Three Keys to Auburn Victory against Tennessee

As we all expected, Auburn took down a greatly inferior Ball State team last weekend. Their 54-30 win, while impressive at times, left a lot of questions to be asked on the defensive side of the ball.

The Tigers currently rank 8th in the SEC in total defense, giving up an average of 327.8 yards/game. Even more disturbing is Auburn's rank of 10th in the SEC in scoring defense, giving up 24.2 points/game.

When you look at Auburn's opponents so far, there have been some decent offenses going against the Tigers. Lousiana Tech and West Virginia both feature experienced playmakers at the skill positions. Still, giving up 30 points to Ball State, even with the second half largely featuring second and third team players on defense, is inexcusable.

The Auburn defense is going to have to grow up fast. This weekend's test at Neyland Stadium in front of 100,000 people will not be easy, and the exact same thing can be said for going on the road next week to face Ryan Mallet and Bobby Petrino's Arkansas offense.

With that being said, here are the three keys to victory that Auburn must achieve to beat Tennessee:

1. Clamp down on the Tennessee rushing attack - Just as Auburn will look to pound the ball against the talented and deep UT defense, the Vols will look to find holes in the Auburn defense to pile up some big numbers running the ball. Tennessee has two solid running backs in Monterio Hardesty and the young phenom, Bryce Brown. If Auburn can contain these two and force Jonathan Crompton to try and beat Auburn with his arm, the Tigers will have a good chance.

2. Give Chris Todd time to make throws - The Tennessee defense is about as talented top to bottom as any defense in the country, much less the SEC. Obviously everyone knows about safety Eric Berry and his knack for big plays. Just like the Auburn defensive gameplan, Tennessee will probably stack the box, similar to what West Virginia did in an attempt to slow Auburn's running backs down. If Todd can hit his receivers for decent gains, this will eventually open up holes for Ben Tate and Onterrio McCalebb to take advantage of later in the game.

3. Do not commit special teams errors - One of the only negatives about Auburn's season so far has been special teams play. Auburn ranks 10th in the SEC in kickoff return yardage and 11th in punt return yardage, both of which have to improve. The Tigers have also muffed several punts, which could be very costly in a tough road game. Auburn's field goal unit has been excellent so far this year, converting 6-6 field goals and 23-23 extra points. If this game comes down to a field goal at the end, I'd have to feel pretty good about Auburn's chances right now.

This game certainly could go either way. Both schools are still looking to make up for last year's failures, and are using each other as sort of a measuring stick right now. Auburn is going to have to play an excellent game on defense, and take advantage of any mistakes that Crompton might make. The Tiger's secondary currently leads the SEC with 8 interceptions, and must bring pressure to force Crompton back into his old interception throwing habits. Also, the offense has to use big plays to its advantage, and play well in front of the gigantic hostile crowd.

Hopefully Auburn can come out early and take the wind out of both the Tennessee players and fans. In 2004, Auburn took a 31-3 halftime lead, and cruised to an easy victory. If Auburn can pull away early, this could be yet another chance for Gene Chizik to make a statement to the rest of the league, as well as the national media.

I'll be back later in the week with my score prediction.

South Carolina/Ole Miss

I was at the South Carolina-Ole Miss game tonight in Columbia, covering for GamecockAnthem.com. Let's just say that Ole Miss, at least for one night, appeared very beatable.

Several weeks lie between now and the October 31 game in Auburn, and Ole Miss could improve a great deal before then. However, their schedule is about to get a lot tougher and this game could be devastating for a team that had so much hype coming in.

Auburn should be able to move the ball on the OM defense, and it will be interesting to see how the Gus Malzahn-Houston Nutt matchup will play into the game. Certainly Jevan Snead will have better games than the one he had in Columbia tonight, but if Auburn can apply a decent amount of pressure, they can slow him down a great deal.

Either way, it's going to be a huge SEC matchup on Halloween and you never know what could happen. But if they were playing next weekend, I would feel very good about Auburn's chances.

But congratulations to the Gamecocks for their first ever home win over a Top 5 opponent.

War Eagle!!

McKenzie Back on D

According to Evan Woodberry of the Mobile Press-Register, on-again off again tight end Gabe McKenzie has officially moved back to defensive end.

I'm not entirely sure this will have a huge impact after McKenzie missed all of spring practice and has played very few minutes this season, all at tight end. Whether it's offense or defense, any Division-I player has to go through a lot of coaching and game-planning to make an impact.

Gabe is certainly a huge talent, and coming out of high school was Rivals' #8 defensive end. The guy has played on defense before at Auburn and has been good. Who could forget his interception against LSU in 2008 that nearly propelled Auburn to victory?

This is a guy who still has time to make noise at Auburn, especially with Tracy Rocker coaching him up. If he is ready to go, look for his minutes to build in the coming weeks.

West Virginia Postgame

As much as I wanted to be, I was not in attendance at the game that took the place of 2001 Florida as some of the worst weather Auburn has ever played in. According to many people, this was the best performance of the Auburn student section ever, as the students stayed in their seats cheering throughout the rain delay.

When the skies finally parted, the West Virginia points quickly started coming as fast as the thunderstorm that had preceded them. Auburn quickly fell behind 14-0, thanks to a couple of big plays from West Virginia QB Jarrett Brown and RB Noel Devine.

At this point, the Auburn team separated itself not only from the 2008 squad, but many before that as well. They quickly battled back, only trailing 21-20 at halftime. A great deal of this comeback was due to the play of two of Auburn's most perilous positions the past few years: quarterback and wide receiver.

Although the defense would prove very opportunistic in the second half, it was the play of QB Chris Todd and WR Darvin Adams that truly saved the day for the Tigers. Combine with those 6 turnovers, and you have the only way in the world Auburn was going to pull that game out.

You may not find a QB-RB combination more talented or more elusive than Jarrett Brown and Noel Devine. They are playmakers in every sense of the word, as Auburn saw in the first half. Still, a relentless and opportunistic defense was too much for them to overcome, even after gaining over 500 yards of total offense.

Certainly Auburn can't continue to play this way and hope to win week in and week out in the SEC. But to get a win as big as that despite the early deficit and haunting memories of last year's game, is immeasurable in its worth for the Tigers.

Next up is Ball State and their 0-3 record. They are so awful I may skip straight to the Tennessee preview coming up. Auburn will win this game, by a lot, and look very good doing it.

Oh and go get your Trooper Towels people, he truly is the man!!

"Sittin’ on G, Waitin’ on O, you know I’m ready to go!"

War Eagle!

Of Course Where Would I Be Without This...

Just Goin' Crazy...

Welcome and War Eagle

Welcome and War Eagle!

My name's Paul Stewart, a 2009 graduate of Auburn University and some would say slightly insane Auburn football fan. Although I'm getting off to a late start here during football season, I'll try to give you some insight and commentary on Auburn Football as we plow ahead under Gene Chizik. The season has certainly gotten off to a good start with a win over West Virginia last weekend. Most importantly, the players and coaches survived that hurricane that hit right at game time.

I'll try to think up some weekly features once I get this thing going a little bit. We'll also feature some guest writers and contributers, such as fellow Sewell Hall Alum Cannon "Big Dip" Simpson and Shnax Reynolds.

I'll try to give you kings a West Virginia feature later this evening as I figure out how to use this thing.

See ya!