INSIDE SLANT
Auburn coach Gene Chizik called the 15 bowl practices his team will get this month something similar to “another spring practice.”
The six players who redshirted this season will see ample time with the regulars, sparsely-used freshmen will get real snaps, and the quarterback competition of 2010 likely will get jumpstarted.
Oh, and there will be one other thing the Tigers try to accomplish.
“We’re going to prepare to win this football game,” Chizik said.
Auburn will be after its 20th bowl victory at the Outback Bowl in New Year’s Day, when it faces off against Northwestern, which will be vying for its first postseason win since 1949.
Just like most of their SEC counterparts, the Tigers are presumptive favorites and go into their first Outback Bowl appearance since 1996 playing some of their best football.
And that was in a loss—a 26-21 heartbreaker to No. 1 Alabama that might go down as the best SEC game of 2009.
Northwestern, though, is hot, too. It has a three-game winning streak—two coming over ranked teams.
A 17-10 road victory against then-undefeated Iowa to kick off November turned things around for the Wildcats, who got into some trouble when playing down to their inferior opponents. The Wildcats followed that big win with a close call at Illinois and an upset victory over Wisconsin, which ultimately made Northwestern the top choice for the Outback Bowl, bowl officials said.
Auburn is still feeling good about sliding into a New Year’s Day Bowl with a 7-5 record, but the first season under Chizik won’t reach its full potential unless the Tigers dispose of the hungry Wildcats.
NOTES, QUOTES
• Auburn didn’t beat Alabama, didn’t set itself ahead of the pack in the SEC and didn’t exactly play its best football when it mattered most. Yet when it came to picking one of the six available 7-5 SEC teams for their New Year’s Day Bowl, the higher-ups at the Outback Bowl just couldn’t resist the Tigers.
The Tigers haven’t played in the Outback Bowl since the 1995 season, when they were blown out by Penn State, 43-14. They’ll be the first SEC West team to get a shot at the Big Ten in the Outback Bowl since Alabama in 1997, as the bowl committee opted to go against its tradition of choosing from the SEC East when selecting the offensive-minded Tigers.
“Really, really good things kept coming up about Auburn,” Outback Bowl president Jim McVay said. “We felt like it was time to mix that up a little bit. This was a perfect opportunity. Everything about Auburn says big-time, tradition-rich and success.”
The Tigers will certainly take it, especially after dropping five of their final six conference games.
The 5-0 start and the strong performance Auburn had against eventual SEC champion Alabama in the Iron Bowl made for some nice bookends on a season that fell apart during the middle.
A fast-paced, revamped offense under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, combined with a risk-taking defense, got the Tigers off to their record-breaking fast start. A 26-22 victory in Knoxville against Tennessee served as one of the major highlights of the season, a vindication of sorts that the rebuilding project under first-year coach Gene Chizik was ahead of schedule.
But then the rest of the league caught up with Auburn, which translated to an ugly three-game losing streak in which every Tigers’ weakness was fully exposed. An upset victory over Ole Miss on Halloween righted the ship, though, allowing the Tigers to clinch bowl-eligibility before their Homecoming game with Furman.
A 31-24 loss at Georgia was one of the toughest to swallow for Auburn, but the way it lost against Alabama was seen as a major step forward. The Tigers didn’t let Alabama claim its first lead of the game until 1:54 left in the fourth quarter. The rivalry was a 36-0 laugher in 2008.
“We’re really excited about the future,” Chizik said. “I think it’s really, really bright.”
Scouting The Offense: Even when they’re unable to move the chains, the Tigers have shown the ability to break a big play when least expected. Against Alabama, the Tigers ripped off touchdowns of 67 and 72 yards, keeping them in a game and giving them a chance for the big upset. Big offensive performances under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn early in the season helped keep the Tigers atop the national rankings all year, even after opposing defenses started to figure them out. Auburn finished the regular season ranked 13th in rushing (213.8), 56th in passing (218.5) and 21st in total offense (432.3).
Scouting The Defense: Auburn’s two best defensive performances of the season came in losses to Kentucky and Alabama. The rest was ugly statistically, but usually enough to get by, especially when the Tigers’ offense was clicking early in the year. A dearth of depth at linebacker and in the secondary, though, was simply too detrimental to make this unit effective week in and week out. This year’s signing class will be heavy on defense and many of those players could see time right away. Overall, the Tigers rank 51st in the nation in total defense (353.5) and 73rd in scoring defense, which ranked last in the defensive-heavy SEC.
Matchup To Watch: Northwestern QB Mike Kafka vs. Auburn secondary—Game-planning against the Wildcats isn’t exactly rocket science. They’re going to spread it out and, typically, throw it. That would usually favor the Tigers, who have been awful at stopping the run this season, but Auburn hasn’t exactly seen an offense like this since Tony Franklin failed in his attempt to convert Auburn’s offense to a pass-happy spread in 2008. With members of the Auburn secondary either injured (Zac Etheridge) or underachieving (Neiko Thorpe), nothing is an easy task these days.
Other Key Matchups:
• Auburn CBs Walt McFadden and Neiko Thorpe vs. Northwestern WRs Zeke Markshausen and Andrew Brewer.
Auburn’s cornerbacks have had their good and bad days this season. McFadden, a second-team All-SEC selection, has been the steadier of the two but has struggled at times inside Auburn territory. Thorpe has shown the same flashes of brilliance he did during his freshman year, but was exposed in games against Arkansas and LSU. The pair can’t afford an off day against Mike Kafka’s two favorite targets as the pass-happy Wildcats try to set the tone. Markshausen (79 receptions for 774 yards and three touchdowns) is dangerous as a possession receiver while Brewer (49 catches for 792 yards and seven touchdowns) has the ability to break off big plays.
• Auburn QB Chris Todd vs. Northwestern pass defense.
Todd has had no trouble exploiting weak defenses. Eleven of Todd’s program-record 21 touchdown passes came against Furman, Ball State and Louisiana Tech, while all five of his interceptions came against some of the tougher defenses Auburn faced. Northwestern falls somewhere in the middle, as it finished 52nd in the nation in pass efficiency defense (126.5 rating) and 68th in pass defense (220.75 yards per game). The Wildcats have been able to make plays, though, picking off 15 passes and coming up with 2.25 sacks per game.
• Auburn WR Darvin Adams vs. Northwestern CB Sherrick McManis.
Adams, despite hauling in 48 passes for 855 yards and a league-best 10 touchdowns, was left off both the Associated Press’ and league coaches’ first and second teams. Adams emerged as Chris Todd’s favorite target from the first game of the season, as his ability to catch balls in traffic gave Todd plenty of confidence in him. McManis, though, has the ability to silence teams’ top threats. In the nine games he was able to play this season—a leg injury prevented him from the playing in the others—McManis picked up a team-high four interceptions. Northwestern lost two of the three games McManis missed and nearly lost the other, a 27-24 nail-biter against Eastern Michigan, which finished the season 0-12. McManis was a first-team All-Big Ten selection.
Quote To Note: “Things are just getting started here. Auburn’s going to be a force to reckon with in a couple of years.”—Senior tailback Ben Tate
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
Bowl Breakdown: Auburn vs. Northwestern, Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, Tampa, Fla.—Nobody really expected either of these teams to be in this game as the regular season ended, but here they are in what’s expected to be a showcase of two offenses that are unique when compared to the rest in their respective conferences. Both teams like to spread it out, but that’s where the similarities end. Auburn would prefer to beat you with its pounding running game that includes a bunch of misdirection plays and reverses. Northwestern is just fine with passing it to pick up first downs. Hitting 30 points in this game might not equal a guaranteed victory.
Players To Watch:
TB Ben Tate—The senior finally lived up to the bloated expectations he had out of high school. He cracked 3,000 career yards this season and didn’t look back, establishing himself as one of the more decorated backs in Auburn history.
WR Darvin Adams—The team-first sophomore emerged as Chris Todd’s favorite target, especially on crossing patterns. Adams shared the SEC lead with 10 touchdowns, and his 855 receiving yards ranked third in the conference.
DE Antonio Coleman—After going two games without a tackle, the senior (who could have gone pro after his junior year) got back on track. Coleman leads the SEC in sacks (9.0) and tackles for loss (15.5), even while playing through an injured wrist and constant double teams.
LB Josh Bynes—The quarterback of Auburn’s defense, Bynes showed constant improvement, especially in his open-field tackling throughout 2009. He leads the Tigers with 94 tackles, which ranks sixth in the SEC.
Roster Report:
• QB Tyrik Rollison, one of Auburn’s most highly touted freshmen, was suspended after the regular season for an unspecified violation of team rules, coach Gene Chizik announced. Rollison did not see the field this season, but is expected to be a major contender for the starting job in 2010.
• LB Eltoro Freeman (ankle) was close to being ready for the Iron Bowl, but was unable to go, rendering him as Auburn’s biggest cheerleader. The month off should be good for Freeman, as he’s expected to be available for the Outback Bowl.
• Auburn was forced to halt its recruiting of six prospective student-athletes for six weeks, six Auburn assistants received reprimands and wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor was prevented to recruit off-campus from July 31-Nov. 30 because of secondary violations incurred at May’s “Big Cat Weekend”—a high-profile recruiting event that drew some of the nation’s top prospects to Auburn on unofficial visits. The university released the documented violations after repeated records requests from multiple media outlets.
