Auburn 2004 Backfield...

[WAR EAGLE!!! 0]

Good article by Ivan Maisel.

Quote of the article...

Tailbacks Carl Stewart, Kenny Irons and the dependable, if undersized, Tre Smith, took nearly all of the snaps in spring practice a year ago. Offensive coordinator Al Borges, who had been on campus only a few weeks, walked over to Tuberville at practice one day and asked, "Carnell and Ronnie are better than these guys?"

"That," Tuberville recalled, "was the quote of the spring."

Here is the link.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?id=2008666

I am only 27, but I can't remember a backfield in my lifetime with 2 RB's (not one but 2) in the same backfield along with a Quarterback (All-SEC, SEC Champ Game MVP, and Sugar Bowl MVP) that were any better....

Can any of you old farts...I mean older guys...think of any backfield that can compare???

[Longtrainn 2]

I have a few that are close, just off the top of my head.

2001 Miami - Ken Dorsey, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee.

1997 Tennessee - Peyton Manning, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry (Even though Jamal and Travis were only freshmen then.)

1995 Nebraska - Tommie Frazier, Ahman Green.

And as much as I hate to say it,

2003-04-05 USC - Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White (Of course, Reggie isn't really a running back, he's more of a WR/kick returner, playmaker)

There are some that had a lot of talent in their backfield, but rarely had multiple RBs on the field at once, like we did last year. We used ours to the best of their ability, and obviously it paid off. I think ours beats all of these, but some of them are pretty close.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

i wrote maisel. i brought up okie state with barry and thurman, but i had no qb. i also had craig james and erik dickerson without a qb at smu. i didn't come up with miami (good pull), but i rebutted the usc argument with this: jason's stats are only slightly inferior to leinart, caddilac is a world better than lendale white (the leading rusher), and ronnie b is AT LEAST even with reggie bush. caddilac's advatage gives us the edge. i brought up tennessee, but i also pointed out that henry basically never saw the field... travis stephens had just as many carries.

in short, i certainly couldn't come up with anyone clearly better. so i couldn't really disagree with tubs. miami is a great comparison except for the fact that willis literally never touched the field (he was third string behind fellow freshman frank gore). that team also had najeh davenport who is a solid player for the pack as well as the owner of funniest moment off the field when he crapped in a girl's dorm room closet while drunk (after climbing through the window i might add).

[Longtrainn 2]

i wrote maisel. i brought up okie state with barry and thurman, but i had no qb. i also had craig james and erik dickerson without a qb at smu. i didn't come up with miami (good pull), but i rebutted the usc argument with this: jason's stats are only slightly inferior to leinart, caddilac is a world better than lendale white (the leading rusher), and ronnie b is AT LEAST even with reggie bush. caddilac's advatage gives us the edge. i brought up tennessee, but i also pointed out that henry basically never saw the field... travis stephens had just as many carries.

in short, i certainly couldn't come up with anyone clearly better. so i couldn't really disagree with tubs. miami is a great comparison except for the fact that willis literally never touched the field (he was third string behind fellow freshman frank gore). that team also had najeh davenport who is a solid player for the pack as well as the owner of funniest moment off the field when he crapped in a girl's dorm room closet while drunk (after climbing through the window i might add).

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Yeah, I wrote Maisel as well, and gave him my '01 Miami suggestion. But I added that they weren't better than ours, maybe equal but not better. And you're right about them not all getting pt, that's why I say that ours is still the best.

[Longtrainn 2]

As far as just RBs, without a QB, you could also go with 1999 Wisconsin (Dayne, Bennett), and I know that some time in the mid-90's Texas had Ricky Williams and Priest Holmes at the same time.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

From 1977-1980, had William Andrews, James Brooks, and Joe Cribbs in the backfield. That, in my opinion, is the best collegiate backfield over the past 50 years.

[JTTIGER 0]

I agree with TinS. Andrews, Cribbs and Brooks were mighty good!

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

If we want to talk just running backs, how about the Bo Jackson/Lionel James combo, followed by the one-two punch of Bo Jackson/Brent Fullwood. Those were no slackers. No great QBs at that time as far as passing, but who needed a great passer when you had a great option QB like Randy Campbell?

[BamaGrad03 0]

UGA had a good combo with Hearst and Davis.

[weaglewagon 1]

well, minus a QB, what about our own Stephen Davis & Fred Beasley in 95? Fred really didn't come into his own until 96-97, and Tot didn't help Davis out much with his 5-wideout sets all the freaking time, but still, 2 quality nfl backs.

[PChamp119 96]

The 2 best RBs in the country and the best QB in the country... its that simple folks

BTW, you can claim all the best backfields in America, but how many of those backfields went 13-0. Someone claimed the USC team this past year... but Auburn's was better.

[WarTim 3,456]

I agree. There is not a single backfield anywhere that can compare.

The '04 AU Tigers were a rare collection of GREAT players and even better humans.

Nobody even comes close....Nobody.

[Shug2003 1]

I agree that Cribbs, Andrews and Brooks were great backs as well as the fact that Bo, Lionel, and Fullwood were also great backs. I believe the key to making the statement about the best backfield in 50 years lies with who the QB was at the same time. IMO, we have never had as gifted RB's along with the QB as we had with Carnell, Ronnie and Jason. at the same time.

Since I graduated from Auburn in 1969, we have really piled on the list of AA's and all SEC players. Gosh, just think since then we have such players as:

Pat Sullivan

Terry Beasley

Joe Cribbs

James Brooks

William Andrews

Bo Jackson

Lionel James

Rudy Johnson

Patrick Nix

Reggie Slack

Lawyer Tillman

Trey Ganeous

Freddy Weygand

Stan White

Carnell

Ronnie

Jason

Brent Fullwood

Damyune Craig

Ed King

Tracy Rocker

Takeo Spikes

God, there are so many I can't even begin to remember them. Talk about tradition, Auburn has definately established a **** load of tradition for fine football players just since the late 1960's, not even counting the likes of Frederickson, SIdle, Nix, James, Tidwell, et al. When Bammer wants to crow about their "tradition" and claim we have none, I say read the record books.......WDE! Onward and Upward!

[AUesquire 1]

I'm of the opinion that you could throw a net over many of the AU combinations at RB and have a valid argument for any of them.

Not the greatest ever but for those that remember, SMU had a pretty stout combination at one time in Craig James and Eric Dickerson. There was one other back on that team that I can't remember the name of but they were all great college backs. Dickerson didn't do too bad in the NFL either.

I'm asking this cause' I don't remember. Who was in USC's backfield with OJ? Was it Bam Cunningham or did he come later?

[StatTiger 3,188]

The 1985 UF Gator backfield wasn't too shabby...

Kerwin Bell - QB and Neal Anderson - RB made the AP All-SEC team and John L. Williams - RB made 2nd team All-SEC.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

that's a good one. see the reason the ABC backfield and the bo/fullwood backfields don't add up is they had no versatility. none. there was no receiving threat out of the backfield, and there was no passing threat at qb. also, think about caddilac as a returner. basically you have to find a team that had great runners, a great passer, backs that could really do damage as receivers, a qb that could run, and a special teams element. that's going to be tough to do. that florida backfield is a really nice suggestion, but i doubt you'd find many outside of florida that would compare neal anderson to caddilac.

i'm trying to find a definitive backfield that i think, at the very least, we can't say "well our's was just better." that 01 miami backfield is close, but that's just looking at it retrospectively. if you just take that season... it's really not.

[StatTiger 3,188]

that's a good one. see the reason the ABC backfield and the bo/fullwood backfields don't add up is they had no versatility. none. there was no receiving threat out of the backfield, and there was no passing threat at qb. also, think about caddilac as a returner. basically you have to find a team that had great runners, a great passer, backs that could really do damage as receivers, a qb that could run, and a special teams element. that's going to be tough to do. that florida backfield is a really nice suggestion, but i doubt you'd find many outside of florida that would compare neal anderson to caddilac.

i'm trying to find a definitive backfield that i think, at the very least, we can't say "well our's was just better." that 01 miami backfield is close, but that's just looking at it retrospectively. if you just take that season... it's really not.

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Don't get me wrong, I would not take the 85 UF backfiled over our 04 backfield but you will be hard pressed to find a trio of players from the same backfield, who were recognized in the SEC as some of the top players in the SEC. As you pointed out, you can find a pair of great backs but without a QB. Or a combination of a great QB and RB in the same backfield. The 1994 Penn State backfield was Nationally recognized ( QB, RB and FB ).

[StatTiger 3,188]

1994 Penn State Backfield:

Kijana Carter-RB was the 1st pick in the 95 NFL draft. Collins- QB was the 5th pick in the first round of the 1995 NFL draft.

Jon Witman-FB and Brian Milne-FB were selected in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the 1996 NFL draft.

The combination of Collins, Carter and Milne produced the best offense in the history of Penn State Football.

251 rushing, 269 passing and 48 pts per game!

[swensks 0]

1994 Penn State Backfield:

Kijana Carter-RB was the 1st pick in the 95 NFL draft. Collins- QB was the 5th pick in the first round of the 1995 NFL draft.

Jon Witman-FB and Brian Milne-FB were selected in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the 1996 NFL draft.

  The combination of Collins, Carter and Milne produced the best offense in the history of Penn State Football.

251 rushing, 269 passing and 48 pts per game! 

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Dude. You are good!

I asked a couple of fellow Auburn grads at work today why they hadn't mentioned our 1998 backfield...Gabe Gross (QB) with Demontre Carter and Clifton Robinson. Wow...how things have changed since Tuberville has come to town.

[StatTiger 3,188]

I asked a couple of fellow Auburn grads at work today why they hadn't mentioned our 1998 backfield...Gabe Gross (QB) with Demontre Carter and Clifton Robinson.  Wow...how things have changed since Tuberville has come to town. 

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Hey... you left out Michael Burk's 400+ yards!

[WarTim 3,456]

Stop. You're killin' me!