Tomorrow’s notes today—the more talk about the future edition

According to the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads has expressed interest in the vacant coaching job at his alma mater of sorts, Utah State. Rhoads earned his Master’s at Utah State and served as a graduate assistant for two seasons.

Take it for what it’s worth, as newspapers can tend to throw names at the wall and see what sticks during coaching searches. In this blogger’s humble opinion, Rhoads will be a coach one day, but I’m not exactly sure it will be 2009. That’s total speculation, by the way.

Tommy Tuberville did a little speculating of his own on today’s SEC teleconference. If you want to find out what about, read the TNT, OK?

OC to be named by early January
Tommy Tuberville said Wednesday that he expects to have a new offensive coordinator hired by the first week of January because “he doesn’t want to mess with anybody’s season.”

“When you’re talking about coordinators,” Tuberville said in his weekly SEC teleconference, “as long as you’ve got the month of January to have somebody go out and visit with recruits and start setting a plan for spring practice, I think that’s plenty of time.”

Tuberville said he has narrowed down his list to “a dozen or so” candidates and will kick the process into higher gear following the Iron Bowl. Most of those candidates, he said, will be participating in a post-season bowl game, while some will not.

“I’m not in a real big hurry,” he said.

As he has said repeatedly since he fired Tony Franklin, Tuberville said he wants a coordinator who understands the spread, but can also run an effective offense by pounding the ball on the ground.

Auburn has considerably downsized its spread formations since Franklin’s departure and has more resembled the offense Franklin’s predecessor, Al Borges, ran in his tenure with the Tigers.

“If you look at everybody in this league, the people who are pretty much at the top of the league are going to have a good running game,” Tuberville said. “Whether it comes from your quarterback in the spread, the two-back system, you still have to have a plan.

“After going through the spread this year, I think it’s a great offense. We’re still running 50 percent of it, and that’s probably what we’re going to continue to do.‘’

When we meeting?
Tuberville said he was unsure when he plans to meet with president Dr. Jay Gogue to discuss his future with the program, but it won’t happen any sooner than Tuesday.

Tuberville said he plans to be out of town the Sunday and Monday after the Iron Bowl for recruiting trips, but plans to be around the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

“He never sets a time,” Tuberville said of Gogue. “We kind of get together when he’s available. Last year, he was gone a lot during the week afterward.”

Gogue has said recently that he will take a recommendation from athletic director Jay Jacobs into consideration when meeting with Tuberville, just as he does with all of the school’s head coaches.

Byrum still not kicking, Tuberville won’t alter schematics
Wes Byrum did not kick again during Wednesday’s practice, as his status for Saturday’s Iron Bowl continues to look more and more doubtful.

Tuberville reaffirmed that Byrum will still have a chance to play and is definitely traveling with the team, but the team is approaching the game as if Morgan Hull will be the placekicker.

“He’s done a good job,” Tuberville said of Hull. “We’re just trying to get his confidence up.”

Tuberville said that he won’t make different in-game decisions if Hull, who has yet to attempt a field goal this season, is, in fact, Auburn’s kicker.

“You can’t look at that,” Tuberville said. “If you got the ball at the 35-yard line and it’s fourth-and-4, you’ve got to kick the field goal. You’ve got to line up and put him out there—whoever’s out there—and say, ‘we’re going to get it done.’ You can’t change your coaching style.”

5 things I saw in Auburn’s 61-46 win over Bethune-Cookman

1. Bad basketball. This wasn’t a battle of two great defenses. It was a struggle between two bumbling offenses. Give Auburn credit, though. It isn’t likely that Auburn’s leading scorer, Tay Waller, will go without at least a single point ever again. Sixty-one points usually isn’t enough to win in college basketball, but Auburn managed to do so, and by double digits.

2. Auburn looking lost without Waller’s big 3’s. Over the first four games, Auburn seems to have thrived off momentum, especially when Waller is nailing his deep balls. But that didn’t happen Tuesday night, and the Tigers never really mounted a significant run the entire game. Even though Auburn held the Wildcats without a field goal for 11:50 from the end of the first half to the middle of the second, there was never really a sense that Auburn had taken the game over, more like Bethune-Cookman was packing it in.

3. Apprehensiveness on fastbreaks. Coach Jeff Lebo made it no secret that he was disgusted with the amount of blown alley-oops and easy layups missed in Auburn’s loss to Mercer last week. I’m pretty sure if another alley-opp goes awry, said players will not see the floor for a while. But that seems to have rubbed off on the Tigers, as they didn’t seem confident on their fastbreaks against the Wildcats. Auburn didn’t have a single fastbreak point, even though it forced 12 turnovers. There are far too many speedy guards and strong finishers on this team for that to happen.

4. Rasheem Barrett needing more time on the floor. DeWayne Reed said it best after the game. Barrett, who made his first appearance since the season opener, “ain’t ready yet.“ Lebo said that the senior has barely practiced at all this season, and it was definitely apparent Tuesday night. Barrett looked up to speed, but he seemed unsure about his role on the court during his seven minutes of action. Barrett would often penetrate and even dribbled the ball down the court on a number of occasions, but seemed uneasy about what to do next. His confidence should return soon enough.

5. A win. Unless Auburn won by 25 points or more, this game was basically a no-win situation in the world of style points. The Tigers certainly won’t get a boost to their RPI for this performance, but it was a victory, nonetheless. Friday’s clash with Dayton will definitely serve a good indicator as to how good, or bad, this team really is. 

Tomorrow’s notes today—the how can Auburn score more edition

The streets of Auburn no longer halfway resemble those of a major city. I can find a parking spot—at noon—near the Toomer’s Corner intersection of College Street. It no longer takes me 10 minutes to drive two miles from my wood-paneled apartment to the Auburn Athletic Complex.

School’s out for the week, and my drive-time commute greatly appreciates it. But that’s about the only thing I’m liking with the kiddies (said the 23-year-old) out of town. The town loses a bit of its buzz with the deadened streets and lack of backpacked walkers on the sidewalks. The college-town feel was a big sell for me to move from Cleveland to Eastern Alabama because I never want to grow up, or at least grow out of the 18-22 age bracket, and never want to pay $6 for a pint.

But they’re not all gone. The active athletes are still on campus and certainly taking advantage of the free parking. A meter maid would lose her lunch if she stumbled by the AAC parking lot this week. If cars could be parked on top of each other, the Auburn football team would make it happen.

Here’s some earlier-than-usual TNT. I’m headed—in five minutes or less—to the B-E-MC for tonight’s major men’s college basketball matchup between your Auburn Tigers and…the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. Those Wildcats, by the way, were picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the Mid-Eastern American Conference.

Enjoy.

Auburn’s mentality needs adjusting to fix red-zone woes
The red zone requires a killer mentality, wide receiver Rod Smith said, and Auburn simply hasn’t had it.

After last week’s four-strike strikeout inside Georgia’s 25 (only two drives qualified as reaching the “red zone,” which begins at the opponents’ 20), the Tigers, obviously, are looking to get better at finishing their drives.

But they don’t exactly plan on changing anything structurally, at least. The problems have been minor but deadly, resulting in some ugly numbers.

“You just work on little things, mental mistakes,” coach Tommy Tuberville said. “Again, it becomes a lot harder when you get down there.”

The Tigers remain last among 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and, after last week’s bye, they face an even further deficit from the two teams (Ohio and Indiana) tied at 117th.

Auburn has scored on just 20 of its 35 red-zone possessions, including 13 touchdowns. Its 57 percent success rate is a full 10 percentage points behind the Bobcats and Hoosiers, who have a combined 6-17 record.

“If you go on a long drive, you just have to finish it. You can’t settle for field goals,” Smith said. “We’ve had teams in the past that we’d go down and finish and put points up on the board and that helped us win.”

Last season, Auburn was 41-for-49 (84 percent) in the red zone, including 30 touchdowns.

“If we get it in our heads that we’re going to go down here and nobody’s going to stop us,” Smith said, “we’ll be an excellent offense.”

Offensive play-caller Steve Ensminger said there are a few tweaks in the cards for red-zone possessions Saturday against Alabama, but he wouldn’t delve into specifics. The well-noted absence of dual-threat running back Mario Fannin on the final two drives against Georgia, however, won’t likely occur again, Ensminger said.

“I think we have to do a little bit more of trying to isolate him one-on-one,” Ensminger said.

Byrum sits
Starting placekicker Wes Byrum (inflamed right knee) did not kick in Tuesday’s practice, Tuberville said.

His status, Tuberville said, remains day-to-day and it will likely be a gametime decision Saturday as to whether Byrum or Morgan Hull handles the kicking duties.

“There’s not structural damage. For some reason it just locks up on him,” Tuberville said. “That’s what they say. I’m no doctor.”

Lester at his best
Senior tailback Brad Lester, who did not line up once in the backfield against Georgia, is back to 100 percent health for the first time in more than two months, Tuberville said.

“He’s running like it,” Tuberville said. “He’s got a smile on his face in practice. It’s not a struggle for him to go through practice as a lot of guys.”

The season as a whole, however, definitely has been a struggle for Lester.

Lester has rushed for just 278 yards on 74 carries. He’s played in 10 of Auburn’s 11 games, but has seen little to no action in many second halves.

Tuberville said recently that he plans to use Fannin, Lester and Ben Tate out of the backfield in the Iron Bowl.

This Week’s Picks, Week 14

Not a strong week for me last week, but we’ll finish strong this week. Book it. As always, AP Top 25 and SEC games.

Last week: 10-6
Overall: 204-67

Today
Western Michigan at No. 15 Ball State
Now that I’m finally a believer the Cardinals will probably blow it. But I don’t think they will. Ball State 35, Western Michigan 21

Thursday
Texas A&M at No. 4 Texas
It’s good to see this back on Thanksgiving. The Aggies have somehow won two in a row in this series. Don’t look for them to make it three. Texas 44, Texas A&M 7

Friday
Fresno State at No. 9 Boise State
The Bulldogs have been a pretty big disappointment this year, but they’ll be up for this one. Boise State 24, Fresno State 17

Mississippi State at No. 25 Ole Miss
State hasn’t won in Oxford since 1998. There’s certainly the chance, given Houston Nutt’s penchant for bad losses following good wins, for the Bulldogs to end the run. But the Rebels are hot and have a shot at getting a good bowl. Ole Miss 23, Mississippi State 7

LSU at Arkansas
Man who would’ve thought Raycom would have the game featuring a Top 25 team and CBS would be stuck with a sneakily-awful LSU team? LSU 31, Arkansas 14

Saturday
Auburn at No. 1 Alabama
I’ll have a breakdown of this one Saturday. Alabama 27, Auburn 10

No. 2 Florida at No. 23 Florida State
If this were the Florida State of 10 years ago, rather than Florida State’s drunken crazy uncle, this game might be interesting. But maybe I’ve figured out Florida State’s problem. They’re recruiting smart guys! You can’t win with smart guys! Florida 48, Florida State 14

No. 3 Oklahoma at No. 11 Oklahoma State
This has classic Stoops meltdown written all over it, but I don’t have the guts to pick it. Oklahoma 34, Oklahoma State 17

Notre Dame at No. 5 USC
Boy this one could be really, truly ugly. USC 52, Notre Dame 14

Baylor at No. 7 Texas Tech
The Bears are surprisingly frisky in Year 1 of the Art Briles Era. If the Red Raiders have any hangover from the beatdown they took in Norman they could be in trouble. Texas Tech 41, Baylor 27

No. 12 Missouri vs. Kansas, at Kansas City Mo.
Missouri is lurking out there. That makes them very scary. Missouri 48, Kansas 24

No. 18 Georgia Tech at No. 13 Georgia
After seeing the Bulldogs in person and seeing enough of the Yellow Jackets on TV, I don’t think UGA is disciplined enough to beat a team like Tech. Georgia Tech 20, Georgia 14

Syracuse at No. 16 Cincinnati
You know maybe if the Orange could’ve won a few more games like that their coach wouldn’t be sending out resumes right now. And Cincy can’t lose this one. They’re too well-coached to blow an opportunity for a BCS bowl. Cincinnati 34, Syracuse 10

No. 19 Oregon at No. 17 Oregon State
I really have no idea how this one will go. The Civil War is a weird series. But I’ll take the Beavers at home. Oregon State 31, Oregon 27

Maryland at No. 20 Boston College
I just don’t know anymore when it comes to the ACC. Boston College 21, Maryland 10

South Carolina at Clemson
As bad as Clemson has been, they always beat South Carolina. Clemson 17, South Carolina 10

Kentucky at Tennessee
If Kentucky doesn’t end their losing streak to the Vols now it won’t happen. And I kind of think they won’t. Tennessee 13, Kentucky 7

Vanderbilt at Wake Forest
This is a tough one to pick. But I’ll let my Jim Grobe love shine through. Wake Forest 23, Vanderbilt 16

column time

here’s today’s edition.

I didn’t write it on Sunday night as I normally do, which turned out to be a good thing because it turned out we had almost no room (I worked today to have later in the week off). so I kind of reworked some of what I planned.

so I’ll try to get it in over the course of the next few days.

this week’s picks coming in the daylight hours.