AU 1-3 in last 4 Openers

[DKW 86 7,410]

http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite?pag...ts%21index.html

Auburn favored to win SEC title

Collin Mickle  / Staff Writer

July 29, 2006

HOOVER - First, the good news for the Auburn football team: The vast majority of the media thinks AU will win the Southeastern Conference this year.

Now the bad news: The media is almost never right.

And there’s more bad news: The last time the Tigers had this much preseason buzz was 2003. That season, of course, was one long disappointment that nearly cost coach Tommy Tuberville his job.

More than 100 voters at the SEC’s annual Media Days filled out a projected order of finish in the conference. Of those, 73 picked AU to win the SEC, and 87 tabbed the Tigers to win the Western Division.

Of course, the media’s predictions have been wrong 12 of the last 14 seasons.

And Tuberville certainly remembers how dangerous it can be to have too much good press too soon.

“I appreciate the target you put on my back,” Tuberville deadpanned Friday during his address to the media. “Last time you did that, you almost got me fired.”

Meanwhile, AU’s players say they’re not listening to their own hype.

“To be honest, we really haven’t gotten caught up in the headlines, the expectations,” linebacker Will Herring said. “That’s kind of been news to me the past few days.”

Still, there’s no denying the Tigers’ talent. AU had five players named first-team preseason all-conference Friday: tailback Kenny Irons, guard Tim Duckworth, linebacker Will Herring, cornerback David Irons and punter Kody Bliss.

Those players and the rest of the senior class will be the heart of this season’s team, along with quarterback Brandon Cox. Leadership is the key to success, as Tuberville never tires of saying.

And all three of AU’s representatives at Media Days - Tuberville, Herring and wideout Courtney Taylor - compared this year’s senior class to the star-studded seniors of 2004. That class, of course, was instrumental in the Tigers’ 13-0 run that season.

But AU’s talent and all its preseason publicity won’t mean anything on Sept. 2. That’s when the Tigers open the season against Washington State. And every member of the team, from Tuberville on down, knows AU’s recent history in season-openers.

The Tigers have lost two of their last three opening games. In 2004, the opener was a lackluster 31-0 win against Louisiana-Monroe. In 2003 and 2005, the first games were much worse: Ugly losses to Southern California and Georgia Tech.

So, though the opener is just one game in a marathon 12-game schedule, it’s getting plenty of emphasis.

“I want to play good early,” Tuberville said. “We put emphasis on that in the spring and all through the summer. We want to play as a contender early. I don’t want to come out slow.”

[GoAU 1,599]

I think the hype is great. We've proven we can consistantly field great teams, and that we have players with upstanding character. The only "unproven" in my opinion is living up to hype. Like '03 and the Cap One Bowl last season - our team needs to learn to back up the hype with their actions. Don't take my comments as negativity toward our team - I just look at this as a great opportunity to erase (or at least overshadow) the blemish from '03.

War Damn Eagle!

[rolltoomer 0]

'03 was Tuberville's biggest mistake: thinking an O-line coach could run Petrino's offense. Never mind that his thinking was based on not to putting Campbell through another system change.

The biggest difference between '03 and '06 (on paper) can be summed up in one word--Borges.

There are other differences, but that's the big one.

We don't have a lock on "hype collapses". In 2000 uat was picked number 3 pre-season and uat fans were livid that it was that low. They never recovered from the loss to UCLA, engineered by (who else) Al Borges. With some input from Auburn, I might add.

[SKCAUB 0]

Have no fear, ladies and gentlemen. The game against WSU is on the Deuce....

[OKieAuburnDoug 1]

but NOT in HD! Not on Cox Cable anyway!

[damabama 15]

1- 3 in openers...but 4 - 0 in regular season enders in that same period of time. it aint always how you start, but how you finish that matters most.

[CapstoneCAS 0]

It's a proven fact that both Bama and Auburn play better as the underdogs

[damabama 15]

seems like during the time frame under review, the only time the 'dog played better was in 02. if only looking at openers and enders.

[DKW 86 7,410]

It's a proven fact that both Bama and ALLBARN play better as the underdogs

253471[/snapback]

Its a proven fact that the more we beat Alabama on the field, the sillier and more strident their fans get off the field.

[tiger88 934]

If we treat this as anything less than a huge SEC game we may get into trouble. Don't forget the coaches wife died of cancer during the offseason so they may come out with an huge fire in their bellies.

[Raven_tiger 5]

I think the hype is great.  We've proven we can consistantly field great teams, and that we have players with upstanding character.  The only "unproven" in my opinion is living up to hype.  Like '03 and the Cap One Bowl last season - our team needs to learn to back up the hype with their actions.  Don't take my comments as negativity toward our team - I just look at this as a great opportunity to erase (or at least overshadow) the blemish from '03.

War Damn Eagle!

253424[/snapback]

2003 had everything to do with having an incompetent OC, not hype. Does anyone not believe that had Petrino stayed on as OC in 2003, we would have finished with a better record?

[WeagleDMS 0]

If we treat this as anything less than a huge SEC game we may get into trouble. Don't forget the coaches wife died of cancer during the offseason so they may come out with an huge fire in their bellies.

253554[/snapback]

To be honest, I don't feel the coaches late wife is really the greatest source of motivation. Maybe if it happened the week of the game and they wanted to win it for coach but they'll forget about how sorry they are for him and his loss during two a days when he's running their butts off.

[freebody 0]

I think the hype is great.  We've proven we can consistantly field great teams, and that we have players with upstanding character.  The only "unproven" in my opinion is living up to hype.  Like '03 and the Cap One Bowl last season - our team needs to learn to back up the hype with their actions.  Don't take my comments as negativity toward our team - I just look at this as a great opportunity to erase (or at least overshadow) the blemish from '03.

War Damn Eagle!

253424[/snapback]

2003 had everything to do with having an incompetent OC, not hype. Does anyone not believe that had Petrino stayed on as OC in 2003, we would have finished with a better record?

253620[/snapback]

I wouldn't say "incompetent" in the usual connotation. I would say "inexperienced", definitely. Nall was just trying to do too much - adapt to the predecessor's offensive philosophy, run someone else's offensive plan after only one year of overlap, and learn to coordinate the O on-the-fly, all while coaching more individual players than any other position coach out there. No one else has to coach-up as many guys at one time as does the o-line coach, and if he is trying to handle coordinator duties (and a rookie at it to boot), then of course there will be a shortfall somewhere. I think that is why the line had so many problems in those first two games of 2003 - Nall was not able to make the in-game adjustments to the stunts and twists of USC's d-line, and gt just copied the usc game plan.

I think that was the prime fault Tuberville had in that experiment - delegating that much to one guy and overloading him on his "first rodeo", especially with the non-native philosophy. Nall is a great o-line coach, and I am proud he is at Auburn, but that year was not a fair and accurate measure of his abilities as an OC.