12 to 1: No. 7 South Carolina

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Our good friends at the New York Times (OK, we’re not friends. At best, we’re colleagues, but even that’s a stretch) have been plowing away all summer in their attempt to rank all 120 FBS programs heading into the 2009 season. You can read it all here.

We’re not that good, nor do we claim to be. So we’re going to stick to the SEC and not be nearly as thorough.

With that ringing endorsement out of the way, let’s get to cracking with the Ole Ball Coach’s squad, South Carolina. This series will run daily for the next seven days. Expect updates sometime around the lunch hour.

Also, while you’re here, check out our OTHER 12-to-1 feature, which is running in the fishwrap. We’re answering 12 questions about Auburn football heading into the season.

THE COACH
Steve Spurrier (170-62-2 overall, 28-22 USC)—19th year as a college head coach, fifth at USC

LAST YEAR’S FINISH
7-6 overall, 4-4 SEC—lost big to Iowa in the Outback Bowl, 31-10

SEC’S 2009 PROJECTION
Third in the East

THE SCHEDULE
Sept. 3 - N.C. State
Sept. 12 - Georgia
Sept. 19 - FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Sept. 24 - OLE MISS
Oct. 3 - SOUTH CAROLINA STATE
Oct. 10 - KENTUCKY
Oct. 17 - Alabama
Oct. 24 - VANDERBILT
Oct. 31 - Tennessee
Nov. 7 - Arkansas
Nov. 14 - FLORIDA
Nov. 28 - CLEMSON
(Home games in CAPS)

RETURNING STARTERS
11 (five offense, six defense)

WHAT THE QUAD SAYS
“Though not confident that this season will be that breakout year everyone has predicted out of South Carolina since Spurrier arrived in 2005 – double-digit wins, an SEC East title – I do believe it will have no trouble matching last season’s win total. The only major impediment is the schedule, which, as stated, ranks among the most difficult in the F.B.S. ... The defense is more than up to the task, but the offense, again will be this team’s weakness. Not that I think South Carolina will fall off the map – I predict it to finish with seven wins and third in the SEC East – but it may be another year before this offense comes together. The unit is young enough to expect some growing pains.“

WHAT THEY SAY
“We’ve averaged seven wins a year, 28 in four years. Certainly we hope to get up to the 9, 10 wins a year level. We’re not there yet. We actually only have seven seniors on the team this year. We’ve got two fifth year players coming back. I don’t know that they will be starters. But that’s just sort of where we are.

I’ve not done as good a job as I hoped to have done. I would have hoped we had a whole lot of fourth and fifth year guys ready to play. Hasn’t worked out that way.“—Spurrier

“It’s a different experience everyday. He’s not one thing. I will tell you he is one of the most competitive guys you’ll eve meet. He has a way to bring out the best in me. He knows how to push our buttons in a way that test our strengths and challenges us to better our weaknesses. Definitely because of Coach I’ve become a mentally strong person.“—wide receiver Moe Brown on Spurrier

“Expectations haven’t dimmed down and neither has the talent. The talent is up there with every other team in the SEC. We are really looking forward to winning, and winning big.“—linebacker Eric Norwood

WHAT WE SAY
Is it just us, or has South Carolina been the same exact team year after year since Spurrier took over? This is arguably the least interesting team in the most interesting conference, but, nonetheless, the Gamecocks will still be solid. USC is low on returning starters and low on seniors, so fans shouldn’t expect anything more than eight wins. Talent and Spurrier’s shrewd coaching will get the Gamecocks to that annual plateau.

WHO’S ON THE MEDIA GUIDE?
It might be easier to point out who isn’t on the media guide. On the front you’ve got Spurrier holding up his fist, Norwood, defensive end Cliff Matthews and fullback Patrick DiMarco. On the back, and in similar fashion, you’ve got Brown, full safety Chris Culliver, strong safety Darian Stewart and offensive lineman Garrett Anderson.

STUMBLING BLOCKS
The Gamecocks need to establish a better relationship with the Sun Belts and Mid-American Conferences of the world. This is a tough schedule from top to bottom, so pick your poison when it comes to stumbling blocks. The fact that the Gamecocks don’t have a home game until Sept. 19 is just bizarre for an SEC team. They are just one of five teams opening on the road and the only team to do this. If the Gamecocks get past N.C. State and Georgia, they should consider that a major achievement. The end of the schedule is particularly nasty. The Gamecocks could find themselves ‘dogs in their final four games (@ Tenn., @ Ark., Florida, Clemson). They’ll likely have to win two there if they want to reach eight wins.

KEY GAME
There are a bunch on this loaded schedule, but the Halloween matchup with Tennessee sticks out most to us. This will be the first of the four aforementioned daunting final games to the season. Win here, and you’ve got a boatload of momentum heading into another evenly matched game with Arkansas. Lose, and you could be well on your way to ending the season with four (possibly five if you count whatever bowl USC makes) losses.

UPSET ALERT
South Carolina gets Vanderbilt for its only home game during a four-game stretch in late October and early November. Would it be out of the realm of possibility that the Gamecocks overlook their SEC East comrade? Not one bit, especially because USC tends to win the games it’s not supposed to and lose the games it’s not supposed to.

THE NUMBER
9—years since a Spurrier-coached team won the SEC East, something he did eight times with the Gators in the 90s.

FUN FACT FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Board of Trustees banned participation in football for the 1906 season after the faculty complained about the coarseness of chants yelled by the students at football games. However, the board was so harassed by petitions from the students and alumni that it voted to allow the resumption of the sport in 1907.

FUN NON-FOOTBALL FACT FROM WIKIPEDIA
This is one of your tougher SEC schools to get in to. USC admitted just over 58 percent of those who applied in 2008 and the average incoming freshman had a 3.9 high-school GPA.

THE OFFENSE
Almost everyone in the SEC has quarterback concerns and the Gamecocks are no different. Stephen Garcia will be Spurrier’s quarterback this season and he’ll have to be better than he was in 2008. Garcia saw action in eight games (three starts), throwing for 832 yards, six touchdowns and eight interceptions. He replaces Chris Smelley, who shockingly left the program to play baseball at Alabama. The Gamecocks are looking to replace players at pretty much every skill position, most notably wide receiver. Kenny McKinley departs as the school’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards, so Brown will certainly have to step up. Two starters are gone from the offensive line, which had its fair share of struggles in 2008. Garcia can certainly run, but the Gamecocks can ill afford allowing 39 sacks again in 2009.

THE DEFENSE
Norwood could have understandably gone pro after last season, so his presence on the defense alone makes this unit the Gamecocks’ obvious strength. Norwood is a two-time, first-team all-SEC weakside linebacker and is the conference’s current career leader in sacks and tackles for loss. Norwood is a member of a Gamecocks’ front seven that doesn’t lose much, bringing back three starters on the line and another alongside Norwood at linebacker. The secondary loses both its cornerbacks from last year, but return both its safeties. Culliver and Stewart made the cover of the media guide, so that means they’re good, right?

OUR FAVORITE SOURCE FOR USC INFORMATION
The State did one heck of a job covering the Mark Sanford debacle and it does similar due diligence on the USC beat. Joe Person and Seth Emerson tag-team the coverage at GoGamecocks.com.

AN IDEAL 2009
The Gamecocks scrap their way through this arduous schedule and finally prove that Spurrier can turn any team into a bona fide SEC power. That would entail an upset over Ole Miss and a 4-1 road record, which would likely be good enough to get USC into the Capital One Bowl.

A DISASTROUS 2009
The Gamecocks lose big at Georgia early in the season and proceed to lose the rest of their conference road games. Sprinkle in home upset loss to Vanderbilt and a season-ending loss to rival Clemson and USC is home for the holidays and Spurrier is on his way out.

OUR FINAL PREDICTION
In typical fashion, the Gamecocks are a different team every week you watch them. That means they’ll fight tooth and nail with someone like Florida and look lost against a Vanderbilt or Kentucky. This translates into another typical South Carolina season and another trip to the Outback Bowl. The Gamecocks go 7-5 (4-4 SEC).

2009 Previews: Stanford

We go to Stanford, where as far as I know Jim Harbaugh hasn’t said anything incendiary in a while, for Preview No. 46. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, in no particular order, will run daily through Aug. 22.

In case you haven’t noticed over the last two years, I love Jim Harbaugh.

Between calling out Michigan or USC and taking a program that had become worse than terrible and making it competitive, he’s one of my new favorite coaches.

He’s created so much buzz at Stanford that both Athlon and Phil Steele are calling for the Cardinal to make a bowl game.

I don’t see it.

This team isn’t bad, but as far as I can tell they need another good recruiting class (last year’s was 16th in the country! At STANFORD!) to really become competitive in a pretty tough Pac-10.

But if the Cardinal find a quarterback, a bowl bid is possible.

Incumbent Tavita Pritchard has been, how do I say, underwhelming in his two years as a starter. There’s a very good chance to incoming freshman superprospect Andrew Luck will be starting by midway through the season, if not earlier.

But regardless of who the quarterback is, he’ll probably spend a lot of his time handing off to Toby Gerhart, white running back extraordinaire. Gerhart became the first Stanford back in 16 years to rush for 1,000 yards, and is good. Really good.

Both the receiving corps and the line have to rebuild a bit.

The defense, however, is in good position to improve on its below-average rankings last year. Seven starters are back, including a solid defensive line in Erik Long and Tom Keiser at end and run-stuffing tackle Ekom Udofia. The linebacking corps is a bit thin with the exception of mlb Clinton Snyder.

The secondary will be in good shape with corner Kris Evans and returning safeties Sean Wiser, who might actually get supplanted by Delano Howell, and Bo McNally.

This version of the Cardinal would murder most from this decade, but they’re just not there yet to really compete in the Pac-10. At least I don’t think so.

Here’s the schedule:

Sept. 3: at Washington State
They’ve definitely moved well past the Cougs.

Sept. 12: at Wake Forest
If this game were in Palo Alto I think Stanford would win. I don’t see them making a cross-country trip and winning.

Sept. 19: San Jose State
Big-time win.

Sept. 26: Washington
They’re also well past the Huskies.

Oct. 3: UCLA
Big game here. There are about four games of which Stanford will have to win two, and this is one of them.

Oct. 10: at Oregon State
Not gonna win here.

Oct. 17: at Arizona
Game 2 of the quadrumvirate.

Oct. 24: Arizona State
Game 3. And they should win this one.

Nov. 7: Oregon
And this is the last one. And there’s almost no chance they beat Oregon, and they are not winning any of the last three.

Nov. 14: at USC
Don’t look for a repeat of the Cardinal’s last trip to L.A. Coliseum.

Nov. 21: California
Upset potential, but Cal is way too good.

Nov. 28: Notre Dame
They might win this one.

I really can’t see the Cardinal doing better than 5-7, though it’s certainly possible.

A productive day at the AHSAA

Your intrepid preps reporter ventured all the way to the Gump today for the first annual AHSAA Media Day.

Part orientation on the inner workings of the organization, part question-and-answer session, part thanking us for covering prep sports and part complaining that we don’t cover enough positive stuff, it turned out to be a very useful tete-a-tete between the higher-ups (them) and the unwashed masses (us).

And they fed us!!!!!!!!!

Here’s some highlights:

Birmingham got a national basketball tournament…and it’s a big stinking deal: Here’s the press release.

MONTGOMERY –Alabama High School Athletic Association Executive Director Steve Savarese announced Wednesday that T-Mobile has awarded the AHSAA and the state of Alabama the 2009 T-Mobile Invitational basketball tournament.

The T-Mobile Invitational is the only basketball tournament sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and the field is composed only of schools from NFHS-member associations. The NFHS’ 51 member associations oversee and administer athletics within those states.

The high school basketball tourney, now in its fourth year, will feature four of the nation’s top high boys basketball teams and four of the nation’s most outstanding girls teams. An Alabama team in each division will represent the AHSAA. None of the schools invited to compete were disclosed Wednesday.

The tournament is tentatively scheduled to be played the last week of December in Birmingham at an as yet undetermined site.  T-Mobile and NFHS representatives and AHSAA officials toured three sites last week: the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Bartow Arena on the University of Alabama-Birmingham Campus and the Pete Hanna Arena at Samford University.

“This is a great event for the State of Alabama,” said Savarese, who made the announcement at the first annual AHSAA Media Day held at the association’s state office. “It is an educational based athletic event that will be nationally televised.  We have an opportunity to showcase our state to the rest of the nation. We want to thank the National Federation and T-Mobile for having the confidence in us to host this national event.”

Savarese said team selections and specific details will be announced as soon as possible. “I want to thank our staff, especially Joe Evans and Wanda Gilliland, the Birmingham Tip-Off Club, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the Alabama Sports Foundation, the City of Birmingham and our basketball coaches who were involved in helping us land this tournament,” he said.

Class 6A two-time defending state champion Bob Jones played in the T-Mobile tourney at Muncie, Ind., last year, falling to Washington High School of South Bend, Ind., in the finals at Ball State’s Worthern Arena, 64-55. Lawrence North of Indianapolis beat South Atlanta, Ga., in the boys finals in 2008.

Mobile-LeFlore High School reached the boys finals of the inaugural T-Mobile Invitational at Seattle, Wash., in 2006. The Rattlers fell to Fairfax, Va., in the finals 52-42. The 2007 T-Mobile tourney was held at Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico’s “Pit” arena with St. Anthony. N.J., winning the boys title and Long Beach Poly of Los Angeles winning the girls title.

The Mobile Press-Register’s Josh Bean won the second annual AHSAA Media Award: Josh is a great guy as far as I can tell from my interactions with him, and I’d like to congratulate him on the award.

And I’d like to think that he reads my blog and knows that I’m congratulating him. And I’d like to think I was in the top 250 in voting or whatever for the award.

But I know those last two aren’t true.

A lot of people get thrown out of high school sporting events: But not nearly as many as there used to be.

Savarese said the number of ejections has dropped 40 percent in the past couple of years, but the number for last school year wsa still in the 550-560 range.

The AHSAA’s goal is 0. That may take awhile.

Leeds coach Keith Etheredge not only remembered my face, but also my name and the fact that I had covered his team at one time: I don’t think I’m a very memorable person.

So it’s always nice when someone like a football coach, who probably has to memorize thousands of names and faces, still recognizes mine.

I hadn’t seen coach Etheredge since January, but I had covered Leeds all season during its Class 3A championship run in the Birmingham News.

He was there for the Champions Challenge press conference (which I’ll get to in a sec), and not only did he do the obligatory wave and hand shake, but actually got up from his seat to come say “hi” and talk to me for a little.

And that was kind of special.

And he had a huge ring on his finger.

Looks like we got a comedian in the room…or about six: The six coaches who were there for the Champions Challenge press conference (to be held Aug. 21-22 at the Cramton Bowl…the games, not the press conference) were not above cracking a few jokes to make us media types guffaw.

Here’s the pick of the litter:

Alphonso Pogue, Montgomery-Carver coach on their opponent for the Challenge, Prattville: “They’re the king of the jungle…and it’s going to be a rumble in the jungle.“
Analysis: Points for slant rhyming and shouting out Ali. But I’m pretty sure Prattville’s mascot (Lions) will be more at home in the jungle than Carver’s (Wolverines).

Jamie Riggs, T.R. Miller coach on his players’ size: “We don’t grow them very big in Brewton: our mothers and daddies don’t grow them very big. Lot of short people in Brewton.“
Analysis: Too true. Take a look at this guy. ‘Nuff said.

John Grass, Oxford coach on his counterpart, Josh Niblett of Hoover, who was impeccably dressed in a beige suit jacket and pants, white shirt and orange-and-white striped tie after flying into Birmingham from an undisclosed location and driving down to the Gump (presumably in a Hummer stretch limousine): Well, he’s already beaten me on dress…“
Analyis: Grass is the big winner of the day. Not only did he contribute this gem, but when talk turned to Riggs’ signature tie and how he wore it again last year after suffering a subpar year without it, Grass deadpanned, “Can I borrow that tie?“

Well done, Grass.

Well done.

McCombs new head coach at Valley

These are the facts:

Roger McDonald resigned as the head football coach and athletic director at Valley on July 20.

The Chambers County school board met tonight, and a recommendation for who McDonald’s replacement should be was placed before the board.

A source has indicated that the recommended man was Mike McCombs, most recently of Benjamin Russell and Etowah...very briefly.

Whether the board approved him or not, or whether he has accepted the job, is still unclear.

UPDATE: This has been confirmed by Valley principal JIm Davidson.

McCombs’ name has been put before the board and accepted, and he has accepted the job.

This will be McCombs’ 10th year as a head coach in Alabama, and his fifth stop.

Here’s what’s running in the paper:

Just when he was starting to think he was going to spend the first fall of his adult life away from coaching, Mike McCombs got a call from Chambers County schools Superintendent Leonard Riley.

McCombs, who left Benjamin Russell and had multiple subsequent job opportunities fall by the wayside during the summer, said he and his wife, Lori, were heading to the lawyer’s office to close on their house in Alexander City at about 3 p.m. when his phone rang and Riley was on the other end.

McCombs had been recommended and approved as Valley’s new head football coach and athletic director at the school board meeting Thursday.

“It’s been an eventful day,” McCombs said. “The timing of this has been a godsend.

“It’s been an interesting summer, but it ended great.”

It’s about to get even more interesting for the 40-year-old McCombs.

He’s stepping into a situation with a brand-new team that is only 10 days removed from the resignation of former coach and athletic director Roger McDonald.

And McCombs is taking over with only three days to go until fall practice starts Monday.

“You can always approach things one of two ways: ‘Oh God, I can’t get this done,’ or, ‘Oh God, thank you for this challenge,’” McCombs said. “This is going to be a unique situation, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

McCombs, a graduate of Pinson Valley that went to UAB but didn’t play college ball, — “It wasn’t a good recruiting year for 165-pound linebackers who didn’t run real well,” he said — was an assistant at Pinson and then for 10 years under Jack Wood at Hewitt-Trussville.

He got his first head coaching job at Glencoe in 1999, then moved to Gardendale (2000-01) and Geneva (2003-06) before coming to Benjamin Russell (2007-08).

McCombs said he left Russell because his wife had lost her job, and he found a situation he felt was workable for he and his family at Etowah.

He was hired in late May but — despite the best efforts of both sides, he said — couldn’t come to an agreement and resigned a little more than a week later.

“It was a big miscommunication,” McCombs said. “That fell through, and I hate that it did.”

McCombs has a 69-34 record in nine years as a head coach, including trips to the state quarterfinals with Gardendale (2001) and Geneva (2005).

Valley principal Jim Davidson, who worked with McCombs at Benjamin Russell the past two years, said he is looking forward to continuing their relationship.

Davidson said McCombs will have his first meeting with the team today at 4:30 p.m. at the field house.

“I know (the players) have got to have a million question marks right now,” McCombs said. “The situation is unprecedented: I’ve never heard of it happening like this, this late. My job is to alleviate any concerns they have.

“Someone is in charge now, so it’s time to get to work.”

McCombs said he is going to have to rely heavily on his staff in the coming days to get to know Valley’s system and its players, not only for their athletic ability, but for their character.

“The challenge in team-building is like building a family, and I want to get that process started in earnest (today) and hit the ground running Monday,” McCombs said. “I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to do it.

“I want to be the one to lead them in this situation.”

(Photo: Gadsden Times)

12 to 1: No. 8 Auburn

Click here to follow us on Twitter.

Our good friends at the New York Times (OK, we’re not friends. At best, we’re colleagues, but even that’s a stretch) have been plowing away all summer in their attempt to rank all 120 FBS programs heading into the 2009 season. You can read it all here.

We’re not that good, nor do we claim to be. So we’re going to stick to the SEC and not be nearly as thorough.

With that ringing endorsement out of the way, let’s get to cracking with the hometown team, Auburn. This series will run daily for the next eight days. Expect updates sometime around the lunch hour.

Also, while you’re here, check out our OTHER 12-to-1 feature, which is running in the fishwrap. We’re answering 12 questions about Auburn football heading into the season.

THE COACH
Gene Chizik (5-19 overall, 0-0 AU)—third year as a head coach, first at AU

LAST YEAR’S FINISH
5-7 overall, 2-6 SEC—missed out on the postseason bowl scene for the first time in nine years

SEC’S 2009 PROJECTION
Fifth in the West

THE SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 - LOUISIANA TECH
Sept. 12 - MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 19 - WEST VIRGINIA
Sept. 26 - BALL STATE
Oct. 3 - Tennessee
Oct. 10 - Arkansas
Oct. 17 - KENTUCKY
Oct. 24 - Lsu
Oct. 31 - OLE MISS
Nov. 7 - FURMAN
Nov. 14 - Georgia
Nov. 27 - ALABAMA

RETURNING STARTERS
14 (seven offense, seven defense)

WHAT THE QUAD SAYS
“The offense remains an issue, though Auburn did hire one of the nation’s best coordinators to lead its attack. Gus Malzahn showed at Tulsa just how explosive – and, at times, unstoppable – his offense can be. Will Auburn be that good in 2009? No, of course not. This unit simply lacks the depth to run Malzahn’s system to the fullest, though I expect the Tigers will definitely be improved on this side of the ball in 2009. Really going out on a limb: Auburn could not possibly be much worse ... All told, I’m not picking the Tigers to win the SEC West, but I am predicting this team to win seven games and return to bowl play. As for the future of the Auburn program, Chizik was wise enough to surround himself with a strong coaching staff, so perhaps he won’t be as overmatched as his record at Iowa State would lead one to believe. Next season, 2010, is when you can truly judge if he has the Tigers headed back in the right direction.“

WHAT THEY SAY
“It’s an exciting time for me personally here at Auburn. It’s an exciting time for our fans. And it’s gonna be kind of a new beginning. We’re excited about our coaching staff. We feel like we’ve assembled one of the best coaching staffs in the country, certainly in this league, that’s what you have to do.

Obviously, this is my second go round at Auburn. The last time I was at Auburn, I was blessed to be a part of an undefeated football season in 2004. That’s the last memory I have of Auburn. It’s a great memory. We’d like to try to get it back to that point. We’re excited about doing that.“—Chizik

“The most important thing we lost is swagger (during last year) and I think we have it back. We got people hurt, people injured, and we didn’t finish the way we wanted, but we can’t harp on that, it was last year.“—defensive end Antonio Coleman

“He’s brought an aura, an enthusiasm, because he’s excited to be back at Auburn. He’s been preaching physicality, and hopefully brought more discipline to the team, things like taking your hats off in the building and pulling your pants up.“—tight end Tommy Trott, on Chizik

WHAT WE SAY
This year’s Auburn team remains a mystery largely because we haven’t been able to catch more than a few drills this past spring because of closed practices. That, in it and of itself, is one of many changes that’s taken place at Auburn since Tommy Tuberville’s resignation. Based on the team, alone, there’s really no reason to think Auburn will be any better than last year. But if you take into account all the turmoil and bloated expectations that this group went through, you’ve got to think they can eek out one more win and return to the postseason bowl scene. If anything, Chizik and the new hotshot coaching staff have insured that Auburn will be united while it battles through another year of mediocrity.

WHO’S ON THE MEDIA GUIDE?
You’ve got Chizik on the front jutting out at you because of a nifty design trick that a number of SEC schools have picked up on this year. Below him, you’ve got a snapshot of the student section and, in the background, Auburn is on its way to a loss against LSU. But hey, the stadium looks full. On the back, you’ve got a number of former Tigers who are now in the NFL, including Ronnie Brown, Takeo Spikes and Carlos Rogers.

STUMBLING BLOCKS
Auburn has not one, but two nasty patches in its 2009 schedule. After a four-game homestand to start the season, the Tigers embark on back-to-back road games at Tennessee and Arkansas. Barring a catastrophic change from preseason expectations, the Tigers will not be expected to win these. The end of the season is even harder, as the Tigers host Ole Miss on Halloween before their always tough November, which includes a road trip to Georgia and the Iron Bowl. These rough spots make September all the more important. All of Auburn’s first four games are winnable. It will have to win three of those if it wants to go bowling.

KEY GAME
Just as we said in another preview, Auburn vs. Mississippi State on Sept. 12 is a big, big game for both teams. Lose here, and you now have to spend the rest of the season proving that you aren’t the worst team in the SEC. It also wouldn’t provide much momentum heading into a non-conference rematch with West Virginia. Auburn will be favored in this game, but not my much. We also heard the Iron Bowl is a pretty big deal, too, so that came in a close second.

UPSET ALERT
Auburn’s still a much better team at Jordan-Hare Stadium than it is on the road, right? Well, we still think so, we’re eliminating any of Auburn’s four road games as upset possibilities. Instead, we’ll direct our focus toward Halloween, when the Tigers host Ole Miss. Auburn caught the Rebels during their hottest stretch of the season last year and arguably should have come away with the upset at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Yes, Ole Miss is better this year, but Auburn will have those recent memories firmly implanted. Also, we think dressing up as a Tiger for Halloween is a lot cooler-looking than dressing up as a Confederate soldier. We’re just glad we don’t have to see what The Grove would look like on that holiday.

THE NUMBER
7 - quarterbacks vying for the starting job when camp opens Wednesday

FUN FACT FROM WIKIPEDIA
Auburn made its first bowl appearance in 1936 at the Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba.

FUN NON-FOOTBALL FACT FROM WIKIPEDIA
In the recent Princeton Review rankings, Auburn ranked 19th for “Most Religious Students”

THE OFFENSE
First, let’s get the ugly numbers out of the way. Auburn finished 104th in total offense, 111th in scoring offense and 119th (that’s dead last) in red zone offense. Seriously, it can’t get any worse. Players have seemed enamored by the speed of Malzahn’s offense and have said it no way resembles what Tony Franklin tried to install last season. Again, the key word there is “tried” because it was clear that not everyone was on the same page last year, which ultimately tops the list as the cause for Auburn’s demise. From all indications, that won’t be an issue this year. The quarterback situation, meanwhile, is a different story. Neither Kodi Burns nor Neil Caudle were able to seize the job this spring, which makes you wonder just how much better they’ll be in 2009. The wildcard is Chris Todd, who appears to be fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. Whoever wins the job simply has to play better than Burns and Todd did last season. The offensive line could be a strength, with four returning starters, but depth is a major concern. There are no playmakers at wide receiver, but freshmen DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake could make an impact early. Freshman tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen is also an early-impact candidate. At tailback, Ben Tate could be the everyday guy, but players like Mario Fannin and Onterio McCalebb will also touch the ball frequently.

THE DEFENSE
The Tigers certainly didn’t struggle in this area last season and who knows just how good the unit could have been if it weren’t on the field so much. Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker would love to have Sen’Derrick Marks back for another year, but his front four just get by just fine without him. Coleman is a bona fide first-teamer and Michael Goggans is above average on the other side. The Tigers’ starting three at linebacker (Josh Bynes, Eltoro Freeman and Craig Stevens) should be strong, but there’s just about no one on the second-team. The secondary is banged up now, but should be back at full strength just in time for the season opener. Don’t expect many freshmen to make first-year impacts with this veteran group.

OUR FAVORITE SOURCE FOR AU INFORMATION
Here!

AN IDEAL 2009
Auburn sweeps through September before pulling a mini upset at Tennessee to get itself just one win from bowl eligibility before it even picks up a loss. The Tigers avenge last year’s near-upset with a major one over Ole Miss and wrap up the season with an Iron Bowl rout over the reeling Crimson Tide. That’s good for a 9-3 finish and a trip back to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl.

A DISASTROUS 2009
The Tiger split September and go 0-for-October. It doesn’t get much better in November, when Georgia stomps all over the Tigers—again—in black jerseys. The extra week off before the Iron Bowl doesn’t make a second straight blowout any less painful. Those who thought it couldn’t get any worse are simply stunned after Auburn’s 3-9 finish.

OUR FINAL PREDICTION
It really can’t go as poorly as it did in 2008. The unity will help, certainly, and the Tigers could possibly be better on defense. The schedule definitely isn’t favorable near the end, but a strong start could provide some needed momentum. Auburn doesn’t beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl, but a 6-6 finish would be viewed as a success for Chizik’s first year and that’s what he’ll get. Auburn goes 6-6 (3-5 SEC).

(Photo credit: AP)