Sack Record

[AUloggerhead 2,356]

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AUBURN -- When Auburn sacked Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle 11 times on Saturday, it was impressive.

On Sunday, the distinction became historic.

Auburn media relations staff members reviewed every box score since 1982, when sack totals were first kept in play-by-play stats, and determined that Auburn's 11 sacks had broken the school's single-game record.  The previous high was nine sacks against Louisiana Tech on Oct. 9, 2004.

Auburn has registered eight sacks against Kentucky (Oct. 23, 2004), Central Florida (Nov. 6, 1999) and Georgia Tech (Oct. 17, 1987). Auburn totaled seven sacks against Ole Miss (Sept. 13, 1997 and Oct. 30, 2004) and Central Florida (Nov. 7, 1998).

After an injury-riddled season, defensive end Stanley McClover celebrated Saturday with 3½ sacks.

"I think he's been getting healthy here lately, but this is the first time we had him in predictable passing situations on a regular basis," Auburn defensive coordinator David Gibbs said. "That allowed him to really tee off and get off on the football."

McClover said he focused on disrupting Croyle early.

"We knew we had to get pressure from the start," he said. "We had a lot of motivation. We wanted to get Brodie rattled, and that is what we did. We got him on the first play of the game.

"We just tried to show that we have the best defense in the SEC. It means everything, especially for the seniors."

-- IN THE CONFERENCE: Auburn is 15-1 in SEC regular season games over the last two seasons. Since the SEC adopted divisional play in 1992, only four teams have won 15 games in two seasons.

The 1995-1996 Florida squads went 16-0. Tennessee went 15-1 during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Florida also went 15-1 over the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

-- SURPRISE APPEARANCE: Tristan Davis, whose career as a running back was thought to be over after his big day in the Kentucky blowout two weeks ago, made a surprise appearance in the first quarter Saturday.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville has said Davis' future is at safety, despite the big runs that Davis has put together this season in his limited role as a running back.

On Saturday, Davis carried once for a 2-yard loss and never touched the ball again.

-- ANOTHER ONE: Expect plenty of punt-return practice to be on the agenda in the weeks ahead as Auburn readies for its bowl.

Fumble-prone punt returner Tre Smith added another drop on Saturday.

In the third quarter, Smith was hit immediately after fielding a punt and lost control of the ball. Auburn recovered the fumble, but Tuberville was noticeably peeved.

Smith fumbled two punts on Oct. 30 against Ole Miss (although one of the fumbles was overruled by instant replay). A week later, he fumbled a punt against Kentucky, leading to a Wildcats' touchdown.

It's a pity about Tristan Davis. I think he'd make a terrific RB as well. Watch the replay -- on Ben Obomanu's TD run, Davis hustles downfield and makes a spectacular block on Castille in the end zone allowing Obo to walk into the end zone untouched. I mean Obo probably scores on his own anyways, but it's nice to see that kind of hustle & desire -- and watching Castille getting knocked off his feet and sent sprawling was a nice touch, too! WDE Tristan!

[penguin149 391]

I saw that block too!! I know Ben was slowing down but Tristan was a blue streak across the screen...that guy can pick 'em up and put 'em down! I trust to coaches to put him in the best spot, but with that kind of speed, somewhere in the offensive scheme seems too attractive to deny!

[McWeagle 4]

TD as punt returner perhaps? If his first position is DB, then he's got to have decent hands, right?

That block was probably my favorite part of that play. It really represented the entire game in a nutshell ("an afternoon of relentless brutality", as one journalist put it).