Track Em Tigers: Front Page Posts

Skyhawks Tangle with the Tigers

Jay Coulter — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:00:08 -0000

Don't adjust your picture. These are the uniforms of the Skyhawks.

By Acid Reign
paraswarm@aol.com

November 8^th is Homecoming, at Auburn, and this year's tasty dessert for the day is the U. T. Martin Skyhawks. The scheduling of yet another Championship Subdivision team has been the topic of much debate among the Auburn faithful. While it can be argued that the inclusion of The Citadel on Auburn's 2004 schedule cost the Tigers a shot at the BCS title game, it's ancient history. The rules have changed, and big-time teams are scheduling lower-echelon teams in droves. Far more alarming is the fact that this game will the third year in a row that Auburn plays a cupcake, in preparation for the Georgia game. The past two seasons, Auburn toyed around with Arkansas State and Tennessee Tech, putting together lackluster efforts, only to follow that performance with a stinker against Georgia.

I would propose that unlike previous years, we should use this game as a tune up. Run the full offense and defense. The starters should go at least two series into the second half, regardless of how ugly the score gets. Auburn will be getting ready for a tremendous collision the next week, and it's no time to go soft. Georgia will be the biggest, meanest, nastiest team Auburn will face next season. Should we be in a position to possibly play in the BCS title game at the end of the year, a 50+ point beatdown will look a LOT better on the schedule, than a 27-0 struggle.

At first glance, the Skyhawks are a Championship Subdivision team coming in with a 4-7 record from a year ago, and hardly merit a look. The most notable fact revealed in the Auburn blogosphere to this point, is that the Skyhawk uniforms are a near carbon-copy of the uniforms Auburn wears. The only major-college challenge this team will have faced this season prior to this game, is a trip to face the South Florida Bulls for the season-opener. While this football game may well resemble another A-Day game, there is more to U. T. Martin than meets the eye.

Prior to the arrival of current head coach Jason Simpson, U. T. Martin had not been to the I-aa playoffs since 1988, and they had not won a conference road game since 1996. Under Simpson, in his first season, the Skyhawks won the Ohio Valley conference title, and advanced to a first-round playoff loss. Last year, the Skyhawks started the year ranked, but injuries, a slow start, and a bushel of close losses resulted in an 0-6 start. The Skyhawks finished strong, winning four of their last five. The Skyhawk offense came alive, and averaged over 46 points a game during those last five.

The Skyhawks run a fairly modern pro-passing scheme, on offense, with an emphasis on the running game. This year is likely to feature heavy doses of sophomore tailback Trace McDermott, who came on strong at the end of last year. McDermott won the team's "All American Award," for the best results of winter conditioning, this year. McDermott is a slashing, strong tailback in the mold of Kenny Irons, and will be trouble for any defense.

On defense, the Skyhawks run a 4-4 look, with the rover playing essentially a 4^th linebacker position. I would expect that the Skyhawks will have to modify that a bit, to match up with the Tony Franklin offense. U. T. Martin is unusually big and strong in the middle of the defensive line, for a Championship Subdivision team, but their ends and linebackers are light. Naturally, at a school this size, depth is an issue. When everyone was healthy last season, this was a pretty salty unit. With an injury or two, the floodgates would open.

U. T. Martin fields solid special teams, and both kicking specialists return. The team has not settled on starting return men, and this may be done by committee, this fall. The difficult thing to assess will be the coverage matchups. The UT Martin coverage units will have to use a lot of starters, to contain Auburn's speedy returners.

Matchups

(Note: I'm not going to waste the html/bandwidth typing "Advantage, Auburn" repeatedly. Auburn outclasses this team in every area.)

Auburn defensive line vs. U. T. Martin offensive line: Probably the most prominent lineman the Skyhawks have is returning senior guard Kevin Bannon, a 275-pound All-OVC player a year ago. If pressed, the Skyhawks can bring Quinton Groves off the bench at center.(!) Looking at the depth chart, this line is NOT SEC-sized. The average weight of the 5 starters is 255 pounds, and both guys on the right side are 240. That's the side that has to block SenDerrick Marks and Mike Goggans. Ouch.

Auburn linebackers vs.U. T. Martin runners: UT Martin lost their leading rusher to graduation, but they return a trio of capable ones, led by 210 pound sophomore Trace McDermott. None of the tailbacks are large, but they do have a pair of 230-pound fullbacks paving the way, in senior Romiell Dunlap and redshirt freshman Jarvis Perry. The Skyhawks are still looking for a short-yardage option. These are capable runners, but they'll be dealing with fast Auburn linebackers, and probably linemen running loose in the backfield, too.

Auburn corners vs. U. T. Martin receivers: The Skyhawks return 3 capable wide receivers, led by junior Roren Thomas, who led the team last season with 533 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. By an SEC scale, these guys are smallish, and none has blazing speed. Auburn's coverage should be able to stay with them with no problems.

Auburn safeties vs. U. T. Martin secondary receivers and quarterback: Martin returns two veteran junior quarterbacks that they use interchangeably. Cade Thompson is a 6' 2" pocket passer, while Dexter Anoka is a 5' 10" spark plug with good athleticism and scrambling ability. The tight ends are led by senior Linzy Patterson. A 6' 4", 250 pound specimen, Patterson caught 20 balls for 194 yards, most on screens and dump-offs. The coaches would like to flex him out more, this year, as a slot receiver. Auburn's Zack Etheridge and Mike McNeil should both be fine in this matchup.

Punting: UT Martin returns senior Adam Ivey, who averaged 39.9 yards per punt, vs. pre-season All-SEC Ryan Shoemaker, who averaged over 42. The Skyhawks kicked it high, though, and limited opponents to 5.2 yards per return. Auburn coverage averaged 6.5. The Skyhawks have not settled on return men, and may well use a speedy incoming freshman such as Darryl Bourne.

Kickoffs: In U. T. Martin, we finally will face a team that had a lower kickoff yards average than Auburn had last season. The Skyhawks averaged 56.7, to Auburn's 57.9. The Skyhawks held opponents to 20.9 yards per return, to Auburn's 21.2. Consider, though, the teams play against vastly different levels of competition...

Placekicking: Senior Tom Hansen returns for the Skyhawks, last season hitting 11 of 15 field goal attempts, and 42 of 45 extra points. 3 of the 4 field goal misses were beyond 40 yards. Missed extra points are a concern. Wes Byrum of Auburn only had one of those, last season.

Auburn offensive line vs. U. T. Martin defensive line: Senior defensive tackles Ray Williams and Jerrod Grace may be the best players on the U. T. Martin team. Williams made All-OVC despite playing much of the year with his hand in a cast. Ends Craig Worthen and Nate Wilson are both seniors, but they are light, by SEC standards, in the 220-230 pound range. Auburn's lightest end, by comparison, is Antonio Coleman, at 250. The most telling statistic about the Skyhawk line, in 2007? Zero tackles of an opposing running back in the backfield. All year. This line will not fare well with Auburn's line, which is probably the deepest unit on the team.

Auburn backs vs.U. T. Martin linebackers: The Skyhawks take their biggest graduation hit here, in the linebacker corps. All is not lost, though. Sophmore Sam linebacker Josh Bey returns, who had 38 tackles a year ago. Beside Bey, and junior Adrian Pruitt, though, it's all JUCOs and freshmen. Auburn's feature back of the day should do well.

Auburn receivers vs. U. T. Martin corners: Junior Dorsett Pendleton and senior Anthony Ivy will start at corner for the Skyhawks. Ivy has All-OVC potential, and is fast and athletic. Ivy is small, at 5'9" and 175 pounds, but has good technique. The wildcard is junior college transfer Jimmy Jones, who is 6' 2". If Jones can play, it would give the Martin secondary surprisingly good ability and depth to stay with Auburn's plethora of receivers. However, with a dominant Auburn front and running game, it probably won't matter.

Auburn secondary receivers and quarterback vs. U. T. Martin safeties: Nowhere last season, did the Skyhawks have more problems than at the safety position. If healthy, senior Dante Harrold is capable. He's never gone through a season without missing games, though. The other starter, junior Dontrell Miller, is a smart, capable player, but he's undersized at 5' 8"and 175 pounds. I have trouble imagining him covering Tommy Trott! To add depth, coach Simpson has moved sophomore running back Gerald Guffin to safety. Guffin has legitimate 4.5 speed, and at 190 pounds, can hit. Auburn's attack will be hard on this unit, unless the Tigers pack it in and run the ball 90% of the time.

On paper, there's not a single position where U. T. Martin matches up with Auburn. The team is designed to brutalize and overpower the OVC, but against SEC-sized players, it won't work. This game will be as ugly as Auburn cares to make it.

Prediction: Auburn roars out to a 21-0 first quarter lead, then coasts to a 44-10 victory.

Tony Franklin's New Chapter Is A Good Read

Jay Coulter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:00:08 -0000

Tony Franklin's success will depend a lot on the development of Kodi Burns.

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Rewind the calendar one year and it's a safe bet that less than 1% of the state's college football fans could pick Tony Franklin out in a lineup. His name recognition was lower than the Libertarian Party presidential nominee (It's Bob Barr. Of course, I had to look it up).

What a difference a year makes. While not quite reaching the rock star status of former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, Franklin's popularity in the state of Alabama has to have McCain and Obama envious.

As Franklin prepares for his first fall on the Plains, all eyes are on the creator of the Tony Franklin System. How he's reached this point in his career is nothing short of amazing.

Just a few years ago, Franklin was a broken man. Bankrupt and blacklisted from college football, the odds of him ever getting beyond coaching high school ball was slim and none.

He had broken one of the cardinal rules of coaching or any business for that matter. Franklin, who served as coordinator at Kentucky, wrote a tell-all book about the Hal Mumme years at the University. You will remember that Mumme's success on the field came with a price, ending in NCAA sanctions and Mumme's ouster.

Suddenly, the offensive guru who developed Tim Couch into a top NFL draft choice was jobless and had nowhere to turn. That's when he copyrighted the Tony Franklin System and began driving around the country hawking it to high schools.

Along the way a funny thing happened. It worked.

Franklin tells ESPN's Pat Forde in a column this week, that he had little choice. "It was desperation," Franklin said. "I was broke and trying to survive. A lot of great things happen out of desperation."

You know the rest of the story. Franklin fought all the way back, eventually landing at Troy last year and helping turn Larry Blackney's offense into a winner.

Speaking to the Columbus/Phenix City Auburn Club a few months back, he said the book was written out of anger and was something he very much regretted. Want a copy of Fourth Down and Life to Go? Good luck. It's selling for close to $200 on the internet.

Franklin says the book will never be republished. And why should it? His story after the book is a much better one.

Today Marks the Start of the 2008 College Football Season

Jay Coulter — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:00:06 -0000

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Today marks the unofficial start of the 2008 college football season. SEC Media Days gets underway this morning in Birmingham. Wednesday's featured schools include Florida, Miss State, LSU and Vanderbilt. Head coaches and top players from each institution will take questions from literally hundreds of media representatives across the country.

Here's some good news. For the first time, the SEC will be providing live streaming video and audio of the event. So if you weren't lucky enough to get a press pass, you'll still have the best seat in the house. This is huge. Now you've just got to work around your boss when he or she passes your cubicle. Click here to watch.

Auburn's Tommy Tuberville will take questions on Friday morning at 8:40 CT and will be joined by center Jason Bosley and defensive end Sen'derrick Marks. They will have the floor at the Wynfrey Hotel for about an hour.

The highlight will be when Tuberville waits around for new Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino and publicly flogs the living hell out of him. It should be a good time for all.

Beginning in August, SportsSouth and FSN South will be doing individual team preview shows for the 12 SEC schools. The Auburn show will premier on Friday, August 8^th at 7:00 p.m. CT. It will then run seven more times throughout the month. Click here for schedule details.

Many of you have discovered Auburn Undercover, the new web site that is owned by ESPN and written by long time Tiger beat writer Phillip Marshall. If you haven't had a chance to visit, make sure you do.

Only in business a few weeks now, the site is absolutely awesome. Marshall is everywhere when it comes to covering Auburn football. But there's some bad news. In a few weeks the site will switch over to a pay service like Autigers.com and AuburnSports.com.

As a yearly subscriber to both pay services, I have to say that Marshall is eating their lunch out of the gate. He has the most interesting stories and a good mix of recruiting news. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain the momentum in the coming months.

Is Your Rivalry Tough Enough?

Jay Coulter — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:00:07 -0000

By War Eagle Atlanta
glg68@aol.com

Rivalries are what make college football--period. And unlike in pro sports, they're not manufactured or massaged or manipulated, they simply exist; usually falling on natural borders, or even better, within the same state. Taking care of your in-state rival is of prime importance and is a must to have a great season, but you pretty much want to kick butt across state lines, too. Kick it so bad that the FBI gets involved...

Everyone thinks that their inter-state rivalry is the toughest in all of college football and will gladly tell you. But what about some empirical evidence for a change? Enough of the hype and rah-rah, just give me some facts. What I think constitutes a great rivalry is as simple as the strength of the teams that play in it and how long they've been playing.

A good way to measure the greatness of the teams comes from our old friend, College Football Data Warehouse. Their rankings index attempts to measure teams throughout history primarily based on four categories: all-time winning percentage, strength of schedule percentage, number of national championships, and number of Big Four bowl appearances.

While I think that CFBDW does a great job with attempting to rank teams historically, I disagree slightly with their criteria used and their results. You already know that I think their MNC awards are far too generous, so I've altered that formula to reflect what I feel are more credible results. And I totally disallow their category for Big Four Bowl appearances in all-time team rankings.

Although I think that earning a slot in one of these bowls is a great hallmark for a team, I have a problem with historic bowl alliances that have not always paired the best teams available, leaving out a great number of teams due to conference alignments and regional preferences. If they were to only look at these bowl appearances during the BCS era, when most of the top teams at least had a chance of landing in any of the bowls, I might be more prone to consider it. But it still wouldn't be very representative of college football over its 140 year lifespan. So, as it is, I am not going to include this category in determining the single greatest programs in CFB history.

So I've used CFBDW's scores for winning percentage and strength of schedule, and have paired down the number of MNCs, but have still awarded the same number of points per title that they do. Then it's all a matter of adding up the historic points for each team, then adding the sum of two rivals and see who has the biggest total. To see my index of the top 25 all-time teams, click here.

And remember, only Division 1-A (FBS) teams are considered and only rivalries that have 70 or more games. I thought about limiting the number of rivalries for any team to one, but I thought that penalized them unfairly for their success. The first team listed in the rivalry has the winning record in the series.

10) Georgia-Florida, 46-37-2. The game formerly known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The game also formerly dominated by Georgia, who has only gone 3-15 the last 18 years. One of only two series on the list primarily played at a neutral site--Jacksonville.

9) Texas-Arkansas, 55-21. Former Southwest Conference mates who are just again starting to enjoy playing each other, especially after the drought following Arkansas' departure to the SEC in 1992. Of course, it's been Texas who normally puts the pig in the ground, dominating this series thoroughly.

8) Auburn-Georgia, 53-50-8. The oldest rivalry in our rankings, and the closest statistically. Arguably the most respectful rivalry around, probably owing to the fact that these two teams played the first football game ever in the deep south in 1891. They also played primarily on neutral sites until 1959, when they switched to a home and home. Curiously, in those almost 50 years of on-campus games, the visiting team has a winning record.

7) Notre Dame-Michigan State, 44-26-1. The Spartans are ND's most frequent Big 10(11) opponent, one of the few old Western Conference (pre-cursor to the Big 10) schools that didn't shun the Irish. The teams met in the alleged Game of the Century in 1966, both coming in undefeated. They stumbled to a 10-10 tie, sharing the AP and UPI national championships, and totally hosed undefeated Alabama, who was unfairly denied a third straight MNC. See? I can too say nice things about Bama...

6) Alabama-Tennessee, 45-38-7. Third Saturday in October. A battle between the two top historic teams in the SEC. Alabama has played most of it's home games at Legion Field, which was historically known as the Tide's other home field (except in the Iron Bowl, of course, where it was perfectly 'neutral')

5) Alabama-LSU, 43-23-5. What most Tide fans would consider their third most intense rivalry overall, this game sneaks up in the rankings past Bama-Tennessee. Curiously, LSU went 29 years in this series between home victories--the kind of futility that you probably would only find in Notre Dame-Navy. This match up is definitely in the spotlight now that Saban has returned to the SEC.

4) Michigan-Ohio State, 57-41-6. THE game. Bo versus Woody. Lloyd versus The Vest. What many people consider the top CFB rivalry of all time. Well, close, but not quite, according to my rankings. Michigan's weak actual MNC count is what prevents this one from being number two. With most Big 10(11) titles waiting around to be claimed by this game's winner, it's always a must-see. Hail to the victor, whoever he may be.

3) Oklahoma-Nebraska, 43-37-3. The former marquee match up of the old Big Two, Little Six Conference. Switzer versus Osborne. One of two games in our rankings that is no longer played every year, resulting from both teams being placed in separate divisions when the Big 12 was formed. And since teams in the Big 12 do not permanently play one team from the opposite division each year, this clash has been relegated to two years on, two years off, barring a meeting in Kansas City. Doesn't really seem fair for the rest of CFB...

2) Texas-Oklahoma, 57-40-5. The Red River Shoot-Out. One of the oldest rivalries on our list and the oldest neutral-site game in college football history--the last 79 games have been played in Dallas. This game was the great clash of the old Big 8 and Southwestern Conferences kings. Curiously, Texas has held a pretty solid lead in this series in spite of Oklahoma having better overall historic success. This one is played 365 days a year. If you doubt that, just hang out here on fanblogs for a while...

1) Notre Dame-Southern California, 42-32-5. The biggest all-time interstate rivalry in all of college football, and the only one on our list where the two teams aren't in the same region. Yes, this one is quite an oddball. There's a few stories around about how it came to be organized. The one I believe is that the teams became acquainted after Notre Dame came out and played in the 1925 Rose Bowl against Stanford and was looking for a permanent opponent from the West Coast. Regardless of how it got started, it's still the one you can't miss. I'm a little surprised this series isn't a little closer, but anything can happen when the two teams with the most MNCs meet.

So there we have it, the greatest inter-state CFB rivalries ranked by the teams' historical significances in the record books. Special note should be given to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, and Georgia, who all had two rivalries reflected. I've laid out the formula that I've used to gather my data, but like all statistics, they can be manipulated or misconstrued. I think mine as being the fairest considering the circumstances, but if you think you've got a better system, let me know. Maybe we can fine tune it in the future.

Let the Questions Begin

Jay Coulter — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:00:06 -0000

Tommy Tuberville's golf days are over. It's time for football.

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Good Monday morning to you. It's great to be back after spending a week on the Florida Gulf Coast. I'm rejuvenated and ready to shift into regular season mode here at Track'em Tigers.

When SEC Media Days concludes at the end of this week in Birmingham, look for conference beat writers to make Auburn the odds on favorite in the SEC West. LSU should be second now that quarterback Ryan Periloux has exited stage left.

Many that follow Auburn closely have pointed to 2008 for a long time. Auburn is deeper than it has ever been, the schedule is more favorable (I know, it almost sounds stupid to say it that way) and most importantly, the Tigers return a lot of experience at the marquee positions on both sides of the ball.

Despite all the positives, there are glaring question marks. Will Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads be able to pickup where Will Muschamp left off? How will the defense adjust to playing a mostly 4-3 front?

Give Rhoads credit. He managed to put his stamp on the defense during the spring while keeping things simple enough so the players can react first and think second. There's little doubt Rhoads was the best coordinator available for hire. But no mater how good you are, it takes time for a defense to get comfortable with new schemes. Rhoads is a master teacher. Fall practice will be interesting.

Is the Spread Offense the Way to Go?

The question I've been asked most during the off-season is what do I think about the spread? After listening to offensive coordinator Tony Franklin in the off-season, I feel much better. Franklin has been out front about his intentions to run the ball often. I sense that many Auburn fans have their doubts.

It's imperative that Brad Lester, Ben Tate and Tristan Davis not go to waste. I can't imagine Tommy Tuberville letting that happen. And Franklin is much too smart to allow it. With a new quarterback, look for the backs to get plenty of carries, especially early in the year. Look for Lester and Tate to put up more than 1,500 yards on the ground.

Most exciting offensively are the returning receivers. This year's group will have every opportunity to surpass what Ben Obomanu, Courtney Taylor and Devin Aromashodu accomplished a few years ago.

Look for Rod Smith to be the go-to guy once again. But this year he should have more help. Robert Dunn, James Swinton, Montez Billings and Tim Hawthorne should all be much improved. If two of them aren't named all conference at the end of the year, I'll be shocked.

Coach Dye has questioned whether the spread offense can be successful in a physical conference like the SEC. Florida has proven that it can by running a variation of it the past two years. We should all be cautiously optimistic that it can succeed at Auburn. Besides, anything is better than what we had last year.

So Who Starts at Quarterback?

All of this leads to the biggest question mark of all. Who will start at quarterback and will they be successful running the Spread?

If you look at the history books, they will tell you that first year starting quarterbacks typically struggle in the league. There are exceptions - see Tee Martin and Tim Tebow. The question is does Kodi Burns or Chris Todd have that kind of talent? Probably not, but that doesn't mean they can't win.

Everyone has been fixated on who's going to start against Louisiana-Monroe. Truthfully, it probably doesn't matter. Franklin will name a starter for the first game - he has no choice. But if you are looking for the starter to be named in early August and written in non-erasable ink, you are probably going to be disappointed.

My guess is that Burns will be named the starter. Based on his play in the spring, I think he's the better quarterback at this point. But don't be surprised to see Todd come into the game on the second or third series. Don't be surprised if this goes on for several weeks - or months.

Franklin says he's not concerned with playing more than one quarterback. We need to get used to it now. It's going to be hard. I still have nightmares about that 1985 season. Remember that faithful trip to Knoxville?

It's just a guess, but I believe that Burns will distinguish himself before the season is out and solidify the starting spot. But it could be painful getting there.

Let the speculation begin. We are two weeks away from fall practice and only 40 days from kickoff. Our time is near.

Poll

Who will have the better year as a new coordinator?

Time For A Little Relaxation

Jay Coulter — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:21:49 -0000

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

It's hard to believe that football practice starts in a few weeks. The coaches are taking their final vacations and the players are finishing up their "voluntary" summer workouts. Football season is finally here.

Before we get started, I'm going to take a little downtime with my family and squeeze in a week of vacation. Track'em Tigers will return full strength on July 21^st. We've got a lot of ground to cover before kickoff with Louisiana-Monroe.

Next week we'll shift into regular season mode with tons of profiles on players and other gameday related stories. I can't wait. The long off-season is over.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, please sign up for our upcoming monthly newsletter (see below). It'll be coming later this fall and will include lots of great interviews with current and former Auburn players. And don't worry about spam. We'll never share your information with anyone. We're using a company called Constant Contact and they are simply the best in the business when it comes to stopping spam.

I hope all of you have a great week and War Eagle!



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Get Your Cupcakes Here! Time To Bash SEC Out-Of-Conference Scheduling

Jay Coulter — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:00:07 -0000

By War Eagle Atlanta
glg68@aol.com

It's that time of the year again when with nothing left to do; it's time for the pundits to analyze the upcoming schedule for CFB, including a through examination of the purportedly weak SEC slate of out of conference games. The first article I saw was this one from NBC Sports, where the writer merely defines cupcakes as being 1-AA schools, then lists each OOC game for every team in the BCS conferences. (Editor's note. The Federal Government now requires a footnote each time that the terms Division 1-A or Division 1-AA are used that the new acceptable nomenclature be listed as well, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), respectively. No word yet if the Fed will eventually require this disclaimer in Spanish...)

Fair enough. Give us your list of who you think the cupcakes are, but also give us a shot at defining the term. Consulting the WEA dictionary, we come across this:

cup-cake: kŭp'kāk' n. Traditionally, a small, weaker team, usually from Div 1-AA, scheduled to play a bigger team, typically from Div 1-A, but now expanded to be any team from a non-BCS conference playing a team from the BCS conferences, with the possible exception of the Big Eas(y)t. See also, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, this century...

You can probably add to that definition the concept that if you're a team from a BCS conference, you are NEVER anyone else's cupcakes, with the possible exception of being an Inner-Conference Cupcake (ICC). Copyright pending, WEA, 2008. You know, like a Vandy or a Duke??

Okay, great. We now have our parameters. The reason I wanted to define the term is because the writer of that column goes on to gloriously boast that the Pac 10 had only two cupcakes lined up this season, compared to significantly more for the rest of the conferences. Only two cupcakes? Come on. So I decided that I'd lend my own analysis, using my definition above and find out where the cupcakes are being baked. Keep in mind that my definition is more liberal than the one the he uses so there will be more cupcakes for everybody. It's finally time to separate the men (BCS) from the boys (mid-majors). And since some conferences have more teams than others, I broke the cupcake count out to an average per team in the conference, rather than list the total per conference. Here's what I found:

1) PAC 10 1.4 cupcakes per conference team

2) ACC 2.17 per team

3) SEC 2.83 per team

4) Big 10(11) 2.91 per team

T5) Big East 3.00 per team

T5) Big 12 3.00 per team

As you can see, yes indeed, the Pac 10 did come out ahead of everyone else by far, but the SEC certainly wasn't the worst. And here's the problem that anyone should have with any cupcake count if you're trying to use it as some de facto strength of schedule barometer: IT DOESN'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE THAT YOU PLAY. And isn't that what we SEC fans have been screaming for decades? SEC teams have won 3 of the 7 Mythical National Championships this century; with a 4th team left out, so obviously something must be magical about our conference schedule to do that--especially considering that none of those three champions were undefeated.

So if you're going to mention the cupcakes in some team's schedule, why don't you mention their regular schedule in the same breath? Perhaps list how many of a team's opponents this season were ranked in the top 25 at the end of the last season? Sure, that was last year, but that's all the data we can use in a pre-season analysis. The point is that there's nothing wrong with scheduling a few cupcakes when you play the defending #1, #2, #6, and #12 teams from last year like we do this year, not to mention playing an additional 2-3 teams that will be ranked pre-season top 25.

And speaking of Auburn, no discussion of cupcakes can be complete without throwing the 2004 season in our face with the litany of Louisiana-Monroe, The Citadel, and Louisiana Tech. Everyone loves to discount our absence in the BCS CG to the cupcakes on our schedule, but they never remember that we beat four teams ranked in the top 15that year, compared to USC's two and Oklahoma's one. Yes, because of that BCS slight, we have unjustly become the poster child for cupcake reform in CFB--which is most ironic since we actually have the 5th strongest all-time strength of schedule rating in college football history.

But that's all the ammunition the other BCS schools have against the SEC. Even The Wizard of Odds gets into the fray with his analysis of Auburn and the SEC's OOC schedule this century. He mentions us as having only traveled for 3 OOC games out of 34; to Syracuse, USC, and GA Tech, but he fails to disclose any 1-game series we have had (Washington State, Kansas State) nor does he mention our trip to West Virginia this year. He even goes as far as to calculate the distance that Georgia has traveled for away OOC games--358 miles. Anyone know if he used Mapquest or Tom Tom to get that number?

So if that's all you got, talking about the weak teams we play, conveniently forgetting to mention the ferocity of our conference competition, then why don't you go pound sand? While you continue to wonder why only two teams in your conference are really competitive year after year, we'll keep beating each other up and eating our own and still win those mythical national championships, biding our time until we get a playoff and they disperse a few of our teams into the bracket and you really get to see how we play.

Joke of the Day...

Jay Coulter — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:14:22 -0000

What do you call it when Alabama gets in a huddle?

... A Drug Ring!

Real Coaches Wear Ties

Jay Coulter — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:00:06 -0000

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

There's little arguing that today's crop of SEC coaches are perhaps the best in the history of the conference. Nine of the 12 coaches have won a conference championship at least once in their careers. Five have won national championships and Tommy Tuberville was screwed out of one in 2004.

But with all the success, there's still something missing from today's SEC coaches. I haven't been able to pinpoint it until now. MaconDawg over at Dawgsports.com picked up on it this week and wrote about it. That's when it hit me.

Head coaches don't dress like real coaches anymore.

One of the things I liked most about Pat Dye when I was growing up in the 80's was the way he carried himself (when his pants were on and not at the bottom of Lake Martin). Every Saturday in the fall he wore a blue blazer, orange and blue tie, khaki pants and an Auburn hat. He looked like a head coach. He looked like the boss. His demeanor demanded respect from the players and other coaches.

Going the way of corporate America, college coaches have moved to a more casual look. Most head coaches wear the same thing as their assistants. At best they wear a nice school-branded shirt and slacks; and at worst they look like Charlie Weiss of Notre Dame. Note to Charlie: fat guys should never wear oversized sweatshirts. We still know you are fat.

You only need to go back 20 years to see an entirely different era in coaching. I can still picture Vince Dooley in that sweater with a tie underneath. I can see Johnny Majors of Tennessee on the sidelines with a coat and tie. And yes, even Bear Bryant wore a tie, although most of the time it only fell half way down his shirt.

Now before you start thinking I'm one of those fruity designers on the E! Channel, I'm not suggesting that putting on a coat and tie makes you a better coach. But it sure does make you look smarter. Watching Steve Spurrier throw his girly visor down on the ground after a bad call hardly invokes memories of Neyland or Dodd.

I guess what I'm ranting about today is that coaches should dress like coaches. Leaders wear coats and ties. They don't wear knit shirts and visors. I know it's hot as hell in September. But these guys should be used to it. Practice in a coat and tie if it helps the body adjust and eliminate flop sweat on game day. Show some pride in the outfit. Show you care like a Marine.

The SEC coaches today may make more money, stay in better shape and look more tan, but give me old school. Just once I'd like to see Tommy throw on a blue blazer and a tie for a game. Sadly, I can't picture it. I guess those days are gone forever and I'm just getting old.

Auburn Continues to be Hot on the Recruiting Trail

Jay Coulter — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:00:07 -0000

How did Coach Dye lose his pants? Read below...

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Has any school ever locked up next year's recruiting class prior to the start of fall camp? Auburn is seven commitments away from doing just that. On Monday, Auburn added its 18^th commitment of the year when it received word that Parkview (Ga.) High School running back Brandon Jacobs was headed to the Plains in 2009.

From all indications, Jacobs is a good one. The three-star back missed two games last year due to injury, but still managed to rush for 950 yards and eight touchdowns. Jacobs ran a 4.5 40-yard dash earlier this spring. He hails from the same high school as current starting Auburn tailback Brad Lester. He is the nephew of former Auburn and NFL lineman Steve Wallace.

Having 18 commitments is a long ways from having 18 players signed. Still, you have to be impressed with how the Auburn coaching staff has responded to the challenge laid down by Alabama in recruiting. Give a lot of the credit to Auburn linebackers coach James Willis. He's turning into a star within the coaching profession. Willis has taken back much of the Mobile area that was lost last year. Don't be surprised to see Auburn sign upwards of 30 players before National Signing Day in February.

I came across a great story last week while in Florida. Perhaps you saw it. Shannon McDuffie, who lives in the Emerald Shores area near Still Waters was looking around the nearly drained lake last December when she discovered something out of the ordinary. It was a pair of Madress pants sitting at the bottom of the lake.

Examining the pants, she found an alligator leather wallet inside, complete with credit cards and other information that dated back to the mid 80's. There was also a set of Toyota car keys in the pocket.

Who did they belong to? Patrick Fain Dye.

At this point you've probably already drawn a lot of conclusions about this story. After all, it has been rumored that Coach Dye was as colorful off the field as he was on it. According to Dye, he has no recollection of losing his pants (no pun intended) or his wallet and car keys.

Now 25+ years is a long time. But I do believe that if I ever lost my pants, wallet and car keys - assumingly at the same time, I would remember it - even 25 years later. "Well, I had a place in Still Waters in the early 80s," said Dye. "I don't remember losing it, but now listen, that was a long time ago," he said in a telephone interview with Lake Martin Magazine.

The legend of Pat Dye grows. I love that man.

Got 12? I Don't Think So

Jay Coulter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:00:08 -0000

By War Eagle Atlanta
glg68@aol.com

Faithful readers of this blog will notice that a lot of what this article contains has been stated by me in the past. That's because I thought it as being so well-written that I could regurgitate it once again in order to preempt any more lame threads from popping up like weeds in the parched earth here in the CFB dry season. The bee in my bonnet about national championships came last spring when Washington tried to slip one through the back door 47 years after the fact.

Since then, I've quit wearing bonnets and have educated myself on the history of the national championship. I now feel qualified to be the final arbiter of which teams' national championship claims are legit, and which are as bogus as a Jeff Spicoli quip.

Here are the qualifications that I will use:

1) Only current Divison 1-A (FBS) teams with three or more MNCs will be considered.

2) Only AP championships (1934, 1936-present) UP championships (1935, 1950-1957) UPI championships (1958-1995) USA Today/ESPN championships (1997-present) and BCS championships (1998-present) are counted. However, prior to 1950, before the AP and UP polls ran concurrently, I will accept a preponderance of the other selectors. In other words, if your team claims MNCs from selectors not listed here, they are illegitimate. If none of this makes sense, just read on and complain about it later.

3) No back-dated titles will be considered. Using the definitions in (2) above, that means no MNCs before 1934. If you still don't know what a back-dated title is, sign up for my remedial newsletter at my link below.

I, Richard Dawson, and the Survey says!!!

Notre Dame, 12 NCs claimed: 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1953, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988. First three titles back-dated, 1953 illegitimate. Real total: 8 titles. Talk about winning one for the Gipper, they won three BEFORE the Gipper--and before national championships ever existed. One third of your titles bogus--pretty shabby.

Alabama, 12 NCs claimed: 1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992. First 3 titles back-dated, 1934 and 1941 titles illegitimate. Real total, 7 titles. Bama is famous for throwing everything that sticks into the trophy cabinet. If you want a more detailed analysis of the Tide, read this.

USC, 10 NCs claimed: 1928, 1931, 1932, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004. First 3 titles back-dated, all the rest legitimate. Real total, 7 titles. Not bad, other than the back-dated ones. Let's see: 60s and 70s, got that covered; 21st century--check. Hey, what happened to the 80s and 90s???

Michigan, 7 NCs claimed: 1901, 1902, 1923, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997. First 4 titles back-dated, the rest legitimate. Real total: 3 titles. Oh, snap! Don't worry, Go Blue. Batting .429 in the major leagues earns you bazillions a year...

Oklahoma, 7 NCs claimed: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000. All legitimate! Real total: 7 titles. The first perfectly honest team. Naturally, OU owes Texas for all this glory--not!

Minnesota, 6 NCs claimed: 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960 All legit! Real total: 6 titles. But what are you guys thinking about doing for the next half of the 20th century???

Pittsburgh, 6 NCs claimed: 1910, 1916, 1918, 1936, 1937, 1976. First 3 titles back-dated, 1936 illegitimate, other 2 fine. Real total: 2 titles. Only 33% of your claimed titles for real? We haven't seen this kind of illegitimacy outside of the Mugabe administration...

Miami, 5 NCs claimed: 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001. All legit. Real total: 5 titles. Still can't figure out how you got the nod in 1983 over a far superior Auburn team...

Nebraska: 5 NCs claimed, 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997. All legit. Real total: 5 titles. Solid! Can't figure out why they can't duplicate this kind of success in the other corn-producing states...

Ohio State, 5 NCs claimed: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1968, 2002. All legit. Real total: 5 titles. Best in the Big 10(11). Best ever: Woody or The Vest?

Army: 4 NCs claimed, 1914, 1944, 1945, 1946. First is back-dated, the rest legit. Real total: 3 titles. Gee, if we could only have another World War to drain the nation's manpower again...

GA Tech: 4 NCs claimed, 1917, 1928, 1952, 1990. First 3 titles back-dated, 1990 legit. Real total: 1 title. "I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva embellisher..."

Illinois: 4 NCs claimed, 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927. All back-dated! Oh come on! Are you kidding me? Real toal: ZIP!!! However, as luck would have it, the Zook era has arrived.

Tennessee: 4 NCs claimed, 1938, 1950, 1951, 1998. 1938 and 1950 illegitimate, the rest legit. Real total: 2 titles. The SEC's historic 2nd best team follows the SEC's historic best team, Alabama--in title embellishment.

Texas: 4 NCs claimed, 1963, 1969, 1970, 2005, all legit! Real total: 4 titles. Thanks Daryl Royal. Still wondering why they're so woefully behind Oklahoma in this category...

California: 3 NCs claimed, 1920, 1921, 1922. All back-dated! What?? Real total: ZERO titles. See admonishment to Illinois...

Michigan State: 3 NCs claimed, 1952, 1965, 1966. 1966 is illegitimate, although you probably got hosed! Real total: 2 titles. Not bad--only one behind your Ann Arbor cousins...

There you have it. Now let me have it. War Eagle Atlanta will now take your stinging rebukes...

Halloween Hangover in the Grove

Jay Coulter — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:00:08 -0000

Will Houston Nutt cause problems for Auburn again this year?

By Acid Reign
paraswarm@aol.com

After a titanic Thursday night battle in West Virginia, the Auburn Tigers take another weekend off, then travel to Oxford, Mississippi, to play the Ole Miss Rebels on November 1. Ole Miss was the doormat of the SEC Western Division, last season, but figures to be much improved this year. Two players who may be major factors in this game, are former Auburn players: running back Enrique Davis, and linebacker Patrick Trahan. I suspect they'll have little problem getting fired up for this game.

At the end of last season, the Ole Miss coaching staff was fired. In the meantime, Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt was in the process of haggling out a generous severance package from the Razorbacks. Just hours after Nutt's resignation became official, he was named the new head coach at Ole Miss, a coup for the Rebels. The Arkansas administration was left with a face-full of very expensive egg!

Nutt brings in the bulk of an experienced coaching staff from his previous gig, including defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, a former Auburn superstar. Veteran coordinator Tyrone Nix will handle the defense. Nix has extensive experience coordinating the defense at Southern Miss, and was an assistant under Steve Spurrier at South Carolina. Houston Nutt brings a former Ole Miss hero and quarterback home to run the offense, Kent Austin. Austin's recent pedigree is all in Canada, running potent offenses at Toronto, then as head coach of the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, who won the CFL title, last season. Austin is the reigning CFL Coach of the Year.

Despite this being a road game, the schedule favors the Tigers. Vaught Hemingway Stadium is not as intimidating as say, Tiger Stadium or Florida Field. Auburn will have had a long week before the West Virginia game, and a weekend off before the Ole Miss game. Hopefully, that will translate into fresher legs. Meanwhile, Ole Miss will be coming off a brutal October: Florida in Gainesville, South Carolina for homecoming, a week off, then Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Arkansas in Fayetteville.

While former head coach Ed Orgeron battled discipline issues and image problems, he did not leave the Rebel cupboard bare. Ole Miss returns a surprising amount of talent. Will Houston Nutt be able to translate that into instant success? For much of Nutt's career at Arkansas, he was known as the coach who "did more with less." In later years, despite having talents like Matt Jones, Darren McFadden, and Felix Jones, Nutt failed to win an SEC title or bowl game, and became known to Razorback fans as the coach who "did less with more." Regardless of how one views that argument, there's little doubt that fundamentals and discipline will be greatly upgraded, this fall, for the Rebels.

Ole Miss is a veteran football team that returns 16 starters and both kicking specialists. The Rebels were actually a respectable defense last season, but they got little help from the offense. A stout, talented defensive line returns, which is now likely to get a tremendous boost when long-time academic problem-child Jerell Powe finally gets eligible. Powe will be very green, but he's an absolute monster, physically. He's 340+ pounds of pure muscle and aggression. Add in sometimes superstar All-SEC end Greg Hardy, and ALL SEC tackle Peria Jerry, and this is a line that will cause LOTS of problems for any offense. Houston Nutt is very concerned about his linebackers and secondary, and has moved two offensive players to start at cornerback. Former Auburn linebacker Patrick Trahan could provide a much needed boost, if he does in fact become academically eligible.

Offensively, Ole Miss will miss the stalwart back Benjarvus Green-Ellis. However, they return a stout offensive line that run-blocks well. While Rebel fans are expecting Enrique Davis to step off the bus and become the bulk of the Ole Miss offense, there is also Junior Cordera Eason, who had a solid spring. The Ole Miss passing game has been dormant since Eli Manning left, but the Rebel faithful are extremely high on Texas transfer Jevan Snead. Snead was a big-time Texas recruit who lost out to freshman Colt McCoy, and transferred to Ole Miss, and now is eligible as a redshirt sophomore. Snead has a great arm, and capable targets Mike Wallace, Shay Hodge, and Dexter McCluster to throw to. The glaring weakness on this offense is experience. While the line and receivers are veterans, the runners, throwers, and tight ends have almost NO SEC playing time going into this year. However, by game nine, they should be dangerous.

On special teams, Ole Miss has a pair of good return men in Marshay Green and Mike Wallace, but not much else. Starters return, but this unit was near the bottom of the SEC in most categories, last season. Penalties, short kicks, poor coverage, and poor blocking were prevalent, and the Rebels missed several short field goals.

Matchups

Auburn defensive line vs. Ole Miss offensive line: Senior tackle Michael Oher is a terror for the Rebels. He's mostly noted as a stout run-blocker, but this season, he's slimmed down to 318 pounds, and looks to be more rounded at the position. Other veterans return as well, and they are huge. Junior guard John Jerry is 350 pounds. The lightest of the Rebel starting linemen is junior guard Reid Neely, at 310 pounds. While the Ole Miss line is huge and powerful, they've had problems with quick defenders, and few are quicker than Auburn's Antonio Coleman and SenDerrick Marks. If the Houston Nutt history holds true, look for less zone-blocking, and more iso-schemes, particularly with young runners. Auburn will try to counter by slanting and stunting. Advantage: Even.

Auburn linebackers vs. Ole Miss runners: The only returning running back for Ole Miss with experience is junior Cordera Eason, who had all of 3 carries for 6 yards, last season. He's a solid, 225 pound power back, but also has decent speed and good hands. The Rebels are counting on incoming junior-college transfer Enrique Davis making an immediate impact. There's a reason Auburn fans were so fired up about Davis, a year ago. Davis has Darren McFadden-level size and speed, and should be a prototypical Houston Nutt weapon. There's not much but injuries and walk-on level talent behind Eason and Davis, at the tailback position. Ole Miss has a veteran, heavy-duty fullback in the 248 pound Jason Cook. Auburn will counter with a deep, fast linebacker corps. Given Auburn's ability to tackle the great backs last season, I think they'll be able to shut down two newcomers. Advantage: Auburn.

Auburn corners vs. Ole Miss receivers: Ole Miss returns a pair of experienced outside receivers in senior Mike Wallace and junior Shay Hodge. Hodge is a solid possession receiver, but he does not have the speed to get away from Auburn's corners. Wallace does have dangerous speed and moves (averaging 18.8 yards per catch!), but has been very inconsistent in the past. Expect receivers coach Ron Dickerson to emphasize crisper route-running, and lots of work with the juggs machine. Auburn has a good corner in Jerraud Powers, and talent in Aaron Savage and Walter McFadden. Advantage: Auburn.

Auburn safeties vs. Ole Miss secondary receivers and quarterback: For the most part, both teams are young here. Ole Miss slot receiver, junior Dexter McCluster, is dangerous. He's a small, quick scat-back type, and will be used in a variety of ways. Ole Miss is young at tight end, with a junior college transfer taking over for the departed Robert Lane. Junior Gerald Harris was noted as a recruit with blocking skills, but he'll have to work on his hands, to play in a Houston Nutt offense. Quarterback Jevan Snead is supposed to be the real deal, but this will be his first year facing SEC defenses. There is no experience at quarterback, for the Rebels. However, by game nine, inexperience won't be quite as big a factor. Auburn's sophomore safeties Zack Etheridge and Mike McNeil do have a year of playing experience, and they are talented. Slight advantage: Auburn.

Punting: Auburn has three punters who can boom it, Ryan Shoemaker, Patrick Tatum, and Clinton Durst. In addition, Auburn was one of the better punt-return coverage units in the league, giving up only 6.5 yards per return. The Ole Miss return game was pretty much abysmal. Even with a 44-yard touchdown return, Marshay Green averaged only 4.0 yards per return. Ole Miss punter, senior Justin Sparks, averaged 39.7 yards per kick. Many of his kicks were low, line-drive kicks, which hung his coverage team out to dry. Ole Miss coverage gave up a whopping 12.5 yards per return. Veteran Auburn return man Robert Dunn averaged 9.4 per return. You'd have to think that Houston Nutt and special teams coach James Shibest will improve Ole Miss here, but how much? Advantage: Auburn.

Kickoffs: Auburn fans were very unhappy with the kickoff unit last season, but it did improve late in the season. Building on an improved coverage package, as well as having a healthy Wes Byrum kicking off, Auburn hopes to give up significantly less than the 21.2 yards per return of last season. Ole Miss covered slightly better than Auburn, giving up 19.9 yards per return, but there were a lot of short kicks. Ole Miss averaged kicking it to the 17 yard line, to Auburn's average of the 13. Ole Miss returns the dangerous Marshay Green, who averaged 23.4 per return last season. Auburn counters with Tristan Davis. Slight Advantage: Auburn.

Placekicking: Auburn returns outstanding sophomore kicker Wes Byrum. Despite being injured for most of the season, Byrum hit 14 of 15 kicks inside 40 yards and 17-23 overall. Ole Miss returns junior Joshua Shene, who was 9 of 13, inside 40 yards, and 11 of 17, overall. Advantage: Auburn.

Auburn offensive line vs. Ole Miss defensive line: Last season, Auburn gashed the Ole Miss D for 234 yards on the ground, but it was a line minus star end Greg Hardy, who was suspended. Auburn returns all starters on a pretty good O-line that has depth. Ole Miss returns stalwart senior Peria Jerry inside, an All-SEC selection a year ago. While 303 pound sophomore Ted Laurent is penciled in at the moment, at the other inside position, watch out for Jerell Powe. Due to new, relaxed eligibility rules on partial qualifiers, Powe is likely to finally become eligible after three years of academic struggle. Junior Greg Hardy is a force at one end position, but needs to work on consistency and run-stopping. On the other side, junior Marcus Tillman has size and talent, but thus far has failed to live up to expectations, with zero sacks a year ago as a starter. Advantage: Even

Auburn backs vs. Ole Miss linebackers: Auburn is fast, veteran, and dangerous at running back, despite not having an experienced lead blocker. On paper, the Ole Miss linebackers look pretty talented. On the field, they're all converted secondary folks that had trouble making plays at the point of attack last year. They are fast, but they had a lot of trouble getting runners down quickly. Many of their tackles were made down the field. Junior Ashlee Palmer is probably the star of the linebackers, for now. Sophomore Jonathan Cornell is experienced, but had trouble getting off blocks. Sophomore Allen Walker looked ready to lock down another starting spot, but he's been suspended on a DUI incident. The wildcard in the linebacker corps is incoming transfer Patrick Trahan. A year ago at Auburn, Trahan had won the starting strong-side linebacker slot, before leaving school on academic issues. And we all know well Auburn's linebackers turned out last season. Ole Miss has experience and options at linebacker, but not enough top-shelf SEC talent. Advantage: Auburn.

Auburn receivers vs. Ole Miss corners: Both teams' units look to be improved, but are largely unproven. Auburn has a pair of veteran, possession receivers in Rod Smith and Montez Billings, and the less experienced, faster guys stepped up well this spring. New threats like James Swinton and Chris Slaughter emerged. Houston Nutt faced a pretty desperate situation at corner, when he took over the Rebel squad. Nutt immediately moved two offensive prospects, junior wide receiver Marshay Green, and junior running back Cassius Vaughn. Green's on the small size, for an SEC corner, but he has speed and natural moves. He'll be the Rebels' best cover corner. Vaughn will likely be a co-starter, with senior Dustin Mouzon. As a starter last season, Mouzon was a solid tackler, but often did not play the ball well, in the air. UCLA transfer Jeremy McGhee has the speed to play corner, if he can learn the position. He's a former running back and track star. Slight Advantage: Auburn.

Auburn secondary receivers and quarterback vs. Ole Miss safeties: Auburn has a pair of first year quarterbacks, Kodi Burns and Chris Todd. Auburn's secondary receivers have the potential to be special, if they hold onto the ball. Senior slot receiver Robert Dunn is lightning quick with great moves. Tight end Tommy Trott runs great routes, and has good speed. In addition, there are Auburn reserves who can make plays in the slot. Ole Miss returns a pair of fast, veteran safeties, which they'll need against Auburn's spread. Senior strong safety Jamarca Sanford is a hitter who's played both linebacker and safety. Sanford does need to play the pass better, and he'll have to hang with Tommy Trott. Sophomore free safety Johnny Brown has good speed, but has had the consistency issues typical of a young player. Both Ole Miss players are strong in run support, but have been suspect against the pass. That's not good, facing a team that likes to spread it out. Advantage: Auburn.

This is a worrisome game, primarily because when Houston Nutt has linemen to work with, he's been dangerous. Auburn and Ole Miss seem very evenly matched on both lines of scrimmage. Nutt's schemes aren't so terribly complicated that new talent can't pick it up. The wildcard is offensive coordinator Kent Austin. He's not coached in the SEC. Will he run a Canadian-style pro-passing offense? Not likely. Houston Nutt has been notorious for bringing in offensive coordinators and dumbing down the offense to a run-heavy scheme. Ole Miss has the blockers to do exactly that, but will the new backs come through? Run-stopping is Auburn's strength.

Ole Miss appears to have a good, if not great defensive line. In the past, the back seven had trouble coming up and tackling runners before they got five yards or more. In addition, Ole Miss coverage tended to be spotty. My guess is that Nutt and Tyrone Nix will shore these weaknesses up, and Ole Miss will be pretty salty on defense. Auburn should be more athletic at the skill positions. If the Auburn line can keep Greg Hardy and Jerrell Powe from disrupting things in the middle, there will be room for the Tigers to run with those screens and draws. More likely, The Tigers will be victimized by an unusual amount of negative plays on offense.

If healthy, these two teams look pretty evenly matched. Turnovers will tell the tale. Look for a tight, defensive struggle. Auburn has a big edge on special teams.

Prediction: A ferocious, hard-hitting game ends in regulation, when Wes Byrum nails a last-second field goal. Auburn survives, 16-13.

Auburn Athletics Moves To XM Radio

Jay Coulter — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:00:49 -0000

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

This is turning out to be media week at Track'em Tigers. On Monday we talked blogs and on Tuesday we looked at television. Why not talk about radio today?

Yesterday the University announced that Auburn is switching satellite providers. Beginning this football season, the Tigers will now be heard on XM Radio.

For the past few years, Auburn has been a fixture on Sirius Satellite Radio. It appeared that Auburn would remain there for at least two more years despite the move of eight other SEC members last year to XM.

Auburn joins Alabama, Florida and Vanderbilt who also jumped ship to XM on Tuesday. The satellite provider now holds the contract for the entire conference. This is huge for Auburn listeners. XM will carry all 12 of Auburn's regular season football games in addition to most of the men's basketball games and selected baseball and women's basketball.

The best thing about the move is that all SEC members will be in one place. Of course, if you are a Sirius subscriber this is not necessarily good. But it might not be all that bad either. The two satellite providers have plans to merge later this year and are getting past the final hurdles now in Washington D.C.

So even if you subscribe to Sirius you're probably going to be OK. The only downside is that it's looking doubtful the merger will happen before the start of football season. XM has also added the Tim Brando show back to its lineup airing daily from 11:00-noon CT. Brando is one of the few national talk show hosts who focuses on college athletics, especially college football. Check out his show if you have XM. It's excellent.

Later this year, we'll begin publishing a monthly E-Newsletter on Auburn football. Talkin' Tigers will go in-depth and talk to the people making news at Auburn. The stories will be more feature oriented and longer in length. We believe it will be an excellent compliment to the coverage here at Track'em Tigers. We hope you'll subscribe. It's free of charge.

Please enter your email address in the box below. I promise your information will never be sold or shared with anyone. I hate spam and can guarantee it will never be given away. Sign up today and tell your Auburn friends. Thanks again for being a part of the Track'em Tigers family. War Eagle!



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Today will be the final blog post of the week. I'm taking a little vacation time during the Fourth of July weekend. I hope all of you have a long, enjoyable weekend. Let's not forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may enjoy this wonderful country of ours. Have a great week and I'll see you on Monday.

Will The SEC Network Become A Reality?

Jay Coulter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:00:02 -0000

Could you handle a channel dedicated to the best of Dave Neil?

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

If we build it will they come? That's the question SEC officials are struggling with as they enter the final year of television contracts with CBS, ESPN and Raycom Sports. Conference schools can expect a huge raise next year when a new contract is agreed upon. The big question is whether the SEC is ready to launch its own sports network like the Big 10 and Mountain West.

The conference has been tight lipped about negotiations taking place now with network officials. It's believed that CBS and ESPN are both very interested in retaining their relationship with the premier conference in the country.

And why wouldn't they?

The SEC has produced the last two national champions in football, two of the last three men's basketball champions and the last two women's basketball champions. The conference knows it's a sellers market and they expect to cash in.

How would a new conference network affect football? It would likely mean the SEC would move away from its deal with Raycom Sports to carry the early Saturday game. The conference would never jeopardize its deal with the big boys - CBS and ESPN. There's simply too much money on the table and too much exposure to ever give a conference network a marquee game of the week.

The other benefits are obvious. There would be more football coverage in the fall, including coaching shows, weekly previews and SEC produced programs. Can you say Dave Neil all the time? It would also give the conference a venue to showcase non-revenue sports like softball, swimming, gymnastics and soccer.

So what's the downside? One word: Exposure.

The Big 10 has struggled mightily with cable providers since launching last year. These specialty channels tend to be expensive for cable companies and they often choose to ignore them. The Big 10 Network was unattainable for most conference viewers last year. The vast majority of cable companies didn't carry it. Those that did placed it with a high-end sports package that required more money from subscribers each month.

Big 10 fans were the big losers. Last year, Michigan and Appalachian State opened the season on the Big 10 Network. What was expected to be a blowout turned into perhaps the biggest upset in college football history. Most Wolverine fans listened on the radio - which is hindsight probably wasn't so bad. But you get my point.

The SEC will face the same issues and more. Because much of the South remains rural, there are viewers who will lose out if the SEC creates its own network. Many cable companies simply will not have the type of customers who will support it. As hard as it is to believe, there are still many fans that rely on over-the-air broadcasts using antennas to receive coverage - estimates range anywhere from 10 to 15 percent.

In the end it will come down to money and a new network would bring big time cash. It's a tough position to be in, but also a damn good one. Personally, I hope the SEC pulls the trigger and goes for it. Don't forget, if your cable company doesn't play, there's always satellite.

Condolences to "A Damn Good Dawg"

Jay Coulter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:00:02 -0000

Uga VI was 87-27 while walking the Bulldog sidelines.

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

We send condolences to the Bulldog Nation this morning over the loss of Uga VI, the Georgia mascot who served so proudly for the past nine years. Uga passed away on Friday from heart failure. There's been times during the fall that I've wanted to put my hobnail boot in his ass, but let's not forget that he's one of the things that makes college football great. The sight of that English bulldog let you know that it was time for SEC football.

Uga will be buried today in a private ceremony at Sanford Stadium. Perhaps Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans put it best when he said, "Uga VI was a damn good mascot and a damn good dog." That he was.

There are a couple of significant changes taking place in the world of Auburn blogging this week. When you think about sports blogging, there are really two kinds: those covered by newspaper beat writers and those written by fans.

Two of the best newspaper-sponsored Auburn blogs are leaving us. Phillip Marshall of The Huntsville Times is leaving the paper after a nearly 40 year newspaper career. In addition to writing for the paper, he put together one of the best football blogs in the country. I can still remember being a young college newspaper writer in the 1980's and watching Marshall spar with Coach Dye over a story. There were times when I thought Dye was going to come out of his chair and kill Phillip. It was great stuff.

Marshall is going to work for ESPN and launching a new site called, Auburn Undercover. It will be similar to the Rivals.com and Scout.com sites that exist now. In the beginning it will be free, but will later switch to a pay site. The new site launches tomorrow.

Christa Turner of The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer is also leaving her blog, TurnerLoose. She has accepted a new position with The Anniston Star. For my money, she's among the best in the business when it comes to covering Auburn sports. The Columbus, Georgia paper has gone through some pretty significant changes in recent months, so I was not surprised to see her go.

She will be missed. Let's hope the Anniston paper finds a way to let her continue her Auburn coverage.

A Bama Tradition...

Jay Coulter — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:06:49 -0000

Hat Tip To Paul

Conference Expansions: When Is Everybody Going to Finally Get a Title Game?

Jay Coulter — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:00:52 -0000

By War Eagle Atlanta
glg68@aol.com

Quick! Of the eleven conferences that make up the Bowl Subdivision in college football, (God, what was soooo wrong with calling it Division 1-A???) how many actually have a conference championship game (CCG) in place? Okay, bad question. Most of you probably can't even name the six conferences that make up the BCS. Anyone? Okay, only five do--the SEC, ACC, Big 12, MAC, and Conf-USA--and you probably only care about three of them. That means that six conferences don't, and as SEC fans, you have to wonder why they missed the party.

I mean after all, we pioneered this concept in 1992 when we added two more teams to get to the requisite twelve that NCAA regulations said was necessary to split into two divisions and fight it out in a one game playoff. Seems to have worked well for us so far, cementing the SEC as the top football conference in the land, as if we weren't already.

But with all the glitz and glamour that a CCG brings, it makes you wonder why some of the other major conferences haven't jumped into the fray yet. Certainly conferences like the Big 10(11) and Pac 10 have been playing together in their present versions for a few decades, so how hard could it be to draft an additional team or two and get dragged into the 21st century with the rest of us? Maybe those two conferences want to continue on with their suicide pact until the bitter end--they seem really content to be obstructionists to the status quo with almost everything that comes down the football pike lately.

The Pac-10 put a band-aid on it three years ago by moving to a 9-game conference schedule, with each team in the conference playing every other one, but they are still afraid to crown a single champ based on head-to-head competition (they had co-champs the first two years) The Big 10(11) has been oh-so-close for over a decade with the fine addition of Penn State, but they don't seem interested in finding a 12th and doing it right. Of course, the biggest criticism of both conferences is them lacking a CCG so that their teams avoid that last shot of getting eaten by their own that we here in the south affectionately know as life in the SEC.

But for the Big East, their biggest problem isn't drafting additional schools, but holding on to the ones they currently have. They can't afford another defection like they had four years ago, with VA Tech, Miami, and Boston College going over to the ACC. But regardless of whether or not the conference in question is actively pursuing a CCG, college football is growing up, and these times are a' changing. Soon, all the 1-A are going to have CCG's, and it isn't going to be a result of pride or playoffs, but because of money--TV money.

I make no secret of the fact that I believe the road to an eventual playoff involving conference champions starts with all major conferences playing a CCG. But since that scenario will not happen for a long time, I see something new on the horizon that's going to shape the CFB landscape quite dramatically--conferences having their own TV networks. It's an idea who's time is already here, but it hasn't had the right conference to make it fly yet.

The Big 10 (11) originally proposed the idea of their own TV network a few years ago, but they've been unable to sell it to cable retailers for the price they originally wanted. But with some recent break-throughs with Comcast, it looks like that it MAY finally come to fruition this fall. Actually, with the Big Ten Network grounded until further notice, it looks like the Mountain West will be the first conference to actually get their network on the air. Not that anyone in our region will much care, but it's certainly good for those fans out west.

Would or should the SEC try and come out with it's own network? It's certainly possible, and with all major conference TV contracts for the big conferences coming up for renewal BEFORE the next BCS contract, some key players could forge out on their own in an attempt to trail blaze for the rest of CFB, and in the process, grab as much of the TV pie for themselves as possible.

Tim Stephens of the Orlando Sentinel had a great column recently, proposing that the SEC attempt what amounts to a hostile takeover of CFB by launching their own TV network, a la the Big 10, et al. Although it's half tongue-in-cheek, he makes some excellent points about what would be paramount for the SEC to gain as large a TV market range as possible--principly drafting Texas and Texas A&M into the conference in order to sew up the Texas marketshare. Yes, the SEC would consider going above and beyond the 12 horses already in the stable in order to create the first of the latter day super-conferences.

It's an idea who's time is coming. Even the MAC is actively considering adding a 13th and 14th team, no doubt in order to carve themselves a bigger market should conference TV networks become the new 21st century equivalent of a Land-Grab for CFB. Why would the SEC want to do it, especially considering the already generous nature of the CBS and ESPN coverage? Certainly there are pros and cons with every scenario, but one you have to account for is exposure to the rest of the country.

Certainly it doesn't hurt with pollsters to see the SEC playing on ESPN virtually every Saturday night in the fall, nor catching them on CBS during the afternoons. Taking all your marbles and going home with your own TV network may leave a sour taste with those on the outside looking in, and with MNCs still being decided in large part by public opinion, that's a sleight our teams can't afford to risk.

Although a CFB traditionalist, I see the writing on the wall. I think the SEC takes a really close look at it, and although they may not jump into the breach the first go-around, I think that eventually they do. And all the other dominoes fall after them. The die will be cast once two or more of the major conferences start to ink their own separate deals, and all conferences will be forced to follow suit and establish their share of the new CFB frontier--the TV market-- soon thereafter. It may get somewhat cut-throat, and it'll be interesting to see where the chips fall, but I think that CFB will finally get the clout of previously-unheard of TV revenue and will enable the conferences to better start calling their own shots.

Birmingham Welcomes The World

Jay Coulter — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:00:06 -0000

The crown jewel of the Birmingham Olympic movement.

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

I had every intention of leading today with the arrest of Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns. But these things have gotten so old hat lately. Does a month go by now that an Alabama player is not arrested for something? Tuscaloosa and Compton grow more and more similar by the day.

This story is much more entertaining. The first time I read about it, I honestly thought it was a joke, maybe something appearing on The Onion. By now you've probably heard, Birmingham is going after the 2020 Summer Olympics. Yeah, those Olympics - as in NBC Sports, Bob Costas and athletes competing in real sports arenas.

In what has to amount to political suicide, Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford said the city would aggressively go after the games. OK, I can't write this without laughing my ass off. Is this guy serious?

Speaking to the Birmingham City Council, Langford produced a 257-page manual that details how to apply for the games and possible venues to hold the events. Here's the kicker: the application fee is $500,000. Do you realize that Alabama could recruit two Albert Means caliber players for that kind of money?

Here's the quote of the day: "We're the only ones who have difficulty recognizing our own potential," the mayor said.

Larry, I've got to level with you. There's nobody on earth that sees that kind of potential in Birmingham. Hosting the Papa John's Bowl in front of 25,000 fans is hardly a precursor for landing the Olympic Games. Make it stop.

Can you see the world converge on refurbished Legion Field? I can just picture IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge standing outside the Tide-Tiger with a Pabst Blue Ribbon in one hand and a Swisher Sweet in the other.

Picture driving toward the stadium and seeing neighborhood parking attendants decked out with colorful shirts, each representing a foreign country. "Park here, 20 dollars or 25 Euros. You can piss in our bushes for free with paid parking."

Once the Opening Ceremonies start, you'll hear Bear Bryant's booming voice say, "I ain't nothin but a winner." The rednecks, which won't have tickets, will go crazy outside the stadium and begin firing their shotguns. Sweet Home Alabama will be heard on cassettes all around Legion Field.

To cap things off, Paul Bryant Jr. will take the Olympic torch handoff from Kenny Stabler, who for some reason is not too sure-footed tonight, and will light the Olympic cauldron that is shaped like a houndstooth hat.

Meanwhile, former five-star Alabama football recruits will sell crack and crystal meth out of their trunks to our visitors from around the world.

Let the games begin.

John Pawlowski Press Conference

Jay Coulter — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:15:35 -0000

Below is a video clip from Friday's press conference introducing new Auburn baseball coach John Pawlowski...

In Memory of George Carlin: Baseball vs. Football

Jay Coulter — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:00:30 -0000