Arkansas State @ Auburn

Auburn Football 2010: Things That Can Be Learned from Arkansas State

by Kevin McGrady

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  Auburn Football: 10 New Tiger Starters to Watch in Week 1

  by Matthew Donaldson

  Well, game week has arrived; with each college football season comes some uncertainty. Who will replace the experience and talent that has graduated and/or moved on to the NFL? In 2010, Auburn has many returning starters... Read More »

• 

  Auburn Battles the "Ole Ball Coach" in Fourth Game of the Season

  by Michael Abbott

  Is this the year South Carolina makes some noise in the SEC? Does the "Ole Ball Coach" have his team turning the corner? Some in the media say yes... Read More »

• 

  Auburn Will Compete In SEC West Hunt

  by The ACC and SEC Blog

  You might think Auburn Tiger fans would have been miserable this off season after Alabama won the BCS Championship, but the excitement on the Plains has been hard to contain... Read More »

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  2010 College Football Predictions: Auburn Tigers To Flog Arkansas State

  by Nathan Deal

  We are under a week away from the kickoff between the No. 22 Auburn Tigers of the SEC and the Arkansas State Red Wolves of the Sun Belt at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama... Read More »

Auburn's Game Week Preview

	Auburn's Game Week Preview: Tigers Ready to Whoop Arkansas State From Bleacher Report
	Who is Auburn's Most Indispensable Player? From AuburnUndercover.com
	Auburn Ready to Run With Tailbacks Mario Fannin, Michael Dyer and More From Al.com
	Play the Best Tiger Trivia: It’s Fast, Fun, and Free From Smart Folks, LLC
	Auburn, Gene Chizik Optimistic Heading Into Season From Al.com
	Tigers Have Window of Opportunity From Al.com
	College Football's Hottest Fan Bases — How Do Auburn Girls Stack Up? From Bleacher Report
	Auburn's Lee Ziemba Is A Full-grown Tiger From AuburnUndercover.com

Auburn Football Practice Report - WAFF 48

AUBURN - The Auburn football team practiced for two hours Wednesday evening behind the Athletics Complex. With less than two weeks before the first game of the season, the focus of practice is turning to scout team work and game preparation.

Working out in full pads, practice started with special teams drills, then moved to individual and position drills. After more special teams work, the offensive and defensive units worked against the scout teams, before finishing up together.

Head Coach Gene Chizik was pleased with Wednesday's practice, particularly with the energy level and physicality.

"I thought we had a good practice today, we went out in full pads and tried to have a more physical practice, which is good," said Chizik. "We got a lot out of it and their energy level was up. All preparation for our first game was what we focused on and I think we got a lot out of it."

Now in game preparation mode, Chizik said the team is now working against situations they expect to see on Sept. 4.

"Arkansas State runs some similar things as us, and that is good for us because we have seen some of those things, but there are deviations that vary off the path as well," said Chizik. "They are a pace team, which means they are going to try to get in as many plays as they can. We are really trying to work the pace, getting lined up against the fast-paced offense that we face a good bit of the time."

Auburn will return to the practice fields at 5 p.m., Thursday in the team's last practice of the week.

The Tigers open the 2010 season in Jordan-Hare Stadium Sept. 4 against Arkansas State. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net.

Auburn Tigers

	Plenty of Position Battles Still Raging for Tigers From MontgomeryAdvertiser.com
	3 Running Backs for the Price of One From AuburnUndercover.com
	Auburn Tigers Football: Position Battles That Count in 2010 From Bleacher Report
	Lots of New Faces at Auburn Give Tigers Plenty Options From Al.com
	Play the Best Tiger Trivia: It’s Fast, Fun, and Free From Smart Folks, LLC
	Scout Team Talk, A Lack of Decisions and More From OANow.com
	100 Things We Can't Wait to See This College Football Season From Bleacher Report
	Auburn Works on Master Plan to Expand Jordan-Hare Stadium

Jay Jacobs wants to make one thing perfectly clear. The Auburn Tigers are not copycats.

The Auburn AD is very much aware that his biggest rival is finishing its second major expansion in the last four years, that Bryant-Denny Stadium now looks like Jordan-Hare on HGH.

But if you're waiting for Auburn to follow Alabama's lead, don't hold your breath until you turn blue. Or orange.

"We're not going to increase our capacity just because someone else is increasing their capacity," Jacobs said. "We're going to do what's best for us."

Don't get the wrong idea. While the heavy equipment has been working overtime in Tuscaloosa, Auburn officials haven't been dozing. They're not content simply to rest on their reputation as the people that brought you Tiger Walk and the eagle's flight.

They could. As Jacobs pointed out, there's a difference between the size of your stadium and the quality of your game-day experience. There are bigger college football stadiums than Jordan-Hare, but do any of them put on a better show?

"There's no game-day atmosphere anywhere that I've ever been like ours," Jacobs said. "We're going to continue to lead the industry in that area because that's something we started doing before anyone else did."

That said, a lot of people believe bigger equals better, and Jacobs can see a day when Auburn will need more seats in its football stadium. Before you laugh, remember that he saw Gene Chizik as a winning head coach long before there was tangible evidence on his side.

So, last October, Jacobs hired Pieper Sports Facility Consulting of Overland Park, Kan., to do a master design for Jordan-Hare Stadium. The idea: Look at everything, he said, "and not just the seats. The lettermen's lounge. The recruiting section. The scoreboards. Other amenities."

"What we want to do is be proactive and not reactive," Jacobs said. "We want to be ready to go when it's time to go. What I mean by that is, we get a couple years like we used to have prior to 2008 where we sell out tickets from the ticket priority standpoint, then your supply is beginning to exceed your demand.

"It'll be time to expand or add additional seating."

Allow me to translate. Auburn's investment in Chizik has to pay dividends first before the really big spending starts.

Jacobs got an update from the consultant in May and expects another in the coming months. When it's finished, the master plan will tell him just how many seats Jordan-Hare can hold.

Schools like to study what other schools are doing when it comes to facilities, and Auburn is no different. As part of the work on this master plan, Jacobs said, Auburn officials visited eight to 12 other stadiums in the last six months to see what might work on the Plain.

Among those site visits: Clemson, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Texas, Texas A&M and Tennessee. Among Jim Pieper of Pieper Sports Facility Consulting's previous clients: Tennessee, Florida and Iowa.

Oh and Texas Tech. Before Tommy Tuberville got there. Naturally.

"So we're pulling all this (information) together and saying, 'You know what? We've got 25 things here we're going to do over the next 10 years.' Hypothetically. Could be five years, could be 25," Jacobs said.

"When the time is right for Auburn to expand, we will have a plan in place that we can take to the board and the president. ... That plan is a living document. It could change at any time."

The one thing that can't change is the positive momentum generated by Chizik and company through one season and two recruiting classes. Jacobs pointed out that there are only 33 players left on the roster from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 recruiting classes.

"We're still a couple of years away from having a 2004 team," Jacobs said.

It's all supply and demand. An undefeated season doesn't come along very often. Concrete seats, filled or empty, are forever.

Malzahn creates homegrown offensive staff

By Andrew Gribble
Published: August 22, 2010

The pressure to win in the SEC permeates every facet of its respective football programs.

From the round-the-clock recruiting all the way to how landscapers cut the grass on game days, there isn’t a decision made that doesn’t at least consider how it will affect the team’s ability to win more games and win them now.

At Auburn, nowhere is it displayed more than by the homegrown flavor of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn’s duo of right-hand assistants both of whom have known him since the birth of his fast-paced, no-huddle spread offense.

In graduate assistant Rhett Lashlee, Malzahn has the second player who ever quarterbacked the offense he runs today. In offensive quality control assistant Elijah Drinkwitz, Malzahn has the first brave soul who had to fill his shoes as the offensive coordinator at Springdale (Ark.) High after he infamously joined Houston Nutt at Arkansas.

Together, they’ve helped make life easier for one of the biggest offensive names in college football by simply being themselves — longtime followers and practitioners of Malzahn’s unique take on scoring points.

“Time is of the essence,” Malzahn said. “There’s not time to break people in, especially in a situation like this where we have to find ways to get better each year.”

Auburn received more than 500 applications from high school and college coaches across the country when its offensive quality control position opened during the offseason. If Drinkwitz would have declined when Malzahn originally contacted him to gauge his interest, maybe the 499 others would have had a chance.

Fair? Maybe not on the surface.

It’s all about who you know, a methodology that is certainly not unique to college football.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people who can do this job,” Drinkwitz said. “I think it’s just a great benefit for him to work with people he knows and trusts. I think no matter what you do, you want to work with people you know and trust and they know what you’re about.”

‘No-brainer’ for Lashlee

Lashlee first met Malzahn as a seventh grader. Malzahn, then a first-year coach at Shiloh Christian, was running a pro-style offense. The next year, Malzahn unveiled his patented attack, which helped advance Shiloh Christian to the state championship game and made the school instantly famous as the nation’s top offense.

Lashlee, as an eighth grader running the same offense, was hooked.

“It just kind of exploded,” Lashlee said.

Lashlee played a big part in the eruption. He started at quarterback for Malzahn as a sophomore and led his team to three consecutive title appearances, winning two. On the way, he threw 171 touchdown passes, a national record, and saw Malzahn leave for

Springdale High before his senior season.

Lashlee played under Nutt as a walk-on for two seasons before he returned to Springdale as a volunteer quarterbacks coach with Malzahn. He was one of Mitch Mustain’s direct supervisors for Mustain’s junior and senior seasons, the two most offensively successful seasons in school history, before he followed Malzahn to Arkansas as a graduate assistant.

“The way coach is, the way he is with his quarterbacks because of what he expects out of them in his system, he naturally becomes close with them,” Lashlee said. “He’s one of the main reasons why I realized what I wanted to do with my life was coach and impact young guys’ lives.”

Lashlee stayed in Arkansas when Malzahn took over as Tulsa’s offensive coordinator. He was in the process of getting married, so he opted to use his freshly earned marketing degree and take a gig with VYPE Magazine in northwest Arkansas.

When his phone rang days after Malzahn took a job under Gene Chizik at Auburn, Lashlee barley let Malzahn get the words out of his mouth.

“Not going to Tulsa made no sense logically, but it was the best thing for me and my family at the time and it turns out it was a great blessing,” Lashlee said.

“It was a no-brainer.”

NOTEBOOK: Newton: Tigers deserve more hype

By Mike Szvetitz
Published: August 22, 2010

Even though his team is ranked in the top 25 in both the AP and coaches polls, Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton still feels like the Tigers are entering this season as underdogs.

“Oh, no doubt,” the starter said. “Anytime you turn on the TV or you turn on the sports talk radio show or anywhere, they’re talking about the other team ... Of course, we know that they’re an excellent team as well. We feel like we’re not being mentioned as we should be.”

Newton, of course, is talking about Alabama, the defending national champions and the No. 1 team in the nation, according to both polls. Auburn is ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll and No. 23 by the coaches after finishing last season unranked with an 8-5 record.

Newton said he wasn’t sure why the Tigers weren’t being talked about like he felt they should be, but his reasoning to get Auburn into national conversations was simple.

“We’re just going to do what we’re coached to do, and our No. 1 thing to do is win,” he said. “And I guess if you win games, you’ll silence all the critics.”

Newton believes his team can do that, entering this season with the attitude they can compete with anyone, anywhere. When asked about how the “playmakers” at Auburn compare to the ones he played with while he was the backup to Tim Tebow at Florida from 2007-08, Newton explained that mentality.

“Any Division I SEC school, you’re going to have talent,” he said. “It may not be in the same areas, but I feel like we can compete with Florida at any given day, and we’re not backing down. This year we’ve got this type of swagger about us that we’re not scared.

“We realize that we’re the underdog, so to speak, and we’re not going to back down from nothing.”

When he was reminded that Auburn didn’t play the Gators this year, Newton said, “We have a chance to meet them in Atlanta if we do our job.”

Sullen: Best man will win
It’s a good thing John Sullen’s a realist, because the clock is ticking. There are only 12 days until Auburn’s first game, and there’s only one player who can start at right tackle.

Sullen, a former Auburn High standout, said he’s locked in a battle for the position with junior A.J. Greene, and doesn’t even know where he stands.

But he does know offensive line coach Jeff Grimes will pick the best player.

“Right now, I really don’t know,” Sullen said. “(Greene’s) been working hard. I’ve been working hard. He’ll have a good day. I’ll have a good day. It’s been like a seesaw really.

Basically, it’s come down to more of a consistency thing.”

And if the “long process,” as Sullen calls it, isn’t tough enough, the sophomore is going up against one of his closest friends on the team.

“It just comes down to the point where we’re like, ‘OK, we’re friends and whoever wins the position battle, that’s not going to change that,’” Sullen said. “We’re going to stay friends.

But we both have the mentality that Coach Grimes is going to pick the best person. So that won’t even play a factor in it.”

Head coach Gene Chizik said they hope to name a starter sometime this week, understanding the urgency.

“Quick,” Chizik said. “That’ll probably be happening by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

I hate to put a deadline on something because there other variables in there, but we’d like to do it as soon as we could.”

Ready? Ready
It’s been two-and-a-half weeks, and Auburn is still hitting players in the same color jerseys.
About time for a change?

“They’re tired of playing against each other, that’s for sure,” Chizik said. “That two-week window we talked about (Saturday), it’s kind of that game. You’re seeing game on TV, you’re seeing NFL (preseason) every weekend, and it’s time.”

Alas, they still have to wait two weeks to play, but not to gameplan.

“It’s time to start preparing for the season in terms of opponents,” Chizik said. “I think they’re ready, they’re excited about it. I know coaching-wise we are.”

On the other hand, the coach does like having more time to prepare.

“I think we’re close,” Chizik said. “I don’t think we’re far off one way or another. Obviously, I’m glad we have two weeks of practice left to get ready for our first game, but I think we’re pretty close to where we envisioned ourselves being.”

Demond Washington

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn seniors Josh Bynes, Craig Stevens and Demond Washington were all named Tuesday to watch lists for major college football trophies. Bynes and Stevens were named to the Butkus Award watch list, while Washington was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list.

The Butkus Award is presented annually to the nation's best linebacker, while the Paul Hornung Award is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football.

Bynes led Auburn in tackles and ranked sixth in the SEC last year, totaling 104 stops on the season (61 solo, 43 assists). He had six tackles for loss and recovered two fumbles while also breaking up seven passes and intercepting another.

Bynes enters his senior season with 167 career tackles and with a streak of 21 consecutive starts. He has four career double-digit tackle games, including back-to-back games with 10 tackles each against Alabama and Northwestern to close the 2009 season.

Stevens was named Auburn's Co-Defensive Most Valuable Player in 2009 after finishing with 95 tackles (55 solo, 40 assists), including eight tackles for loss and 2.5 quarterback sacks. He was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 11 tackles and returning an interception for a touchdown to seal Auburn's 41-30 victory over West Virginia. It was one of three double-digit tackles games for Stevens during the 2009 season.

Stevens, who has started 26 consecutive games dating back to the 2007 season, has 190 tackles during his career (109 solo, 81 assists), including 9.5 tackles for 40 yard in losses. He has collected at least six tackles in a game 16 times during his career.

Washington was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list after setting an Auburn record for kickoff return average in 2009, while also playing both cornerback and safety for the Auburn defense and returning punts.

Washington led the SEC and ranked sixth nationally in kickoff return average in 2009, averaging a school-record 31.1 yards per return. He set Auburn single-game records with 229 total return yards and 202 kickoff return yards in a game at Georgia, including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. His 40.4-yard average on kickoff returns against the Bulldogs was the second-best mark in SEC history with a minimum of four returns.

Defensively, Washington started the season at cornerback for the Tigers, before starting the final four games of the season at safety. He finished the season with 36 tackles (22 solo, 14 assists), including one quarterback sack, and had four pass break-ups.

Wes Byrum could win the Lou Groza award for kickers

Wes Byrum

Aug. 20, 2010

AUBURN - Auburn senior kicker Wes Byrum is one of 30 players who have been named to the watch list for the Lou Groza Award, the West Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Friday.

The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the nation's top placekicker, as determined by a voting panel of NCAA Division 1 head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters from across the county, conference representatives, professional kickers and previous winners.

Byrum was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award in 2009 after setting a school single-season record for points by a kicker with 99, while missing just one kick all season. He connected on 15-of-16 field goals attempts (.938) and made all 54 PATs. His field goal percentage set an Auburn single-season record and ranked second nationally among kickers with at least 10 field goal attempts, while his 54 extra points were also the most in a single season in school history.

Byrum enters his senior season ranked fifth on Auburn's all-time scoring list with 240 career points, and needs 73 points to surpass John Vaughn (2003-06) as the school's all-time leading scorer. He has made 43-of-58 field goals during his career, and his percentage of .741 ranks fourth in school history.

Kickers on the Lou Groza Award watch list were chosen based on statistics from the 2009 season as well as 2010 preseason expectations. Fifteen semifinalists are returning from 2009, including last year's winner Kai Forbath of UCLA.

Accomplishments are tabulated throughout the season and the Lou Groza Place Kicker Award will announce its 20 semifinalists on Oct. 29. A panel of more than 300 experts will select the top three finalists for the award on Nov. 22. The same group then selects the national winner which will be announced on Dec. 9 during the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Award Show in Orlando, Fla.

The award is named for NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships and was named the NFL Player of the Year in 1954. Although an all-pro offensive lineman, Groza ushered in the notion that there should be a place on an NFL roster for a kicker.

Jon Solomon -- The Birmingham News

Count ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit among the pundits expecting Auburn to challenge Alabama for the SEC West title.

"I think the Iron Bowl on Nov. 26 is going old-school," Herbstreit said today on a media conference call. "I think it's going to decide the SEC West and who ultimately gets to Atlanta and plays in the SEC Championship Game. I think it's going to be exciting in the state of Alabama this year."

Since the SEC Championship Game started in 1992, the Iron Bowl has never been a winner-take-all game for the West. Auburn had a 3-5 SEC record last season. Only three teams have reached the SEC Championship Game one year after posting a losing league record: Arkansas 2006, Auburn 2000 and Arkansas 1995.

Also, Herbstreit said ESPN GameDay is likely coming to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama-Penn State game on Sept. 11. Herbstreit said he and Brent Musburger will be calling that game on ESPN. Ohio State-Miami and Florida State-Oklahoma are also held that day. An ESPN spokesman said Alabama-Penn State is one of several games being considered for GameDay.

Herbstreit said he believes Auburn will have a "great" year and "the sky is the limit" with new quarterback Cam Newton.

"The players around him I think are ready to have a good year," Herbstreit said. "I love their backfield. They finally have three guys who can be electrifying in that backfield. .... Are they going to get better on defense? The answer to me is yes. Gene Chizik is a defensive guy. The first year, they went through some growing pains."

The questions for Alabama are avoiding complacency and replacing 13 players on defense who all contributed for at least three years, Herbstreit said.

"Thirteen guys off one side of the football that puts an emphasis on rotating bodies -- and it's probably the most complex defense in the country -- and you lose 13 guys off that team?" Herbstreit said. "You can bring in all those five-star recruits, and they're great. But they don't have that experience."

Herbstreit said he has been interested seeing Nick Saban's post-practice messages on the Alabama All-Access shows on ESPN.

"What he's trying to do is be pro-active of the potential of the human nature side of things where you get complacent," Herbstreit said. "Any time you're the defending champion, people are going to place you on a pedestal. This team, Alabama 2010, even though they have some returning players, has nothing to do with 2009. ... Are they going to have that same desire? Are they going to have that same excitement? Is Nick Saban going to have to yell at them after every practice to motivate them?"

One more Herbstreit prediction: Oklahoma and Nebraska will meet in the Big 12 Championship Game and the winner will be in the BCS Championship Game.

2010 AUBURN FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

2010 GAME SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Location

Sept. 4 Arkansas State Auburn

Sept. 9 Mississippi State Starkville*

Sept. 18 Clemson Auburn

Sept. 25 South Carolina Auburn

Oct. 2 Louisiana-Monroe Auburn

Oct. 9 Kentucky Lexington

Oct. 16 Arkansas Auburn

Oct. 23 LSU Auburn

Oct. 30 Mississippi Oxford

Nov. 6 Chattanooga Auburn

Nov. 13 Georgia Auburn

Nov. 26 Alabama Tuscaloosa

Auburn Tickets

• 4 Auburn Tigers vs Arkansas St Football Tickets 9/4
• Auburn Football Student Season Tickets All 8 home games
• Auburn Tigers vs Chattanooga Mocs - 40 yd line
• Auburn Tigers vs Lousiana Monroe Warhawks - 40 yd line
• 4 Auburn Tigers vs Clemson Football Tickets 9/18
• Auburn vs. Arkansas State 9/4/2010
• Auburn Football Season Tickets
• 4of6 Auburn Tigers Arkansas State Football Tickets 9/4
• 2of6 Auburn Tigers Arkansas State Football Tickets 9/4
• 4 - Alabama vs Auburn Football Tickets
  

Evan Woodbery

Auburn opened preseason camp well below the 85-man NCAA

scholarship limit, which was good news for three walk-ons.

Long-snapper Josh Harris, linebacker Wade Christopher and defensive back Woody Parramore were awarded scholarships at a team meeting Monday night.

"It was a great thing to see and they earned it," coach Gene Chizik said.

Todd Van Emst, AuburnWade Christopher

All three players are contributors on special teams. Injuries forced Christopher into the two-deep last year.

ZAC OUT: Senior safety Zac Etheridge did not participate in Tuesday's scrimmage. He has not participated in a full-contact practice at any time this camp.

Etheridge, who suffered a serious neck injury last season, announced last month that he had been cleared to return to football. Chizik said he is merely following the advice of Auburn's medical staff.

"I just simply follow medically whatever the situation is right now," Chizik said. "And when we get to that point, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But right now, medically, we're following the instructions of our staff. They're on top of it."

BERRY BACK: Starting offensive guard Mike Berry said he missed spring practice due to shoulder surgery, not knee surgery, as was reported at the time.

Berry said he played through pain at the end of last season.

"I knew I was going to have to sit out the spring, but it was for the best," Berry said.

BRIEFLY: Seniors Josh Bynes and Craig Stevens are among 51 players on the watch list for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's top linebacker. ... Defensive coordinator Ted Roof spoke at length with former Auburn coach Pat Dye after the scrimmage.

Related topics: Auburn football, Josh Harris, Wade Christopher, Woody Parramore

Charles Goldberg -- The Birmingham News

Auburn's Gene Chizik takes a look at scrimmage No. 3

AUBURN -- Cam Newton said Auburn's offense is beginning to hit its stride, and a big showing in Tuesday's scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium seemed to support his claim.

The Tigers' new quarterback threw three touchdown passes and the offense scored 82 points in Auburn's third scrimmage in the last six days.

"I think we're on the right track," Newton said.

It was a confidence builder, Newton said. It was also a chance for freshman running back Michael Dyer, who was purposely given plenty of

opportunities to succeed.

Newton threw two TD passes to Kodi Burns and said Mario Fannin turned a screen pass into a long score.

Coach Gene Chizik said the offense was moving quickly.

"The offense tried to work the pace a little bit more. We tried to get a fast pace going, which was very effective," Chizik said.

"Cam had a good night. A lot of the quarterbacks had a good night."

Chizik designated Burns, the former quarterback who is in his second year at receiver, as the post-scrimmage star for his receiving night and his willingness to play on special teams.

"I've got to give Kodi Burns a lot of credit. He's taken it as a personal thing on special teams," Chizik said. "I'm really proud of him. He's just a very selfless guy."

Burns was making the switch from quarterback to receiver a year ago.

"Last year that was my position, but I really wasn't seasoned at it," Burns said. "Now that I've had a chance to work at it for a year, I feel a lot more comfortable and I'm really going to be able to help this team out."

Auburn didn't release any statistics from the scrimmage that was closed to the public and the media, but the players and coaches acknowledged the offense did well, and the scoreboard said it was 82-25.

"We didn't respond," said linebacker Craig Stevens. "We've got to find a way to pick it up."

Stevens said the first team played about half the time.

"But both defenses were off and on," he said.

Defensive coordinator Ted Roof said, ``we gave up some big plays and we've got to get that corrected.

"It wasn't any one position. It was across the board. And we've got to get better in a hurry. In a hurry.''

Auburn is off today, but the coaches will spend the day filling out their depth chart. They have plenty of game tape to study from the scrimmages.

Much of that will feature Auburn's 30 newcomers.

"We'll make some more decisions in the next few days on who will help us," Chizik said.

The scrimmages were designed for that.

"We should have the information to have an idea on who's ready to play and use these last two weeks to get them ready to play," said offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

The 80-plus-play scrimmage was also designed to give Dyer plenty of work. He had 10-15 carries -- the most he has had this preseason -- and said he had several good runs.

Chizik said Dyer is "one of those young guys we're trying to figure out right now. We're trying to figure out how he fits on game day. It's going to be a continuing learning process for him. He's doing well. We'll continue to work him, and he needs the work."

Still, Chizik said he had expected the offense to "have run it a little bit more than we did. Being physical up front, and dominating the line of scrimmage, I don't think we're there."

Tuesday CFB Grab Bag

by War Eagle Atlanta

More photos » Todd J. Van Emst - AP

Browse more photos »

LB Jessel Curry high-fives a particularly friendly tackling dummy during practice last Monday.

Eighteen more days until kickoff of the 2010 season and Auburn fans are trying hard not to gush with unbridled optimism with what the new year beholds for the Tigers. Although not terribly superstitious, most Auburn folks know better than to show any tell of chutzpah, as the whole team might come down with H1N1 or go to an agent's party in Miami or simply forget to show up for the first third of the schedule should any one single fan fail to po'mouth the Tigers for the upcoming season. While all of us wait to see which SEC defenses get run over by the Gus Bus, keep it to yourself until at least after the first month. In the meantime, cross your fingers, knock on wood and keep chopping wood until we sound the all-clear!

We're taking the credit. It's looking like the only option for Legion Field now is to fill it with dirt and turn it into a big planter, now that the PapaJohns.com Bowl has refused to pick up the option on this season's bowl game played at Legion Field. Papa John's has bigger plans and is now a proud new sponsor of the NFL. Besides, the game couldn't lure a sell-out if they offered free pizza the whole game and a double-cheese pie to go.

Auburn fans should take special pride in knowing that they played no small part in bringing down the venue that was infamously known as home turf for us every other year during the Iron Bowls between the 1950s through the 1990s. Finally getting the series to go to a home and home after 1989 sewed the seeds of Legion Field's destruction, coupled with the SEC CG moving out after 1993 and Alabama having not played a meaningful game there in over a decade. Maybe Birmingham Tigers feel differently, but I never met an Auburn fan who enjoyed traveling there for that game. Will officials desperately try to get another sponsorship, or should the former bastion of Tide lore be allowed to die a natural, final death?

Gus Degrees of Separation. Recently pulled off the rolls of the witness protection program, former Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain might be challenging for the starting job for Lane Kiffin at USC. Why should we care? History majors might remember that Mustain, an all-world recruit out of Springdale, AR, came to Fayetteville with his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, under very mysterious circumstances. As a matter of fact, the only thing more mysterious is the circumstances that he left under. Mustain came in early in the season and was 8-0 as a starter, but got yanked by coach Houston Nutt after being spelled by Casey Dick in a win against South Carolina. Mustain sat for the next three games and only saw limited playing time in the Hog's SEC title game against Florida and bowl game.

After that season, Malzahn bolted for Tulsa and Mustain declared his intention to transfer, after a much ballyhooed campaign to get his release from Nutt, which involved getting a note signed from his mother. Although he could have gone many places, to his credit, he chose USC, where he has been riding the bench for the last two years since sitting out the 2007 season. Can Auburn fans praise Mustain for being the broken road that led Gus straight to us? Hardly, but it is sad to see great talent squandered in such a senseless way. I wonder what Gus would say about the situation if he could?

Just hand the ball off--to the referee. Aren't you glad you're the fan of one of the most disciplined teams in all the land? Our Tigers are all business on the field. No celebrating, no delaying, just get the ball back to the officials for the spot and go again. Talk is already forming about the new taunting rules that will go into effect next year. Yea, next year, not this year. Taunting penalties will be considered live-ball, spot-fouls and the 15 yards will be assessed from the spot, which translates into six points being taken off the board for many of these calls. Les Miles is one of the coaches on board with the change. No word yet if mailing a coach 8000 watches for bad time management is to be considered taunting. Save your postage though. Les probably won't be around for the 2011 season.

I'm de-following him as we speak. Urban Meyer has fessed up that he doesn't actually make the tweets that you find on his Twitter account. Oh my. Who saw that coming? More shocking was that it was an assistant and not actually Tim Tebow, in between practice, head-shaving and preseason NFL games. Wasn't this to be part of the less-stress regimen to be instituted by Meyer--Tweeting and Face-booking instead of recruiting and coaching? Meyer does retain the title of "Manager of the Twitter program", which isn't exactly CFB's version of a neck-order award, but pretty darn close to it.

What could possibly go wrong?Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will do analysis for CBS Sports this fall, calling games in C-USA and the Mountain West. Not really sure how wise it is to have the Dread Pirate Leach and a live microphone anywhere near each other, but I guess this means that ESPN and Craig James passed on the idea. Wouldn't you love for him to be on the air right before the jury in his suit against TT comes in? Talk about loose cannons. Navy couldn't batten down this guy to the deck