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Auburn looks like a champion

By Mark Bradley | Saturday, September 16, 2006, 11:10 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Auburn, Ala. — Two years ago the coach of an unbeaten team was forced to beg for votes that never came. Come this afternoon, the same coach will have all the votes he and his Auburn Tigers need. And this time Tommy Tuberville doesn’t have to say a word.

Asked Saturday his reaction to No. 2 Notre Dame’s crashing loss to Michigan, the coach of the nation’s No. 3 team said: “Tell me they didn’t [lose].” And then, prodded for a more incisive comment: “I can’t believe they lost.”

And then he smiled.

Funny how things work out. The 2004 Auburn Tigers couldn’t rise above No. 3 because Southern Cal and Oklahoma wouldn’t cooperate. Now Auburn is 3-0 and as good a bet as any team — Ohio State and Southern Cal included — to wind up No. 1. The Tigers’ epic victory over LSU, itself one of the nation’s five most talented teams, tells us all we need to know about this bunch.

The final score — Auburn 7, LSU 3 — looks unassuming. Looks deceive. “It was hard and physical, and that’s why it was 7-3,” Tuberville said. And then: “There was more speed in that game than I’ve seen in a long time.”

LSU plays great defense. Auburn played even better D Saturday. There being no Vince Young or Reggie Bush in college football this season, defense figures to settle the issue of who’s No. 1. If you can hold LSU without a touchdown, you can measure up against anybody anywhere. You can beat Florida and Georgia and Alabama, all of which remain on the Tigers’ schedule. You can win the SEC championship in the Georgia Dome. You can win in Arizona on Jan. 8.

What transpired here Saturday was a classic of the old-school strain. Auburn needed 19 minutes just to make a first down. LSU outgained its opponent by 127 yards but — forget about crossing the goal line — snapped the ball only once inside the Auburn 20. (And that play was nullified by a false start.) Said Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox: “The way our defense was playing, when we scored [on a sneak] I really thought [one touchdown] could win.”

One touchdown won, one touchdown and two huge plays by one strong safety. Eric Brock’s tip of JaMarcus Russell’s fourth-down pass inside the final three minutes caused officials to wave off the pass-interference penalty they’d assessed against teammate Zach Gilbert, and Brock’s thunderous tackle of Buster Davis drove the receiver to the turf at the Auburn 6 as time expired.

And that was that. LSU coach Les Miles was left to fuss about the refs, wondering why the interference call against Gilbert was overruled but a similar one against his side was allowed to stand. But that’s what a losing coach in a game of this magnitude does: He gripes about the officiating. (Meanwhile, Tuberville — who, as Mark Richt can attest, likes to give coaching advice — said of LSU’s final drive: “I’m surprised they didn’t throw it in the end zone a couple of times.”)

Miles might not be a championship coach. (His predecessor, Nick Saban, demonstrably was.) Tuberville, by way of contrast, seems destined for that exalted level. He and his assistants worked a lovely game Saturday, sticking with the run and the estimable Kenny Irons even when early returns weren’t promising. Irons finished with 70 yards rushing — “Like 150 on another day,” Tuberville said — and was the engine that powered the drive to the only touchdown.

That one touchdown stands to change the face of college football 2006. Auburn will surely be No. 2 in the new polls, and if you can stay No. 2 you’ll eventually get your shot at No. 1. Two years later, Tuberville and his Tigers are finally where they need to be.

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