proceeded to lose its first two games, to Southern California and Georgia Tech, go 8-5 and become embroiled in an ugly display of deceit and power that almost led to Tuberville's dismissal.

Now, Auburn is 9-0 and daydreaming about a national championship. It is No. 3 in both polls and the BCS rankings and already has clinched the SEC West title. It has done so with an ill-tempered, stingy, piranha-school defense and a versatile offense with more wrinkles than a Willie Nelson-Keith Richards duet.

"They have earned every accolade they've gotten," Mississippi coach David Cutcliffe said before the Rebels' lost to Auburn on October 30.

Now, all Auburn needs is to knock off Georgia this weekend, then Alabama and then most likely Tennessee in the SEC championship game. And for Southern California or Oklahoma to stumble. Simple stuff, huh?

There is tremendous irony wrapped around all of this. Much as high expectations contributed to Auburn's 2003 woes, low expectations might keep the Tigers from the national title game in Miami. Instead of already being at the top looking down, the Tigers came out of nowhere -- OK, 17th in the first AP poll -- so they've had to make a steady climb.

Now, they've hit a glass ceiling. No. 1 USC and No. 2 Oklahoma loom above, also unbeaten. Oklahoma has a higher overall strength of schedule, according to the NCAA -- eighth, to Auburn's 18th -- so if all three run the table, it's unlikely enough voters or computer polls will be swayed to bump Auburn any higher. Not even if it beats Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, which would be the most impressive hat trick in college football this year.

Short of a NCAA Football 2004 showdown on PlayStation 2, we might never know how Auburn would hold up against Oklahoma and USC. But considering the Tigers' quick defense, including a great linebacker unit and a potential All-American in safety Junior Rosegreen, it's difficult to imagine Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson running wild. Auburn hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher all season. And as good as USC's defense is, it would have a difficult time coping with the Tigers' offensive versatility. Auburn has two quality running backs, and quarterback Jason Campbell has fewer interceptions and a higher completion percentage than USC's Matt Leinart and 2003 Heisman winner Jason White of Oklahoma.

The only way to find out for sure: Play it out. On the field. That's Tuberville's plea.

"I can't imagine a team winning 12 games, including a conference championship game, and not having an opportunity to play for the national championship," he says. "There's obviously something wrong with the system."

"It would be good to have three or four undefeated teams. They'd have to make a change, there would be such an outcry. They're probably thinking it's not going to happen, and it may not happen this year, but it will sooner or later."

Then again, it could be a moot point. Auburn has been a bit vulnerable to the pass, and both Georgia and Tennessee like to fling it around. Georgia's defense held Auburn to 123 yards in the first three quarters of the 2003 game and forced three turnovers. And seldom, if ever, has anything logical happened in an Alabama-Auburn game.

"We have a chance to do something special," Tuberville says. And he knows full well there is a chance it all could collapse somewhere between now and the Orange Bowl. Which is why he constantly utters the old play-'em-one-at-a-time mantra. The players have bought it -- mostly.

"We try not to get caught up in (the hype)," defensive end Stanley McClover says. "You can't take anything lightly. I can't say we don't think about it, because we think about it all the time. But we stay focused."

Campbell says, "If you're a true competitor, you have dreams about being a champion and holding a big championship trophy. It's what drives me every day."

A fifth-year senior, Campbell absorbed an unfair share of the blame and abuse for Auburn's past failings. Before the season, he was clicking through channels and came across a network piece about the Tigers that didn't give him very good reviews.

"They started talking about (Miami quarterback) Brock Berlin and me, and how the light bulb hadn't hit both of us," he says. The light bulb is shining brightly now. Campbell's signature series was a 60-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter against LSU. It included a fourth-and-12 completion and a game-winning touchdown pass to Courtney Taylor with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Campbell is a contender for the Johnny Unitas Award and has been mentioned among the top five Heisman candidates. When the season started, he wasn't even considered one of the top five quarterbacks in the SEC.

Says offensive coordinator Al Borges, "He's been through some pains here, and he was ready to come into his own. He's lucky enough to be surrounded by some good players. He's very confident, and they're confident in him."

Borges, in his first season at Auburn, has installed a West Coast-style offense -- "a hybrid, really," he says -- that takes advantage of Campbell's skills, a mammoth line anchored by 6-9, 332-pound Marcus McNeill, some draw-it-up-in-the-dirt play-calling imagination and two gifted running backs: Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Ronnie Brown. Williams (862 yards on 167 carries, nine touchdowns) and Brown (689 yards on 95 carries, seven touchdowns) both pondered skipping their senior seasons to enter the NFL draft before deciding at the last minute to remain at Auburn.

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That Tuberville still is at Auburn is even more remarkable. The week before the Auburn-Alabama game last year, two Auburn trustees, Earlon McWhorter and Byron Franklin, secretly boarded a plane owned by Bobby Lowder, the school's most influential -- or meddlesome, say his many critics -- booster. Also on the flight were former school president William Walker and athletics director David Housel.

They traveled to meet with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino, a former Auburn assistant, about replacing Tuberville. "It was a mistake," Housel says, "no question about it." Housel, whose retirement was hastened by the journey, admits ruefully, "We Auburn people have a way of fighting on the front porch and fighting in the yard. We handle our business in a very public way."

Tuberville and Lowder met privately after the debacle, and the coach claims there are no hard feelings. He calls the affair "a great learning experience for everybody.

"That's something you don't ever want to put coaches, families and all the players (through). You're taught as a coach and a player to have pro-tocol, to do things right. And, all of a sudden, you've got somebody who goes behind your back. It doesn't set a good precedent for young people."

With a twinkle, Tuberville laughs, "Since that time, I'm 11-0. I'm making a comeback."

Wal-Mart better look somewhere else. Especially if Tuberville can stretch the streak to 14-0 before a bowl game. Auburn plays Georgia at home this weekend, then visits rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where Auburn won 17-7 in 2002 and 9-0 in 2000.

If, as expected, the Tigers catch Tennessee in the SEC title game December 4, it would be a rematch of Auburn's 34-10 win in early October. Should the pieces fall neatly into place, there would be some symmetry to it all. In its final game, Auburn could play for the national championship in the Orange Bowl against USC, the team it met in the 2003 opener, when all of the expectations began to crumble.

Strolling from the banquet hall, Tuberville had both a smile and a wince.

"I'm trying not to think about that," he says.

But it's a fascinating thought. What a difference a season really could make.

[SCWarEagle 4]

I tell ya, my goosebumps have goosebumps.

[cadillacattack 0]

Great cover picture and great post. Thanks for sharing....

[bigsixfive 327]

Great cover picture and great post. Thanks for sharing....

120635[/snapback]

I disagree.... We're Number 1!!! (In my book.)

Did anyone see SportsCenter last night? We need to check and see if the ground is getting cold because hell just might be freezing over. They were elated with our team and could not say enough good things about it (even said we're playing way better than OU and should at least be number 2). WHY ARENT THEY VOTING US THAT WAY?? Oh well, it was nice for AU to be presented on SC in a positive light.

[AU4Ever 0]

Not that it matters, but Mark May and the illustrious Trev Alberts are both high on UA for this game. May pointed out that the AU offense has shown new wrinkles for every game, and the D was playing 'lights out'.

EDIT: My original edit was changing the UA (how could I have type it backwards, please forgive me).......... now I'm making the second one to change it again, guess the first edit fell into the pile of bits and bytes under my monitor) WAR EAGLE

[mcgufcm 4,096]

you mean AU? that's just awful to call us ua... i never want to be lumped in with those people.

[chinook 0]

i hope sporting news doesn't have a curse!

[GoAU 1,600]

Nice read, thanks for sharing.