What Auburn must do to win the SEC

[AWK 0]

The Auburn Tigers turned in an 11-2 season in 2006, but some of the Tigers' faithful walked away after the team's Cotton Bowl victory feeling less than satisfied.

They did so simply because Auburn's program has now reached an elite level. In accordance with that, people -- possibly including the players themselves -- are only happy when the Tigers win an SEC championship.

And that is not what happened in 2006.

So what are some of the things that need to happen in order for the Tigers to win the conference in 2007? Read on to find out.

Brandon Cox needs to improve on his sophomore season -- Notice Cox's junior year wasn't brought up? That's because injuries, inconsistent offensive line play, and a lack of receivers capable of making big plays caused Cox to take a step backward in 2006, even if he did show a measure of toughness in competing through his injury.

Thus, Cox will need to stay healthy and become a more reliable and consistent quarterback during his senior season -- one with some ups and downs -- if the Tigers are to have a chance at winning the SEC. In fact, Cox's growth, performance and health will be the single most important factors in Auburn's season. The good thing is that he's healthy now. Along with that, his throws in spring ball were much improved over what was seen in 2006.

The offensive line must jell and become consistent -- In some instances last season, the O-line played great. In others, it wasn't so formidable. Thus, there was a measure of consistency that was lacking. Beyond that, of course, the team must replace four starters on the line, and inexperience often breeds inconsistency.

Still, the Tigers still have talent on the line. The question is, Can they get that talent to jell and become consistent? After all, the smash-mouth way that Auburn likes to play on offense can only happen when the line is, well, smashing mouths.

A second (and third) wide receiver must be found -- Former walk on Rodgerquis Smith is the likely candidate to take over for Courtney Taylor as the No. 1 wideout. Though there are certainly some questions surrounding him that will only be answered once the season starts, Smith's spring ball performance has to have the faithful feeling positive.

But beyond Smith, no one has stepped up in any significant way. Thus, the Tigers need to find someone -- Prechae Rodriguez, a freshman, whomever -- to do so, or there could be trouble.

Another stud on defense must step up -- Quentin Groves is outstanding. But with Will Herring and David Irons gone to the NFL, who will be the other guy the Tigers count on in big spots?

Interestingly, there's the highly talented Tray Blackmon, but he has off-field questions. Could he be the guy? How about Josh Thompson?

n the end, the Tigers will have excellent running backs, as always (Mario Fannin, Brad Lester, Ben Tate and freshman Enrique Davis, among others). Further, they will possess some solid tight ends and a strong defense.

But there's a lot of talent in the SEC. Therefore, the aforementioned factors will be paramount if the Tigers want to grab a conference title.

Look what i found!

Do you agree or do you think there are other elements not mentioned? Discuss.

[jdub5793 0]

Kicking game

[vatz22au 142]

Cox looked sharp at 100% during spring.... not only that, but we have alot of potential big playmakers "for the future" at WR. I think that had alot to due with Cox's sharpness.

Our OL should be one of the weak links, but very talented. As someone stated before, last time that happened was in '04 minus the brutal road schedule.

As jdub posted, we will surely miss the punts of Kody Bliss. How many times did Bliss put us in excellent field position?

We'll have a good season.... very tough though.

[mcgufcm 4,107]

oddly, the one on the list that i'm not sure i agree with is the wide receiver play. brandon has to be lights out in all the big games for us to win the conference/more. no questions. there can't be a georgia tech, wisconsin, uga game tucked away at an important spot. that's a given. the oline has to jell or one of two things is going to happen: a ) brandon gets banged up again or b ) the running game never gets on track.

the passing game, though, looks pretty healthy to me. rod smith is solid. very ct-esque in that he's not a burner, but he is a physical player and a playmaker. but after your first option, this offense is built on spreading the ball, not on focusing on a 2nd or 3rd guy (like usc or teams like that). if we have a bunch of guys that can get open and we give brandon time, we're fine, and to me, it looks like we have that between smith, the tight ends (mckenzie and trott in particular), stewart, and billings. if you find one or two more guys who can make the occasional play (not necessarily become a traditional 2nd option), you're set. that group doesn't really worry me.

[PChamp119 96]

To win the SEC, Auburn must:

Win more games than the rest of the SEC West teams (or win a tiebreaker)

Then win the SEC Championship

[Tiger1992 999]

I hate to sound pessimistic, but I think before a second or third receiver is found, we need to find the first. I've got confidence in Rod Smith, but he hasn't been put in position yet to prove he can be the go-to guy.

Hopefully I'll look back in a couple of months and be eating those words.

[boyjeddah 1]

I hate to sound pessimistic, but I think before a second or third receiver is found, we need to find the first. I've got confidence in Rod Smith, but he hasn't been put in position yet to prove he can be the go-to guy.

Hopefully I'll look back in a couple of months and be eating those words.

I've heard BC did pretty good and passed for allot of yardage in the Spring game, who was his main target and how was the passing distribution??

[kingfish 73]

We are going to miss all the kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks ... with the move to the 30 yd line, it remains to be seen what our coverage will look like this year.