SZVETITZ COLUMN: Tuberville dealing with lofty rankings

By Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News
Published: July 25, 2008

HOOVER — Tommy Tuberville thought it was close.

How could it not be?

Just a couple votes, right? Just a couple of media guys flipping a coin separated his Auburn team from LSU in the voting. Right?

“It couldn’t have been very far apart,” he said.

It was.

Auburn was picked — by the media — to win the SEC West by a landslide. Really.

Auburn received 48 first-place votes, while LSU got 21. Oh, Ole Miss got a first-place vote. No, really. I’m being serious.

(Which reminds me when Lou Holtz’s South Carolina team got one first-place nod in 2004. After a laugh, Holtz quipped: “They proabaly voted with a crayon. Or a short pencil.” I wonder if Houston Nutt thinks the same thing.)

While talking with the Auburn media prior to Friday’s final round of interviews at SEC Media Days, Tuberville was a little surprised that his team was such a runaway favorite.

And with good reason.

Let’s look at the facts: Auburn is picked to win the West with two unproven quarterbacks — or is it three? — and two brand new coordinators. Oh, and a whole new, wide-open, chuck-and-duck, full-throttle offense in the defense-rules, run-it-until-it-breaks world of the SEC.

Not to mention LSU being the defending national champion with a defense that could be just as good as last year’s.

Huh?

“It’s kind of different to think we’re going to win the West when your quarterback is unproven,” Tuberville said. “I don’t think that happens very often, because your quarterback is the guy that’s got to really do a lot.“

Especially in Tony Franklin’s spread offense.

But there they are. Right there in black and white.

“Actually, we’ll use this,” Tuberville said. “It’s probably good for us. You know me. You’ve heard me several times. I’m not big on predictions. But we need something to get us going.“

And Auburn’s going to be going this year. A lot.

Franklin’s offense was the talk of the Wynfrey on Friday. As was expectations for the new offense. Especially with two unproven quarterbacks — Kodi Burns and Chris Todd.

The spread has a lot of potential in the SEC. It also has a lot of question marks. Can it work? Will it work? How much pressure will be put on the defense? Will you still be able to run the ball and the clock when you need to?

“I think the jury’s out,” Tuberville said. “I think people are gonna watch us in terms of not just how we do this year, but how we do in recruiting. Can you recruit for this?“

More questions. More eyes. More room to succeed. More room to fail.

And being picked to win the West just magnifies the focus.

And it’s focus that will tell the tale of this year’s Auburn squad.

“You’ve got to have a plan,” Tuberville said. “That’s one thing that I like about what we’ve done. We’ve got a great plan going into two-a-days in trying to make this team . to get the most out of them.

“If we can get the most out of this team, we’ll give it a run.”

And there will be a lot of people right alongside, watching.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.