Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News

Polls are out

The AP and the coaches’ polls are out.
Since yesterday was a CRAZY (one dollar to Gnarls Barkley) day in college football, we’ve got some shake ups. Here’s the polls.
Auburn moved up two spots in each poll (from 15 to 13 in AP and from 16 to 14 in the coaches).

Here’s the list. Note: Alabama jumps LSU in the AP Poll.

AP POLL
Record Pts Pvs
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599 2
2. Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565 8
3. LSU 4-0 1,466 5
4. Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453 6
5. Texas 4-0 1,362 7
6. Penn St. 5-0 1,252 12
7. Texas Tech 4-0 1,105 10
8. BYU 4-0 1,098 11
9. Southern Cal 2-1 1,087 1
10. South Florida 5-0 1,035 13
11. Georgia 4-1 1,018 3
12. Florida 3-1 914 4
13. Auburn 4-1 860 15
14. Ohio St. 4-1 829 14
15. Utah 5-0 713 17
16. Kansas 3-1 650 18
17. Boise St. 3-0 549 19
18. Wisconsin 3-1 520 9
19. Vanderbilt 4-0 459 21
20. Virginia Tech 4-1 290 —
21. Oklahoma St. 4-0 277 —
22. Fresno St. 3-1 232 25
23. Oregon 4-1 199 —
24. Connecticut 5-0 126 —
25. Wake Forest 3-1 107 16
Others receiving votes: Maryland 46, Michigan St. 42, Kentucky 40, Ball St. 38, Northwestern 32, Tulsa 32, TCU 30, Illinois 24, North Carolina 21, Florida St. 14, Mississippi 13, Georgia Tech 10, California 5, Nebraska 5, Boston College 3, Oregon St. 3, Colorado 2.

USA Today Coaches Poll
Record Pts Pvs
1. Oklahoma (57) 4-0 1,520 2
2. LSU (1) 4-0 1,399 6
3. Missouri 4-0 1,398 5
4. Alabama (2) 5-0 1,350 10
5. Texas (1) 4-0 1,310 7
6. Penn State 5-0 1,146 12
7. Brigham Young 4-0 1,054 11
8. Texas Tech 4-0 1,047 9
9. Southern California 2-1 990 1
10. South Florida 5-0 888 14
10. Georgia 4-1 888 3
12. Ohio State 4-1 854 13
13. Florida 3-1 832 4
14. Auburn 4-1 776 16
15. Utah 5-0 684 17
16. Kansas 3-1 555 18
17. Wisconsin 3-1 521 8
18. Boise State 3-0 446 20
19. Vanderbilt 4-0 351 25
20. Oregon 4-1 286 22
21. Fresno State 3-1 280 24
22. Oklahoma State 4-0 229 —
23. Connecticut 5-0 180 —
24. Virginia Tech 4-1 161 —
25. Wake Forest 3-1 148 15
Others receiving votes: Northwestern 98; Michigan State 88; Kentucky 86; Ball State 43; Maryland 40; Tulsa 38; Florida State 31; TCU 25; California 20; Georgia Tech 18; Illinois 14; Nebraska 8; Oregon State 6; Clemson 5; North Carolina 5; Notre Dame 3; Cincinnati 2; Duke 1; Mississippi 1.

Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News

Auburn vs. Tennessee final thoughts

As you’ll be able to read in my column in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News, Auburn’s offense isn’t very good.

I don’t know if you know that, or not.

And I don’t know if they’ll ever be any better. Sure, there’s a lot (A LOT!) of room for improvement, which everyone says will happen. But five games in, you are who you are.
Auburn is a team that has a great defense, an average offense and iffy special teams. It’s just the way it is, until they do something to change it.

Like I said, at this point in the season, almost halfway, you are what you are. You can get better. And teams do. And I believe Auburn will. But scoring 45 points a game and racking up 500-plus yards of offense isn’t going to happen. Not with this team. Not with this schedule. Not with this personnel.

But, like Tony Franklin said, the Tigers are 4-1. And winning’s winning.
I’m sure there are a lot of other coaches and programs that would give up half their scholarships to be in Auburn’s place right now. But that could change by the end of the season.
And for this offense, something has to.

Tim Cottrell
Sports Writer/Designer

Is it starting again?

I’ll keep track of this throughout the day and probably columnize about it Tuesday if it continues, but are we seeing the madness begin?

Last year in began in Week 4, when Colorado beat Oklahoma, Syracuse beat Louisville, Miami beat Texas A&M and Michigan beat Penn State.

So far this year in Week 5, USC has lost to Oregon State, Florida has lost to Ole Miss and Clemson has lost to Maryland.

Stay tuned ..

Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News

UPDATE: Tristan Davis out ... Slaughter in?

(This has been updated at 2:22 p.m. with some additions to the starting lineup for Auburn.)
Running back Tristan Davis is not dressed out for today’s game. He suffered a concussion last week against LSU when he was kicked in the head on a kickoff return.

But making an appearance in pregame drills was wide receiver Chris Slaughter. Slaughter hasn’t played since the season opener and has been in Tommy Tuberville’s doghouse for the last three weeks. Is he out?
We’ll see ...

ADDS:
Josh Bynes will start at middle linebacker in place of Tray Blackmon, who has been slowed this week with an injured wrist. Ben Tate got the starting nod at running back. In the previous games, senior Brad Lester was the starter, but since Lester is dealing with a knee injury, he didn’t get the start.
Will Blackmon and/or Lester play? We’ll see.

Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News

Where is everybody?

With 40 minutes until kickoff, Jordan-Hare Stadium is pretty empty. Aside from the student section and the Tennessee band, the bleachers are pretty much vacant.

Does everyone know this is a 2:30 p.m. kick? Maybe they’re all in Athens, Ga. Who knows.

Walking through campus prior to arriving at the David E. Housel Press Box, campus was about as bumping as my Toyota Corolla’s sound system. Which isn’t very good.
Maybe it’ll pick up. But fans are running out of time.