Auburn Riding Wave of Strange Preseason Hype.
Posted: June 20th, 2008, 2:06 am
Sometimes you just need someone to motion your car over to the curb, tell you to put the car in park, and listen to what they are saying. That's basically what I feel like I need right now: someone to pull me to the curb and explain to me exactly why this 2008 Auburn Tigers football team is garnering so much respect by so many people who are supposed to be in-the-know.
Auburn is ranked in the preseason top 10 by Athlon Sports (at 8th), and even worse, the most respected man involved in all preseason rankings, Phil Steele, not only has them ranked 12th, but also calls them a national title darkhorse.
Maybe I just need someone to tell me one bit of wisdom, so I can achieve the knowledge like the monkey in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. I don't hate Auburn one bit. I was another face in the lynch mob, yelling injustice, when Auburn was screwed out of that national championship a few years back. I think my argument, which is the exact opposite of what others believe, has a pretty solid base in reason.
Auburn has had a carousel of coaches under Tuberville since he took over in 1999, so another round is nothing new for the head coach, fans, and even the players. Auburn did a good job replacing those coaches and did not really miss a beat. Once again, the song for Auburn has stopped and it is time to bring some new partners out onto the dance floor. This time, though, the transition might be much harder than years past.
Al Borges resigned prior to Auburn's 2007 end-of-season bowl game after three straight years where the offense struggled. When Borges came on board as offensive coordinator, he led the Tigers to a 13-0 record and then slid downhill faster than a fat kid on a snowboard for the next three seasons. By the time Borges' tenure came to a mighty halt, he had steadily taken Auburn's offense from 25th in the nation down to 101st. To replace Borges, Tuberville has brought in former Troy offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who is already changing the offense to a spread.
That's red flag number one when I look at this preseason hype. Changing the offense might seem to an outsider to be easy like a Sunday morning, but not when you recruit players specifically to fit a system. Are you ready for red flag number two? It is not like Auburn has an arsenal of intimidation on offense. They are breaking in a new quarterback, which is significant. And for the first time in a long time, Auburn does not possess a running-back or a wide-receiver that anyone outside of the Plains can name. Those factors are red flag number two.
On the defensive side of the ball, this is where the real trouble starts for Auburn in 2008. Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007. In 2003, Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator on the LSU squad that won the national championship. When he took over at Auburn in 2006, after a successful NFL stint, he led Auburn's defense to a 7th overall ranking in scoring defense. That defense ended the year ranked 19th overall, up a spot from 2005. In 2007, Auburn's defense climbed to 6th, despite being 9-4 overall. Muschamp had 4 defensive players drafted in the 2008 NFL draft.
When Muschamp bolted for Texas to take over the same coaching duty, Tuberville needed to find a replacement. He chose Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes. This will be the exit sign that everyone missed on the Auburn defense's road to ruin. Red flag number three.
Paul Rhodes served as defensive coordinator at Pitt from 2000 to 2007. The consensus amongst Pitt fans sounds like there was a line of them waving goodbye to Rhodes whenever he left town, and I don't mean that in a good way. This is a guy who consistently failed to make game adjustments. But what a difference one game can make. Rhodes is being heralded as the genius who stopped the mighty Mountaineers in 2007 and held them to a measly 183 yards. Unfortunately, what you don't hear about Rhodes and his WVU triumph, is how Pitt's defense gave one of the worst performances Anno Domini when they gave up 641 yards in 2006. In 2005, they did a little better, only giving up 492. In 2004, they gave up 360 but won the game. In 2003, they gave up 523. Pitt has not had a winning season, even in what many consider the weakest BCS conference, since Walt Harris' last season in 2004. That year, under Rhodes' defensive genius, Pitt was slaughtered in the Fiesta Bowl by Utah. They only gave up 467 in that one, though.
All you can go by in the sports world are historical patterns and crystal-ball intuition. Is this really the guy you want coaching your SEC defense? Every single team at the bottom of the SEC rankings would beat Syracuse, the worst team in the Big East, by 400 points. Rumor has it that when Auburn hired Paul Rhodes (for $400,000 a year, no less), Les Miles, Bobby Petrino, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Mark Richt, and Phil Fulmer all threw a 2-keg party to celebrate.
Auburn somehow gets a free pass when dealing with these issues, but Michigan, a team in a similar situation has been thrown under the Big Ten bus since January. Like I said, maybe I just need someone to show me what I'm missing. Hell, maybe Auburn will win the national title, and if that happens, congratulations. But when I see two new coordinators, one with a very questionable track record against speed (which the SEC lacks, right?), a new offense, a new quarterback, a running-back no one knows, wide-receivers that no one knows, and you lose 4 defensive players to the NFL draft, I start questioning the media hype.
Auburn is ranked in the preseason top 10 by Athlon Sports (at 8th), and even worse, the most respected man involved in all preseason rankings, Phil Steele, not only has them ranked 12th, but also calls them a national title darkhorse.
Maybe I just need someone to tell me one bit of wisdom, so I can achieve the knowledge like the monkey in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. I don't hate Auburn one bit. I was another face in the lynch mob, yelling injustice, when Auburn was screwed out of that national championship a few years back. I think my argument, which is the exact opposite of what others believe, has a pretty solid base in reason.
Auburn has had a carousel of coaches under Tuberville since he took over in 1999, so another round is nothing new for the head coach, fans, and even the players. Auburn did a good job replacing those coaches and did not really miss a beat. Once again, the song for Auburn has stopped and it is time to bring some new partners out onto the dance floor. This time, though, the transition might be much harder than years past.
Al Borges resigned prior to Auburn's 2007 end-of-season bowl game after three straight years where the offense struggled. When Borges came on board as offensive coordinator, he led the Tigers to a 13-0 record and then slid downhill faster than a fat kid on a snowboard for the next three seasons. By the time Borges' tenure came to a mighty halt, he had steadily taken Auburn's offense from 25th in the nation down to 101st. To replace Borges, Tuberville has brought in former Troy offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who is already changing the offense to a spread.
That's red flag number one when I look at this preseason hype. Changing the offense might seem to an outsider to be easy like a Sunday morning, but not when you recruit players specifically to fit a system. Are you ready for red flag number two? It is not like Auburn has an arsenal of intimidation on offense. They are breaking in a new quarterback, which is significant. And for the first time in a long time, Auburn does not possess a running-back or a wide-receiver that anyone outside of the Plains can name. Those factors are red flag number two.
On the defensive side of the ball, this is where the real trouble starts for Auburn in 2008. Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007. In 2003, Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator on the LSU squad that won the national championship. When he took over at Auburn in 2006, after a successful NFL stint, he led Auburn's defense to a 7th overall ranking in scoring defense. That defense ended the year ranked 19th overall, up a spot from 2005. In 2007, Auburn's defense climbed to 6th, despite being 9-4 overall. Muschamp had 4 defensive players drafted in the 2008 NFL draft.
When Muschamp bolted for Texas to take over the same coaching duty, Tuberville needed to find a replacement. He chose Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes. This will be the exit sign that everyone missed on the Auburn defense's road to ruin. Red flag number three.
Paul Rhodes served as defensive coordinator at Pitt from 2000 to 2007. The consensus amongst Pitt fans sounds like there was a line of them waving goodbye to Rhodes whenever he left town, and I don't mean that in a good way. This is a guy who consistently failed to make game adjustments. But what a difference one game can make. Rhodes is being heralded as the genius who stopped the mighty Mountaineers in 2007 and held them to a measly 183 yards. Unfortunately, what you don't hear about Rhodes and his WVU triumph, is how Pitt's defense gave one of the worst performances Anno Domini when they gave up 641 yards in 2006. In 2005, they did a little better, only giving up 492. In 2004, they gave up 360 but won the game. In 2003, they gave up 523. Pitt has not had a winning season, even in what many consider the weakest BCS conference, since Walt Harris' last season in 2004. That year, under Rhodes' defensive genius, Pitt was slaughtered in the Fiesta Bowl by Utah. They only gave up 467 in that one, though.
All you can go by in the sports world are historical patterns and crystal-ball intuition. Is this really the guy you want coaching your SEC defense? Every single team at the bottom of the SEC rankings would beat Syracuse, the worst team in the Big East, by 400 points. Rumor has it that when Auburn hired Paul Rhodes (for $400,000 a year, no less), Les Miles, Bobby Petrino, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Mark Richt, and Phil Fulmer all threw a 2-keg party to celebrate.
Auburn somehow gets a free pass when dealing with these issues, but Michigan, a team in a similar situation has been thrown under the Big Ten bus since January. Like I said, maybe I just need someone to show me what I'm missing. Hell, maybe Auburn will win the national title, and if that happens, congratulations. But when I see two new coordinators, one with a very questionable track record against speed (which the SEC lacks, right?), a new offense, a new quarterback, a running-back no one knows, wide-receivers that no one knows, and you lose 4 defensive players to the NFL draft, I start questioning the media hype.