EYE ON THE TIGERS: Tigers looking for winning formula found by Rebels

There’s one big similarity between this year’s Auburn team and the 2009 version of Ole Miss.

It has nothing to do with Gus Malzahn, Houston Nutt — well, not completely — the Wild Rebel/Wildcat or the fact that both teams’ starting quarterbacks’ names have 10 letters or less.

(Quick, name the other three. Joe Cox, Tim Tebow and Tyson Lee)

No, the biggest link between the 2009 version of the Rebels and Tigers is that neither has proven to like the glaring lens of the national spotlight.

The biggest difference, though, is that Ole Miss, winner of two straight in convincing fashion, has recovered nicely from its brush with infamy while the Tigers are still toiling away attempting to rekindle the early season magic that briefly — about six days — made everyone think Auburn was on the upswing.

First, the Rebels.

For some reason, it appears everyone was watching Ole Miss take on South Carolina five Thursdays ago because the fangs were out in full force afterward. The Rebels and their dubious No. 4 ranking couldn’t move the ball and they couldn’t stop the Gamecocks from pulling what appeared at the time as a major upset.

Frauds, everyone called the Rebels, even though it was them who deemed Ole Miss great heading into the season and not the Rebels themselves.

(Note to those teams that don’t want preseason prognosticators thinking big things about you: Don’t end your previous season on a high note and don’t beat the tar out of a team that didn’t want to make the bowl game that you were simply pleased as punch to have slipped into.)

The shocking part about Ole Miss’ loss was the immediate aftermath. Some players said it was almost a relief to have those bloated expectations off their shoulders.

Though Nutt and quarterback Jevan Snead didn’t exactly endorse the remarks, it was a telling sign of how some players truly buy into the hype — even when coaches will always say the opposite.

“I’m glad it’s gone so we can get back to working and win some ballgames,” Ole Miss left tackle Bradley Sowell told reporters in Columbia. “You can’t really pay attention to (the ranking) anyway. I’m glad it’s over with so everyone can just stop talking about it and play ball.”

Play ball the Rebels have, though it took a few more weeks of ugly wins and a bad loss to No. 2 Alabama to work out all the kinks.

Ole Miss scored its biggest win of the season Saturday against Arkansas and has its highly touted offense clicking. Now, maybe, the Rebels can sneak their way into the upper tier of the SEC West like everyone projected them to.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they get this fully functioning squad in the midst of their downward spiral that has no definite stops until next Saturday against Furman.

The day after Auburn’s strong, 26-22 win at Tennessee, every player that was asked what they thought about the Tigers vaulting from unranked to No. 17 in the Associated Press poll said they hadn’t even heard the good news. Quickly, though, as if reading cue cards penned by Gene Chizik, the players said they don’t pay attention to the rankings because, you know, the only one that matters is at the end of the season.

Yeah, right.

Among a bevy of other reasons that all had to do with poor preparation, Chizik said his players might have let that No. 17 ranking get to their heads before their ugly, 44-23 loss at Arkansas.

“The fact that we are a young team,” Chizik said, “I don’t know how well at 5-0 we handled all the outside stuff.”

The Tigers are still a young team and still haven’t recovered.

Now’s a better time than ever to start playing their best football. For the first time since 2008, Auburn received zero votes in this week’s AP poll.

If Saturday’s 11:21 a.m. kickoff was any indication, the national attention won’t be back this season unless Chizik starts complaining about SEC officiating.

“We want to get a win this weekend and basically get some of these frowns off of peoples’ faces and make a smile again,” cornerback Walt McFadden said. “Let them know we’re still here.”

Andrew Gribble covers Auburn University sports for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be reached at or 737-2561.