AU FOOTBALL: Chizik unimpressed by first two wins of season

That Auburn has won its first two games isn’t much of a surprise, even when you find the most negative of preseason prognostications.

How Auburn has seemingly run over Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State, winning by a combined 49 points and more than doubling its opponents’ yardage, has caught the attention of at least a few poll voters.

The Tigers went from one voter having them in the top 25 Associated Press poll to five, according to Pollspeak.com – a web site that posts all 60 polls submitted by voters across the country. ESPN football analyst Kirk Herbstreit had the Tigers from unranked last week to 17th on his poll Sunday, the highest of any voter.

Count Gene Chizik as impervious to it all.

Though the box score might lead you to think otherwise, Chizik said Sunday that there was nothing easy about Auburn’s first two wins and there aren’t any locks on the schedule ahead.

“Those were some tough wins for us,” Chizik said. “We’re not playing perfect, and there’s a lot of times that we’re not playing very well at all. We’re a work in progress.

“I don’t know what it looks like on the outside, I know what it looks like on the inside.”

The stats that the outside sees have Auburn ranked second in the nation behind Air Force in rushing yards per game (345.5) and fourth in total offense (572.5). Ben Tate and Onterio McCalebb make Auburn the only team in the nation to have two runners averaging more than 100 yards per game.

All this coming against one of the better mid-major teams in the country and an SEC defense, to boot.

If it’s had an effect on Chizik’s expectations for this season, he’s doing a good job of keeping a solid poker face.

“I don’t want anybody to get ahead of this whole thing,” Chizik said. “It ain’t as good as it seems and it ain’t as bad as it seems. We’re just trying to be realistic and that’s really how I feel.”

Though he wouldn’t single out one player, Chizik did allow himself to praise two broad areas that have helped make the Tigers 2-0.

The veteran-laden offensive line has drawn praise from just about everyone that’s touched the ball so far this season. Not one of the starters has sat out a meaningful play and the stamina of the group has appeared to get stronger in the second half.

The Tigers have gained 379 of their 696 rushing yards, outgained opponents 632-228 and outscored them 49-10 in the second half.

“I haven’t bought stock in them yet,” Chizik said facetiously. “You can see in the third or fourth quarters, we’re trying to be a more physical team and we’re trying to wear on people. The great thing about those group of five guys, they bought in, they’re trying to get better every day.”

Perhaps overlooked in the wake of previously unseen offensive fireworks is Auburn’s defense, which, aside from a couple long drives in each of the first two games, has remained stout.

The Tigers are allowing 18.5 points and 271 yards per game — both of which hover near last year’s averages.

Of course, Chizik said, he thinks it can get better.

“We’re about two third-down stops away from being real close to where we want to be,” Chizik said. “Early in the year when you see offenses, you’re not sure what to expect, they may get you on a couple of things early that you don’t know and you’ve got to adjust to. The thing I like is that we’ve adjusted to a lot of different things. And there are some things in the game that we hadn’t worked and weren’t expecting and we got.”

The fact that Auburn has trailed in both games reaffirmed Chizik’s belief that the first two games really haven’t been that easy. Auburn had to come back in only one of its five wins last year.

“We didn’t see anyone’s heads down, didn’t see anyone going ‘Oh, here we go,’” wide receiver Kodi Burns said. “Everybody was just fine and knowing we could persevere through it and just continue to work and handle it.

“We did a good job in the first half last year and would come out dry in the second half, but this year it’s the opposite. As soon as we get that first half clicking, we’ll be really good.”

| 737-2561