JORDAN-HARE STADIUM, AL
7:30 PM EST – ESPN -U
AUBURN TIGERS 5-1 (2-1)
SERIES HISTORY: AUBURN LEADS 24-5-1
RECENT MEETINGS:
2005: AUBURN 49 UK 27
2004: AUBURN 42 UK 10
Here we go again. UK on the road vs a traditional SEC power and needing to snap an embarrassingly long losing streak. It could be 2005 all over again as the sentiments of this UK/Auburn game are eerily similar to the last time these two teams met. In 2005, Auburn rolled UK 42-10 for their 16th straight victory over UK … seriously these streaks have got to start ending soon.
Fortunately for UK, Auburn is a traditional SEC power in name only this year and very much a paper Tiger on the field having faced an extremely favorable schedule thus far. The natives are nervous because even though this team is 5-1, they still have Gene Chizik as coach and although they won’t admit it, they did not expect much more than 5 wins from this team this year. This is also a crossroads game for Auburn who was flattened last week 44-23 by Arkansas.
Never the less, UK needs this win more and Rich Brooks needs to end one of these dreadful streaks. NOW.
OFFENSE
On paper, the Tigers are an offensive juggernaut with the 5th rated squad in the NFL averaging 499 yards and 38.3 points a game. Senior QB Chris Todd (from Elizabethtown, KY) is a measure in efficiency completing 57.8% of his passes for 1363 yards and 12 TD’s against only 1 INT. The real strength of the Auburn offense is it’s rushing offense, which is 7th in the NCAA with 252 yards a game. Ben Tate has 4 100 yard games on the season already and has 724 yards rushing for a 6.1 average halfway through the season. He has the ability for breaking the long run (60 yards) but has found the end zone just 4 times on the ground. Freshman Onterio McCalebb is a strong second option at RB, with 439 yards and 4 TD’s on the ground this year. Darvin Adams is a solid possession receiver and has 387 yards receiving and 5 TD’s on the season. Terrell Zachery is averaging 22 yards a reception and also has a 60 yard rush under his belt. RB Mario Fannin is more of a receiving threat from the backfield as he is 2nd on the team with 21 receptions.
DEFENSE
Auburn has a long and proud tradition of defense, but this year’s version is among the worst in schools history rating 67th in the NCAA and the 27.2 points a game allowed is on pace to shatter the previous high of 1967. The defense does have it’s bright spots however. Senior DE Antonio Coleman is the best player on the team and will be playing on Sunday’s next year. UK will have their hands full keeping him out of the backfield. LB’s Josh Bynes and Craig Stevens make up part of a solid LB corp and CB Walt McFadden provides leadership in the secondary.
ANALYSIS
As stated before, this team is still a paper Tiger. QB Todd’s 12 TD’s in 6 games are respectable until you realize that 7 of them came against 0-6 Ball State and 2-3 Louisiana Tech. That 499 yard a game average on offense was built against Louisiana Tech (556 yards), Mississippi State (589 yards), Ball State (560). That offensive output dropped to 375 last week against Arkansas. We already saw that this is a defense capable of giving up 30 points to Ball State, so this is a winnable game.
UK, like in 2005, is at a crossroads. They have a chance to start a new era with Morgan Newton and in doing so, erase a very long chapter of bad football. I know that UK is down in the DB area, but hopefully the youth can build on last week’s mistakes. I know we have a young, unproven QB, but we do have a solid RB corp and need to play ball control offense with several 7 or 8 minute drives. If we can do this, I am ready to open that new era of UK football with a 28-24 UK victory.
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