5) Auburn’s Fall from Grace With eight returning starters on offense, and, more importantly, an equal number coming back on defense, the Tigers were many prognosticator’s favorite to win, not only the SEC West, but the SEC Championship. What’s the stereotypical mark of a championship contender? It’s a solid defense and a dominating running game. Auburn was thought to have had both (three senior D-linemen, two stud senior LB’s and an O-line that featured four returning starters), yet the struggles against Southern California, GA Tech, and LSU left a whole lot of experts scratching their heads. The Tiger defense entered last weekend ranked No. 5 in the nation (total defense), but the offensive meltdowns against the aforementioned three squads appeared to solely fall on the shoulders of the offense (and offensive play-calling). The four-headed rushing monster of Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Brandon Jacobs, and Tre Smith mustered all of 43 yards and two fumbles vs. USC, 2.6 yards per carry and two more fumbles against Georgia Tech, and 50 net yards on 34 carries with another two fumbles lost at LSU. The Ole Miss game was more Auburn-like with 158 yards rushing and 4.8 yards per carry with no fumbles lost, but the Tiger squad had already become used to losing, and Auburn couldn’t hang on (literally) in the end. With all the talent in the conference, it’s not a huge surprise that Auburn didn’t win the SEC, much less the SEC West, but the manner in which the Tigers played in these high-profile games (especially, with a veteran club) was most deflating.
