Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Source: al.com 

ATLANTA — Want to know what Auburn’s offense is going to look like in Monday’s Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson?

Ask different people, and you’ll get different answers.

Nobody is sticking to the script because, evidently, there isn’t one.

Depending on who you ask, new Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin will be calling plays — or he won’t. Senior quarterback Brandon Cox will be playing every snap — or he’ll be sharing snaps with one, two or three other quarterbacks. Players will be wearing new wristbands — or they won’t.

And the new offense will make up 50 percent, 100 percent or zero percent of the bowl game plan.

Franklin himself has said — at least twice — that he plans to be largely an observer at the game. But comments from coach Tommy Tuberville and Auburn players indicate that role could be expanding.

Tuberville said Wednesday that he wanted a “mixture” of the old offense — former coordinator Al Borges’ system — and the new Franklin-inspired system.

“We need to run some of our old offense just to have some carryover,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville also said tight ends coach Steve Ensminger would call at least some plays. In the past two weeks, Tuberville and Franklin also have mentioned three other offensive assistants as possible play-callers.

Cox — either cautious about revealing too much of the offense or genuinely stumped — said he had no idea who would be calling plays.

“The play comes in, and I run what they call,” Cox said.

True freshman quarterback Kodi Burns — officially still a third-stringer — appears to be getting most of the snaps behind Cox. He plans to play on Monday.

“Me and (Cox) switch off a lot,” Burns said. “Coach Franklin wants to do a few things with me and a lot of things with Brandon. I think playing two quarterbacks gives him a better look in the game and in practice.

“I’m just ready whenever he calls my name. I’m just going into the game expecting to play like I do every game.”

Cox and Tuberville said even more quarterbacks — such as redshirt freshman Neil Caudle or junior Blake Field — also could play.

“Coach said maybe rotating, getting Kodi in running some of the stuff, maybe getting Blake or Neil in to see how they are, to start analyzing them for next year and see how they react,” Cox said. “I’m playing until they bring somebody else in.”

Cox said he’s not worried about his last game getting upstaged by a newcomer.

“I’m going to play the majority of the time,” he said.

Cox will have to be on his toes. Burns said the staple of the Franklin offense is its fast pace.

“It’s something we all have to buy into,” Burns said. “It’s fast-paced and the practice is fast-paced. You practice like you play, so we try to simulate what we’re doing.”

That leaves little time for huddles.

“(Franklin) said back at Troy that if you asked his guys what a huddle is, nobody could tell you,” Burns said. “That’s just the type of offense he runs and something we’ve got to adapt to.”

Burns said the pace of practice is so fast that he sometimes can’t tell whether he’s working with the first or second team.

“I’m just out there getting reps,” he said.

So that means Auburn is practicing Franklin’s offense almost exclusively?

“It’s probably 50-50,” said Cox.

Who’s giving the straight answer? Five days before the bowl, can the game plan really be this ambiguous?

At the end of Wednesday’s brief interview session, Cox finally fielded a question he could answer without hesitation: Won’t it be hard for Clemson to prepare for such a well-cloaked offense?

“Yeah, because we have so much we can do,” Cox said. “We’re running two different offenses, and we might play all of our quarterbacks.”

source: The huntsville Times  

2008 Schedule as of now:

Aug. 30 LOUISIANA-MONROE
Sept. 6 at West Virginia
Sept. 13 at Mississippi State
Sept. 20 LSU
Sept. 27 TENNESSEE
Oct. 4 at Vanderbilt
Oct. 11 ARKANSAS
Oct. 18 SOUTHERN MISS
Nov. 1 at Ole Miss
Nov. 8 TENNESSEE-MARTIN
Nov. 15 GEORGIA
Nov. 29 at Alabama

OPEN DATES: Oct. 25, Nov. 22 

ATLANTA – If details can be worked out, Auburn’s game at West Virginia, scheduled for Sept. 6 next season, will be moved to a Thursday night later in the season, The Huntsville Times has learned.

The game would be televised nationally by ESPN.

The move would require juggling at least one other game on Auburn’s schedule. The Tigers, who open their season at home against Louisiana-Monroe on Aug. 30, currently have open dates on Oct. 25 and Nov. 15.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, in Atlanta to begin final preparations for Monday’s game against Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, would not comment Tuesday night on the possible change.